DAWs, Synths and VSTs

[butth3ad]

I make a lot of very heavy basses, but not brostep specifically.

what kind and for what genre?

 

[y a t s]

what kind and for what genre?

Some 808s, some neuro reeses, and some gritty legato stuff. They're all made using the same sort of theory and techniques; envelopes, an oscilloscope, compression, and careful use of distortion. I'm hesitant to get into specific detail about what I make so as not to PL.

 

[y33t1337101]

• There is a FOSS Kick generator called Geonkick. They got a playlist for some walkthroughs on Youtube if you want to see how it works before downloading it. Pretty neat IMO.

• Odin 2 is a FOSS vst synth, got some nice presets and very beginner friendly. Free presets can be found if you look around the Internet.

• LoudMax is a brickwall limiter, if you stream/make videos, this plug in is great for "evening out" the audio so you don't have audio volume spikes and quiet parts in you production. Yes, it works in OBS!

• Has been mentioned before I think, but incase someone missed it: Surge, a preset heaven and a really cool FOSS vst synth to play around with. It got so many presets, and works pretty good. It can be CPU intensive if you push it, but that goes for most vst generators that are "high end".

• Cloud Seed is a cool creative reverb vst, I personally use it for effects. Wouldn't recommend it for mixing reverb. It's open source as well.

• For mixing reverb, I just use Valhalla Super Massive, it's proprietary, but free and really good. Linux users have to sit this one out...

For DAWs I got Zrythm and Qtractor. Better than LMMS, but still not anywhere near the paid DAWs on the market. If you really enjoy to try out obscure stuff I got MusE, it's more of a sequencer, but it supports VST's to some degree, so it's kinda like a clunky DAW.

 

[butth3ad]

Some 808s, some neuro reeses, and some gritty legato stuff. They're all made using the same sort of theory and techniques; envelopes, an oscilloscope, compression, and careful use of distortion. I'm hesitant to get into specific detail about what I make so as not to PL.

I like making growls, especially those "yoi" growls you would hear in dubstep. I don't have that much experience making 808s but I get the general gist of them.

 

[y a t s]

I like making growls, especially those "yoi" growls you would hear in dubstep. I don't have that much experience making 808s but I get the general gist of them.

This sort of thing?

This is an old unprocessed sample I had in my recordings folder. It fits with the newer production style. An early 2010s growl would have more in the mids.

Edit: Just for fun, here's a reese I made. Mind the volume.

 

[The King-In-Chains]

I didn't know we had a DAW/VST thread. Here's some takes:

DAW's I've used Ableton, Bitwig, Pro Tools, Logic, Studio One, and Reaper.

• REAPER : Best DAW hands down. By far the worst to get setup though. I alternate between REAPER and Ableton as my daily drivers.
  • Spoiler: Pro/Con

    + Can both Bake and Freeze Tracks. Ableton and other DAWs really only offer freezing which is a pain if you want a baked track because you either gotta render or just trackout to another track and record the section
    [*]+ Very resource efficient.
    [*]+ Two distinct effects racks. You have one for input which acts as a "pre" input rack. This is nice for midi effects like a dedicated arpeggiator that will alter midi to device in the second or "main" fx rack.
    [*]+ Recently added containers and parallel fx, which basically makes having aux channels for effects obsolete imo. This is also nice because you can just make a dedicated keyrack track that has all your keys/synths and you dont have to worry about coloration affecting any of the synths in the chain.
    [*]+ Customization is better than any other DAW
    [*]+ Has a Monitor FX chain, which basically sits outside as a distinct master channel. This is great for throwing measurement and comparison tools on to quickly see accurate results of LUFT Levels and forming tracks to sound like other productions.
    [*]+ Awesome for Game development.
    [*]+ Layerable Midi Tracks, you can just throw midi on top of each other if needed.
    [*]+ Freeform tracks, You can have a track that holds 50+ clips directly on top of each other and still be a single track. Awesome for foley effects creation.
    [*]+ Clips can store effects, which is insane. Takes all the issues of using busses or creating a ton of tracks for storing effects and solves them.
    [*]+ Sub-Projects - Every DAW should have this feature after using it for a bit now. Basically you can create a project that you can open at any time within a project, and all of its processes basically get *frozen* as a wav file of the project its in. Really is amazing for large string VST compositions.
    [*]- Hotkeys are awful, you will spend a lot of time in the actions menu.
    [*]- To really get it you basically have to come from a Pro Tools Trained environment after you decided Avid is the anti-christ.
    [*]- Sub-par ARA support.
• Ableton : Best DAW for generalists.
  • Spoiler: Pro/Con

    + Clips/Session view is nice if you have problems working within a linear view. Also great for loop-heavy instrumentals and live work. However, most people I know don't even use it, let alone know that you can simply drag clips into arrangement or tab into arrangement with the clips...
    [*]+ Abletons in-house devices are much more servicable than other DAW's default VST's and Effects. This is only if you have Suite imo.
    [*]+ The hotkeys just make sense.
    [*]+ Automation editing is by far the best out of all others, especially after 11.
    [*]+ Max4Live devices are really nice, kinda work as a counterpart to Reapers scripts. Problem is sometimes the code is garbage and then can tank performance.
    [*]+ Macro system is ez to map with custom controllers.
    [*]- Can only freeze tracks, which is annoying when you have to make changes to parameters.
    [*]- Is somewhat resource intensive. I tried VSTs in VST3, VST, AU formats between Reaper and Ableton and Ableton eats up way more processing power every time.
    [*]- The grouping system is not great. I hate that I cannot send multiple inputs to a track in the pulldown menu, but that I have to create tracks and funnel them individually into said track to do such a simple thing.
    [*]- No ARA support (I think?)
• Bitwig : Great ideas. Not up to par with other DAWs yet.
  • Spoiler: Pro/Con

    + Midi devices and routable objects are really cool. Takes Abletons best concepts and turns em up to 100.
    [*]+ Tracks are agnostic, you can drop midi and wav files on the same track or a blank track and it will adjust accordingly.
    [*]+ Supports CLAP format for VSTs.
    [*]- WAY TOO RESOURCE INTENSIVE. Seriously, what a gluttonous hog.
• Studio One : Has a lot of good Ideas, but really you gotta be invested in Presonus's ecosystem for the full benefits. (Eww.)
  • + They have a matrix routing editor. But so does Reaper....
• Logic : Nice if you plan on never leaving Apple's Ecosystem.
  • Spoiler: Pro/Con

    + Looks the best imo.
    [*]+ Has the best out of the box ARA support.
    [*]+ Nice extra tools, stuff like a dedicated mastering plugin, built in support for Atmos and editor that is free.
    [*]- Compatability issues
    [*]- Files sizes are weirdly large.
    [*]- Other competitive features are kinda lackluster, the stem browser, their version of having a clip player.
• Pro Tools : Avoid at all costs. I never had a program crash or fail to initialize as much as PT. Avid loves charging for basic features. Educators get Avid backing and contintually push their ecosystem along with their hardware, but Avid's plugins and interfaces are often strictly worse than third party competitors 98% of the time. Even those in Film, Game, and VO post production are moving to either Reaper or Hindenburg because they have better integration with middleware and such.

I might post "buy once, buy forever" plugins that I can recommend later.

 

[y a t s]

Nice write-up. Reaper sounds really cool. Especially this

[*]+ Clips can store effects, which is insane. Takes all the issues of using busses or creating a ton of tracks for storing effects and solves them.

Some Ableton tips:

[*]- Can only freeze tracks, which is annoying when you have to make changes to parameters.

To quickly resample, simply freeze the track and alt-drag the frozen clip to an audio track to pull the render without having to flatten the track.

[*]- The grouping system is not great. I hate that I cannot send multiple inputs to a track in the pulldown menu, but that I have to create tracks and funnel them individually into said track to do such a simple thing.

Use a return with the output routed to some track. Returns are pretty convenient and easy to adjust.

Pro Tools : Avoid at all costs. I never had a program crash or fail to initialize as much as PT. Avid loves charging for basic features. Educators get Avid backing and contintually push their ecosystem along with their hardware, but Avid's plugins and interfaces are often strictly worse than third party competitors 98% of the time. Even those in Film, Game, and VO post production are moving to either Reaper or Hindenburg because they have better integration with middleware and such.

Fuck Avid.

I might post "buy once, buy forever" plugins that I can recommend later.

Phase plant is one of those for me. One of the best purchases I have ever made.

 

[The King-In-Chains]

Nice write-up. Reaper sounds really cool. Especially this

Děkuji vám, homie. Thoughtful replies are a strong reason why the Farms are better than reddit and other sites lol.

To quickly resample, simply freeze the track and alt-drag the frozen clip to an audio track to pull the render without having to flatten the track.

That was something I never thought of, worthwhile tip! The issue I still have with that is that you can't reverse/edit any actions to the rendered track, and I'd have to unfreeze the non-rendered track for param edits.

Use a return with the output routed to some track. Returns are pretty convenient and easy to adjust.

Does this work with midi inputs? Should've specified that, I primarily use return tracks for live performances to create submixes for FOH.

Phase plant is one of those for me. One of the best purchases I have ever made.

I've heard good things about it. After I landed on Serum and Spectrasonics(Omnisphere, Keyscape mainly) I never hopped off the porch again...

 

[y a t s]

The issue I still have with that is that you can't reverse/edit any actions to the rendered track, and I'd have to unfreeze the non-rendered track for param edits.

Yeah that's the nature of resampling

Does this work with midi inputs? Should've specified that, I primarily use return tracks for live performances to create submixes for FOH.

Sure. You can even route individual racks to a return. They're very flexible.

I've heard good things about it.

It can do just about anything. Especially now that it has a granular module as well. I really like not being limited to 2 or 4 oscs.

 

[Steve Harwell's ghost]

My rig rundown is as follows:

Reaper DAW, m-audio interface. Ibanez 7 string, Squire strat, Ernieball cables, Nektar-gx61 midi keyboard/controller, Behringer midi foot controller, Orange crush 10watt for messing around or general brainstorming.

Vst's,: Neural dsp for my ir/ampsim. Bluecat audio pedalboard. I like guitar rig 5 as well for a digital rack. Prophecy is my main synth currently. In all reality I have and use way more vst's than this. Every time I find something interesting I download it. I have a turbine/engine sim, complete sega synth, every Korg I can find, Lots of delays ( my favorite is this spiral delay very interesting sound profile) and other assorted sound scape stuff. Kontact has some great stuff, Spitfire is free and does some interesting thing. I have around a TB of vst's alone.
I make doom/ambient slow droning soundscape stuff, so that's the common theme with my setup. I also prefer physical knobs and switches for control, it feels more organic. I use rutracker for the the non-free stuff, haven't had an issue yet. Also vstsforfree, bedroom producer, etc. I like variety of tools so thing are a bit more dynamic, though it does get a bit overwhelming having so many tools, I just take notes and try to write a basic outline when I'm working on a project.

 

[Ogre Magi]

Woah, this thread is a thing? I've found my people.

Recently started using Ableton 12 and REAPER. Ableton 12 has a bit of a learning curve, but damn REAPER has been such a treat to use.

Phase plant is one of those for me. One of the best purchases I have ever made.

Yet another person telling me to grab Phase Plant. I'll have to start considering it.

 

[DiggieSmalls]

[*]- WAY TOO RESOURCE INTENSIVE. Seriously, what a gluttonous hog.

I got 5 and I havent noticed anything outside of fans turning on when you open it up. I have fallen in love with the DAW honestly. The sounds it comes with blew ableton out of the water for me.

Anyone have any good VSTs that work on linux? I mean I could use yabridge, but I'd prefer native support since I hear latency can be an issue with yabridge