Autor: Producer Gang

CARP Audio is offering Octapus, its octave effect plugin, for free for a limited time. The offer expires in 48 hours, and the exact expiry time depends on your timezone, so download it as soon as possible if you want to grab it for free. It normally retails at €29.95. Octapus is an octaver with a few features that go beyond what a basic octave plugin offers. It has two parallel time-stretching channels, one pitched an octave down and one pitched an octave up, each with its own volume slider for mixing into the dry signal. Each channel also has…

And now for something completely different, as Abbey Road Studios and Charles Jeffrey Loverboy release The Big Nessie, a free multi-instrument library for Kontakt Player. It’s unusual to begin any post with the title of a 1970s Monty Python classic, but this seems as good a time as any. The Big Nessie is a free instrument for Kontakt Player, and a coming together of two worlds: music and fashion. I’m no sartorial savant, but I understand that music, fashion, art, film, etc., all exist under the umbrella of the arts. While each form represents popular culture in its own way,…

The KeyStep line has always been about Arturia packing way more features and connectivity than you’d expect from such a compact controller, and sometimes still making it work. Well, they’ve done it again. With the KeyStep 37 mk2, Arturia has moved from 32 to 37 slimkey keys, added a dedicated OLED display with a clickable encoder, four additional encoders, two extra buttons, and a new Mod 2 CV output. The latest version covers more ground than its predecessor, but keeps the same overall backpack-ready footprint and connectivity-first approach. One thing I immediately liked about the mk2 is the move to…

Sound Is Just Shaped Electricity “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” — Albert Einstein Synthesis can look complicated. Oscillators. Filters. Modulators. Algorithms. But underneath it all, a synthesizer does one thing: It shapes raw energy into musical tone. That’s it. Every synth — from a Minimoog to a DX7 — is just a different way of shaping electricity.   Quick Summary 👉 Synthesis is the process of generating sound electronically and shaping it using oscillators, filters, and modulation. The three major types are subtractive, FM, and wavetable synthesis — each with a distinct philosophy…

Plugin Boutique is currently offering iZotope VocalSynth 2 at 85% off, bringing it down to $29 from its regular price of $199. The deal runs until March 1st. VocalSynth 2 is one of my favorite vocal processing plugins, and at it’s almost a steal at this price, considering how versatile it is. Also, it’s primarily a vocal tool, but I use it regularly for sound design to create weird textures from percussion, found sounds, and field recordings. It really works on any audio signal, and that makes it so hard for me to put down. It gives you five modules…

You’ve been thinking about learning piano for years. Maybe you grew up around music but never had lessons. Maybe you played as a kid and want to start again. Or maybe you’ve always loved the sound of the piano in jazz chords, film themes, classic pop ballads, and you’re finally ready to do something about it. If you’re an adult in NYC, you’re in an unusually good position: there are world-class teachers, flexible lesson options, practice studios you can rent by the hour, and an endless supply of live music to inspire you. The only tricky part is knowing how…

Dreamtonics has released three new Choir Voice Collections for use within Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro, alongside a free version 2.2.0 update for the software. After two years of development and recording, the new Choir Voice Collections bring a total of three virtual choir voices to the platform. Each collection contains 16 individual voices (four per voice part), and all three are built using a hybrid modeling approach that combines deep learning with spatial signal processing. The goal was to go beyond simply layering multiple solo voices on separate tracks. Dreamtonics recorded full choir sections using a microphone array, dissected…

Feeling stuck in music production is incredibly common. Whether you’re a beginner building your first tracks or an experienced producer with years of projects behind you, creative blocks happen to everyone.  One day ideas flow easily. The next day, everything sounds uninspiring. Loops feel repetitive, melodies feel forced, and finishing a track feels almost impossible. This isn’t a sign of lack of talent or creativity. It’s simply part of the creative process.  Music production sits at the intersection of technical skill and artistic expression. That combination means your mindset plays just as much of a role as your tools or…

Analog Obsession has released RazorClip, a free analog-based clipper plugin for Mac and Windows. RazorClip offers five clipping modes, each modeled after a different analog circuit type. That’s really the core of what RazorClip offers, and the modes give you various distortion characters to work with. The five options are Tape, XFMR, BJT, Tube, and Diode. By the way, if you’re into saturation, the Tape, Tube, and Diode are also available in our free BPB Saturator Plus plugin if you don’t already have it in your toolkit. As for the other two modes, they are both fun to use, and…

voidDSP has released Echo1, a free modulated stereo delay plugin for Mac and Windows. Echo1 has two independent delay lines, each with its own speed control. The Sync button locks both lines to the left slider value, which is handy when you don’t need the more complex interactions you get from running the two lines independently. But I think this one really shines when you start having fun with stereo delays. It’s super easy to set up, and I highly recommend giving the stereo mode a try on arpeggiated synths. Also, Echo1 goes beyond a basic delay with the additional…