vst plugins

texasfl0od

New member
just a quick question for any of you that have experience with "vst warehouse" I recently found this site and they have 100's of vst plugins free and legal - I am not really the kind of person that tries to get something for nothing but I thought if these are safe and worth the effort it might be nice to try out the free version and if it is something that I would be interested in then purchasing the actual plugin - more or less a trial . I am wondering if any of you have tried out this site and if you had success with it ? thank you for your time !!
 
Yeah I have some stuff from there. The other good one is VST 4 Free. Ask yourself what you need and try some stuff out. It's tempting to just download everything but you can end up with so many it becomes unmanageable. I really recommend Variety Of Sound plugins -- get all of those, they have great compressors,a delay, reverb, tape simulator etc -- well worth getting. UHE has a great synth called Tyrell Nexus 6 for free that is amazing.
VST 4 FREE - Free Audio Plug-ins Archives
Variety Of Sound
u-he TyrellN6
 
Yeah I have some stuff from there. The other good one is VST 4 Free. Ask yourself what you need and try some stuff out. It's tempting to just download everything but you can end up with so many it becomes unmanageable. I really recommend Variety Of Sound plugins -- get all of those, they have great compressors,a delay, reverb, tape simulator etc -- well worth getting. UHE has a great synth called Tyrell Nexus 6 for free that is amazing.
VST 4 FREE - Free Audio Plug-ins Archives
Variety Of Sound
u-he TyrellN6

There is much to be said here. You will not know what is actually good for 'you' until you decide that for yourself. Your own experience will determine what plugins are good for you.

Many just download everything that is free in hopes of finding the perfect fix. I was there once. Eventually, we end up with just a small pile of VST's that we go-to on a consistent basis. Others are just vanity plugs that can do special effects in odd situations.

I only have a couple left that were free plugs that I use anymore. I did learn and find out why the expensive plugs are worth the money. Not all, but the ones I found worth the money. There is a difference. That is not to say that the free ones are not worthy. It just depends on what level one is trying to achieve and the gear one has to get there.

Just an example: A $200 interface with $200 monitors in an untreated room with a $200 mic will not likely benefit from a $300 compressor plugin. That $300 would be way better spent on room treatment and quality monitoring to give one the ability to decide whether the free or expensive comp is a worthy expense.

Density MKIII is one free compressor that I have found to be very good sounding. It is not however setup like a typical comp as far as basic settings are concerned. You must use your ears as with any other.
 
I am not really the kind of person that tries to get something for nothing but I thought if these are safe and worth the effort it might be nice to try out the free version and if it is something that I would be interested in then purchasing the actual plugin - more or less a trial .

There's absolutely nothing wrong or shameful with downloading and using a VST plugin for free if the person(s) who created it made it available for free. I've got at least two of the synth plugins that are listed/linked on that site-- Arppe2600va and MinimogueVA-- both downloaded directly from the developers' web sites. If a VST plugin is free, you don't have to pay for it, but most developers would probably welcome a nominal contribution if you feel so inclined, although some may prefer that you make a donation to some worthy cause that they have no affiliation with-- e.g., de la Mancha encourages you to donate to Cancer Research UK.
 
I use a lot of free plugins. Once you get over the hype and just listen, you'll see that there are some very good free plugins that stand up to commercial ones. The Variety of Sound plugins are great, SIR is great (if you can find good impulses), the Antress Modern Range is great. If you can't make a record with those plugins, the problem is with you, sadly.

Don't get lost in the wormhole of free plugins. There are just too many. That VST Warehouse site is a bit pokey but the traditional and most comprehensive source of free (and commercial) plugins on the net is KVR: VST Plugins, Audio Units (AU Plugins) & AAX Audio Plugin News, Reviews and Community - plus iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android Audio App News Too (Virtual Instruments & Virtual Effects). They don't host them but they'll have a link to the developer's download page which can give you a chance to check it out in more detail.

But yeah, watch out for the black hole. It will swallow you up.

Cheers :)
 
Also there are basically two type of plugins (not only literally TWO, but I like to put it like this): the generators and the processors. Being a self producer most interested on record my own stuff I get specially excited with the generators that offers me a new gamma of options in sounds. Lately I have been very focused on the ones that try to mimic traditional instruments and old electronic stuff.

My latest free acquisitions were:

Ixox Flute (transverse flute)
Milestone (trumpet)
DVS Saxophone (saxophone)
DSK Brass (orchestra brass section)
DSK RhodeZ (Fender Rhodes)
Minimogue (minimoog)

If you have interest on non-free stuff I would take a look also in:

Real Guitar (acoustic guitar)
Real LPC (Gibson Les Paul)
Real Strat (Fender Stratocaster)
GSI VB3 (Hammond B3)
NI FM8 (FM Generator)

As someone has well put before you have to try and judge for yourself though. Specially at the sampled instruments ballpark you cannot expect miracles from a free VST, but with the proper tweaks and a couple tricks you can make them sound surprisingly convincent for most of people. I achieved excellent results with the mentioned tools above. Additionaly, an equivalent 'pro' tool may cost hundreds of dollars, push you into a long learning curve and at the end of the day do not make too much difference in the final product.

Also, even with the best tool you may not reach that final quality because the plugin won't do everything for you. The other day I watched a demo video of a tool called 'The Saxophones' from a company known as 'Sample Modeling' (Sample Modeling | SWAM platform). Really awesome (with a capital 'A') tool that supposed to mimic a sax in the minimal details and with an impressive quality able to fool even an experienced saxophonist. Well, the tool can help you do that but will you able to extract all its power? In the video there was a keyboard player playing like crazy and doing spectacular things. Cool. Nice. If I had this tool I wouldn't be able to enjoy 10% of this software power though. First, I don't have any keyboard. Second I play keyboard like a hammer, don't have the proper sensibility or dexterity. Third, I wouldn't know how to play a musical track as a saxophonist does. Fourth... well, you got the point.

I think that sometimes less is more.

Of course be wise with my words -- each case is one case.

:)

Good luck!
 
Hi there. I would like to know as to whether there are any vst or vst type plugins (paid for and free) available for the Yamaha PSR E443 keyboard and, if so, where can I find them.
 
Hi there. I would like to know as to whether there are any vst or vst type plugins (paid for and free) available for the Yamaha PSR E443 keyboard and, if so, where can I find them.

Hi Emma
Welcome to HR.com. You'll do much better starting new threads than replying/asking questions on old ones.

'Plug ins' are effects or virtual instruments that are used in recording software - so there are no plug-ins for your keyboard. You can take the audio output of your keyboard, send that into a computer using an audio interface, then using a DAW (recording software) apply effects to the sounds. I couldn't see anything in the basic description of your keyboard that says it has MIDI capability via USB - this would allow you to send the raw data (not sound) to the computer DAW then use a VSTi (virtual instrument) to create audio.
 
Hi there. I would like to know as to whether there are any vst or vst type plugins (paid for and free) available for the Yamaha PSR E443 keyboard and, if so, where can I find them.

You can't load a plug-in, voice sample, soundfont, etc., on the PSR-E443. (By the way, greetings from a fellow PSR-E443 owner!)

However, what you can do is connect your PSR-E443 to your computer with a USB cable and use it as a MIDI keyboard controller to play virtual instruments, soundfonts, etc.-- I do it all the time. :) Most DAWs come with at least one virtual instrument, and depending on which DAW you get-- and which version (e.g., Home or Pro)-- it may have several virtual instruments. Most DAWs also let you use third-party plug-ins for additional instruments and effects, although some DAWs may work with only specific types of plug-ins. There are also VST host utilities, sample players, soundfont players, etc.

You could run a stereo audio cable from your computer's Audio Out (headphones) jack to your keyboard's Audio In (AUX IN) jack, so the audio from the virtual instrument, plug-in, sample player, soundfont, etc. can be played through your keyboard's built-in speakers. I haven't tried that to see how well it works, but based on other people's experiences (although not with a PSR-E443 specifically) I think you might run into problems with hum, interference, etc. I just use the speakers that are connected to my computer.

EDIT: PS-- When you use your keyboard as a MIDI controller to play virtual instruments, etc. on a computer, you'll run into the issue of latency, or a delay between when you strike a key on your keyboard and when you hear a corresponding sound from your computer. It's impossible to eliminate latency completely, because it takes time (however brief) for an electrical signal to travel from point A to point B. However, you can try to reduce the amount of latency as much as possible so that it's more or less unnoticeable. In this particular case, most of the latency can be reduced by using a sound card with ASIO or something similar, modifying the buffer sizes, giving higher priority to the DAW or sample player, shutting down as many other programs or background processes as possible on the computer, etc. If you don't have a sound card with ASIO (as I don't), you can use a "fake ASIO" driver called ASIO4ALL (as I do) to help reduce latency.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top