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

Hi Chas

I would not normally recommend Reaper for beginners as it is not very user friendly, however, if you are happy with it (And used to it) then that’s fine.
One of the first things I suggest you do is to download the free Komplete Players here including the factory selections, as this will give you a number of free sounds and effects, plus, many manufactures make instrument sets that are fully compatible with the Komplete Players. (NOTE: Make sure any instrument you decide on is compatible with the player version as some require the full version)
Once you have the above setup in Reaper, you can do a search for VST instruments that meet your requirements and price (There are plenty of free ones out there) that are compatible with Komplete Players. (Everybody has their own personal favourites, so it’s just a matter of trying a few out. (Before you purchase a number of instruments check the total price, as you may find you will be better off buying a full package, (Kontakt 5 or Komplete 11 for example) as while there will be many sounds that you will not use, the sheer number available means there will still be plenty that you will)
NOTE: The initial learning curve can be a bit steep (Particularly with reaper) but once you get the hang of it, you will probably take to it like a duck to water. (You will also then understand exactly what you want, making searching for suitable instruments easier)

Hope this helps

Bill

http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/mixcraft-pro-studio.html


Mixcraft 8 Pro..This is a great Daw....with awesome Pianos included

http://www.acoustica.com/pianissimo/



Fran and I love it been using it for years
so easy to understand, with a very easy workflow
for Vst's & Recording, etc,,....super video support,
highly recommended & the price is right.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2TMIa28bGu-0Gyc1nvkzoQ

Hi Bill. Thanks for the advice. I am a longtime user of REAPER and like it's easy integration with VST's and VSTi's. So far I have not used a 'player' but just loaded them into REAPER'S vst library(s) and then created a virtual instrument track. I have not encountered any problems so far. What I was hoping for was to not have to wade through hundreds of VST's looking for a good piano, etc. In other words, what are the best 'freebies' and low-cost packages out there? Thanks.

chas

Hi Chas

I doubt if you will be satisfied with freebies, however, one of the best entry level orchestral collections (Including piano) is Garritan Personal Orchestra.
Piano VSTs I would probably go with Pianoteq, Pianomisso, the native instrument piano collection, (Can also be purchased individually), plus Addictive Keys by XLN Audio.
Drums wise (All Drum VSTs come with loops and grooves) then I would go with Addictive Drums, Toontracks Easy Drummer and Fxpansion BFD Eco.
Above that (But more expensive) look at Steinberg’s Halion Sonic or Halion (Available as a combined package) or Native Instruments Kontakt 5 and Komplete 11 (Standard), as they will have pretty much any instrument you want.
For freebies have a look at this site http://www.vst4free.com/ as they probably have the best selection. (Just don’t expect the amazing quality that you get from the aforementioned entry level VST)

Hope this helps

Bill

Thanks Bill. You've laid out my workday for the next couple of days . Based on your post, I will probably forego the 'freebies'. I'm old enough to know by now that you rarely get something for nothing .

chas

Had to give a shout-out to Fran, who sent me a stash of very nice VSTi's (including the one listed by Donny above). This is the second time Fran has come through for me (he previously sent me a boatload of Roland styles to try on the BK7m - some with some great legacy drum patterns). And that, despite my kidding him about that pre-historic cast iron boat anchor he loves so much (G70) . Seriously though, much appreciated.

chas

Enjoy,.......Fran & many others is always there when in need.
Enjoy the VSt's....and hope you check out Mixcraft 8 pro also I think there's a free demo trial version too.

First of choosing a DAW... in general the rule is simple, the one that you are most comfortable with will work best for you... unless you have some very specific needs only available trough a certain DAW.. so if you are on Windows, Reaper will do just fine, but make sure to run the latest version for compatibility reasons.

For people starting with DAW's in general on MAC (i am a mac user) i advice to start out with garageband and later on uograde to Logic, nithing beats Logic price/permance/feature ratio. But since you are on Windows, Reaper is just as good as any other. And quite affordable if i remeber well..

When it comes to Free VST's its nice to try out things, there is a few very very nice ones espescially on the EDM synth side of things. Check out www.kvraudio.com they have a whole listing of payed and free VST's with dozens of reviews. Free VST's are a lot of fun when using them on top of your arranger/synth/stagepiano. Just adding an extra voice on top of instead of your arrangers right hand sounds can be really fun. Altough Reaper is not the best host to do so. I am using Mainstage for this. A good free alternative for mainstage is

But if you are serious about VST's and using them as the base of your setup, then you need to invest in a base VST that covers the whole chebang.. make sure to check for price drops.. good packages to start are
- Native instruments Komplete
- UVI Falcon (or workstation)
- IK multimedia Sampletank 3 (max)
- steinberg Halion 6
All are of the highest quallity, but none of them is cheep. Also some of the more expensive DAWS like Cubase, Logic, Ableton, Bitwig come with a whole set of build in instruments.

If you plan adding sounds to your hardware set-up trough VST's there is a whole load of different more specific VST's that come to mind.
- Spectrasonics Omnisphere for a broad range of synthetic and organic sounds
- Spectrasonics Keyscape for realistic piano/dp and many other typical keyboard sounds
- Arturia V-collection which comes with 18 authentic sounding synth simulations of some of the best synths ever created
- pianoteq for very nice virtuall piano
And many many more choices.. i am using mainstage as live host to add these sounds to my keyboards. This is a very cheap host, but only works on MAC. On Windows, there is Brainspawn Forte and Cantabile and some others. The new Gigperformer is very promissing.


To finish my post just some great free ones you must try

-EDM grandpiano
-4front electric piano's
-MrRay (epiano)
-Sylenth1 (synth)
-UHE Zebralette (free version of Zebra)

Also make sure to try out the free versions of the main samplers, they all come with some free content
-NI kontakt
-IK sampletank3
-UVI Workstation

It sounds like you are looking for a software version of workstations.

Calliope by Sonic Cat. https://youtu.be/U34YQQ01C5c
It 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/grancoda

Xpand-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