Music Production Software and Apps

There are thousands of music apps and plugins available today, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to choosing your music software. That's why we have put together this list of our favourite and most used programs and plugins.

We're going to cover everything, from the DAWS we use, to the EQ's and compressors we sculpt our audio sample packs with. We've been using some of this software for over 20 years, so we think we've got a handle on it!

Digital Audio Workstations (DAW)

The centrepiece of many a modern studio is the sequencer, otherwise known as the DAW. Here are some of the choices available today:

• Reaper - The infinitely powerful audio production software. Our main choice, cheap too!
• Reason Studios Reason - Everything you need to make music on your computer.
• Ableton Live - Great software for using with your audio loops and samples.
• Steinberg Cubase - Cubase audio production software is an old bit of kit and still going strong.
• Apple Logic Pro - Logic is another one of the big players in DAW town.
• Image-Line FL Studio - Another very popular digital audio workstation.
• Bitwig - Modern music production software.
• Native Instruments Maschine Software - Popular hardware and software combined.
• Akai - Mpc workstation and software.
• Audiotool - Make music in your browser, free! We are happy to have supplied Audiotool with some high-quality sounds.

Download Now: Ableton Live Packs, Reason Refills, MPC Expansions, Wav Samples, free demos.

Software Synths (VSTI)

There's some amazing software emulations of analogue hardware, but in our opinion, some of the new digital wavetable software synthesizers sound out of this world. Here's a list of some of the best synths on the market right now:

• Xfer Serum - a powerful wavetable synth that can do more than just bass genres. - Download our Serum presets here
• Native Instruments Massive - one of the most popular software synths which had a big influence on the sound of Dubstep.
• Massive X - Native Instruments New Massive, and yes, it does sound Massive.
• U-he Diva - one of the most analogue sounding soft synths out there which does a great job at emulating classic hardware synths.
• U-he Repro-1 - analogue in the box - perfect for bass and leads. The built-in effects are great.
• U-he Repro-5 - the polyphonic version of the above - amazing!
• U-he Hive - versatile and quick to use. We made 3 audio demos for U-he on their website.
• U-he Zebra - a hugely flexible synthesiser, a true animal!
• Spectrasonics Omnisphere - a huge library of sounds and a very deep synthesiser.
• Sonic Charge Synplant - the strangest synth with the best noises.
• Native Instruments Monark - sounds exactly like our Moog analogue hardware synth.
• Arturia Pigments - perfect modulation system. We work with Arturia on many presets.
• Vital - very powerful wavetable synth for free.
• Surge - totally free synth. Download our 25 FREE Surge Presets.
• Arturial V Collection - a massive collection of vintage synth emulations.
• Synaspe Audio Dune 3 - a powerhouse synth with a great sound
• Sonic Academy ANA 2 - wavetable and sample playback.
• Parawave Rapid - modern polyphonic hybrid synthesizer.
• DS Audio Thorn - a unique synth with harmonic filter and glitch sequencer.
• Kilohearts Phase Plant - a sound design toolbox. We work with Kilohearts on content for their products.
• HY-Plugins HY-POLY - great modulation system. We provided factory presets for this.
• TAL-J-8 - amazing Jupiter emulation.
• TAL-U-NO-LX - another great sounding hardware emulation.
• Ableton Wavetable - Live's powerful wavetable synth.

Want pro sounds for your synths? See our Synth Presets and download the free demo packs.

Samplers and Drum Machines

Everyone needs a sampler, everyone needs a drum machine. These are some of the best available:

• Sonic Charge Microtonic - a drum synth with a cool morph feature.
• Native Instruments Battery - a staple drum machine for many.
• Native Instruments Kontakt - Kontakt is a very powerful VST sampler.
• Ableton Sampler - Live's powerful sample player.
• Steinberg Halion - a real sampler that lets you sample, cool!
• Tal Sampler - an oldskool style sampler and synth.
• UVI Falcon 2 - complex, creative, hybrid instrument.

Load your samplers with New Loops Samples and Audio Loops.

EQ Plugins

EQ is probably our most used effect plugin, from the simplest HPF, to removing resonant peaks, the humble EQ finds its way onto every track. Here's our most used:

• Fabfilter Pro Q 2 - one of the best EQ plugins with a great GUI and spectrum analyser.
• ToneBoosters Equalizer 4 - flexible EQ with AI.
• Arturia Preamp Collection - vintage equalisation, reverbs, compressors and more!

Compressor Plugins

Some people say compression is a mysterious dark art, we say that's nonsense - it's an automatic volume control, simples. :P

• Native Instruments SSL Bus Compressor - classic SSL compression.
• Dada Life Sausage Fattener - this will give you a fat sausage, whether you want it or not.
• Fabfilter Pro C Compressor - we use this one for side-chaining.
• Fabfilter Pro MB Multi-band Compressor - use on the master bus to get a big, pro sound.
• Fabfilter Pro L Limiter - an essential, full-featured limiter plugin.
• ToneBoosters ReelBus 4 - an analogue tape emulation that compresses audio very nicely.
• Cytomic The Glue - analogue modelled SSL bus compressor.

Reverb Plugins

We use a lot of reverb in our sample packs, and these are our favourites:

• ToneBoosters Reverb 4 - flexible reverb with shimmer algorithms.
• Fabfilter Pro-R - natural sounding reverb with an easy-to-use GUI.
• Valhalla DSP VintageVerb - very nice classic reverb plugin, can get big!
• Valhalla DSP Valhalla Room - great room reverb, gets a lot of use.
• Valhalla Supermassive - great for experimental reverbs and long soundscapes.
• Valhalla Shimmer - pitch shifting reverbs and soundscapes.
• Tritik Irid Shimmer Reverb - lush shimmering reverb.
• Native Instruments Raum - creative reverbs and delays.

Delay Plugins

Delays feature heavily in electronic music. Here's what we're using today:

• Sonic Charge Echobode - great sounding modulating delay, good for effects.
• Valhalla Delay - a workhorse delay with a good choice of algorithms.
• D16 Tekturon - sequenced multi-tap delay - quite creative!
• U-he Colour Copy - download our FREE PRESETS FOR COLOUR COPY.
• Sonic Charge Permut8 - 12 bit digital delay with added crazy.

Distortion Plugins

Saturation and distortion plugins usually aren't all that fun, until you try these:

• Fabfilter Saturn 2 - from subtle tape saturation to full digital distortion, Saturn 2 does it.
• Izotope Trash 2 - more than just distortion, Trash 2 is a sound mangler.
• D16 Decimort - bit crusher and lofi effect of vintage samplers.
• Cytomic The Scream - an analogue modelled stomp box distortion plug-in.
• Venn Audio V-Clip - clipping and distortion.

Filter Plugins

Filter plugins are an integral part of modern music production. We're using these:

• Cytomic The Drop - analogue modelled filter based on classic analogue synth filters.
• Fabfilter Simplon - a simple little filter with a nice and clean sound.
• Sugar Bytes WOW2 - dirty filter with good modulation.

Modulation Plugins

Modulation effects such as chorus, phaser, flanger, vibrato etc. are widely used in the making of our audio loops and samples, and are equally well-used in our synth presets.

• Melda Production MFreeFXBundle - contains a vast array of modulation plugins.
• Valhalla DSP UberMod - everything from chorus to tape echo to flanger.
• D16 Antresol - lush, analogue modelled flanger effect.
• D16 Fazortan 2 - controllable '70s space phaser.
• Native Instruments Mod Pack - chorus, flanger, and phaser effects.
• Tal Chorus-LX - analogue synth chorus.
• Arturia Moulation Bundle - analogue flanger, phaser, chorus, and Dimension D effects.

Sample Organisers and Players

Plugins to find and play samples are few and far between. There just aren't many of this sort of plugin available. These 2 are similar, but with their own strengths:

• XLN Audio OX - sort your samples across the universe, then make loops.
• Algonaut Atlas 2 - map your sounds and sequence them into oblivion.

First download our Free Demo Packs and free Audio Sample Packs. Then use these plugins to find them.

Other Useful Plugins

We use many effect plugins that don't fit into other categories. Some are multi-effects, some are analysers or stereo enhancers. Here's a few more from our box of magic tricks:

• Fabfilter Pro DS - transparent de-esser plugin with a nice interface.
• Fabfilter Pro G - extremely useful gate plugin.
• Sugar Bytes Turnado - multi effects unit, perfect for automating like DJ effects.
• Cableguys ShaperBox2 - toolbox of creative effects.
• Celemony Melodyne - magical for vocal tuning and timing.
• XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color - adds analogue wonk and charm to sounds.
• Nugen Stereoizer - stereo widener with mono compatibility (important!).
• Devious Machines Infiltrator 2 - glitch and sequenced multi-effects.

That just about rounds up our most used and favourite audio software and plugins. Now if you need some new loops and samples to play with, head over to our shop and check out the Latest Deals on audio Sample Packs, Ableton Live Packs, Reason Refills, Synth Presets, and Free Sounds.