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Sound on Sound - Using VST Instruments

VST Instruments can create a huge variety of sounds from the comfort of your MIDI + Audio sequencer, but can also be a source of confusion for many computer users. Martin Walker answers the most common questions, and provides advice about automation, timing, and sound quality. A couple of years ago musicians would have laughed if you had told them that classic synths would be successfully re-created in software form and sold at a fraction of the original price. They would have been even less likely to believe that you might have half a dozen or more of them neatly integrated into your favourite MIDI + Audio sequencer to be summoned at will. Yet VST Instruments do exactly this -- and with the likes of the Minimoog, TB303, TR808, Prophet Five, PPG Wave and Mellotron already available, it's hardly surprising that they're proving extremely popular. However, you rarely get something for nothing, and the situation's no different here. Q What is a VST Instrument, and how do they work?

SynthMaker - Modular VST and DSP Visual Programming Environment The 54 best VST/AU plugin synths in the world today | MusicRadar asked, you answered There's no denying that there's been a boom in hardware synth sales over the past couple of years - particular of affordable analogue ones - but if you want to benefit from great sound, convenience and tight integration with your DAW, it's hard to argue with what the best of today's plugin synths have to offer. Sure, many of the cutting-edge instruments impose a considerable CPU hit, and others are either clearly-labelled or thinly-veiled emulations of hardware synths from the past, but being able to call upon a vast range of incredible synths with just a click of a mouse remains a joy, and something that no one who started making electronic music in the pre-VSTi/AU days will ever take for granted. What follows is our guide to the 54 best VST, AU and other native format plugin synths in the world today. Compiled over the course of several years, it’s been updated to reflect the market in 2014, and is bigger and better than ever. Got that? NEXT: Subatomic Software Audulus

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Audacity.es SynthMaker Copyright © 2007 Outsim Ltd. All rights reserved. A loop-player with a difference. Subtractive, FM and WaveGeneration hybrid 3 Oscillator subtractive synth. Wavetable synth with 'drawable' waveforms Emulation of the popular Roland TB-303 synth Rich, juicy sounding virtual analog synth. Hybrid sampler-wavetable-granular synthesizer. An acoustic emulation of ethnic folk sounds. Neat sample based kick drum player. DJ scratch sound synthesiser. Stereo echo effect with EQ and saturation. We've collected together some of the best examples of SynthMaker creations out there and assembled them here. Stunning Wavetable Synthesizer Lemur like touch screen MIDI controller Mono bass synth using Karplus frequency modulation. Awesome new sample based synth Pitch sequencing synth, ideal for trance Pattern based gate effect with tempo sync Feeware stereo distortion effect Advanced pulse wave synthesis Analog hardware & VST combination Monstrous Bassline Synthesizer Click on the image of each example for more information.

SigmaTizm | Software for Windows SigmaTizm Version 1 Download SigmaTizm Version 1 for Windows 7/Vista/XP SP2+ (5.4 MB) Click here to buy the full version of SigmaTizm ($9.99) SigmaTizm is also available for Ubuntu Linux via the Ubuntu Software Center. SigmaTizm is a standalone virtual additive synthesizer designed for live play. Additive synthesis works by using a large number of sine wave oscillators at different frequencies to create complex musical timbres. No plugin host or additional software and hardware is required to run it. To get started, click the folder icon to load a predefined "patch" and press keys on your keyboard or click the keyboard keys with your mouse to play sound. Current Features: Demo Version Restrictions: - Cannot save new patches. - Polyphony limited to one note. SigmaTizm has had more than 25000 downloads.

How to Podcast with SoundCloud Peter Dines: Desert Island Plugins: The Best Virtual Instruments I have too many instrument plugins, like anyone else who uses a DAW. Some are free, some are paid, and put them all together and ya got options paralysis. So I decided to get out the pruning shears. Here's what I consider the top plugin instruments, the ones I can't do without: Reaktor. Duh. Synthmaster - this thing has completely spoiled me for most other "straight" plugins. Geist - a superb plugin for cranking out swinging MPC type beats. Tremor - for a drum machine from the same company that makes Geist, this has very little overlap. Kontakt - like Reaktor this can do things nothing else can do, and approaches much of what Reaktor does in the area of sampling, thanks to its scripting language. Honorable mention: DCAM Synth Squad.

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