Newbie needs advice: VST suggestions.

[Crappcyd]

Hi all, recently I moved to the world of VST, I started doing stuff with Propellerheads Reason some time ago. I wanted to get somethings that I couldn't with it, get rid of its sound engine and specially the mixing engine. So I decided to move to other sequencer with better capabilities and able to integrate Reason maybe.

Yes, I got an old Cubase copy for cheap and started to play with it, then my computer broke, but after some time I have decided to try with this old laptop even if the setup sucks, I want to do soemthing...

After this piece of my crappy life, I would like to ask the ancient (and not so ancient) and busy members of this excellent place to spend soem of their valuable time to gimme some advice on this VST world. There is so much! I don't know were should I start.

So, I suppose I must give some indications on what I want to do to know what I need to do it. I want to do virous types of electronic music, from some junglist action to very pounding industrial stuff, or even more experimental & stupid-intelligent-DM, but always with a hard or noisey edge. I know this is very generic, but I would center more about the "industrial stuff" part.

For percussion I will be using samples the most, so i don't need probably drum synths, and I've allready pickers drummer & sampler, sugegstions are welcome anyway.

So, more or less what I need right now:
- Synths for crystal like sounds and good pads, evolving soudns etc. and also good fx (this when i want to make more experiemntal/idm stuff)
- Synths to make metallic sounding stuff, kickin and pounding. Also noisey & low feq atmospheres, sounds.
- Good effects for distortion, overdrive, etc.
- Good effects for filtering.

And anyway, suggest any "MUST HAVE" or "studio basic" stuff you want, as probably when I want to make other thigns I will need them, like making bass, leads or whatever. And also effects.

Thanks in advance to all who takes the time to read this, and if you answer, the better!

EDIT: I forgot to say that I prefer free stuff, like everybody, hehe

[DWb]

I think that this link has been posted elsewhere in the past 24 hours, but
http://www.kvraudio.com/new_year_survey ... esults.php
Or even just
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php
and check out any highly rated free stuff...

[shamann]

Here are some suggestions, either check KVR's database to find them or just search Google with their names and the word 'VST'.

Synth

• Noisy/metallic synth: Steam (go here), also check out the physical models in that thread.
  Crystal sounds: Foorius and ZynAddSubFX (check their company forum at KVR for the latest beta VST version) or Crystal
  Multi-purpose megasynth: KarmaFX Synth (which also works as an effect), or Farbrausch v2. Foorius, ZynAddSubFX and Crystal all fit in this category, too.
  Other great free synths that'll give you a good range of sound: iblit, Augur, Asynth, Ensembler, JXSynth, Vivaldi, OxeFM, Voyager, xhip

Effects

• For the motherload: Go to Smartelectronix.com, get everything. Get the Kjaerhus Classic series.
  For filtering: Get Obertone's filterbank. Go to Devine Machine's site, get minion. Go to Tiny God's site, get Murmur (and everything else there).
  For distortion: Start with Noizware's Tri-dirt.
  Hunt down all freeware by: NDC, BetaBugs Audio, ConcreteFX, Voxengo, Obertone, Virtual Creations, TobyBear, buzzroom, slim slow slider, e-phonic, xoxos, Exponent, Christian Budde, Christian Knufinke, Big Tick, Helium, Mutagene, Oli Larkin, Krakli, Odo, Audio Damage, White Noise, Andreas Ersson, Jackle&Hyde (devilswhisper.com), 12th Floor, Luxonix, Rekliner, Jonas Norberg, Richard Dobson, u-he, MP3some, and for some more experimental noisy things, check out Cycling 74's Pluggo Jr.

Also check out Kreatives.org's Krystal Audio. It's a free audio multitracker, and comes with some super excellent plugins (including a fantastic multi-tap delay). And check out Noisevault.com for some free acoustic impulse responses, and Spirit Canyon for some free creative impulse responses (product demos, about 30M of files).

And if you can spare a buck or some time to write a thank you email, maybe send a donation or note to your favourite developers.

See you in a year.

Cheers,
Steve

[shamann]

Also, get Synthedit.

It's free to use, and is both a great way to learn how music machines work as well as incredibly useful for building something fairly esoteric tailored exclusively to your needs.

[Crappcyd]

Thanks a lot boys/girls, a lot of stuff to check.

In a year? I think i'll be fuckin around some time haha, just discovered this site a couple of days ago.

Cheers!

[shamann]

Wait until you download all that stuff. A year is a conservative guess.

Feel encouraged to post questions here as you go, someone's always ready to answer.

[Klemperer]

Extremely nice list. I use 90% of it and will try the rest .
Will be lots of fun to test all of this. And don't let you fool by some people round who come with statements like "everything made with Synthedit is shit" only because it's for free. I read something like this in another thread here a week ago. KVR is full of good advice and will be a great place for you I think if you in the end trust your ears instead of following silly battles which are to be found here too, of course.

[Crappcyd]

Yes, I guess, I've seen lots of these battle lots of times in other forums, for example with sequencers ("this one is better than the other"), I always say use what suit you the best.

I'm allready downloading lot of stuff, if I've anyquestion I'll ask, but I will go first to the manuals always that they are available.

[BONES]

For a slightly little more managable list, for effects start of with the freebies from www.mda-vst.com and the Classic series from www.kjaerhusaudio.com. For synths I'd recommend JX Synth, PolyIblit, Synth1 and maybe Crystal. I think you should also check out EnergyXT as a very cool host/sequencer that you may find more inspiring for your kind of music than Cubase. Its only 39 euros.