Recording - April 2014 - 40

Third-party freebies
In addition to what Pro Tools includes already, there
are companies that offer free demo versions of their
plug-ins-not as advanced or in-depth as the full versions, but still allowing for experimentation, demoing
and recording.
Some demo versions will cut out or make irritating
sounds as you use them. Since I have the patience of
a 2-year old on caffeine, particularly when creating, I
steer clear of these. Also, I'm sure there are many more
than what I'm covering here [kvraudio.com is a good
place to start looking-Ed.], but here is a glimpse into
the wonderful world of free third-party plugs.
Native Instruments offers some of the best free virtual
instruments that I've used. For free, you can download
Reaktor 5 Player, Guitar Rig 5 Player and Kontakt 5
Player, which include libraries of more than 300 sounds
and effects. Here, the sound quality is really the highlight. These free players offer a sprinkling of the company's acclaimed and varied sounds, from drums to synths
to keys. Supported formats include stand-alone, VST,
RTAS (Pro Tools 9 and 10), AAX Native, 64-bit AAX,
and Audio Units. They'll run on Windows 7/8 and Mac
OS 10.7+ and require 3 GB of disc space.
SampleTank FREE by IK Multimedia is another
expandable version of the full SampleTank. It comes
with 58 sample-based sounds and 146 preset
sounds, ranging from modular Moog to female choirs
and acoustic guitar. Supported formats are standalone, Audio Units, RTAS and VST, on Windows
XP/Vista/7/8 or Mac OS X 10.5+.
Symptohm Melohman PE (Performer Edition) by
Ohm Force comes with more than 1200 presets, and
lets you throw in your own samples, toggle between
7 different MIDI controller modes, and augment and
bend the sound with built-in parameters. It offers two
different graphical skins: a clear classic layout, and
one that "embodies the true spirit of Ohm Force" (see
the screenshot and rejoice). It's available for Mac and
Windows in VST, Audio Units, and RTAS (some bugs
have been reported when used in Pro Tools 10).
Addictive Drums (XLN Audio), BFD (FXpansion) and
DrumCore (Sonoma Wire Works) can be had in free,
stripped-down versions of their full drum programs.
Addictive Drums is a fully functional demo with kick
drum, snare, hi-hat and cymbal. Windows 7/8 and Mac
10.6+ in VST, Audio Units, RTAS, AAX and stand-alone.
BFD2 demo will only run as a standalone on
Windows XP/Vista/7/8 or Mac. It won't let you
import any samples, you just use the 9-piece kit that
comes with it. You can't save or export anything but
the demo will run forever and has no expiration date.
40

RECORDING April 2014

Ohm Force's plug-ins look like none other,
and the free Symptohm PE is no exception!
DrumCore also doesn't time out and supports VST, Audio Units and
RTAS for Mac 10.4+ and Windows XP/Vista/7/8. It comes with two kits,
as opposed to 100 in the full version, a basic grooves library, and no
standalone capability.
Zero-dollars recording software
Let's say that Pro Tools, Logic or another paid DAW isn't in your studio
setup but you want software on your computer to record demos and ideas.
Well, fret not. There are free recording software programs out there. I
have used a few of these myself and the others come suggested by students and friends. I'm sure a Google search could unearth even more.
GarageBand from Apple comes free on new Macs and has an incredibly user-friendly platform. Simple controls, simple navigation, all while
delivering thousands of built-in synth sounds and virtual instruments as well
as loops. A "Windows version" is supposedly out there, but I can't speak
for its legality or its stability-it's not offered by Apple.
Audacity is a fairly well-known program that I've used primarily for editing and exporting OGG files. It has high-fidelity capabilities (up to 32-bit
float) and is simple and streamlined. Although it only supports VST or coded
(via LADSPA or Nyquist) versions of plug-ins, it has built-in EQ, compression,
pitch shift, noise canceling, echo, reverb and fun little tricks like "voice cancellation" which removes center-panned audio through inversion. It is available for Mac OS 10.4+, Windows XP/Vista/7/8, and Linux.
Ardour offers pay-per-month software DAWs but also has a free version
that simply doesn't allow for plug-in settings to be saved. For me, this was
never a big pain as I learned on analog gear where I had to handwrite

Audacity may not be very slick-looking,
but it's powerful, flexible, and free.

http://www.kvraudio.com

Recording - April 2014

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