by Author Simon Glenister

Published on

You are here:

A list of lists of free stuff to make bleepy noises with computers...if thats your thing

We use a lot of free software here at Noise Solution so that the people we work with are able carry on making music after they have worked with us. I've found myself getting a little bit set in my ways recently, using the same stuff over and over. So to shake things up a bit I've done a bit of hunting around and come across a few really good lists of free stuff that's out there. Thought I'd share. This is aimed at those using music tech in their sessions. It's a list of lists other people have made of effects and instruments and other stuff that might be useful...a meta list?

 

Sample Radar are a site we use a lot. I've got two entries for them here. The first is a really good list of 27 free VST/AU effects that you can access here. The second is a page where you can access thousands of samples in handy folders. They come in many flavours. All the usual suspects are represented. Techno, Drum and Bass, Hip Hop, Rock, Dubstep..then it starts getting a bit odd with things like Italian handbag disco...then you start getting into odd samples of toys and it gets really weird with domestic goods being made to do things they shouldn't...anyway you can get it all in it's royalty free legally legit form here

Bedroom producer is a greatweb/site/blog with loads of fab resources on it. This list is choc full of loads of cool stuff it's pretty exhaustive and you can get it here

I spent some time looking for a sampler to use in sessions (that was cross platform both mac and PC - I use a mac but most of our student's have PC's (this is one othe many many reasons we use Reaper as our DAW) anyway I found one just recently that was nboth mac and PC and Free here it is. I should mention Reaper does have one that comes bundled but it's not very easy on the eye.

TAL need a mention - these are the synths and effects that I use the most in my sessions. They are free and brilliant and cover all the basics well, Synths, reverbs, delays, a great bitcrusher and lots more - special mention for the Filter plug in which is lots of fun - get em here

Another area that was problamatic for a while was guitar amp simulators. These can obviously be great for guitar tones but there is also a lot of fun to be had sticking vocals and drums through virtual guitar amps and cabinets. Here is a really comprehensive list of freebies out there - get em here

 

Feel I should mention Computer Music magazine. They have a DVD that comes with their magazine thats is stuffed with really good quality effects and synths but you can only get it with the magazine (which is about £6 I think). I use their stuff a lot and it's well worth £6 many times over- see the list of what you could get here

Thought I'd like to share some more unusual stuff as well. Came across this today which could be of interest to those using visuals as well as audio. Free online films (700 of them) here

And this place is just stuffed full of free resources to mine - the prelinger acrchive thousands of old american public information films, hours of happy browsing and (legal) plundering

 

Have fun - got any more good ones let me know and I'll add them

 

(added later) Ahhh just come cross this so thought I should add it

Libre music another list of free music stuff