Joined Oct 6, 2016 Messages 79 Motherboard Dell XPS 13 9350 (Clover) CPU i7-6560U (100-series) Graphics Intel Iris 540/3200 x 1800.
M.A.C.E. is still at very early stages of development, but will eventually add here more ways to try the emulation out. Currently, we have a couple pre-packaged Application bundles available for you to try out on Mac OS X and Windows 10 platforms below.
NOTE #1! In Mac OS X version, holding down the āShiftā key when starting an application will perform a āsoft-resetā of the bundle, which may help if any of the contained files gets accidentally damaged. This will in particular restore resource forks of certain applications which are modified on the fly, for example ZeroGravity or Continuum which save high-scores in the application resources. (For Windows version, you need manually delete the file system cache folder ā see below)
NOTE #2! As of MACE 0.1 beta 7, the bundles use Application Support folder in the Userās Library folder as storage for writable file system, so if you create any files and/or saved games you wish to preserve, you will find them in Application Support/MACE/<application-name>/vfs folder in AppleDouble format. On windows, the location is Users/<username>/AppData/Roaming/<application-name>/vfs.
Blog Manager Demonstration is an interesting āGameā, which contains a number of games. It was released by Paul DuBois as public domain in 1986.
Mac Concentration is a āmatch pairsā memory game written by Daryl L. Scott in 1985, released as freely distributable.
With kind personal permission by Brian Wilson, Continuum 1.04 from 1992 is also now available for trying out as M.A.C.E. bundle below. He has also written a comprehensive history and a lot of interesting details about the game on his website at https://www.ski-epic.com/continuum_downloads/.
With kind personal permission by John Calhoun, Glider 4.10 from 1991 is now available for trying out as M.A.C.E. application bundle. This game is one of the Mac gaming classics, where you are in control of paper airplane, flying through various rooms searching for escape from the house.
GunShy is a mahjongg clone written by E.C. Horvath in 1987-1990, distributed under every-ware permission.
The public domain game IAGO was written by David Reed in 1984.
With kind personal permission by Robert Munafo, the original Missile version 2.3 from 1984 is also now available for trying out as M.A.C.E. bundle below. If you like, you can also read history of Missile on his website.
With kind personal permission by Rick Holzgrafe, Scarab of RA 1.4 from 1992 is now available for trying out as M.A.C.E. application bundle. Please note that the author has explicitly stated, that anyone may use this version of the app for free, and no payment is expected or wanted, and the address in the āAboutā box is no longer correct.
Stunt Copter was developed in 1986 by Duane Blehm, before sadly passing away in 1988. Later, the game (and its source code) was released to public domain. The version weāve added here packaged with M.A.C.E. is the unmodified original 68K version.
ZeroGravity is another game written by Duane Blehm in 1987, which was also released to public domain.
This post is for the Mac users.
When it comes to Mac OS X, the number of freeware plugins is very low, compared to the Windows world.
The popular āSave as VSTā softwares (Synthedit and Synthmaker) are Windows only.
The āupgradeā politic of Apple is a sort of nightmare for developers (and sometimes users!), so many old free plugins donāt work anymoreā¦
I have searched for free MAC plugins over the web and then tested !
ā only free synth (not effects), in VST and or AudioUnit (AU) format
ā the OS used is Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion)
ā i tested the plugins in Ableton Live 9 / Renoise / some free VST & AudioUnit host softwares (Pedalboard, the JUCE open source plugin host, VSTLord, AULab, Ugly VSTi Interfaceā¦)
Itās a selection with free virtual analog synths, organ emulations, epiano emulations, drum synth, bass synth, FM synth, emulation of Oberheim / NordLead / DX 7 synth, chip synth, guitar emulationā¦
and here a list of 25 free synth plugins for Mac OS X :
The must-have free synth plugin is available for Mac since one or two years, it is in beta state, it still have some minor bugs with the UI, but itās usable and you can benefit from the incredible amount of presets created for Synth1, including these š
=>
https://blog.wavosaur.com/synth1-presets-chris-bank-volume-2/ &
https://blog.wavosaur.com/chris-bank-synth1-reup/
I had some problems for saving preset in Ableton Live.
Synth1 can do an incredible variety of sounds.
The most versatile Synth in this list
OBXD AU
The free Oberheim OB-X OB-Xa OB-8 emulation !
work without any problem in my AudioUnit / VST hosts on Mac.
http://www.u-he.com/cms/tyrelln6
DL here : http://www.amazona.de/amazona-de-freeware-synthesizer-tyrell-n6-v3/
U-He loves the Mac, donāt hesitate to have a look at the other freeware on the Website, all are working without problems in VST or AudioUnit format. I have also selected Triple Cheeze and Zebralette from the same developer. These plugins are good and full featured.
TyrellN6 plugin comes with a big amount of presets, and a deep variety of sounds. Itās powerful and easy to program. Itās rock solid stable and have a nice UI too!
FreeAlpha AU
This freeware from LinPlug sounds very good, it has punch and is easy to tweak. It can do punchy bass, but also nice pads and clean leads. Despite its simple look, itās powerful and funky!
The old Crystal Synth is still top, and one of the best synth for complex / evolving PADS, with its multipoint envelopes, and the complete modulation matrix.
One of the best virtual synth, for more than 10 years!
TAL Noisemaker
Like U-He, TAL has many freebees for Mac OS X.
I have selected Noize M4k3r and Elek7tro but you also have other interesting plugins.
The āNoise Makerā plugin has two osc + sub, a good filter and the famous Chorus āa la Rolandā, so you have all you need for your fat bass/lead. Certainly more agressive than Crystal, it completes well the sonic arsenal.
The famous free Yamaha DX7 emulation ! Itās VST only (no AU for the moment).
Use the cart / load / save button to browse or import presets.
It can read / write sysex files for and from the DX7.
Now all your FM needs are fullfilled: you can do pop ballad or Detroit techno, vive la FM !
MiniSpillage AU
Now that we have the FM synth, the Pad synth, the Bass synth and Lead capable synths, we need a DRUM synth. The Minispillage plugin has three dedicated algo for bass drum, wood drum and hihat.
I tend to prefer āDrumaticā but Drumatic is Windows only.
After all these synths, we now need an emulation of our prefered organ : the Farfisa combo organ!
ComboF gives you the sound of the Italian electric organ we all love. Available for Mac and windows, in AudioUnit and VST!
MrTramp2
After the organ emulation, we need the electric piano! MrTramp 2 is the best (free or not) emulation of the Wurlitzer electric piano. Itās raining again ! Now you can sound like Supertramp ! Breakfast in America !! There are not so much controls but you donāt need more, and the sound is excellent.
A dedicated string synth plugin for Mac ! The Cheeze machine from Big Tick is a kind of Arp Solina emulation. It has this phaser / chorus creamy sound.
itās AU only and should work with your favorite Mac host software.
TripleCheeze plugin
Cheese again !
The U-He contribution to the first KVR Developer Challenge. Itās an original synth with unusual sound generation. Nice for plucked sounds. Works well on my Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Thanks to the comb filter, you can generate very original sounds.
We have ComboF for the Farfisa emulation, and for the Hammond B3 organ lovers, thereās Zr3.
Itās VST only and works nice in Ableton Live 9.
The only good free Hammond B3 emulation for Mac OS X.
TAL Elektro
A perfect free synth for bass and perc sounds.
Donāt forget to check the other TAL plugins !
Coming from here ! the funkiest text to speech in plugin format !
The best C64 Sam oldskool text to speech emulator, for all your techno voices.
Available in 32 & 64 bit, VST & AU
Zebralette plugin
Coming with the demo of Zebra, the famous synth by u-He, Zebralette is a nice synth, with unusual sound, and powerful possibilities and plenty of special waveforms to play with.
The antic VST from Steinberg, now free, and now available in VST format for Mac OSX.
It has been surpassed in all domain by many other synth (freeware included). But it can be useful and you can get some nice sounds out of it if you tweak it with love.
VB1 bass
Another prehistoric virtual synth from Steinberg, this virtual bass plugin is free and available with Model E in the same package (see link above). Very simple sound, can be useful.
Freeware for Mac are rare so we take it!
NO GUI
These free VST work for Mac OS X, they donāt have UI, youāll have to use the default interface supplied by your host.
ā Piano & ePiano are sample based synth, the ePiano is very good, itās a kind of Rhodes emulation.
ā DX10 is a FM Synth, it has only two operators, but you can still get nice bell sounds out of it.
ā JX10 is a very nice virtual analog synth, despite some bugs (the Windows version has the same), it can do some very nice leads.
Another free electric piano emulation for your Mac!
Itās simple and has a nice clean sound. Perfect for deep house chords.
Chip 32 AU
This is the URL where you can also find the Cheeze Machine VST, and also the very good Clavinet emulation by Big Tick (TickyClav). Chip32 is a very simple plugin, perfect for your chip tune needs.
A free Audio Unit / VST emulation of an acoustic guitar ! Itās use a physical modelled synthesis, and is a great emulation. Here are coming the ukulele / banjo / Flamenco guitar !
Scythe VST
A very simple VA Synth (VST only), with two oscillators, a filter, modulation envelope & some embedded effects : bitcrusher / phaser / chorus / delay.
Itās simple but efficient.
You can also generate random presets!
A virtual substractive synth with 3 osc, and filter for each osc, + many effects and modulations.
Itās audiounit only, and like Scythe, it has a random preset generator.
VOPM VST synth
A VST emulation of the Yamaha YM2151 Chip that was used in many arcade games, and is similar to the chip in the Sega Megadrive. Itās a 4 operator FM synth, with 8 algorithm.
hereās a lot of preset for VOPM : http://truechiptilldeath.com/blog/2010/05/04/opm-patches-out-of-most-genesis-games/
1) thereās also kickmaker, a free kick drum synthesizer in VST and AU format : http://teragonaudio.com/KickMaker.html
and C700, that can load sample in aiff and wav format :
http://picopicose.com/software.html
2) I also tried other free VST plugins for MAC , but with no luck (no one working in any host on my Mac OS X Mountain Lion), i think these are too old plugins, or maybe ppc plugins (even if they were said to work on Mac OS X).
For example :
the Delay Lama ! http://www.audionerdz.nl/download.htm
AU303 & AirySynth : http://airy.andre.online.fr/AU/index.html#au303
3) Iām working on a port of Rave Generator VST for MAC, here you can find a beta (x64 only, VST only) :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/149376535107031/835302689847742/
3) Iām also working on a port of CreakBox (the TB303 plugin) for MAC OS X (i already have converted it to VST2.4 then to 64 bit), see link ( @ 6. and in the comments) :
https://blog.wavosaur.com/best-free-tb-303-emulation-sotware-vst-plugins-standalone/
4) iāll do another posts with the free effect plugins for MAC ! It seems there are more effects available for free than synths.