Hi,

I have wondered about that ... sort of like a lot of the games in the market, that have the same "engine" for its start, and then are saddled with its limitations. This was much more visible 20 years ago, when all the engines for new games copied EQ. I can not say the same thing about VST's but I always wondered why they sounded so similar, when to me, a lot of the real instruments did not sound that ... poor!

I have used a few things ... IKT had that Philharmonic thing and it was really nice, with one problem ... using more than one item in their program meant that you had to know a lot more about music ... and it meant learning the geek stuff ... I still don't know how to use 2 or 3 different things from that program using different midi this or that bs! And, guess what ... no one can help you because most of them don't know it either!

It ended up being a frustrating money ripper.

Heck, I had Sonar X, and at one time Abelton Live 8 ... and I still could not record something then play something along with it and record it at the same time ... it got to be that I gave up ... I can still play things on my own, and love my trusty Jupiter 8-V (Arturia) for a lot of sounds and creative bruhaha, but some of these sounds are just sitting there ... I can do poetry over them, I can do some other music with it on my ear phones, but still can not record with them on. I guess geekery is not for me! Fudge on VST's and a lot of that crap of programs that are not for musicians ... I don't think!

Lists of free stuff, some of which might be useful for your purposes:

http://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-vst-plugins/" rel="nofollow - https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-vst-plugins/

http://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-free-vst-synth-plugins-2020-wavetable-fm-virtual-analogue-and-more" rel="nofollow - https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-free-vst-synth-plugins-2020-wavetable-fm-virtual-analogue-and-more

https://freedigitalinstruments.wordpress.com" rel="nofollow - https://freedigitalinstruments.wordpress.com (mostly sample libraries; lots of orchestral stuff)

Some of the major makers of virtual instruments offer freebies:

https://u-he.com/products/" rel="nofollow - https://u-he.com/products/ (scroll down a bit)

http://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/free/" rel="nofollow - https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/free/

You might also check out KVR ( http://www.kvraudio.com" rel="nofollow - https://www.kvraudio.com ), both for the instrument listings and for the forum.

That Podolski synth from U-He had some really cool sounding presets. Thanks for the suggestions!

Hi,

I'm not sure it is possible to learn so much and so many different instruments now, as it was before ... music has changed and the electronic VST's give someone a chance to create something else different from before ... although it is my opinion (sometimes) that most of it is misused so badly that it hurts ... but seeing a lot of the "new" generation of electronics these past 10 years and the amazing work, a couple of things are really easy to see ... 1) how Tangerine Dream had an effect on so much music and 2) how creative some folks have become ... and in some ways that scene is better than ever ... and more varied, and it has stretched much further than just one country!

This modular styled freebie (Odin 2) does a decent impersonation of analogue styled retro goodness

http://www.thewavewarden.com/odin2" rel="nofollow - http://www.thewavewarden.com/odin2

Tyrell N6 from u-he is also a ridiculously brilliant analogue synth wannabe for precisely zero dollars

https://u-he.com/products/tyrelln6/" rel="nofollow - http://u-he.com/products/tyrelln6/

These could never replace the real hardware beasties of course given the practically infinite subtle and nuanced imperfections imparted by analogue circuitry alone which cannot be reduced to zeroes and ones in an algorithm. Two versions of a production line Moog wouldn't sound exactly the same even with the same front panel settings. It's interesting to see the prevailing fashion among plugin manufacturers for DSP processing that adds the sorts of imperfections and audio artifacts that the digital revolution celebrated as being consigned forever to the past. Imagine marketing a beauty cream that makes you look older?

Hi,

You just showed how/why Tangerine Dream had to go through in their early years and how difficult it was for Christopher Franke, at times, to get the proper setup ready in time for the next piece of music, instead of sitting down and having a cup of coffee and donut while he fiddles with his behemoth machines! Add to this the temperatures of various places and how different things would come out. And then, add to this a place that did not have enough electricity to heat the audience and the stage and the equipment ... Poland ... and it became a live album of excellent material! Get a bone on that one!

Sadly, as the times changed, TD could not be fighting with the behemoths any more, and CF ended up having to leave and the next run of folks in his place were folks that could handle a digital synth that could make it sound like some of the old stuff if necessary, something that CF was slow to come to.

You know what would be funny and weird? CF doing a comeback tour and then show up with 5 stacks of behemoths ... I actually might enjoy the freeform material he comes up with a lot more than the pre-fab anything else that we already know ... but the laugh so many folks will have about this "has been" would probably be one of the saddest things we all will ever see ... a man that really helped develop and find things that were needed from the synthesizer, in a way that most could not even imagine.

Hi,

Sad that you are not a reader, just a musician. TD's book by Edgar, is almost way too technical, explaining a lot of things, including the use and maintenance of the old echo chambers. 

As a modern man and musician, that stuff wouldn't interest you, I don't think! But the history of it all is still there, and while you are using the mechanical side of things, I'm not sure that you have heard, or felt, the changes that these parts and pieces went through to create music. I think you are comparing it all in your mind to what you already know from the particular pieces, and ignoring the mature of the material ... the actual "music" that came from the machine. And the hands that made it work!

I can see why no VST would mean anything to you, I think!

HI,

Our house in SB had over 40K books of Portuguese, Spanish and Brazilian Literature. And I was one of the folks that said that Castaneda's joke was not possible or true, unless a whole society was so destitute ... but then, a book would not show up in that area I don't think. In fact, dad is published in at least 36 languages, so if you think that it means nothing, wake up, please. BTW, you can go to Lisbon and see the majority of the library on one of those places that honor their artists and other dignitaries!

The suggestion about "read a book" is sad, and bad ... everything in it must be trash, or sheep dip!

I am not totally happy when you reply like that, since it implies that you are a musician because you play music, or a composer because you did a couple of things, and honestly, I'm quite OK with that, but I think my attitude, even if naïve compared to yours, is much more positive than yours about the music ... you can not be telling me that you can "feel" the material in the old days ... because the technical side of you building these things takes away that feel, into a mechanical, and somewhat intellectual side of creating music ... my point was, and is, that DURING THAT TIME, some folks, of which TD was major, were learning to create NEW SOUNDS, and USING THEM in a form that was "classical" and could be considered music.

I will never say that you do not know "music", but I question the feeling side of it as a sort of work that is much more than its components. I don't doubt your knowledge in that area, but you are not seeing the side that closes the eyes and flows with the music in another person ... and those are the folks you want and need, if you want to sell more of your material!!!! Instead you shine them on ... weird!

That's the thing about music: to produce quality music costs money. No way around it.

This is maybe going off topic a tad but for me, the only software I've come across that comes even remotely close to the subtle rush/drag tempo fluctuations, groove dynamics and nuanced 'off the grid' rubato of a real live drummer is this (NOT free but still a bargain if you don't have access to a mammal hitting things:

http://www.rayzoon.com/" rel="nofollow - http://www.rayzoon.com/