Jump to content


Please note: You can easily log in to MPN using your Facebook account!

The "Quarantine Freebie" Thread


Recommended Posts

Hi everyone,

 

With all the chaos happening around the world, there are a bunch of different music companies offering some of their software entirely free for a limited time, or with greatly extended trials. iOS apps, plugins, virtual instruments, entire DAWs. Is there any interest in making a thread here with all sorts of neat stuff that's free for now, since many of us are locked in now?

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Replies 31
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For people who like loops, samples, or experimental sounds/environment sampling...there's a lot of linked freebies here (too many to list here): https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/03/17/stayathome-music-freebies/ Updated daily with whatever the author finds.

Assorted loop libraries

 

Environmental/field recordings:

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

EastWest has opened up a 90-day trial of Composer Cloud for high school and college students stuck at home. 10,000 licenses available, must be verified with a .edu email. http://www.soundsonline.com/stay-at-home-trial

 

Intimate Noise has two sample sets for free. They also have a sale on all products for now with a portion of profits going to charities. https://mailchi.mp/c6ac8ebacd76/intimatenoise-covid-support

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For people who like loops, samples, or experimental sounds/environment sampling...there's a lot of linked freebies here (too many to list here): https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/03/17/stayathome-music-freebies/ Updated daily with whatever the author finds.

 

Oh noooo! I'm only halfway through reviewing the last round of useful oddities and freebies I took on! I have WAVs for miles! You know I'm going to sniff it for audio goodness all the same, so thank you for the links. Sometimes I find just seven winners in a hundred, but boy, what a seven.

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are the rest of the actual "freebies" (not extended trials) that I know of that are current:

 

  • Acustica Audio has released a free Pultec-style EQ plugin called "Coffee the PUn". It is an actual plugin apparently as they like to release a real item on April Fools as the opposite of a joke. Free via their plugin manager application Aquarius. https://www.acustica-audio.com/pages/specials/the-pun
     
  • Wavesfactory has released the second edition of their SnareBuzz plugin. SnareBuzz 2.0 is free, and adds the rattle of a snare drum to your drum tracks. https://www.wavesfactory.com/product/snarebuzz/
     
  • Spitfire Audio has released another instrument for their LABS system. This time it's a Wurlitzer, free as always. Not sure if it's truly tied to the stay-at-home stuff, but it's out now anyways. https://www.spitfireaudio.com/labs/
     
  • 8DIO announced on March 18th that they will be releasing an ongoing stream of new and free "On The House" products during the lockdown period. Most of these are Kontakt instruments and some have the .wavs etc as well. Click on the "Free" tab. https://8dio.com
     
  • Slate Audio has released a new version of Steven Slate Drums, including a new free edition. SSD 5.5 Free
     
  • Sound On Sound magazine has upgraded all print subscriptions to digital for the remainder of your subscription period.
     
  • Audio Assault has released a free high-gain metal amp sim plugin and impulse loader called Sigma, for anyone who's into that kind of music. https://audioassault.mx/sigma.php I own Grind Machine II, and while I'm not a metal person, it's pretty good sounding for what it is.
     
  • AudioKit has announced that their next limited-edition app for iOS will be free for subscribers to their email list. https://audiokitpro.com/join/
     
  • ProjectSAM has made a re-release of their The Free Orchestra library. To help make this period of time a little easier on people, the Orchestra is now compatible with the free Kontakt Player, so you don't have to buy the full version of Kontakt to use the free plugin now. https://projectsam.com/library-category/the-free-orchestra/
     
  • Audified has made their RecALL live event multitrack recording software free. https://shop.audified.com/products/recall
     
  • Two-Notes Audio Engineering Torpedo Wall of Sound speaker/micing pluding is now free until April 30th, with two cabinet simulations. After the 30th you receive a lifetime license. https://www.two-notes.com/wall-of-sound
     
  • As mentioned by Paul, Moog's Minimoog Model D iOS app is now free. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/minimoog-model-d-synthesizer/id1339418001

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trials I know of:

 

- Soundtoys Effect Rack is free to use until June 30th, so basically a long trial.

- Apple has announced that a 90-day free trial of Logic Pro X is forthcoming

- Reaper 6 is free until June 30th

- Steinberg has released the "Stay at Home Package", which has 60-day free trials of Cubase Elements, Dorico Elements, Wavelab Elements, and the Absolute Collection. https://www.steinberg.net/en/newsandevents/news/newsdetail/article/stayhome-elements-collection-5504.html

- MakeMusic Finale now has a 60-day free trial instead of a 30-day one.

- For those who do video editing, Apple is now offering a 90-day free trial of Final Cut Pro X

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For people who like loops, samples, or experimental sounds/environment sampling...there's a lot of linked freebies here (too many to list here): https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/03/17/stayathome-music-freebies/ Updated daily with whatever the author finds.

 

Oh noooo! I'm only halfway through reviewing the last round of useful oddities and freebies I took on! I have WAVs for miles! You know I'm going to sniff it for audio goodness all the same, so thank you for the links. Sometimes I find just seven winners in a hundred, but boy, what a seven.

 

I have that problem too...no more samples for me. Never use them and yet I have tons.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Native Instruments has a really great bunch of free stuff. The Reaktor Player can play the Reaktor instruments from the big user base among which there are a few freaking genius programmers....

 

And there's a lot more than the Reaktor player here:

 

Native Instruments Free Software

 

nat

 

Agree, LOVE Native Instruments.

Here is the link to all of their free software. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/free/

 

They do email announcements of new products and sales. Spam level is very, very low.

I have quite a few of these goodies and they are all good.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are ongoing with no time limit.

 

Free DAW. I use Waveform, this is a good product. https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free

 

Haven't tried this, might be fun but probably not my thing. https://www.tracktion.com/products/8bit-treats

 

The LE version is free: https://www.tracktion.com/products/waverazor

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Nice catch! Didn"t sort through my promotional tab today so I saw this here first.

 

Another free DAW is Cakewalk by BandLab. Basically Sonar Platinum, Windows only. Installed it a few days ago and it seems to work. I"m used to a standard DAW workflow (coming from Cubase and before that Studio One and GarageBand), so Waveform Free scared me off a little from the screen captures. Also needed something super lightweight as the laptop isn"t really meant for music. Cakewalk seems to be good so far.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another free DAW is Cakewalk by BandLab. Basically Sonar Platinum, Windows only.

 

FWIWI, Cakewalk by BandLab does not include all the plug-ins that were included in Sonar. However, it is considerably improved. There have been a ton of bug fixes, the time/pitch stretch algorithms are now from zPlane (same as e.g., Ableton Live), and there have been multiple workflow tweaks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another free DAW is Cakewalk by BandLab. Basically Sonar Platinum, Windows only.

 

FWIWI, Cakewalk by BandLab does not include all the plug-ins that were included in Sonar. However, it is considerably improved. There have been a ton of bug fixes, the time/pitch stretch algorithms are now from zPlane (same as e.g., Ableton Live), and there have been multiple workflow tweaks.

 

I knew it didn"t have the third-party bundled stuff. I did a barebones install with only the program itself and the theme editor, so I wasn"t sure what"s included in the other downloads (Studio Instruments, etc).

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another free DAW is Cakewalk by BandLab. Basically Sonar Platinum, Windows only.

 

FWIWI, Cakewalk by BandLab does not include all the plug-ins that were included in Sonar. However, it is considerably improved. There have been a ton of bug fixes, the time/pitch stretch algorithms are now from zPlane (same as e.g., Ableton Live), and there have been multiple workflow tweaks.

 

I knew it didn"t have the third-party bundled stuff. I did a barebones install with only the program itself and the theme editor, so I wasn"t sure what"s included in the other downloads (Studio Instruments, etc).

 

And you can find some goodies here on the Quarantine Freebie thread!

 

Curiousity question, what as it about the Waveform Free screen shots that made you run away? We are all different and I liked it immediately, have been using it since it was Tracktion 3 (now it's Waveform 11). I find it easy and intuitive to use and a simple, uncluttered interface.

I can't say much about Cakewalk, Mac user so I've never played with it. And I know that anything that works is great! Still, just wondering, sorry if it's OT but it is about 2 free DAWs so maybe not too OT. Cheers, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Another free DAW is Cakewalk by BandLab. Basically Sonar Platinum, Windows only.

 

FWIWI, Cakewalk by BandLab does not include all the plug-ins that were included in Sonar. However, it is considerably improved. There have been a ton of bug fixes, the time/pitch stretch algorithms are now from zPlane (same as e.g., Ableton Live), and there have been multiple workflow tweaks.

 

I knew it didn"t have the third-party bundled stuff. I did a barebones install with only the program itself and the theme editor, so I wasn"t sure what"s included in the other downloads (Studio Instruments, etc).

 

And you can find some goodies here on the Quarantine Freebie thread!

 

Curiousity question, what as it about the Waveform Free screen shots that made you run away? We are all different and I liked it immediately, have been using it since it was Tracktion 3 (now it's Waveform 11). I find it easy and intuitive to use and a simple, uncluttered interface.

I can't say much about Cakewalk, Mac user so I've never played with it. And I know that anything that works is great! Still, just wondering, sorry if it's OT but it is about 2 free DAWs so maybe not too OT. Cheers, Kuru

 

I'll get back to you when I have more free time. Thanks for understanding.

 

P.S. The barebones install was intentional. This computer isn't really supposed to be used for music much so I needed the smallest install possible. Cakewalk's minimal was smaller than Tracktion's.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As the radio announcer up here likes to say...MOOOORRREEE STUFF!

 

 

 

 

Trials:

Waves Nx Virtual Mix Room now has a 90-day free trial.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just remembered these - Voxengo has quite a few free plugins. I like that they offer VST, AU and AAX plugins, I prefer to use AU on Mac.

Boogex is a good guitar amp, it also has Old Skool Reverb included in the plugin. As with all plugins, you can try it on any audio and get something different. Boogex is in the list at the top, in blue lettering.

 

Some of them are admittedly esoteric but useful. They've never spammed me. They will send email but you can unsubscribe and it goes away.

They have lots of plugins you can purchase as well.

 

https://www.voxengo.com/group/free-vst-plugin-download/

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a massive collection (accumulation?) of 200 free VST plugins.

I recognize quite a few of these and have a couple of them still. There are some quality toys here by major players like Native Instruments, IK, U-he and some more obscure stuff.

 

https://blog.landr.com/best-free-vst-plugins/

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Voxengo just updated their Old SkoolVerb plugin. It's free, Windows/Mac friendly (Catalina compatible now).

I've used it, it's a good free reverb with lots of different sounds, all tweakable.

 

They have other freebies while you are there, I've liked Boogex for years.

 

https://www.voxengo.com/product/oldskoolverb/video/

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...