Instrument VST's for Reaper

[rchrugg]

HI and happy New year to you all. I am a new reaper user that is upgrading my current setup. in the past, I have used Sound Canvas and Korg sound modules to use with my Midi keyboard. I am trying to navigate the world of instrument vst's and was wondering if any of you have ideas for the best ones out there. There are some that a free and sound like it, some that are free and pretty good and then the pricing goes up from there. I am wanting a full array of instruments, similar to what the sound canvas offered, but updated to current audio technology and quality.

I am finding more than not that the "bundles" include many things I might never use or will be a while until I use it. Buying individual VST's is more expensive, but they all seem to have an unsimilar interface. I am looking for high quality and ease of use. I would love to hear from anyone who has any ideas and can assist me with my search

[MiddleC]

So, current, high quality, inexpensive... full array of instruments but without ones you might not use, consistent interfaces but not bundles...

You may have some conflicting requirements.

All I can recommend is poke around Plugin Boutique. Trial versions usually available, and lots of sales.

[MusicMan74]

worth reviewing:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=52382

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=563

https://plugins4free.com

[Judders]

If you want everything a midi sound rack has and more, with a common interface, I would suggest buying Kontakt. The factory selection is big and decent quality and buying Kontakt opens up a world of high quality 3rd party instruments and lots of freebies.

Unfortunately I think you just missed the sale. I think summer and black Friday usually have the biggest discounts.

[MiddleC]

Originally Posted by Judders

I would suggest buying Kontakt.

I own Kontakt and I would agree, as one-stop-shops go, it's not bad at all.

[jrk]

Maybe don't post the same ask to multiple forums on here. Some folks really hate it. It wastes the time of those trying to help. And it makes it harder for you to track the responses on two threads.

All the best.

[Calaban]

https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/#type=&search=&new=true

[Judders]

Originally Posted by Calaban

https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/#type=&search=&new=true

Some interesting instruments there, for sure, but I wouldn't say Labs is a good replacement for a midi sound module. You'd want something more general purpose than that.

[Danje Golden]

For more general purposes I'd suggest to try out Xpand!, it's a wonderfull tool when it comes to bread and butter sounds.
Normally it's always somewhere to find for 5-15$.
In comparison to Kontakt it's pretty lightweight and easy on the cpu.

Other instruments I can suggest are: Monster Drums, Monster Piano, Monster Guitar, Sitala, Surge XT, Vital and also Spitfire Labs & Spitfire BBC Orchestra Discover.
But these are just my prefered ones I noticed myself using all the time due to lightweight on RAM and cpu in the past.
Also I discovered decent sampler and the piano book site for me (which has a lot of free sounds for decent sampler).

[vdubreeze]

Don't discount grabbing a free sfz player plugin, such as Plogue's Sforzando, and searching for whatever sfz format instruments appeal to you. Several great sources of those. My favorite is https://www.pianobook.co.uk which is a group of "samplists" uploading their free creations. Formats are sometimes Ableton, Logic Sampler or Kontact, but often the universal sfz or the format for Decent Sampler, which is free and a very good sample playing plugin. Lots of nutty stuff but enough meat and potatoes that are good enough to be your go to instruments.

The free version of TX16Wx can play sfz as well as Logic Sampler format, among several others (not Kontact, though), so there are tons of great free and cheap instruments you can load into it. I find the interface a bit of a slowdown, so for sfz I use others, but I don't own Logic and it's fun being able to load Logic EXS format instruments.

[ivansc]

This thread brings us right back to the "where can I get a plugin that is the same as a GM/GS sound module, only better, more modern sounds?" threads of old.
Funnily enough, I am having to resurrect all my old MIDI backing tracks for a few gigs this year & am about ready to give up and just use my 720k floppy drive and the roland SD35, playing into a SC88VL module.

I would LOVE to find a reliable, working GM/GS plugin, even prepared to pay money for it.

I still haven`t been able to find the most recent virtual sound canvas... at least, a version that will run under 64bit win10...

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by ivansc

This thread brings us right back to the "where can I get a plugin that is the same as a GM/GS sound module, only better, more modern sounds?" threads of old.
Funnily enough, I am having to resurrect all my old MIDI backing tracks for a few gigs this year & am about ready to give up and just use my 720k floppy drive and the roland SD35, playing into a SC88VL module.

I would LOVE to find a reliable, working GM/GS plugin, even prepared to pay money for it.

I still haven`t been able to find the most recent virtual sound canvas... at least, a version that will run under 64bit win10...

https://x42-plugins.com/x42/x42-gmsynth

In a pinch...

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by The Kid

https://x42-plugins.com/x42/x42-gmsynth

In a pinch...

LV2 - I assumed this was a version that would work in Windows10 & installed it.

It appeared in Reaper OK but no GUI & hence I could not get it going.
About to try installing it on my little Linux playbox, but I dont know what the fork I am doing in Linux yet... Thanks, anyway.

I may have to buy Virtual Sound Canvas 3 if it is still available...

[domzy]

Originally Posted by ivansc

LV2 - I assumed this was a version that would work in Windows10 & installed it.

It appeared in Reaper OK but no GUI & hence I could not get it going.

i thought you'd said you wanted a GM player for MIDI backing tracks, dunno why you'd want a GUI?
There is the included ReaControlMIDI in Reaper which can provide sliders etc. for GM soundbanks.

another free GM VSTi option is the Yamaha SY-XG50

[studio1602]

Originally Posted by ivansc

It appeared in Reaper OK but no GUI & hence I could not get it going.

I may have to buy Virtual Sound Canvas 3 if it is still available...

If you want an option with a GUI try BassMIDI:

http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#bassmidi_vsti

I run this with the GeneralUser soundfont, which is a great soundfont for GM duties. The Yamaha SY-XG50 that domzy mentions is also good.

The last time I checked Roland's site for the Virtual Sound Canvas, it indicated that the VSC was discontinued.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by ivansc

LV2 - I assumed this was a version that would work in Windows10 & installed it.

It appeared in Reaper OK but no GUI & hence I could not get it going.
About to try installing it on my little Linux playbox, but I dont know what the fork I am doing in Linux yet... Thanks, anyway.

I may have to buy Virtual Sound Canvas 3 if it is still available...

For just playing midi files, I put it on a folder track and the childs are the midi tracks.
If the file has the proper programs and cc it'll play fine.
For making the files, you can use ReaControlMIDI on each midi track, and insert the pc and cc in the midi event editor for exporting the standard midi file.

[vdubreeze]

ivansc, have you tried the The Discord SFZ General MIDI Bank?

https://github.com/sfzinstruments/Discord-SFZ-GM-Bank

The cool thing about an SFZ bank would be that you could swap out any particular instrument that didn't work for your purpose and put in one you liked.

[ivansc]

Thanks, all - for various reasons, I have tried & dropped everything listed above, but the VDUBreeze post led me to what looks like a potentially quality GM soundset, so I will do some more digging...
FWIW I was a MIDI backing track writer/seller years ago using my trusty Amiga 1200 and Bars n Pipes Pro, but sadly I have none of that stuff now.

I have even looked at currently available MIDI sequencer applications, but most of them fall well short of B&P Pro.
I dont just need a player & I DO need a good quality soundset, with the Roland sound canvas 3 stuff being the minimum I am looking for. Incidentally, I can no longer find anyone selling any of the sound canvas software these days.

As of now I am resigned to fixing up any minor errors in my old backing tracks within reaper & then exporting the MIDI, which I hope my Roland SC-35 will still be able to record properly.

Alternatives I am working on that may be easier to work with are my JamMan stereo looper and (gulp) a tiny Sony Minidisk recorder!

Life is so much simpler playing with my live band...

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by studio1602

If you want an option with a GUI try BassMIDI:

http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#bassmidi_vsti

I run this with the GeneralUser soundfont, which is a great soundfont for GM duties. The Yamaha SY-XG50 that domzy mentions is also good.

The last time I checked Roland's site for the Virtual Sound Canvas, it indicated that the VSC was discontinued.

Just re-downloaded a bunch of stuff from the BassMIDI & it has growen up a lot since my last try. Hopeful...

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by studio1602

If you want an option with a GUI try BassMIDI:

http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html#bassmidi_vsti

I run this with the GeneralUser soundfont, which is a great soundfont for GM duties. The Yamaha SY-XG50 that domzy mentions is also good.

The last time I checked Roland's site for the Virtual Sound Canvas, it indicated that the VSC was discontinued.

Which version of Christian`s General User soundfont are you using with BassMIDI, btw?

[Etienne1973]

Purity Virtual Sound Workstation by Sonic Cat with GM Support

https://sonic-cat.com/purity/

Edit:

Sound Canvas VA is still available under Roland Cloud.

https://www.rolandcloud.com/catalog/...ound-canvas-va

Edit 2:

Perhaps Roland Cloud XV-5080 is worth checking out.

https://www.rolandcloud.com/catalog/legendary/xv-5080

[Softsynth]

Originally Posted by Judders

If you want everything a midi sound rack has and more, with a common interface, I would suggest buying Kontakt. The factory selection is big and decent quality and buying Kontakt opens up a world of high quality 3rd party instruments and lots of freebies.

Unfortunately I think you just missed the sale. I think summer and black Friday usually have the biggest discounts.

Seconded. Check out the Summer sales. In the meantime get your head around some software synthesizers like Surge XT.

Kontakt is still the industry standard if you want access to cheap, free and premium sample instruments and libraries. The free stuff (from third parties) almost exclusively requires full Kontakt though, it will not work in Kontakt Player - or is severely time limited.

[studio1602]

Originally Posted by ivansc

Which version of Christian`s General User soundfont are you using with BassMIDI, btw?

GeneralUser GS v1.471

[studio1602]

Originally Posted by Etienne1973

Sound Canvas VA is still available under Roland Cloud.

Ah, so Sound Canvas is in the cloud now. Thanks for the heads-up! The Purity Virtual Sound Workstation project looks interesting, too

[vdubreeze]

And don't discount GarageBand, bundled with the system for any Mac, is a pretty unbeatable, basically free (well, it is free but since it's argued that the cost is built into whatever you've bought) full soundset. If anyone in your family has an old MacBook around, it's instruments still hold up well.

[TonE]

Originally Posted by Danje Golden

Other instruments I can suggest are: Monster Drums, ...

Monster drums as sfz would be cool. Needs a 64 bit vst currently, its own player, why not using an open format instead, strange decisions.

[Pintspiller]

Kontakt is half price until 6 June. It comes in many diff sizes and is still probably the go-to for people who want a lot of sounds.

I started off using free stuff and realised that I'd need to spend money to get a better range of stuff in no time! It's a money pit to be honest and you'll probably buy more than you really need.

Spitfire do a range called Originals at £29/$29 that are a step up from the LABS, but it all dep new what you are looking for.