Your Recommended Free PC Software

[blazinrachel]

wow... nice resources... thanks for sharing it with us...

i've bookmarked it so i can check it later.

Thanks again.

[_Nuno_]

thought I should mention this thread in KVR here:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251401&sid=11ab2d93060169ede3fb450e8303287e

It's a collection of VSTi's of the analogue emulation type which is very nice. There's even a mellotron type of thing.

Apparently they were supposed to be a commercial release but ended up being given away for free by the developer.

I only had a chance to play 10 minutes with these yesterday but they sounded very good to me.

There's a link at around page 4 or 5 to a zip file with all 10 dll's.

[Neon Dark]

How about a monophonic version of the mighty moDular G2 from clavia

http://www.clavia.se/products/nordmodular/demo.htm

its limitations claim to be that one note at a time can be playeD whereas 32 with its harDware counterpart, plus its only one part multitimbral with the harDware @four part, miDi out anD auDio in DisableD, also a couple of moDules have been removeD,

clavia claim; "In our view, only hardware can offer rockstable and trouble free operation in a 'single box solution"

I wonDer?

[dickiefunk]

PC users MUST check out Bootsies vst's!!!!

These IMO have raised the bar for free vst fx and many commercial vst fx!!!!

Just check out Density mkII bus compressor, Epicverb, BootEq, Tessla Pro + many other!!!

http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/

[dickiefunk]

PC users MUST check out Bootsies vst's!!!!

These IMO have raised the bar for free vst fx and many commercial vst fx!!!!

Just check out Density mkII bus compressor, Epicverb, BootEq, Tessla Pro + many other!!!

http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/

I'd love to here what Martin thinks of these!

[Martin Walker]

They are certainly excellent value df, look excellent, and do lots of interesting things to your audio - well worth a download!

Martin

[kilvante]

I am always like to suggest these types of software are more handy for the users. This gives the better chance for the people to know about the information in a quick manner.
* CCleaner: a free system optimization and privacy tool. Removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. Additionally, CCleaner protects your privacy, by allowing to clear your browsing history as well as performs same basic Registry repairs.
* AVG Anti Virus Free Edition: Malware of any kind and specially PC viruses jeopardize your productivity and cause you valuable data loss. AVG antivirus free edition, a free antivirus utility that not only features virus scan scheduling capabilities, but also scans your incoming and outgoing emails. AVG 9 is my preferred free antivirus utility.
* Audacity: Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Highly Recommended!
* VLC Media Player: A multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3) as well as DVDs and other streaming protocols. My preferred media player
* GIMP: except its unfortunate name (GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program…), GIMP is a powerful open-source bitmap editing program. Professionals will opt for Photopshop, but who needs Photoshop for editing a MySpace background image ?
* Ad Aware SE Personal: an easy-to-use utility that allows you to wipe out adware from your computer.
* Skype: The most popular free PC VOIP utility. Although it faced a major service outage lately, Skype has a huge subscriber base and it’s still my recommended too for free Voice over IP conversations.
* Treesize: A beautiful utility that maps your PC hard disk and then allows you to identify the most disk-space-consuming folders. Treesize can be used in conjunction with the aforementioned CCleaner in order to free up disk space.
* Google Reader: If you read RSS feeds, this is the tool you need. Allows you to read your preferred feeds when online and offline (in conjunction with Google Gears). Now features a new search box that allows you to easily find relevant threads.
* Tweak UI: Allows you to easily tweak many Windows XP user interface properties without hacking the registry. Very recommended for beginners.
* Filezilla: Another open source product, FileZilla is a fast and reliable FTP client and server
with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
* Pidgin (previously named Gaim) : Got accounts with MSN messenger, AIM, YM, Google talk? Why not accessing them all using a single interface? Pidgin is a cool instant message unifier that will allow you to accomplish that.
* Firebug: A slick Firefox utility and a must for bloggers and web site owners, Firebug allows you to debug your web pages as well as peek into other web pages while looking for a new concept for your web site or blog design.
These software are more useful for the people to know about the various techniques out there.

[Martin Walker]

Welcome to the SOS Forums greg!

However, as far as I can see, RegCure is not a freeware utility, since although you have to scour the web site to find any mention of price, it definitely has a 'Buy Now' button.

Confusingly it offers a Free Scan, but I suspect you have to buy the product for it to actually do something useful

I've also spotted various complaints about it elsewhere on the web, with people not being able to get a refund during the trial period or even a response from the company

Martin

[magicdog]

However, as far as I can see, RegCure is not a freeware utility, since although you have to scour the web site to find any mention of price, it definitely has a 'Buy Now' button.

I've also spotted various complaints about it elsewhere on the web, with people not being able to get a refund during the trial period or even a response from the company

Martin

I would agree and also add a STRONG word of caution with these 'Registry quick-fix' programs - there are hundreds of posts available on the Internet detailing the chaos they often cause to PCs.

I would suggest staying well clear of this type of software - it is more likely to cause you far more trouble than you started with.

[TimCanfer]

Apologies for cross posting, however I've made a free synth tutorial mentioned in this post

The link to the software is here

[Malcolm Jacobson]

One of my favourite DAW programs - Podium - is now available in a free version.

Podium Free is the same as the standard Podium release, with the following exceptions:

- it's a few releases behind the paid version
- no ReWire support
- limited to 1 MIDI interface
- 64 bit mixer engine is disabled
- plugin multiprocessing is disabled
- surround sound is disabled.

Apart from the above there is no timeout or other restrictions.

I have the licensed version, and I love the user interface, the MIDI editor, and the responsiveness of the developer, Frits Nielsen.

Cheers,

Malcolm.

[gloriatrstn]

Mad tracker is a free website and VST synths. My particular favourite is called Cheeze Machine, which is great to produce the classic string ensemble sound, and is also a great gateway to mask the effect, which allows you to create some really great tones. It is very best free pc software.

[Martin Walker]

The excellent Cheeze Machine was actually developed by Big Tick software, although this devs free software now seems to have disappeared (at least temporarily):

www.kvraudio.com/get/177.html

Martin

[Bob Moose]

On Windows I am using these free programs:

Pure Data
ReaPlugs
SoX
Silence Remover
Flux Stereo Tool
Cdburnerxp (though I have not burnt a CD for ages)

also MIDIox and soundfonts.it (already mentioned)

[ad1mt]

I've just recently discovered Multitrackstudio... http://www.multitrackstudio.com/

I've only used it for a short while, but for basic multitrack recording it seems to work reasonably well.

Mark.

[timoc]

I see Voxengo stuff mentioned above. I recently discovered that Boogex by Voxengo is an excellent impulse plugin. Any impulse will work (cab, reverb, etc) and as far as I can tell, it's the only free impulse player that works well real-time (for example when recording guitar straight into a cab impulse:

http://www.voxengo.com/press/82/

-------------------------------
Kontakt 4 player is a great sampler with excellent effects built in:

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/?category=1339

[Martin Walker]

Hi timoc!

Voxengo's Boogex is indeed a good plug-in - I first mentioned it in my PC Notes column way back in SOS April 2006:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr06/a ... 0406.htm#3

Do beware of the Kontakt 4 Player though, as strictly speaking it's not freeware, but times out after 30 minutes with non-licensed sample libraries.

Martin

[Mixedup]

Two Notes Torpedo PI-Free is worth a look.

[inderface]

These are nice for freeware (Modern plugins)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9629869/FullPack4950.zip
Let me know what you think

[artifus]

redtron - nice sounding free mellotron vsti i recently stumbled upon using samples taken from a 1973 Mellotron M400S

http://sites.google.com/site/artifakelabs/