Jackson

Jackson

Jackson is DJ software that breaks with the past. It does not emulate the traditional DJ setup but truly unlocks the power of your computer. It is the first dedicated software package that offers sequencer-style mixing to the digital DJ.

Mixing tracks in Jackson is a 2-step process. Before you can play a track, you must rhytmically analyze it. The BeatMapper tool makes this an easy and instructive process. Once you've analyzed a track, which you have to do only once, you can mix and manipulate the track in all freedom.

Features:
  • Jackson allows DJs to alter the structure of songs while playing them: parts can be repeated, skipped, paused and reversed.
  • Tracks are automatically beat-matched and therefore always play in sync.
  • Powerful filters and effects allow the DJ to sculpt the sound to his/her liking.
  • The integrated browser facilitates the selection of songs. It lets the DJ preview the structure of songs and listen to them on a second audio device.
  • The built in recorder allows DJs to record their mixes without the need for additional equipment.
  • The integrated BeatMapper lets users analyze the rhythmic structure of songs.
  • Different computers running Jackson can be networked. In such a configuration several DJs can play together in perfect sync: all tracks on all computers are automatically beat-matched.
  • Jackson's sliders can be controlled by physical midi controllers. This allows for fast, tactile control and simultaneous changes to different sliders.
  • Jackson can generate a midi clock signal to tempo-sync external midi equipment.
  • A real time oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer is available for the techie DJ.

Aodix

Arguru Software

NOTE: Sadly, Aodix is no longer under development. As such, it has been released as freeware.

The main concept of Aodix is between old-school trackers and nowadays sequencers. The interface is inspired from trackers, but the features are at least those of the most modern sequencers. Aodix achieves outstanding real-time performance with less CPU usage than other sequencers, very low latency due to a proper implementation of ASIO2, and widest-range support for VST plug-ins, due to a clean implementation of VST2.
256 track, 256 pattern sequencer
Each track allows recording of events including chords and automation. Patterns have no fixed length. Both pattern using pattern calls and single-sheet operations are supported.
Full modular audio and MIDI routing
Forget old mixer paradigms. Aodix provides a flexible
modular net of audio and midi (events) connection wires between VST Instances, allowing complex audio/midi routing schemes, and you could sync your favourite step sequencers or MIDI event processors with Aodix main sequencer easily.

32-bit float sample precision
Aodix maintains sample precision to 32-bit float, from input all the way to the output.

Up to 960 PPQN timestamp precision
The midi point precision can be 960 PPQN, allowing a wide range of quantization settings, down to 1 point.

Enhanced recording and editing functions
Several recording and editing modes are available, combining online/offline, step/step-free, live-scroll on/off, quantization, zooming, overwrite on/off, events record, parameter record, automation record, powerful midi-masking and usual functions such as Range, cut, copy, paste, delete, move.

Real-time record and automation
Events and parameters can be recorded real-time while playing, with PC keyboard and mouse and/or Midi Keyboard.
Automation parameter assignment allows a slider/knob on a midi keyboard to control one or more parameters in one or more plug-ins. The Midi Mask allows to avoid interference with midiCC, in case automation is preferred to midiCC.

Piano-roll track split view
Provides a powerful alternative tool to view and edit note events and is seamless integrated with the sequencer structure.

Pattern markers and pattern calls
For each pattern, up to 256 markers can be defined. Pattern calls (non-recursive) allow to call a pattern from any other one, pointing at a marker, defining transposition and velocity scaling.

Steinberg VST2.3 Host
AODIX v4 provides a very enhanced support for VST plug-ins. VST effects as well as VST instruments can be chained and wired in the modular Routing view. Playing a VST instrument and tweaking knobs in other VSTs at the same time is possible, using PC keyboard and mouse and Midi Keyboard. Multi-output is supported for multi-output plug-ins.
In order to allow "send" schemes, a "VST output duplicator" plug-in is delivered with Aodix.

Audio / Project / Bounce Inputs/Outputs and Formats
Aodix supports only ASIO I/O (multi-channel). MME can be supported indirectly by using a ASIO/MME/WDM Wrapper (not delivered with Aodix). Aodix uses a proprietary file format for project saving. It can import midi files. It renders audio to either several 32-bit float IEEE single-channel files, or one single 32-bit float multi-channel IEEE file. Loading/saving Fxp and Fxb files is supported.


Usine Free

Senso Music

NOTE: THIS IS THE 'FREE' VERSION, AND IS LIMITED TO 1 STEREO INPUT, 1 STEREO OUTPUT, AND 4 TRACKS. PROGRAM APPEARS VERY COMPLICATED.

Usine is an patch oriented sound software where you can add plug-ins and connect them without restriction. The main purpose of this program is to provide a real time analysis of an input signal and then react with, and modify plug-in parameters to produce the sound.

Features

-
 Analyse input or generated sound, for example pitch, peaks or dynamics to create adaptive effects, modify any parameter in real time.
-
 Use the built-in virtual mixing table to mix the sound produced by different patches on each tracks (up to 16).
-
 Organize patches, sounds, and effects on a timeline with the sequencer mode. Create complex automations curves. Very powerful Modular Mixing concept
-
 Unlimited number of internal audio buses.
-
 SMPTE synchronization with external sequencers. MIDI Time Code and MIDI Machine Control support.
-
Create huge, creative or stupid audio routing within the mixing table. For example, routing, a patch output to another patch input, or create a virtual master effect send and return, etc.
-
 Manage 20 external audio sources (10 stereo) and apply different effects to any of them.
-
Create flexible Surround (up to 16 channels) projects: all audio tracks are 7.1, 8.0 or 16.0. The output sound can routed to any of the 20 available outputs, depending on your sound card.
-
 Create inserts patches on any input / output channels. For example a master limiter or a master reverb.
-
Complete VST® processing: You can use any VST instruments or effect in patches and modify any VST Parameter in real time. Create a front-end simple interface.
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Complete MIDI automation: assign any Usine visual object to a midi controller very simply by using the midi-learn command. Complete integration of motorized external controllers.
-
 Complete MIDI input/output management, for VSTi instruments or external expanders.
-
 Load up to 256 patches in memory in a "grid" and activate them as you want in real time.
-
 Synchronize patches and VST plug-ins with a master tempo. Use unusual and absurd tempo from 0! To 10000000000!
-
 Record your creations directly on the hard disk in real time: separate tracks, inputs and outputs.
-
 All Usine functions are "real-time", and you can resample, modify, input sound on the fly.
-
 Of course, save patches, complete workspaces, and configurations, for a very quick adaptation to different projects.
-
 Use any sample rate, depending on your Asio sound card. Usine has a 32 bit floating point audio engine.
-
 Unlimited number of internal Audio, Data and Midi buses,
-
 Unlimited Undo/Redo.
-
 Include scripting capabilities to create complex patches in a Pascal-like language,
-
 Full Open Sound Control (OSC) compatibility to communicate with other computers connected to the network or Internet,
-
 If you are a C++ or Delphi programmer you can easily create new users modules with the API.

MU.LAB Free

MUTOOLS

NOTE: THIS IS THE 'FREE' VERSION, AND IS LIMITED TO 8 TRACKS.

MU.LAB is a state of the art, ultra-light music application, designed to compose & perform music of different styles and flavors.

MU.LAB does not have a complex feature set, in which you can get lost.

At the contrary, MU.LAB is an easy yet rock-solid musical tool.

MU.LAB's core feature set:

  • Audio Recording & Playback
  • MIDI Recording & Playback
  • Flexible Composition & Sequence Editing
  • Supports Audio and MIDI VST Plugins
  • Powerful Audio and MIDI Plugin Routing (up to 100% modular if you want)
  • Integrated MuSynth: Powerful Modular Sound Engine
  • Integrated MUX: Powerful Modular Audio/MIDI Effect Engine
  • Integrated Audio Effects:
    • MuVerb: Very Nice Sounding Reverb
    • Stereo Echo: Very Versatile Stereo Echo
    • Multi Mode Filter: Very Versatile Audio Filter
    • And many more MUX patches!
  • Audio Engine using 32 bit floats, all usable samplerates
  • Sample Accurate Sequencing
  • Multi Undo/Redo
  • Available for OSX (Universal Binary) and Windows

MadTracker

MadTracker

According to the MadTracker website:
MadTracker is the composition tool that creates the shortest path between imagination and music. Based on the tracker concept, MadTracker provides a clean and intuitive interface for a powerful and efficient approach to making music. Versatility and compatibility are guaranteed due to full VST, ASIO and ReWire support, while its computer charge is minimal.

Features:

Interface

  • Bilingual: English and Français
  • Runs under every version of Windows without any special requirements
  • Intuitive windowed interface with dual-screen support
  • Built-in chat (for instant help or peer chatting)
  • ProTracker & FastTracker keyboard shortcuts
  • Mouse wheel support
  • File browser

Sampler / Tracker

  • 64 tracks with 4 polyphony channels per track
  • 32-bit internal mixing with 16-bit interpolation
  • Very accurate pitches (40-bit precision)
  • Volume ramping (48-bit precision)
  • Advanced click removal
  • Resonant filter for each instrument
  • New Note Actions
  • All the common tracker pattern commands + new commands
  • 1 volume column and 1 panning column
  • 4-digit command parameters (hexadecimal)
  • Drums patterns
  • Stereo samples
  • Synchronized samples
  • Keep-on-disk samples

Advanced Features

  • Track FX (Delay, Stereo Delay, Filter, Flange, Analog Filter, mpReverb, mpReverb 2)
  • Track EQ (3-band)
  • Automation (envelopes for tracks volume, track effects and VST parameters)
  • VST 2.3 support (effects and instruments)
  • ReWire 2 support (synth/slave mode)

Supported File Formats

  • Projects
    • MadTracker 2 Module (*.MT2)
    • Extended Module (*.XM)
    • MIDI Files (*.MID)
    • Impulse Tracker Module (*.IT) (import only)
    • Scream Tracker Module (*.S3M) (import only)
    • ProTracker Module (*.MOD) (import only)
    • Unreal Music Files (*.UMX) (import only)
  • Instruments
    • MadTracker 2 Instrument (*.MTI)
    • FastTracker 2 Instrument (*.XI)
  • Samples
    • MadTracker 2 Sample (*.MTS)
    • Microsoft Wave (*.WAV)
    • Macintosh AIFF (*.AIF)
    • Amiga IFF (*.IFF)
  • VST
    • VST 2 Bank (*.FXB)
    • VST 2 Preset (*.FXP)
  • Miscellaneous
    • MadTracker 2 Pattern (*.MTP)
    • MadTracker 2 Envelope (*.MTE)
    • MadTracker 2 Extension (*.MTX)

Sonic Visualizer

Sonic Visualizer

Sonic Visualiser is an application for viewing and analysing the contents of music audio files.

The aim of Sonic Visualiser is to be the first program you reach for when want to study a musical recording rather than simply listen to it.

As well as a number of features designed to make exploring audio data as revealing and fun as possible, Sonic Visualiser also has powerful annotation capabilities to help you to describe what you find, and the ability to run automated annotation and analysis plugins in the Vamp analysis plugin format – as well as applying standard audio effects.

We hope Sonic Visualiser will be of particular interest to musicologists, archivists, signal-processing researchers and anyone else looking for a friendly way to take a look at what lies inside the audio file.

Sonic Visualiser contains features for the following:

  • Load audio files in WAV, Ogg and MP3 formats, and view their waveforms.
  • Look at audio visualisations such as spectrogram views, with interactive adjustment of display parameters.
  • Annotate audio data by adding labelled time points and defining segments, point values and curves.
  • Overlay annotations on top of one another with aligned scales, and overlay annotations on top of waveform or spectrogram views.
  • View the same data at multiple time resolutions simultaneously (for close-up and overview).
  • Run feature-extraction plugins to calculate annotations automatically, using algorithms such as beat trackers, pitch detectors and so on.
  • Import annotation layers from various text file formats.
  • Import note data from MIDI files, view it alongside other frequency scales, and play it with the original audio.
  • Play back the audio plus synthesised annotations, taking care to synchronise playback with display.
  • Select areas of interest, optionally snapping to nearby feature locations, and audition individual and comparative selections in seamless loops.
  • Time-stretch playback, slowing right down or speeding up to a tiny fraction or huge multiple of the original speed while retaining a synchronised display.
  • Export audio regions and annotation layers to external files.

FreqAnalyst

Blue Cat

Blue Cat's FreqAnalyst is a free spectrum analyzer plugin that lets you monitor the spectral content of your audio signal in real time. It has been designed to provide extreme smoothness and high resolution for both time and frequency: unlike most spectrum analyzers, Blue Cat's FreqAnalyst is able to display continuous variations even with a very high frequency resolution, thanks to its unique smooth interpolation algorithms.

Most aspects of the audio to frequency display conversion can be managed, which lets you total control over the monitoring. A special thresholding system has been developed to help you see the important parts of the spectrum easily. In case you need extra precision in a particular frequency range, you can zoom the display and check the part of the graph you are interested in.

As shown in the screenshots, you can use the new opacity management feature to make the plug-in window transparent and see what is behind: forget about your multiple display setup, you do not need it anymore! You can now check the spectrum of your mix and see your audio tracks behind. This feature is also particularly useful when you want to compare the spectrum of two tracks: just stack your two FreqAnalyst windows and see the difference!


Andreas Ersson

LazySnake is a virtual electric piano VSTi, with a good quality e-piano sound, and several variations on it.


Quintessential Player

Quintessential Player

Quintessential Player (a.k.a. QCD) is a feature rich media player for Microsoft Windows. It supports all popular audio formats including MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, and CDs. QCD is highly skinnable and has a robust plug-in architecture.

QCD performs CD Ripping and Encoding, streams Internet Radio, and can Clean and Tag all your audio files. QCD uses Gracenote for the best music recognition. QCD even plays videos. These great features are just scratching the surface.

QCD is Freeware. Free of cost and free of any bundled secrets.


jetAudio

jetAudio

JetAudio is a powerful:

- Audio CD Ripper
- Audio File Converter
- Audio Recorder
- Audio CD Burner


VLC media player

VideoLAN

Note: This software does not contain a CD burner

VLC media player is a free software media player by the VideoLAN project.

It is a highly portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It is able to stream over networks and to transcode multimedia files and save them into various different formats. VLC used to stand for "VideoLan Client", but that meaning is deprecated.

It is one of the most platform-independent players available, with versions for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, BSD, Windows CE, Linux, and Solaris, and is widely used with over 40 million downloads for version 0.8.6.

VLC uses a large number of free decoding and encoding libraries. Many of its codecs are provided by the libavcodec codec library from the FFmpeg project, but it uses mainly its own muxer and demuxers. It also gained distinction as the first player to support playback of encrypted DVDs on Linux by using the libdvdcss DVD decryption library.


dBpoweramp Music Converter

dBpoweramp

dBpoweramp Music Converter™ nicknamed the Swiss army knife of audio™:

* CD Ripper: digitally rip audio CDs (secure ripper, fast, AccurateRip),
* Audio Converter: convert audio formats, preserve ID tags,
* Explorer Integration: audio info tips & columns,
* DSP Effects,
* ID tag editing (Power Pack),
* Over 20 Million Users Worldwide,
* Free from nags**, popups, hidden spyware or bundleware.


MultiInspectorFree

VertexDSP

Third octave 31 band spectral analyzer with the ability to display the analysis result of other instances in the same window.

MultiInspectorFree is a 31 band spectral analyzer designed to be used in a multitrack environment. Based on the technology of FaderWorks to handle multiple dependent instances of the same plug-in, MultiInspectorFree provides an easy way for simultaneous spectral analysis of several audio signals.

The first instance of MultiInspectorFree behaves like a standard 31 band spectral analyzer. Additional instances automatically send their spectral analysis result to all other instances of MultiInspectorFree. Every editor window of MultiInspectorFree shows the same content. Therefore, after opening all necessary plug-in instances it is sufficient to leave just one editor window open. The width and the color of the level bars are adjusted according to the current number of instances.

MultiInspectorFree incorporates a standard third octave frequency analyzer. The center frequencies of the bands are based on the ISO 266:1997 standard (20 Hz to 20 kHz). Pink noise will appear flat in the frequency spectrum.

MultiInspectorFree supports up to 4 instances at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz.

For spectral analysis with more options you may want to take a look at MultiInspector.

MultiInspectorFree is available as a plug-in for Windows (VST only) and Mac OS X (VST and AU, both Universal Binary).


bs-spectrum

bismark

bs-spectrum is a spectrum analyzer for Steinberg VST 2.4 , and Apple Audio Units plug-in format.



BpmDj

BpmDj

BpmDj is a program that can be used to DJ. It works under Linux and plays Mp3's/Ogg's. It has a fully automatic BPM counter. It can determine the sound color. It has a full fledged QT based interface. It will help you manage a large amount of songs. Further it can help in creating playlist and has proven to be very robust. The program also allows offline automatic mixing and contains a wavelet based beat graph analyzer to visualize audio tracks.

tactile12000

tactile12000

The Tactile12000 is a 3-D, interactive simulation of a DJ setup - two turntables and a mixer. You can crossfade, backspin, and speed up and slow down music, including full-length WAVE and MP3 songs, on your computer. It is a cross-platform application for both Windows and Macintosh. You can use it to mix like a DJ or let it mix your MP3 playlist automatically. It has been featured in RayGun and Print's Interaction Design 2000.


deejaysystem MK-I

deejaysystem

Deejaysystem™ Mk-I is a simple Winamp-style player, yet DJ-oriented in design and operation.

Multiple instances of the Mk-I player may be simultaneously run as independent processes (number of instances is limited only by your computer's system resources). Each player may be configured to share soundcards with other instances of the Mk-I player or be designated to operate a soundcard exclusively.

Main features

* Control layout and operation based upon the popular Denon Dn-2000F CD player.
* Low-latency playback (play / pause /cue) controls.
* High precision 1-millisecond track positioning.
* High precision (±0.001%) pitch control.
* Progressive pitch bend for fine adjustment during mixes.
* Drag & Drop support for the Windows Explorer and other file-browsing software applications.
* Playlist Editor with many essential functions, including recursive folder operations for track additions.
* Controllable by mouse and keyboard.
* High sound reliability and stability during playback.
* Minimal system resource consumption.


TPlayer

Kramware

TPlayer is a free music player and mixer for mp3, wma, ogg, and wav audio files.

TPlayer's main features are:

* Adjustable Automix Settings based on audio data to adapt to different music genres.
* Four different Automix sort options.
* One click manual mix and fade out options: Cut, Fade 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 seconds.
* Dual independent players with real time Vu meters or Waveform display and Peak indicators.
* Hierarchal explorer like Songlist grouped by artists, albums and songs.
* Drag&Drop Playlist Editor: reorder, save and load playback sequence.
* Multiple sound cards support for pre-listening on monitor speakers or headphones.
* Play, Pause, Stop, To Monitor/Master speakers and Set Start/End position buttons.
* Volume, Balance, Crossfader, Pitch and Seek slider bars.
* Changeable background bitmap image.
* Requires very little system resources and processing power.
* And much more.

TPlayer will let you listen to your music collection in a whole new dimension. After using TPlayer, you will soon discover how cool this player really is.


KraMixer

Kramware

NOTE: IT HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION THAT THIS IS ADWARE. USE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

KraMixer DJ Software uses the latest technology to produce the best possible DJing experience. FMOD is the sound engine used by KraMixer and is also used by Playstation 2 and XBox game authors. It is proven to be one of the fastest sound engines available today.

KraMixer also incorporates DirectX 8.1 for its fast sound processing capabilities and extra features. However, DirectX 8.1 isn't mandatory for KraMixer to run.

Features:

* Manual and Automatic BPM Counters
* Automatic BPM matching
* Support for MP3, Wav and Ogg File Formats
* Variable Frequency Range (from +/-1% to +/-49%)
* 8 Built-In Sound Effects including Echo, Flange, Reverb and Compressor
* Real-Time Recording to MP3 Format
* High Speed Sound Engine With 2 Modes of Operation
* ID3-V1 Tag Compatible
* Turntable-Like Braking Functions
* Manual looping with multiple loop points per channel.
* Options For Headphone Cueing (mono with monitor of left channel and master on right)


Beatport SYNC

Beatport SYNC

Beatport SYNC is a powerful audio player with basic DJ functions developed by Beatport and Native Instruments. Based on the award-winning TRAKTOR 3 technology, this free software for Mac and PC lets you mix tracks like a DJ using the two virtual decks, a crossfader and auto beat sync function. Beatport SYNC offers powerful track management, access to DJ radio stations, plus an integrated Browser to instantly buy and download the latest tracks from the comprehensive Beatport Online Music Store.



Mixxx

Mixxx

Mixxx is an open source DJ tool designed for both professional and amateur DJs alike.

Mixxx allows DJs to mix music live with a clean, simple interface. Futhermore, Mixxx has a number of key features to help DJs in the mix: Beat estimation, parallel visual displays, and support for various DJ hardware controllers.



Zlurp!

Zlurp!

Zlurp! is an ALL-IN-ONE CD audio tool. It rips, encodes and tags CDs. If you want to burn your own custom CDs, or create MP3s to listen to on your computer or portable player, you need Zlurp!


Exact Audio Copy

Exact Audio Copy

Exact Audio Copy is a so called audio grabber for audio CDs using standard CD and DVD-ROM drives.

Features:

- All kinds of CD and DVD drives are supported (including USB, Firewire, SATA and SCSI drives)
- Hidden sector synchronization (jitter correction)
- A secure, a fast and a burst extraction methods selectable. Fast extraction should run at the same speed as other grabbers with jitter correction, but is probably not exact anymore. Burst mode just grabs the audio data without any synchronization.
- Detection of read errors and complete losses of sync and correction in the secure mode, as far as possible
- Output of time positions of all non-exact corrections and the possibility to listen to these positions
- EAC is able to copy ranges of music data, not only tracks
- Automatic speed reduction on read errors and fallback to a higher speed afterwards (depends on the used drive)
- Volume normalization of extracted audio to a given percentage
- Usage of the Windows Audio Compression manager (ACM Codecs) for direct compression to e.g. MP3 waves
- Support for the LAME DLL that is usable like an ACM Codec for on-the-fly MP3 compression
- Support of external MP3, WMA, flac and OggVorbis encoders for automatic compression after extraction (supports multi-processor environments)
- Batch compression to WAV files and decompression of supported encoded files to WAV
- Compression offset support for exact compression/decompression
- Detection of pre-track gaps (positions where negative track times runs towards 00:00:00)
- Detection of silence in pre-track gaps
- Automatic creation of CUE sheets for Burnnn, Feurio, Nero or even EAC, which can include all gaps, indicies, track attributes, UPC and ISRC and also CD-Text for an exact copy
- CD player functionality and prelistening to selected ranges
- Automatic detection of drive features, whether a drive has an accurate stream and/or does caching
- Sample offsets for drives with noaccurate streams, including the option of filling up missing samples with silence
- Synchronizing between tracks for non-accurate stream drives
- Trackname editing with local/remote CD databases support and more features like ID3 tagging
- Browse and edit local database
- Certified Escient ® CDDB(TM)Compatible
- Local CDDB support
- Record and loop record functions for recording from LP, radio, etc.
- Automatic renaming of MP3 files accordingto their ID3 tag
- Catalog extraction function (e.g. first 20 seconds of a track)
- Multisession (CD-Extra) support
- CD-Text support
- CD-Write support for some drives (internally and using CDRDAO)
- ID3 V1.1 tag editor with drag and drop ability from track listing and CD database browser
- Glitch removal after extraction
- Small WAV editor with the following functionality: delete, trim, normalize, pad, glitch removal, pop detection, interpolation of ranges, noise reduction, fade in/out, undo (and much more)


HarddiskOGG

HarddiskOGG

HarddiskOgg takes a wave input stream from any Windows 95/98/2000/XP compatible sampling device (including microphone input and line in) and converts it to an Ogg Vorbis/Wave/Monkey's Audio/MP3 (optional) stream. This happens in realtime, so basically it is a harddisk recorder in Ogg Vorbis.

Features:

Real-time encoding with bitrates from 32kbit/sec. up to 320kbit/sec.
Stereo or mono recording from 8kHz to 48kHz
Automatic numbering of output files
Can be placed in the systray and activated by a single click
Smart on-the-fly normalization for low-volume sources
Uses the high quality, patent free Ogg Vorbis encoding engine. Ogg Vorbis easily outperforms MP3 in sound quality, especially at lower bit rates.
LAME MP3 encoder compatible. However, due to patent issues HarddiskOgg ist not distributed with the LAME encoding DLL. If you want MP3 support, fetch LAME_ENC.DLL from the web, but make sure you have the appropriate rights for doing so.
Command line mode for easy integration or scheduled recordings
No fuss or stupid skinned interface, just works.
HarddiskOgg is FREEWARE!




Audiograbber

Audiograbber

Audiograbber is a piece of software that grabs digital audio from cd's. It copies the audio digitally-not through the soundcard-which enables you to make perfect copies of the originals. It can even perform a test to see that the copies really are perfect. Audiograbber can also automatically normalize the music, delete silence from the start and/or end of tracks, and send them to a variety or external MP3 encoders, such as Fraunhofers L3enc, or even use some MP3/WMA encoders internally for automatic creation of MP3's. Audiograbber can download and upload disc info from freedb, an Internet compact disc database. You can even record your vinyl LP's or cassette tapes with Audiograbber and make wav's or MP3's of them. There are a lot more functions in Audiograbber.

CDex

CDex

CDex can extract the data directly (digital) from an Audio CD, which is generally called a CD Ripper or a CDDA utility. The resulting audio file can be a plain WAV file (useful for making compilation audio CDs) or the ripped audio data can be compressed using an audio encoder. Many encoders are supported, to name a few:

Lame MP3 encoder
Internal MP2 encoder
APE lossles audio format
Ogg Vorbis encoder
The Windows MP3 encoder (Fraunhofer MP3 encoder)
NTT VQF encoder
FAAC encoder
Windows WMA8 encoder
In addition, WAV files on the hard drive can be converted to a Compressed Audio File (and visa versa). CDex also supports many audio file tag formats like the ID3V1 and ID3V2 tags, which can be automatically inserted as part of the ripping process.

Feature List

Direct recording of multiple tracks
Read / store album information from/to the cdplayer.ini file
Read / store album information from/to a local and/or remote CD Database (CDDB)
Support CD-Text (if your CD-drive supports it)
Advanced jitter correction (based on the cd-paranoia ripping library)
Indicates track progress and jitter control
Normalization of audio signal
Supports many CD-Drive from many manufacters
Conversion of external WAV files
Support for M3U and PLS play list files
Best of all, it's free (GPL license, source code available)
Serveral languages are supported



winLAME

winLAME

winLAME is an encoder for several audio formats, including mp3 (MPEG Layer 3), Ogg Vorbis and more. winLAME lets you set up the encoding process with an easy-to-use wizard-style user interface.

winLAME supports many input audio formats, and uses the LAME mp3 encoding library for encoding and the MAD decoding library for decoding.

winLAME has the following features:

Encoding and decoding of many audio formats, including wave, mp3, ogg, aac, ...
Easy-to-use wizard-like user interface style for easy encoding setup
Uses high quality libraries like LAME, the Ogg Vorbis library, MAD, etc.
Presets for fast settings setup
Batch Processing
Detailed HTML Help File
Easy install- and uninstall process
Small size
Modular, multi-channel capable architecture
and yet even more!



Xmcd

Xmcd

Xmcd is a full-featured CD Player and Ripper software package. It includes two programs:

xmcd - for the X window system using the Motif® graphical user interface
cda - a shell command-line utility which also features a curses-based, screen-oriented mode
Both utilities transform your computer's CD or DVD drive into a stereo CD player, allowing you to play music CDs on your computer. Moreover, they also work as a CD ripper which allows you to extract full-quality digital audio data from your CDs and play them real time, save them to files or pipe them to other utilities for processing. Many file formats are supported, including WAV, AU, AIFF, MP3, AAC, MP4, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC.

Xmcd is designed to be attractive, feature-rich yet intuitive to use, and takes advantage of many CD drive capabilities that are not accessible via other software. Unlike other general media players that tries to do it all, xmcd focuses on the CD, and strives to be the best with this medium.

Xmcd supports CD recognition via Gracenote CDDB®. It can connect to the CDDB servers on the Internet to get the artist, disc title, song titles and other information about the CD you're playing. Xmcd uses the enhanced CDDB² service on some platforms to provide even richer content. The CDDB concept, originally pioneered for xmcd, is now the de facto standard source for online music information. Xmcd works with many firewall proxy configurations for CDDB server access. Moreover, xmcd supports CD-TEXT on drives that has this capability.

Xmcd contains "wwwWarp", a portal to the web browser that offers search and dynamic content capabilities based on the CD you're listening to. "Local Discography" is a sub-feature of wwwWarp, and provides a browser-based means of navigating and maintaining your CD collection, sound files, and other related data. There is also a feature-specific help and documentation system, command-line control, remote control, plus much more!


K3b

K3b

K3b was created to be a feature-rich and easy to handle CD burning application. It consists of basicly three parts:
- The projects: Projects are created from the file menu and then filled with data to burn.
- The Tools: The tools menu offers different tools like CD copy or DVD formatting.
- Context sensitive media actions: When clicking on the Icon representing a CD/DVD drive K3b will present it's contents and allow some further action. This is for example the way to rip audio CDs.

Features:

Creating Audio CD's:

- Pluggable audio decoding. Plugins for WAV, MP3, FLAC, and Ogg Vorbis are included.
- CD-TEXT support. Will automagically be filled in from tags in audio files.
- Write audio cds on-the-fly without decoding audio files to wav before.
- Normalize volume levels before writing.
- Cut audio tracks at the beginning and the end.

CD copy:

- Copy single and multi session data CDs
- Copy Audio CDs
- Copy Enhanced Audio CDs (CD-Extra)
- Copy CD-Text
- Add CD-Text from cddb
- CD Cloning mode for perfect single session CD

CD Ripping:

- CDDB support via http, cddbp and local cddb directory.
- Sophisticated pattern system to automatically organize the ripped tracks in directories and name them according to album, title, artist, and track number.
- CD-TEXT reading. May be used instead of CDDB info.
- K3b stores CDDB info of the ripped tracks which will automatically be used as CD-TEXT when adding the ripped files to an audio project.
- Plugin system to allow encoding to virtually every audio format. Plugins to encode to Ogg Vorbis, Mp3, FLAC, and all formats supported by SoX


TEAR

T.E.A.R. (pronounced TAIR) is a console based front-end for common MP3 creation tools which automates all of the necessary settings involved in ripping and encoding a CD into MP3 format.

TEAR first calls a CDDB database (freedb.freedb.org) to gather information about the CD in your drive. This information is used in the naming of your mp3s. It is also used to create correct id3 tags. (This step can be skipped by entering the information manually.)

After the CD's details have been gathered, TEAR can either batch rip the entire CD into .wav files or only rip one track at a time. The CD to .wav ripping is done using cdparanoia, or cdda2wav.

After a track has been ripped TEAR uses lame, bladeenc, gogo, xing, or mp3enc to encode the mp3 file. The id3 tagging is also done at this time. Support for other encoders is always being added.

RipperX

RipperX

RipperX is a GTK program to rip CD audio tracks and encode them to the Ogg, MP3, or FLAC formats. It is easy, requiring a few mouse clicks to convert an entire album, displaying progress along the way. It can rip and encode in parallel, and supports CDD


Grip

Grip

Grip is a cd-player and cd-ripper for the Gnome desktop. It has the ripping capabilities of cdparanoia builtin, but can also use external rippers (such as cdda2wav). It also provides an automated frontend for MP3 (and other audio format) encoders, letting you take a disc and transform it easily straight into MP3s. Internet disc lookups are supported for retrieving track information from disc database servers.Grip works with DigitalDJ to provide a unified "computerized" version of your music collection.

Features
- Full-featured CD player with a small screen footprint in "condensed" mode
- Database lookup/submission to share track information over the net
- HTTP proxy support for those behind firewalls
- Loop, shuffle, and playlist modes
- Ripping of single, multiple, or partial tracks
- Encoding of ripped .wav files into MP3 files (as well support for OGG and FLAC)
- Simultaneous rip and encode
- Support for multiple encode processes on SMP machines
- Adding ID3v1/v2 tags to MP3 files
- Cooperating with DigitalDJ, my SQL-based MP3 jukebox

Praat

Praat

Praat is a free scientific computer software program for the analysis of speech in phonetics. It has been designed and continuously developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Amsterdam. The program also supports speech synthesis, including articulatory synthesis.

    VST Shell

    Wild Front Ear

    VST Shell allows you to play up to 4 VSTis through a matrix of up to 4 VST fx, and send the lot to Pro Tools (or whatever) via ReWire. It also has a built in arpeggiator (which can be synced to a ReWire host).
    • Supports note, controller, program change, aftertouch and pitchbend input via the OMS midi port of your choice.
    • Arpeggiator and external input.
    • Allows you to use VST instruments in Pro Tools.
    • MultiVST Shell is a four-part multitimbral version, with a number of other improvements, such as assignable midi input and audio output and a 4 way matrix of VST plug-ins.

    Wavosaur

    Wavosaur

    Wavosaur is an audio editor application. It supports VST plug-in effects, which can be chained.

    Features:

    • Basic editing functions (cut, copy, paste, trim/crop, reverse, mute, fade, normalize, etc.)
    • Unlimited effects via the support of VST plugins. Plug-ins can be chained.

    MiniHost

    Tobybear

    Features:

    • Supports ASIO audio drivers (you can optionally install the free ASIO4ALL driver for DirectX and older Multimedia driver support).
    • Loads VST instruments and effects.
    • Loads and saves presets (fxp) and banks (fxb) in both parameter and chunk format.
    • WAV files can be loaded and played from the host to test VST effects.
    • Audio output can be recorded as WAV (32 bit float and 16 bit integer).
    • MIDI files can be loaded and played, the MIDI data is sent to the plugin.
    • MIDI input from any Windows MIDI port is possible.
    • The computer keyboard can also be used as a rudimentary MIDI input device.
    • Virtual MIDI keyboard for 'mouse playing'.

    ASIO FX Processor LE

    SpinAudio

    ASIO FX Processor LE is a standalone application that allows to stream audio from audio card input to audio card output through a VST plugin using Steinberg's ASIO 2.0 interface, thus turning PC into a real-time effect processor.

    It means that you can plug an audio source, like a guitar, microphone, external synth out for example, into input of your audio card that supports ASIO 2.0, run the ASIO FX Processor LE, select the input you would like to take the sound from and output for monitoring, load a VST plugin you want to process the sound in real-time and start the streaming. The application will take the sound from card's input, pass it through the loaded VST plugin and output it back to audio card output for monitoring.
    • 16, 24, 32 fixed point and 32 bit floating point audio data support.
    • 32 bit floating point internal precision.
    • Special ultra-low latency mode support.
    • VST preset/bank files export/import.
    download

    QuickAudio

    Sion Software

    QuickAudio lets you edit, play and record digital audio as well as convert between various popular audio formats. It has standard audio editing features, multiple undo, audio spectrum analysis as well as support for up to 24 VST plugins. Zoom out to edit your whole waveform at once or zoom in to edit individual samples. Cut and paste between as many files as you like.

    Formats supported include:

    • Wave
    • MP3
    • Ogg Vorbis
    • AIFF
    • CDR

    Editing operations include:

    • Cut, Copy and Paste
    • Change sample rate, bits per sample and channels
    • Insert Space
    • Amplify
    • Silence
    • Fade In
    • Fade Out
    • Normalize
    • Compress
    • Reverb
    • Filters - Lift/Attenuate Musical Presence, Vocal Presence, Bass, Midrange, Treble
    • Remove Noise
    • Change Duration (without changing pitch)
    • Change Pitch (without changing duration)
    • Add up to 24 VST plugins for your own custom editing
    download

    Psycle

    Psycle

    Psycle is a free, Open-Source, music creation program that offers an easy way to create your own music, fast, and with high quality.

    Psycle uses a classical tracker interface (a text grid of notes which are sequenced one after the other), coupled with modularity (plugins) that allow to extend the sounds that you get from it.

    It supports three ways to get sound: its own native format, the VST Plugin standard, and recorded .wav samples using the sampler machine.

    Notes are entered in patterns, where you can also use commands (plugin specific, or global), as well as automating parameters via the mcm and twk commands. These patterns are then organized in a linear sequence, which becomes the song order.

    Main features:

    • A 64 Tracks Pattern Editor, with up to 1024 lines.
    • 256 sequence positions.
    • Audio Routing (machine) view to interconnect the virtual machines in order to apply different effects.
    • Internal Stereo Sampler unit which supports .wav and .iff files of any sampling rate, 8/16 and 24bits, mono or stereo.
    • 70+ Native Plugins (generators & effects), most of them open-source and with an easy to use API to create new ones.
    • Support for VST1 and VST2 plugin standard.
    • Imports .xm, .s3m, .it, .mod.
    • Exporting to wav, as well as recording realtime to .wav.
    • Configurable Keyboard Layout.
    • MIDI-In Support (control Psycle using a MIDI keyboard, or even a software sequencer).
    • Themes and skins support and much more
    download

    VstSeq

    PQN Audio

    VstSeq is a simple "piano roll" style pattern sequencer VSTi host actually designed to run as a plugin in Tuareg 2 but it also has a stand alone version.

    Features:

    • Simple piano roll pattern sequencer:
      1 - 8 measures.
      2 - 32 steps per measure.
      30 - 303 BPM.
    • Loads multiple VSTi.
    • Save/Render as WAV.
    download

    MusE

    MusE

    MusE is a multitrack virtual studio for Linux that has support for sequencing of both MIDI and audio and has, among other things, support for LADSPA, Jack and ALSA.

    Some Highlights
    • Advanced jack audio routing possibilities.
    • Automation architecture for both MIDI and audio.
    • Better MIDI controller abstraction: available MIDI controller can be defined in instrument definition file (*.idf).
    • Integrated mixer with:
      • Unlimited number of inputs.
      • Unlimited number of outputs.
      • Unlimited number of tracks.
      • Unlimited number of aux's.
      • LADSPA effects on all track types, both before and after fader.
      • Stereo/Mono track types.
    • interface changes, the TrackInfo pane is used more.
    • MIDI instrument definition files (*.idf).
    • Lots of customization options.
    • Shortcut editor.
    • Drag and drop import of MIDI files.
    • Drag and drop import of wave files.
    • Standard MIDIfile (smf) import-/export.
    • RTC (Real time clock) use for rock solid timing.
    • Advanced arranger with track and part abstractions.
    • MIDI editors:
      • Pianoroll.
      • Drum editor.
      • List editors.
      • Controller editors.
    • Realtime editing of "everything".
    • Unlimited number of open editors.
    • Unlimited undo/redo.
    • Realtime and step-recording.
    • Multiple MIDI devices.
    • Unlimited number of tracks, both MIDI and audio.
    • Audio playback/recording.
    • Sync to external and internal devices/applications:
      • MTC/MMC.
      • MIDI Clock.
      • Master/Slave.
      • Jack transport enabled.
    • LADSPA effects.
    • Integrated softsynth architecture M.E.S.S
      • Several internal synths available.
      • Simple architecture for adding more synths.
      • support for industry standard Windows VSTi softsynths.
    • JACK enabled.
    • ALSA sequencer client.
    • LASH enabled (formerly LADCCA).
    • Raw MIDI device usage through ALSA.
    • XML based project files.
    • XML based configuration files.
    • project file contains complete app state (session data).
    • Application spanning Cut/Paste Drag/Drop.
    • uses C++, QT3.2 GUI Library, STL.

    And the most important feature for a free application:

    GPL Licensed.
    download

    HostX

    MTSoftware

    HostX is a free standing VSTi host application that works in OSX.
    • Works with CFM and Mach-O VST plugins.
    • 4 FX busses.
    • Send Multi-timbral VSTi plugins MIDI data from multiple sources.


    AirRack

    Maizesoft

    AirRack is a live environment for those who make sound effects for TV program and other live performance.

    AirRack provide you the following racks:

    • Amplifier: the component to connect with the audio interface.
    • Mixer: route other devices to the amplifier.
    • Effects: dual effects which load VST effect plug-ins.
    • VSTi: allow you to give real-time performance.
    • MP3 player: play MP3 audio file.
    • CD player: play the CD track with your CD-ROM.
    • Loop player: play an audio file as a loop.
    • Sound FX: a simple sampler to trigger sound effects.
    • Graphic EQ: 31 band graphic EQ.

    You can control the AirRack with your MIDI controller and your computer keyboard. Both English and Chinese versions are available.

    download

    Kristal Audio Engine

    Kreatives.org

    Kristal Audio Engine is a powerful multi-track recorder, audio sequencer and mixer - ideal for anyone wanting to get started with recording, mixing and mastering digital audio.

    It is designed as a modular system. The main application provides a mixing console, while the audio sequencer, live audio input and so on are loaded as separate PlugIns.

    Kristal Audio Engine is FREEWARE for personal, educational and non-commercial use.

    Features:

    • 16 audio tracks
    • 32 Bit floating point audio engine
    • 44.1 to 192 kHz sample rate*
    • Downmix to 16/24/32 Bit audio files
    • 3-band parametric EQ &
    • 2 VST insert slots per channel
    • 3 VST master effect slots
    • ASIO low latency audio driver support
    • 4 Kristal PlugIn slots
    • Load/Save Kristal project files
    • Supported file formats: WAVE, AIFF, FLAC, OGG Vorbis

    The following Plug-ins are included in the Kristal package:

    Kristal Waver

    • The sequencer PlugIn for Kristal.
    • Multi channel hard disk recording via ASIO/MME.
    • ASIO input monitoring.
    • Audio clip arrangement.
    • Audio clip fade-in/fade-out/cross-fade.
    • Unlimited undo/redo.
    • AES31 Export.

    Kristal LiveIN

    • Connect your mic/guitar and play thru Kristal using VST effects in real-time.


    VSTServer

    Kjetil Matheussen

    Kjetil Matheussen's VST server system has evolved to include the following components:

    • A WINE-based server (vstserver).
    • A LADSPA host plugin for VST plugins (vst.so).
    • A native object for hosting VST plugins in the Pure Data environment (k_vst~.pd_linux).
    • A standalone host application for running VST instruments, i.e. VSTi plugins (vsti).
    download

    SynthFont

    Kenneth Rundt

    SynthFont is a free/donationware tool for playing/rendering MIDI files using SoundFonts and other similar sound sources (WAV, DLS, GIGA and also VST Instruments).

    SynthFont is intended to mimic the behavior of SoundFont compatible hardware/soundcards like SoundBlaster Live! or Audigy and SynthFont is (almost) modulator aware, which Live! is not. But SynthFont is more. It provides an interface into the SoundFont structure and has basic editing capabilities. It also displays various data about the loaded MIDI file through the piano roll and the event list. Finally, there is a simple playlist feature for storing the files you are currently working on.

    SynthFont also supports VST effects - there are 17 busses in all: one master bus and 16 channel busses.

    VSTSynthFont

    VSTSynthFont (VSF), a separate VST instrument version of SynthFont is also available. It is a completely independent module, which you can use without SF installed. It does not have any of the SoundFont tools SF has, nor can it display any MIDI information as it does not handle MIDI files.


    download


    Ouroboros

    Illposed Software

    Ouroboros     is a simple stand-alone sampler application that hosts Audio Unit effects.

    download

    VSTHost

    Hermann Seib

    VSTHost is an Open Source VST-compatible host that:

    • Loads VST plugins.
    • Parameterizesing / editing them.
    • Sound output for VSTis.
    • MIDI-input and -output.
    • Loading / saving .fxb files
    • Supports ASIO2.

    SAVIHost

    Hermann Seib

    SAVIHost is a derivative version of VSTHost that can be used to make any VSTi run like a standalone application.

    This offers two major advantages:

    1. VSTi can be used (tested, checked or tried) easily and directly without the need or search for another host.
    2. VSTi can be distributed to be tested in a temporary directory without the need of the presence of another host or to search for a dedicated VSTPlugIns-subdirectory. The VSTi-dll can still be used within other hosts like Cubase, Sonar etc. when copied to that host's VSTPlugins-subdirectory.

    For use just rename SAVIHost.exe to the corresponding VSTi.dll e.g. if there is abc123.dll rename SAVIHost.exe to abc123.exe and this will run the VSTi.


    DarkWave Studio

    ExperimentalScene

    DarkWave Studio is a modular virtual studio, similar to the tracker / modular studio Buzz. It allows you to load various machines such as virtual instruments and effects and connect them in a modular and straightforward fashion. DarkWave can load VST instruments and effects and it can also load machines using the DarkPlug API, which was custom made for DarkWave.

    DarkWave natively supports both x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) versions of Windows with native binaries compiled for each platform. The x86 and x64 versions can each only load plug-ins for that platform, i.e. the x64 version only loads 64-bit VST and DarkPlug plugins.

    DarkWave supports multiple processors, with an aggressively multithreaded audio path that can utilize multiple processors or cores by multithreading. Apparently the program soars on a Pentium D system with Windows XP 64-bit Edition.

    The following plugins are included with DarkWave:

    • MIDI Input
    • ES BrainSynth (Virtual Analog Subtractive Synth)
    • ES SpatialVerb (Room Modelling Reverb Unit)
    • ES DrumKit (Virtual Analog 909)
    • ES Delay (Echo Effect)
    • ES Kick (Rave Kick Generator)

    MultiFXVST

    CTAF

    MultiFXVST is a free Windows effect chainer that loads as a VST effect in your VST host and can also host, and chain, VST effect plug-ins itself.

    Features:

    • Up to 127 chains of effects.
    • Unlimited number of effects in one chain (Limited by the power of your computer).
    • Re-use plug-ins between chains.
    • MultiFXVST and VST plugin parameters are controllable through MIDI messages and VST automation.
    download

    Dual Channel FFT

    Christian Budde

    Dual Channel FFT is a program that analyses the spectral difference between two measurement points. This can be useful to measure the electro- and acoustical chain during a live performance.

    Additionally the program can visualize the processing of VST Plug-ins, export the frequency response to TXT/BMP and export the impulse response to WAV.

    Dual Channel FFT is free for non-commercial use.

    download

    VST Host Winamp Bridge

    audio da onca

    VST Host Winamp Bridge     is a DSP/Effect plugin for Winamp that hosts VST effects allowing you to use your favorite VST plug-ins within WinAmp.


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