Solo in Cyber-Stuttgart
Good Things Come for Free
As a contrast to my whining I have compiled a list of things I hope will make people happy: software that has been recommended by friends that is (almost) completely free!
Consider this the B to my A, the relative major to my minor, the concertino to my ripieno, the adverts to my main feature, the breathless ten-minute pause hunched over a bench to my thirty seconds of jogging.
Starting small, Switch can convert wavs to mp3s in a somewhat speedy manner, which is useful if you ever need to send things over the internet or - like me - enjoy converting audio files in the sunshine.
A freeware ‘digital workspace’ whose professional relative would probably be pro tools. Promises 'anything to anywhere signal routing' which is what we've all been waiting for.
A very user-friendly arranger, chopper and plug-in applicator. Were it to have a family, it would include Logic and Cubase. In the words of one of my old lecturers, its powers mean 'there should be no degree in music technology anymore'. Though that may be going a bit too far.
In the words of a Mr Sims 'a great plugin that lets you make your stuff sound like it’s on vinyl'. It is now my go-to compositional tool as I render all my music with a classic feel.
For those in a more filmy direction, this is quite handy for cutting and arranging clips while you lay on a sumptuous score.
This is a very nifty freeware brother of Audio Sculpt, which analyses the partial content of sound files. After the analysis there are all sorts of lovely syntheses and filters that can certainly while away a lonely night or two.
This is a little more hardcore. Pure Data is the freeware second cousin of Max MSP which is a programming environment in which you attach objects together to make pretty pictures. Some of these pictures can also process video and audio data and react in mind-bogglingly complex and exciting ways. Pure Data lacks a pretty interface but does have a tutorial in book form that I've been told is good. Try getting your hands on: Designing Sound (preferably from the library as the price has a fairly extreme gradient).
Though it contravenes my rules by costing a few pounds, I thought I'd stick this in anyway. There probably aren't many people left in the world who were unaware that you could merge, split and generally wiggle pdfs around. But for those that remain, this is a handy tool.
For truly pretty pictures of sound files this is the must-have piece of kit. There are various options for controlling the analysis and colour palette. Sure to make any presentation go with a green or yellow bang.
Have you ever wanted to record what your computer is playing without tying yourself up in a web of cables? Soundflower is your answer. It acts as an input and an output so you can set it as your computer’s default output while setting it as an input in Reaper, Logic or whatever you use. Sorted.
This list could be much longer. Tweet me (@SmiThoN_) what I've missed.
@bkjg recommends:
VLC Medial player that plays ANYTHING. It’ll even play your pizza if you plug it in.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
