SSB Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 Now let's just say I consider myself fairly competent musically. I really love digital music done in certain styles and I'm always wondering exactly how certain sounds are pulled off. Unfortunately, my experience is entirely acoustic, so any remix I try to do ultimately emulates an acoustic sound, but really I want to try to integrate that into some awesome digital stuff. I mean, what's the point of writing music on a computer that can be performed live and sound much better? I've looked around a bit, and I know the basics of VSTs, but I am still a complete noob with respect to where to get what and what sounds good and what does this and that and all that other noise. Moving from live experience to digital is an intimidating experience. New lingo gets thrown in all over the place and you see knobs and wheels that you never thought should exist. So here I am, completely clueless as to where to find these amazing sounds you guys seem to have. I can never seem to find a good drum kit, pads and leads always sound tinny and cheap; it can really get discouraging. So I guess the short version of what I'm saying is where can I get some really good VSTs that are more digital than recreations of acoustic sounds? Thoug I'd just like to add this problem is deeper than just "WHERE TO FIND!" It's more asking for advice than specific locations. What to do rather than where to find specifics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverCoat Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Well first of all, the great thing about VST plugins is that you don't necessarily have to spend any money to get a good sound out of synths. Synth1, EZPoly, SuperWave P8, etc all sound great and are the things you are looking for! Those are a good 3 to start with if you're looking for a more synthetic sound. In my personal experience I've found a ton of decent/good synths just randomly downloading shit from kvr-audio. A few useless or bad plugins exist obviously, but most of them are pretty small so it's not too much of a waste of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villainelle Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Just going to add some names to OC's list. You can find all of these on KVR. synths: - Oatmeal (subtractive) - KarmaFX (modular) - Anna (modular) - Crystal (modular) - everything from Tweakbench.com (chiptune-like synths) effects: - dblue Glitch (Best. Free. Plug. Ever.) - digitalfishphones - everything (Blockfish, Endorphin etc. - compressors/asst. soundshapers) - Mykrasound Delay & Chorus - CamelCrusher (distortion/compression) - Kjaerhus Classic Series (everything from compressor to chorus to limiter, full suite) - Voxengo SPAN (spectrum analyzer) and other freebies These are just the ones that spring to mind immediately...more later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avaris Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Ambience Reverb is awsome. Def search on KVR audio they got tons and tons of stuff. If you have $18 feldspar by contralogic is a very good synth and FX plugin. Very good for creating mellow leads. SGX uses it in a lot of his stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSB Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'm checking out all that you've listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoozer Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 where to get what and what sounds good Get the good freebies mentioned in this thread. Don't get more than 5 of 'm; nothing kills your creative wiener as fast as a plug-in folder with 500 VSTs. Besides the synths, get some kind of sampler (or sample-based VST) so you can play back drums and realistic instruments. Get some effects. You'll find equals to guitar stompboxes here: http://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm For the rest of effects, get these. http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php Now you're finished in terms of plugins for the time being. Make it a rule that you don't add new ones before you've completely checked out the old ones. Having 20 reverbs/delays/whatevers is stupid. Don't go completely software; your guitar skills and playing is a valuable addition to what you do with the rest. New lingo gets thrown in all over the place and you see knobs and wheels that you never thought should exist. No, the knobs have existed; it's just that on cheaper or all-in-one gear they're hidden. I can never seem to find a good drum kit http://www.naturalstudio.co.uk/ns_kit7.html - there's a free version. pads and leads always sound tinny and cheap; it can really get discouraging. That's because you have to learn how the rest of the studio works, too. You'll have to become a jack of all trades; your own engineer, your own composer, your own producer, and your own session player. I get some really good VSTs The power is not so much in the plugin; it's in learning how to mix. Get yourself a good book by Bob Katz or this here: http://www.mixingwithyourmind.com/ . Dare to make mistakes. Dare to turn the knobs; if you don't hear a difference, go on until you do. If you're still working with PC speakers and a MEGA BASS WOOFER BOXX 250 JIGGAWATT PMPO, dump them if you can; if it sounds good on those, it's bound to sound like crap on anything else. Stay away from musical LSD - a plugin you throw over something that makes it all sound loud and professional. If you need volume, turn your speakers up; don't compress everything to death. Which sequencer do you work with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSB Posted May 2, 2007 Author Share Posted May 2, 2007 Thanks for the advice, Yoozer. I'm working mainly with FL Studio. I'm not a guitar player, though ;o ns kit does seem pretty spectacular for an acoustic kit. I'd also like to find some of those techno-ish drums.. ya know? I'm not a techno person so I don't know what to call it, but the point should be there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDRKirby(ISQ) Posted May 2, 2007 Share Posted May 2, 2007 Don't get more than 5 of 'm; nothing kills your creative wiener as fast as a plug-in folder with 500 VSTs. ... Make it a rule that you don't add new ones before you've completely checked out the old ones. Having 20 reverbs/delays/whatevers is stupid. QFE. I've run into this problem wayyy too often for my own good. If you're working with FL Studio, you could start by toying with the 3xOsc (synth included in FL). There's certainly more powerful stuff out there, but IMHO it's a fairly simple yet powerful synth that can really work well to teach you the basics. "Techno-ish" drums...the "Vengeance Essential Club Sounds" is the name of a sample pack that's thrown around quite frequently for that--but if you're looking for something free, well... http://www.vipzone-samples.com/ has a bunch of free samples--probably not the greatest, but it'll start you off at least. I'd also give the Kjaerhus Classic Series another thumbs up--definitely a great collection to have, especially since Fruity's effect plugins aren't always the best (though they can be useful). If you're googling resources and info on synthesis, you probably want to start with "subtractive synthesis" since that's really common and it's probably the "basic" type of synthesis. Take a peek around the demo songs that come with FL--you'd be surprised at what you can pick up from learning how things are done in them. Most of all, just keep experimenting. leave no knob unturned... === if you want some of my .flp files i'd be happy to share--just gimme a PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSB Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 That's another thing I've wondered a bit. When it comes to these drum sounds, what are they mostly packaged as? For a long time I used nothing but soundfonts. Fairly recently have I ventured into the world of VSTis, but I still find that I never work with individual wav samples or anything. The concept of getting a bunch of different sounds and putting them together myself is just completely foreign at this point. Is that common, or do most people get bundled (for lack of a better word) sounds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDRKirby(ISQ) Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 That's another thing I've wondered a bit. When it comes to these drum sounds, what are they mostly packaged as? For a long time I used nothing but soundfonts. Fairly recently have I ventured into the world of VSTis, but I still find that I never work with individual wav samples or anything. The concept of getting a bunch of different sounds and putting them together myself is just completely foreign at this point. Is that common, or do most people get bundled (for lack of a better word) sounds? soundfonts are great, but not really useful for one-shot samples that you're just going to use at one pitch (i.e. most drum sounds). so yes, most of your kicks/snares/hi-hats/crashes/claps/etc. will most likely be in .wav format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSB Posted May 6, 2007 Author Share Posted May 6, 2007 Well, after toying around with these things I can conclusively say that THE biggest challenge to making the transition into digital music is learning exactly how to make these things sound the way you need and then learning to apply them all together in concert. This is really pretty tough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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