discoDSP has announced an update to the OB-Xd software synthesizer based on the Oberheim OB-X.

Version 2.5 of the synth that attempts to recreate its the sound and behavior of the OB-X includes various new features and preset sounds, improvements and fixes.

Changes in OB-Xd v2.5

• Added Scalable GUI (1x, 1.5x, 2x) with HiDPI support for all platforms.
• Added Luke’s Soundhouse 80s & Synthwave Presets bank.
• Preset Bar now uses bold font for better visibility.
• Specific fonts for each system (Helvetica Neue for macOS, Arial for Windows and DejaVu Sans for Linux).
• Revised all themes XML knob sizes and alignments.
• Updated assets with 4x bitmaps including Ilkka Rosa Dark theme.
• Streamlined Menu.
• Updated themes folder error dialog assets and window size.
• Added program popup menu when clicking Preset Bar name.
• Added Menu Help version and Open PDF manual (Windows and macOS).
• Miscellaneous fixes an enhancements.

OB-Xd for Windows and Mac is free for non-commercial use in VST/VST3 and AU plugin formats. AAX is included with a registered license only, available at $49 USD.

https://www.discodsp.com/obxd/

Audiolatry releases Grand Piano XXL free rompler instrument for Windows

Audiolatry has released a free virtual piano instrument plugin featuring the sounds of a sampled Yamaha C5 6’7″ Grand Piano.

The Grand Piano XXL plugin features controls for attack and release, a reverb effect and gain and piano keys release gain. It also includes a tremolo and filter to shape the sound.

The original samples (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license) were recorded by Alexander Holm [axeldenstore (at) gmail (dot) com] with two AKG c414 condenser microphones placed in an AB position at around 12 centimeters above the strings.

All the samples were captured in 48kHz 24bit audio quality with 16 velocity layers which are all present in this virtual plugin, hence the 1.19 GB size on disk. The keys release samples are also added in Grand Piano XXL.

Grand Piano XXL has 16 velocity layers, while the Grand Piano version has only 4 velocity layers but a smaller size (319 MB instead of 1.19 GB).

Both instruments are available as a “name your price” download in VST/VST3 plugin formats for Windows (64-bit), including free.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KgCqX-1cgGUTUaEeEtdCwsz-FsB_HcOP

Samplab VST3 AU WiN MAC [FREE]

Revolutionary audio sample editing.

When you drag and drop an audio file into the plugin, it is sent to our server for processing. Once this is completed, you recieve the result with all the notes in the audio seperated. In order to edit the notes, we generate a MIDI file that you can drag into the Samplab track. From now on, the plugin acts like a virtual instrument: It gets the MIDI events as input from your DAW and plays the (edited) notes. If you don’t make any changes to the MIDI, the result should sound the same as the original audio. Of course, you can also just use the MIDI file for other things.

The Samplab Plugin should be compatible with most DAW’s that support the VST3 or AU plugin formats. It has been verified to work with Ableton Live (10.1 or higher) and FL Studio on Windows and Mac.

An Internet connection is only required to transform new audio files. Once the result is received, you can use and manipulate it indefinitely without being connected to the Internet.

The playback speed of the notes is determined by the tempo of the MIDI files. When you upload a new audio, we estimate its tempo. You can adjust this estimate by changing the “Estimated BPM” in the plugin. For the change to take effect, you have to drag the MIDI file into your DAW again.”

https://samplab.com/

Chameleon guitar plugin

Chameleon is a guitar plugin/standalone app using neural networks to create three distinct sounds from a vintage style amp head. The core sound comes from a neural net inference engine which allows the plugin to disguise itself as a high end tube amplifier. Advanced machine learning was used to capture three distinct sounds, named Red (high gain), Gold (crunchy), and Green (clean). In the same way a real amp head is used with a cabinet and other effects, this plugin is intended to be used in the signal chain along with IR's (cab sim), reverb, and any number of guitar effects.

Chameleon is free and open source on Github for anyone interested in audio DSP with machine learning and neural networks. The capture technique used here is capable of reproducing the dynamic response of real amps and pedals to near perfection.

***For best results, use with 44.1kHz samplerate, which is the optimum samplerate of these particular neural net models.***.

Check out the source code on GitHub.

Read the tech article published on Towards Data Science.

Visit the website for more from GuitarML.

https://guitarml.com/

Chowdhury DSP releases ChowKick free kick drum synthesizer

Chowdhury DSP has released ChowKick, free kick drum synthesizer plugin for Windows and Mac (VST/VST3/AU/LV2).
ChowKick is a kick drum synthesizer based on creative modelling of old drum machine circuits. Along with a highly parameterizable pulse shaper, Chow Kick uses a resonant filter with several nonlinear modes, creating a wide range of possibilities for sound designers. The kick drum can also be easily "tuned" with incoming MIDI notes to match the key of your song.

https://chowdsp.com/products.html#kick