Article: free music production software

[BBFG#]

Well, you never hearing it doesn't make it false. I hear it often under the topic of "what to do with my old computer now that I bought a new one."
And about half of those bringing it up actually do it. The lazy ones want someone else to do the thinking for them. (Aka, an "Apple agnostic" approach.)

[fladd]

Never ever considered linux btw, never heard that sentiment here also in 15 years, so that surely is a false claim.

[dirtysnow]

I agree that "best" may not be the best word to use in this case. Maybe a headline like "good free software for music production" or something along those lines would be a better fit. But either way, I use the term "best" loosely. The point was to create a list of free software for beginner music producers. So, this is, in my opinion, the best free music production software for beginners.

As for cross-platform compatibility, I mean, it's not important per se. But I wanted the Top 10 items to be cross-platform so that anyone who reads the list could take those programs for a spin, regardless of their OS. And, as already mentioned, platform-specific alternatives are also mentioned in the article.

respect.. I'll definitely be forwarding the article for the info free plugins listed in the article. I personally love the free tier on TDR Nova and Kotelnikov.

[bpblog]

Thanks! If you have any suggestions on how to improve the article/list, do let me know.

[nexgen23]

Thank you for the very useful article Happy New Year!

[BlackWinny]

Thanks! If you have any suggestions on how to improve the article/list, do let me know.

You have here a list of many other suggestions to pick in.


There are in this list things for all ages of musicians, for all styles of music, using all types of synthesis, and with a good amount of effects too (and some are again to add). The list is still being finalized (some very good plugins are still missing, and Paree hasn't finished to put the direct links, and I'm still gathering other new items to add, taken among the widely applauded in the community of musicians but not yet added to the list).

For me it is not possible to say that this or that synth is "the best". And actually it is not even always possible to say that it belongs to the bests (except if we explicitly list the technical criteria which are to compare... and without forgetting some others which could compete as well, and they are crowds). It may be funny but it is a bit easier with the effects than with the synths... and yet even for the effects it is no so easy.

In any case, unless it is within the framework of a comparative (an objective comparative, comparisons made on several detailed points and subject to the personal experience of the person expressing the assertion, each user having not only his styles but also his skills) I systematically reject any laconic assertion of the kind "X is the best of all XXX". Because in order to be able to affirm this in a really honest way... it is necessary to have personally tested them all and it is also necessary to add that the expressed choices reflect only... personal tastes!

So, to bring arguments in favor of such or such product, yes (it is by the way like that one makes them known)... but to affirm that such or such product IS THE BEST, definitely no! So you will never see me assert that for anything. Unless I specify what I highlight explicitly here : "it's the best among those that I personally tested AND that are to MY taste and for MY style of music AND moreover it's only a purely personal opinion"... because there one remains within the framework of the honest assertion and not peremptory.

For instance, the best synths for someone who make EDM music are for many old-style prog-rock or synthpop musicians some of the worst synths to use... and inversely.

And even this point of view... can also be not shared by all the users of that same style.

Conclusion : the only thing that we can do is just suggesting synths, and suggesting them because they have features which can be considered as technical arguments or artistic arguments for their uses disregarding the styles of musics unless in a specific framework of style... and it is the exclusive role of the reader himself to conclude after personal experiment that this or that synth is the best (or one of the bests) for him, only regarding his personal tastes.

[xalama qo]

That seems like exactly the kind of noob overwhelm the OP was trying to avoid by keeping his selection slim and focused. But thanks for compiling that list of free/magware. It would be helpful if a release date was included for each VST as age is often an indication of quality (in purely technical terms).

[Paree]

That seems like exactly the kind of noob overwhelm the OP was trying to avoid by keeping his selection slim and focused. But thanks for compiling that list of free/magware. It would be helpful if a release date was included for each VST as age is often an indication of quality (in purely technical terms).

Yep, that list is meant for deep divers, my aim is to make an exhaustive list of all available 64 bit plugins.

I would also disagree that age is an indication of quality, Synth1 was released in 2002 and is arguably the best free VA synth and also has a massive preset library for anyone starting.

[BertKoor]

my aim is to make an exhaustive list of all available 64 bit plugins.

https://www.kvraudio.com/q.php?search=1 ... B%5D=mac64

[BlackWinny]

That seems like exactly the kind of noob overwhelm the OP was trying to avoid by keeping his selection slim and focused. But thanks for compiling that list of free/magware. It would be helpful if a release date was included for each VST as age is often an indication of quality (in purely technical terms).

Would you mean that this kind of list is only interesting for noobs ?

If so, you are totally wrong.

For example if I suggest Tom to have a look to this list, it is BECAUSE that kind of list is not only made for noobs. That kind of list may allow many people (simple musicians but also even blog authors) to find or remind sometimes gems they weren't aware of or had totally forgotten.

The purpose of that kind of list is not to overwhelm people (noobs or not) but to give them starting points to paths which are unknown from them or starting points to unbeaten paths.

If that kind of list is just lists of names, I agree that it can be totally useless for many people, beginners or not... that's why I suggested Paree, a few days ago, to add the direct links to their original websites or at least to pages where they can be downloaded and personally tested when the original websites don't exist any more.

I also recall you that Tom's blog is titled "Bedroom Producers Blog", meaning that he doesn't forget the total noobs and also the simple bedroom players.

And I repeat, once more, that it is not easy to find the right behavior when it is to suggest things for a hobby, because too few details can be useless (especially when the links to the products are missing, but too many details may also be discouraging in this today's world where the readers rarely spend more than a few minutes on a web page.

These lists are useless and stupid only when they don't provide any other information than simply the names of dozens of products without anything to do with these names.

In conclusion, neither the very detailed pages neither the very simple lists aren't useless as long as they provide correct clues to good things having at least a minimal quality and when the links are present so that the user may form his own opinion on them.

Be very aware that what can be stupid for someone can be very useful for someone else.

[BlackWinny]

my aim is to make an exhaustive list of all available 64 bit plugins.

https://www.kvraudio.com/q.php?search=1 ... B%5D=mac64

This page that you point is useful... only when you are already aware of the tons of things they contain which have absolutely no interest for the reader. How many items are really useful within that huge list ? When you use a query which gives that result you get a list of 103 pages (!) at this day, each page listing itself 50 items ! Total result : 5150 items ! And without any guaranty of their relevance !

If starting from this example we focus only the freeware products, we get this result which is still a list of 21 pages with a total result of 1050 items ! It means that you still have to browse among 1050 items without any starting idea about the reality of their relevance... Each item !

If you now compare with the list shown on that page you have here at least the certitude that here the listed items are relevant... and they are way less numerous. And that list is not made by an automate where you'll have to remove all the junks but is made by suggestions from several people coming from different styles in order to make together such a list precisely to avoid all these junks and to also give satisfaction to bedroom producers who themselves are also of different styles. And this list is organized in a way which gives first details (at least the mainly used synthesis of the synth for example) to help the reader to go exactly where he wants to go instead of dispersing his mind in a total nightmare of hundreds or thousands of items. Believe me, the reader who is a beginner in bedroom production looses way less time using lists such as the ones Tom is used to make or the one Paree made in his aforementioned topic above or the ones I make sometimes myself on some precise subjects as here or here or here or here or here (this latter one being about numeric books) for examples... the reader who is a beginner in bedroom production looses way less time using a list as these ones than using lists made by automates where he will find everything and anything and where he will give up at the end of the very first page knowing that otherwise he will loose in vain hours and hours.

And these kinds of lists are much more useful also for kind guys as Tom who are always in search of pearls to find and to share with their own readers. Remember that the kindness is never the fact of automates but always the fact of human guys who sometimes spend hours... for you.

[BlackWinny]

I would also disagree that age is an indication of quality, Synth1 was released in 2002 and is arguably the best free VA synth and also has a massive preset library for anyone starting.

Yes. And it is just an example of that kind. Believing that more recent products are necessarily better than older ones is a huge mistake, even for the production of EDM music of today. And there are even many products discontinued since years which today remain very big regrets of many users when they can't reinstall them any more.

[Paree]

I make a lot of electronic based bass music such as drum and bass and dubstep which are pretty modern and 2000s music, and 80% of my synths come from synth1 (Almost all leads, 50% bass and almost all pads and atmos stuff). The other synths i use are zebralette (for growls, an extremely underrated synth imo), surge, xhip, Noisemaker and 1% of time i might use others. None of these synths are new, Surge was released in 2006 i guess, synth1 in 2002, Zebralette in 2011 Xhip and Noisemaker are also older synths.

I can also give 32 bit only synths that are great and it’s a shame that they aren’t 64 bit, for example Krakli stuff (especially cygnus), Elektro Studio classic synths, Tone2 Firebird etc. Nowadays, these can be bridged freely on both windows (Netvst) and linux (Wine+LinVST). If you think that newer is better, you’ll miss out on a lot of cool stuff.

[xalama qo]

@BlackWinny, no, my comment is that a huge list of options is overwhelming to noobs who are just looking to get a foothold to start in this crazy over-saturated DAW/VST scene. That's why bpb's slim list, although imperfect (but that's the nature of the game), is arguably "better" for its stated objectives.

@Paree, I'm not using the word "better" as a substitute for "I prefer". I specifically stated that newer VSTs are often superior from a "purely technical" point of view. Better analog modeling, better distortion/saturation, MSEGs as standard, oscillator types and options...such as user importable wavetables...better onboard FX etc. Often the date/era of birth will tell you a lot about a VST if you're looking for something specific. And many noobs are looking for something specific...to sound like whoever inspired them to get into making music in the first place.

Compare Dmitry Sches ThornCM to Synth1. See the difference I'm talking about? Huge. A lot of good stuff has happened since Synth1 arrived.

Now whether you prefer Thorn or Synth1 for your/one's own music is your/one's own business. Anyone who sticks with making music long enough finds their own personal taste and preferences along the way for many valid reasons...such as a sophisticated preset browser, or not. We're spoilt for choice and there are no rules.
You guys are promoting your list, I just made a suggestion for an improvement in the hopes of more clarity for the users of the list.

Props to bpb, BW and Paree for actually making lists and blogs and helping the community at large. Biggest props to KVR for being KVR! Woohoo

[Paree]

I understand your perspective, my response was more about the sound of the synth rather than technical options.
But again, release date will not solve it because some are constantly updated with new features (Surge for example) but some are not.