Dungeon VST [FREE DOWNLOAD]

October 1, 2023
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DUNGEON VST PLUGIN [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I made another VST free to download it’s a Halloween special and I used an old Yahama keyboard for the sounds and put FXS on them to change the sound, I also designed the GUI to the plugin which as always I enjoyed doing the most apart from making the sounds for the VST which I also enjoyed the most. I named it Dungeon to go with the Halloween theme and because it’s a dark-sounding VST and you can’t get any darker than a dungeon. I used an old photo I took which was around 2010 of the woods when it was getting dark it is one of my favourite photos I took other than the one I took with my dog the same day with her in a misty background in the background it looked like she was standing on her legs and her eyes were all lit up, I should dig it up again one day and try to use it in something but I have no idea what. As always I used Romplur to make the VST with the Romplur website to put the GUI together which didn’t take that long I also used online FXs for a change to make the main background picture for the GUI. I wanted to make something diverse so I made or as I wished to I ended up with various sounds that would be good for soundtracks of all types including atmospheric soundtracks so I’m pretty happy with the outcome and with the new plugin. I rent to own which is paid in small bits and it’s yours once you pay off the balance no extra charges and you can cancel whenever you want. I love the scheme and I’ve been doing it on Splice since they introduced the thing I can’t remember when that was but it wasn’t that long ago. I used Infiltrator 2 plugin to change the sounds and transform them it’s the newest plugin I got and I’m still trying to get to grips with it so I used the presents for now until I know how to use it properly but it sounds good still unsure how much or how many times you can change the sound to a different texture but I like it. As always the plugin comes with built-in FX to further change it like Reverb, Delay, Chorus, LFO Routing, Chrous, Glide, Cutoff for High Pass and Low Pass Filters and more. The plugin is suited for all genres as it’s a synth but also good for Halloween and Horror soundtracks and songs and also dark and moody tracks but I made it with Halloween and Horror tracks in mind.  Below is the demo video with all the sounds in the video and also 4 tracks which show off the sounds some more and are all different genres to get a feel for what it can and can not do but something Halloweeny and also can be found on my Bandcamp free download page since it’s Halloween.

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Playroom VST [FREE DOWNLOAD

August 1, 2023
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PLAYROOM VST PLUGIN [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I’m back with another synthesizer VST plugin for Windows and Mac and of course another free download for you. I made this one with toys I got from the charity shops and put my own twists and turns to the sounds which of course I enjoyed doing the most. I had some toys lying around already so I decided to get some more and get creative with it and twiddle with the sounds for different FXs and sounds. Of course, the toys will be going back to the charity shop now I have finished with them and I thought it was a perfect way to shop and have fun as I love charity shopping it’s always fun to look for something you don’t even know you are looking for or want but I always come out with some good stuff even though it just tack. If I was older and collected records I probably be at the local charity shops a lot more looking for those gems but I’m more tape deck myself. I used a lot of FXs like reverb, delay, flanger, compression and other FXs to mould the sounds and to get them to sound different from what came out of the box I am satisfied with the sounds that I made but some could be a lot better I must admit. I would describe this plugin for electronic-based genres like House, Vaporwave, Jungle/Drum and bass, Techno, Synthwave and gaming music but I think you could use it for anything and hopefully is diverse in sound and options. But I think it could make some alright old-school House and Jungle/Drum and Bass vibes with this plugin. I’ve tested it out and there is something retro about it probably because they are all old toys. The toys were all from different charity shops and I looked for toys that make noise and most importantly electric based as you get some good samples from the toys that are electric based, unlike the analogue ones. I like to think that I’m killing two birds with one stone so to speak as it’s helping the needy and vulnerable whilst doing what I love which is making music and making music from everyday objects, I mean it could be anything as long as it makes a noise I can manipulate the sound to make it sound different and not like what you heard when you first played it. My favourite way to experiment is with everyday objects that somehow I get a good tone out of after a bit of caressing the sounds with various FXS and plugins that is. I have a Tascam which is a voice recorder that comes in handy every now and then but it’s what I used to record the sounds with and then load onto my computer. It’s a bit annoying as it’s a mini SD card and I had to buy a special device to transfer audio with but the fine wine of having such gadgets makes life a lot easier even though you have to find the stick and put it in but not to bad I suppose. I did run into some trouble with some of the sounds but I managed to save the best sounds and do what I could with them. I describe the synth plugin as being rough sounding for those edgier tracks. It took two days to make plus the GUI art which I also made with the plugin called Romplur which makes it easier to make VSTs.

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Synthetics VST [FREE DOWNLOAD

March 19, 2023
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SYNTHETICS VST PLUGIN [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I made another plugin for Windows and Mac and this one is called Synthetics half the word synthesizer and half the word genetics and is another synthy VST for you if it’s any good to you. I made the VST sounds with Massive and the plugin itself with Romplur and took two days to make the whole thing from scratch. I must admit I could have done better with some of the sounds but I couldn’t be bothered to find a good tutorial to make some outstanding sounds and I haven’t made sounds with Massive for a while now so it was kind of hard to get the sounds right especially the basses which I spent more time with that then the synth sounds. I made 40 synth sounds from scratch and 20 basses from scratch which took all morning and all day to do but it was kind of easy as it was swapping the settings around and changing Oscillator wavetables, some of the sounds are a bit rough but it is an experimental synth plugin and also I left some options like delay, reverb and filter cut-off to modify the sound as you wish. It’s ideal for all synth genres but especially for electronic experimental which wasn’t how I planned the plugin but it turned out that way I kind of started off making an experimental plugin and then forgetting and then wanting some more normal synth sounds.   I would describe the sounds as sounds from the old 70s synthesizers like the Modular with square and sine basses but the synth sounds remind me of the old skool original synthesizers that were before my time but still fashionable and well sort after in my era which was the 80s and 90s I was born in the 80s though.  I made the GUI as seen in the picture above and I love to photoshop. I use Gimp for now to do all the photo editing but I really need Adobe as I heard it has more options though a bit long and stretched to put it together but it’s always worth doing it. I also called it Synthetics as I have synth music in my blood and am quite obsessed with them if that’s the right word. It started down at the Fire Station a hang-out in Bristol for up-and-coming artists and I used to play around on the synths making my own beats once I had the drums which I used to do that way in advance to save me time and effort when I really wanted to make music and plus I only had a couple of hours a day but it was time well spent and all the fun I had whilst there. Synth music is my passion and don’t think I would have enjoyed playing around with them if I didn’t play the keyboard at an early age but I always wanted to make my own music and sounds and now I have the chance to do it I can’t stop and I am always looking for new ways to make music and love to make Electronic Dance Music too which is my other love. I’ll probably use this plugin again for some more experimental stuff but I already used it for a synth scape which is an hour-long synth journey using only this plugin and drums. I made the first one after I messed up a mix I was making and it came out weird but interesting so I  decided to make something of it which is now going to be a running theme on my YouTube channel and in the video section on this website but YouTube is the main channel and have already posted lots of videos to hopefully keep you entertained, I posted the synth scape video in this post below the demo video since I only used this one.

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Farmyard Frollics VST [FREE DOWNLOAD]

March 2, 2023
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FARMYARD FROLLICS VST PLUGIN [FREE DOWNLOAD]

A free VST Plugin and a bit of fun it’s of farm sounds with extra knobs to twiddle with and experiment with. I did leave the sounds as they were but I was going to make sounds but I like the idea of experimenting and coming up with different sounds and rhythms but I might make another one with more sounds you can use straight off unless you are using the sounds for other then making music then this plugin may be for you. It has 20 of the main sounds of the farm including a cow, a duck, a chicken, a horse, a pig, a sheep and lamb, a donkey, a rooster, a turkey, a rabbit, a frog, birds chirping, a goose, chicks, a cricket, a dog and cat and even the llama.  As I said before it also comes with extra knobs to fiddle with such as flanger, delay, reverb, LFO, chorus, phaser and knobs for attack, decay extra. I do encourage you to use extra plugins on the sounds I used filters from Arturia on all the demo songs below and Fab Filters to smooth things out a bit but apart from that all the things used were from the plugin itself. I used Romplur to make the plugin and I used their website and stuff to make the GUI cover which I like and I think looks different and a bit public information film or PIF for short as I always type after each time. These are royalty free sounds and you can use them for any genre as they are just sounds with extra options but I made two synthy tracks, a Reggaeton track and House track with the sounds using one or two paired FXS at  a time. I could have added more but I wanted to stay with the main animals on the farm and did a bit of research on the animals you will found on a farm which are all on this list. I called it Farmyard Frollics as I wanted something fun like I hope the plugin will be and I thought there was something funny about frolics but I spelt it with two ls by accident actually but then I remembered something I read ages ago that plugins are meant to be spelt wrong or different so it all worked out fine in the end.  Making this plugin does make me want to get back out there and start on them country walks again as I love to walk and seem to over walk until I’m too far and realise I have gone way to far and wished I didn’t walk so far and that I was at home again but my dog seemed to love it R.I.P. There something about going to the country side and seeing all those sites and sounds and feeling quite relax but saying that I’ve been on some noisy walks with the tractors and ducks and animals making a racket but it’s always fun to be out in the open I’m too busy in doors now a days which is a shame but in the summer I must try and get out a bit more that’s the plan anyway but I do like being in front of the computer a lot. 

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Cry Baby Keys VST

December 11, 2022
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CRY BABY VST PLUGIN [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I made another VST plugin for Windows and Mac and I used my synth doll I brought online and Serum to make the sounds and once again I’m happy with most of them but there are a few I don’t like. This is the most unique plugin I made as I used my synth doll the Baby Bot and also a picture of the Baby Bot which I added to the other generator in Serum you can use pictures to generate sounds and there are two generators to make sounds and loads of dials and filters to make the sound better. On top of that I used more hardware filters and FXs to make the sounds less generator sounds which came as sine, square, triangle, pulse and saw which I’m guessing the pictures make up one of the above, there are a few more and also wave table forms which aren’t any of the above but custom made wavetables and wavetables are what generator the sound the square, triangle, sine, etc. The plugin makes up 100 presents in total 40 keys, 20 leads, 20 sequencers, and 20 basses and I used Blue Arp for the sequencers. I added filters and other options to handle the sounds a bit better and there is drive which is currently left on but is best to turn off that option it’s in the bottom left corner as seen in the picture above. I didn’t know what to call it, to be honest, but I thought it had to be baby related as I used the Baby Bot to make the sounds so after a quick think I liked the sound of cry baby and had a ring to it and couldn’t be bothered to think of another name but I liked the sound of it. I needed to get good use out of that doll I bought which was £250 at that time plus £35 custom fees but it may have been £45 but now it’s £350 plus the custom tax you pay I blame Brexit but anyway. The doll is custom-made and has seven dials to change the sounds and one of them is a filter it generates harsh sounds from the built-in generator which it’s endless but there are not actually sounds you can make music with straight off and takes filters and other FXs to make the sounds better but it was worth getting as I’ve had so much fun with it already even though I don’t really play with it that much but when I have  a good use for it I definitely get it out and mess around. I’ve filmed a few videos now with it now and made a few songs which the music can be found on Soundcloud and the videos on my YouTube channel and also under the hub in Hub>Videos>Random Videos. The videos are just me messing about with the Baby Bot and making songs with them the eyes light up different colours and change with the sounds which is how I fall in love with it and also I could get some good use out of it as I like my things practical. I also made the GUI the picture above the background for the VST and I actually used the Romplur website and also the Romplur plugin to make the background and the main layout of the plugin and the plugin itself which took two days to make throughout the day and night that does include making the sounds as well I must admit I could of spend more time making the sounds but I like to make them fast and not spend too much time making them but I do enjoy making them. I will be making more plugins with the Baby Bot as it is a good useful thing but I will have to get back to YouTube to see what I may have left out whilst I was making the sounds and also to get some different techniques but I was surprised I remembered how to make the sounds as it’s been a few years since I made sounds with Serum. This is a free download so I hope you enjoy it and has some use for you all, let me know what you think.

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5 Reasons Why Music Can Help With Your Mental Health

November 27, 2022
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I got inspired after making my 24-hour mental health music marathon and I thought I’d do a blog post around mental health and music and how it helped me and also how it can help you with five ways music can help with your mental health with examples of songs for that topic. As I said before music has always been a blessing and a curse and at times music was my downfall but also my up fall too. I would have phases of different subjects but in the end I noticed positive tracks really helped me and the negative tracks sometimes worked just as long it wasn’t too violent as I’m not a violent person and that might of lead me down the wrong path which is not what you want when you are starting out to be someone. I started off using music as a remedy after a teacher said I should listen to some Classical and after hearing it I noticed how still my mind was, but it wasn’t my thing being around six at the time maybe seven. So, I began to hunt for tracks with the same side effects, but I lost my way and found some other tracks with lyrics like Queen Break Free and also Madona Live To Tell A Secret and noticed how that made me feel on top of a lot of House and a bit of Junge too. It’s safe to say music has been my savior though and I owe a lot to it also a few stern words with the music and myself for leading myself down the wrong paths which I’m not even walking a centimeter near it it’s a graveyard. I feel it can be a potential answer to some of your problems you might have and has answered some of my burning questions and at the worst to know I wasn’t alone even though it wasn’t my lifestyle and spent time differing the two. I do remember some music wasn’t good for my mental health as I said some tracks and albums made me angrier and I was on for doing the unthinkable, but it wasn’t murder but getting my own back. That is why I don’t play a lot of violent raps as it doesn’t make you want to do something bad, but it makes you in the name of Ludacris “Act A Fool” which I try and not do. Yes, true fact though I used Ludacris Act A Fool to calm down and not be so out there on the streets and worked when I wasn’t smoking weed as that was doing the job for me. I used to smoke a lot of weed whilst listening to music, I also collected quite a few tracks in the past and had a good decent number of tracks from all sorts of genres but all the old skool classic I probably had them at one point in my life. I had fun making my own playlists of different types of categories like relaxing, summer, morning etc it’s how I got the feel for each state of the day or season. My first music awakening was by Salt ‘n’ Pepa Unnecessary with the song None Of Your Business I really took a lot from that track alone, but it was how I dealt with racism I was getting from the kids at school which all ended up good in the end apart from one. Also, Janet Jackson’s That’s The Way Love Goes taught me a lot and not to be so hung up when things don’t go my way which I still have the same attuited to this day. Also Adventures Of Stevie V’s Taught me about the evil of money and corruption there’s been a few tracks I have learned from and mostly good. The weirdest learning curve through music was actually Barbie Girl where I realised it doesn’t matter if you were fake, you still could be a good person and not stale something I wished I took more attention to when growing up as I always let the haters get to my head which is now a thing of the past thankfully but that was a nightmare.    

1. To Relax

It goes without saying sleep is important and even though I do have a lot of all nighters I do get my sleep and catch up eventually, but music has always helped me with getting to sleep and also relaxing. My two choices for relaxing or sleeping are slow jams and classical music and when I’m in the mood I listen to that or used to should I say. I always make Sunday a calm one with playing slow songs but not always it helps me keep calm and also focus a lot which is what I need a lot of when I get distracted. Also rain and the sounds of the woodland that helps me relax as well and get to bed early but when I’m up its stuck. It’s hard to say what R’n’B singers help me relax because they all do all the best slow jams from the 90s especially which is more my specialty, or it used to be. For me there are two types of relaxing music stuff to unwind to and stuff to fall asleep and funny enough I used Janet Jackson’s song That’s The Way Love Goes and Anytime Anyplace also by Janet Jackson for my sleeping pattern as I find Janet has quite a soothing voice and especially on those tracks. Another song that comes to mind when I’m playing music to sleep is Aaliyah’s At Your Best (You Are Loved) or the Isely Brother’s original version, also Dru Hill’s Beauty because I always said I got my beauty sleep with that song, oh one last one Mariah Carey’s Rooftop Ft Mobb Deep that gets me asleep really quick and one more Johnny Gill My, My, My, the keys always put me asleep. For my just relaxing at home, I like to listen to a lot of Reggae Dub but not all the time and normal Reggae also Hip Hop and R’n’B but I try to play something different each day. I like to listen to relaxing mostly at night when it’s dark and more nighttime listening or though when I haven’t had much sleep I tend to listen to softer music and fall back asleep which sounds lazier than it is lol. Sleep is part of the well being cycle and as I said it’s important to get enough sleep even when you didn’t get any you have to catch up to stop the mind from wondering too much. Not only that it does help repair the tissue in the brain and that helps to regrow cells which we need in our brain to function right. Not getting enough sleep can lead to delusions like hearing and visions and also if you are already intolerant it could dramatically increase your mental illness if you ran yourself to the ground.      

2. To Vent

Say what you want music is good for venting angry and other emotions from your head just as long it’s in your own personal space and it’s not hurting anyone everyone needs to vent every now and then or it will fester into something more serious. I vent in many ways through music and the classic one is have a nice day won’t you putting it bluntly when dealing with haters something I won’t bring up as the music industry and Hollywood has taught me don’t give them too much light or they might grow bigger, and you wouldn’t want that. Venting could be any emotion, but I would say it’s more of a negative thing than a positive and has helped me get all my emotions like angrier out and has also guided me as the stuff they were rapping about haters I could feel that and know way before clout became in it was a thirsty mind set and was looked down at now it’s all topsy turvy. I also used songs to vent my anxieties and push past the barriers of fear and paranoia from weed and my mental health. It wasn’t easy and took a distraction like talking or singing the words to overcome the fear, but it was all in my head.  The last song I used to challenge demons was Lil’ Kim’s Haterz when it came out whenever that was, I was in college and there’s a lot of bitches it was a bit too much, but I completed the course for Business but that was a hard year for me. That was the last time I used a song to vent but when WAP came out wet ass you know what did come to mind for some next up shinny thing. Artists I tend to pick up a lot of talk about haters is from Notorious B.I.G, Lil’ Kim, Tupac, and Mobb Deep those were the artist I tend to listen to when I was and wasn’t thinking about my haters. I mean really you shouldn’t even let them unnerve you, but it is hard with all the comments they give but don’t want any real smoke. That’s how I use music to vent my angry out without losing all control as you don’t want a “sore loser” now do we. Music can also be to let the tears run though I’m don’t believe in sitting in trauma and pain though some circumstances obviously, time is a healer but there are some things you can easily recover from. Basically, it’s not as bad as you thought, I mean I’ve been through a lot of shitty stuff and know half the things that happen are just silly mishaps that you can easily get around the trick is not to soak for too long and a healthy routine or activity in your life can stop you from bouncing off the walls. Songs I listen to vent my feelings for angrier I play Lil’ Kim Backstabbers, Notorious B.I.G. Playa Haters and Big Pun Beware. For Sad songs I like Whitney Houston Ft Faith Evans & Kelly Price Heartbreak Hotel, Brian Knight Anytime, and Mary J Blige I’m Goin Down but on the flip side Changes I’ve Been Through which is more my thing less downy and more upbeat. 

3. To Lose Time & Forget

Music is a good key to lose track of time and forget your troubles even if it was worth a x number of minutes. I use music to speed up the clock and make things go a bit faster in the day and at night my music is on low and to also forget my troubles and is a good source for doing so. For me it started at a club or rave and losing track of time there, so it was only natural to bring it home with me. I notice though it didn’t have to be ravy and could be something relaxing and calm you can easily shut your brain off and zone out but not too much as that is bad for you. The quickest way though to pass time is to put on something clubby and long and the time soon goes there’s been a couple of times where I was listening to a really long mix, and it was over before I knew it which was what I was looking for also having something to do with the brain and fingers that helps and is sort of like binge watching on YouTube or wherever. If I’m really feeling the music or I am already up I might do a quick twirl on the dancefloor and that helps me relax later down in the day when I’m still energetic. I use music to speed up things mainly when I want the days to go quicker or if I’m just bored but I feel a bit of music warms the place up and can stop it from feeling isolated and empty. Also I make music music and that keeps me busy doing stuff when I’m actually making music, but I don’t watch TV as I don’t pay a TV licence, so I watch YouTube and make music instead which is a lot more fun than sitting in front of the box and switching off, but TV is another aider for time passing if there is something good on that is. I like to leave the music on throughout the day and night as it keeps me company and I tend to listen to my radio Ghosting Radio home to all my music as I just want some background noise and don’t want to change over every two minutes it drives me mental lol. On my way to London, I noticed how fast it would go if I had the right music so it may take a bit of practice to fully get your mind to fully switch off but it’s worth it. I also never used to travel anywhere on foot or on the bus without my MP3 or Walkman in the 90s it’s the only thing that gets me through the travel as I don’t really like travelling no more and stay busy on my computer. Music helps me zone out and also concentrate which I tend to put something suitable on depending on what the task is, but I use my music to concentrate on things I do creative wise and need undescribed music and my music fits the bill. Music wise to lose time to Missy Elliot Click Clack which could be seen as a vent song also, Dem Franchise Boyz Oh I Think They Like Me, DJ Zinc Supa Sharp Shooters, Da Brat Fab 5 Freedy which is another vent song and lastly Sticky Ft Kele Roc Things We Do which I always have to turn up loud for that one. I would say they were some of my release songs that has helped me through a lot like dealing with haters, getting money and also life in general which was a huge learning curve for me never again though life is always hard when you are a kid growing up. 

4. To Remember

The real magic of music it unlocks memories and yes for the good and bad, but I like to concentrate on the good side. I have countless memories with ties to music but the ones that come to mind is partying but I’m sure I had some sensible times as well. There are lots of good times I had with music that I now have lost or didn’t find which is a shame, but I have lots of songs I remember and some I don’t. I have songs for every occasion from summer, summer in the 90s, Christmas, birthdays and many more events I was a part of and lucky to be a part of. I love when I’m walking with my MP3 on, and I suddenly get a memory out of the blue I haven’t had any like that for a while now but that was the fact I was listening to music whilst walking. What I don’t like is being on a bus and getting a flashback as I like to think in my own time when no one is around which sometimes I over think things, but I hate that and try to turn the music off before I have a laughter fit and people start looking at me funny. I might have said this already on a different webpage but if you are trying to get some old memories back try playing some songs from that time maybe from the charts or whatever you were playing at the time which does trigger the memoires and believe me, they can be shocking and unbelievable as I didn’t believe myself, but music does help with rusty brains especially if there are a few years missing in your memory calendar. It may take a few goes and best when you are not distracted by things around you, but I got a lot of my memories back with the help of playing the old bangers which can be taxing on your mind and make you feel like you are going mad. Also, I used music to memorize a function when I was working at an agency which had a whole of rhythm to it and found it easier with some music and an hour to memorize the 5 handles left, right, angle, arms up, head tilt. What I also like to do is pick and rap song cos my singing is crappy, but I would learn the song step by step and get confident enough to rap it out loud it’s good for motor skills and for memory. There are a few songs I know off by heart and can do some blindfolded which I still don’t know how I got through it since I haven’t listened to the tracks in quite a while but it’s good to know I still have the memory space I thought I lost it. Another good practise is playing keyboard and I used to be better at learning new songs I haven’t tried in a while now like 3 years as I haven’t got the motive to do it, but I want to and want to do another Bach piece and something easy at first.  My songs that I have memories with is Salt ‘n’ Pepa Whatta Man that has a lot of memories attached to it, Corona Rhythm Of The Night which reminds me of the good times in the early 90s, Lumidee Uh Oh which reminds me when I was at St Pauls Carnival and where I was hearing a lot of Reggaeton which was all good and easy to dance to. You might as well say the whole How High album by Redman & Method Man but their tracks Let’s Do It is my favourite and has a lot of memories. It reminds me of my young self with bongs and going raving whenever we had the money. Lastly Sean Paul’s album but mainly Gimmie The Light as that’s a club banger and I got drunk and danced to that quite a few times and they are all similar to my bus ride reflections a bit cringe but laughable, I’m always up for a laugh though within reason but that’s why I enjoyed raving and clubbing as it was a good chance to have a laugh.

5. To Laugh

I do like a good song to laugh to and I think music can help you laugh it out and is a good way to boast your mood if you are feeling low and have several songs that do that for me. It all started with the TLC Crazy Sexy Cool interlude you know the one where she is missing some toilettes  items in a prank call that always boasted my mood no matter how much it made me cringe it always made me laugh. There are a few interludes and skits that make me laugh and mainly in Hip Hop but some R’n’B too it’s always good for a laugh and to also forget where you are for a minute which when bored or low is always a handy tool to have and thanks to YouTube, Spotify and other music platforms they are all at our finger tips and you just need a good memory to know what album it was on as that was the problem I faced when looking for those skits and interludes. I supposed the more shocking or true to life is the ones I usually play like the ones that you are like I can’t believe you said that or ha true that those are my favourite to play. It’s also memories you can laugh at the memories you had or though I won’t go on about it again but they are good for remembering your memories with the people and things you hold dear to you. As I mention in all my status I like to have a laugh and think it’s important not to take yourself seriously as you have no fun in life. Though saying that there is a time and place for having a laugh but I think it’s important to let go every now and then even if Becky is bitching about how fabulous she thinks she is you should let them bitch and do you don’t worry about the haters as I say I don’t live for my haters which mean say what you want we ain’t related or in any kind of friendship I’m going do me. That’s why it’s also good to laugh at your haters and the people who chat shit and there are a lot of songs that help me laugh at them. I always say like the saying goes there’s no point sitting there in the dumps with the why me attitude as the haters will be having a field day so I use music to also help me laugh and put my middle finger up to the bullshit and say not today thank you. I also use music to rap along and entertain myself for a few hours at the most which I put on the funny songs to help me get in the mood with things but I always rap the most sensible lyrics and leave out the most obscene. I don’t really remember all the funny songs but I used to have quite a lot of tracks that I deemed as funny but I have lost them now. I say it’s good for your mental health and it can help boast your mood but also your confidence and has helped me a lot during my hardest times to laugh it out and make me forget about the situation or know it wasn’t worth it as those people are stupid and not worth fighting over or going to prison, which they would of won the fight and once again we can’t be having that now lol. Do you think of a song and say that reminds me of ol Keshia and not Cole lol it’s how I found balance actually and think it’s a good way to balance yourself out without going too over the top. I also use music that makes me laugh when I’m overthinking and feeling not myself it’s how I get back into the swing of it which usually takes a couple of days when I’m feeling really low. Songs that make me laugh is Notorious B.I.G. Story To Tell, Rick James Cold Blooded, Quinn Doin The Most, Lil’ Kim Big Momma Thang, and Good Girl ft Mulatto Thirsty cos it’s not just those you know who are thirsty. I think they are good funny but true to life songs that always make me laugh and also cry at some of them I love music like that. 

Mind 24 Hour Mental Health Music Marathon

If you enjoyed that then please head over to this page for a 24 hour mental health music I streamed with more sensible songs on that is high energy and all in your feelings. It was going to be on YouTube but it was kicked to the curb like I thought it would of done so for now you can find it on this website and also on Mixcloud it has genres from House, Jungle/Drum & Bass, Motown, Soul, a bit of Reggae, Hip Hop and R’n’B and much more all from the 60s and up to present day, it’s more of a mental health music party with only  a few sad songs on there as I kept it feel good and bouncy with a couple of sad songs in there for mix.

Synergy Synths – Harmony VST Plugin

November 21, 2022
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I made another plugin and this one is going to be a series called Synergy trying to get that synth word in there somehow lol. The VST is for Windows and Mac and I made the sounds myself using Serum, I also made the GUI too which I’m now happy with. I had quite a few sounds already from what I had over the years of making sounds but I did add 20 more which I made from scratch. Once again some I am happy with and some I’m not but it is a free VST and I’m still a beginner so not all the sounds are perfect. I did add extra knobs like a filter, delay, reverb, chorus and some other knobs as I found some of the sounds were a bit dry but there are always knobs in the synth anyway. This VST was going to be a sampler from one of my old keyboards that aren’t midi and is a Yamaha but I am not sure if they would be happy if I resampled the whole collection on the keyboard and gave it away for free and I think is copyright infringement so I decided to make the sounds myself which I will be doing plenty more of in the future with various of plugins that you can make sounds from scratch with, with the right guide that is. My favourite part of making the plugin was doing the GUI and making the sounds which took some hours but is fun doing and as I said, lucky I had a bag full of sounds already which I tried to make  better and upgrade a little.  I tested it on Windows and it works on Windows but I haven’t got a Mac computer so I’m not sure if it will work on Mac also I used FL Studio as my DAW so it works in FL but I’m not sure if it works on other DAW so please respond and let me know if it works on your DAW and computer.  This is a free download and feedback will be appreciated it’s partly what I like about synths dark, melodic and light and thick and comes with synths and basses.  

THUMBNAIL

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Cassette Tape Keys VST Plugin

November 18, 2022
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I made my first VST plugin all thanks to software called Romplur which is how I made the interface and the actual plugin itself. The sounds I got from my loops I made I once again got my cassette player out and recorded the loops onto the tape and then onto my Tascam which is how I managed to get the sound out of the cassette onto my computer I used male to male jack to connect the two for sound. Some I’m happy with and some I’m not, but I’m giving it away as a free download as this is my first and not my last making of plugins, which I look forward to doing in the future. There are some things to be aware of it might need a stereo balance plugin like the one in FL Studio for the balance of sound as it has been recorded on cassette tape so it is a little muffled but with stereo balance you be able to make it a lot cleaner sounding, also a limiter would also be needed. As mentioned before I designed the GUI from scratch and used Gimp and the Rompur website for the artwork as me and Adobe photoshop don’t get along but I will keep trying lol. I decided to make a plugin and find something suitable as I was bored and looking for something to do but as always something that would hopefully come into use I thought a plugin maker would be great. Romplur is a drag-and-drop base software for that non-coder like me who rather design than code and have more fun as the trial and error isn’t for me but it’s a great software I suggest you should check it out if designing and music-making is your thing or you like the sound of it. It’s very easy to use and works a treat inside FL Studio the DAW I’m using I’m not sure about any other as I only use one but hopefully, it should work. Please let me know if it works in any other DAW and for anything else I would love to hear your feedback.

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My Seven Mental Health Songs

May 10, 2022
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MY MENTAL HEALTH JOURNEY

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week here in the UK so I thought I’d do something around mental health and something with music. But before I do that I’d like to talk a little bit about my journey with mental health and where I feel I am today. My experience with hearing voices came from an early age after an unfortunate event in my life I won’t get into but all of a sudden I was hearing voices and I was alone and in my own world for decades before I got help in 2016. But all before that I lived with hearing voices and having paranoid thoughts due to smoking the wrong weed called K2  and other synthetic drugs I didn’t know were synthetic but that was the worse stages of the episodes and thoughts that are invading and can get quite rough. But tIt caused me to act weird which as an embarrassed teen around that time I used to cringe at my outbursts but not now I kind of look pasts that and know I don’t do that and was just the young me trying to survive in the ever-changing world. The silly thing was I never told anyone that I was hearing voices and that was because I felt safe and it was always fun to wake up to do something I was also adventurous and I still am in a way but I was always on the go and loved each day with my dog and the few people I let into my life as I was paranoid but all for the good reasons and at the end of the day kept me safe and off the hard drugs which I’ve never touched and I mean non Class A party drugs like heroin or crack. It was also some other events in my life that made the voices intense to more I’m going die vibes which were fueled by outside thoughts and people it was bad but I always fought the devils and tried to do my best till it got too much and I kind of gave up for the meantime and focused on getting my mental and health together and get over all the things that had happened in the past. In 2016 I was admitted to a hospital ward for psychosis and I’ve been taking medication ever since which helps with the irrational thoughts and the episodes which I am grateful for. I’ve built my confidence up and my memory is getting stronger as I kind of lost my memory or at least I forgot about all the good things and concentrated on the bad which suffocated me and lead me down a dark and lonely path which was hell and somewhere I won’t be going back to as I wouldn’t let it get that bad again oh no. It makes you do outrageous things and the paranoid thoughts are intense and not something I enjoyed especially when smoking weed and taking some drugs which I did bring on myself but I was self-medicating and trying to cope in my own way while making great moves in life but as I said that came as a toll which was the stresses and lifestyle choices equaled to a more unstable me but it wasn’t the work. Somehow the paranoid thoughts got worse and I could no longer feel like I could work or even get out of bed there were days when I wouldn’t even go anywhere and was too paranoid to go to anyone I thought I was being watched and thought everyone was talking about me or wanted to do some sort of harm but to be fair this started at an early age but it came back and got worse each time with stuff I was adding up that didn’t even come up to the right total and now I think about it it was common math problems but being young and unknowing it was hard to judge it right and of course, my mind wasn’t in the right place though I was pretending it didn’t exist in the most difficult situations I choose when to listen to the voices as sometimes the information must have been my sub conscious talking to me like old memories but it came in the form of people in my head talking to me and it was good and bad stuff but mainly a mix of dark and light slash funny stuff.

I have cut off a lot of people I knew in the past like old friends as I wasn’t comfortable being around them and always thought negative thoughts about how they see me and so forth which soon came with evidence now we have grown apart and it’s been a long time so it’s the time apart that did it but no one makes the effort even me as I have seen they didn’t so it was kind of like well I don’t need this and left it for them to get in touch with me if they wanted but some people I left as I do not like to be the donkey of the group and made small because of my beliefs or where I was going or even been which is not here or there but I’ve been to a lot of good places which causes a lot of hate and I have my own band of haters but we all do so apparently it’s normal. Getting rid of toxic people and being with the people that make you happy not like a piece of poop but that is something I had to do to heal myself which was a long and drawn-out process also admitting and wanting the help that comes from you and only when I was ready which was after I was admitted and I realized I couldn’t even go back to the being the local nutter and try to revert back to when I was cooler and calmer which was certain times like being on holiday where it was easy to forget the problems I had but when I didn’t go on holiday which was must years I would go for walks or go out of the city for the day but I don’t really go anywhere nowadays. I’ve been thinking recently and I’m now looking for a change I don’t want fame and never wanted fame but I do want to be comfortable like most people where I don’t have to worry about certain things. But more importantly, I’m alone and looking for something to do instead of being in my room thinking and over making music which I now want to do a bit less which means not every day but I do worry people will forget me quick so that is why I post nearly every day. I mean I do like being alone I’m used to being alone and doing something as I like to be occupied and can’t be sitting down doing anything as I might have oversaid by now but that’s the other reason. I do vow to do something about it though and have made a few arrangements that will hopefully make my life better or worse but I’m a big believer in the new start it does take some work though but when I’m on something I’m on it. The truth is I stagnated for too long and now I’m trying to break out of that shell and try and do something new and hopefully meet more friends or meet old ones but I’m way over that paranoid feeling I’m more I have to grab the bull by the horns times and do it cos I can’t keep up with the isolation routine it’s numbing but I do speak to people though. The stigma of having a mental illness is something that I have also experienced throughout my mental health experience and even though we have come a long way it still is unheard of. I feel people are undermined or looked down on if they have a mental health problem and I also feel no matter how much you hear it can happen and you bet I did it even though I was “ill” like go to university which some people are doubting me because of my illness which is why I can’t forgive these people or want to know them for any more time I mean the haters, okay but my friends and family well I’ve seen enough.

MUSIC AND MY MENTAL HEALTH

From an early age, I used music not only to express myself but also to understand my pains and problems and mental health was one thing I used a lot which started with Queen I’m Going Simply Mad but went to stuff that wasn’t really about mental health but the love fall out and other tracks which I felt helped me to understand and overcome some of my problems. This is why I believe in music healing and believe songs can unlock your heartache and cure it. Of course, the dark side to it which there was a dark side on some tracks made me think more negative let’s just say but I tend to stay away from the negative songs and concentrate on the more club and of course, the ladies in the 90s rap game which I found helped me with some of the problems like haters. I played the keyboard and write silly songs and poems about my feelings growing up and that also helped me with my problems but that was inspired by the 90s heartbreak songs the point where I felt low due to my voices in the early 90s. It wasn’t really I’m going to sit down and listen to these songs and feel I was in the room and heard it and thought how I could use more of this in my life. When I listen to music I like to remember things and think music is good for bringing back your memory and the right song like that obscure song you were obsessed about or that one-hit-wonder you used to hit the town with which puts me in a sort of delusional state as it was so long ago and a one-off moment in time you say that was the best I’ll never forget but decades down the line you can hardly remember what day it is or some times how old you are I’m now 37. There is always that one song that stays with you but there are lots of songs that can strike memories the more decades you go back you can kind of see the past but it’s a quick flash to the past sometimes I’m standing in the room and that is due to heavy isolation way before they were doing it lol. I mean I use music for everything and listen to it a lot in my downtime when I’m not making music which I also listen to but I’ve recently started getting back into music from other people like from yesteryear and beyond and it’s surprising what I remember. I have a few playlists on my hub if you want to listen to them, it’s in the Testing Site section and it’s called Jukebox. Thankfully liking music helped me grow tastes that were different but it always helped me express how I was feeling which was always a good outlet to let it all go and as I said make me remember the younger me which was a chaotic time for me. My favorite genres for helping with mental health has to be House, R’n’B, and Hip Hop, and those are the three that helped me but in earlier years dance music from the 80s to 2005 and the old house helped me to understand people. That’s the thing I also think it’s good for younger people and kids to understand the world but people I mean I can play a track and feel like they were talking about someone I knew as it was so universal in the laungeue of hate or whatever it was. I mean I feel some people look down at their nose too much House is too gay, or some R’n’B is just for the ladies it’s just music, and as long as it does something like keep you going it’s a good thing as long as you like it that’s all that matters.  

Reggae from the 70s really helped me overcome problems I mean if you really want a genre that ticks all the boxes for mental health struggles reggae is the answer I mean it’s all about feelings and how they feel about situations and statements which I do miss having statements in fashion and in also music only cos everyone had their own identity or there were groups who dress a certain way but also have their own lifestyle. But reggae always made me happy and reminds me of a lot of good times it’s also good for chilling at home on a sunny day of course. I remember the words like kicking them to the curb which is something I still do to this day but I remember it like I was taking the advice of the drunk stranger if you excuse the phrase who would get drunk and tell you your truths as your ride home from the youth club it was sort of like that or though I thought that was a drastic thing to do at the time I got stronger. Sometimes I found myself kicking myself for not going with my gut when I listened to that one song so I did find it useful I will be like I’m going to be the next Fast Lane victim washed up on the streets and so forth or dealing with the haters which I have had a few. Listening to positive music helps with your mental health and can do great things for you I mean the one song I can think of well two actually is I Will Survive or Survoir which are two songs that seem to talk about a woman’s pains it could be anybody but granted I Will Survive is the more woman’s anthem but they are two songs anybody could listen to that will make you see the positive side if you ain’t feeling sorry for yourself and that is somewhere I have been but will never go that low again cos at the end of the day happiness does come from within and that means keeping yourself happy at all costs but not your kids though just throw that in there. I don’t really listen to sad songs when I’m down no more I just sit there it’s best not to feed it positive or negative emotion as it does lead to funny consequences and all that whatever talk just looks silly especially when you are not in the right state of mind I mean silence is something I begin to like and when I’m bored I have nothing else to do but to sit in silence but I think its good to have a bit of silence I mean I used to go the woods with my dog and just chill there and listen to the birds and watch the sky it’s really nice to get out and enjoy nature and have that alone time-space you probably won’t found in a city but that could be listening to music too. What I also like about music and mental health is it brings people together and it’s easier to talk about your problems there have been times in the past where I’ve seen a comment a low person on a sad song but it was either a desperate cry for attention or just someone lost but I was taken back by the sensible responses to the post and be like it’s still a caring world or it was now it’s getting sinister and remotely childish but less said about that but that’s the other thing social media is draining our souls and trust me I love all the platforms even though I’m never or never will be on them as I would probably struggle to found an audience and also I’m really not looking for celebrity status lol which I’m not saying I would have but I’m happy working in the back it somewhere I’ve always been in the back doing something either something that seemed pointless or something creative. I will leave a playlist that has a mental health theme to it and there is a couple about being lonely which goes with this year’s mental health theme which started yesterday 09/05/2022 and runs for a week here in the UK but there is a World Mental Health Day on the 10th October so if I can I do another blog post as it’s something close to my heart. hopefully, there’s a theme you know I love my themes and always doing something theme-based or I used to do.            

Top 5 Favourite Synth Plugins

March 13, 2022
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Synth Heaven

I’ve got a few synthesizers plugins now and I thought I do my top five of the ones I use and really like. They are an arm and a leg some of them in fact nearly all but I do think they are worth it and when you have them you can get a lot of use out of them and can reuse parts if needed to but there is so much selection you never go back to the old sounds. I like the old synths myself the original hard hitters and even though they are replicated you can still get good sounds out of them depending on what genres you make you will find a lot of good sounds but I make mostly synthy stuff from synthwave to vaporwave to generally synthy music which hasn’t really got a genre but inspiration from other genres all mixed with a bit of what I call a Hip Hop drum beat but I do make normal patterns as well but I like to experiment with drums and the synths itself. As I said probably a million times before I love my synthesizers and have always been obsessed with them from an early age and like dark and light sounds but I do like thick basses and dark and moody basses I like those also subs obviously the sub is the easiest to work with.  Anyway here’s my top five synths I use and really love with some tracks I made all used with the same plugin for each plugin I used and there are two tracks per plugin so ten altogether. 

#5. Uhe - Diva/£179

Diva The is a good synth plugin and has some good sounds in there, especially the laid-back sounds similar to Omishphere but do the same job as in relaxing mellow vibes.  It has dark and moody basses to which I love and also some edgy synth sounds which I also like about the synths as dark and edgy is what I like to make but as I said I like to make nice mellow soft beats too. The synth is a analogue synth and is an emulator of the analogue era and comes with loads of filters and knobs to turn to tweak the sounds which are also a good feature but I’m too impressed with the sounds and make them in the box. It does have a high CPU usage so a computer with good ram and hard drive space is needed it works better on a desktop computer rather than a laptop.  Here are two tracks used with the synth plugin you can download the tracks for free the link with will at the bottom of this post or on the track itself in the player.

Buy Diva

#4. Artuia - Vocoder V3/£199

The Vocoder V is a good synth plugin and though it doesn’t have the choices of different sounds and is minimal what it has is great for retro genres and can make some good tracks out of them, it does cost a bit on its own but if you head over to splice.com you can get a good price a rent to own system where you pay $24.99 a month until you pay it off you get the Vocoder V and also a whole bunch of other synths to put into your mixes. I mean the V collection from Arturia is one of my favourites and there is a lot to choose from and just what I look for as I make retro genres but also spice the synths up with some new flavors I just put together. I notice there was a unique sound used or was similar to something that was used in famous Jungle tracks in the 90s and I didn’t use it in the example I used it a few times and got a good result out of it but I didn’t release it as it sounded like the old stuff I love and heard from earlier artists.  As I said it doesn’t have a lot of selection but what it does have is worth putting in and works well for Electro Funk and other genres like that.

Buy Vocoder V

#3. Artuia - Arp 2600 V3/£149

If you are looking for a dark and moody synth that is also light and warm the Arp 2600 is the one for you and has a good selection of both dark and light sounds I like to use or I used to use a lot in my tracks. It has a good selection of basses and sequencers that you will be lost in I know I was. It has a lot of knobs and things to tweak which I don’t like to use and also it has its own sequencer built-in which you can use on any sound you choose all the Arturia products have that feature built-in. Like all the products featured in this list they are great for other genres this one I noticed was good for Drum and Bass and Jungle which is surprising as it’s an old synth and is a replica of the original Arp 2600 which was out in the 70s. It has some really good thick basses that remind me of Progressive Rock Basses and G Funk which I always loved. The Arp 2600 comes with the V collection on Splice.com and can be rent to own like all of the Artuia products on here. I find this synth works well with retro genres but also Halloween projects which I like to do around that time of year and the most surprising it makes okay House tracks but not anything current these are retro synths. 

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#2. Uhe - Repro/£149

Repro is a great synth and comes in two Repro 1 and Repro 5 so two for one you know I love a good bargain. It has a lot of great choices and has everything from bass to strings like all the products listed here. The synth has knobs to turn to modify the sounds and also has its own built-in sequencer for those not listed under the sequencer page.  The synth has some great sounds and I used it a lot in older works, especially an album called Racial Harmony but it was under a different title before I thought how special the plugin was and I used it a lot in some of the new works but gave it a rest for a while to give the other synths a chance. I like how there are two plugins to choose from and the amount of good sounds there were and also used it on Rebitten By The Lizard album I made quite a while ago now which can all be found on my Bandcamp page. The sounds you get I found were hard-hitting and edgy and I love that kind of thing but also it has some mellow strings and other mellow sounds for those downtempo tracks. It does have a retro feel to it and I’m not sure what else it is good for as I only use it for synthy stuff but I’m sure it’s good for other genres too. 

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#1 Artuia - Mini V3/£149

In at number one, my favourite synth plugin has to the Mini V3 and has a lot of thick basses and nice synths to put into your mix. I’ve made my best tracks with this synth and I think there is something special about it that brings something to the table or maybe it’s just my musical taste. My favourite parts are the basses and the synths which are thick dark and light which is an example on the first track of this section. It has a lot of Progressive Rock-like tones and also some weird and strange sounds that I think it’s appealing to the ear or again it could be my musical taste. It has a lot to choose from and I remember when I first got it I was lost on the number of basses or sounds that I would choose from and I tend to use this quite a lot or did in the past but again I retired it for a while to make way for some other sounds as it can sound a bit samey if you put too much in an album or EP or whatever. I like the whole sound of it and put this at number one as it’s my most used synth plugin and something I go back to even if it’s just for the bass or another part that I like, and it’s an old synth to the original Mini by Moog from the 70s and has been reincarnated 

Buy Mini V3