Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
zahnerj
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Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 12:04 am

Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by zahnerj » Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:01 pm

I have simple plug ins like freeg, limiters and ozone but I want to start working with plug in synths and dont have much money. Also i dont fully understand how to work synths, any advice would be appreciated thanks!

Bassninja
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Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:38 pm

Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by Bassninja » Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:47 pm

http://www.vst4free.com/ loads of good stuff also buy a copy of computer music with the dvd for some really good vst's and basic tutorials.

andydes
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by andydes » Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:54 pm

Tal noisemaker. It's free, very highly rated sound wise, and pretty much just your classic analog modelling synth. Ie it doesn't do anything weird and confusing. Learn that and you'll be pretty well covered on the basics.

Fugazi81
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by Fugazi81 » Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:12 pm

Hallo,

my suggestions for "free" synths that sound "commercial"

Synth1 - basic but great sound, onezillion user presets.


Tyrell Nexus 6 - U-HE (ACE) synth for free, even better sound.


Zebralette - another U-HE synth for free, great sound.


ValhallaFreqEcho - No synth but a great effect


A good starting point and if you are confidante with "all" aspekts of synthesis :mrgreen: you could buy some commercial synths...


Asta

zahnerj
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Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 12:04 am

Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by zahnerj » Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:57 am

Thank you this is a great start for me.. does anyone use plug in drum machines for there drums or just use impulse in ableton?

Theo Void
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by Theo Void » Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:14 am

magesy. (ok don't do that.)

heuristics
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by heuristics » Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:13 am

Its pretty old, and cheesy at parts :P, but I found this video really helpful when I was learning the basics of synthesizers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atvtBE6t ... 0C9BB193E1

I second what Andydes has already mentioned, grab one of those basic TAL synthesizers (U-no, bassline, or noisemaker) and start playing around. You could also check out the linplug alpha as there is a basic free version also
http://www.linplug.com/alpha.html

This site also has some good videos and VST's
http://www.vstcafe.com/

For drums, I usually just use drum samples in a drum rack. You can synthesize your drums as well... that video above covers that also a bit.

nathannn
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by nathannn » Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:40 am

all the free ones are really bad. :?
The Push / Novation Launch Pad / Novation Launch Pad Pro / Novation Launch Key
/ Launch Control XL / Machine MkII / Machine Studio / BeatStep / Livid OhmRGB / Livid Code V2 / Apc 40 MKII

no computers or synths

20 Copies of Ableton Live Lite.

antarktika
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Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:54 am

Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by antarktika » Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:43 am

zahnerj wrote:Thank you this is a great start for me.. does anyone use plug in drum machines for there drums or just use impulse in ableton?
Drum Racks are in most cases the better option ;)
nathannn wrote:all the free ones are really bad. :?
*ALL* the free ones? oh dear, somebody is missing out.

ark
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by ark » Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:59 am

If you're on a PC, Cakewalk Triangle is a nice free VST monosynth.

alexjholland
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by alexjholland » Fri Apr 20, 2012 9:14 am

Hey, I got Camel's Alchemy Player (free) last night (I already have Zebra, Massive and a few more) and think the pads are possibly my favourite so far.

I'll either be buying the full version or a few soundpacks for the Player version for sure!

grunzlaut
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by grunzlaut » Fri Apr 20, 2012 10:55 am

andydes wrote:Tal noisemaker. It's free, very highly rated sound wise, and pretty much just your classic analog modelling synth. Ie it doesn't do anything weird and confusing. Learn that and you'll be pretty well covered on the basics.
yes. the first synth i ever used and it`s really easy to learn virtual analog synthesis on it since it has a really basic feature-set which is not overwhelming for a total noob. plus it sounds pretty fat. i still use it even though i have some pay-for-VSTi`s now.

all other plugins by TAL are great, too. especially the delays and the chorus. basic functions without a mess of fancy knobs but fat sounding.

moonpie
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Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:22 am

Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by moonpie » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:12 pm

I prefer to get free vsts from commercial companies - simply because - theyll keep supporting them. Always always consider - no matter how good a free vst may appear to be - is it important you can go back to the same project in 2 years time. (Ive still that trouble with commercial vsts) Always think stability - the more vsts you download the more likely youll have crashing issues. These could be perfectly great vsts that rival commercial ones in quality - but you cant demand support or bug fixes from a freeware company.

Lastly - keep it simple - if you download a free vst that youre interested in - and it turns out it sucks - or you dont immediately want to pick up and use it alot - delete it immediately. Do not leave unused vsts on your system - in a years time, youll look at that same vst and think - "god that sucks, never use it", you delete it, not realizing that its a keep part to one of your past projects when you used it that one time. Do not collect vsts in a "collector" manner - download, use, delete straight away if pointless.

Free vsts to recommend

TB Timemachine - extraordinarily musical bit crusher
Reaktor Micro Prism (the free reaktor instruments with reaktor player are really useful)
Frohmage Filter
LA Convolution reverb (if on mac)

Ive had so many others - but these are the ones that I still use. Delays - i had loads but really - abletons does alot in a rack and will be stable. Reverbs - free ones are either too old or are 2 single use. EQs - i still cant tell the diff between diff eqs yet. Best bang for buck purchase I made was Valhalla RoomReverb. And audiomidi nobrainers will soon be out again so keep track of those!

simmerdown
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by simmerdown » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:21 pm

ark wrote:If you're on a PC, Cakewalk Triangle is a nice free VST monosynth.
triangle II is out now too, nice one imo

crystal

string theory

those are my go-to's for free noisemakers

antarktika
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Re: Any advice on where to begin working with plug-ins for free?

Post by antarktika » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:45 pm

These arent' "free" per se, but Stillwell audio offers evaluation copies of their plug-ins with no time limit *THAT HAVE NO LIMITATIONS* just a nag screen when you first open them.
http://www.stillwellaudio.com/
and they're commercial plug-ins, so the issues stated above about free plug-ins are less of a concern.
I frankly don't quite grasp the business model, but I'm not going to complain if that's how they want to do things.

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