paulo Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Being Deals forum junkies, maybe you know about / have all of these already, but some were new to me......... Deelay ► https://sixthsample.com/deelay/ Surge XT ► https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ Cardinal ► https://github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal/r... Fire ► https://github.com/jerryuhoo/Fire/rel... Ruina ► https://bit.ly/39jTWQw Gatelab / Filterstep / Panflow ► https://audiomodern.com/free/ PaulXStretch ► https://sonosaurus.com/paulxstretch/ 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 That free Surge synth sure is something. As is the other freebie behemoth, Vital. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user 905133 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 (edited) Cardinal caught my eye/ear; the link Cameron has led me to a 404 error (seems fixed now); found it on Github; had to read through a lot to find out where pre-built Windows packages were; downloaded; gonna try to install . . . . The "Free Stuff With Grump Mustache Man" video has popped in my YT list before, but I passed on it because I don't need any more free stuff. Nevertheless, thanks for mentioning the video. UPDATE: Cardinal sounds nice, but with the UI showing it consumes quite a bit of CPU power on the default setting. But there is a display refresh parameter that reduces the power consumption: View > Update Rate Limit. However, without the UI showing (plug-in window closed / minimized) it uses considerably less power. Those of you with state-of-the art PCs might not notice and issue. But if its an issue, take a look at the Update Rate Limit setting. The default is none. There's also 2x and 4x on the build I installed today. Edited August 1, 2022 by User 905133 (2) add an update; (1) to add a link to the Cardinal releases page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Surge is one of the most powerful synths free or paid. Just not a fan of interface. This is the best walkthrough I have seen on it and exactly why Cameron didn't go into great detail: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Same guy does a similar through walkthrough on Vital. I have thought about getting Serum, but owning Vital and Pigments it seems somewhat redundant, especially since both will load Serum wavetables Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 2 hours ago, dubdisciple said: Surge is one of the most powerful synths free or paid. Just not a fan of interface. I agree about Surge, but I just cannot get past the interface. No joy there, IMO. Vital is a different animal. After I played around with the free version for a few hours, I upgraded to Vital Pro! Matt Tytel needs to be encouraged to keep developing this synth! I also have Pigments and Phase Plant, but there is something really unique and engaging about Vital! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Vital is definitely more intuitive by miles. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bradley Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Thumbs up on Vital. I'd seen that video from Mr. Awesome Voice and grabbed most of the things he mentioned in there, but somehow I've never heard of 'Vital' before. Grabbed the demo, said "these are some yummy sounds, and I understand the UI without reading anything" and quickly upgraded to the $25 version. Really, really good. And yeah, I've never gotten into 'Surge'. D/L the latest version every now and then, poke around with it a bit and then forget about it for the next couple of months. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 On 7/31/2022 at 11:04 AM, User 905133 said: found it on Github; had to read through a lot to find out where pre-built Windows packages were Cheers for sharing the direct link. My spirits always take a dive when someone recommends some free software and the link points to the top level of a Github project. Just. Tell. Me. Where. To. Download. The. BINARIES. Please. I don't want to build it myself, I'm not interested in (and wouldn't comprehend) the code, I just want to download the thingie(s) that run on my computer. A goal that I suspect is shared by 99% of the people visiting the site. Yeah, cool, your project is open source. Rock on, can I just use it please? It's almost as if Github is ashamed of hosting binaries or is deliberately obscuring them for some reason. I have spent many long minutes combing over some project's Github site, ultimately failing to figure out where it was hiding the binaries and then giving up and punching in Google searches like "Cardinal binaries download" in an effort to just be able to use the thing. That fails often enough, too. Is it that open source people tend to be into Linux and they're jealous of how easy it usually is for Windows and Mac users to obtain software? Spiteful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pseudopop Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: It's almost as if Github is ashamed of hosting binaries or is deliberately obscuring them for some reason. I have spent many long minutes combing over some project's Github site, ultimately failing to figure out where it was hiding the binaries and then giving up and punching in Google searches like "Cardinal binaries download" in an effort to just be able to use the thing. Well, GitHub is a platform for distributing source code, not ready-to-use applications, so the binaries are a secondary resource in a way. If a project has binary releases available, that's just by courtesy of the developers. In any case, on GitHub the binaries are always made available on the Releases page, so that's where you'll find them if there are any. 2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: Is it that open source people tend to be into Linux and they're jealous of how easy it usually is for Windows and Mac users to obtain software? Spiteful. I'm not a software developer, so take this with a grain of salt, but I believe that compiling binaries for different platforms may not always be that easy. It may require specific tools and knowledge about the platform, and in the case of Mac you may even need the actual computer, so for a smaller project it may simply a matter of resources. That's why some projects rely on third parties to provide Windows and Mac binaries. But yeah, I hate hunting for binaries, too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, pseudopop said: Well, GitHub is a platform for distributing source code, not ready-to-use applications, so the binaries are a secondary resource in a way. If a project has binary releases available, that's just by courtesy of the developers. In any case, on GitHub the binaries are always made available on the Releases page, so that's where you'll find them if there are any. @Starship KrupaThat's why some developers even charge for platform specific binaries. Although the source code may be open source and free, it takes a certain level of time and expertise to compile it for Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. The dev can charge for the binary to cover their time, distribution expenses, and/or any support. That's a case by case scenario. But nothing requires them to supply pre-compiled binaries. If they do, then bless their hearts, especially if they are not getting paid for their work. Best solution is to acquire and learn the tools for compiling source code on the platform of choice. Problem solved! Edited August 4, 2022 by abacab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 3 hours ago, abacab said: Best solution is to acquire and learn the tools for compiling source code on the platform of choice. Sometimes "finding other software that's not such a PITA to acquire" is a good option, too. The last time I set up a build system was when I wanted to try compiling Audacity with ASIO support. What a slog that was. I did eventually get it to build, but what a carousel of missing dependencies, confusing instructions.... And at the end of the day, I wound up with a program that I would have to rebuild all over again the next time Audacity was updated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 18 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said: Sometimes "finding other software that's not such a PITA to acquire" is a good option, too. Yep, that's the way I roll. I also realize that most of the independently developed source code on GitHub was produced by unpaid volunteer labor. I am always grateful if they provide access to a free or paid binary. But I never assume or expect them to do that. But for any of the big corporations that are using GitHub for their open source projects, that's a different expectation!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antler Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 10 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: Cheers for sharing the direct link. My spirits always take a dive when someone recommends some free software and the link points to the top level of a Github project. Just. Tell. Me. Where. To. Download. The. BINARIES. Please. I don't want to build it myself, I'm not interested in (and wouldn't comprehend) the code, I just want to download the thingie(s) that run on my computer. A goal that I suspect is shared by 99% of the people visiting the site. Yeah, cool, your project is open source. Rock on, can I just use it please? As mentioned above, GitHub is a source code distribution platform. It's a bit like walking into a guitar shop and asking for guitar loops to use in a DAW; there might be a section in the shop that sells software/loops, but the that isn't the main focus of the shop. 10 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: Is it that open source people tend to be into Linux and they're jealous of how easy it usually is for Windows and Mac users to obtain software? Spiteful. It's because most people go to GitHub for code. There are many different open source OSs; Linux is a small umbrella of them. They're all built slightly differently, and building from the source means you have a binary that will be best for your platform. As an example, think of code for a program to be like a blueprint for an engine: there are many different cars; each will house the engine in a slightly different way, and connect the various parts with various custom bits that are best for that car - a single pre-built engine might not be best in every situation. PS. if you ever want a Windows app that helps you calculate file checksums (e.g. SHA256), you can check out my GH page - complete with a .zip containing a pre-built binary ? https://github.com/Ant-f/HashCalculator/releases 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, antler said: As mentioned above, GitHub is a source code distribution platform. If you check my OP, what I said was that my spirits fall when I'm directed to GitHub for some piece of software or other. I get that they're all about the code, but when someone is putting up binaries, why are they so hard to find? For those projects that have pre-compiled versions available, why not have a front-facing button for "download the latest binaries?" Presumably, if you go to the (not inconsiderable) trouble of compiling your software for people to use, you want them to use it? BTW, my comment about Linux and jealousy was tongue in cheek. Edited August 4, 2022 by Starship Krupa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 7 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said: BTW, my comment about Linux and jealousy was tongue in cheek. I actually prefer Linux to Windows, it's just that there is a serious lack of commercial software for Linux. I even used Linux as my daily driver PC for a couple of years, with the exception of my Windows only DAW. I even once spent a couple of weekends trying to wrangle Linux audio, then asked myself why bother when I have a perfectly functional Windows DAW that just works (most of the time)? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antler Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 6 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said: If you check my OP, what I said was that my spirits fall when I'm directed to GitHub for some piece of software or other. I get that they're all about the code, but when someone is putting up binaries, why are they so hard to find? For those projects that have pre-compiled versions available, why not have a front-facing button for "download the latest binaries?" Presumably, if you go to the (not inconsiderable) trouble of compiling your software for people to use, you want them to use it? Most probably because that part of GH is the 'engine-room'. When you go through the trouble of compiling it for others, you also probably want to build a showroom to display your binaries - this would be someone's website where there's a big button to download it, e.g. https://ant-f.github.io/#/software (ok; I admit there's a flaw in my argument - there's no button to download the latest version of File Hash Calculator; that said, there are more directly-accessible links to the other items there) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Is the front-facing Releases section a recent addition? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antler Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 20 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said: Is the front-facing Releases section a recent addition? It's been there as long as I can remember - it's been move around a little bit here and there though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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