homemade noize

xoxos has released Midilegato, a new, free, VST plug-in for Windows that delays NoteOff events on one channel by up to 500ms to turn generated MIDI sequences into legato sequences.

xoxos stuff is great and if you donate and subsribe occasional get some cools things in the inbox. My favorite thing about xoxo’s is this quote:

I was one of the people that had previously spent as much as I could afford on hardware synthesizers and was determined to make freeware abundant so that anyone with a pc could make music.

de la mancha has also released lately 2 plugins fisrt the free machin:

machin is a random, probability-based, step-sequenced multi-fx device created in partnership with sink
- the step sequencer defines the probability that any single random effect will be triggered on that step
- the weighting defines the probability for each effect that it will be the one that is triggered

features
- 6 effects (gate, crusher, filter, flanger, delay, reverb)
- 2-32 step probability sequencer over a cycle of 2-32 beats
- seeded randomisation with loop repeat over cycle of 2-100 beats
- swing control for step sequencer
- any effects can be turned off to save CPU
- each effect has an attack/decay on triggering and pulse length to determine duration effect is on
- master wet/dry mix control
- all controls have MIDI learn

also from dlm is the $8 sub-base synth subhuman:

subhuman is a specialized 2 Osc synth for creating powerful sub bass, either for low down basslines, or sub-bass kick drums and drops. subhuman has been updated to add a pitch envelope, contoured graphical envelopes, note-on sync, waveform display and oscillator phase. It also now has a pure sine oscillator for Osc1, which is generated by real-time math to avoid interpolation and give a pure signal

By playing notes several octaves below middle C, subhuman will create a deep sub bass from the pure sine wave generated by Osc1. You can add to this with a different waveform on Osc2, detuned, sync’d and out of phase to get an extra layer of sound. Use the envelopes to shape the volume, pitch and LFO profile, each one has multiple contours for each stage to get just the right effect. The tempo-sync LFO can make the filter wobble or sweep and the overdrive will add some dirt. Drum mode removes the sustain stage of the envelopes to give you a percussive sound on each note, used with the pitch envelope to get that classic drum machine kick

features
- 2 oscillators with independant volume, detune and phase
- Osc2 has 11 different waveforms
- Osc2 can be sync’d to Osc1
- note-on sync option
- resonant LP filter
- tempo sync LFO to modulate LP filter cut-off, 5 waveforms, note-on sync, depth & phase
- ADSR volume envelope
- ASR envelope for pitch and LFO
- all envelopes can have each section with a different contour
- graphical display of envelopes and waveforms
- drum mode removes sustain section of envelopes
- Overdrive for more dirt
- octave selector to reduce master pitch for simple layering
- midi CC / midi learn on all controls
- mono/poly options with envelope retrigger and portamento

odosynths has all released a donationware c64 based synth cleverly called 38911 Bytes:

• 1 oscillator synth with 4 waveforms (saw, triangle, pulse and pitch noise). Also PulseWidth “noise cutoff” and “noise level” and Octaves from -3 to 4.
• 3 BPM sequencers with 7 rates, 2 to 8 steps and end/loop modes.
  • Sequencer 1 is for notes and octaves. Notes from C to B and octaves -3 to 4.
  • Sequencer 2 is for waveforms Saw, Triangle, Pitched Noise, RM saw, RM triangle, RM pulse.
  • Sequencer 3 is for octaves from -3 to 4.
• The filter, pitch and PW modulation envelopes have stages from 1 to 8, also 13 curves, a Sustain point from 1 to 7 or even off. The envelopes can also be turned off to save some CPU when not required.
• 3 different filters - low-pass, band-pass and hi-pass. You can activate more than one filter type like on a real c64 and also turn the filters off.
• 2 LFOs with 19 different waveforms with free speed or 14 BPM speeds. The LFOs have only 3 destinations - cutoff, pitch and for PWM.
• A Ring modulation with a bitcrusher notes from c to b and octaves from -4 to 3.
• A volume envelope and a full bank of 128 presets.

38911 Bytes is available as a VST instrument plug-in for Windows and it is (almost) free, although if you want to move any of the knobs you’ll have to make a donation.

Oh, the clutter.

Here are two plugins that are simple and not very flashy but could prove very useful.  rythminmind.net has a 2 & 4 band frequency divider VST plugin.

Maybe it no surprise since I like to make my own hardware tools that I am trying at my making my own software tools. Memphis is my first creation. It is a stupidly simple fixed delay. I was smart for once and did not try and make an 8 oscillator synth with a built in arsenal of effects. I do have some more things in the works but I do not have a the remotest idea to be a real serious developer. I just want to make some tools I want and experiment a little. I figure why not share what I make in-case they might be of use to some one else.

more info and download here»»»

If you are interesting in this kind of thing if I can do it you probably can too. If you program a little or especially know C++ well you could probably make some pretty cool stuff with out a massive amount of trouble. Toybear’s DSP Stuff is a good place to start to find most everything you’ll need to know. Then of course the is the visual stuff like the venerable Synthedit and newer Synthmaker that is accessible to almost everyone.

edit: kvr forums also have great bunch of links in this sticky.

de la mancha has released two new synths.

From the dlm site:

jellyfish has several modes of inter-oscillator modulation as well as 2 LFOs and an envelope generator that each modulate 6 parameters as well as each other. metamorph will change the oscillator waveforms in real-time, as well as a lot of other LFO and envelope modulations to make things even more interesting

Both synths have presets made by runagate, covering many sounds from evolving pads, weird noises and effects, dynamic leads, wobbly basses and more

learn more about jellyfish learn more about metamorph

The are available for a reasonable $15.

de la mancha has a nice collection of freeware plugins. The newest release Octav8r is a pitch shifter on steroids. It is really well thought out any versatile. From the site:

Octav8r is a 7-node pitch-shifter that generates 6 differently pitched stereo versions of the audio input added to a ‘dry’ non-shifted signal to generate a richly layered sound. Each node has its own volume envelope and variable state filter plus send controls to vibrato, chorus, delay and reverb effects. The envelopes can be triggered by midi, audio gate or looped in sync with the host tempo.

The primary idea of Octav8r is to create multiple pitch-shifted layers of the incoming audio. With some twiddling you can get creative with panning to generate separation around the stereo field, use envelopes to bring each node in and out at different times and use chorus, delay and reverb to make each node sit differently in the mix. You can use the tempo-sync envelope trigger to create rhythmic gating or pulsing and the envelope toggles to make only some nodes modulated whilst others stay constant. Most controls have midi CC and midi learn support, so with some automation or midi knob twiddling, you can make the output really move around.

features
· 6 pitch-shifting nodes, with octave shifting (-3 to +3) and semitone shifting (-12 to +12, to 0.001 semitones)
· All nodes have independent volume, pan, ADSR envelope, variable state filter, vibrato, chorus, delay and reverb controls
· Node 0 is the ‘dry’ audio at incoming pitch, which also has pan, ADSR, chorus, delay and reverb
· Envelopes can be triggered by midi note, audio gate, a tempo-sync loop or bypassed
· Envelope contours can be changed and set to restart or pick-up at retrigger
· Mix level can be adjusted between dry and pitch-shifted nodes
· Each node can be fine tuned for pitch shift method and buffer size
· Each node, envelope and effect can be switched off to save CPU
· Midi CC support and midi learn for most controls
· 38 presets
· Multi-out version for hosts that can support this feature