Looking for some suggestions for FREE Mac plugins

[ghettosynth]

Hi All,

Starting a new project with a friend. We are getting out of our studios to work and we are both using Macs. I use windows in my studio and my macbook is really just my development machine. I do have my DAW software installed, however, since it's not my studio machine, I have no plugins installed.

Since my friend does not currently have live suite I want to identify some basic free plugins that we could standardize on. We will be doing house music only and a large majority of what we do will be just samples and loops that we either create or have in our respective libraries. Both of us have relatively new i5 machines.

So, what are the best in class FREE (magware is ok if it's currently available on the monthly disc) plugins? I'd like to whittle this down to a short list so discussion is appreciated.

tnx,
gs

[lofty]

...

[chokehold]

Any special things you're looking for?

Reverb: TAL Reverb II, smartelectronix Ambience
Analyzer: Voxengo SPAN

If you buy an issue of Computer Music (UK mag) then you'll get access to their "CM Studio" which contains a lot of precious little goodies (if you don't have alternatives) like a CM version of eaReckon's EQUA87 etc.

A lot of VERY good free AU effects at Airwindows, but you'll have to skip the newbie thing and try to accept them without fancy GUIs.

If you're willing to invest 25€, you can get the Track Essentials bundle from Tone Boosters and get an above-average set of, well, essential track FX.
Their Barricade Limiter for 15€ is the best, cleanest and most transparent Limiter (in the dual-digit price range) that I've come across in the last 15 years, and I'm sure if you google or search KVR for reviews on it, you'll find mainly opinions that agree with me.

[ghettosynth]

Any special things you're looking for?

Not in particular. To be clear, I have a boatload of my stuff that I could install but since my friend uses live exclusively and hasn't used any plugins that don't come with the base version of live, he doesn't have any of the good stuff that I have.

Point being, I'm in no way new to this, I'm just not familiar with what's good AND free on the mac side of things.

Reverb: TAL Reverb II, smartelectronix Ambience
Analyzer: Voxengo SPAN

Since he has live standard, AFAIK, he has all of the basic Ableton effects, so, for that stuff, unless we know we need something, it's not that big of a deal.

I'm used to grabbing one of the many awesome synths that I have or what's in ableton and he has none of those. When necessary, I don't mind creating audio clips, but, I'd like for us to have a few instruments in common such that we don't always have to go to audio clips.

If you buy an issue of Computer Music (UK mag) then you'll get access to their "CM Studio" which contains a lot of precious little goodies (if you don't have alternatives) like a CM version of eaReckon's EQUA87 etc.

Sure, I have dozens of issues of CM and the $20 for the latest is not a deal breaker if I don't want to just give him one of mine, we aren't kids, heh!

A lot of VERY good free AU effects at Airwindows, but you'll have to skip the newbie thing and try to accept them without fancy GUIs.

Hmm, I didn't know about those, tnx.

If you're willing to invest 25€, you can get the Track Essentials bundle from Tone Boosters and get an above-average set of, well, essential track FX.
Their Barricade Limiter for 15€ is the best, cleanest and most transparent Limiter (in the dual-digit price range) that I've come across in the last 15 years, and I'm sure if you google or search KVR for reviews on it, you'll find mainly opinions that agree with me.

Thanks, first step is to just find a good list of free things. It's not that $25 is a big deal, but that it probably won't be necessary.

[softska]

TDR Feedback Comp, and Luftikus/SonEQ for color EQ. And definitely Airwindows like chokehold said. The free stuff, particularly Desk3 is bloody good.

+ A pack of melda and voxengo free stuff to fill up the ground base

For synth.. u-he TyrellN6 is my favorite free thing now

[FLWrd]

Go to this page (http://www.kvraudio.com/q.php), set OS and Pricing, and hit search. You can also buy a copy of Computer Music Magazine (around €3 for the download version), and you'll get a whole bunch of free mac software. Melda Productions is also good source of donation-ware.

[BDeep]

Focussing on synths:

Alphakanal Automat http://www.kvraudio.com/product/automat_by_alphakanal (32 bit)
Audiospillage Minispillage (good for kicks)
NI Reaktor player (Free factory content & Micro Prism)
U-He Zebralette/Podolski/TyrellN6
TAL Noisemaker/BassLine (32 bit)/U-No-62 (32 bit)

That should get you going.

EDIT: If going freeware, I would use Live in 32 bit, since then you can use both Automat and BassLine, which I highly recommend.

[ghettosynth]

Focussing on synths:

Alphakanal Automat http://www.kvraudio.com/product/automat_by_alphakanal (32 bit)
Audiospillage Minispillage (good for kicks)
NI Reaktor player (Free factory content & Micro Prism)
U-He Zebralette/Podolski/TyrellN6
TAL Noisemaker/BassLine (32 bit)/U-No-62 (32 bit)

That should get you going.

That's great, thanks. Since I'm a regular Reaktor user I completely forgot about Reaktor player and the fantastic Carbon 2 synth that comes with it.

[BDeep]

Oh, and I just found this, no idea how it sounds, haven't tested it myself yet

http://ju-x.com/gimmick/

[Numanoid]

I don't think anybody mentioned Neuron yet, just been set free: http://www.kvraudio.com/product/neuronvs-by-prosoniq

I just made a quick search for freeware Mac plugins in the KVR database, sorted by date added, could be of interest to look at:

http://www.kvraudio.com/q.php?search=1& ... f&ob[]=dan

[Aubrey Lamont]

I use the following on my mac:

TAL free plugins
u-he Tyrell, Podolski, Zebralette
Blue Cat free plugins
Melda free plugins
Voxengo SPAN
Klanghelm freebies
TDR Feedback comp
Camelcrusher

Also, I have to echo the ToneBoosters recommendation. I'm assuming you'll need a decent limiter. Also, the TB EQ and comps are great.

[Gamma-UT]

I'd add the Michael Norris spectral mangling AUs to the list - not everyday tools but handy for special FX. They can be a bit unstable these days in Live.

http://www.michaelnorris.info/software/ ... ctral.html

Locoders' Kingdubby is worth a look as a good dub-style delay in case you're doing deep house/dub techno crossover type stuff. But I haven't tried it recently so I'm not sure about stability right now.

[Xenobt]

Take a look at dontcrack.com, ghettosynth. They have a great selection of free stuff in various formats, all broken down by os and plug-in format. As mentioned here earlier, some of the Blue Cat and Flux plugs are beautiful, professional and sound incredible. Some others, not so much!

But it's hard to beat free, and they're a great resource for "try before you buy" demo versions too.

KVR/eSoundz: Xenobt

[JavaJ]

Spend $30 and buy Mainstage from Apple. You will get tons of instruments that you both can standardize on. It's a stupid price for what you get and is not crapware.

[ghettosynth]

Spend $30 and buy Mainstage from Apple. You will get tons of instruments that you both can standardize on. It's a stupid price for what you get and is not crapware.

While Mainstage is a great value if you want to use it for live performance, AFAIK, it doesn't make the plugins that come with it available to use in non-logic DAWs.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2011/ ... -software/