FOSS and VST

Discuss how to promote using FLOSS to make music.

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Louigi Verona
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Re: FOSS and VST

Post by Louigi Verona »

What you say about choice is true. Proprietary software is actually not a matter or morality, it is a matter of law.

So in real life users of proprietary software usually share anyway, at least outside of USA where these laws are most strong.

In the end, it might not really matter. But if you are working with free software fully, then you know what you need and you can work for that, helping the community. I dunno. I am not entirely set and I continuously question whether all my musical troubles with linux are really worth it. I am still not sure.

As for my 7 year experience, I guess there is LMMS to utilize it + my experience helps devs with the feedback I give from time to time.
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Re: FOSS and VST

Post by zettberlin »

Louigi Verona wrote:Okay, deal!

http://www.louigiverona.ru/files/Fmaj-Rain3pad.ogg

Here ya go. Made in around 10 minutes in FL Studio with an Orange Vocoder, Space Effect, two LFO, reverb and delay.
Huh ho! Back from holidays I am.
Hmmmm... FLStudio you say and FX-plug-ins.. that would be,a sequencer with plug-ins wich is no single app one could make a patch for as we talked in the first place ;-]
either way: my search for something flexible enough leads me to ams - as a modular synth with plug-in-interface it should be capable to inflict the needed manipulations. Since I do not have enough time yet to really build it from scratch I doctored a patch that comes with the recent distribution of ams, called phaser_instrument_pan_lfo.ams I added a LADSPA-vocoder and two delays to get somewhat nearer to your file. As of now it is not really a nice clean rain but more like a thunderstorm in slow motion in space on acid or something:

http://lapoc.de/spinoffs/louigipad3-ams.wav
The patch is here:
http://lapoc.de/spinoffs/padsliker.ams
Open parameter view and choose preset No 16 Louigi-pad4 ;-)

The new plugins break the other presets a little....

I am aware of that this is no 1:1 copy but I hope it points to the right direction. Everybody is welcome to improve it and so will I in the next days hopefully...

Besides: much theory in this thread so far. Where are the csound/pd/clam etc masters to take the challenge? ;-)
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Re: FOSS and VST

Post by zettberlin »

thorgal wrote:Ciao Louigi,
I mean, knowing FL-Studio as you do is great, but does it really make you trapped in using it and nothing else ?
Not absolutely, but do you not stick with things you know and tend to apply methods you can handle again and again?
thorgal wrote: I just wanted to understand why you were giving up a 7 year experience.
Dropping experience and giving up old ways from time to time may not be the easy way to go but is not so bad either.
AC/DC did not drop anything in the last 35+ or so years and they still do their thing just great. In concert they are still very, very hard to beat I guess but still: why in the world should I spend my time listening to their latest CD if I can reach half a meter behind me, grab Powerage, Highway To Hell or Back In Black and put it on my turntable?
Style, methods, knowledge about certain tools and even virtuosity tends to become a ball-and-chain kind of thing, as it can bind you to musical structures, that can be achieved easily with the stuff you already have under control. So if you drop one tool and learn a new one it is near to 100% certain, that new ways of expression come in sight and fresh new blood for new music becomes available.
thorgal wrote: If you can reuse this experience elsewhere for the better, then all is cool I guess :)
Of course you can - learned things are not all-bad, especially, if they are not too specifically geared to one tool or set of tools. And CTRL+Leftkilck+drag should always clone a region.... ;-)
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briandc
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Re: FOSS and VST

Post by briandc »

This thread was an interesting read, so I wanted to revive it, now that almost 3 years have passed!

I've been playing around with Zyn (actually I use Yoshimi) and with some of the free banks that others here have directed me to. At the moment, I haven't tried reproducing the "rain" sound that Louigi was looking for, but the banks that are available are really quite amazing. In fact, Zyn has some of the richest sounds out there (I mean just synth, with no plugin effects added to the sound), and I am quite sure it can do the job.

As for VST instruments, I understand the dilemma. The way I see things, VST instruments that are freeware, and can be shared with others, are done in the same spirit as open source programming. After all, if you can share it... ;)
And to me, that's what it's all about: people making things at the grassroots level, and being able to share them with friends. The world is full of talented people, who give something to the world through their creative efforts, and this is just as true for the world of computing. And those who are satisfied with making a project, and seeing people use it for making and spreading their creative efforts, have already received their reward.

So there are 2 camps: those who program and create apps because they want to achieve something for themselves, and/or to give their efforts to the world to use; and those who make things simply in order to make money.

-Do great artists paint so that they can make money? Or do they do it because they love to paint, and want to share their works with the world, for the benefit of all?


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Re: FOSS and VST

Post by briandc »

I think a lot has changed since this thread was started. KXStudio is really great, and the Linux-based apps have really improved, I think. The TAL noizemaker is a powerful little synth. And XSynth (or WhySynth, I can't remember) has a whole lot of programming capability.

I remember when my parents bought me my first synth, back in the 80s. It was a Casio CZ-1000.
Now, other people were using more "serious" synths, such as a Juno, or DX-7. And I admit, I was feeling a bit inferior with my Casio.

But that all changed. I met a guy at work who had a Casio CZ-101, which is basically the same synth I had, just smaller. We met a couple of times, just to play around. One time, we met and he told me he had come up with a few sounds. One was a helicopter. I can say honestly, I have never heard such a realistic helicopter, even in a sampler!!
Another sound was the patch used in Baba O'Reilly. You recognized it immediately when you heard it.
Lastly, he made a patch that sounded like trickling water. No other synth I heard, including the DX-7, could make such an incredible sound. (The CZ had 8 envelopes, rather than the ADSR structure of most synths. This allowed for the possibility of making a type of delay/echo effect. And with the "key follow" function, the upper notes, when played in succession, make the trickling effect. On the lower end of the board, it was like bubbles.) It was absolutely amazing. And, I've never heard anything like it since then.

Unfortunately, I sold that synth, along with all the neat patches, back in the 90's. One of my biggest regrets.

My point? That sometimes the power's not in the synth, but in the programmer. ;)

I wish I was as talented as my ex-co-worker! :D

brian
Have your PC your way: use linux!
My sound synthesis biome: http://www.linuxsynths.com
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