Since there isn’t much processing going on, the synth is quite CPU-friendly. It comes with one oscillator, 7 waveforms and controls for ADSR, vibrato and decimation, which makes it perfect for Chiptune or 8-bit music. The Retro Boy is a Windows only VST synth.
Legowelt is a dutch producer known for releasing samples from analog hardware units, but you’ll also find some Ableton Racks on his website, including the Smackos Tape Station, the Smackos Lemuria Vintage Sampler Simulator, the Smackos 808 Simulator and the Smackos Amiga 909. More precisely it has one drive knob and a quantizer, which can run in different modes and qualities. Just like Krush it combines different distortion modes with high and low-pass filters. It’s meant to process “audio to give it a low fidelity sound”.
This one is a free bit quantizer, waveshaper & filter plugin made by Tadashi Suginomori from HY-Plugins.
It’s available for both Windows and Mac in VST, AU and AAX format so really everyone can get their hands on this. It further comes with 2 filters and an LFO that can be used to modulate every parameter. A bitcrusher, a downsampler and an analog drive knob. Tritik’s Krush is an effect plugin with 3 different distortion types. The sound either fits your production or not. The cool part about Labs is that it comes with only a handful of parameters so you won’t spend 10 years trying to get everything perfect. Most of these instruments are rather unique and therefore a nice addition to the basic instruments libraries you probably already own. There are several extensions available, including pianos, brass, choirs and synths.
Labs is a free software instrument made by the London based sound design company Spitfire Audio.
A must have for every lofi producer if you ask me. What I love the most is that you can adjust the year of your “recording”. Since the freeware only comes with a handful of parameters it’s easy to use and setting it up won’t take much time. iZotope VinylĪs the name suggests, iZotope’s “Vinyl” is a plugin emulating the characteristic imperfections of vinyl records.
If you’re using Ableton however, you can get your download HERE. Unfortunately, it’s only available for Ableton Live users, so if you’re using another DAW you have to pick some of the other options in this list. It comes with 8 macros allowing you to decrease the bandwidth, add vinyl crackles, detune and distort the source sound. The “LoFi Rack” is a free Ableton Rack based on Live’s stock plugins. The freeware in this list can easily compete with some of the paid stuff I’ll mention later on. That said, you don’t always have to spend money to get some quality software. I want to start this list with a bunch of free lofi VSTs, because I know that a lot of producers are one a budget, especially when they’re still going to school (or music is their only income lol). Here are some of the best options: Free LoFi Plugins Luckily there are plenty of cool lofi plugins available so you don’t have to actually own an old tape machine. Once you have a selection of cool sounds & samples you can further refine your music to sound like it was recorded a few decades ago. It would however be easier to just get your hands on a decent LoFi House or Hip Hop sample pack. You could, for example, sample old vinyl records or buy an old drum machine. So if you want to produce lofi music it’s important to pick the right sounds and samples from the start. Ooh, that woke me up.Although we have all the tools we need to produce extremely clean and precise music without any unwanted artefacts there’s something about the imperfections of analog recording equipment that triggers certain emotions in us. Yeah, great build going on Comment by TapTapDoubleTap Yeah like that Comment by TapTapDoubleTapīoo, I want big. Working into the piece properly - really nicely done. Love pulse basses - drums are big - the whole sound is a little harsh to me, but the mixing/balance is great! Comment by TapTapDoubleTap Great: powerfull sounds! Comment by Kraftraum I like this part: sounds like TD:) Comment by Kraftraum well done:) Good luck in the challenge:) Comment by Kraftraum And the motiv in part 2 reminds me a lot to TD. Great job: i like the powerfull Synth sounds and the well formed drums. Great sound design and spot on arrangement! Comment by Kraftraum
Comment by Sequential-XĪn excellent 80s style synth tune. Its been about 7 years since your last i think, Welcome back with another Powerful track! Your Hard-Wired is still very memorable to me :) Comment by Kyle Benjamin Super cool retro vibe Comment by Richard Semper