Plus, a very cool way to support independent music software developers.

Over at KVRaudio, there’s a modest but very cool “Developers Challenge” going on. Whereby a lot of independent developers have coded up a audio music application, plugin or otherwise, and are competing for a user-contributed prize pool. And, by and large, the plugins, which are free to everyone, are really very good.

Not only is this a bonaza for we who are financially disadvantaged, it will hopefully give some exposure to apps/plugins that might have gotten lost on the interweb. It’s a bit heavy on Windows plugs (no problem here), but there really is something for everyone there, including Mac users. Whether your looking for a full-on music sequencing application, straight-up synthisis, new approaches to sound generation, or glitchy little plugins that, as advertised, FSU.

I’ve been creating a track that aims to use nothing but the software from this competition. (I probably won’t be doing to much with the sequencers, mostly because I can’t be arsed to try learning new sequencing paradigms.) So far so good, though with this much wild code there have been glitches & crashes. The MASB Compressor doesn’t work in Sonar6, so that is unavailable to me, but once I’m done with the composition, I’ll probably mix with my favorite plugins and the Sonar EQs.

Some of the standouts:

The lost compressor is mitigated by the inclusion of the PushTec 5A+1. Having never personally tried the real thing, nor any of its many software clones, I have to say this is a really professional-grade plugin that sounds just great. Apparently native coded, very light on the CPU usage, it’s a characteristic EQ that sounds great on already compressed loops.

Probably the closet thing to a dev rock star is Urs from U-he, who brought his splendid Triple Cheese to the game. From what I can tell, he’s one of those developers of whom other developers speak with reverence, i.e. he knows his shit. When one user suggested that he cribbed this from his work-in-progress, Zebra 2, he teasingly humbled them by explaining how Triple Cheese in no way based on Zebra and coded from the ground up, down to a completely new scheme for the crackle. Regardless, it’s a really deep sounding synth with just silky tones.

If Urs is the dev rock star, then Smartelectronix is the post-rock collective of the independent software scene. (Say, Tortise to Urs’ Eno.) Mdsp @ Smartelectronix has put up the deceptively simple FIRE (see above image). I haven’t totally figured it out without the manual, but with Sonar 6’s new ACT more or less working, Fire is very cool to tweak in real-time.

Another big surprise for me was Anna by developer stefan hållén. Hard for me to get too excited about another hybrid VA-style synth, what with all the ones I’ve already amassed and a working version of Zebra 2 in my plugin folder. And seeing it was developed in the the synth development environment SynthMaker, I was a little wary that it might not be something other freeware (and a couple commercial) plugin synth couldn’t already do. Turns out stefan is the developer of SynthMaker and knows how to trick the shit out of his program. The interface is best described as elegant, and the sound is beefy. It totally makes sense on first inspection, with everything right where you need it. I still maintain that plugs built in either of the development environments (are there more? he wonders aloud) are quirky when it comes to stability, at least if my CPU meter is to be believed. But anyone who uses that as rational for not exploiting some of these fine examples of audio software engineering, that’s a fool’s errand.

Also liking these popular favorites: Lunchbox Battles by Bram Bos, Cubix by Psychic Modulation, Drum Mic Positioner by Sound Spectral, Zombie Fungus FX by Time Control Productions & Otto Von Schirach (though it’s a little unnerving to have that mug staring back at you while your working), Drive5 by Fretted Synth, Ritual by Tweakbench… really, it’s kind of ridiculous to exclude the majority of what’s available here. There are more than a few I have to go back and explore further to really get what they are doing. So in terms of grab-and-go, this is what stood out for me.

And big props to Spacedad for bringing us Superubbish, the mostly honestly described plug, ever. The presets alone are worth installation; fucking hilarious. And anyone who doesn’t have any use for the sound of a broken synth is missing out. Be prepared, your CPU won’t be too happy about it. But, come on, we all know how to work around that, don’t we?

So, contribute $15 towards the cause, as I did (early before anything had been released, but I’m cool like that) – come on, you know you have that in your PayPal account! Sell a few CDs on eBay.

PS. – Oh yeah. I was “scooped” again on this by Create Digital Music. As always, they have a great take on it, though I’m surprised they didn’t mention Triple Cheese as it is one of the 5 Mac entries. Maybe it doesn’t have the novelty of some of the other apps they discuss, but it’s a real gem. But, hey guys, thanks for allowing the pingback!.

Anyway, I’ll post my track when I’m done.