eMusic Makers

Free soundpack from Native Instruments and a free Live Pack from Ableton

2008-12-19T13:13:00.003+11:00

via CDM, NI have released a free soundpack for Kore Player (which is free also) or Kore 2.
There is also a 400MB free Live Pack from Ableton, and a few more from them here.

Squarepusher talks Fluxux

2008-11-14T09:45:00.000+11:00

Read it here, or just look at the pictures.

Audio Damage's Automaton

2008-10-17T15:11:00.003+11:00

Automaton is a VST / AU for stuttering and altering your music inside your DAW of choice. It's $49, and you can check out some examples of how it works on the Audio Damage website, or watch videos of it in action, such as these two from youtube:

Remix DJ Spooky's Antarctic Meltdown

2008-10-16T20:44:00.002+11:00

You can read about DJ Spooky's Terra Nova project here. And then you can go to The Pool and download some pieces to remix.

Acid 7 to be released in November

2008-10-16T18:08:00.003+11:00

via KVR, Sony Acid 7 is coming soon. The new features don't exactly scream "must upgrade" (apart from it working with Vista) but the beauty of Acid has always been it's lack of more features than you could ever need so you can get on with making music.
You can compare version 6 and 7 here.

Stylophone VST

2008-10-16T17:23:00.006+11:00

The Stylophone has recently been recreated for the Ipod Touch (via CDM) but you can also get some free Stylophone VSTs such as these:

de la Mancha Styrofoam

Sparque Stylophone, and there is help here about installing it.

SoundCloud is open

2008-10-11T10:07:00.002+11:00

SoundCloud is now open to the public, if you had a beta account then you now have a Pro account for a month, after that you will have to pay for the Pro account.

AudioSurf - Your Music Makes The (Race) Track

2008-10-10T17:00:00.005+11:00

If you use Steam, you can download AudioSurf which is a racing game that uses the music you listen to create the race track you drive on. It costs $9.99, but there is a demo. There is more information about it on their website, also IGN review it here, they give it 8.6/10.

Pro Tools 8, now with added Sibelius!

2008-10-10T16:53:00.002+11:00

CDM reports that Pro Tools 8 now has Sibelius intergrated. Personally I'm not interested in using Pro Tools, but I do wish all DAW's had notation.

The Conet Project

2008-10-01T13:32:00.003+10:00

If you're looking for something interesting to sample check out The Conet Project. They've compiled recordings of numbers stations. You can get these as mp3s from the Internet Archive, there is also a pdf booklet. The official site is here.

Sputnik : Free circuit bending ensemble

2008-10-01T11:22:00.004+10:00

Laptop Noise have a free circuit bending Reaktor ensemble called Sputnik which you can grab from there site. They also have another called Laptop Hell.

Also, Martin Brinkmann has a heap of free ensembles for Reaktor on his site.

Roland Emulators

2008-10-01T11:16:00.003+10:00

Rebirth - 303, 808, 909
AudioRealism Bassline - 303
AudioRealism DrumMachine - 606, 808, 909
Tau Bassline MkII - 303
Arturia Jupiter-8V - Jupiter-8
TAL-BassLine - SH-101
TAL-U-No-62 - Juno 60
mini DrumZ - CR-78, 606, 727, 808, 909 (plus some Korg stuff too)
Superwave p8 - JP8000

Most of these are free or have free alternatives.

Free "mnml" loops and samples from mimu

2008-10-01T11:13:00.002+10:00

mimu have a stack of free sound packs for those who need loops and samples to play with. There's glitchy stuff and circuit bending noises too.

DSK free VSTi's

2008-10-01T10:46:00.003+10:00

I've mentioned them before but DSK have heaps of really great VST's. They even make specialist VSTi's, like this one for Asian instruments, and this one for Indian instruments.
There's another called Darkness Theory that sounds good, it's for making ambient music. But they've got everything from guitars and drums to a heap of different synths. They are all free too so well worth checking out.

FM give away 1000 Soundcloud invites

2008-09-30T10:03:00.001+10:00

Future Music Mag are giving away 1000 soundcloud invites, get them here.

Free plugins from Audio Damage

2008-09-28T10:39:00.003+10:00

Rough Rider is a free vintage compressor, and FuzzPlus is a free vintage fuzz pedal.

Free Drums for Abelton's Operator

2008-09-27T14:33:00.000+10:00

Designer Drums has been out a while, you can listen to samples, or just download it as it's 2MB.

JamStudio

2008-09-23T21:49:00.002+10:00

Wired has a small write ip about JamStudio which allows you to make music online and save it to play back later.

Wind Instrument

2008-09-13T16:28:00.002+10:00

Found via TINAL, Damian Stewart has created a wind instrument with cameras monitoring grass movement and then running it through Pure Data to create music. It sounds amazing.

Darkware now freeware

2008-09-13T15:22:00.002+10:00

I found this via ThisIsNotALabel, Darkware Studio is now freeware.

Audiotuts & AudioJungle

2008-09-13T15:07:00.003+10:00

As the name suggests Audiotuts is a series of tutorials designed to help with your audio. There are tuts on mixing and mastering as well as lists such as 11 Totally Free VST Synthesizers That Sound Great.

AudioJungle is a similar site, but instead of tutorials it has articles meant to help you out with your music, and also answer questions you may have asked yourself, like what is the role of an egineer. Check out their list of apps and sites to train your ears, and also 8 Free, Cross-Platform Apps for Musicians, these are bound to be useful. They're also giving away an Mbox 2 Pro at the momment too.

Free Classic Drum Machine Samples

2008-09-06T19:56:00.001+10:00

KB6 has over 100 classic drum machine samples for download. They're having some bandwidth troubles so they're not all free now really.

Virtual MIDI keyboards

2008-09-04T19:40:00.005+10:00

Tanager Audio Works have a nifty little product called Chirp (above) which lets you run a Virtual MIDI keyboard in any program, which would be handy for use in Reason. It's $39.99 but there are free alternatives too...

like this one (above),

and this one (above), and these too.

Biomusic

2008-08-31T14:56:00.002+10:00

Biomusic is music created by living things. Neurofeedback is music created from brainwaves, specifically with an Electroencephalophone, as in the image above. While an Electrocardiophone uses heat waves to create music.

Free Reason Refills

2008-08-24T21:13:00.000+10:00

Peff.com have a list of sites that provide free Refills for Reason, they also have assorted patches and what not as well.

ccMixter

2008-08-17T12:39:00.000+10:00

ccMixter is a "community music site" which has heaps of Creative Commons stuff, such as samples and vocals, and it also has some stuff to remix by 'name artists' like Chuck D and Beastie Boys.

watch Reformat The Planet film free (for one week)

2008-08-16T13:23:00.000+10:00

Over at Game Music 4 All they've reported that you can watch the chiptune doco 'Reformat The Planet' free for a week at Pitchfork. The doco has been cut in to 10 chapters, check it out.

Richard Devine Interview

2008-08-14T21:06:00.001+10:00

Elektron Users interviews Richard Devine, it's a good read and there are great pics too. Oh and there is a free mp3.

Ugo Free VSTs

2008-08-09T15:57:00.001+10:00

Ugo have a few free VSTs (there's also some you can buy), but I really like the sound of String Theory (top pic) and Texture (bottom pic). There's some audio demos on the site so you can hear what's possible.

Read Electronic Musician for Free!

2008-08-09T15:57:00.000+10:00

You can read EM for free on their website. And not just a few past issues, but everything from September 1999 - August 2008.

Sea Organ

2008-08-09T15:14:00.000+10:00

From This Is Not A Label, this is just amazing, using the sea to create music.

Sounds From Saturn

2008-08-09T13:11:00.000+10:00

Last year Wired reported on how NASA had recorded 'sounds' of space. You can download them here. There is also more of an explanation here.
Stephen P. McGreevy also records sounds from the weather, you can get some of his stuff here.
Space Sounds have recordings from Space and Space Travel.
The University of Iowa also have a Space Audio section, while at Space.com there is a report of a black whole emitting a b-flat.

Prophanity: Free Prophet 5 clone

2008-08-08T22:43:00.000+10:00

The Prophanity is a free VST clone of the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. If you'd prefer to buy something though there is always Native Instruments' Pro-53.

The Avant Garde Project Restores Lost Early 20th Century Electronic Music

2008-08-08T22:14:00.001+10:00

The Avant Garde Project is restoring old recordings of early electronic music, most of which are long out of print. Their collection includes compositions by some pretty famous composers ... or at least composers that you've read about in history books, even if you've never heard them. Reading down the list of composers, I see John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Pauline Oliveros, Morton Subotnick, Paul Hindemith and many others.

via This Is Not A Label.

Also here is an interview with Pierre Henry to read.

EMS Synthi A clone: EFM-Synthia 2

2008-08-08T21:33:00.000+10:00

If you have heard 'On The Run' by Pink Floyd then you will have heard the EMS Synthi (top pic). Well EFM have made the EFM-Synthia 2 (bottom pic) which is a free VST (PC only) clone.

More Delia Derbyshire...

2008-08-07T19:41:00.000+10:00

You can read a heap of information about Delia's releases at Delia Derbyshire - An Audiological Chronology, and there is a link to download Electrosonic too. Also, you can grab The White Noise: An Electric Storm here.

Forester

2008-08-07T11:34:00.001+10:00

Forester is free software for OS X and Windows which will help you remix, glitch and basically make interesting music in general.

Korg DS-10

2008-08-02T14:15:00.000+10:00

One Tonne Music has some amazing info and pictures from the Korg DS-10, while Create Digital Music has some more info about it and how Nintendo wants to kill the flash loaders that homebrew gamers use, but is also used to pirate official products (like the DS-10).

Old Electronic Music

2008-08-02T12:42:00.000+10:00

You may have read recently of how old recordings of Delia Derbyshire have been found, and how one track sounds very much like something that could have come out last week. You can read the article and hear samples here (it's also worth reading the comments in this post for more info). Delia created the Doctor Who theme while working in the BBC Workshop, which was set up by Daphne Oram, and there is an article about her, her work and some samples of her work here.

There are some great videos on Youtube about Delia and of her work, here are some of them:
Delia Derbyshire - Love Without Sound (1969)
Reel-to-Reel Beat Matching Virtuosa

There is also a great series by BBC4 about their Workshop:
The Alchemists of Sound (Part 1)
The Alchemists of Sound (Part 2)
The Alchemists of Sound (Part 3)
The Alchemists of Sound (Part 4)
The Alchemists of Sound (Part 5)
The Alchemists of Sound (Part 6)

And here is the oldest known 'Computer Music', from 1951.

Free Download: FM8 Drum Kit for Ableton Live from Gustavo Bravetti

2008-07-28T11:40:00.001+10:00

Free FM8 Drum Kit for Ableton Live at Kore NoisePages.

Audio Converter

2008-07-27T16:34:00.000+10:00

If you need a free audio converter for Windows then I suggest Switch. It's very fast and compact and great for converting aif files to mp3.

TAL-BassLine

2008-07-27T13:55:00.000+10:00

In the latest CM Special you get 100 freeware tools for making music (though word is only four work on Macs), including TAL-BassLine, a Roland emulator. It comes in VST and AU for Windows and OS X and is well worth the download.

LFX-1310

2008-07-24T21:48:00.000+10:00

This VST Effect was voted Best of 2004 by members of KVR. It's actually quite good, and works with Windows and OS X.

Run Linux in Windows

2008-07-17T17:46:00.000+10:00

Wired have a wiki-how to on running Linux apps in Windows. That being said you could always dualboot.

Soundcloud

2008-07-09T23:51:00.000+10:00

If you want a way to share your music in a way that is actually pretty cool, then check out Soundcloud. This could be great for collabs.

Weird instrument VST's

2008-07-08T16:47:00.000+10:00

Safwan Matni VST Plugins specialises in obscure instruments, like the Oud.

Free Live Packs from Puremagnetik

2008-07-07T23:26:00.000+10:00

Puremagnetik have some free Live Packs on their website, and some more to buy.

See if your gear is Vista ready

2008-07-07T20:15:00.000+10:00

This website will keep you updated on whether or not your gear is Vista ready or not. Most things work with Vista now so it's not so bad.

Free Stuff

2008-07-03T09:10:00.000+10:00

VST(i) / AU
mda-vst.com has vst and au's
Kammerl Audio a pack of five effects for Windows and OS X
Antress Modern Plugins Windows only racks
Free VST's from Andreas Ersson
DSK Music make heaps of free VST's

Lists
Free VST(i) list from electrobel - HUGE list
Free Samples from IDMForums - HUGE, but you must be registered to see links
Free VST - Old dead site
Free Music Software - The new home of Free VST, also has software and samples
Free Plug-in List - Reasonably good site
Best VST Plugins - links to download some vst's

Everything
Dont Crack has heaps of freeware for Windows and OS X
Studio Toolz has heaps of Mac freeware

Misc.
KVR Audio is great for information on everything audio
Rekkerd Audio Software news
This Is Not A Label videos and links to interesting stuff

I will update this when I remember more links.

Make Noise With Reception

2008-07-03T09:06:00.000+10:00

Reception is a VST for destroying your audio. It's by Psychic Modulation who have a few other (mostly free) goodies at their site, take a look at the synths.

make music from pictures

2008-07-03T08:59:00.000+10:00

Audio Paint is a Windows only program which lets you create music from pictures. This would be great if you were looking for inspirartion, you could then just cut it all up and resample it in your DAW.

space invaders extreme

2008-07-02T18:14:00.001+10:00

Check out the music to Space Invaders Extreme in the video above. It's out now on the Nintendo DS and PSP.

Richard Devine uses...

2008-06-29T21:26:00.000+10:00

On page 4 of this interview with Richard Devine he mentions what software he likes:

Softstep (picured above)
Soundhack (who have some great feeware)
MAX/MSP
Reaktor

Also check out the side panel to see what else he uses in his set up.

Numerology 1.4.3

2008-06-29T21:19:00.000+10:00

I haven't used this yet so I will quote from the website:
"Numerology is a modular sequencing and audio plugin environment for Mac OS X. It takes sequencing and modulation metaphors established by the analog sequencers of the 70's, and implements them in a structured and highly interactive software environment designed for experimentation, improvisation and live performance. By using Numerology in conjunction with your choice of Audio Unit plugins and hardware synths, you can create an open compositional environment that is truly your own"

Hang Drum

2008-06-28T20:02:00.000+10:00

Watch the above video, and then head over to Soniccouture, as they have a 2.4GB library of Hang Drum sounds for Kontakt 2 or 3. This is something you could definately have fun with.

Great Albums : Dig Your Own Hole

2008-06-26T09:14:00.000+10:00

The Chemical Brothers second album, Dig Your Own Hole was even better than the first, though they stand together pretty well. After this they slowly moved in to more commercial territory until finally selling out with the release of their Singles collection, everything else since then has been pretty poor.

Audio Interface Guides

2008-06-22T10:38:00.000+10:00

Here are two articles on Audio Interfaces that I just found, and they're quite good:

Choosing A PC Audio Interface: The SOS Guide

How to buy a soundcard or audio interface intelligently

M-Audio - Axiom 25

2008-06-19T18:31:00.002+10:00

I considered buying this, but I don't find using a QWERTY keyboard that hard really. I would have to get used to it I guess. What I like most about most would have to be the pads, which are supposed to be amazing.

iPhone / iPod Touch Music Apps

2008-06-19T17:52:00.000+10:00

If you have an iPhone or a iPod Touch then you can run this 909 app and tap out some beats. It's also worth checking out the over at Create Digital Music blog which lists most of the apps you can use to make music on your iPhone or a iPod Touch.

Crazy programs that you have to program

2008-06-19T17:26:00.000+10:00

I would love to learn SuperCollider, I downloaded it ages ago but didn't have the patience. It's free though which is nice.

Max/MSP is used by quite a few people such as the guys in Autechre and Radiohead. I also like what I have read about Jitter which is part of Max/MSP now.

Reaktor is also widely used and would be great to learn.

And check out the Pure Data score for Hans-Christoph Steiner's Solitude down the bottom of this page. That looks amazing! Pure Data is also free.

Anyway there is a list of these types of apps here with a few more I didn't mention.

Make Music With Linux (mostly for free)

2008-06-19T14:42:00.001+10:00

Linux is a whole different OS to Windows and OSX. You can download Ubuntu Studio (or any other Linux OS) for free and you probably should install the OS on a separate partion on your hard drive, that way you can keep your current OS.

So now you need some apps. The good news is that there are those that will easily replace your old Windows/OSX programs, and there are some which are also on Windows and OSX as well. For example if you use Audacity or Renoise (€49) then you are in luck because you can get Linux versions of those.
Then if you like Pro Tools you might be interested in Ardour, which some say is better than Pro Tools.

energyXT2 is probably one of the most impressive looking DAWs around, unfortunately it costs money (€19-49 depending on the version you choose) but it's still cheap, and it runs on Windows and OSX as well which is handy if you ever want to switch back.

There is ZynAddSubFX, which is an impressive looking synth.

For drum machine needs there is Hydrogen.

And there is also Rosegarden for MIDI work.

Of course there are heaps more (there's a list here) but these seem to be among the best. Unfortunately there does seem to be a bit of a problem with running VST's on Linux thatnks to Steinberg which I don't fully understand how to fix.
But there is a bit of information about using VST's here(you can also find out VST compatibility info here). Unfortunately in my search for more information that made some form of sense, I mostly found outdated info, though there is this informative article.

Basic 64

2008-06-18T22:48:00.001+10:00

If you want to play with some c64 sounds then de la Mancha have you covered with the Basic 64.

And Even More Glitch VST's

2008-06-18T21:52:00.000+10:00

2 Rule Filter by 2 Rule (Windows only?) FREE!

Daft Funk by Klanglabs (Windows) FREE!

Glitch by Klanglabs (Windows) FREE!

Truc by de la Mancha (Windows) FREE!

Pudding by TWEAKBENCH (Windows) FREE!

Sideslip by TWEAKBENCH (Windows) FREE!

InstaJungle by Laurence Davies (Windows and OSX) FREE!

Scuzzphut6.5 lite by Scuzzphut (Windows only?) FREE!

Ring Thing by de la Mancha (Windows) FREE!

Oatmeal - FREE Vst

2008-06-18T21:43:00.000+10:00

Head over to KVR and read and download some Oatmeal.

The Interrupter - FREE Vst's!

2008-06-18T21:35:00.000+10:00

Top: Analogic Delay, and Bottom: Wow & Flutter. Both are free VST's from The Interrupter, and there are some more where they came from too. They are Windows only.

Shortcircuit is FREE!

2008-06-18T21:05:00.000+10:00

Shortcircuit from Vember Audio is freeware now, check it out and have some fun.

Even More Glitch VST's

2008-06-18T19:57:00.000+10:00

Ultrabeat in Logic 8 (OSX)

Stylus Remix by Spectrasonics (Windows and OSX)

iZotope Spectron (Windows and OSX)

CamelSpace by Camel Audio (Windows and OSX)

Beatfckr by Cees Taal (Windows) FREE!

More Glitch VST's

2008-06-16T22:46:00.000+10:00

Ultra Trigga FX by AZ Audio (Windows) FREE!

Dead Beats by Scott Monteith (Reaktor) (you can get this one free here)

Live Cut by Smart Electronix (Windows and OSX) FREE!

Effectrix by Sugar Bytes (Windows and OSX)

Shattersync by Pluggotic (Windows) FREE! (Based on Shattershot Lite by DarkWare)

Konkrete and Konkrete 2 by Soniccouture (Kontakt)

Glitch VST's

2008-06-16T21:46:00.000+10:00

dBlue Glitch by Illformed (Windows) FREE!

Buffer Override by Destroy FX (Windows and OSX) FREE!

Replicant by Audio Damage (Windows and OSX)

Toxonic Glitch by Joachim Schneider (Windows and OSX but only with Reaktor) FREE! but you must be registered.

Major Malfunction by Defective Records (OSX)

Ableton Live

2008-06-16T21:05:00.000+10:00

I use Ableton Live simply because it works brilliantly with VST's and while other programs can be a bit fidly, Live isn't. It does take a bit of getting used to at first, but there are handy tutorials inside the actual program, so it soon becomes very easy. Also the sounds and effects it comes with are really great to play with, and they sound fantastic. There is a bit of a list here of known 'famous' people who use it too.

Great Albums: Better Living Through Chemistry

2008-06-16T13:18:00.000+10:00

Better Living Through Chemistry is Fatboy Slim's first album and it is fantastic. Whereas his later work was kind of killed by excess radio play, this album wasn't so much and so you can come to it without hearing a song you've heard one too many times already. There's some real classic sounds on this album, and if you get the American version (with the orange cover) you get the bonus track Michael Jackson, which later was remade as Illuminati, which featured in the film Tomb Raider.

ReBirth RB-338 is FREE!

2008-06-16T12:44:00.000+10:00

Propellerhead's Rebirth is free now (it has been since 2005). The only downer is that the website that was hosting it seems to have gone, though there is a torrent, it's 220 MB.
EDIT: The Rebirth Museum is back online.

Hobnox : Everybody Needs a 303

2008-06-16T12:25:00.000+10:00

If you are bored and want to play with two 303's, a 909 and some guitar pedals then check out Hobnox Audiotools. It's all online which is a plus, but the downside is that there is no record button. But this is easily fixed by pressing record in your DAW or sound recorder etc. That being said though, in version 2.0 (coming soon) you will be able to save and load your work. Though to what extent remains to be seen.

Computer Music Magazine

2008-06-16T12:10:00.000+10:00

Computer Music Magazine is brilliant, not just because of the magazine though. You get about 8GB of content on the DVD, including the CM Studio. Picking up one issue of this mag will get you a heap of free VST's and a squillion samples to play with, well worth the price tag.