PavlovsCat

I was thinking about a free trumpet library that I always see promoted on Facebook that I downloaded several months ago and Fleer just posted it. You should download this. It's for KONTAKT full, which I think you have. You know, what's your budget range, so we can try to stay in your budget? https://musicalsampling.com/trumpet-freebie/

Oh my gosh, no. I was referring to another thread where some guy was trolling me. Not you. You're good. I was saying how cool it is how everyone was coming together to help you out, contrasting how good that is with how crappy it is when someone is engaging in mean-spirited, toxic and bullying behavior. The troll was bumming me out.

@El Diablo Do you want to share the story behind what got you into this genre, now that it seems a bunch of us are interested? In my college student son's case, I bought him Red Dead Redemption-- actually upon the recommendation of a sample developer friend's wife. And my son loved it and suddenly he was totally into Scott Joplin and ragtime and other Western music. What got you into it?

See this thread is a great example of a bunch of us helping someone out and there I spend a bunch of energy trying to be helpful to others in another thread, and some (this space intentionally left blank) makes an attack on me. Guys, I'm a mostly kind person, but as I get older, my tolerance for people who try bully others or who are just proud of behaving like jerks is getting smaller. The older I get, the faster I am to shut that cr@p down.

Embertone makes some nice libraries in my experience. I love their grand piano, one of my favs, but it's not a fit for Western style music. I just wanted to share that I think they're a top notch quality developer.

I want to hang out at your house! Hahaha.

Okay, some other libraries that fit what you're looking for came to mind. They came to mind because a few years ago my son was really into Red Dead Redemption and wanted me to get him a honky tonk piano sample library. I found that Addictive Keys Modern Upright, which I already owned, has a pretty good honky tonk patch. But I think, based on the demos, the Wavesfactory Tack Piano sounds even better. Addictive Keys: Modern Upright has a patch called Honky Lady that is a really good honky tonk piano sound that you'd probably like. But I think you'd have to search YouTube to hear it, because I don't thnk there's a demo for it on their site. https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/addictive_keys/instrument/modern_upright Wavesfactory has a really great sounding honky tonk tack piano right out of an old western movie. I think it's my favorite honky tonk piano sample library. I don't own it, I'm basing that on the demos, which sound fabulous to my ears. https://www.wavesfactory.com/kontakt-libraries/the-tack-piano/ Soundiron's Drinking Piano and Granny Piano libraries both sound close and are cheaper than ht Wavesfactory Tack Piano. I think they're worth checking out, as you may find one has the right vibe. https://soundiron.com/products/the-drinking-piano?_pos=1&_sid=a8bc7ad62&_ss=r https://soundiron.com/products/old-busted-granny-piano?_pos=1&_sid=470bad2fb&_ss=r I just remembered that the free KONTAKT library, Heritage Percussion has a cowbell and other percussion even though cowbells are pretty easy to find. https://impactsoundworks.com/product/heritage-percussion/ Rast Sound has a whistle library. The demos sound decent. Realitone makes one too, but I think it may sound too polished for the western sound you're after. Check this one out. https://rastsound.com/downloads/whistle/ You can find low priced one shot files for the whips, clock horse... at a bunch of sites that I can't think of off hand, hopefully someone will chime in soon with a suggestion.

This is really cool! Man, that looks and sounds awesome and also a lot of fun. It would be very easy to get lost in all those sounds and see the hours slip away!

Yes, the path to democratizing music always starts with cashing out for €100 million to Zuckerberg's company. Rrrrriggghhtt.

Heck, the friendly staff at Bob's Country Bunker taught me that in my youth. Seriously though, technically, the Western style genre is a subgenre of country music that celebrated cowboys. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were the most popular artists performing that style. Although you could be thinking about the kind of soundtrack music played in old Western-style movies and TV shows? If so, there's an Orange Tree Samples' Evolution library that has a great electric guitar preset in that style in the Stratosphere library called "Classic Outlaw" that captures the iconic classic western movie and TV electric guitar tremelo sound perfectly and offhand, I would think "Evolution Old Relic," an acoustic guitar library would be a good fit for an acoustic guitar that fits the genre. (Disclosure: I've consulted to OTS in the past, but that's not why I recommend them, they're simply superb sample libraries). As for Fluffy, they make decent libraries, but their customer support can be very poor and they can be really bad to deal with. I had a very bad experience with my customer support tickets -- 4 of them -- ignored for 11 months -- the only support requests I've ever put in after being a customer for a few years and it really was just a basic question on the capabilities of a sample library I purchased -- and then the developer lashing out at me and calling me names, claiming I made everything up, when I created a thread to share my experience. In three decades of buying sample libraries, I've never had an experience like that one, and since then, I've had PMs from one of his associates who told that my bad experience with the developer wasn't unique, then two other people, one a customer and another who had an association with the developer who shared a bad experience with him. Again, pretty good quality sample libraries, but poor support and less than good ethics and behavior if you ever need customer support. From Wikipedia: "Western music is a form of country music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Western music celebrates the lifestyle of the cowboy on the open ranges, Rocky Mountains, and prairies of Western North America." The Evolution libraries: Stratosphere (Fender Strat): https://www.orangetreesamples.com/products/evolution-electric-guitar-stratosphere Dry Relic (acoustic guitar): https://www.orangetreesamples.com/products/evolution-dry-relic Bluegrass Banjo https://www.orangetreesamples.com/products/evolution-bluegrass-banjo Vintage Gent (a vintage electric guitar) https://www.orangetreesamples.com/products/evolution-vintage-gent

Yep, I read about about the layoffs and the situation that the YouTuber obviously read as well. Clearly, there are some problems over at BandCamp. https://pitchfork.com/news/epic-games-sells-bandcamp-amid-layoffs/

Funny enough, one of my friends just got a couple of Behringer synths and we had a short discussion about the company. He's a smart guy who works in the gaming software industry and someone I regularly turn to for audio advice, but he attributes all of the awful things that come from Behringer, like the antisemitic synth made to mock a journalist to the PR dept. But, as I pointed out, an ethical CEO would fire a PR team that engaged in such practices, so in the end, the CEO is where the buck stops. But as far as influencers, if I'm going to be completely sincere, they are absolutely shills. I still watch some of them and I think, like Cory Pelazzari, there are some that aren't complete tools. But the business model itself is corrupt. Unrelated, I watched your video with all those synths and loved it! That's a dream collection/room of synths! Very cool.

Analog Lab Intro has been given away free from time to time and is free with some hardware. It is excellent and very much worthy of recommendation, but it's not always available free, so that's the only reason I'm not including it. I have it and pretty much I like everything I've ever played from Arturia. Great stuff. You make excellent recommendations and helped make this list better, @augustenz. I'm on my phone and will update the list later to reflect your input. Thanks! This list is collaborative and hopefully we're helping other musicians find some great sounds they'll love.

That's a great list, and I have everything on it, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have so much stuff, I knew there was stuff I would forget! Although Analog Lab Intro -- which is awesome-- isn't always free, so I can't link to a spot where people can get it, so, I want to only include libraries and synths that I find worth recommending that are always free. I love SynthMaster. I have both of their main synths and started with their player. I completely forgot about that! It absolutely should be on the list. So great recommendations, @augustenz. I know everything you've recommended, have used everything except MT Power Drum Kit (which I know off, but never used; I think I wasn't crazy about the sounds in the demos) and can recommend them. You've helped improve the list!

Wow, Satya, I didn't know that. I've been reading CM for years and have -- and still -- enjoy a bunch of their freebies. Great share! Thanks.

I downloaded it a while back, but haven't tried it yet. I will eventually do that. With a couple of exceptions, I've personally tried out every library and synth on the list. So I'll try to get to Synful soon, but until then, people will be more aware of it from your comment. If you don't mind, can you please update your comment with a link to the plugin? Thanks!

I was about to create a thread for this electric piano library after playing it last night and falling in love with it when I searched and came across this thead that I previously missed. I added Blueprint Electric Keys to my curated freebie thread list, but I found it to be such a great sample library for free -- and let me be clear, this would be an excellent electric piano library that I would recommend had I paid for it -- that I wanted to make sure it had a thread of its own. I would easily call this one of the best free sample libraries I know of. It's just extremely well sampled and the sampled instrument just sounds gorgeous to my ears. While I own what is probably the best sampled Rhodes on the market, Orange Tree Samples Famous E, that's a different model Rhodes, a 1971 Fender Rhodes MkI Suitcase (developers are often careful not to mention the specific name because some trademark owners / equipment makers, can be litigious) whereas Blueprint Electric Keys is a sampled 1969 Rhodes Mark 1 Stage Piano. and, to those with a discriminating ear, there is quite a difference between these two electric pianos. The 1971 Fender Rhodes MkI is the more refined instrument, but that refinement doesn't mean that the earlier model lacked charm, it had tons of charm. The 1969 Stage Piano used wooden teardrop piano hammers while I think the 1971 Suitcase model used rubber tips and had an improved tone generator (from my research; I played in numerous bands --as a drummer, not a keyboardist, but I was trained on piano and organ -- and also got to play myself with various Rhodes models -- and always noticed differences between the models and release years, although, frankly, until researching it, I didn't really know how to associate those differences in tone with the different models and model years). While Blueprint Electric Keys Rhodes Mark 1 Stage Piano isn't a Wurli, there are elements of its tone that remind of a Wurli. And the developer did a great job of capturing the clunk of the keys and I love that sound. While the library doesn't come with presets, it has controls for amp or direct, chorus, reverb, atmosphere, stereo spread and two adjustment knobs for the mechanical setting so you can easily adjust these to your likings and create your own custom presets. If I would have paid for this library, I would have been extremely satisfied. At the moment, I can't even think of a free sample library that I've enjoyed any more than this one. It's fantastic and I wanted to make sure that others were aware of it. Kudos, Fracture Sounds. I'm sure that many people who download this are going to be eager to purchase one of the developer's paid libraries after experiencing the quality and beautiful tone of this library. {I've shared this so long, it may be unnecessary to bring it up for this post, but just to be as transparent as possible, I have consulted to Orange Tree Samples as well as more than two dozen other sample library and plugin developers My consulting has encompassed competitive strategy and analysis, product development, branding, marketing and marketing communications, promotions, public relations and search, but has never encompassed my personal posts which entirely reflect my personal experiences, observations and opinions and have never engaged in any work as an influencer. In fact, I fit more of the anti-influencer model, sharing my honest opinions that can be positive or negative and making others aware of when I feel a product or developer hasn't met with expectations.]

I have a Focusrite interface and didn't even realize that! Probably because I've long owned Massive as a KOMPLETE user.

I'm not sure what you mean, because it's often on sale for cheap or maybe Focusrite is giving it away with gear? I primarily was inspired to create the list with someone in mind who can't afford a paid sampler like KONTAKT and may not be able to afford Focusrite gear. One thing I realize my list is really missing -- especially after I just did my first hip hop track -- is libraries aimed at EDM and hip hop. If you or anyone else wants to take that on, to put together a list of totally free sample libraries aimed at hip hop and EDM, I think it would be great. I could easily add a section like "Satya's Picks for..." whatever style of music your choices appeal to (I'm not sure, but I seem to recall that you posted about being into a different genre than rock). Anyhow, I just thought the list I have is really useful to people doing rock, cinematic, jazz, R&B, punk and country, but is weak on things like electronic drums and percussion, 808 sounds, etc.

See page 1, the original post, for the list. I just added a bunch of libraries to the original post and included a great resource I regularly use with lots of great free synth presets that's regularly updated. This list is becoming really extensive and that makes me very glad I organized it well by instrument type so that people can easily find the type of sample library their looking for, if they're in need of something specific like a piano library or percussion instruments. I just tested a free electric piano library that was the best free electric piano I've ever used, Blueprint by Fracture Sounds. I would have been happy if I'd paid for that library. And like everything on the list, it uses a free player (plugin), so there is zero cost to using it. If you have your own recommended free libraries that I haven't listed, please add them in a post and if I agree, I'll add them to the original post. But even if you wanted to give your opinion --- positive or negative -- of a library I've included, please do, it's valuable to get different insights and we don't need to agree on liking a library, as long as we disagree respectfully, we're good. So, if you've used a free library and have a strong opinion, share it. explaining why you feel the way you do -- and give some insights into the type of music you play, because that can be a factor in why a library can work for one person and not another. Your voice and insights may be valuable to others.

Wait, there's a plugin that you don't own??? I feel like I don't even know you anymore, Fleer! - Disappointed in Dealsville

Thanks for the kind words! Okay, after getting some feedback from a very talented audio pro, I made some changes to the mix and fixed a weird technical problem that occurred during the bridge that I didn't notice until I listened to this song on my phone. FTR, I mixed this on headphones, so I never heard it on other speakers until after the first mix (my bad).

Thanks for the kind words! The whole drummers aren't musicians thing was my mother, who was a fantastically talented musician who went to a great music college for classical piano and organ performance. She was from the school of thought -- which I'd hear back in the day from a lot of college-educated jazz and classical musicians -- that drummers technically aren't real musicians because they don't play an instrument with tones. So, my (late) mother would often tell me that I was a talented musician, but clarify that I'm only a musician because I play piano and organ, because "drummers are not musicians." While I don't agree, I did find it funny. She was really encouraging to me as a musician and songwriter, but she was also savagely critical. My favorite compliment she gave me -- repeatedly -- "You're such a talented musician, it's a shame that you have such a horrible voice." Me: "It's just mediocre, it's not horrible. My pitch is decent." Her: "Don't kid yourself, it's horrible." So, I did look at it like, okay, I know that her praise must be sincere because her criticism is absolutely brutal! But I suppose she did train me to handle criticism well.

OMG, Nick, this guy is brilliant! And, FTR, I don't mean that in the light, casual way that Brits use the term, I mean legitimately brilliant. I wish I did what he did. His video on Benn Jordan is seriously brilliant. Okay, I only watched a couple of minutes on it, but wow. I remember watching that original Jordan video and finding the guy completely morally bankrupt. What the guy who runs this channel is doing is exposing the terrible ethics and the ridiculousness of a shill's argument against the FTC's extremely minimal regulations that, IMO, don't go far enough because sleazy lobbyists have influenced politicians (that's not a guess, I know how this stuff works up close from the industry side -- the side doing the bribes, and million dollar jobs to politician's family members in exchange for passing legislation, softened regulations, trips for legislators and judges to billionaires islands... -- I've seen it up close, okay through boasting of lobbyists and execs, long before recent times when the public became aware). But the guy running the channel is doing it with a level of creativity and sarcasm that I find brilliant. Granted, not everyone will understand and appreciate what he's doing, but if you do, this is really great stuff. Thanks for sharing this, @Nick Blanc. This is a little treasure. I love it.

Your right. Every developer I've given advice to that I keep in touch with to some degree, maybe two dozen, as well as a research study on the industry, saw sales spkied significantly for DAW related purchases during the pandemic. Just as with your personal experience, people were stuck in their homes and it gave them something to do. Personally, I started attempting try to play music again during the lockdown, as I stopped around 20 years prior due to a repetitive stress injury resulting in severe tendinitis that stopped from being able to perform publicly as a musician. So it resulted in dramatically more purchases for me. I didn't even have a serious dedicated DAW computer until 2020 since my previous one's hard drive died around 10 years prior.