There used to be a great thread on the old Bethesda forums where people would post free and legal stuff found on the internet, all sorts really, utilities and such. Some stuff that you wouldn't normally come across, great fun to rummage through and share. After all, what could be better than free? I thought it would be good to try and resurrect that here, see if there's any interest.
Kicking things off:
For anyone with an interest in art history, The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art allows you to download high quality pdfs of most of their publications for free. Personallly I prefer art books in hard copy but at least these are free and don't weigh a tonne. Some real treasures here - https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/India_Art_and_Culture_1300_1900
Just browse though the thematic category search field to see the range of subjects.
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I'd always fancied having a play around with a music synthesizer but could never afford one, only recently realising that were loads of quality software synthesizers and even DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations) available on the net for PC.
Caustic 3 is a DAW that features numerous types of synths - http://www.singlecellsoftware.com/caustic
Sunvox - a modular synth with sequencer http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/
Virtual ANS - http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/ans/
There are masses of soft synths that plug in to DAW's (vst's) -
http://www.vst4free.com/
http://vstplanet.com/
I especially like The Arminator which does sound rather like a Yamaha CS-80 (think Vangelis and Blade Runner) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvLHm0HFwyk
Also Dexed, a DX7 emulator. Plus there are loads of free presets around the net that you can play with this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSs1-020nNY
To use these plug-ins you'll need extra software - usually a DAW but most of those cost money.
I use Cockos Reaper - https://www.reaper.fm/
It's not really free but, like Winrar, it just nags you once on launch after the trial period is up whilst allowing you to keep on using it.
There is the completely free DAW LMMS - https://lmms.io/
I had problems with this though.
There are also simpler vst players such as this one - http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=898
Of course, without a midi keyboard it's impossible to play chords etc but at least it is possible to have fun playing around with sounds and learning the various kinds of sound synthesis.
Well, that's my contribution. Please share any free stuff that you think might be of interest. Just so long as it's legal.
Kicking things off:
For anyone with an interest in art history, The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art allows you to download high quality pdfs of most of their publications for free. Personallly I prefer art books in hard copy but at least these are free and don't weigh a tonne. Some real treasures here - https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/India_Art_and_Culture_1300_1900
Just browse though the thematic category search field to see the range of subjects.
------------------------------------------------
I'd always fancied having a play around with a music synthesizer but could never afford one, only recently realising that were loads of quality software synthesizers and even DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations) available on the net for PC.
Caustic 3 is a DAW that features numerous types of synths - http://www.singlecellsoftware.com/caustic
Sunvox - a modular synth with sequencer http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/
Virtual ANS - http://www.warmplace.ru/soft/ans/
There are masses of soft synths that plug in to DAW's (vst's) -
http://www.vst4free.com/
http://vstplanet.com/
I especially like The Arminator which does sound rather like a Yamaha CS-80 (think Vangelis and Blade Runner) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvLHm0HFwyk
Also Dexed, a DX7 emulator. Plus there are loads of free presets around the net that you can play with this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSs1-020nNY
To use these plug-ins you'll need extra software - usually a DAW but most of those cost money.
I use Cockos Reaper - https://www.reaper.fm/
It's not really free but, like Winrar, it just nags you once on launch after the trial period is up whilst allowing you to keep on using it.
There is the completely free DAW LMMS - https://lmms.io/
I had problems with this though.
There are also simpler vst players such as this one - http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=898
Of course, without a midi keyboard it's impossible to play chords etc but at least it is possible to have fun playing around with sounds and learning the various kinds of sound synthesis.
Well, that's my contribution. Please share any free stuff that you think might be of interest. Just so long as it's legal.
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