Rui CarmoOne of my pursuits of yore and for ever more (in the sense that I stopped short of joining the Conservatorium when I was a kid and still maintain a somewhat active - if diffuse - interest in it).
Resources
| Category | Date | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Books | 2020 | Fundamentals of Piano Practice | Lots of pracice tips (and tuning of physical pianos) |
| DAWs | Non | a lightweight DAW for Linux |
|
| 2020-01 | Waveform Free | free DAW that runs on Linux (including the Raspberry Pi) |
|
| 2022 | Ardour | A cross-platform Open Source DAW that runs on ARM64 |
|
| Qtractor | A Linux DAW based on Qt |
||
| Reaper | A cross-platform Open Source DAW that runs on ARM64 |
||
| 2023 | DawDreamer | a Python environment that allows you to host and run VSTs |
|
| zrythm | a cross-platform DAW |
||
| Editors | 2021 | MuseScore | likely the best open source music score editor out there |
| Environments | 2022 | Glicol | an interesting music language with a Rust audio engine as back-end |
| Instruments | 2019-12 | Layers | free orchestral music VST |
| 2020 | minibit | a VST for chiptune instruments |
|
| SunVox | a cross-platform modular synth that includes a tracker |
||
| 2020-05 | Zebralette | free VST |
|
| PianoBook | Free downloadable EXS24 and Kontakt sampled instruments (mostly pianos) |
||
| 2021 | a pretty popular free VST for Mac, Windows and Linux |
||
| 2022 | sfzinstruments | Various public domain instruments in SFZ format |
|
| 2023 | GrandOrgue | a sample-based church organ simulator |
|
| Libraries | popsicle | a Python library that tries to wrap |
|
| pedalboard | a Python library for working with audio, also with VST support |
||
| Patches | 2021 | MobileMusic Pro Free Packs | covers multiple iOS apps |
| PatchStorage | Patches and samples for a number of iOS apps, including Moog synths. |
||
| Northern Film Orchestra Orchestral Swells | a set of orchestral samples for Kontakt and DecentSampler |
||
| Samples | 2020 | BBC sound effects | copyrighted but free for personal/educational use |
| 2021 | FreeSound | Creative Commons licensed samples and loops |
|
| 2023 | sampled | A collection of sampled instruments, loops and impulse responses with open licenses |
|
| Scores | 2019-06 | El Atril | free sheet music |
| Mutopia | Free classical and contemporary sheet music |
||
| 2020 | IMSLP | The Petrucci Public Domain Music Library |
|
| The Mayron Cole Piano Method | has a number of simple piano scores for kids |
||
| Sequencers | 2022 | Ossia Score | a sequencer for audio-visual artists, designed to create interactive shows leveraging DMX, OSC, MIDI, etc. |
| 2023 | Midinous | a node-based MIDI sequencer for generative music |
|
| Synths | 2020 | Vital | MPE support |
| 2021 | Ensembles | a FluidSynth-based arrangement workstation for Linux |
|
| MT-32 Pi | a work-in-progress baremetal MIDI synthesizer for the Raspberry Pi 3 or above, based on Munt, FluidSynth and Circle. |
||
| Bespoke Synth | a cross-platform software modular synthesizer with a node-based UI |
||
| 2022 | MicroDexed | Dexed for the Teensy 3.x/4.x microcontroller |
|
| MicroDexed-touch | Dexed for the Teensy 4.x microcontroller, with a touchscreen UI, a sequencer and a tracker |
||
| MiniDexed | Dexed running on baremetal Raspberry Pi |
||
| teensy-juno | a Teensy 3.x/4.x-based polyphonic synthesiser, modeled after the Juno 106 |
||
| sfizz | A sample based VST instrument that takes SFZ files |
||
| Helm | a free cross-platform software synth that can be used as a VST |
||
| Tools | 2019-06 | Musical Chord Progression Arpeggiator | |
| 2020 | NeuralDX7 | a neural network that generates DX7 sysex patches |
|
| ADLplug | a VST that provides a number of FM synth plugins to emulate YMF26XX chips |
||
| RNNoise VST | no builds for macOS |
||
| stochas | a plugin/VST for stochastic pattern generation |
||
| Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard | useful for monitoring device or as a source image for video overlays |
||
| Blue Cat Freeware Plugins | a set of free VST/AUs for both Mac and Windows, including a frequency analyzer |
||
| 2021 | alda | a text-based programming language for music composition |
|
| Elk Audio OS | A Linux distro with a low-latency kernel and Raspberry Pi support for audio HATs |
||
| nanostudio-2-sample | SFZ to Obsidian patch converter |
||
| pianoplayer | a fingering generator for sheet music |
||
| 2022 | JJazzLab-X | Automatic backing track generator |
|
| Trackers | deflemask | another tracker, also available for iOS and Android |
|
| schismtracker | a reimplementation of Impulse Tracker |
||
| furnace | another modern tracker |
||
| 2023 | bintracker | a cross-platform chiptune music tracker written in Chicken Scheme |
|
| PLEBTracker | a terminal-based tracker |
||
| furnace | a multi-system chiptune tracker |
||
| Tutorial | 2021 | Learning Music | One of Ableton’s great online tutorials on the basics of electronic music |
| Learning Synths | Another Ableton online tutorials on the basics of electronic music |