Need a sample, synth, or effect? LOOK HERE!

[zircon]

Post here if you are looking for sounds (samples), synth/instrument plugins, or effects.

The following directory is a work in progress. I will work on it over time and make it as specific and detailed as possible.

Plugin & Sample Library Manufacturers

Native Instruments

Spectrasonics

rgc:audio

Arturia

Big Fish Audio

Sonic Reality

http://www.espace-cubase.org/anglais/page.php?page=freevsti (VSTi's)

http://www.kvraudio.com/index.php?s=sounds

www.kvraudio.com (VSTi's)

http://preromanbritain.com/ymvst/ (atari)

http://www.smartelectronix.com/~bram/

soundfonts.darkesword.com

http://www.novakill.com/killerz.htm (vst)

sf2midi.com

Hammersound.net (sound font website)

Florestan (sound font website)

http://www.findsounds.com (breath sounds)

sectionz.com

Plugsound free (guitar stuff? -http://www.ultimatesoundbank.com/usb/exec/demo)

http://www.musicbootcamp.com/audio_sample_library.shtml

http://www.findsounds.com (sounds, fx)

http://www.freewebs.com/qualitysoundfonts/index.htm

soundfontdepot.com

http://www.homemusician.net/ (sound fonts)

modarchive.com(wav samples)

http://web.hibo.no/~mva/viewreview.php?id=710 (VSTI apparently)

___________Guitars____________

BelaDmedia.com (Demos and what not, check Lyricsl Distortion, DO IT!)

_____________Brass_____________

Kick Ass Brass (GREAT!)

Greg Adam' Big Band Brass

Squidfont(soundfonts.darkesword.com also has sfark unpackers! but here too

http://melodymachine.com/sfark.htm)

projectsam.com

_____________Choir________________

$Magnus Choir VSTi [v1.0

$$$$East West (Quantum Leap) ($1000+ for some)

http://gdream.n-zone.org/liens/download.php?id=51 (sf)

http://oui.com.br/nando (female)

http://www.papelmedia.de/sf2/sf2_uk_index.htm

http://www.guraydere.com/soundfonts/

http://www.naturalstudio.co.uk/ns_piano.html

Vocalplanet (website, just google it)

______________Piano_________________

Realistic Virtual Grand Piano VSTi [ver. 2.1

Bosendorfer 290

http://home.foni.net/~winfried-hubbe/ (click the disk icon at top)

http://www.musik.auc.dk/%7Ebovbjerg/piano.html

http://www.gsonic.com/maestro/ (rather big piano - decent drumkit also available)

http://exce.ath.cx/~route909/download.html

http://www.kvr-vst.com/get/597.html

http://www.gbmuk.fsnet.co.uk/soundfonts.html (organ)

_______________Drums___________________

http://www.natural-studio.co.uk/nskit_download.htm

www.soundtempest.net

http://www.funk-city.de/musica/Samples.rar

http://www.musicmall-asia.com/malaysia/instruments/Erhu/ (oriental)

http://www.dorumalaia.com/freerefillswavsamples.htm

___________Orchestra____________

Garritan Personal Orchestra (VSTi)

Synful Orchestra (VSTi)

sinfonia

Cadenza

http://www.audiomastermind.com/browse-choir-5887089-1.html

http://home.foni.net/~winfried-hubbe/ (click the disk icon at top)

http://www.musik.auc.dk/%7Ebovbjerg/piano.html

http://www.gsonic.com/maestro/ (rather big piano - decent drumkit also available)

http://exce.ath.cx/~route909/download.html

http://www.titanicsf.com

__________Weather effects_________

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/Weather.shtml

This thread will serve to consolidate the older "Sample Request" and "VST, DirectX instruments and effects" threads. You can still find those threads at the following links;

Sample Request: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21071

VST/DX Instruments: http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30514

[avaris]

sweetness.

What about samplefusion? They have some great ethnic drums and percussion, along with tons of other stuff. Plus its free if you've bought fl studio or any of their plugins.

[Chavous]

My god, this is awesome....

This was much needed here, thanks.

[electric concerto]

I'm looking for a distorted synth soundfont/vst/effect/technique, like the one Darude uses in Sandstorm as the lead synth...

[OverCoat]

Try combining any average synth with distortion effects, it's fun.

I think it is time for an OVERCOAT PROTIP:

If you're looking for a sound and already have a few synths and effects, make combinations of stuff you already have! You can play around with something like Synth1 for hours and not get bored. Actually I ended up writing a song by just doing that, more than once.

Though I do have good synth recommendations for you. In fact, they're right in the first post:

http://www.novakill.com/killerz.htm

Distorted, ugly sounds right out of the presets. I've used most of the novakill synths in at least one song and I think they're okay. He seems to have taken most of the older synths offline, but most of the old Novakill synths were very similar anyway.

[Dafydd]

A number of those links were dead or misleading...

[KungFuFurby06Edition]

Is there a soundfont with a solo gong that's good?

[OverCoat]

go to findsounds.com and search for "gong"

you will get results of varying quality, but there should be a decent one

[big giant circles]

sweetness.

What about samplefusion? They have some great ethnic drums and percussion, along with tons of other stuff. Plus its free if you've bought fl studio or any of their plugins.

samplefusion DOES have some good free downloads if you register your copy of FL, but you can only download the samples that are under 10MB I believe. Recently, they put up the option to buy all 17 CD's for $99, whereas they are somewhere around $25-$35 individually. That's a GREAT offer, and you get a TON more awesome (and better organized) samples than if you just go the free route.

Trust me on that. I know from experience. I downloaded EVERY available free sample, and there was a TON of stuff I missed until i splurged.

[sephfire]

I've been searching for a cheesy brass/band shot sample like you'd frequently hear in the Jet Set Radio Future soundtrack (example).

Anyone know of such a sample (or how I might emulate it)?

[analoq]

ah, that's a great tune.

i have some cheesy orchestra hits in my jv1010 collection you could probably use:

http://foshata.com/stuff/rol1010_hits.zip

(rol1010_hit_*.wav)

cheers.

[suzumebachi]

Ultimate Guitar Kit 2 (~28mb sf2)

Have a free guitar soundfont. I got this off of The Auditorium before they neutered the sample section of their forums. I don't recall who the original author was, though.

In any case, enjoy.

[Mairuzu]

Using presets on a sampler is as bad as using presets on a synthesiser. What people should learn to do is collect their own soundbank of samples. Using sampled acoustic instruments like orchestras/pianos only creates a demonstation/draft of what it could sound like. Best thing to do is use what you have to your best ability, wanna do strings but can't get a string orchestra? Forget it. Just work with sounds you can get, if something sounds cool, record it! Percussive sounds from hitting metal/plastic/glass objects. Process the sounds however you want, then you'll have some original sounds! This is what any good producer does. Sampled acoustic sounds don't give an accurate representation, its just a glorified midi file at the end of the day.

[suzumebachi]

oh ok. cuz for a second there I was about to use a sampled piano in a song I was working on here. thank heavens you posted!!!! now instead, I can record an 80 year old quadraplegic wrapped in celophane farting into a phonograph with a tape recorder on the other side. and use it in my song. it'll be great.

thanks mairuzu! you have shown me the light. because god forbid i don't have a $30,000 grand piano and a $50,000 studio to record it in, and lord knows a soundfont might not give an accurate representation!

[Mairuzu]

If you utilising the sound of an 80 year old quadraplegic wrapped in celophane farting into a phonograph with a tape recorder on the other side and made somethin interesting that would be the epitomy of electroacoustic music.

Just because you don't have a $30,000 piano and a $50,000 studio doesn't mean you can't make music. All i'm saying is music production is about utilising what you have and use it to it full potential.

Using a soundfont of a piano is just a draft and can could possibly give performers and listeners an idea of what the piece would sound like, but it could never be taken seriously.

[OverCoat]

Maybe not by you, but I can use soundfonts seriously.

This isn't a joke tune, is it?

But of course that's electronic music, not exactly meant for live performance [though I can totally do it!]

[Mairuzu]

Soundfonts/samples that are trying to be an instrument can never be one, only a representation. And other sounds through soundfonts can be taken seriously, but its not your unique sound. You'll sound just like everone else using soundfonts on the internet. If you collect your own sounds and don't share them with anyone else, you'll have your own sound. Akira Yamaoka has his own sound, but hes a sound designer aswell as a composer. I admit to using some samples myself, but thesedays if I do use any sounds which are available to more people than myself I try to process them so they sound very different. Especially with drumkits, thousands of people use the same kits, process all the sounds indivially until it doesn't sound like a kit, it sounds original.

[LooPKiD]

I'm still lookin' for FX Sweep samples. the 1 or 2 bar climax soundin' samples ..

Plz.. help me..

[OverCoat]

You can't make them yourself?

Reverse a cymbal sample or something

You can also use pretty much any synth with an LFO or pitch envelope to make sweepy noises

[Splunkle]

I'm still lookin' for FX Sweep samples. the 1 or 2 bar climax soundin' samples ..

Plz.. help me..

In addition to Overcoat's mad sweep strats, if you are using Fruityloops, bust out wave traveller with a pad sample. Just fiddle with the curve of the line, and you should end up with a preety neat "HEY GUYZ THIS NEXT BIT IS IMPORTANT K?" type thing fairly fast.

[Mairuzu]

For processing sounds in time and things like that to get samples sounding completely differnt from the original a good program is Cecilia. Its for osx and windowse. The interface doesn't lok the best but it is a really good program. It uses Csound, try it out, you can even use copywrited samples and process them so far that they'd be legal to use.

http://www.csounds.com/cecilia/

[Souliarc]

Soundfonts/samples that are trying to be an instrument can never be one, only a representation.

First off, a soundfont is a format in which to load samples into a sampler. They're not in the same category.

Second, define instrument? Is an instrument not something used to play music? Regardless of whether it was sampled or not, it's how you use it that matters. When the sound fits, it becomes your own, regardless if it was a sound from Reason's Factory Soundbank.

I admit to using some samples myself, but thesedays if I do use any sounds which are available to more people than myself I try to process them so they sound very different. Especially with drumkits, thousands of people use the same kits, process all the sounds indivially until it doesn't sound like a kit, it sounds original.

If people want to use generic drums, let them. Not everything has to be Akira Yamaoka Silent Hill Industrial. Unscathed drums are a commonplace in music, just look at JJT's "Voices Broken". Those drums are from a very popular drum kit by Maestro, but they fit. Even look at the reviews, people mistook them as a real drummer, which reiterates my point on "it's how you use them". The AKAI MPC series was (and somewhat still is) very popular for drums, especially in rap music.

We don't all have the luxury of recording every instrument we use, due to either time or money. Sampling's popularity stems from that aspect and has allowed us instant access to instruments across the globe.

[hazardous]

I will definitely be using this thread in the near future.

[Mairuzu]

(I am aware of the difference between soundfonts and samples, soundfonts are just organised, like a sampled instrument preset in a sampler)

All composers tend to have their own rules.

Some may use presets on synths and freely available samples, because maybe they want to sound like everyone else, or want real instrument sounds but don't have the instruments.

Some composers may want to do their own completely original thing so have their own original soundbank.

For people involved in Music Production/Composition as a profession originality is very important as record companys tend to chose a certain producer due to his sound, created by his palette of sounds. If a lot of people in the music industry may be using Kontakt/Sampltank samples having someone which their own soundbank can be good.

But for people who use samples I think you should tweak the samples/kits, even if a tiny bit like EQ, FX, maybe some dynamic FX on individual drums/samples.

[Souliarc]

(I am aware of the difference between soundfonts and samples, soundfonts are just organised, like a sampled instrument preset in a sampler)

All composers tend to have their own rules.

Some may use presets on synths and freely available samples, because maybe they want to sound like everyone else, or want real instrument sounds but don't have the instruments.

Some composers may want to do their own completely original thing so have their own original soundbank.

For people involved in Music Production/Composition as a profession originality is very important as record companys tend to chose a certain producer due to his sound, created by his palette of sounds. If a lot of people in the music industry may be using Kontakt/Sampltank samples having someone which their own soundbank can be good.

But for people who use samples I think you should tweak the samples/kits, even if a tiny bit like EQ, FX, maybe some dynamic FX on individual drums/samples.

I don't understand why you think samples can't be used for originality... Zircon uses pretty much nothing but samples and he has many original songs with an original sound. Keith Crouch (producer for Boyz II Men, Chaka Khan) and Mark Isham both use the Synthogy "Ivory" Grand Pianos plug-in because of how good it sounds. Mix Engineer Kent Hitchcock from Jurassic 5 uses Reason and Bomb Factory plug-ins. Josh Wink uses the AKAI MPC that I mentioned. Need more examples?

You might as well consider every orchestral piece to be unoriginal. They all basically use the same instruments (and therefore the same sounds). It doesn't just take unique sounds to be original but a unique composition.

It's fine if you don't want use samples, just don't say it isn't "professional" or "original" to use them.