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These are all great suggestions! I am going to put in a plug for Synth1  from Ichiro Toda,  and the Synth1 Librarian from Neutrino Sky. You can customize the Synth1 color scheme and panel size if the stock version is not to your liking.

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/synth1-by-ichiro-toda

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/synth1-librarian-by-neutrino-sky

Here is a zip bank with 14,000+ free presets for Synth1. You WILL need the Synth1 Librarian to manage and search these presets! And you can show/hide the Synth1 UI with one click, but it is not necessary to have it open to audition presets, as the librarian provides a wrapper for the synth.

https://veryrandomstreams.blogspot.com/2012/03/over-10000-free-patchessounds-for-free.html

 

 

 

Edited by abacab
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On 7/20/2019 at 1:38 PM, Starship Krupa said:

We're talking about sforzando, but I don't think there's been a link to how to download it yet.

For those who don't already know, it's a a sample player, specifically for the SFZ format.

If there's anything else to explain, I'll leave it to the experts! What I know is that there are a lot of free sampled instruments in the SFZ format available for download and this VSTi plays them like a champ.

This looks great, SFZ is not a format I have used though, I think I can play SFZ format in Kontakt. Is there a reason that Sforzando would be better at playing SFZ files than Kontakt? And if you were new to SFZ, is this the best one?

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3 hours ago, Tezza said:

This looks great, SFZ is not a format I have used though, I think I can play SFZ format in Kontakt. Is there a reason that Sforzando would be better at playing SFZ files than Kontakt? And if you were new to SFZ, is this the best one?

Sforzando is free.

AFAIK you need the full (paid) version of Kontakt to play your own SFZ files.

Also, I've found Kontakt to be quite processor intensive compared to other players. This is fine if I'm already using Kontakt for other sounds, and just want to add another instrument. But it wouldn't be my go to player for a single track for this reason.

 

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Thanks Mark, I wasn't even aware that Kontakt could play these files, I have Komplete Ultimate 10 with the paid version of Kontakt. I'll give Kontakt a go first and if there is too much going on, I'll try the Sforzando.

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The SFZ instrument that got me to start using the format was Sforzatron, which is a sampled Mellotron. Being a fan of the Moody Blues going back to high school, I'm also a fan of the Mellotron, specifically the string sound as showcased on "Nights In White Satin" and "Watching And Waiting."

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On 7/21/2019 at 2:55 AM, Variorum said:

Quick updates:
First, the VST3 version of sforzando seems to be working fine now after the first couple of crashes. No idea why. I blame quantum physics.

Second, I'm a dummy. If an SFZ instrument has a GUI (there will be a GUI directory and an XML file in the root folder) you need to drag that XML file into sforzando to "register" it. The GUI will then show up in sforzando AND Aria Player. I'm getting old... forgot about that.

Registering the instrument also makes it show up in the "presets" of both players. You can just select it rather than having to import it.

Which SFZ libraries have a GUI? It would be interesting to see them.

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This is a great thread.  Although not quite free I thought I'd mention the enormous collection of decent instruments and effects that come with Computer Music each month. Buying one copy for around £6 will give you lots of quality stuff to play with including cut down but still huge versions of Uhe Bazille, Thorn, XILS 3 etc

List here   https://www.musicradar.com/computermusic/cm-plugins-full-list-of-our-exclusive-free-vst-au-plugin-instruments-and-effects-571808

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Unfortunately, it appears that Beatmaker, the company who originally made it, has gone under, but ATMOS is my favorite ambient piano, and one of my favorite instruments for ambient music period.

The link is to the page at VST4Free, which is still hosting the download. I haven't mentioned  VST4Free because it's just a repository and as such doesn't vet the plug-ins it hosts, but it is a hugely valuable resource if you're willing to be adventurous and try out what's there. They will host downloads when a company goes under. The page for each plug-in also includes a place for users to review the plug-in, so you can get a good idea whether it's buggy or worth the time to try out.

(Many of the plug-ins hosted at VST4Free are 32-bit. I only use these on a legacy basis, meaning that I don't acquire 32-bit plug-ins. I think I'm down to 3 of them that I use occasionally when nothing else will do the job. One of them is the de la mancha dlm sixtyfive, which is an emulation of the dbx 165a compressor that so far, nothing else I've heard can touch.)

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A few more quality free 64-bit instruments that I have not seen listed here yet are:

Vember Audio Surge Synth (subtractive/wavtable hybrid): https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/

Dexed - FM plugin synth (closely modeled on the Yamaha DX7): https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/

XLN Audio Addictive Keys - Studio Grand demo (4 octaves, 3 mic perspectives, no time limits): https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/addictive_keys/instrument/studio_grand

PG-8X  2.0 - VST instrument plug-in, inspired by the Roland JX-8P: https://sites.google.com/site/mlvst0/

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  • 2 months later...

This thread needs a bump.
For those of us still using Soundfonts, .sf2 files, there are some nice free 64bit alternatives:

BassMidi Vsti, https://www.kvraudio.com/product/bassmidi-vsti-by-falcosoft A multitimbral sf2 player, simple to use

Juicysfplugin, https://github.com/Birch-san/juicysfplugin Not multitimbral .sf2 player, also simple to use

TX16Wx, https://www.tx16wx.com reads .sf2 and many more formats. Rather complex to work with

Plogue Sforzando, https://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando.html convert .sf2 to .sfz

Sobanth, https://www.kvraudio.com/product/sobanth-by-benjamin-rosseaux Had some crashes with this, but maybe just me

Edited by sping
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Martinic Kee Bass is an emulation of a rare vintage bass synthesizer being offered for free : https://www.martinic.com/en/products/kee-bass

FananTeam is also currently offering Monica and Stringya for free. The former is a monophonic dual-layered wavetable synth, and the latter is a 4-piece synth strings ensemble.

Edited by Freyja Grimaude-Valens
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On 7/17/2019 at 2:38 AM, Variorum said:

Big thumbs up for the Tyrell N6 from u-he... Great sound, quite a few free presets available, and it's skinnable. It's not quite as good  as Zeta+2, but it's really close (and free!)

It's a" must have" freebie.

If you find a sound that seems a bit flat, just turn on the Chorus at the bottom and instant epic fatness ?

TyrellN6.jpg

If you want the above skin it can be downloaded from here: https://u-he.com/PatchLib/skins/Hoverland-GrayTech_Tyrell.zip

Edited by Wibbles
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