Music and the Mac
http://www.ilovemymacthesong.com/ Copyright ©2006 Daphna
Virtual Instrument Plug-ins
by Daphne Kalfon
Last month I talked about audio effects plug-ins. If you aren’t familiar with the concept of plug-ins, I gave a brief explanation in the opening paragraphs of last month’s column. Let me just add here that I discovered another place where you can get more free audio effects plug-ins:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=results&st=q&s=10
The difference with virtual instrument plug-ins, is that unlike audio effects plug-ins, which are generally known to change the nature of a sound in some way, virtual instrument plug-ins act like a musical instrument, but are software based. Back in the old days of analog recording and actually up until not that long ago, music recording studios consisted of large racks of hardware to perform audio effects, and real, live musical instruments to record the music.
It is easy to see how the modern-day studio has been streamlined, with most of this hardware now available in the form of software. This has made the studio much more compact in its operation, and more importantly, has made it far more accessible to the general public.
In this column again, I will deal mostly with free plug-ins, but I’ll start off with the one that is not free, but comes highly recommended:
Arturia’s minimoog V. It retails for $199 USD and for owners of the previous version, the minimoog V upgrade to 1.5 is a free download. I’m told it is easy to use and very musical in its sound quality, and in the update, more effort has been made to create an even closer analog emulation to the original minimoog.
They even have direct links to examples of the particular improvements they have made to the plug-in’s filter, oscillator, certain waveforms, envelopes, and more. These examples come in pairs - one example was created with the real minimoog, the other example was created with the minimoog V. This makes for easy and convenient comparison.
It also comes loaded with more than 500 presets which were all created by a select group of sound designers and musicians.
The page also has a link to demo tracks that were composed with the minimoog V. I listened to several of them, and I thought they really were well done and interesting to listen to. You can also download those demos for free if you like. Except for the drum sounds, which are audio samples, the demos were created solely using the minimoog V used as a VST plug-in in either Cubase, Logic Audio, or Sonar.
For more info, the direct link is:
http://www.arturia.com/en/minimoog/minimoogv.php
Now to the free ones. KVR Audio is the place to go to get news and information about open standard audio plugins and more. They report things such as new releases, announcements of new products as well as product updates for plugins VST, DirectX, and AU. They maintain a fully searchable database of audio plug-ins, instruments, effects and hardware, which is updated daily, and they offer their members many free services that include user reviews and a vibrant discussion forum.
The link below should take you to a page that lists free AU virtual instruments.
If that link didn’t work and/or you wish to conduct your own customized search, first get to this page:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php
Once there, scroll down, and you can choose the various criteria by which to conduct an advanced search of your own for the plug-ins or whatever it is you are looking for.
Apparently one of the most popular of those listed is the instrument by the name “Crystal”. If you click on its name, it’ll take you to a page where you will find further information about what this software synth can do, who the developer is, news updates about it, and user reviews. Here’s the direct link:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/219.html
When you click on the “download” link on the left hand side of the page, you will be taken to Green Oak’s page for “Crystal”. On this page you’ll find a ton more information about this instrument and what it does/can do, as well as documentation along with a set of tutorials to guide you through its features.
Along the top of the page, you can click on the “Demos” link which will allow you to hear tracks that people have created using “Crystal”. When you click on it, it takes you to http://www.soundclick.com. I found that you do have to register and create an account with soundclick in order to listen to anything on there, but it’s really easy and straightforward. Once you’ve activated your account, you have access to all the services they offer their members, and you can listen to those tracks created with “Crystal”. I listened to them, and for the most part, really enjoyed those ambient soundscapes. It’s good music to relax to, that’s for sure.
And as if that’s not enough, “Crystal” comes with lots of patches as well as hundreds of additional high-quality downloadable presets. Pretty impressive what you are getting at no cost.
For other free virtual instrument plug-ins, visit this page: (it was mentioned in my previous column because it also contains free audio effects plug-ins)
http://www.apulsoft.ch/freeports
Starting from the top and scrolling down, the first one you’ll come across is called “daHornet synthesizer”, created by NUSofting and ported to Mac OSX VST and AU by apulSoft. It emulates a vintage synth.
KVR has a page with more information, news and user reviews on “daHornet” here:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/416.html
Back on the apulsoft page, just below “daHornet” is one called “Sam: Chip32”. It’s a LoFi Wavetable Synth. It basically produces the old school electronic sounds and allows you to edit your work graphically. It does come with a readme file, and the developer’s name is actually Sam, and once again, was ported to OSX AU format by apulSoft.
Below that, one called “Ticky Clav”, available in VST and AU. It emulates the ultra-funky sound of a famous clavinet called the Hohner, which is forever associated with Stevie Wonder’s song “Superstition”. Yeah, that one. This plug-in was developed by the people at Big Tick and apulSoft ported it to OSX AU format. I read some of the user reviews and people seem to love it, especially clav fanatics.
KVR has a page with more information, news and user reviews on “Ticky Clav” here:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/190.html
And finally, “Big Tick’s Cheeze Machine”. It’s a pad synth, emulating the classic string ensemble sound. It was developed by Big Tick for win VST and apulsoft has ported it to OSX AU.
KVR has a page with more information, news and user reviews on “Cheeze Machine” here:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/177.html
As I mentioned in my previous column, developers and programmers have worked hard to bring you these free plug-ins and everything else that comes with them, so please remember to make a donation before you download.
Have fun!
