Article: a free Windows-based software studio

[Korg Supporter]

S1 Artist is the best if you can spend $50 for a student or 2nd hand version

[janPos]

thanks

[The Noodlist]

S1 Artist is the best if you can spend $50 for a student or 2nd hand version

It also comes bundled with most of their entry interfaces, and upwards, too.

A great deal, the Studio Magic bundle is also included.

[giaco17]

why not just using a daw like Cakewalk and get the plugins yo u need as you go along?

[Zmusic3]

Always heard Reaper is the best option for this, but you also can do a 30 day pro tools trial and then go monthly if you don't want a serious up front investment, but want to use an industry standard daw

[The Noodlist]

Looks like BandLab will discontinue Cakewalk free. I'd grab it while you can.
Source
viewtopic.php?p=8687484
https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2023/0 ... continued/

[eLawnMust]

Pretty much ANYTHING works... I think that most have to just sit down & get to it...

I just did a jazz tune in AXS Tracker which is freeware tracker from 2001, it has much limitation but is also fast & crashless (YES!) I work on XP but it works on windows 10 as well, ONLY 460 KB dir size, has internal multitimbral synth plus you use samples no VSTs for hours no senseless distractions..

https://alonetone.com/TalkOrBell/tracks/axs-jazzmonger

[mixyguy2]

omg lol

[FineAlly]

Pretty much ANYTHING works... I think that most have to just sit down & get to it...

I just did a jazz tune in AXS Tracker which is freeware tracker from 2001, it has much limitation but is also fast & crashless (YES!) I work on XP but it works on windows 10 as well, ONLY 460 KB dir size, has internal multitimbral synth plus you use samples no VSTs for hours no senseless distractions..

https://alonetone.com/TalkOrBell/tracks/axs-jazzmonger

This is absolutely brilliant!

[The Noodlist]

Ocenaudio
https://www.ocenaudio.com/
Easy, fast and powerful audio editor. I like to see it as an alternative to Audacity.
Useful for quick edits, multi-platform and well maintained.

[stalbans]

How do I install BD drums?

[Paree]

I’ve tried to keep everything as much cross platform as possible. Some things might not have a native replacement for Linux. However, most of this can be used with wine and yabridge.

DAW
———
The obvious choice for a fully featured free DAW is Tracktion Waveform Free. Not only is it the only free DAW with almost no limitations, it is also cross platform.

The only thing close to being cross platform and unlimited track count is LMMS. However, you can’t record audio in LMMS, good news is that Audacity added a lot of DAW like features including non destructive editing, beat and measures and more. So, Audacity + LMMS in whatever workflow (for Electronic, you might want to record something in Audacity and import in LMMS as a sample or if your music is mainly recording oriented, ocassional synth sounds can be exported from LMMS and used in Audacity).

Zrhythm offers full functionality except a 25 track limit count. However, the software is still in beta and has a lot of stability issues. It can become a solid option in the future and you can do a lot with just 25 tracks (especially with some bouncing of audio).

Fairlight (Davinci Resolve) is a capable audio only DAW, although it is meant for post production.

If you are on a Mac, you’ve got two more options - LUNA and Garageband

If you are on Linux, there are several options such as Ardour, Qtractor etc.

If you are on Windows, sadly there isn’t much option except the ones I’ve already mentioned. There are options such as MPC Beats, Sereto Studio etc but they all have severe limitations. MPC Beats is something you can try if you primarily work with samples and are okay with 8 MIDI tracks and 2 Audio Tracks as limitation. You can also use MPC Beats as a vst.

I didn’t mention Cakewalk because it’ll be discontinued in the near future. Reaper is not a free DAW, its a free unlimited demo, however you are supposed to pay for it. I didn’t mention Ardour for Windows and Mac because its extremely difficult to build it yourself for these platforms, without clear instructions. Yes, you can just donate 1 dollar and get it but that isn’t “Free”. Also most banks in my country restrict international transactions unless you apply for a special card, so its not easy to paypal for an average broke student (who is probably the one looking for a free DAW to begin with).

Hosts
———
Kushview Element - A handy modular host, open source and cross platform as well. I’ve used it for multiple different reasons. Hosting VST3 on LMMS, Splitting my MIDI keyboard to play multiple vsts in different key ranges and to bridge 32 bit plugins with carla (more on that later). It is standalone + plugin.

Carla - Carla is also a handy host, it is also capable of hosting 32 bit plugins. However, lack of preset management is its biggest issue. I used 32 bit version of Element to solve this by just hosting Element in Carla and hosting the actual plugin in Element and it works well. The only thing i’ll say is to bounce your track to audio so that you’ll not loose it later when you change your computer.

Audiogridder is useful if you have a spare machine which can host some plugins. If you have a mac and a spare windows machine, you can run windows only vsts on mac. This can also work by running a windows VM on a mac but at that point, it’s better to use a windows daw in the VM, make whatever you want, bounce to audio and use it in your project (or sample the patch you want and use it in a sampler).

CLAP wrapper - https://github.com/DISTRHO/Ildaeil

Effects
————
There are a lot of really good freeware effect plugins to mention, go through bedroomproducersblog lists or lists here on kvr.
These are some bundles that’ll cover most stuff - MeldaProduction MFreeEffects Bundle, Kilohearts Essentials. (Windows + Mac + Wine)
If you are on Linux, check out LSP plugins
If you are on Windows, Dead Duck effects bundle is an option.
GVST bundle is old but still useful
There are tons of very good free effects, especially from devs such as analog obsession, audio damage, tokyo dawn labs, valhalla etc. The list is too long.

Instruments
———————
Vital and Surge are must have workhorse synths that can pretty much create any sound you want.

U-he plugins are all cross platform and there are very good freebies in there.

TAL plugins are also must have.

Full bucket music plugins are awesome if you want some vintage synth emulations (Wine for Linux)

Decent Sampler for sampled instruments. There is also pianobook through which you can download tons of free sampled instruments for decent sampler and others. Convert with Moss is a software which can convert other formats (such as kontakt, sfz) to decent sampler.

Synth1 is my go to VA synth (wine for linux), its worth to have just for the sheer number of free presets and is pretty easy to learn. Dexed is one of the best DX7 emulations and can load dx7 patches (there are tons of free ones on the internet).

Cardinal is the best free modular plugin. Odin 2 is another semi modular option.

Geon Kick is a very good drum synth. Drumnet can use AI to generate drums and does a good job (not sure if this works with wine). SSD Free, BFD player, MT Powerdrumkit are some free acoustic drum plugins. If you are on Linux, you can try AVL drums or drumgizmo. Modo Bass and Modo Drums are free from IK Multimedia. Ample Sounds has some free guitar and bass plugins. Sampleson has a free hammond b3 organ emulation.

Other essentials (not sure if they’ll work on linux, even with wine) are Spitfire labs, bbc symphonic orchestra and komplete start from NI. There are also a lot of free kontakt player libraries. You can also download some free kontakt libraries and try to convert it using convert with moss.

Cherry Audio free plugins sound very good too.

sforzando is a good sfz player. SFZero-X for Linux.

Tx16Wx is the best freeware sampler in my opinion. Drops is a native alternative for Linux

Finally some resources - KVR product search, a lot of threads here, bedroom producers blog, a lot of subreddits have free samples, vital forum for presets, presetshare for downloading presets, freesounds for samples, pianobook for sampled instruments, pluginsforfree for a lot of free plugins, archive.org for a lot of public domain audio recordings (verify it before using), librevox for public domain audiobooks.

Also, i use all the three systems - Windows for my main workstation, mac as my primary laptop and linux for my spare laptop (and server but i don’t use it for music production). I’ve tried using it all for music production and here are some pros and cons wrt free (as in beer) music production software in my opinion.

Pros
Windows - Large choice for plugins, almost every free plugin works, workarounds for using old 32 bit vsts if needed. Most of the time, its included with your computer, unless you are building it yourself.

Linux - A lot of the available software are free (both as in beer and freedom), a lot of windows plugins work thanks to wine and yabridge. Free Operating System, very stable (as an operating system, plugins can still crash).

Mac - More choices for fully featured free daws, a lot of the modern plugins work, if you are using a mac laptop, they have good processing power and insane battery life.

Cons
Windows - Options for fully featured free DAWs is less than other two options since cakewalk decided to go commercial.

Linux - You’ll have to deal with a lot of “hacky” ways to get certain software to work with wine. While linux is very stable, same can’t be said about wine. Also lacking in the effects department when compared with other two.

Mac - Switching to apple silicon has made backwards compatibility tricky and you’ll be missing out on 64 bit plugins which won’t be updated to latest chips. You are also at the mercy of one company who has shown in the past that they don’t care about backwards compatibility.

Having said that, if you already have a machine, just use whatever you have.

It’s always recommended to have multitrack export of whatever you make once finished so you won’t have to worry too much about losing something in the future due to compatibility issues or a plugin failing to recall the settings.

Free Kontakt Player Libraries
__________________________
Audiobro Silver
Fracture Sounds Blueprint Series - Keys, Piano etc
Heavy Velocity Foundations
Impact Soundworks Freebies
The Free Orchestra - Project SAM
Sonokinetic Freebies
Strezov Sampling Freebies

Free Sampled Instruments for Decent Sampler
Hammond Organ - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/hammond-l102/
Rhodes - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/matts-fender-rhodes/
Wurlitzer - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/worlitzer/
Clavinet - https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/2347
CP-70 - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/davids-cp70/ (convert with moss)
General Percussion - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/hunte ... ion-world/, https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/percussion-palette/
Djembe - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/djembe-duet/,
Log Drums/ Wood Blocks - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/slit-log-drum/, https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/2926
Balafon - https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/420
Clave - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/clave-frog-friends/
Cajon - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/jons-cajons/, https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/cajon/
Conga - https://github.com/skuntzmann/Congas-Ed ... es/tag/1.1
Timbales - https://www.polyphone-soundfonts.com/do ... mbales-a-f, download the patches for Kontakt here
Metallophone - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/vinta ... allophone/
Middle Eastern Instruments - https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/947, https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/948
Few Indian Instruments- https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=indian
Taiko - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/low-e ... iko-drums/
Pipa - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/pipa/
Dizi - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/hz_dizi_g/
Shakuhachi - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/shakuhachi/
Saw U - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/saw-u/
Koto - https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/3096, https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/2769
Shamisen - https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/2768
Tin Whistle - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/irish-tin-whistle/, https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/class ... e-whistle/
Bouzouki - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=bouzouki
Pipes and Bagpipes-https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=pipes
Accordian - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/mums-accordion/,
Mandolin - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Mandolin
Banjo - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Banjo
Fiddle - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/fiddle-lele/, https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/langspil/
Frame Drum - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Frame+drum
Ukulele - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Ukulele
Kalimba - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=kalimba
Marimba - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=marimba
Steel Drum/Pan - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=steel+pan
Tambourine, Shakers - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/percu ... ymbal-efx/
Clarinet - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=clarinet
Brass - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/solo- ... amed-demo/
Reed Organ - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Reed+organ
Harp - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Harp
Dulcimer - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=dulcimer
Acoustic Guitar - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Acoustic+Guitar,
Electric Guitar - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Electric+Guitar
Zither - https://www.pianobook.co.uk/?s=Zither
Orchestral - https://versilian-studios.com/vsco-community.html

[audiojunkie]

This is a very good write-up! I agree with almost all of it. I also agree that TX16Wx is the best available sampler with an open format. It’s too bad that it doesn’t have native linux support and that the Pro version uses challenge/response copy protection. I would add Surge-XT and Vaporizer 2, but aside from that, the article is quite complete and well done! I also like that you explain your reasons for your choices. Good job!

[Paree]

This is a very good write-up! I agree with almost all of it. I also agree that TX16Wx is the best available sampler with an open format. It’s too bad that it doesn’t have native linux support and that the Pro version uses challenge/response copy protection. I would add Surge-XT and Vaporizer 2, but aside from that, the article is quite complete and well done! I also like that you explain your reasons for your choices. Good job!

I did mention Surge at the start of Instruments section. I recently installed Vaporizer 2, it looks promising, however i haven’t dived deep with it yet.

Also, what is the substitute for TX16Wx for Linux (ideally vst3 since it is universally supported)

[BBFG#]

Not sure if it's just my system or all, but Vaporizer2 installs on my Win10 system with no problem, but not on my Win7 system. Being that this a "free based" thread, it might be relative.