Sound Props Guitar Series Direct SG is FREE for a limited time at Audio Plugin Deals
Audio Plugin Deals is offering the Guitar Series Direct SG by Sound Props for free for a limited time. This Kontakt-powered guitar library normally costs $115, so it is worth a look if you need a playable electric guitar instrument and already own the full version of Kontakt. Guitar Series Direct SG is based on [...]
View post: Sound Props Guitar Series Direct SG is FREE for a limited time at Audio Plugin Deals

The Triad multi-algorithm distortion plugin by Carbon Fiber is FREE for a limited time
The Triad is a three-way distortion plugin from developer Carbon Fiber, billed as “the triangle of destruction” due to its triangular X/Y pad at its core. It is now free for a limited time! It’s a multi-algorithm distortion and saturation processor offering a tactile way to blend various types of distortion, and it’s free until April [...]
View post: The Triad multi-algorithm distortion plugin by Carbon Fiber is FREE for a limited time

“The Entire Sampletraxx Universe, Unlocked”: Get 56 sound libraries valued at £2,000 for just £89 with this huge bundle deal Plugin Boutique is offering a huge bundle deal on the complete Sampletraxx catalogue, including 56 sound libraries valued at nearly £2,000 – all for £89.
For the first time ever and running until 29 March, you can own the complete Sampletraxx collection, described as “the legendary toolkit used by top composers on blockbuster films, AAA games, and major trailers”.
[deals ids=”5I377RI0WWWVQzwT3KZAO2″]
The collection contains thousands of cinematic sound effects for trailer music, scoring, and immersive game audio. The Sampletraxx brand is built on a philosophy of creating “state of the art sound design”, and its tools have been used by Charlie Clouser, the composer for the SAW film franchise and a former member of Nine Inch Nails, and Mark Korven, composer for critically acclaimed films like The Witch and The Lighthouse.

READ MORE: Roland says its new AI melody generator, Melody Flip, puts “human intent” at the centre of the process

The bundle includes several tools for foundational atmospheres and drones such as Shadow Drones, the “cornerstone” of this collection, offering over 400 cinematic drone sounds, and Sanctuary, a library designed to create the perfect headspace for music intros. This one offers gentle reverberations, distant echoes, and textures derived from e-bowed instruments and meticulously processed organic sources like ceramic and glass.
There are also tools for impact and transitions ideal for trailers, tortured instruments like a broken piano and chilling string instruments for horror music, and a number of sound design“secret weapons” for vocals, tension building, and more.

This bundle deal arrives just as Plugin Boutique is offering a promotion on Music For Film, with tools for cinematic scoring, orchestral sound design and epic soundtracks all available with big discounts.
You can find out more and view the full list of all sound libraries included in the Sampletraxx bundle via Plugin Boutique.
The post “The Entire Sampletraxx Universe, Unlocked”: Get 56 sound libraries valued at £2,000 for just £89 with this huge bundle deal  appeared first on MusicTech.

Get the iconic Minimoog in plugin form for $49 – saving you $100Right now until the end of March, you can save $100 on Universal Audio’s Moog-endorsed plugin emulation of the Minimoog Model D synthesiser.
Universal Audio first launched this emulation along with its Luna platform in 2020, as the Minimoog formed part of its built-in instrument offerings. It was then released for individual purchase in 2022.
[deals ids=”2o9162m9G9FZH4Xegl4t1P”]
The Moog Minimoog Model D is one of the most famous analogue synths. The original hardware version was launched in 1970, and condensed the sound of Moog’s modular systems into a portable instrument. It went on to be used by huge artists like Herbie Hancock, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, and many others.

READ MORE: Plugin Boutique’s Music For Film sale has all the instruments you need for cinematic scoring and epic soundtracks – at huge discounts

UAD’s recreation includes all the necessary features that gave the original so much character, including impedance matching, module-to-module coupling, and even its “feedback” effect (routing its output to its input to get different amounts of distortion).
This plugin version also precisely captures the legendary Moog oscillators, ladder filters, extreme resonance, pitch tracking/stability anomalies, and more. You can find out more in the videos below:

If you prefer hardware synths, then you can also get Moog’s 2022 reissue of the Minimoog Model D on sale at Guitar Center, with over $1,000 off its original price right now.
This version features modern enhancements including a dedicated LFO, MIDI and CV connectivity, custom reissue transistors, and a premium Fatar keybed with velocity and aftertouch. It retains the classic three-voltage-controlled oscillator design at the core of this synth to deliver the rich textures it is best known for.
In 2022 feature with MusicTech on the legacy of the Minimoog Model D, artists Lisa Bella Donna, Gareth Jones, Ashibah and Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory shared their thoughts on its impact and significance in synth history. Will Gregory said, “You can’t live on one synthesiser alone, but I tell you what: you can go a long way with a Model D.”
Get the Universal Audio Minimoog plugin for $49 now at Sweetwater.
The post Get the iconic Minimoog in plugin form for $49 – saving you $100 appeared first on MusicTech.

The best free synth plugins you can download right nowThe best synth plugin on the market isn’t necessarily the most expensive one. You’ve probably heard that Serum, Sylenth and Pigments are the synth plugins you absolutely need to make music. But there’s a ton of free synth plugins that can hold their own against any of them.

READ MORE: The best budget synthesizers to buy right now

We’ve used and tested a bunch of free virtual instruments, and thought about how they might fit into different music production workflows. Here are some wavetable, FM, virtual analogue, and modular synth plugins that are completely free and that might become your new favourite plugin.
Best Overall: Vital
Vital. Image: Press
Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synth that many consider to be a worthy alternative to Xfer’s Serum, with its straightforward drag-and-drop modulation interface and a unique text-to-wavetable feature. Vital’s GUI is extremely visually responsive with animated controls that show you where the filters, envelopes, and LFOs are interacting with the sound.
Vital offers amazing potential for creating and shaping unique wavetables with spectral warping processes that let you alter the harmonics rhythmically in real-time. Although there are four different versions of Vital, including a subscription and two paid options, each gives you access to the same high-quality sound design platform with different levels of additional content.
With its three oscillators and a sample-based sound generator, you have a wide sonic palette for traditional virtual analogue or cutting-edge digital sounds. When you combine Vital’s spectral warping and stereo modulation capabilities, you can create animated and evolving soundscapes or rhythmic patterns.
Download Vital at vital.audio
Best FM Synth: Digital Suburban Dexed

Dexed is a completely free, open-source FM synth available across macOS, Windows, and Linux which is a closely-modeled recreation of the famous Yamaha DX7. With its 6-operator FM engine, you can choose between three different emulation modes that mimic the sound of the hardware from different eras. These include the clean 24-bit Modern mode, the Mark I mode (close to the original DX7), and the OPL Series mode, which offers 8-bit chip emulation.
Naturally, you get all the classic DX7 patches like E.PIANO, TUB BELLS, and BASS 1 that were used on those legendary 1980s records from Whitney Houston, A-Ha, and Bon Jovi. Besides being a VST, VST3, AU, and LV2 format plugin, Dexed is also a MIDI librarian and patch manager for the DX7 and TX7 hardware, and because these synths are notoriously tricky to program, it becomes an essential software extension for owners of these classic FM synths.
Besides the ability to send and receive SysEx messages, Dexed also supports MPE for modern controllers like the Osmose and offers micro-tuning capabilities. Although it’s based on a vintage FM engine, Dexed is still a relevant sound creation platform, offering 144 parameters that are all accessible from the interface and can be automated in your DAW.
Dexed isn’t exactly beginner-friendly, since it’s rather complex, but it is light on the CPU, so you can run it on older computers without any issues. Arguably, the most exciting aspect is the world of free patches you get access to due to the cult status of the DX7.
Download Dexed at kvraudio.com
Best for bass music: Callybeat Hum808X

If you’re looking to create genres like Bass Music, Trap, and Drill, Callybeat Hum808X is a hybrid synth that combines additive and FM synthesis with three oscillators providing five waveform types. Although it was originally designed for the creation of 808-style kicks and sub-basses, Hum808X has evolved, offering a wider scope of sounds.
Within its FM synthesis engine, Hum808X has a sampler that functions as a modulator for controlling the frequency of the oscillators. With this hybrid approach to synthesis, you can introduce unique harmonics and realistic textures that aren’t possible using sine waves exclusively. Hum808X also includes a collection of 90 samples specially chosen for this purpose.
This allows you to add metallic timbres and percussive textures to bass sounds, helping them translate easily on small speaker systems like laptops, smartphones, and AirPods. For building sounds, there are 16 filter types, and one ADSR envelope for each oscillator and a global envelope to shape the entire sound.
You can also spread sounds with up to 16 unison voices and add expression with the glide control to match the rhythmic signature of your bassline. Meanwhile, to add the final touch, Hum808X is also equipped with a range of built-in effects, including distortion, compression, EQ, limiting, delay, and reverb.
Hum808X is an intuitive sound creation tool for modern music genres and a worthy alternative to popular plugins like SubLab that allows even beginners to get inspiring results quickly. The only drawback is that it’s not available for macOS, so Mac users will need an additional plugin host like PlugInGuru Unify to port it across.
Download Hum808X at callybeat.com
Best for Sound Design: Surge XT

Surge XT is a bi-timbral hybrid synth that provides extensive sound design tools with traditional virtual-analogue subtractive, wavetable, and FM synthesis processes. Until 2018, when it became open-sourced, Surge XT was a commercially available software synth from Vember Audio, but since then, it has been expanded considerably by volunteers within the active global user community.
Each of the two independent layers or “scenes” gives you access to three oscillators with a range of 12 selectable sound generation methods, including algorithms such as Classic and Modern virtual analogue modes, Wavetable, 2- or 3-modulator FM modes, String modeling, and a Twist mode based on the Mutable Instruments Plaits macro oscillator.
There are also two filter sections per scene with eight configurations and a range of algorithms, including Lowpass, Legacy Ladder Lowpass, Vintage Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass, Notch, Allpass, Comb, and Sample & Hold, as well as additional open-source options like Jatin Chowdhury’s Cutoff Warp, Resonance Warp and Tri-Pole filters, the K35 and Diode Ladder filters from Odin 2 and the 12 and 24 dB/oct multimode filters from OB-Xd.
Surge XT also has extensive modulation capabilities, with 12 LFOs per scene, including six LFOs per voice and six global LFOs that work on a scene-wide level. On each LFO, you have 6-stage envelopes (DAHDSR) and different modes including seven morphable LFO shapes, a step-sequencer mode, a multi-segment envelope generator (MSEG) mode, Lua scripting-based customizable formula modulator.
With nearly 3000 presets and over 700 wavetables, Surge XT offers a wide sonic palette, and although perhaps too technical for beginners, it offers pro features such as full MPE support, Scala support for microtuning, and Open Sound Control (OSC) support. The active Surge XT community adds plenty of value, making investing in the journey of this open-source synth even more worthwhile.
Download Surge XT at surge-synthesizer.github.io
Best Modular: DISTRHO Cardinal
Cardinal is an open-source plugin that provides an environment for virtual Eurorack modules. Although it’s based on the same engine as the popular VCV Rack plugin, it doesn’t allow you to browse an online library to download new modules. Instead, Cardinal has over 1,300 modules that you can use to design your own virtual synth rigs and patches.
Besides running as a standalone application, Cardinal can be used as a virtual instrument or effects plugin in AU, CLAP, LV2, VST2, and VST3 formats for Windows, macOS, Linux, and even Raspberry Pi. Within Cardinal’s library of virtual modules, you’’l find versions of popular hardware modules from Mutable Instruments and Befaco, as well as some derived from the Surge XT engine.
One of the advantages of using Cardinal is that the audio engine is single-threaded and locks to the audio thread of your DAW host to eliminate latency and jitter. This increases the all-round stability and accuracy of the instrument, especially when running multiple instances alongside other synth plugins in your DAW.
The main VST3/LV2/CLAP version of Cardinal provides 8 channels of audio I/O and 10 channels of CV I/O that register as “audio” pins within the routing matrix of your DAW. This means you can send CV signals from Cardinal’s Host CV Module to other modular software environments like Bitwig Studio’s Grid or even hardware via the DC-coupled outputs of your audio interface.
Cardinal’s Host Parameters Module also allows you to automate up to 24 parameters from your DAW, and this automation data can be converted into CV signals for precise parameter control. Despite Cardinal’s advantages, many users still prefer VCV Rack for its extensive online library of modules. However, the free version of VCV Rack doesn’t include plugin compatibility, so you’ll have to record into your DAW via loopback.
Download Cardinal at cardinal.kx.studio
Best For Beginners: u-he Tyrell N6 Beta
u-he Tyrell N6
If you’re new to the idea of using synth plugins to generate sounds and want something that’s perhaps a little tastier than your stock DAW synths, Tyrell N6 Beta is a worthwhile option. Originally, the concept for this JUNO-60-inspired synth came from a collaboration between Urs Heckmann and Amazona.de, who ultimately opted for a software plugin rather than a hardware design.
The Tyrell N6 uses a basic analogue subtractive architecture with two oscillators with variable waveshape and modulation, and a sound source mixer that allows you to balance between the two main oscillators, the sub oscillator, the noise oscillator, the ring modulation, and feedback. Also, the sound engine and filter section are derived from Diva, with two LFOs, two envelopes, and a simple mod matrix.
With three different JUNO-style chorus modes and the rather convincing analogue drift feature, you can create some really authentic analogue synth leads, pads, and basslines. Overall, Tyrell N6 is a balanced instrument with a well-designed interface that lets you create sounds from scratch or access a range of free preset libraries online.
Download Tyrell N6 at u-he.com.
Why You Can Trust MusicTech
MusicTech reviews hundreds of new products every year, from powerful synthesizers, DAWs and pro plugins through to everyday headphones and portable speakers. Our expert reviewers are producers, engineers and enthusiasts with hundreds of years of collective experience, with a keen ear to the ground on new trends and technologies.
Every guide on MusicTech is created by a producer, musician and tech enthusiast just like you. We understand what you’re looking for when searching for a new free synth plugin, and we want to ensure you purchase genuinely useful products for your craft. So you can guarantee that every product MusicTech recommends to you is a product we’d be happy to have in our studios.
For more buyer’s guides, click here.
The post The best free synth plugins you can download right now appeared first on MusicTech.

IDing Counterfeit Drugs Might Be Easier Than You ThinkOdds are, you’ve taken pills before; it’s a statistical certainty that some of you reading this took several this morning. Whenever you do, you’re at the mercy of the manufacturer: you’re trusting that they’ve put in the specific active ingredients in the dosage listed on the package. Alas, given the world we live in, that doesn’t always happen. Double-checking actual concentrations requires expensive lab equipment like gas chromatography. It turns out checking for counterfeit pills is easier than you’d think, thanks to a technique called Disintegration Fingerprinting.

The raw voltage signal from the sensor is stored as a “disintegration fingerprint” of particles detected per minute.
It’s delightfully simple: all you need is a clear plastic cup, a stir plate, and a handful of electronic components — namely, a microcontroller, a servo, and an IR line-following sensor. You’ve probably played with just such a sensor: the cheap ones that are a matched pair of LED and photodetector. It works like this: the plastic cup, filled with water, sits upon the stir plate. To start the device, you turn on the stir plate and actuate the servo to drop the pill in the water. The microcontroller then begins recording the signal from the photo-diode. As the pill breaks up and/or dissolves in the water, the swirling bits are going to reflect light from the IR LED. That reflectance signal over time is the Disintegration Fingerprint (DF), and it’s surprisingly effective at catching fakes according to the authors of the paper linked above. Out of 32 different drug products, the technique worked on 90% of them, and was even able to distinguish between generic and brand-name versions of the same drug.
Of course, you do need a known-good sample to generate a trustworthy fingerprint, and there’s that pesky 10% of products the technique doesn’t work on, but this seems like a great way to add some last-mile QA/QC to the drug distribution chain, particularly in low and middle-income countries where counterfeit drugs are a big problem.
We’ve featured pill-identifiers before, but machine vision is going to be much more easily fooled by counterfeits than this method. If your problem isn’t worrying that your pills are fake, but forgetting to take them, we’ve had projects to help with that, too.
Thanks to [Zorch] for the tip!

The SEC drops its four-year-old investigation into EV startup Faraday FutureAfter four years, and multiple subpoenas and depositions, the beleaguered startup has dodged yet another bullet.

RCSSound Nova Essential Trance Soundset Vol 3. for Novation Mininova / UltranovaThe third big soundset with 118 new awesome presets for trance, edm and other electronic music genres! Listen the first short demo, containing few patches of the total 118. Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/user-495684465/nova-essential-trance-soundset-vol-3-first-demo (The drums you hear in the first demo are NOT parts of the soundset.The drums are only providing the musical context for the synth sounds. The soundset by the way contains percussive sounds(from patch no. 097 to 117) like kicks and drum sequences. Complete patch list: 0 DRM_PsySEQ -- This will blow your mind! :) 1 ARP_gouryella 2 LD_Classsix 3 LD_ElNino 4 LD_Toca me? 5 LD_SummerSun 6 LD_coast2coast 7 LD_lethal 8 LD_7th 9 LD_TwoMoons 10 LD_electrostatic 11 LD_MakeMyDream 12 LD_Shrt&Pnhcy 13 LD_ButterflySaw 14 LD_Gates 15 LD_porta 16 LD_Zupastring 17 LD_ravesynth 18 LD_HappyRave 19 LD_Hoovah 20 LD_90svibe 21 LD_FutureRave 22 LD_Ottagen 23 LD_PlckSmooth 24 LD_Popping 25 LD_Spirit 26 LD_1999 27 LD_2000 28 LD_train 29 LD_Sharp 30 LD_Cosmic 31 LD_FancyTrancy1 32 LD_FancyTrancy2 33 LD_FancyTrancy3 34 LD_techglider 35 LD_EvilDist 36 LD_303again 37 LD_SoGood 38 LD_Nordic 39 BS_Evergreen 40 BS_Psynth 41 BS_Waaarp 42 BS_Slap! 43 BS_Organ 44 BS_Wooomp 45 BS_massiva 46 BS_Cake 47 BS_Boog 48 BS_Hands Up! 49 BS_DiscreteGlide 50 BS_woody 51 BS_Flanger 52 BS_SUB 53 BS_PureSub 54 BS_BoxySub 55 BS_DontBeShy 56 BS_Juicy 57 BS_Juicy2 58 BS_Colorful 59 BS_NailGun 60 BS_SimplyAwsm 61 BS_Rave2 62 BS_Easy 63 BS_Lazy 64 BS_TooLately 65 BS_TrncBss 66 BS_floor 67 BS_pwmish 68 BS_textured 69 FLR_midbasslow 70 FLR_midbassLow2 71 FLR_midbass-dly 72 PD_everlake 73 PD_ForestEvening 74 PD_Multiverse 75 PD_Mega_gated 76 PD_NovaSaw 77 PD_NoMoreJP8000 78 PD_Dream 79 PD_sweep 80 PD_Vintage 81 PD_Vintage2 82 ARP_Glider 83 GAT_303like1 84 ARP_303like2 85 ARP_303like3 86 ARP_filler 87 ARP_filler2 88 ARP_bouncy 89 ARP_BassArp1 90 ARP_BassArp2 91 ARP_TranceBass2 92 ARP_BS_ShrtDLY 93 KEY_Organ 94 FX SPacejet 95 FX Hit1 96 FX Hit2 97 Kick01-G4 98 Kick02-A4 99 Kick03-D5 100 Kick04-E4 101 Kick05 102 Kick06 103 Kick07 104 Kick08 105 Kick09 106 Kick10 107 Kick11 108 EuroDanceKick 109 PsyKick 110 HeavyKick 111 GabberKick-A4 112 8O8Soft 113 8O8hard-E4 114 DRM_909SoftSEQ 115 DRM_KickSEQ 116 DRM_hihat 117 DRM_clap. Read More

TiagoLr just released Sirial, a FREE rhythmic serial delay plugin
Sirial is a rhythmic serial delay inspired by “tap mode” by the SoundToys EchoBoy. The plugin works on macOS, Windows, and Linux. The developer has already brought us several amazing freeware plugins inspired by paid software, such as FILT-R, which somewhat recreates the Cableguys FilterShaper plugin. Sirial has 16 serial delay lines that allow you to [...]
View post: TiagoLr just released Sirial, a FREE rhythmic serial delay plugin

VSL update Synchron Woodwinds & Strings Synchron Woodwinds, Synchron Strings Pro and Synchron Duality Strings (Colors) have just gained some new capabilities, and the updates come alongside a new limited-time promotion across VSL's woodwind libraries. 

Warmth.dev Pale Horse Transparent OverdrivePale Horse - Transparent Overdrive Plugin Add transparent, Klon-style overdrive to your music. What It Does Pale Horse models the famous Klon Centaur circuit. Clean signal blends with overdrive in a faithful reproduction of the physical stompbox. It produces a warm, full sound that's instantly recognizable. Features Gain, Treble, Output, and Mix knobs. Realistic simulation of the legendary effect based on our original electronics research. Clean low end preserved at all drive settings. VST3 + CLAP + AU formats. macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon), Windows, Linux. Stacks with other Warmth plugins Pale Horse pairs well with other plugins in our lineup: Run it into Reel Deal for tape-saturated drive tones. Add Tape Wobble for wobbly lo-fi character. Try it before Prism to shape the harmonics with multiband color. From Warmth - warmth.dev Read More

It’s been 20 years since the first tweetOn March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey posted a simple message: “just setting up my twittr”.

ESP32: When Is A P4 A P4, But Not The P4 You Thought It WasWe’re used to electronic parts of the same type staying predictably the same, sometimes over many years. An early Z80 from the mid 1970s can be exchanged with one from the end of production a few years ago, for example. This week, we’ve had DMs from several readers who’ve found that this is not always the case, and the culprit is surprising. Espressif has released a new revision of their P4 application processor, and though it’s ostensibly the same, there are a couple of changes that have been catching people out.
The changes lie in both hardware and software, in that there’s a pin that’s changed from NC to a power rail, a few extra passives are needed, and firmware must be compiled separately for either revision. The problem is that they are being sold as the same device and appear in some places under the same SKU! This is leading to uncertainty as to which P4 revision is in stock at wholesalers. We’ve been told about boards designed for the old revision being assembled with the new one, a situation difficult to rework your way out of. Designers are also left uncertain as to which firmware build is needed for boards assembled in remote factories.
The ESP32-P4 is an impressive part for its price, and we’re sure that we’ll be seeing plenty of projects using this new revision over the coming years. We’re surprised that it doesn’t have a different enough part number and that the wholesalers have seemingly been caught napping by the change. We’re told that some of the well-known Chinese assembly houses are now carrying the two chips as separate SKUs, but that’s scant consolation for a designer with a pile of boards carrying the wrong part. If you’re working with the P4, watch out, make sure your board is designed for the latest revision, and ask your supplier to check which chips you’ll get.
If the P4 is new to you, we’ve already seen a few projects using it.

Why discoDSP Donated $1,000 to The Usual Suspects — And Got It Back
The Retromulator controversy and the unwritten rules of open-source audio Earlier this week, discoDSP donated $1,000 to The Usual Suspects, the team behind some of the best free synth emulations out there. The Usual Suspects sent the money back. If you’ve been following the Retromulator situation on KVR, GearSpace, or in BPB comments, you probably [...]
View post: Why discoDSP Donated $1,000 to The Usual Suspects — And Got It Back

Eduardo Tarilonte’s Ancient ERA Persia from Best Service The latest release from Best Service brings together a selection of string, wind and percussion instruments that promise to take users “into the sound worlds of past civilizations”.