Posted this at the Bar by mistake.
For the last year I've spent very little time in my home studio, spending most of my time playing organ in my rehearsal room. But recently, I've been spending some time in the 'studio' experimenting with VSTi's. I'm using a 49k Akai controller and also an old but perfectly functioning Roland A70. I've downloaded a few freebies and loaded them into REAPER. What I'd like is some quality freebies and low-cost (as in best bang for the buck) general purpose VSTi's, mainly Pianos, drum machines (or groove samples), and standard orchestral instruments. Choirs and strings would also be good. Organs not required.
I'd appreciate any recommendations you knowledgeable guys (that actually USE VSTi's) could provide (along with comments on each recommendation).
Thanks
chas
It sounds like you are looking for a software version of workstations.
Calliope by Sonic Cat.
https://youtu.be/U34YQQ01C5cIt plays in the free Kontakt player. Once in a while it is on 50% sale. Lots of bread & butter sounds that I think are good for live performance.
http://sonic-cat.com/calliope/Neo-Soundstation $50 always
http://neo-soundstation.com/I really like Neo-Soundstaion for the full version of Kontakt. It is such an excellent value. The whole library is only around 4 gig, but just about every sound is good with no waste. I have created multi banks in Kontakt and inserted into each slot only the sounds I want. I can switch between sounds by MIDI program change messages with what Roland calls patch remain. Super smooth. These days only a few keyboards have that function. I think the Kronos has that function, and Korg calls it smooth sound transition.
For piano, I like Grand Coda better than Pianoteq. I always thought Pianoteq is very responsive and vibrant. To me, Grand Coda is more vibrant. Piannissimo is nice and warm, but Grand Coda works much better for me. It cuts through when layered with other sounds. I liked the free version so much that I bought the full version, and I think it was only $22 USD.
http://www.sampleism.com/hephaestussounds/grancodaXpand-2 often on sale for $1. I thought I got a great deal when I bought for $50. It usually sells for $99. Tons of great sounds, very very small footprint, but I wish I could change sounds via MIDI PC messages.
http://vstbuzz.com/deals/xpand-2/Gig-Performer - VST player for live performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ircIymm5Y_8 http://www.gigperformer.com/DAWs are not really meant to be used for VST live performance. I think one needs a dedicated VST player for live performance. I find Gig Performer the most intuitive. Very each to use, and yet feature rich. I have tried Cantabile, Forte, and BloXpander. They all give me headaches, but GP is such a joy to use. To test drive new VST plugins, I use VSTHost which is free.
http://www.hermannseib.com/English/vsthost.htm
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