We’ve written about Steven Slate Drums before, and what we said then is just as true now: SSD.5 is the best free drum software in the world, bar none. Now SSD.5 has been updated and it’s very, very good. Here’s the speil: “SSD 5.5 FREE is here and it’s packed with new kits, a new easy…
Good quality, free drum kit VSTIs are few and far between. We’ve covered a couple in these pages, but none compare to the thoroughly excellent free SSD5 demo from Steven Slate Drums. It’s a full working kit, free of limitations, except one: the free version comes with just one kit, instead of the myriad instruments…
This pack, by Mats Helgesson, is a big bad boy! Using 792 stereo samples of a concert piano, a Yamaha CF3, and recorded with two Neumann KM84 microphones with 5 velocity layers, this is one hell of a piano soundbank. How does it sound? AMAZING. (Check out the sound demos here and here). If you’re…
The maker of this drum VST, Bjarte Ludvigsen, insists it’s nothing special. “The recording of the drums was done very quickly,” he says, “with only me on everything from drumming to engineering. As you can imagine that is not a perfect way to record a drum kit…the drums weren’t tuned, one of the cymbals had…
Mellotrons are cool and this emulation is one of the coolest I’ve come across. Here’s how it works. You’ve got a flute sound, strings sound and a chorus (the singers not the effect). There’s a big knob on the right hand side that you use to blend them together. Sounds simple right? It is, but…
Here’s a free open source drum machine. According to the hype, it offers “professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming”. Essentially, Hydrogen is a sample-based machine that’s capable of a lot. You can import/export drum kits (and download drum kits from the Hydrogen site) or assemble your own from your sample collection (a whopping…
Woah Nelly! This is badass! “TRANZISTORG is an electronic organ belonging to the family of transistors. This instrument has a panel of rather varied sounds, which could as well accompany the burned voice of Screamin Jay Hawkins or the priest of a Palatine chapel. An instrument which will not leave you indifferent…” (Modules are programmed…
Oh boy, where to start with the huge selection from DSK? Actually, let’s start with the negative: Some of DSK’s stuff isn’t the best available. Orchestral sounds can be a little shallow sounding, some stuff is a little crude and some stuff just doesn’t sound good. Having said that, the range from DSK is, generally,…
DrumCore Free is a fully working (but limited in other ways) version of DrumCore, a lesser-known paid-for drumming VSTi. And it doesn’t sound too bad. Included here two kits (unlike the original DrumCore which contains a whopping 100+), a functional rock/pop kit, a hip-hop kit, and some assorted Latin percussion sounds. Actually using the application…
“DigiDrum Pro is a five part drum and percussion VST plugin suitable for most genres of digital music production.” “It features an intuitive user interface packed with loads of sound editing parameters. The sound itself comes from a wave rom containing reproductions designed to resemble classic percussive instruments. These sounds are processed as you wish…
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