Leaderboard

The latest one has patches from the new Multiphonics CV-1 Currents soundpack. https://www.applied-acoustics.com/swatches/ 640 high quality sounds, and they ain't kidding about the high quality.

Cakewalk 2022.11 Update 1 Early Access [Updated to Build 21] Update Dec 1 2022: 2022.11 Update 1 (build 28.11.0.021) Enhancements: Quick group support for track effect bin Delete command Delete All now available in effect bin menus Improved app startup and shutdown performance when running on local network without internet or with a slow internet connection Improved project load performance Show clip stretch amount to 2 decimal places Bug fixes: Crash when quick group bypassing FX Chains when other effects are in the bin Don't require SHIFT for quick-group recursing FX Chains, if you're invoking from an effect already within ProChannel FX Chain Quick group delete (CTRL+SHIFT) FX Chains across multiple tracks fails to remove the plugin instance in the other track FX chains Quick group replace/delete (CTRL+SHIFT) effect from track effects bin should also affect ProChannel FX chain Quick Group insert FX into ProChannel FX Rack inserts into track bin instead Additional support for quick grouping in FX Chains Incorrect plugin menu behavior ProChannel can be empty after inserting a new audio track

A Curated List of the Best Free Sample Libraries (for free sample players) and Free Soft Synths All libraries have been reviewed and a brief review is listed for each library. Finding free sample libraries is easy these days. Finding really high quality sample libraries that sound good and play well is a lot more challenging. It commonly means sorting through a lot of -- I'll be kind -- less than great sample libraries. That's why I thought it would be helpful to the community to create a curated list of RECOMMENDED free sample libraries that play in a free sample players. This list only includes libraries that I have used and find worthy of recommendation. Many of these libraries, while very good to excellent, often aren't meticulously detailed and ingeniously scripted like better paid sample libraries. But that level of detail may not even matter for your purposes. I invite others to post libraries that play in free sample players that they have used and can personally recommend. I'll update this list periodically and welcome suggestions for making it more convenient for people. I've also added free soft synths and invite others to add and discuss their favorites, likes and dislikes. Of course, my choices reflect my style, personal taste and the genres I play, so I hope we can get recommendations from others in order to represent a wide range of styles/genres. I mostly play rock, so if you play/produce other styles, we can especially use your input. ⭐ =Highly recommended favorites. ⭐ ⭐ =My highest recommendation. RECOMMENDED FREE SAMPLE LIBRARIES PIANOS SonicCouture Hammersmith Free ⭐⭐ A beautiful grand piano sample library. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p322-hammersmith-free/ VSL Soft Imperial ⭐⭐ This is a gorgeous Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano sample library that I would have been happy with had I paid for it. It is an intimate piano meant for softer playing. FORMAT: FREE VSL Synchron Player https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Free_Instruments/Soft_Imperial SoundPaint 1928 Vintage Steinway Grand Piano and Sampler ⭐⭐ A high quality grand piano sample library with a nice variety of patches. The SoundPaint sample player enables you to easily create your own patches/programs and delve into sound design possibilities and arpeggiator patterns . FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE) https://soundpaint.com/ The Creative Toolbox Piano ⭐⭐ A Steinway & Sons B-211 Grand Piano with 3 microphone positions. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/the-creative-toolbox-piano.html Estate Grand Piano from Production Voices(for the free Sforzando player) ⭐⭐ This is a high quality developer that I am a customer of and I find makes excellent piano sample libraries and this is a really nice piano. FREE/Donationware FORMAT; SFZ https://www.productionvoices.com/estate-grand-le-for-sforzando/ Heavyocity Foundations Piano ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful, soft grand piano with great effects. A must have, IMO. I recommend downloading every free library in the series. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-piano/ Sonic Atoms Novel Piano ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful warm sounding urpight piano with some great, very creative patches. It made me a fan of this developer and a customer. FORMAT: FREE HALION SONIC SE PLAYER https://sonicatoms.com/novel-piano/ The Experience Fazoli Piano ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled Fazoli grand piano. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-experience-fazioli-f308/ The Experience Yamaha S6 Grand Piano ⭐ ⭐ One of the best piano libraries on Pianobook. A beautiful sounding, well sampled Yamaha S6 grand piano. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-experience-yamaha-s6/ Mason Hamlin Model A Piano ⭐ ⭐ A beautifully sounding, beautifully sampled Mason Hamlin grand piano. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/mason-hamlin-model-a/ Isolation Piano - Tubes and Tape ⭐ ⭐ I use the KONTAKT version and I love it and consider it one of the best pianos on Pianobook, arguably the best. It’s a sampled Model O Steinway grand piano. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/isolation-piano-tubes-tape/ Soft Piano (Spiifire Labs) ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful, gentle upright felt piano. FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE) https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest Reel to Reel Tape Piano ⭐ ⭐ This comes from David Hilowitz, the very generous artist and developer behind Decent sampler. It's a very lofi, retro piano sample library that captures that kind of Mellotron vibe that I love. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.decentsamples.com/product/reel-to-reel-tape-piano/ Triple Felt Experiment ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful sounding felt piano from Christian Henson. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/triple-felt-experiment/ Death Piano Prepared Piano from Production Voices (for the free Sforzando player) ⭐ ⭐ I love this library. It is a prepared grand piano and the KONTAKT version has a reverse patch that I really enjoy. FREE/Donationware FORMAT; SFZ https://www.productionvoices.com/death-piano-le/ Spring Piano by Christian Henson ⭐ An very nice intimate upright piano. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/spring-piano/ Manthey Klaviano (PIANO) ⭐ This is a very nice sounding basic upright piano. It sounds like your average piano you’d see in a middle class home or at a school. It’s not a sophisticated sounding piano. I really like its humble character. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER, SFZ https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/manthey-klaviano/ StraIght Ahead Samples: The Real Piano ⭐ A 1903 Chickering grand piano, 6 microphone positions w/ user-controlled interface. A character piano with a vintage vibe. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.straightaheadsamples.com/the-real-piano [Added 11/08/2023] Yamaha Grand Palm Mute ⭐ If you’re looking for grand piano palm mutes, you should enjoy these. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/yamaha-palm-mutes/ Claustrophobic Piano by Christian Henson ⭐ A very nice dark, intimate character piano. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/claustrophobic-piano/ Sterzov The Felt Seiler ⭐ A very nice felted piano library. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/the-felt-seiler-free-edition.html Prepared Staccota Cartoon Piano It's a one-trick pony that does what is says on the tin. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/prepared-staccato-cartoon-piano/ VOCALS / CHOIRS Orchestratools: Manifold ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful sample library of male and female singers singing oohs and aahs and some unusual vocal sounds too. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER, Sine Factory https://www.orchestraltools.com/sinefactory Micah's Choir ⭐ ⭐ I love this library. The samplist who made it has a great deal of talent. It's a male soloist, but you can play it polyphonically. The singer's tone is beautiful. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER (also available for Spitfire Labs) https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/micahs-choir/ SonicCouture Tape Choir ⭐ ⭐ A retro choir patch that sounds a lot like the choir pad sounds on the 70s 10CC song, "I'm Not In Love." If I had a good voice, I would use this to cover the song. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/18-exclusive-free-content/p170-tape-choir/ Spitfire Labs Choir ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful choir recorded at Air Studios in London. https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/choir Heavyocity Emotive Choir ⭐ ⭐ A beautifully sampled choir. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://heavyocity.com/product/emotive-choir New House Choir A lofi choir patch reminiscent of 10CC’s “I’m Not in Love” vocal pads but more church choir-ish. https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/new-house-choir/ DRUMS Steven Slate Drums 5.5 Free ⭐ ⭐ A high quality, production ready rock drum kit. I think this is the best-sounding, deep sampled free acoustic drum plugin on the market. It includes a mixer and beats. It's a no-brainer to install and download, IMO. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/#SSD5FREE BFD Player ⭐ ⭐ I think this is easily one of the best FREE acoustic drum plugins on the market, but I don't really love the presets and I'm not in love with the sound of the snare drum samples, so I'm only giving this two stars as a freebie. Personally, I deleted it from my hard drive shortly after going through the sounds and trying it in a production. The snare drum sounds thin and the heavy effects on most of the presets overwhelm the snare, it just gets lost in the mix. Still, these are 5GB of deep sampled drums with a built in mixer -- it's not extensive, but you can always route the outputs to use your own effects and mix the drums exactly as you like, and that's a pretty nice option for a free deep sampled acoustic drum kit; but it's also a bit of work. BFD Player also works with a large number of electronic drum kits and features more than 300 beats. I don't think it sounds as good or as professional as Steven Slate Drums, but it has enough going for it for a free drum plugin, that I'm still giving it my highest rating. Download it and judge for yourself. https://www.bfddrums.com/drum-software/bfd-player.html The Creative Toolbox: Drums and Percussion ⭐ ⭐ An acoustic drum kit, two drum machines (Roland TR08 and Behringer RD6) and percussion (bongos, congas, castanets, shakers, agogo, clave, chimes, cowbell and rototoms. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/the-creative-toolbox-drums-and-percussion.html IK Modo Drum Kit 1.5 ⭐ ⭐ A realy nice sounding hybrid modeled/sampled drum kit. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/mododrum/#nl_form_area Spitfire Labs Drums and VIntage Drums ⭐ ⭐ I love the sound of this drum library. The only down side is that it only has two toms. The 1975 kit also sounds really good and has three toms. FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE) https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest Orange Tree Samples free Funk Drum Kit Sample Library ⭐ ⭐ A nice little jazz/funk drum kit. It sounds good. FORMAT; SFZ https://www.orangetreesamples.com/blog/free-jazz-funk-drum-sample-library Soft Drums ⭐ This is a really nice, very usable traditional drum kit sample library. The drums are hit softly using Promark Broomsticks, which gives a sound like when a rock drummer plays hard with brushes, giving the drums a thwack type sound! I think these would be very useful for indie or folk rock. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/soft-drums/ Lorenzo's Drums ⭐ I love this small drum kit. It just has a great sound to it. The caveat is that the hi hat doesn't close properly. If you can deal with that, I think the sound of this is really special. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/lorenzos-drums-v1/ ML Drums Free A complete drum kit using the developer's plugin. FORMAT: Developer's Proprietary Plugin https://ml-sound-lab.com/products/ml-drums-free Drum Gizmo This entry is the exception to the rest of the list. I haven't used this library. It was recommended to me by a very talented KONTAKT developer who uses it. Based on his recommendation, I am adding it to the list. Drum Giznmo is a drum sample player system and a series of acoustic drum sample libraries. I am told that they are good to very quality. Note that the kits are unprocessed, so you'll need to apply your own effects, which is desirable for some and less desirable for others. https://www.drumgizmo.org/wiki/doku.php?id=start ELECTRIC PIANOS Fracture Sounds: Blueprint Electric Keys ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful, and well-sampled 1969 Rhodes Mark I Electric Piano library that's, unquestionably, good enough to be a paid library. It allows you to adjust the key noise. It doesn't have a bunch of presets, but it lets you choose between direct input and amped and has controls for stereo spread, reverb, chorus, and atmosphere. It's pretty obvious to see the developer's rationale for giving this away free. Once you use it, you'll be interested in their other libraries. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT 7 Player https://fracturesounds.com/product/blueprint-electric-keys/ The Electro-Acoustic ⭐⭐ Samples of an acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes electric piano layered. I love the sound! FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER (Also Available for the Full Version of KONTAKT) https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-electro-acoustic-piano/ Sonokinetic EMP Mark II ⭐ A Rhodes Mark II electric piano. Excellent quality sampling and it sounds very good. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT 7 Player https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/contemporary/emp/ Electric V LE from Production Voices (for the free Sforzando player ⭐ A very well-sampled Rhodes Mark V. FREE/Donationware FORMAT: SFZ https://www.productionvoices.com/product/electric-v-le/ Worlitzer ⭐ Anyone who knows me at this forum is probably aware of my love of Wurli / Wurlitzer electric pianos. For a free sample library, this is really nice done and contains several patches.The samplist that made this clearly put some heart into it and it shows. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/worlitzer/ Wurli A modest Wurli library. It really misses the dynamics that make a Wurli so special, but it otherwise, does have that trademark Wurli sound, but seems like a one velocity layer instrument. FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE) https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest Anne-Marie The Hohner T ⭐ A nice sampled Honer T, just try it. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/anne-marie-the-hohner-t/ GUITARS and BASS IK MODO Bass ⭐⭐ This isn't a sample library, it's a modeled bass plugin, but it sounds very good, and is lightweight. It emulates a 1960's Fender Precision Bass. For free, I think this is highest quality choice for an electric bass guitar. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PLUGIN https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/modobass2/?pkey=modo-bass-2-cs Heavyocity Foundations Nylon Guitar ⭐ A beautiful-sounding nylon guitar. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-nylon-guitar/ Ample Guitar M Lite ⭐ I don't actually use this, as I primarily use Orange Tree Samples libraries and sometimes supplement them with NI's Session Guitarist when I'm first working on a song. But I have tried it and can recommend it as a free instrument. It's an excellent quality free plugin/sample library and in my experience, it's the best quality free acoustic guitar library available. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=7 Ample Bass P Lite ⭐ For sampled electric and acoustic bass guitars, I'm completely set with Orange Tree Samples libraries, but I have tried this out and think for free, it's the best quality free electric bass library that I am aware of. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=19 RJS Electric Guitar ⭐ A sampled Stratocaster electric guitar with the following patches: long notes with vibrato, palm muted notes, dead notes and feedback. Impressive. https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/rjs-guitar/ MELLOTRON Plogue Sforzatron (Mellotron Sample Library) ⭐ ⭐ Some of the most popular Mellotron samples including cello, celli, strings, flute, woodwind sections, string sections, choir, pads, koto, and steel drums. The sample libraries were taken from the fantastic and freely distributed Taji Guy Mellotron samples that have been available online for two decades. This is easily as good as a commercial Mellotron library. In fact, if this wasn't free and I paid, say $35 USD for the library, I would be extremely satisfied with my purchase. This is one of my all time favorite freebies. FORMAT: Sforzando https://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando-banks.html ORCHESTRAL BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover ⭐ ⭐ A complete orchestra that sounds very good. It's not up to the level of a paid high end orchestral library, but it's amazingly good for a completely free orchestral library and it is pretty small in size in terms of data and won't tax on your computer resources. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover The Free Orchestra by PROJECTSAM ⭐ ⭐ A collection of orchestral related libraries including a choir, strings, and organ. It all sounds beautiful. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra/ The Free Orchestra 2 a by PROJECTSAM ⭐ ⭐ Project Sam's Free Orchestra series continues as each month, starting in late 2023, they've been releasing a new free library for their Free Orchestra 2 collection. As I write this, they're on month two and have strings and brass. Everything this developer puts out his very high quality. Their freebies, IMO, are must-haves. Great stuff. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-2 VSL Big Bang Orchestra ⭐ ⭐ Looking for large orchestrations with huge sounding tutti layers? Staccatos, sustains, marcatos, swells and runs -- if you're looking for the bombastic sound of a big orchestra, I think you're going to be pretty happy with this. FORMAT: Developer's FREE Propietary Player https://www.vsl.co.at/en/BBO_Map/BBO ORGANS Sonuscore Pipe Organ ⭐ ⭐ It contains several pipe organ patches that sound really nice. I love this freebie. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://sonuscore.com/shop/free-pipe-organ/ Sonokinetic Carousel Organ ⭐ ⭐ If you want a carousel organ, you're in luck! It sounds great and it's a lot of fun to play around with. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/instruments/carousel/ Collab3 ⭐ This is a Hammond B3 emulation and I snuck this in because I picked this up a while back and just thought it was really good for a free B3 emulation with a Leslie rotary speaker effect. B3 perfectionists won't be satisfied, but it sounds really good and for the price (free), I don't think anything matches it. Listen to it yourself. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLUGIN https://sampleson.com/collab3-free-tonewheel-organ.html Cassette Tape Organ A lofi cassette recording of a Wurlitzer organ that has a very Mellotron type vibe to it. I absolutely love this library. A lot of samplists attempt to get that Mellotron lofi vibe and, IMO, most don't hit the mark. This one does. Very well executed. https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/cassette-tape-organ/ PERCUSSION World Colors Clar-Duduk by Evolution Series ⭐ ⭐ A very well sampled clar-duduk library. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.evolutionseries.com/product/world-colors-clar-duduk SONIXENIMA Christmas Bells ⭐ ⭐ Three different-sized sleigh bells, multiple round robins, 3 preset rhythms; this is a nice little freebie. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://sonixinema.com/products/christmas-bells Orchestratools: Gearbox ⭐ ⭐ A collection of studio percussion instruments including various drums, tambourine, claps, congas, etc. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER, Sine Factory https://www.orchestraltools.com/sinefactory Hunter's Percussion - World ⭐ ⭐ A really nicely sampled set of percussion instruments. Djembe, conga, bongo, udu and various taiko drums. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER (also available for the full version of KONTAKT) https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/hunters-percussion-world/ VSL Small Percussion ⭐ ⭐ A nicely done library of various small percussion instruments including: boobams, tambourine, woodblocks, castanets, claves, caxixi, shaker, , splash, triangle, finger cymbals and crotales. FORMAT: FREE VSL Synchron Player https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Free_Instruments/Small_Percussion STRINGS Orchestratools: Helix ⭐ ⭐ A string ensemble library featuring sustains and spiccatos from combined solo violins with violas, celli, and basses. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER, Sine Factory https://www.orchestraltools.com/sinefactory Heavyocity Foundations Staccato Strings ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful, soft grand piano with great effects. A must have, IMO. I recommend downloading every free library in the series. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-staccato-strings/ STREZOV MINIMALIST VIOLIN LEGATO STRINGS ⭐ ⭐ A chamber string ensemble playing flautando with poco vibrato. Features auto divisi combined with Polyphonic True Legato. Sounds beautiful. https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/afflatus-freebie.html NFO CHAMBER STRING LONGS ⭐ ⭐ Chamber strings longs and drones. Excellent. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/nfo-alternative-chamber-strings/ NFO CHAMBER STRING SHORTS ⭐ ⭐ Short chamber string staccatos. Excellent. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/nfo-alternative-chamber-strings-shorts/ Spitfire Labs Strings and Strings 2 ⭐ ⭐ The first Strings libraries has soft, slow moving ensemble strings. Strings 2 features additional articulations, pizzicato, bartok pizz and swells ensembles. Spitfire really knows how to create quality string libraries and it's evident even in this free library. FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE) https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest Cello Moods ⭐⭐ While this library -- and none of the Spitfire Labs libraries -- have a bunch of velocity layers I would expect in a paid library, it sounds beautiful and for a free library, is well worth having. FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE) https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?types=strings&sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest Spitfire Labs Scary Strings, Frozen Strings, Amplified Cello Quartet, Artic Swells, Tape Orchestra, Harmonic Flights ⭐⭐ These are all interesting and worth downloading, IMO, I think I bought some of these back when they were selling for $5USD each and if they were back at $5 each, I would still recommend them. FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE) https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest Soft String Spurs Dan Keen ⭐ ⭐ A collection of three beautiful viola libraries. I use the KONTAKT version. IMO, one of the best string libraries on Pianobook, if not the best. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/soft-string-spurs/ VSL Big Bang Orchestra, Celestial Strings and Violin Runs ⭐ ⭐ Very nice orchestral string libraries. FORMAT: FREE VSL Synchron Player https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Product_Overview/Free_Instruments Firefly Strings A thick analog strings sound that sounds like it was mixed with a pipe organ and I’m a sucker for pipe organs. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/firefly-strings/ SYNTHS (sampled) Arturia Analog Lab Play ⭐ ⭐ 100 patches from various Arturia plugins. Organs, synths, piano...This is a great, must have plugin. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.arturia.com/products/software-instruments/analoglab/free (added 11/06/23) Syntronik 2 CS ⭐ ⭐ 100 patches and 2.4 GB of vintage synth goodness. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/syntronik2/?pkey=syntronik-2-cs Native Instruments: Analog Dreams ⭐ ⭐ 3.6 GBs of vintage analog synth sounds. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/play-series/analog-dreams/ Heavyocity Foundations Synth Bass ⭐ ⭐ Good sounding analog synth bass with ARPs. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-synth-bass/ Asimov ⭐ ⭐ I love this collection of 15 Synthwave/Retrowave presets. As the samplist states, the presets have a "cinematic touch." FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/asimov/ Beat Zampler and Free Synth Libraries ⭐ From the publisher of the German magazine Beat (there’s an English version too), Zampler is a free sampler and contains several very nice free synth libraries that mostly have a 90s vibe to them. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.zampler.de/ Isometra Venus Theory ⭐ It comes from a talented patch maker and YouTuber and it’s a distorted analogy electric piano-ish library and I like it a lot and the GUI lets you easily modify the library and I have gotten good results very quickly. Well done. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.decentsamples.com/product/isometra-by-venus-theory/ Organic Orchestra Venus Theory ⭐ A slow attack pad with a sound that seems like rain. It basically sounds like you’re in a rain forest. It’s very new-age-ish. Dead serious, if you’re into ASMR or looking for the kinds of sounds that you here in the music while playing Minecraft, this would be a really good choice. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.decentsamples.com/product/organic-orchestra-free-edition-by-venus-theory/ Malevolence Venus Theory ⭐ Just my opinion, but I would recommend downloading everything Venus Theory uploads. He’s talented. This contains synth pads and basses and it’s good. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://venustheory.com/product/876165 TUNED PERCUSSION Cinematique Instruments Alto Glockenspiel ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled instrument. FORMAT: FREE HALION SONIC SE PLAYER https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/alto-glockenspiel/ Cinesamples Tongue Drum ⭐ ⭐ A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled tongue drum that is a joy to play. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://cinesamples.com/product/tongue-drum Smiley Drum (Tongue Drum) ⭐ ⭐ An unusual-sounding tongue drum with a bright, crisp clank to it. It's quite different from the character of the Cinesamples Tongue Drum and the SoundPaint sampler gives you an arpeggiator and excellent effects to delve into sound design possibilities. FORMAT: FREE SOUNDPAINT PLAYER https://soundpaint.com/products/smiley-drum?variant=42680673173675 Cinesamples Create Series: Toy Xylo ⭐ A children's xylophone. Sounds great. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://cinesamples.com/product/create-series-toy-xylo Cinesamples Create Series: Kalimba ⭐ Sounds great. If you love the sound of the Kalimba, download it! FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://cinesamples.com/product/create-series-kalimba Cinesamples Mister Rogers Celeste ⭐⭐ A sweet celeste that was used on the American children television show Mister Rogers Neighborhood (1968-2001) FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://store.cinesamples.com/products/mister-rogers-celeste SoundPaint Polyphon ⭐⭐ I had no idea what the heck a Polyphon is. It turns out it's an ancient music box -- and I love music boxes. It sounds lovely and the sound design patches and possibilities for you to adjust this to whatever is in your imagination are virtually endless. https://soundpaint.com/products/polyphon?variant=42942318969003#specifications SonicCoture Music Boxes ⭐ ⭐ Two music boxes from a superb sample developer for free. If you like the sound of music boxes, just get it. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p43-music-boxes/ Spring Chimes ⭐ ⭐ This glorious library takes 14 existing Pianobook bell and mallet libraries and layers them together and the result is absolutely wonderful. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/spring-chimes/ Gentle Vibes ⭐ ⭐ A well sampled vibraphone played softly with soft, medium and hard mallets. I am a sucker for a nice vibraphone or glockenspiel library and this is very nice. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/gentle-vibes/ SoundPaint Copperphone ⭐ ⭐ Somewhere in between bells and a marimba, this is a lovely-sounding tuned percussion instrument played hard mallets, soft mallets, wooden mallets, fingernails, and a distinct muted option. It's another instrument from SoundPaint where it's surprising it's free. SoundPaint always provides a great deal of patches with their instruments and the sound design patches and the ability to easily program your own creations. FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE) https://soundpaint.com/products/copperphone?variant=42692692869291 Vintage Glockenspiel ⭐ A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled instrument. I love the tone of this glockenspiel library. There are some imperfections with the library, but it's a keeper for me. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/vintage-glockenspiel/ Yamaha Glockenspiel ⭐ A nice sounding glockenspiel with every note sampled and two dynamic layers. It's well sampled, but, unfortunately, lacks round robins. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/yamaha-glockenspiel/ Schulmerich Handbells ⭐ A nicely sampled handbell lbrary made by Jon Meyer, a member of Pianobook who has produced some very good sample libraries. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/schulmerich-handbells/ Wineglass Tool Kit ⭐ This is much more than straight wine glass samples. The samplist created 5 patches from samples of wine glasses: melodic ‘ping’; a soft pad; a set of percussive sounds; a synth; and a textural pad. FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/wine-glass-tool-kit/ Mini African Xylophone True to its name. A nice little library. https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/mini-african-xylophone-max/ Ample Sound Cloud Drum A beautiful sounding steel tongue drum sample library contained in Ample Sounds own plugin. https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=27 Harpsimachord A 1970s two-manual, three-rank (8/8/4) Douglas Van Dyck Brown harpsichord sample library. The samples have noise that a pro samplist would have cleaned up and I hope someday the samplist denoises the samples, but I still love this library. https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/harpsimachord/ BRASS / WOODWINDS Distant Brass This isn’t a realistic-sounding brass library, it’s very lofi and I think it’s pretty cool. I don’t do hip hop music, I sound bad enough singing rock, but if I did do hip hop, I think this could be especially useful. https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/distant-brass/ MULTIPLE INSTRUMENT PACKAGES These are multiple sample libraries from a developer that include different sampled instruments. Native Instruments KOMPLETE START ⭐⭐ If you’re on a tight budget or no budget, download this. If you don’t have anything from Native Instruments, you need to! These guys make argubly the best multisampler on the market. I own the full version of KOMPLETE, and outside of my DAW, it's the most important music-related software I own. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/komplete-start/ SoundPaint Sampler and Various Free Instruments ⭐⭐ The beauty of SoundPaint is that things load fast, its effects sound great, it's a lot of fun to use and you can easily create your own programs/patches. If KONTAKT, UVI or SampleTank have this level of capabilities to create your own presets, I'm not aware of it. I've heard developers compare it to Omnisphere. There's a grand piano, tuned percussion and a number of ambient libraries for free. You can easily layer the various libraries. It's a great sound design playground FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE) https://soundpaint.com/ Spitfire Labs and Freebies ⭐ ⭐ If you haven’t already downloaded them, go do it… Guitars, bass, pianos, electric pianos, drum kits, strings, brass, woodwinds, synths, vocals/choris, orchestra instruments, percussion, tuned percussion… Get them all! FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.spitfireaudio.com/pages/free-instruments SampleTank 4 CS ⭐ ⭐ 50 sample libraries that all sound good and professional. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/st4cs/?pkey=sampletank-4-cs VSL HELLO Free Instruments ⭐ ⭐ Excellent strings and orchestral libraries and a gorgeous free piano that I love that quickly became one of my favorite sampled pianos, Soft Imperial. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Product_Overview/Free_Instruments Orchestral Tools Sine Player and Instruments ⭐ ⭐ Piano, bass, drums, strings… Some very nice, beautifully sampled libraries in the developer’s proprietary sampler plugin. FORMAT: DEVELOPER'S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER https://www.orchestraltools.com/store/get-sine Stezov Diamond Jazz ⭐ A free set of instruments including a free upright piano that sounds really nice, a nice upright bass and saxophone libraries. The sax libraries are meh. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/Diamond-jazz-trio.html Sonixinema Assorted freebies - vocals, cello, acoustic bass, violin, medicine drum... I like these taster libraries, they're high quality but you're only getting one articulation of a library and it really isn't enough to pull off a performance with the sampled instrument. FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER https://sonixinema.com/collections/freebies AMBIENT SoundPaint Adastra Ambiences ⭐ ⭐ A gorgeous set of patches of string-based ambient sounds. Violins, violas, cellos and basses. With nearly 2GB, this is a library I easily would have paid for if it weren't free. FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE) https://soundpaint.com/products/adastra-ambiences?variant=42905988366507 SoundPaint Free Angels ⭐ ⭐ Over 7GBs of ambient sounds including drones, vocals, marimba, guitar, piano, bells, synths, ukuleles, risers, etc. FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE) https://soundpaint.com/products/free-angels?variant=39295526502571 Free ASMR ⭐ ⭐ Nearly 9GB of ASMR type sounds. This is really different and it's easy to find yourself playing around with this library. There are a good deal of synth sounds, human whispers, papery crunches, woody rattles, metallic scrapes and more. If you're looking for ASMR sounds, this is a no-brainer. FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE) https://soundpaint.com/products/free-asmr?variant=39295531352235#parts FREE SAMPLE LIBRARIES FROM PIANOBOOK Pianobook has many KONTAKT (paid version) free mutisample libraries and Decent Sampler (free) mutisample sample libraries. I wanted to create a list of their free Decent Sampler libraries I find worth recommending. These are often smaller, simpler sample libraries than the ones made for KONTAKT. https://www.decentsamples.com/product-category/publishers/decent-samples/ Free Decent Sampler Formated Sample Libraries on Pianobook I made this list when going through each library opened in my DAW, so you’ll need to search Pianobook to find them. Simply use the site’s search function with the library name. I’ll try to update this later and add links in the future. Busy Bee Analog Oscilator A nice simple analog synth patch, actually two, one is lofi and I like it. Classic Dance Synth This is your classic 80s House Piano sound. If that’s what you’re looking for, download and install this. Cream Soda Atmos Pad Antoher very pad that I like that has a very slow attac. Guffland Ukulele This isn’t an Orange Tree Samples kind of detailed sample library. It’s very simple. But the ukulele has a lovely tone. Ideal Bouzouki Nice, simple. Worth installing. Multiple articulations. I love the plucked and fingered patch. If you’re not concerned about emulating the sampled instrument, the plucked and fingered patch has a harpsichord like quality about it. Melodic Ping - Wine Glass Tool Kit Nicely sampled wine glass hits. Mixing Bowl ⭐ It sounds cool. It’s bold. It’s fun. I like it. Musical Stones It’s basically a xylophone featuring stones. It’s nice but the samples are a bit noisy. Still I like the character of the tone of the instrument and the noise doesn’t put me off as I see it as a bit lofi. Rob’s Andean Quena Flute Think lofi Mellotron flute. I really like this. Saraswati Vena Simple, nice. I like it. Shivering Keys A really interesting lofi analog piano that almost sounds like it could work in a horror soundtrack, but I think it’s slightly too sweet for that. Shivering Waves A lofi pad that sounds a bit like Shivering Keys in a pad. Signals Sound effects that are perfect for sci-fi. St Kathrin’s Bell It sounds great, like a church bell. But there’s a lot of noise in the samples. Synimer ⭐ A very 80s/synthwave-type pad that sounds very good. I don’t know the song, but it sounds a lot like the synth pad from one of the songs in the 80s movie, “Breakfast Club.” Timpani Hits Nicely sampled, good sounding timpani hits. RECOMMENDED FREE SOFT SYNTH PLUGINS Vital ⭐⭐ VItal is a free spectral warping wavetable synth and it is superb. I like it better than most of my paid synths. If you use soft synths, this is a must have, a total no-brainer. There is a paid version for $25 USD with 250 presets and another version for $80 USD with more than 400 presets. All of them are well recommended by the community. But the free version works with third-party presets that you can find at the site's forum and all over the interwebs. Just stop right now and get this! Also, see below for my link to site with tons of free patches / presets for VITAL and other soft synths. https://vital.audio/ Surge XT ⭐⭐ While Vital is my absolute favorite free soft synth, and maybe my favorite soft synth period, Surge is my second favorite free soft synth. It is a hybrid synthesizer. Roger Linn uses it -- and you can get it for free. Why are you still reading this??? Just get it!!! https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ Helm ⭐⭐ A great sounding virtual analog synth. https://tytel.org/helm/ SynthMaster Player ⭐⭐ I love it! I started with Synthmaster Player and ended up buying their Synthmaster One and Synthmaster Two synths. https://www.kv331audio.com/synthmasterplayer.aspx Pendulate ⭐⭐ All things music related are subjective, but monosynth just sounds great to my ears and if you don't agree, you're clearly wrong. https://www.eventideaudio.com/plug-ins/pendulate/ Togu TAL-Noisemaker ⭐⭐ This free analog modeled soft synth has been around a long time, but it still sounds good to my ears. I'd call it a classic. There are a lot of really nice free presets for it. https://tal-software.com/ Synth 1 ⭐⭐ This is another classic virtual analog soft synth that's been around a long time, but is still worth having. There's a ton presets spread over the internet. https://daichilab.sakura.ne.jp/softsynth/index.html u-he Zebrelette ⭐⭐ u-he has a lot of hardcore fans of their soft synths showering praise on their soft synths, and they're worthy of that praise. https://u-he.com/products/zebralette/ Crystal ⭐⭐ Another older soft synth. It may not sound as modern as some of the others, but I still love it. https://www.greenoak.com/crystal/dnld2.html Dexed FM Plugin Synth ⭐ A soft synth closely modeled on the Yamaha DX7. If you like the sound of the DX7, you'll like this. https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ discoDSP - OB-Xd - An Oberheim Inspired Virtual Analog Synthesizer https://www.discodsp.com/obxd/ Cherry Audio Surrealistic MG-1 Plus | An emulation of a vintage Moog synth sold at Radio Shack. https://cherryaudio.com/products/surrealistic-mg-1-plus Voltage Modular Nucleus | Cherry Audio A free modular synth. It's not very intuitive, but what I've figured out sounds pretty good! https://store.cherryaudio.com/bundles/voltage-modular-nucleus kiloHearts One I bought this synth before they made it free. It's basic, but nice. https://kilohearts.com/docs/download_and_installation#khs_one BONUS: Free Presets / Patches for Vital and Other Soft Synths ⭐⭐ This site has a collection of presets / patches for Vital and many other soft synths and you'll find some very nice ones there that rival and even surpass the quality of patches in banks I've purchased. Warning though, this site has fresh patches for Vital up several times a week and it's easy to become addicted! https://presetshare.com/ This list will be regularly updated. I've also created a list of my favorite free sample libraries for KONTAKT:

That's what we thought too when we first landed on Earth.

https://sonuscore.com/shop/the-glow-bundle/ coupon code "CWGB2022" at checkout ro-ki, lo-ki, ha-pi bundle / full kontakt ends 6.12.2022

Count down to Christmas with a new free Sample Pack every day https://www.pianobook.co.uk/

^^ yeah, this! It's sometimes those little things just all add up to being huge time-savers with your workflow over the hours you spend on a project.

That's exactly what I've found. I've downloaded many of the pianos there and found a fair amount of them have a lot of noise and other issues. The libraries are often made by musicians trying their hand at sampling and coding for their first time, so you need to set your expectations accordingly. But sometimes you can find some really wonderful libraries there. I think it's worth the effort. It's a great and inspiring ccommunity of very generous musicians giving away their work fof free -- and some are paid, to make the venture profitable for Spitfire (to be realistic, having this site and huge files costs money, so I think that's completely reasonable-- I just love that. I created a thread in the past sharing my favorite Pianobook libraries and others joined in, if anyone is interested and wants to search for it. I would be game to update it if anyone thinks it would be helpful and save them time. Just let me know.

Well, given the fact that I am the probably worlds biggest Genesis -> Gabriel - >Collins* -> Banks -> Rutherford -> Hackette fan (in that exact order!!) .. I will most defiantly 110% be getting this so I can pretend I am working in the same room as they did. But I am in no hurry. I got lots of toys. I will wait it out until the next group buy. (* everything except Tarzan and Dance into the Light. WTF were you thinking Phill!!)

$25 Gets the whole sha-bang https://www.humblebundle.com/software/vegas-pro-2022-software

I purchased Aurora Choir (Aria Sounds), 'cos I thought it would be a good deal. Yes, the price was/is fine, but the product seems to be not worth even $1! I worked a couple of hours on a choir passage (to no avail), but the bounced audio was totally out of sync! Absolutly unusable! (I have begun to align the syllables manually then with crossfades and bouncing, time-killing and mad!) First I noticed that the overall volume of the choir was too low. A look at the samples revealed that the close, ribbon and mid microphones were almost quiet (-45 to -50 dB). Only the room microphone has an acceptable, minor volume. Also, there are a lot of volume inconsistences in the samples, i.e. you have to play with velocities for a satisfying result (time-consuming). Another thing that worried me were terrible artifacts in some syllables at certain velocities. Not to forget that the installation was a nightmare, 'cos the package of 9 rar's could not be extracted with 7zip. After a lot of time I was successful with winrar. After 2 frustrating days I cannot recommend this instrument to anyone, but YMMV! Just be warned!

This uses the AAS PLAYER where you can play and listen but not edit. Which is great for free. If you want to edit Multiphonics CV-1 & get Currents sound pack also - all for $49 ( Multiphonics alone normally $99 ) then: https://www.applied-acoustics.com/promo/ I have Multiphonics CV-1 Modular Synth .. really like it. Zillions of great presets so even if you are not a Modular techie you can still get a lot out of it and beyond the AAS player you can tweak the presets a little to your satisfaction without getting bogged down in wires

Run Softube Central to update

Joe, I couldn't find the thread I made several months ago, but it had a lot of KONTAKT sample libraries for the paid player. Sometime today or this weekend, I'm going to put together a list of sample libraries I recommend from Pianobook and elsewhere that are free and can be used in a free player. I've already started on it and will keep a document for future use this time. I'll invite others to share their recommended libraries. The idea is that everything will be recommendations. Libraries we've actually used, so hopefully, it will save you time finding the best free libraries and I've started making the list and it's pretty nice with a lot of variety and sources from Pianobook and far beyond. I'll tag you when I put it up!

Thanks a lot for the improved FX handling (replace, delete all, quick group)! This is a real time saver and so convenient, one of the best new features over the old Sonar! 👍

https://www.caelumaudio.com/CaelumAudio/?Page=roastbeef This holiday-themed distortion unit is light on controls but big on sound. The three knobs are labeled sub, noise, and drive, and their function is clearly labeled. Sub focuses on sub and bass frequencies, adding some needed heft and harmonics to the low end. The sound of the low-end focus sounded comparable to Tone Project’s free Basslane. It lacks the stereo width controls for making the bass mono, but it certainly seems to pull and focus the low end to the ear. The character of the low end is pleasant, and it can easily go to growling extremes when pushed to maximum value. Noise uses fixed-rate modulation to introduce some grit to the sound. Like Goodhertz’s Tupe, the noise knob acts less like a noise generator and more like increasingly intense modulation to further distort the signal. This worked best on basses, synthesized and live, adding some intrigue and presence to an otherwise low-end heavy sound. The final control, Drive, is exactly what it says on the tin. Drive acts as an overdrive circuit and provides a massive wideband boost to the gain of a signal. With up to 35dB of gain on tap, Roast Beef’s drive control can certainly cook a signal to well beyond crispiness. Sadly missing from the drive section is some form of tone control, but this is present in the full paid version of Caelum’s own Beef. Roast Beef is free until December 16th, with the plugin becoming a paid plugin at the retail price of $0.99.

We should also have a second list collecting low cost sample libraries for those who are willing to spend a little. This should also include offerings for full Kontakt. Criteria could be: 1. Unique, innovative or high-quality stuff for a budget. 2. Less than 30 bucks a pop. If it's more, there have to be good reasons. 3. Newbie-friendliness, i.e. covering some use cases for people just starting out. 4. Regular sales can be included. Some stuff is on sale very often, so one could assume the low price tag as the regular one. I will add some libraries by Hideaway Studio and Rhythmic Robot later today to get the list started.

Yes it's a toy, but also...not? The second member of our new Create Series, the ToyXylo library produces the singularly happy, youthful sounds of a child's xylophone. Don't worry, we gave it back. https://cinesamples.com/product/create-series-toy-xylo

This is a great list. I'll add Soundpaint's Free Angels and ASMR. If you're doing ambient drone, these plus the 1928 Steinway will give you some amazing sounds. Also, the Meldaproduction MSoundFactory Player has the excellent Monastery Grand piano. For anyone who wasn't aware, there's a (curated) topic on this forum for favorite freeware instruments in general:

Try your luck with our fortune wheel and get discount codes up to 20% (which can be added to other sales that are running on the website) oh and remember that we still have our cyber Monday deals for a few hours! https://www.hornetplugins.com/

https://www.soundonsound.com/magazine

For those interested .. here is a good vid review of VEGAS PRO 18 Vegas 18 seems to have made a start on AI EFX And also this:

Run the Toontrack Program Manager to update

"Best mag in da biz!"

Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense and Peppermint

FX handling and quick group is so much improved now! A real game changer! You can now replace a specific FX module in several tracks with one step! Or clear the FX bin of several tracks at once ... 👍

The Sisters of Mercy - Nine While Nine

I play a Warmoth baritone strat almost exclusively. Sometimes play a heavily modded American Deluxe w/ the standard 25.5 scale. The baritone is a 28 5/8" scale w/ a Wilkinson trem and I string it w/ light baritone strings so it feels closer to a standard 25.5 scale strat, and I tune to Bb (technically A#) just like my 5 string bass, which is also a long scale @ 35". (I also tune my standard 25.5 scale strat to Eb, so it's "in tune" w/ my baritone and 5-string bass). I've always liked tuning low as I grew up listening to Alice in Chains and Dream Theater. Jerry Cantrell just used really heavy gauge strings on a regular scale guitar to tune down to C, but John Petrucci later played a seven string Ibanez w/ that low B. I don't really like seven string guitars; I like the feel of the six string and the extra snap and twang I get from the longer scale. I get a kick out of people who look at my baritone strat, which at first glance looks just like a regular strat, except there's something about it they can't quite put their finger on.. lol it's that the neck is extra long. Robert Smith (Cure) plays a Bass 6, which is that fender Jazzmaster thingy with something like a 30" scale neck iirc, and like the Dan Electro baritones they have pretty thick baritone strings, so he kind of does a tic-tac bass thing with it, and of course some country and cowboy western players like the baritone for that deep twang. But I treat and play my baritone as if it were a regular strat that just happens to be tuned down to B flat, and because I use light baritone strings it plays more like a standard scale strat too, so I'm able to bend and do all that. Still there is a bit more tension there even w/ the light baritone strings and your fingers get strong playing like that. You have to remember Stevie Ray Vaughan played a regular scale strat with 12's and I heard sometimes 13's. I tried 12s on my regular strat and it was much stiffer than the light baritone strings on my baritone. There goes a picture of the first (white) Warmoth baritone I built close to 20 years ago. And a picture of a new baritone I'm currently building. The seafoam green body is from Warmoth and the baritone tele neck is from Musiccraft.

Torn between this or going for the version 20 (which is still on black friday sale $99.00AUD) 18 is 2 versions behind but contains most of the important changes from my version (16) with color grading panels, video stabilization, picture in picture warping, LUT options and a heap of other useful things $39.00AUD. All the other stuff in the Humble Bundle, I probably won't use. The new version is said to be officially supported on windows 11, which I am running but previous versions are not officially supported but I have had no problem running version 16 on windows 11. For those confused about different versions of Vegas Pro, they are all the same, Vegas edit is not a cut down version of Vegas Pro, it works like this: Vegas Pro (edit) = Vegas Pro Vegas Pro = Vegas Pro + third party extensions Vegas Pro post = Vegas Pro + third party extensions + All the post stuff like Vegas FX, Vegas Image etc I have my own third party extensions so I always only get the Vegas Pro (edit) version. So effectively, I have the Vegas Pro +? package. It does look like Magix are supporting and moving forward with the development of Vegas, with the introduction of the Post and subscription options and the obvious tweaking of old plugins and introduction of new plugins/functions and refinement of the interface. Before, I wouldn't have edited a short film on Vegas but now I would. Nevertheless, they do seem to be targeting "content creators", those with multi-media ingestion needs for Youtube videos, Commercial advertising, documentaries etc without referring specifically to filmmakers. But I guess that is where all the action is these days for video editing software companies.

And it's free for fgx original owners !! https://slatedigital.com/fg-x-2/ Man how did i skipped this release !!

Offset mode used to bound to the letter O. The binding was removed some time ago to prevent accidently enabling offset mode. May want to confirm the function is no longer bound to a keyboard shortcut.

Oh I just remembered it will be automatically installed next time I update T racks Damn it. It's going to be too tempting not to demo.

The Fame reverb is so good I'm not even demoing this one until I get it in a reasonably priced TS 4 upgrade. Otherwise I'll agonise over not having it hahaha.

You can disable this: - Hold down shift while opening Preferences - Navigate to the previously hidden Internal tab - Search for "grovel" - Change the values for VST and DirectX to false - Click OK and restart and enjoy

2022.11 Update 1 has been released. Thanks for your help everyone.

Here's a song I sadly can't take credit for - it was written by a mostly acoustic duo called My Whisper, but I had my greasy mits all over the recording, mix, master and production, as well as the video clip and various other bits and pieces to fill out the sound. The first album we did last year was very much a "keep it as stripped back as possible" kind of affair, really sticking to enhancing the sound of a duo/band in a small club just doing great songs, but on this song (and the upcoming album) we kept the core of that philosophy but really ventured out a bit into pop territory. Anyway, hope you guys dig it! And if you like it, give 'em a follow on their socials!

Run the IK Multimedia Product Manager. ARC 3.1.0: Added native compatibility with Apple Silicon processors General reliability improvements T-RackS 5.10.0: Added native compatibility with Apple Silicon processors Introducing The Farm Stone Room reverb General Reliability Improvements

Yeah, here too. Go to the products page and scroll down to the free section and add to cart. 4 more freebies are there as well. Plus all are free Kontakt player compatible and have a Native Access serial.

Version 3.1.1 is now the latest version: 3.1.1 - November 25, 2022 =================================== - New: Vectorscope stereo analyzer for PanShaper and WidthShaper. - Improved: Your ShaperBox 1/2 custom presets can now be synced to ShaperBox 3. To use the feature, open ShaperBox 1 or 2 and select Sync from the Main Menu (three lines icon). Next open ShaperBox 3 and click the Sync button in the top bar (or via Main Menu). Your synced presets will appear in the My Presets area, prefixed "SB1" or "SB2". If you delete/alter/rename them in ShaperBox 3, they remain visible and unchanged in ShaperBox 1/2. - Improved: NoiseShaper's noise download dialog will not be shown again once cancelled. - Fixed: Oscilloscope Tool was not resized when the Global Audio Trigger panel was open. - Fixed: If the plugin was loaded while a selected MIDI device port was unavailable, the plugin internally defaulted to DAW MIDI, causing unexpected results.

Maybe IK is accepting BAPU's forum count like Jam Points 😜

You da man, PC!

@PavlovsCat Great idea. I'll chip in a few of my favourites if they're not already on you list 🙂

Also, @antler there's a Japanese site selling Synthesizer V and Kevin (unfortunately not Weina, Natalie or Eleanor Forte). Kevin is less than 50 USD on DLsite (with 20% off + new registration coupon -15% off) https://www.dlsite.com/soft/work/=/product_id/VJ015171.html Synthesizer V Pro is also on sale (20% Off - less if you buy at the same time as Kevin). https://www.dlsite.com/soft/work/=/product_id/VJ013608.html They have other voicebanks but they are native Chinese/Japanese. I haven't bought anything from them before so cannot vouch for them. Note: the site header says 30% off when creating a new account so it might be even cheaper than reported above, but I haven't tried it as I already own SV and Kevin. If anyone buys from them can they please post here what they paid?

as a schoolboy my football coach once took me off the pitch for my singing this chorus, after he'd been shouting "once, twice, pass..."

The title selection of these MAGIX Humble Bundles always makes me scratch my head. Music Maker Premium, well, okay, but why bother with Music Maker EDM if all the EDM version has is EDM-oriented soundpools? Why not just bundle the soundpools? Vegas Pro AND Movie Maker? I'm not complaining, I have Movie Maker on my 14" laptop, but isn't it kinda superfluous for most people who have Vegas Pro?

So where is the deal?

I honestly don't know much about baritone guitar, but I really love the sounds. A bunch of you guys that commented play guitar and although I know Greg, I was just wondering, because I'm a pretend guitarist, what are the types of situations where you would you reach for a baritone guitar? I understand how it sounds, and listening to the video I'm getting ideas for how I could use it and I'm thinking of songs I've heard this kind of guitar in and it sounds like what I recall hearing in a bunch of 90s alt rock, the band "Live" immediately comes to mind, also southern rock (yes, a kid from Chicago also grew up loving Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers as well as prog rock, Coltrane, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Chopin and lots of other stuff that doesn't seem to fit), specifically I'm thinking this is the kind of guitar that gave Mollly Hatchet their edgy guitar sound. But those are just hunches. I'd love to learn from people who actually play guitar. If anyone has drum questions, I'm happy to return the favor! UPDATE: I just read two articles and learned a bunch of songs I wouldn't have thought of, like a Cure song, use the baritone guitar and one song I've always loved that doesn't fit with any other styles mentioned above, Glen Campbell's "Witchita Lineman. " https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/140617/

I hear the inventor of USB was accidentally buried upside-down when he died... 😜

I think that the Installation Algorithm sees 5.10.0 as lower than 5.09 due to 1 being lower than 9....but what do I know?

I see you as someone way ahead of his time!