Free like a Pro

[VELLISLAV]

If you ask me 'Can i use free vst's and to achieve pro sound - the answer is yes.Why i am so sure?First of all it's like to say that public transport can not transport you.Second u forget that when it comes to sound everything is layers,curves,character and so on ...so it's your imagination that stops you not the free vst's.Some free vst's are better than other so i highly recommend you to use these(small changes from first post):
1.Firebird - my big love:)Multi-functional,many filter types,many osc types,any kind of sounds
2.Synth1 - amazing synth,software baby of Virus and Nord lead with character
3.Tal noise maker-probably best drumz percussion and basses u can make with free vst
---
4.Podolski - amazing sound quality.
5.T-force alpha - free Roland supersaw legacy
6.Easy taurus - brutal little synth
7.Zebrallete - COOL
8.Angular momentum synths - good synths
9.Tubeohm synths - good synths
10.Tunefish-additive treasure
...maybe have to make some video to demonstrate.Feel free to list different free vst's or to show something you discover about your favorites.Thanks :)Download FREEBIRDZ2 here: https://vellislav.wixsite.com/vellislav

[BlackWinny]

I would add some wonderful collections:

AcidDose: Xhip

AM Music Technology: Pro SoloVst + RMI-EP + VL-122

Angular Momentum (AMVST, Thomas Weber) : All his free stuff !

Benjamin 'BeRo' Rosseaux: Sobanth

Benoit Serrano: All his stuff is awesome (especially Anubis-2l, Horus, Horus MK-II, Orpheus 2, Cosmos 2, Dionysos EX, the modulated filter Circé, and the set of 6 modulated effects IO)

Bigcat Instruments : All his sample based instruments (mainly the GM Soundset + the VSCO2 Rompler (see also below at Versilian Studio) + the wonderful City Piano)

BigTick: Angelina + CheezeMachine + EP-Station + TickyClav

BlauKraut: Charlatan

Brain Control: Tunefish 3 (subtractive and additive synthesis) + Tunefish 4 (additive and wavetable synthesis)

Cutter Music : Revitar 2 (open source, my zip file contains not only the dll but also everything to continue the project)

CWITEC : TX16Wx

Digital Suburban : Dexed (and my huge collection of thousands of DX-7 sysex files without any duplicates)

D-Lusion : DrumStation

ElektroStudio : All his stuff (Esline String is an ARP Solina String Ensemble inspiration + Micromoon is a Micromoog inspiration + Model Mini is a Minimoog inspiration + Model Pro is a Moog Prodigy inspiration + Moon Sono Sx is a Moog Sonic Six inspiration + Ocet is a EKO Computer Rhythm (made famous by Jean-Michel Jarre) emulation + ODsay is an Arp Odyssey inspiration + OR2v is a Oberheim 2 Voice inspiration + Rhythmus is a Korg Keio Minipops7 (made famous by Jean-Michel Jarre) emulation + Sixth Month June is a Roland Juno-6 inspiration + Tapeotronic is a Mellotron emulation of the three most used tapes). Note: his website is currently unavailable, but if needed, I can share them. And you can also find them all here.

E-Phonic : Drumatic 3 (the second part of the page is for Drumatic 3 which is an excellent freeware, the first half of the page is the announcement of the next version, Drumatic 4, which is payware. But the freeware version, Drumatic 3, is already awesome)

Filatov Vadim : OBXD (original page). The last version in date (from DiscoDSP) can be found here (sorry, Windows version only).

Full Bucket Music : All his stuff !

Futucraft : Kairatune

Graywolf (Oleg Mikheev) : BlueARP

Green Oak (Glenn Olander) : Crystal

GSi : MrTramp2

Gunnar Ekornas : ARPPE2600VA + MinimogueVA (and Luxus) (Gunnar allowed me to distribute them at their last version and totally full of their features)

Ichiro Toda : Synth1

KeoLab : Spicy Guitar

Kirnu Interactive : Kirnu Arpeggiator

KX77Free (Xavier Kalenski) : All his stuff !

Leslie Sanford (Sanford Sound Design) : Cobalt

Linplug : Free Alpha the support is discontinued but the plugin remains available on Linplug's website, here for Windows and for OSX)

Manda Audio : MPower Drumkit 2

Martinic (Theo Niessink) : Combo Model F (wonderful comprehensive emulation of the famous Farfisa Mini Deluxe Compact organ) + Combo Model V (wonderful comprehensive emulation of the famous Vox Continental organ)

Mastrcode Music : T-Force Alpha Plus

Matt Tytel : Helm

Meesha : All his stuff ! (and download and listen to his albums, they all are free)

Melda Production : MDrummer small (don't forget to download the two steps) + all his free effects grouped in the universal bundle

Mike Norrish : Armchair Guitarist + SuperRiff Guitar

ML-VST (Martin Lüders) : PG-8X

NuSofting : DaHornet (wonderful comprehensive EDP Wasp emulation) + Sinnah + Noisetar

Oxe : Oxe FM Synth

Phuturetone : Phutura + Philteroid

Pianovintage : 1984 + Mysterion + Jem Sx1000 + SP 101 + Beat box + Kox

Plogue : sforzando

PluginBoutique : Zampler (see also by Beat: Zampler, Zampler//RX (Delamar Edition), and Beat Black Mamba)

Rumpelrausch Taips : AZR3 (the KVR page is here)

Sam : VOPM

SuperWave (Christopher Gill) : P8

TAL (Togu Audio Line, Patrick Kunz) : all his free stuff : TAL-BassLine + TAL-Bitcrusher + TAL-Chorus-LX + TAL-Dub (several versions, browse down the page) + TAL-Elek7ro + TAL-Filter (several versions, browse down the page) + TAL-Flanger (browse down the page) + TAL-NoiseMaker + TAL-Phaser (cannot be found any more on his own website) + TAL-Reverb 4 + TAL-Reverb (versions 1, 2, and 3) + TAL-Tube (browse down the page) + TAL-U-No-62 + TAL-USEq (aka TAL-USE) + TAL-Vocoder

Taron : Lord of the Spring

Teragon Audio : KickMaker

The Interruptor : Twin Bass (download it here by browsing down the page)

Tone2 : Firebird

TubeOhm : Alpha-Ray (6 euros to unlock the effects, but all the synthesis is totally free)

U-He (Urs Heckmann) : Podolski + Triple Cheese + TyrellN6 + Zebralette

Versilian Studios : Etherealwinds Harp + Fretless Zither + Upright 1 + Versilian Studios Chamber Orchestra 2 (aka VSCO 2)

Voxengo : all his free effects

VST Zone : Eclipsis

Wavosaur : Wavosaur audio editor

Wolfgang Palm : Plex - Restructuring Synthesizer


I could add some excellent effects, but you already have wonderful sets of effects within this list above.

ABSOLUTELY ALL THESE PRODUCTS ABOVE ARE FREEWARE WHILE BEING ALSO INCREDIBLY AWESOME ! Many of them are even of professional quality. And many of them are native 64-bit as 32-bit... and also many of them have an OSX edition.

All these plugins above are almost all my collection of my best freeware plugins. I have put aside all the plugins which are totally humdrum.

Of course there are certainly other gems that are not in this list. Either I have forgotten them either I don't consider them actually as gems.

With the list of plugins above you have almost a professional stuff, while all is free.

I can't finish without telling about the DAWS. Because there are ALSO free DAWs !

First of all, it is perfectly possible to use freely the one that I consider as the best DAW: Mulab. You can see in this page how you can understand the difference before the free use and the necessity to purchase a license. It is good to know that even with the free license (meaning without any license) you can perfectly make comprehensive and excellent musical works!

There are other excellent DAWS and hosts which are free (by order of personal preference):

Linux MultiMedia Studio (LMMS) (and in spite of its name it is not only for Linux, but also for Windows and OSX)

Cantabile (the version "Lite" is totally free)

Independence Free

Anvil Studio

Giada

That's it.

[Harry_HH]

Huh? Winny seems to be a real expert in this area.
No words.

[BertKoor]

Making lists like this is futile. Yes, there are great vst synths, effects and even hosts available for free!
But a great performance of a well-written song will always transcedent the means it was created with. Alas some people think that throwing money at it can compensate for their own mediocracy.

[Zexila]

Instead of collecting freebies, just get what you really want&need and have some fun, life is suffering and too short anyways, you threw your money on even worst things before, enjoy in this at least.

[chk071]

You get what you pay for.

[BlackWinny]

Making lists like this is futile. Yes, there are great vst synths, effects and even hosts available for free!
But a great performance of a well-written song will always transcedent the means it was created with. Alas some people think that throwing money at it can compensate for their own mediocracy.

Why do you tell this ?

What is the relation between the choice of stuff and the quality of the music one makes with !?

A synth is a synth, an effect is an effect. These are TOOLS ! Exactly like a piano or an acoustic guitar ! No relation at all with the music one will make with it !

If you want to talk with me about the quality of music... join me in the RapidComposer forum and there we shall talk not about the tools but about the music ! Here the question was about tools !

It seems that you are too stupid to make the difference and to understand that to make music you at least need the tools ! The question was to suggest a good choice of TOOLS ! Then each one in his home can make one's own choice to begin to make the music with the chosen tools ! Even a professional musician makes this process of choosing the tools he will work with !

[BlackWinny]

You get what you pay for.

Tell this to Bjorn or to Meesha or to Urs or to many other free plugin developers, and you'll see what they will reply to you!

Do you pretend that the free plugins of a professional developer like Urs are crappy plugins ?

Do you pretend that the free plugins from Bjorn are crappy plugins ?

It is perfectly possible to make excellent plugins for free. And it doesn't prevent to buy other plugins beside the free plugins !

At least, with free plugins it is possible to everyone to make (or to learn to make) music before spending money on more expensive tools.

And by telling "you get what you pay for" you piss on the people who have no money but want to make at least a bit of music for themselves. And making music for oneself is not a reason to only choose bad tools. So it is also the purpose of a forum like KVR to give clues to good tools for people who can't afford expensive tools !

Is the making of good music reserved exclusively to those who can afford expensive synths??? Don't you have the impression to express something like a privilege, by fortune?

The making of music is something totally democratic! And the quality of the plugins is ALSO something totally democratic, which can be accessible to everybody, even without money!

[Harry_HH]

Good comment.
And - maybe we should really talk more about gears in the context of music, what each of do with the tools.

[BertKoor]

I think we agree: tools are just tools.
And a fool with a tool, is still a fool.
Professionals never blame their tools when they fail.

"You get what you pay for" is certainly not true in VST land. You can get anything you need to make pro sounding music for free. So while I agree with the title, I don't agree with there being a short-list of stuff that's good enough. You just use whatever you can get your hands on, AND seems fit for the job.

[BlackWinny]

Instead of collecting freebies, just get what you really want&need and have some fun, life is suffering and too short anyways, you threw your money on even worst things before, enjoy in this at least.

The purpose here is not to collect all these freebies... but to give a choice.

[BlackWinny]

Vellislav's introduction was:

If you ask me 'Can i use free vst's and to achieve pro sound - the answer is yes.Why i am so sure?First of all it's like to say that public transport can not transport you.Second u forget that when it comes to sound everything is layers,curves,character and so on ...so it's your imagination that stops you not the free vst's.Some free vst's are better than other so i highly recommend you to use these:

So the purpose of this thread is about the tools. And he adds two precisions:

1. Excellent tools close to a professional quality
2. Free tools

Vellislav was kind to give a first choice.

I have tried to be kind to give a larger choice but always respecting his TWO criteria. That's all. We shall not cut the hair in four. I replied because it is the purpose of a forum thread not to let an Original Post (OP) dying alone but to reply when one has ideas to reply and remaining in the purpose initially stated. Period.

If we want to talk about the music itself, and the rules of harmony, and the different styles of music, and the process of learning music, etc. it is the general purpose of KVR. And the principle of a forum as KVR is to spread the different things in different threads. The purpose of this thread is to let a trace of excellent free plugins, for a beginner or not, but of free plugins. And if possible with links so that the items of the list are useful for the visitor. Period ! If we want to talk about the music itself and the styles and the rules of harmony, and the features of this or that plugin... it is not the purpose of this thread. KVR allows (and it is deeply done everyday) to create as many threads as wanted to discuss all these aspects of the making of music.

I really don't understand why some people begin immediately to complain because one suggests a list of free plugins in a KVR thread ! KVR is made for everybody, not only for people wanting to purchase expensive synths. Therefore it is perfectly normal to find such threads made simply to suggest free plugins. And if they are excellent, that's even better. And it hasn't the least relation with the music that each one will do with them or with the quality of music (something very subjective nowadays) one will make with them. A very good musician, professional or not, will make excellent works with just a guitar or a piano. Another very good musician, professional or not, will make excellent works with synths, paid or free. And I even know very good musicians who make wonderful music without any instruments, just with their voices. Even a cappella some of them are able to reproduce the ambience of all an orchestra. Example, the Flying Pickets. The tools he uses have absolutely no relation with the excellence of the musician himself.

[Anti-Logic]

You get what you pay for.

I agree, those dongles really upped my mixes.

[chk071]

You get what you pay for.

Tell this to Bjorn or to Meesha or to Urs or to many other free plugin developers, and you'll see what they will reply to you!

Give me Diva. For free. Now.

BTW, i don't know what's up with you as of late Winny. I didn't say that freeware is crappy by default. Seriously, relax and back off a little. You still won't find plugins like Diva, Largo in Spire for free though. Hence "You get what you pay for". What should devs charge for good sounding free plugins like Tyrell N6 and Charlatan? They're pretty crippled in terms of features, compared to 100 to 150 € payware.

[VELLISLAV]

Hi guys thanks for joining the discussion - these days i made some experiments with my favorite free vst's i mention above and dare to say the expression 'get what u pay' is not exactly true - following this logic all free stuff should be garbage ...not all free stuff could achieve pro sound but let say the good ones are really good and probably not appreciate enough...for example i adore Synthmaster but i can resemble same or similar sound with Synth1 ... so it's more about ideas and experience i guess instead to spend a fortune and still not to get the right for the mix sound.