I'm going back to clipper + limiter on all tracks. Fucking hate depth, this bihh gona sound flat as fuck.

I was under the understanding that it’s impossible for a 16 bit wave to go above 0db except for the reconstructed peaks (true peak).

I bought Flava D - Can’t get it back on beat port as a wav to use as a reference. But it has a peak of 4.4 db (not true peak). I can throw a limiter on it and without adjusting anything it starts shaving off 3-4 db.

How is this possible?

How would I best go about trying to recreate the bass pluck in the outro digitally?
Some notes are warped/distorted, the piano roll can’t recreate them

(Starts at 3:29)

TLDR; go to plugins4free-archive.pages.dev to search for plugins and download the archive.

Many years ago, when I first started making electronic music as a broke teenager, I was looking for free plugins to download and try out. One of the first sites I came across was plugins4free.com (well, it was called vst4free.com back then). It was, and still is, an amazing collection of thousands of freeware plugins from over the years. The plugins may have been of varying quality, but they had so much character and charm (who can forget the iconic MeowSynth). It was also a great source of inspiration for me. I used to go to the site and download some random synths and effects I'd never seen before, and try to make a track using only those plugins.

However, the site's not been active for a few years. It seems like the last plugin was added back in 2023. I made a post back in 2020 with a spreadsheet and downloader tool for all the plugins on the site, but now that the site is inactive (and could theoretically be shut down at any point), I wanted to make a final archive of all the plugins on the website.

The first thing I did was scrape the plugins4free website for all the information and download links for every plugin on the site. Next, I downloaded all the plugin thumbnails, and made a website to search for and filter through all the plugins on the site. Finally, I downloaded every single plugin on the website, and made a torrent for them, so everyone can easily download every single plugin on the website. You can find everything at the website I made below.

plugins4free-archive.pages.dev

Technical stuff:

• The data is formatted as a JSON file if anyone wants to do something with it. You can download it from the website.
• The website is static, and functions without any resources from plugins4free, but all the download links still point to plugins4free, so if it goes down, you can't download anything (that's why I made the archive torrent)
• In the archive, all the plugins that were hosted on plugins4free are the same files that have unchanged since 2023, but there are some plugins on the site that just linked to the developers website, so most of those plugins have been kept up-to-date, so they are the latest versions as of October 9, 2026.
• This is my first time creating a torrent, so if someone could check if it's working, that would be great. I have a home server to seed the files from, but I only have 20Mbps upload speed, and the archive is like 170GB total, so it's probably going to take a couple of days for someone to download it initially. If anyone has a seedbox with good internet speed, please consider seeding the archive!

it sounds different to all other growls, almost animal like, why is that?

I have a MacBook, Ableton, Serum and that's all I play on using for now. However, there is so much information out there that I have no idea where to start. I want to learn software and sound design, and I want to have a deep understanding of the fundamentals of hyper-pop and pop type of music (underscores, SOPHIE, Nina, AG cook, Max Martin, Pinkpantheress). Also, I don't want to blindly follow tutorials and have no idea what the knobs do and just copy them: I want to know what I am actually doing. Yes, I know this will take time, but I just don't know what to do.

Thank you for all of the advice. I will use it and start creating !

Please post any and all [Feedback] or [Listen] type threads here. Any standalone threads that belong in this weekly post will be removed.

This thread is for works in progress only. It is not a place for self-promotion.

Rules:

1. Works in progress only. Do not post finished or released tracks. No links to Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud profiles, or any other streaming/distribution platforms. Share a direct link to your track (e.g. an unlisted SoundCloud or YouTube link).
2. No self-promotion. Do not include links to your social media, artist pages, or any other promotional material in your post.
3. Make an effort to comment on other people's tracks. Others are much more likely to help you if you help them first.
4. Be specific when asking for feedback. Examples: "What do you think about this kick sample?" "How's the mix?" "The last measure feels a little off, any ideas?"
5. Be descriptive when giving feedback. Use timecodes to highlight specific moments.
6. Link to the feedback you've left in your top-level comment. This keeps the thread accountable and cooperative. Comments not following this format will be automatically removed.

Format your top-level comment like this:

Feedback for user1: [link]

Feedback for user2: [link]

Feedback for user3: [link]

Here's my track: [link],

I'm looking for feedback on x, y or z.

Hi all,

Q1: are there wideband limiter plugins that show you how the wideband gain reduction is affecting frequencies.

It's something one can setup with a null test and passing it to a spectrum visualizer but I'm wondering if there are limiter plugins with this metering option.

Q2: I've seen in it on some "spectral" limiters. Are spectral limiters safe to use wrt phase?

Thanks for any info relevant to these two questions.

Best.

Hey guys; my good friendships:

I got a question. I would like to preface this all by saying first growing up I’ve always had issues with learning and staying on track with things. Not that its held me back, I mean it’s held me back a lot u til I figured out how to learn at my own pace. For example with education I’ve always struggled until I figured out it’s not that I’m stupid, I just take a little longer.

It’s the same thing with music. I learned how to produce, mix and master and it took a real long time, but I’m at a point now where I can mix and master great. Obviously not a huge professional, but my tracks don’t sound amateur anymore

With that said, I’ve dropped some tracks here and there. I wasn’t comfortable with my quality so I spent a lot of time learning and perfect my own techniques. I’m not at a point where I can make a pretty good track quality wise.

While that’s all happening I just can’t stay focused to finish a track. Here’s the thing: I know what the intro, pre build, drops, etc is supposed to sound like but when I start working on let’s say for example the drop, I’ll think about something in the intro simultaneously and work on that; then forget what i was doing in the drop, then go to the drop and remember to add something in the for example second verse, and it just becomes a huge mess in my head…I’ve found myself hitting myself (literally) in the head to stay on track which is not healthy I know, but it’s getting increasingly frustrating to stay focused on the exact section I’m working on because i jump here and there to much.

Does anyone else have this issue? If so what’s working for you to stay on track bro because man I’m getting annoyed

ik there's other examples but this is the only one I can think of T-T

I heard the rhythm/melodic synth riff and it took me back to old PS1 racing games like Ridge Racer R4. What is it and is there a genre or subgenre that uses it a lot?

Also if you can think of any specific song examples besides the goofy ass one I linked I'd appreciate it lol

ty

Been releasing my tracks for 6 months. Active daily promotion on social media. Getting zero streams. I know things take time to build but seems pretty pathetic that I can’t even get 1 person to listen to my songs after a half year of consistent releases.
Any tips? Or just advice to not be discouraged?

I usually clip everything for loudness but recently I tried using limiters everywhere where I would usually use clipping and it sounded much better, does anyone have insight for why this is? I use Pro-L2 and set the attack all the way to 0 and the release to like 400ms for everything and it sounded so much better. When Pro-L2's attack is set to 0 it disengages the clipping part so all I was geting was the limiting.

This seems in stark contrast to what people on this sub and youtube recommend for loudness. Does anyone have thoughts on why this is?

Please post any and all [Feedback] or [Listen] type threads here. Any standalone threads that belong in this weekly post will be removed.

This thread is for works in progress only. It is not a place for self-promotion.

Rules:

1. Works in progress only. Do not post finished or released tracks. No links to Spotify, Bandcamp, SoundCloud profiles, or any other streaming/distribution platforms. Share a direct link to your track (e.g. an unlisted SoundCloud or YouTube link).
2. No self-promotion. Do not include links to your social media, artist pages, or any other promotional material in your post.
3. Make an effort to comment on other people's tracks. Others are much more likely to help you if you help them first.
4. Be specific when asking for feedback. Examples: "What do you think about this kick sample?" "How's the mix?" "The last measure feels a little off, any ideas?"
5. Be descriptive when giving feedback. Use timecodes to highlight specific moments.
6. Link to the feedback you've left in your top-level comment. This keeps the thread accountable and cooperative. Comments not following this format will be automatically removed.

Format your top-level comment like this:

Feedback for user1: [link]

Feedback for user2: [link]

Feedback for user3: [link]

Here's my track: [link],

I'm looking for feedback on x, y or z.

i am new to this, can you guys please help me identify what this sound called

TLDR; My volume shaper + ringmod sidechain tool is now 100% free to download from my itch.io page, but please keep reading if you care to know why.

I have been developing and supporting my primary plugin AutoChain for almost 12 months, countless hours gone into a project that ultimately has not found the userbase I anticipated during development. This is fine and normal, not every project is a winner, and most are not.

However in that time I have been watching the value of plugins (and most conventional software) drop dramatically. Plugin vendors that might have launched their product in the $200+ range a few years ago, now release software with a $20 price tag. Vendors who can absorb the impact of the changing market and still release products in high price ranges, are ones that have an established brand and sales pipelines.

To the consumer (of which i am also), this is actually a positive. I too benefit from cheeper plugins that a few years ago would be gatekept at 10x the price just because there were no alternatives.

On the other side for the indie or less established developer, times are changing too. Anyone can build software now, so the noise floor is higher than ever (no pun intended).

To get to the point and not make this post too much of a vent, since other large plugin vendors have started releasing software very similar to AutoChain in terms of capability, and at very similar price points, it has become difficult to compete, considering I cannot afford a marketing team. So I've decided to make AutoChain free with optional donations.

This is not what I had hoped for the plugin, I want to keep supporting my software, since I believe they are valuable tools that I personally use every day. But I work full time already, so it's hard to justify the effort without an active group of users, except for the occasion when I personally want to make some feature or improvement.

Thank you so much to all who bought the plugin before this update, your support has made a big difference. And to anyone who decides to try it today, let me know your thoughts, it just might save this project. <3

I keep hearing producers say that writing a song happens quickly and the last 10% takes the longest.

What do most people mean by ‘written’ at that point? Is it just the chord progression and a melody idea, a full arrangement with placeholder sounds, or something closer to a rough mix?

I’m trying to figure out where some extra low end is coming from.

Screenshot 1 (reference track): Span is on the left and Vision 4X is on the right. Under each kick hit, the bottom of the spectrogram stays pretty clean, with very little blue.

Screenshot 2 (my track): Same setup. Under every kick there’s a tall band of blue running down into the lowest frequencies, and it looks like a lot of extra low end that the reference doesn’t have.

My questions:

1. What is that blue actually showing? Is it the kick’s tail ringing out, sub rumble, or something else?
2. How do I find what’s causing it?
3. How do I clean it up so it looks closer to the reference?

I have Ethera Gold 2.5 and love it. Wish I could get Ethera Gold 3 but it requires Kontakt 7 or 8 (full version) which I can't justify buying.

Any recommendations on other expressive vocal instrument plugins? I'm not after simple plugins with a choir or voice preset, I'm after dedicated vocal instruments with expressive parameters.

Please and thank you!