Tracktion is excellent software for those looking to get into home recording. Everything you need is here: a simple drag and drop interface, full mixer functionality (with plugins) and an unlimited number of tracks available for creating that rock opera epic. Here’s the spiel from Tracktion: “This is no ‘Lite’ version, we do not impose…
Anyone who knows me has already told me to shut up about Reaper. But why would I? Reaper is the best thing in the universe and anyone who disagrees is a damn fool. Still, different strokes for different folks they say, so here’s an alternative for you if you don’t use Reaper (why aren’t you…
If it’s by iZotope, it’s brilliant. Get it. The spiel: “Back just in time for its 15th anniversary, Vinyl is a plug-in that lets you simulate the dust, scratches, and warp of a worn record and the electrical and mechanical noise of the turntable it’s on. Give fresh recordings and instrument tracks the dirty, dusty…
Audacity is a free audio editor/recording application, capable of performing simple tasks. You can use it to record audio through your PC, edit sound files, cut and pastes audio files and perform basic EQ functions. It’s simple, but it’s got a great pedigree (Audacity has been downloaded over 76 million times), so if you’re looking…
Here’s a fascinating website offering a collection of reverb impulse responses recorded at real-life landmarks from around the world. It’s called the Open Acoustic Impulse Response (Open AIR) Library and it’s pretty darn awesome. There certainly are some interesting options here. A reverb impulse from Koli National Park in Finland? Check. St. Margaret’s Church in…
Here’s a weird little unit. The RoVee is a voice changing unit, promising to change men’s voices in women’s, women’s into men’s, and humans into robots and toys. A cut-down version of the pitch-correction VST, ‘KeroVee’, the RoVee, though rough as hell, has quite a odd charm to it. When set to ‘octave-down’ I found…
Orchestral String One is a great little VST that can produce lively string arrangements in moments. Recorded in the legendary Berliner Hall, this full string orchestra includes 14 violins, 10 Violas, 8 Cellos and 6 Double Basses. These are presented as a single ensemble making this a convenient, CPU-friendly (yet essentially limited) go-to orchestra. Tweak…
When I came across this, I thought “Awesome! A scratchy old record simulator”. As soon as I booted it up however, I thought “What the hell did I think I was going to use this for?” The Vinyl VST does just what you think it does: it emulates the sounds of old vinyl players. You…
Woah Nelly! Here’s a beast quite unlike anything else out there. Take any track, run it through the Glitch and listen as this VST mashes, stretches, stutter-edits and does all sorts of unnameable sonic manipulations to your sound. You can program the Glitch to grab a single kick drum hit and stretch it out like…
The cool peeps at GrooveMonkee are giving away over 700 MIDI drum loops absotively free! The loops cover every style conceivable style, are available for both Mac and PC and work with just about every bit of drum software out there (click the download link for the full list). PROS: Royalty free MIDI drums for…
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