Good old transistor organs from the 60′s, the Farfisa manufacturer is associated to the portable combo organ, the characteristic sound of the electronic organ is all you need. So we compiled some free VSTi that are able to emulate electric organ. portable organ 4 all !     1. Combo F by Martinic Comob Model F http://www.martinic.com/combof/ The most popular free Farfisa VST emulation, it’s modelled after the Farfisa Combo organ, and available for Windows and Mac OSX, both 32 & 64 bit.       2. Morphiza VST by Krakli Morphiza VST https://web.archive.org/web/20041204232903/http://www.krakli.co.uk/zips/Morphiza.zip A good old synthedit creation. It’s free, it sounds good, guarantee 100 % old transistor organ from the 60′s & 70′s.       3. CheapCheese by vintagecheeze Cheap Cheese VST https://sites.google.com/site/vintagecheeze/home Another nice free combo organ emulation in VST format.       4. Phibes by Land of Cockaigne Phibes VST organ https://web.archive.org/web/20021122102921/http://www.funkelectric.com/~cockaigne/ + download According to the author, this is not a Farfisa (or Hammond B3) emulation but more an emulation of cheap imitation ! and that’s why it’s one of the most funky VST.      

Let’s go funk:   1. TickyClav by BigTick Ticky Clav http://www.bigtickaudio.com/goodies/tickyclav {postad2] The most popular VST for free Clavinet emulation : it’s nice and does what we want. here’s a demo from uproar24 on youtube :     2. Topaz Clav 1 by Topaz Audio Topaz Clav 1 http://www.topazproductions.co.uk/subpages/vsts.html A Synthedit VSt plugin : it’s based on sample (surely a soundfont), so it’s more limited, but the clav sound is good. The filter is pretty basic but together with the samples it does a good job.     3. Bonus Trax According this post @ KVR, the Free VSTi String Theory by UGO is more than capable of doing funky Clavinet sounds : and that’s true !!Check the 64 "Segovia" preset in the factory sounds String Theory VST http://www.ugoaudio.com/index.php/vst-plugins   There are also free clavinet soundfonts all around the interweb. A free sf2 player like SFZ+ and some Clavinet D6 soundfont and here you go.    

We have searched on all the web for free VST emulation of the Arp 2600 synth : unfortunately, there’s really only one. The good news is that it’s a very good emu! **edit **: une fois n’est pas coutume we have not searched deep enough ! Thanks to BlackWinny (see the first comments), another Arp 2600 like emu is available for the masses! Come on let’s do it :   1. Arppe2600va by Glen Stegner Arp 2600 VA VST http://glenstegner.com/softsynths.html Based on the Richard brooks Synthedit source, the Arppe2600va is a must have, for all semi modular virtual analog lovers. Despite some bugs it has all you need : three oscillators, an ADSR generator, a LFO, a Sample & Hold Unit, a Filter, a spring reverb and many more! If you are not familiar with the Arp 2600 you may have a look at the manual before programming some patches : http://soundprogramming.net/manuals/Arp_2600_Manual.pdf This (free!) eBook by Samuel Ecoff is also a must : http://blog.wavosaur.com/download/arp2600fundamentalsofmusictechnology.pdf The matrix on the Arppe2600va VST is less fun that "patch chord" but is very powerful and easy to use. Bonus !! 2 Free Preset Banks for Arppe 2600 va : here’s one by our good friend Ann : http://ann.sounds.free.fr/download/presets/Arppe2600/Arppe2600_Ann_bank01f.rar  : 72 incredible presets for the ARP 2600 VST! and another preset bank by me : http://blog.wavosaur.com/download/Arppe2600va_Chris_bank01.zip : 74 crazy presets !! Bass arp ! http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/arp2600arpbass.mp3 Crazy Sequence http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/arppe2600sequence1.mp3 Space FX http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/arppe2600-crazyFX.mp3     2. Trans Computer Maschine by Cescato trans Computer Maschine VST ! http://cescato.altervista.org/T-C-M.htm Unlike the Arppe2600va, this one is still developed! Freeware / donationware, don’t hesitate to support  the author. It’s not a 1:1 Arp 2600 emulation, but it share the same basis. And it’s good to have the value displayed for the pitch a second ADSR is also a nice addition. and more important, it features a sequencer, just check the "Blade runner" and "I Feel Love Donna Summer" presets ! cool It has less modulation possibilities than the Arp 2600 / Arppe2600va but it still a powerful beast.     — Bonux trax : — 3. Arp 2600 VST by Richard Brooks Arp 2600 4 free info and SE sources  direct VST download The -very- old version of Arp 2600 VST, for hardcore "VST vintage" fans.   and for the fun, an old GUI of arppe2600va : i prefer the blue one

That is correct ! The Speak and Spell ! the toy that everybody love to "bend". You can hear the sounds of the Speak & Spell in countless songs, from LFO techno anthem "LFO" to obscure Japanese techno pop tracks. The magic of Linear Predictive Encoding + funky electronic = the sound we all need. We found about three free VST plugins that are inspired by the 80′s speaking toy. They’re all sample based, but funny : 1. Speak N Spell 80 by GrooveZing Speak N spell 80 VST http://www.groovezing.com/en/plugins/speaknspell80.php Based on samples from the Speak and Spell toy, this plugin let you map the synthetic words on the MIDI keyboard; or play any word / combination of words like a sampler. React to pitch bend, and is available in 32 & 64 bit for Windows! The project is recent so let’s hope it will get some update, with more BEND options !     2. Necromare Speak And Teach VST Speak And Teach VST http://necromare.blogspot.com/ download : here It’s basically just a sample player, created with Maize sampler, all MIDI keys are mapped with a speak and spell sample. Available for Windows (32 bit only)     3. SonicAlienz Incantor SonicAlienZ Incantor VST http://sonicalienz.com/pageview/sonicalienz/vst.htm It’s a bended to death speak and spell emulator : the sound is between pure random and harsh unusable noise, that’ fun. Made with Synthedit.      

Let’s go crazy (diamond)   1 Cheeze Machine by Big Tick audio Cheese Machine VST http://www.bigtickaudio.com/goodies/cheezemachine One of the oldest VSTi around the web, but still refreshing. You have the ensemble sound + the phaser + the reverb => you got the ARP Solina string sound. Kind of. An Audio Unit version is also available for Mac OS X. It just lacks a 64 bit version.   2. eSline String by ElektroStudio eSline VST free Arp Solina ! http://elektrostudio.ovh.org/index.php?go=esline Another "old analog" style emulation by ElektroStudio. The good phaser is here for this VST recreation of the ARP solina. You can select between Viola, Violon, Trumpet and Horn sounds. Unfortunaly, no 64 bit version.     3. Crazy Diamonds by Rumpelrausch Crazy Diamonds http://untermkittel.de/rumpelrausch/?PLUGINS From the same dev who created Zr3 Organ plugin, this "String Synth" emulator can produce the creamy sounds we all love. Of course his name come from the intro of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond".     4. Stringer by Falke Lab Stringer VST download on archive.org Based on sample from different String synths, including the ARP Solina. A synthedit creation with some interesting string sounds. For the same price (free!) you also have samples from Mellotron, Crumar performer, Korg Trident. It has a simple filter and envelope generator. 32 bit only (Synthedit).     5. StringSynth by Algomusic StringSynth VST download StringSynth VST Simple but effective, this String Synth VST can produces fine pads, with this nice phasing effect. It sounds more "modern" and clean than the other, but above all, it sounds good.     6. Wombat solina Wombat Solina VST info & download An old Synthedit creation ! you got 4 plugin for each instruments : Viola, Violin, Trumpet and Horn. with all the same UI and same modulations / effects.     7. easy-mr. stringer Mr Stringer VST http://easytoolz.de/classics.html UI with a vintage look !!

The magic of software virtual instruments ! Recreating known piece of hardware, emulating famous synth, trying to capture the spirit of a machine, attempting to copy the sound and feeling of an instrument! Here’s a compilation of all the articles about free VST plugins that try to emulate the most famous synths, plus links to the freeware plugins that are the only one to recreate a kind of machine (they didn’t get an article). Below is a list of best free VST emulations. TB 303 + cat in space Here you can find free virtual alternatives to the classic analog synths : MiniMoog, Arp 2600, Arp Odyssey, Synthi VCS3, Obeirheim OB-X There are also your favorite FM / Vector Synthesis / "digital" synths : Yamaha DX7, Prophet VS, PPG Wave, Ensoniq SQ80 The usual techno/trance suspects are here too : Roland TB303, Alpha Juno, Juno 60, JP-8000, Korg Mono / Poly, Clavia Nord Lead 2 We did not forgot the Jazzy/Funky/Rock famous instruments : Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond B3 organ, Farfisa combo organ, Hohner Clavinet, Wurlitzer E-piano, Mellotron & Arp Solina. And even the antic Theremin + some funky toys : Speak and Spell & Stylophone. This is work in progress, i’ll add free VSTi plugin if we find some new free recreation of well known synthesizers. All the VSTi in this list are freeware. Here we go : 1. Minimoog http://blog.wavosaur.com/best-free-vst-minimoog-emulation/   2. ARP 2600 http://blog.wavosaur.com/2-free-arp-2600-vst-emu-preset-banks/   3. ARP Odyssey http://blog.wavosaur.com/4-free-arp-odyssey-vst-emulation-128-presets/   4. VCS3 Synthi AKS http://blog.wavosaur.com/free-ems-vcs3-synthi-aks-vst-emulations/   5. Oberheim OB-X / OB-Xa / OB-8 https://obxd.wordpress.com/   6. Roland TB 303 http://blog.wavosaur.com/best-free-tb-303-emulation-sotware-vst-plugins-standalone/   7. Roland Alpha Juno http://blog.wavosaur.com/3-free-roland-alpha-juno-vst-emulations/   8. Roland JP-8000 http://blog.wavosaur.com/5-free-vst-emulations-of-roland-jp-8000-supersaw/   9. Roland Juno 60 / Juno 106 / Juno 6 http://blog.wavosaur.com/6-free-vst-emulation-of-roland-juno-60-juno-160-juno-6/   10. Korg Mono / Poly http://www.fullbucket.de/music/monofury.html   11. Yamaha DX7 http://blog.wavosaur.com/4-free-dx7-vst-emulation-fm-synth-4-all/   12. Prophet VS download   13. Ensoniq SQ80 http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/index.html#sq8l   14. Waldorf PPG Wave http://www.hermannseib.com/english/synths/ppg/wavesim.htm   15. Rhodes MK2 electric piano http://blog.wavosaur.com/best-fender-rhodes-e-piano-vst-freeware/   16. Wurlitzer electric piano http://www.genuinesoundware.com/?a=showproduct&b=37#dl   17. Hammond B3 tonewheel organ http://blog.wavosaur.com/7-free-vsts-for-hammond-b3-emulation/   18. Farfisa electric combo organ http://blog.wavosaur.com/4-free-vsti-emulations-of-farfisa-organ/   19. Clavinet D6 http://blog.wavosaur.com/best-vst-emulation-of-clavinet-d6-freeware/   20. Mellotron http://blog.wavosaur.com/5-free-mellotron-vst/   21. ARP Solina string ensemble http://blog.wavosaur.com/7-free-arp-solina-vst-emulation/   22. Theremin http://blog.wavosaur.com/the-8-best-free-theremin-vst/   23. Speak and Spell toy http://blog.wavosaur.com/3-free-speak-and-spell-vst-emulations/   24. Dubreq Stylophone http://blog.wavosaur.com/3-stylophone-vsts/   25. Linndrum LM-1 http://blog.wavosaur.com/3-free-linndrum-lm-1-vsti-plugins/   26. Electronic Dream Plant (EDP) Wasp http://nusofting.liqihsynth.com/freeplugins.html   27. Clavia Nord Lead 2 http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/  + check my preset banks for Synth1 !   28. Roland JX-8P http://sites.google.com/site/mlvst0

Another question our users often ask is "how to extract voice from songs ?", "how can i make an acapella of this song" ? etc.. Vocal isolation is a black science, it’s the voodoo of audio processing… or just a good old spectral substraction ! The principle is basic, find a part of the song without the voice, and substract it from a part with the voice, so you are left with only the voice part. The ideal situation is where you have the normal song (voice + music) and an instrumental version of the same song. The magic voice isolator plugin exists !! and it’s free. Kn0ck0ut VST plugin is a free vocal isolation plugin, based on the spectral substracting principle. It takes two inputs : voice+instru on left and instru only on right and it performs a FFT processing for removing the instrumental part. A sort of acapella maker ! Here’s the VST plugin : KnockOut VST Kn0ck0ut VST info + download Now you can download the VST plugin and copy the dll in your VST folder. How to isolate vocals / get the vocal out of the song : If you have the normal song (vocal+instru) and the instumental version : 1. open Wavosaur 2. menu Files->Open and select the files to load (one song file + instrumental file) 3. if the files are stereo, for each file unselect left channel ( press the "1″ key), select all (CTRL + A)  and use menu -> Process -> Mute : this mutes the right channel 4. on the instrumental file, use menu->Process->Swap channels 5. use copy / cut / paste to select the part you want to "extract" and try to make the two files "in sync" the best you can (use zoom in in time & amplitude for more precision) 6. select all (CTRL + A) the instrumental part and copy (CTRL + C) 7. select all the normal part and use menu->Edit->Paste special-> Paste and mix 8. open VST rack, load KnockOut VST plugin, and open the plugin UI 9. use the "R input gain" to find the right balance between vocal isolation and overall quality : the more you increase the parameter, the more the vocal is isolated, but the effect is more drastic and you can clearly hear the artefacts of the spectral processing if you don’t have an instrumental version, you can try to find a part in the song with no vocal, that is similar to the part with vocal. here’s a test : voice+instru on left & instru only on right: http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/feel-the-beat.mp3 after the kn0ck0ut processing for isolating vocal: http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/feel-the-beat-acapelized.mp3  

Here is the standalone version of the famous VSTSpeek plugin ! See here for more information : http://blog.wavosaur.com/text-to-speech-vst-vst-speek/   VSTSpeek standalone executable for Windows !   The standalone version is an application for Windows, no installer, just unzip and let’s go ! The program works under Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 -> download here !! <- -> the manual ! <-   Feel free to suggest improvements for the standalone version : render as wav ? MAC version ? Linux version ?

I was doing some hard drive archeology, when i found this little funny application : a random music maker. It’s called Crakbone and was floating around the internet some years ago. Crakbone by Stephen Cronin Crakbone random song maker software info + download original + download custom version download the Random music maker ! The "seed" for the randomness is any ASCII text you type : so the same text always produces the same song! Nice. You can try any combination of letter / number / any ascii character. Press F1, type a text, then go ! Make music from text ! The application comes with 179 samples in OGG format : bass drums, snare drums, bass, string/synth sounds, noise sounds and scratches. you can change these samples if you want to change the results and make a funkier random music generator ! I have changed some samples to give an alternative version (download the "custom version"). Here’s some mp3 examples of random tracks from the original Crakbone random music maker : funky beat with 4 characters: http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CZ-F.mp3 some 80′s ish tune with only numbers : 2234 http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2234.mp3 some random typing (GDGDR) = 2000′s electro hip hop http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/GDGDR.mp3 hey! sounds like a Bobby Brown tune http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/OYUi.mp3       and here’s some samples of random tunes from the custom version (all with news samples !) make it funky http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/make-it-funky.mp3 yeah! hoover !! (U5Ru) http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/U5Ru.mp3 just type F1 http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/F1.mp3 hardcore!! (FSF) http://blog.wavosaur.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/FSF.mp3   don’t hesitate to share the words that produces funky tunes !

This post is for the Mac users. When it comes to Mac OS X, the number of freeware plugins is very low, compared to the Windows world. The popular "Save as VST" softwares (Synthedit and Synthmaker) are Windows only. The "upgrade" politic of Apple is a sort of nightmare for developers (and sometimes users!), so many old free plugins don’t work anymore… I have searched for free MAC plugins over the web and then tested ! - only free synth (not effects), in VST and or AudioUnit (AU) format - the OS used is Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) - i tested the plugins in Ableton Live 9 / Renoise / some free VST & AudioUnit host softwares (Pedalboard, the JUCE open source plugin host, VSTLord, AULab, Ugly VSTi Interface…) It’s a selection with free virtual analog synths, organ emulations, epiano emulations, drum synth, bass synth, FM synth, emulation of Oberheim / NordLead / DX 7 synth, chip synth, guitar emulation… and here a list of 25 free synth plugins for Mac OS X :   1. Synth1 AU/ VST Synth1 AU for Mac !! http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/#down The must-have free synth plugin is available for Mac since one or two years, it is in beta state, it still have some minor bugs with the UI, but it’s usable and you can benefit from the incredible amount of presets created for Synth1, including these => http://blog.wavosaur.com/synth1-presets-chris-bank-volume-2/  & http://blog.wavosaur.com/chris-bank-synth1-reup/ I had some problems for saving preset in Ableton Live. Synth1 can do an incredible variety of sounds. The most versatile Synth in this list   2. OBXD AU / VST OBXD AU https://obxd.wordpress.com/ The free Oberheim OB-X OB-Xa OB-8 emulation ! work without any problem in my AudioUnit / VST hosts on Mac.     3. Tyrell N6 AU / VST Tyrell N6 freeware http://www.u-he.com/cms/tyrelln6  DL here : http://www.amazona.de/amazona-de-freeware-synthesizer-tyrell-n6-v3/ U-He loves the Mac, don’t hesitate to have a look at the other freeware on the Website, all are working without problems in VST or AudioUnit format. I have also selected Triple Cheeze and Zebralette from the same developer. These plugins are good and full featured. TyrellN6 plugin comes with a big amount of presets, and a deep variety of sounds. It’s powerful and easy to program. It’s rock solid stable and have a nice UI too!     4. FreeAlpha AU / VST FreeAlpha AU http://www.linplug.com/alpha.html This freeware from LinPlug sounds very good, it has punch and is easy to tweak. It can do punchy bass, but also nice pads and clean leads. Despite its simple look, it’s powerful and funky!     5. Crystal AU / VST Crystal Synth Plugin http://www.greenoak.com/crystal/dnld.html The old Crystal Synth is still top, and one of the best synth for complex / evolving PADS, with its multipoint envelopes, and the complete modulation matrix. One of the best virtual synth, for more than 10 years!   6. TAL NoiseMaker AU / VST TAL Noisemaker http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products/tal-noisemaker Like U-He, TAL has many freebees for Mac OS X. I have selected Noize M4k3r and Elek7tro but you also have other interesting plugins. The "Noise Maker" plugin has two osc + sub, a good filter and the famous Chorus "a la Roland", so you have all you need for your fat bass/lead. Certainly more agressive than Crystal, it completes well the sonic arsenal.     7. Dexed FM VST Dexed on Mac !! https://github.com/asb2m10/dexed The famous free Yamaha DX7 emulation ! It’s VST only (no AU for the moment). Use the cart / load / save button to browse or import presets. It can read / write sysex files for and from the DX7. Now all your FM needs are fullfilled: you can do pop ballad or Detroit techno, vive la FM !     8. MiniSpillage AU (Drum Synth) MiniSpillage AU http://www.audiospillage.com/minispillage.html Now that we have the FM synth, the Pad synth, the Bass synth and Lead capable synths, we need a DRUM synth. The Minispillage plugin has three dedicated algo for bass drum, wood drum and hihat. I tend to prefer "Drumatic" but Drumatic is Windows only.     9. ComboF organ AU / VST ComboF Farfisa plugin http://www.martinic.com/combof/ After all these synths, we now need an emulation of our prefered organ : the Farfisa combo organ! ComboF gives you the sound of the Italian electric organ we all love. Available for Mac and windows, in AudioUnit and VST!     10. MrTramp 2 e-piano AU / VST MrTramp2 http://www.genuinesoundware.com/?a=showproduct&b=40#dl After the organ emulation, we need the electric piano! MrTramp 2 is the best (free or not) emulation of the Wurlitzer electric piano. It’s raining again ! Now you can sound like Supertramp ! Breakfast in America !! There are not so much controls but you don’t need more, and the sound is excellent.     11. Cheeze Machine AU Cheeze Machine string synth http://www.apulsoft.ch/freeports/ A dedicated string synth plugin for Mac ! The Cheeze machine from Big Tick is a kind of Arp Solina emulation. It has this phaser / chorus creamy sound. it’s AU only and should work with your favorite Mac host software.   12. TripleCheese AU / VST TripleCheeze plugin http://www.u-he.com/cms/triple-cheese Cheese again ! The U-He contribution to the first KVR Developer Challenge. It’s an original synth with unusual sound generation. Nice for plucked sounds. Works well on my Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Thanks to the comb filter, you can generate very original sounds.     13. Zr3 organ VST ZR3 B3 emulation for Mac direct download We have ComboF for the Farfisa emulation, and for the Hammond B3 organ lovers, there’s Zr3. It’s VST only and works nice in Ableton Live 9. The only good free Hammond B3 emulation for Mac OS X.     14. TAL Elek7ro AU / VST TAL Elektro http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products/tal-elek7ro A perfect free synth for bass and perc sounds. Don’t forget to check the other TAL plugins  !     15. VST Speek  AU / VST AU Speek http://blog.wavosaur.com/text-to-speech-vst-now-for-mac-vst-speek-au-speek-audiounit/ Coming from here ! the funkiest text to speech in plugin format ! The best C64 Sam oldskool text to speech emulator, for all your techno voices. Available in 32 & 64 bit, VST & AU     16. Zebralette AU / VST Zebralette plugin http://www.u-he.com/cms/zebralette Coming with the demo of Zebra, the famous synth by u-He, Zebralette is a nice synth, with unusual sound, and powerful possibilities and plenty of special waveforms to play with.     17. Model - E VST Model E http://www.steinberg.net/en/support/unsupported_products/vst_classics_vol_1.html The antic VST from Steinberg, now free, and now available in VST format for Mac OSX. It has been surpassed in all domain by many other synth (freeware included). But it can be useful and you can get some nice sounds out of it if you tweak it with love.     18. VB-1 virtual bass VST VB1 bass Another prehistoric virtual synth from Steinberg, this virtual bass plugin is free and available with Model E in the same package (see link above). Very simple sound, can be useful. Freeware for Mac are rare so we take it!     19. MDA Piano ePiano DX10 & JX10 VST NO GUI http://mda.smartelectronix.com/ These free VST work for Mac OS X, they don’t have UI, you’ll have to use the default interface supplied by your host. - Piano & ePiano are sample based synth, the ePiano is very good, it’s a kind of Rhodes emulation. - DX10 is a FM Synth, it has only two operators, but you can still get nice bell sounds out of it. - JX10 is a very nice virtual analog synth, despite some bugs (the Windows version has the same), it can do some very nice leads.   20. 4Front R-Piano AU / VST 4Front electric Piano http://www.yohng.com/software/rpiano.html Another free electric piano emulation for your Mac! It’s simple and has a nice clean sound. Perfect for deep house chords.     21. Chip32 AU Chip 32 AU http://www.apulsoft.ch/freeports/ This is the URL where you can also find the Cheeze Machine VST, and also the very good Clavinet emulation by Big Tick (TickyClav). Chip32 is a very simple plugin, perfect for your chip tune needs.     22. Spicy Guitar AU / VST Spicy Guitar ! the free guitar emulation http://www.spicyguitar.com/ A free Audio Unit / VST emulation of an acoustic guitar ! It’s use a physical modelled synthesis, and is a great emulation. Here are coming the ukulele / banjo / Flamenco guitar !     23. Scythe VST Scythe VST http://www.plastaq.com/scythe/ A very simple VA Synth (VST only), with two oscillators, a filter, modulation envelope & some embedded effects : bitcrusher / phaser / chorus / delay. It’s simple but efficient. You can also generate random presets!   24. Automat AU AlphaKanal Automat Synth http://www.alphakanal.de/automat.html A virtual substractive synth with 3 osc, and filter for each osc, + many effects and modulations. It’s audiounit only, and like Scythe, it has a random preset generator.     25. VOPM VST VOPM VST synth http://www.geocities.jp/sam_kb/VOPM/ A VST emulation of the Yamaha YM2151 Chip that was used in many arcade games, and is similar to the chip in the Sega Megadrive. It’s a 4 operator FM synth, with 8 algorithm. here’s a lot of preset for VOPM : http://truechiptilldeath.com/blog/2010/05/04/opm-patches-out-of-most-genesis-games/     26. Bonus tracks ? 1) there’s also kickmaker, a free kick drum synthesizer in VST and AU format : http://teragonaudio.com/KickMaker.html and C700, that can load sample in aiff and wav format : http://picopicose.com/software.html   2) I also tried other free VST plugins for MAC , but with no luck (no one working in any host on my Mac OS X Mountain Lion), i think these are too old plugins, or maybe ppc plugins (even if they were said to work on Mac OS X). For example : the Delay Lama ! http://www.audionerdz.nl/download.htm AU303 & AirySynth : http://airy.andre.online.fr/AU/index.html#au303   3) I’m working on a port of Rave Generator VST for MAC, here you can find a beta (x64 only, VST only) : https://www.facebook.com/groups/149376535107031/835302689847742/   3) I’m also working on a port of CreakBox (the TB303 plugin) for MAC OS X (i already have converted it to VST2.4 then to 64 bit), see link ( @ 6. and in the comments) : http://blog.wavosaur.com/best-free-tb-303-emulation-sotware-vst-plugins-standalone/   4) i’ll do another posts with the free effect plugins for MAC ! It seems there are more effects available for free than synths.

Its been two months and more than 600 source code changes since beta4. I had announced no more betas for Ardour 3, but we've accumulated a prodigious set of changes, fixes, new functionality that it seems silly to try to hold back. Without further ado, here is Ardour 3 beta 5, absolute the last beta release: (the files have been removed because beta5 is now too old to be useful for testing. beta3 will be out shortly. - paul, march 1st 2013) read more

Some people who come across Ardour and start reading about its "odd" license (the GPL, used by thousands or tens of thousands of software applications and libraries around the world) end up asking "what is with this whole open source/free software thing anyway?" or "why don't the Ardour developers just release Ardour like a normal commercial, proprietary program?". It isn't a complete answer to this kind of question, but as exhibit 13.1(a) part 8, I offer you: http://www.zdnet.com/users-petition-avid-to-sell-sibelius-music-software... read more

A decision has finally been made regarding the release of Ardour 3.0. First, some general stuff. read more

From out the depths it came ... a maintainance release of Ardour 2.8, number 15 in the series. Not many changes in this release: read more

Hot on the heels of 2.8.15 comes a minor upgrade to 2.8.16. This release is of significance to only 2 groups of people: People who use a FFADO-supported audio interface on Linux and like to start JACK from within Ardour (this has been fixed to use the correct "firewire" driver name) Packagers for Linux distributions (this release will now build using SYSLIBS=1 on most current Linux distributions, unlike 2.8.15 which was almost impossible to build under any circumstances) Get it as usual from http://ardour.org/download

The recent release of Ardour 2.8.16 for OS X Intel was incorrectly packaged, which led to it missing the ability to save/restore AudioUnit plugin settings (i.e. just like the cost-free version). If you paid for a copy of this, please send me (paul@linuxaudiosystems.com) your invoice ID and I will send you (quick) instructions on how you can get a new (correct) copy. The version now available via ardour.org has been updated. My sincere apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by this mistake.

The ardour.org website has been revamped and rehosted. The site is now split into two components: ardour.org An entirely "static" site without logins, or forums or any user-created content. Super-fast delivery, and steadily increasing, usefully arranged information community.ardour.org The "old" Drupal-based site that has user logins, forums, the download system, donates, subscriptions and so forth Both sites are now hosted on an Amazon EC2 instance, providing vastly more responsive service (at some increase in cost). read more

There were a few issues affecting new user registrations on the new site after it was activated on Monday. These have now been fixed. User registration was successful, but outbound email was not sent. If you tried to register and failed to get the confirmation email, please click on the "Request new password" link over there in the login box (upper left area of this page). Then enter the email address you used on the site and click the button. You should get a new email with a new password fairly quickly. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by this issue.

The Ardour team is happy to announce the release of Ardour 3.0 for Linux systems (OS X releases will follow in a few weeks). This is the first release of Ardour that features support for MIDI recording, playback and editing. It also features a huge number of changes to audio workflow, which for many users may be more significant than the MIDI support. For an overview of the changes, please read the What's New page. read more

The official repository for Ardour source code has now moved to git instead of svn. It is hosted at git.ardour.org. Users without write access can clone it using git clone git://git.ardour.org/ardour/ardour.git. Users with write access have been privately notified of the changes. We will likely clone the repo at github or a similar site, and keep it automatically up to date.

As previously announced, we plan to make regular, frequent releases of Ardour now that the 3.x series has finally been released. About month after 3.0, 3.1 is ready with the usual cocktail of new features, workflow improvements and bug fixes. The full set of changes can be seen here. As usual, you can fetch the update from the download page at http://ardour.org/download Please remember that you can install multiple versions of Ardour from ardour.org, so you can keep any existing versions around if you wish to (you are asked about this during the installation process). read more

A packaging mistake led to Ardour 3.1 being released without any translation enabled. Ardour 3.1.10 is now available for those who prefer to work in one of the translated languages (German, French, Spanish, Portugese, Norwegian, Italian, Russian and others). There are no other functional changes compared to 3.1. The source code release remains unchanged (since translations are generated during the build process). You can get it as usual from the download page

OpenID support in Drupal 6.x (which is what community.ardour.org is based on) really doesn't work very well. Rather than cause hassle and confusion for people trying to use their OpenID accounts (when it doesn't work), I've disabled OpenID support for now. If and when we upgrade to Drupal 7, which has much improved OpenID support (and support for similar systems), I will reinstate it.

Über-developer Robin Gareus has worked for a couple of years to add video support to Ardour, and with this release, we are pleased to finally enable it. In addition there are a couple of new features (including the ability to chain MIDI processing plugins) and the usual assorted list of bug fixes. As usual, you can fetch the update from the download page. Full details of the video timeline support and other changes are shown below (click "Read more") (June 13th 2013, 22:24 UTC: An initial version of the 32 bit Linux release was corrupted. A new version with md5 signature: 6ad6989741dd9de0b5d1596dd017dfd7 has been uploaded. If you downloaded an earlier version (only about 72MB rather than 110MB, just download it again or use http://ardour.org/download_revisit to re-use your Invoice ID. Apologies for the mistake) read more