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Something for nothing is always a marvellous thing - even better when it's legal! This page has a collection of free or cheap music applications and utilities. Updating this page I'm amazed at how many companies have stopped doing free versions of anything, most now are time limited or function disabled demos at best - shame. If you come across any yourself then please let me know and I'll include it. I've tried to categorise this list a bit... |
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| Must Haves: |
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Rebirth RB338
No one should be without this software. It was the first software synth to force the music world to sit up and take notice of what was happening in software emulation. It's a complete techno studio that's far too much fun to play with regardless of what sort of music you're making. Basically it's an emulation of old analog Roland gear - you've got two TB303 bassline synths, a TR808 and a TR909 drum machine. It's all step time programming, creating patterns and twiddling knobs and in no time you've created a classic banging tune. It's an absolute joy and was worth the £150 price tag. | |  |
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| Now Propellerheads have discontinued it and released it into the community as a free download. With "Rewire" technology you can also run it through programs like Cubase and Sonar and record alongside. You must have this software - http://www.rebirthmuseum.com |
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| Computer Music Magazine
Not a download as such but a source of many great freebie bits of software. They did a deal with someone way back to produce a few synths and some recording software that they can give away on the cover disk - and this is really quite good stuff. You get a synth, a drum machine, a sampler, some effects and a working sequencer and audio recording program. It's simply a great bundle - and you get an excellent magazine that's all about what we're talking about. | |  |
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| The software bundle is called CMStudio and comes on every months cover disk so you don't have to subscribe or anything, just pick up a copy at your local newsagent - http://www.computermusic.co.uk |
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| KVR Audio
This is a resource site rather than any particular download but it's packed with every plugin and instrument available and has links to tons of free downloads - a really useful place. http://www.kvraudio.com | |  |
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| Plugin Effects and Synths |
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DestroyFX
An amazing bunch of plugins that really mess with your sound. Plugins this good really shouldn't be free but then who are we to argue. The favourite is always the Buffer Overide - download and have a go - http://www.smartelectronix.com/~destroyfx/ | |  |
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OhmForce
Crazy bunch of French guys making the weirdest looking and strangest sounding plugins. Their free download is the "Fromage" filter - it's really quite nasty. All their stuff is excellent. Their "Ohmygod" comb filter is included in the CMStudio which makes it worth the cover price by itself - http://www.ohmforce.com | |  |
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IK Multimedia Sampletank 2
Sampletank2 "Free" is a fully working version of the SampleTank2 player but with a restricted sound set. You do get a good stack of sounds though and you can download more from their website. We're talking about regular General MIDI type sounds rather than weird synths and stuff - http://www.sampletank.com | |  |
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IK Multimedia Amplitube Uno
IK also make one of the best guitar amp/fx plugins called Amplitube. They do a little free version called the Uno which is pretty superb - http://www.amplitube.com | |  |
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UltimateSoundBank
These guys do a range of massive "Romplers" with particularly awesome sound quality. They have a version of their Plugsound range called Plugsound Free which comes with a selection of sounds from across the range - excellent and free. http://www.plugsound.com | |  |
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SIR
This is a fabulous reverb that uses "impulse-responses". These are recorded room-reflections so that you get the same "feel" as the original room. So, rather than simulating a cathedral reverb you actually get the same reverb as recorded in that cathedral. The result is superb! This is by far the best sounding freeware reverb and better than many that cost lots of money. http://www.knufinke.de/sir | |  |
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Prosoniq
Mostly Mac based plugins and editing software but very professional. They released their NorthPole filter as a freebie for Mac and Windows - http://www.prosoniq.com | |  |
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Big Tick
This guy makes loads of interesting plugins and synths and he offers his "Cheese Machine", a sort of strings/pad synth, and the "Ticky Clav", a clavinet, for free. http://bigtick.pastnotecut.org | |  |
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DB Audioware
There's a taster of free plugins here that are really useful. He's also got some good ones for sale - http://db-audioware.com | |  |
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Hammerhead
The original beat box program written by a very laid back Bram Bos. It was commercially released by Steinberg as "BBox" at one time and a few fools even bought it (it did come with some marvellous samples though). This free version has been going for years and is still dead cool - http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/ | |  |
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Loopazoid
Sampling drum machine from neXoft software - http://www.loopazoid.com | |  |
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AnalogX
Analog X is a weird bunch of people who produce the most amazingly useful utilities. DX plugin notepads, a vocal remover plugin, sample scratching, a rhyming program, tap tempo, loads of cool stuff - http://www.analogx.com | |  |
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| Recording and Editing |
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Pro Tools Free
Only available for Windows 98 and OS9 - it's an 8 track version of Digidesign's industry standard recording and editing software. It will not run on Windows XP or OSX so don't even try. http://www.digidesign.com | |  |
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Fruity Loops - FL Studio
A fabulous loop and song creation program. Perfect for dance or electronic music but can also do so much more. If you are looking for beats then this is a good place to go. The free demo version does everything except save, but you can export mixes and loops so you can sit down and produce a whole track and mix it down - nice.
http://www.flstudio.com | |  |
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Audacity
An excellent open source audio editor and recorder capable of all sorts of processing and filtering. Really simple to use, really good, available for every platform and completely free.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ | |  |
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Buzz
Weird little "machine" based program which is essentially a "Tracker" in the old fashioned Amiga sense, some people love it. It is a very capable program if you can be bothered to learn it. Check out some of the music links for examples of what's possible. http://www.buzzmachines.com | |  |
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ASIA
Cool wave editor. Does all the usual audio editing and has a couple of effects and stuff. Simple but does the job. ASIA doesn't look like they still exist but the download is there :) | |  |
