Free Music Software

Got a fever for more cowbell?
Dynamite cowbell, a free Windows VST, brings you “more cowbell than even Gene Frenkle can deliver”.
Features :

6 cowbells mapped to midi keys
5 velocity layers
close and room mic levels
damping control
5 bonus digibells
1 cow

Gnaural is a multi-platform programmable binaural-beat generator, implementing the principle of binaural beats as described in the October 1973 Scientific American article Auditory Beats in the Brain (Gerald Oster).
It can be used to synthesize sounds that affect the brain. Here’s a demo. It should be listened to using headphones:

 

 Gnaural [73:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

pfilter is a free Windows VST that creates a steppy, gated effect, but using filter cut-off instead of volume to give a wider range of possibilities. It uses a variable state filter, triggered between 2 adjustable cut-off values by a tempo-sync’d probability-based step sequencer. An LFO can modulate the filter when triggered and trigger pulse […]

KarmaFX has released Version 2.0 of the WIndows VST KarmaFX Plugin Pack, which features reverb, delay, EQ and Filter plug-ins.
KarmaFX Plugin Pack 2.0 changes:

Added performance improvements.
Added SSE3 code path and memory optimizations to Reverb plugin.
Plugin dll’s are now compressed for faster load times.
Individual version numbers for the plugins have been removed.
The plugin pack now […]

Moo Cow Music’s Band lets you record tunes on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Do you think these iPhone apps are anything more than music toys?

terminatorX is a realtime audio synthesizer that allows you to “scratch” on digitally sampled audio data (*.wav, *.au, *.ogg, *.mp3, etc.) the way hiphop-DJs scratch on vinyl records.
It features multiple turntables, realtime effects (buit-in as well as LADSPA plugin effects), a sequencer and MIDI interface - all accessible through a gtk+ GUI. This software is […]

Glitch is a genre of electronic music derived from a fascination with the sound of technology failing in interesting ways. While the music originated with musicians exploring things like CDs skipping, the sound of glitch has been absorbed into all types of electronic music, with musicians using glitch noises and effects within a rhythmic framework.
Here […]

This iPhone synthesizer video is making me lookforward to iPhone apps in iTunes.
FYI - this is just the latest of many iPhone music software stories.

NUSofting has released Groove Analogizer, an audio controlled drum synthesizer, as freeware.
Similar to a vintage electronic drum tone generator (e.g. Simmons) the percussion sound is triggered by an audio input, not by a MIDI message.
Groove Analogizer features:

3 oscillators synth (loads as effect plug-in), triggered and shaped by the audio input in many ways.
Selection of left, […]

Mario Paint Composer is a remake of the music system from the original Mario Paint for the Super NES. It is a free music application made by unFun Games. It’s available for both Windows and Mac.
It’s a pretty limited app - but that’s part of the […]

Here’s something out of left field:
Shredz64 is a modern day game for the Commodore 64 that makes use of the Playstation guitar controller hooked through the PSX64 interface.
Its design is modeled after the popular “Guitar Hero” series, geared toward the ability to play along to your favorite C64 music on the guitar. Correctly played notes […]

Robin Schmidt’s Music Engineering Tools has released a public beta version a new free synth VST for Windows, Straightline.
Description:
Straightliner is a straight-lined subtractive synthesizer in a modern guise. You will find the well known building blocks of classic analog synthesizers (4 oscillators, a filter, 2 envelope generators) patched together in the traditional way.
Now you […]

I posted earlier about a free Commodore 64 synth VST. Pretty much instantaneously, reader BlueBrat let me know about a free Atari synth VST for Windows.
YMVST emulates the Atari’s built-in YM2149 sound chip, and sounds pretty awesome, too.
Preview the YMVST’s sound below.

 

 YMVST demo [3:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Kammerl Audio has released a set of 5 free VST plugins for Win/OsX, complete with bizarro Goldfrapp-style synth babes:

Pitcher
Warm Distortion
Scratcher
Looper
Slicer

Let me know if you think the plugins are as disturbingly hot as their logos!
via AudioLemon

Odosynth’s 388911 bytes is a freeware/donationware Commodore 64 style virtual synth for Windows. 
Features:

1 oscillator with 4 difftent waveforms: Saw Triangle Pulse and Pitched noise
3 BPM sequencer with 7 rates and 2 to 8 steps .You can end a sequence or loop it.
The first sequencer has notes from c to b and octaves from -3 to […]

 

  388911 Bytes Demo [1:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download