Help, Best Mac Vsts (Warning Long Post)

Hi,

I have been a renoise user for almost 3 years now but I have not updated my vst/au libraries in many years. I am mainly a Linux user but I use my 2011 13 inch macbook pro with Lion for music making/creative stuff. I have found many apps and vsts I used to use no longer work because Apple no longer supports rosetta. I mainly write noisy, avant-garde, glitchy stuff. Mainly looking for fairly complex drum synthesizers, granular synthesizers and also synths like crystal synth. For effects I’m looking for beat and sample mutilation like 'crazy ivan’or ‘geometer’ by smartelectronix. I was doing some searching for plugins and found many links dead or obsolete. My main concern is recently I have run into some vulnerabilities using a mac that I hadnt previously really had to worry about before. Also many vsts are not compatible with Lion.

here is what I am working with currently

I have referred to:
renoise mac vsts

which links to:
kvraudio mac vsts free
http://www.kvraudio.com/q.php?search=1&os[]=mac32&ty[]=i&f1[]=vst&pr[]=f&ob[]=rt
also briefly read through links from this search:
renose forum search vsts
http://forum.renoise.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1

I use these all the time, I install these whenever I setup a new computer first thing:
mda smartelectronics
http://mda.smartelectronix.com/
bram smartelectronix
http://bram.smartelectronix.com/

I found this site recently:
shuriken vst and aus
http://www.shuriken.se/
I have not tried these yet but I’ve read the descriptions and watched the videos and these look like something I might use. Have no idea if they still work or are safe though.

I ran into this site looking for a drum synth:
gersic.com plugins
http://www.gersic.com/plugins/index.php?daCat=29

But many of these links are really old or dead.

This seems like a good collection of links, but I am really exhausted from following links and finding out if the plugin is interesting and/or safe and/or stable:
macosxaudio vst links
http://www.macosxaudio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35967

obviously I know how to google, and I can figure out if a link is dangerous or obsolete… but I’m thinking other renoise users will probably be using similar vsts/aus.
I’m really in love with Crystal Synth and Alchemy, however Alchemy is not free and as far as I can tell not very tweakable unless you pay for the full version. I really like these two apps because I can work on patches for crystal synth in iOS and I can control Alchemy with my iPad.

Anyway long story short, I’m very out of date. If you use any free VSTs or AUs for mac that are really great and stable/reliable, please share. I would greatly appreciate it.

When I had a Mac there was one free vst/au that really stood out. http://www.alphakanal.de/ " Automat " its awesome! and the webpage says its working on lion. I was only a macintosh person for 3 1/2 years… so… I’m not a good person to suggest all of what might be out there… automat definitely rules!

looks cool. I think its only available in 32bit though, no 64bit. Not sure if I’ll have to run 32bit version of renoise to use this though.

macosxaudio alphakanal
http://www.macosxaudio.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17733&sid=92c34ff56349996fe2825637006f35d4&start=345

thanks though
I keep running back into macosxaudio.com , interesting… when I have time I’ll look into this site further.

Methinks not. If I’m not mistaken, it already seems you’re running all of your VST effects as 32 bit versions. I think that arrow in parentheses after the vst name means that it is bridged either from 64 to 32 or 32 to 64.

About the topic: I’ve never gone Linux, so I don’t really know what the plugin situation is on that side of the fence, but switching to osx from windows was a big drop in free vst availability. Did that a couple of years back. Basically I’m in the same rut as you, but I’ll go through what I’ve got installed and report back. :)

I’m also going to add this thread to my watchlist.

I will give the 64bit version a try then, after I do a backup though.

As far as linux, last time I tried a couple of years ago I didnt have any luck getting vsts to run, but I thought I heard something about renoise working with someone to port vsts to linux or someone from renoise working on ports. Something like that, but dont quote me on that because it was a while ago and I’m not sure if it came from a reliable source. I’m sure someone might know in this forum. But I ran into this today:

tonespace, a vst for windows, mac and linux
tonespace site

it’s like soundprism (iOS), sort of, except with more options. You can control other vst instruments through midi and easily stay in key by limiting notes pressed (chords). My description is probably crazy and actually probably completely wrong (I’m on 5 hours of sleep for the past 2 days), but the point is I was surprised to see linux support. So maybe there is some real Linux support that has come about in the past few years. I’m sure the popularity of android has helped a bit. Back around 2005-ish I used to run FL Studio with wine in Linux, I’de run scripts that would use windows vsts in Linux, I heard it worked for some but for me it never fully worked. I had the gui for the vsts but no audio. I am going to try tonespace in Linux, just to see if it works… and how well it works. I would love to someday mainly use Linux for music.

I have no idea what I’m typing now. Must sleep.

Not many here, and all effects, no VSTis. Besides the mda/smartelectronix, and keeping in topic with ‘great and stable’.

Kuassa basiQ
a very, very simple (as in non-tweakable) eq. Haven’t tried it that much but what struck me was it’s transparency, so it stuck around.

Kuassa Amplifikation lite
A simple guitar amp sim with alleged impulse loading powers.

Flux BitterSweet II
A ‘transient designer’. One knob to add punch or remove it.

Sónimus SonEQ
A frequency boosting EQ. Probably suits some final stage eq purposes very well.

ndc Plugs SoulForce
A special wave shaping distortion. This one’s my absolute favorite for some weird reason. It’s not that special in any way, but the sounds it generates just fondle my ears in a special way. I tend to put this everywhere. NOTE: It can really DISTORT, so handle with care!

Ambience
Oh, an add: Seemed like OP didn’t have this gem installed. This is IMO one of the better free VST reverbs for mac. Edit:strictly speaking, this isn’t a VST, it’s AU…

I have the shuriken Bertill VST installed too, but that thing is just too hard to handle :D… I rarely use it.

Michael Norris Soundmagic spectral suite is… just… too much to handle. Absolutely awesome for drones, deconstruction, weird-ish things… Must-have.

Soundhack freeware audio units are amazing. The +delay has a 200% feedback, LFO’s, nice filter, phase params… It’s huge. The +decimator… he’s… he’s… decimating, yep. I tried their payware plugins, it’s absolute quality or absolutely unusable, like “god it’s awsumm but hey how can I make it fit in a track ??”

My 2 cents.

All of Valhalla’s products are good, and this one is free and great for the mangling. I believe Sean is updating it right now.

http://www.valhalladsp.com/valhallafreqecho

Thank you for your replies. I am checking these links out as I have time. Also I will post what I find.

There is incomplete list of freeware I’ve found in five years of mac using:
http://kejkz.tumblr.com/plugins

there are lot more plugins on my computer, I’ll finish that list when I get enough time.