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I was going to give this an official name (something better than "Tools we use"), but I wanted to start a post that lists some VSTs (free and paid) that I know a good number of us use for mixing. This is not intended to be a clone of a list of all possible VSTs, or like 2 people in our community use it so we put it here. It's intended to be a place to find out what others use in our space that we find particularly useful. Just replying with a simple name of a product isn't good enough for me to put it on the list (for the reason I stated above) - though you can always respond with plugins you personally found among the most useful (or just most used in each song). I want to avoid this being a junk drawer that has no real value. The value will come with a curated list of tools that we feel are worthy. For a list of DAWs we use and to find performers of specific instruments, please visit https://ocremix.org/workshop or ask in our discord. ? Sage Recommended 1. Instruments 1.1 Drums Addictive Drums by xln audio ($159 || complete: $869) [drums] ML Drums by ML Sound Lab (free) [drums] Steven Slate Drums by steven slate drums (free || $119) [drums] toontrack EZDrummer ($179) [drums] ? Superior Drummer ($399) [drums] 1.2 Samplers Native Instruments ? Kontakt (player: free || regular: $299) [sampler] [instrument building tool] Heritage Percussion by Impact Soundworks (free) [sampler] [tribal percussion] ? Super Audio Cart by Impact Soundworks (gameboy: free || complete: $149) [sampler] [chiptune] Shreddage 3 by Impact Soundworks [sampler] [guitar] Free -> Precision (free) [bass] & Stratus (free) [electric guitar] Hydra ($149) [electric guitar] - this one is my favorite of the Shreddage Line Impact Soundworks collection has a lot of instruments difficult to find, such as the Oud ($99) Spectrasonics: Keyscape ($399) [sampler] [piano] Trillian ($299) [sampler] [synth] [bass] Spitfire Audio Spitfire Labs - free [sampler] [textures] [orchestral] [live instruments] Notable Lab Instruments: ? Arctic Swells, ? Astral Forms, ? Frozen Strings, Strings, Strings 2, Amplified Cello Quartet BBC Symphony Orchestra (free) [sampler] [orchestral] 1.3 Synths Native Instruments FM8 ($149) [fm synth] Massive X ($199) [wavetable synth] Reaktor ($199) [modular synth] Odin (free and open source) [semi-modular synth] ? Phase Plant by Kilohearts ($199) [semi-modular synth] Pigment by Arturia ($199) [wavetable synth] ? Serum by Xfer ($189) [wavetable synth] Spectrasonics: ? Omnipshere ($499) [hybrid synth] [wavetable synth] Trillian ($299) [sampler] [synth] [bass] Spire by Reveal Sounds ($189) [synth] Surge XT (free and open source) [hybrid synth] VCV Rack (free || pro: $149) [modular synth] ? Vital (free || pro $80 || subscribe $5/month) [wavetable synth] Zebralette (free) [spectral synth] 2. Effects Deelay by sixthsample (free) ? Guitar Rig by Native Instruments (player: free || pro: $199) Helix Native by Line 6 ($399) [guitar amp] illformed Effects: dBlue Glitch (free but may require jbridge) [glitch] [stutter] Glitch 2 ($59.95) [glitch] [stutter] iZotope: Stutter Edit ($199) [glitch] [stutter] Vinyl (free) [vinyl record] ? Kilohearts Essentials by Kilohearts (free) Slate Digital Fresh Air (free) [vintage exciter circuits and advanced dynamics processing] TH-U by Overloud ($269) Valhalla Effects: ? Super Massive (free) [reverb] Vintage ($50) [reverb] Delay ($50) [delay] Xfer: ? OTT (free) 3. Utilities FabFilter (Pro Q 3: $169) iZotope Utilities: ? Ozone (elements: $49 || standard: $199 || advanced: $399) ? RX (elements: $49 || standard: $299 || advanced: $799) SPAN by Voxengo (free) [eq analysis] TBProAudio ISOL8 (free) [Mix monitoring tool] Tokyo Dawn TDR NOVA (free || ge: €60) [equalizer] Kotelnikov (free || ge: €50) [wideband dynamics processor] 4. Non-DAW Tools Brad the Mad's Tempo Calculator (free) [Chart, lists given bpm subdivisions as ms and Hz; chart goes from 60 bpm to 179 bpm] Tuneform's Tempo Calculator (free) [converts bpm to ms] MIDI CC List (free) [Chart, lists common CC uses] Virtual Instrument Delay Chart (free) [Google Sheet, lists delay offsets for most orchestral sample libraries] Tap Tempo (free) [Webapp, click or tap a key in time with a piece of music to get its tempo] Notes ? Native Instruments offers a starter pack with several of the recommended tools called Komplete Start (free) Free(ish) DAWs (https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2015/11/11/free-daw-software/ - he updates this regularly): Reaper Cakewalk Sibelius GarageBand Audacity (audio) Cheap Stuff / Sales Black Friday / Day after Christmas / Spring / Summer usually have sales Humble Bundle often has VSTs, sfx, and samples. Heavyvocity has some good textural tools (instruments & effects) Sample Packs: 99 Sounds’ (free) 99 Sounds’ two 99 Drum sample packs (free) To Add To Review SINE Player, Soundpaint, Musio Orchestral Tools, 8Dio NES VST

Here are some of my recommended tools I've used the most (I'll mark which ones were already mentioned as "*"): Drums (Libraries) - *ISW Shreddage Drums Heavocity Damage Drums (Samples) - I always go back to these Platinum Percussion (great for world music) BHK D&B Rough Connections Vol. 4, Bladerunner Dread Drum & Bass (for fast music) Equipped Music - Smoker's Relight Vol. 1, Vol. 2 (for Downtempo music) Black Octopus Leviathan (for hardcore EDM) Goldbaby Drums (MPC60 Vol. 1-3, When Alien Drum Robots Attack Vol. 1-2, for general use) Synths - I always go back to these *u-he Zebra2 (for practically ALL of my music honestly) *Xfer Records Serum (mostly for dubstep) Samples - 4Front TruePianos (physical model actually) *Spectrasonics Omnisphere, Trilian ISW PEARL: Concert Grand (truly an amazing Yamaha C7) ISW Resonance: Emotional Mallets (mostly for glassy percussion) Embertone Friedlander Violin and Blakus Cello (usually as solo instruments) OTS Evolution Acoustic Guitar (Steel Strings) Neo-Soul Suitcase (realistic electric piano, if I wasn't satisfied with just synthesizing that in Zebra2) Transitions (Samples) - I always go back to these ISW Juggernaut: Cinematic Electronic Scoring Tools Effects - u-he Uhbik (mostly "T" [tremolo] and "G" [granular]) *Guitar Rig Effects (free or nearly so) - Variety of Sounds Density MKIII (compressor), NastyDLA MKII (delay) *kiloHearts Essentials (most notably, Ring Modulator and Transient Shaper) ISW SNESVerb (SNES reverb emulator, $20) digitalfishphones endorphin (compressor) *dBlue Glitch v1.3 (free) and v2 ($60) Lofi Plus (bitcrusher; hard to find, let me know if you need a link) Sonalksis FreeG Stereo (Gate Plugin) Misc (free) - I always go back to these s(M)exoscope (spectroscope to check waveform loudness) *TDR Nova (Equalizer with Sum and Difference capabilities) TLs-Pocket Limiter (simple, soft knee limiter. Never got overcompression since!)