Producing your own tunes in your bedroom on a computer has never been so popular, so with that in mind, SoundFreak is bringing you a review of some current plugins to enable you get better results from your set-up.
Most computer music programmes come with a host of powerful synths, effects units and sequencers that enable the bedroom producer to produce professional sounding music using that package alone. But there are lots of additional instruments and effects out there that you can use to build your virtual studio, providing new sources of sound and inspiration. Vintage synthesizers, virtual analogue compressors, glitchy effects units and classic instrument emulators are amongst the many kinds of plugins that you can add to your library. Before purchasing any additional plugins that take your fancy, I would strongly recommend trying their demo versions first. Here are just a few of my current favourites, all of which are available for both Mac and Windows.
Sampletron
“Tron” instruments first appeared on the commercial market in the 1950’s, and peaked with the Melotron 400 in the 1970’s. You will have heard their use on many famous recordings, the most famous example being the opening few bars on the Beatles Strawberry Fields. This is the classic tron flute, which is still being used by many artists today, over a wide range of genres. Tron instruments are rare and in extremely high demand, so will be in the price range of only the most die hard enthusiasts. But now IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality have created the Sampletron, which combines authentic sounds such as Mellotrons, Chamberlins, and Optigans with its powerful SampleTank engine which will allow you to sonically take these instruments into worlds they have not seen.
The Sampletron comes with over 600 presets from 17 rare and vintage Mellotrons providing a superb edition to any music producers library. You can then time stretch, resample, pitch shift and add effects (chorus, flange, phase, distortion), giving you further options on its sound design that simply weren’t possible with the original instruments.
With over 7Gb of samples that go with it, including drum and musical loops, it is possible to create a full tune using this plugin alone. It is a multimbral instrument, meaning that you assign a different MIDI channel on your DAW to each of the 16 channels of the Sampletron. You can then split your keyboard with the different sounds or layer them on top of each other using their intuitive interface.
The authentic sounds it is capable of producing are extremely impressive. You can hear the tape hissing, and even the odd bummed note on some of the instruments, but this is what gives the tron instruments their character. From film scoring, to hip hop and electronica, this plugin is a must for those looking to add some vintage sounds to their productions. The Sampletron can be purchased online for around £164.
Minimonsta
This virtual vintage keyboard is an emulation of the Minimoog (an analogue synthesizer produced between 1971 and 1982), but with a few additional features that make it a much more powerful synth. If you are looking for that classic analogue synth sound, I can’t recommend this plugin enough. Artists such as Herbie Hancock, Air and Bootsy Collins all used the original Minimoog in their music. This plugin does a great job of emulating the warm sound of that classic synth, and the numerous presets that it includes show off the sounds that this is capable of. Here you can select the original Minimoog patches, as well as some great bass, lead and poly sounds. There is even a selection of Rick Wakeman patches for you to choose from, if that’s what you’re after.
It has all the usual features and more that you would find on the Minimoog – 3 oscillators, a filter and mixer section, LFOs, 10 waveforms to choose from, as well as envelopes and a delay function. They are laid out in the same way as the original, making it easy and intuitive to use once you have a basic understanding of analogue synthesis. But G Force have taken this Minimoog emulator even further, giving the user the option to create sounds that were not possible with the original. You can assign a separate LFO and envelope to almost any of its parameters with just a few clicks of a mouse, allowing you to take your sound design a step further. All the settings can be assigned to a MIDI controller giving you complete control over its sound. The Minimoog became a hugely popular synth not only because of the great sounds that it can produce, but also because of its simple layout, which was easy to understand, and it shaped the way future synths have been designed. The Minimonsta has retained this simple and intuitive layout, but thrown in some extra features, making it a beast of a synth, and one that is practically limitless when it comes to virtual analogue sound design. No wonder their creators describe it as a Minimoog emulator on steroids. The Minimonsta by G Force can be purchased for around £100 incl VAT online.
Automaton
Audiodamage have produced a number of effects plugins, which are great for the dance or experimental music producer who is looking to add that glitchy effect to their music. Their Automaton is my particular favourite. This is a tough effects plugin to describe, as it is based on a mathematical construction called cellular automaton, but the result is an effects processor that harnesses a mixture of chaos and predictability into your music. The principle behind this plugin involves a grid of cells that are in one of two states – dead or alive – and which change in population depending on the rules that you apply. These cells evolve in synch to your host DAW, and trigger effects such as stuttering, bitcrushing, modulation and replicating. The result produces effects patterns that form and dissolve, turn to chaos and back to order, and are constantly evolving.
For stuttering, glitchy beats, I have found this a particularly useful effects unit. By simply inserting this plugin to your drum track, and going through some of the presets, you will see what great constantly evolving effects you can get. Although you may enjoy its unpredictability, it is possible to have more control over when the effects are triggered, using its sequencer. What I love about this is its uniqueness, and the way it can be used subtly in triggering an extra hihat for example, or you can take it to the extreme and generate random IDM madness. You can pick up the Automaton for $49 dollars from the Audiodamage website.
PSP Vintage Warmer 2
This is a high quality digital simulation of an analogue style single/multiband compressor/limiter. If you are looking to add warmth to your recordings with the saturation effect you would expect when recording to tape, I would strongly recommend this plugin. It is also great for finalising a mix and mastering your tracks, and is very easy to use. The presets include those for bass, lead guitar, drum kicks and snare, final mixes and also a mastering first aid setting. Just finding the right preset and tweaking it to your liking can add some real punch to your music. I have always been advised that after you have mixed your track, the mastering should then be done by a professional – a fresh set of ears, and someone who is trained to identify problem frequencies and correct them. But not all bedroom producers can afford to do this, and for me, using the mastering preset on this vintage compressor/limiter and making some fine adjustments can do a pretty convincing job.
The Vintage Warmer has all the usual controls you would expect on an analogue compressor – Attack, Release, Knee control, limiter ceiling and multiband frequency controllers – so if you know your way around a compressor, you will be able to achieve your desired sound easily. This is one of those magical plugins that seems to make it all sound better, even on its default setting and is an invaluable edition to your virtual studio. The PSP Vintage Warmer 2 can be bought online for around $149.
There are thousands of other VST and AU instruments available, offering numerous ways to add some spice and inspiration into your music. If you’re tired of using the same instruments with your computer software then its well worth trying out some third party plugins.
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