Patrick Wichrowski Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 (edited) Quote https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2023/04/05/focusrite-free/: Focusrite offers the Midnight Plugin Suite and Scarlett Plugin Suite bundles for free download on its website. The plugins are now discontinued and considered legacy software. Midnight Plugin Suite includes two plugins: Midnight Compressor and Midnight EQ. Scarlett Plugin Suite includes a parametric EQ, a compressor, a gate, and a reverb. clicking the Activate button will automatically download the unlock key (cape-unlock-key.fnlf) that you can use to activate the plugins. https://downloads.focusrite.com/focusrite/focusrite-plug-ins Edited April 6, 2023 by Patrick Wichrowski 5 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 I must say, the transition to Apple silicon has been a boon for Windows users in the form of these "legacy" releases of plug-ins that the developers can't be bothered to update to work on the latest Macs. I've lost track of how many we've seen. Audio Damage and Tone Boosters are two that come to mind. I know there are others. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Boileau Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 6 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: I must say, the transition to Apple silicon has been a boon for Windows users in the form of these "legacy" releases of plug-ins that the developers can't be bothered to update to work on the latest Macs. I've lost track of how many we've seen. Audio Damage and Tone Boosters are two that come to mind. I know there are others. But I believe these are only VST2. Nothing wrong with using VST2, but it shows the company didn't want to invest in new development for these for longer than just Apple silicon. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 3 hours ago, Jacques Boileau said: But I believe these are only VST2. Nothing wrong with using VST2, but it shows the company didn't want to invest in new development for these for longer than just Apple silicon. Kinda goes hand in hand, I think. "Do we update these to include VST3 and Apple silicon support?" In the case of Focusrite, they were probably developed on contract rather than in-house. They probably see it as a loss-leader that gets attention for the current versions. The loss-leader model for commercial plug-in developers has become more common since the days when it was pretty much the MeldaProduction MFreeFX bundle and ReaPlugs. I just recommended to someone on the Cakewalk Reddit whose trial FX had started inserting noise and silence that they check out the MeldaProduction and Kilohearts Essentials bundles. I realized that between just those two, they'd be getting over 70 FX to use for free. And those aren't just mixing FX either. The MeldaProduction and Kilohearts bundles include creative FX like reverser, tape stop and modulated filters, as well as in the case of the Melda bundle, tools like signal generators and analyzers (and the somewhat overlooked MNotepad, a favorite of @John Vere for scrolling lyrics, IIRC). The Plugin Alliance free bundle includes a really good all-in-one mastering plug-in, so just about everything is covered. Add to this these "legacy" offerings, and that's quite a haul of free plug-ins from commercial developers. And there's, y'know, that BandLab company who offers a full-featured Windows DAW for free.... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: (and the somewhat overlooked MNotepad, a favorite of @John Vere for scrolling lyrics, IIRC). Wasn't me. I did actually put lyrics in the arranger view once just for kicks. It's excellent with only limitation is the sections have a limit on how many characters are allowed. But it seems like a easy way to have the words scrolling with the timeline. I just copy pasted one line at a time, goes pretty quick too. The Focusrite Red Compressor has been one of my favorites for a long time. I always encouraged people to grab those Focusrite freebies it if they own a Focusrite product. At he time they had a value of well over $300. Not bad if all you bought was a Solo for $150. In my testing it came out at the top of the pile for clean. It also seemed to test good using Plug in Doctor. The Scarlett Compressor is different and adds more harmonics so is a good one for coloring a vocal or ? When I was making the compressor video I couldn't find them anymore on the Focusrite site so I emailed and they got right back to me to confirm they were both not for sale anymore but were still included when you purchase any Focusrite products. But this Midnight series is then again seemingly different. Seems promising. If I get a chance later I test it but kinda busy. Little strange when you first load it it is in demo mode, but I quickly figured out you just click the activate tab and then browse to the downloaded activation code and it is good to go. Edited April 10, 2023 by John Vere 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 I would say that releasing end-of-life software as freeware is a good example that all music software developers should pay attention to follow. There is likely some usefulness remaining in most legacy software products, even if they are no longer being maintained. It always pains me to hear when any developer has discontinued, and then buried, a software title never again to see the light of day... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mettelus Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 3 hours ago, John Vere said: The Focusrite Red Compressor has been one of my favorites for a long time. +1, oddly enough I think I have used the Red Compressor more than any other compressor as well. It has a minimalist approach to it very much akin to a guitar pedal. There have been a few really nice apps that went to freeware at EOL. Riffstation is another useful one that comes to mind. Fortunately I downloaded that version when it was announced... I found out when updating software last year that the paid version cannot register itself anymore so the free version quickly solved that issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User 905133 Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 Re: Previous discussions of MNotepad and Lyrics. I remember being part of a discussion on this, and if we are thinking of the same discussion, it was msmcleod you are thinking of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris.r Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 3 hours ago, abacab said: I would say that releasing end-of-life software as freeware is a good example that all music software developers should pay attention to follow. We are looking at you, Waves 😂 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 There also is the Red Plug-in Suite (Red 2 and 3), free for Focusrite users in their software bundle. https://focusrite.com/en/red-plugin-suite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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