Tool Much Fun 5
It’s like a diary. I browse and take note of interesting things, and look at them briefly. Some people might want more detail on fewer items, but that’s not how I roll.
Does it bother anyone that the categories are not in a set order? I think I'm doing that because this is multidisciplinary and I don't want anyone to think any category is more important than any other. Like “this is a samples blog” or a “clip art blog”.
Notes and Writing
Notes manager. Includes a web clipper.
Free Mac app to ”do more with your Notes”. Compare with Obsidian, Simplenote, nvALT, Drafts, EagleFiler.
Mac app to launch a group of files in one click. Then quit them all later when you click Finish. Nice!
AI based “Assistant”. Free plan gives you some GPT 3.5 level stuff, whereas US$10/month gives you access to GPT-4 and ”Interact with and analyze the content of your screen directly on Mac’’ sounds interesting.
While I was looking for the above I also found Justdone for AI generated blog posts. Another name that autocorrects!
AI Writing assistant.
Extension for Apple Notes, to add a formatting bar and Markdown support. I think I found this one before I started this blog, but it needed macOS 13+ which I didn’t have.
Mac, Windows, Mobile and Web (the full set- nice!) outlining tool. Free tier available to try it out. I didn’t see anything I desperately needed in the pro version.
Any type of notes you want
Omnivore will eat anything
Utilities and Apps
A Mac app to allow you to send files from an Android phone OTA, like Mac iPhone users enjoy doing with AirDrop, if they work somewhere where the network isn’t too locked down.
a free, open-source web app that allows you to easily and securely share files directly between devices without uploading them to any server.
Does what it says in the title. Compare with EasyFind
“Produce high-impact screens recordings in minutes”. I only just bought CleanShotX after someone said it was the best on Threads. Now this one is the best, and I’m gonna add it to the wish list.
Free Remote Desktop screen sharing & control software. I like the logo is a kangaroo. Compare with NoMachine and Teamviewer, which isn’t free for commercial use, and should change its name to ScreamViewer on Halloween.
A directory and resource for online tools like Clickup and apps. Plus articles on productivity. Compare with Slant which is technically a review based site but also acts as a directory as a result.
But Toolfinder don’t do Music, Video and Graphics stuff like me, so I hope you'll come back here.
“lets you capture and secure your notes on any device. You can also share, publish, clip and customize your notes with plugins and themes.”
Is he adding Linux stuff now? Why not. I have a Raspberry Pi and I worked somewhere that used Linux, and if I had more time to feed & water them I would install a couple of other distros to keep an eye on. Don’t expect a lot of Linux-only stuff here though.
Music Plugins
It just occurred to me that the name “plugin” is a bit degrading, especially when some of this stuff is coded as standalone as well. The name could be “sub apps” or “mini apps” as that would give them more credibility.
Fine Classics plugins Dead Drums Vol 1
I can’t tell from the site if they let you install the samples portion on an external drive. The samples themselves are provided in WAV too if you want to trigger them in other plugins. Looks like they also do an 80s/90s synth and vintage amp sim.
Sampler plugin which scans your sample library and lets you combine them in I guess random ways, in order to make serendipitous snew sounds.
Drum Plugin to make “the perfect 808”. They also make sample and melody packs. I love the homage to the Classic Mac interface.
Software to help arrange parts of your song and give it a structure.
PWYW/Shareware A fusion of delay + reverse + reverb + freeze + filter + modulation + tremolo + octave + shimmer
Usual Suspects Xenia synth- beta version
Spectral went out of business so they generously decided to give away their plugin range.
Free modular synth instrument.
Distortion plugin for Mac Windows or Linux. PWYW. It’s an alpha version so use at your own risk.
Free automatic pitch correction whose name keeps getting autocorrected to “spoon”.
Free EQ, distortion, loudness make-up and matching, plus one to "compare midi with vocal pitch"
Makers of MS-2 synth, FMD distortion and M-CRX convolution plugins. Prepare to zoom in on the tiny user interface.
Makers of GR-8 synth plugin and Philty and Phutura synths for NI Reaktor.
A rerelease of an old magnetic tape plugin that I hadn’t heard of. For "desecration" of your audio. Turn up the Shame knob to mangle your sound!
Orchestral and brass instruments. Looks like they use their own engine. Great, another company making their own engine! /sarcasm
Multi-effects plugin where you can apply lots of modulation to save having to do it manually in your DAW.
Stem splitter. Compare with Lalal.ai. May the best site win!
Mix bus processor - a Compressor plus EQ specially crafted for mix buses rather than individual channels.
An instrument inspired by the “arrhythmic nature of rainfall and windchimes”. I have some other Soundghost stuff, so I’ll check this one out.
Kontakt
MixWave: Lorna Shore - Austin Archey
Austin Archey’s drum kit. Bundled effects include a compressor, EQ ad tape saturation.
Makers of Studio Bass, Wave Leads & Pads synths, Folk Accordion, Alto Sax, Amplified Guitars, Harmonica and more.
Make kontakt with the sounds of Polynesia.
This group does a large range of Kontakt instruments. The ones I found were Polynesian Tiki. There is also Mesoamerica, Violin, Viola, Double Bass, Cello, French Horn, Sax, Accordion, Flute, Harmonica and even Recorder. I'm surprised I hadn’t found them earlier. They also do sample packs.
Oh wow, they keep coming thick and fast. I am struggling to get this post done. I will have to make a cutoff point and save whatever I see for the next one.
iOS
Keyboard for moving items between apps. I’ve tried a few of these over the years and they are handy if you don’t have one yet.
Markdown-capable text notes app. I would possibly buy this but I am already paying for the Drafts subscription. Although this supports images and might be good for this blog, I had major trouble using Markdown within Squarespace. It was quite buggy and frustrating. So I could just save my images into Apple Notes for now. If Squarespace gets better in a future version I can consider switching.
Hornet Harmoniq
EQ resonance taming tool to stop your music sounding all clogged up. IAP to unlock the full version.
Free iPad app to allow triggering the camera shutter with the Apple Pencil 2. I tried it but my Pencil is too old. The app doesn’t tell you this though.
For making podcasts.
I can’t even run this, it needs an M1. It will take 1GB of your storage but supports external SSDs. I am sorry to report I stopped buying from them because I am suspicious that the company and I don’t share certain value systems, and there are other choices on the market.
98 presets for the Animoog Z synth for £4.99 by Dream Music Temple.
Mac stuff
Staple files together? To open them all at once of course. Compare with Bunch.
Set a timer by gesturing - drag down from the menu bar
App for controlling multiple devices with a single mouse and keyboard. Compare with Synergy or Sharemouse.
Samples
For grooves and beat-based music. Also MIDI files.
Another in an increasingly large number of site/service names which get autocorrected due to their names being intentional misspellings of other words. 32 different categories which I won't list here.
Webtools
Team management solution. Compare with Clickup.
“Brand builder for creators”
Link-in-bio/Social Media Manager
For making your socials grow
Sproutsocial
Creates Sprout.link URLs.
A social media marketing site. Free option. Creates Fanlink.tv URLs
Publishing
Create template-based photo books to be printed. I have never made a photo book but I did receive one as a gift and it was delightful.
Location based. As I’m in Australia, here’s the Aussie link.
3D
Find help with 3D, Animation, Game porting, Artwork, Consulting… they offer a lot!
They seem to have purchases available but I couldn’t find a shop link. For example
Surface Imperfections Dirt & Scratches pack
16 bit png formatted monochrome textures.
This might be your best bet: Materials
News and inspiration
Seems oriented to gaming projects. Includes software, hardware, resources and tools.
AI stuff
Calling themselves "the first comprehensive system for fully automatic scientific discovery". I recently listened to a Podcast by Dr David Eagleman and he thinks true discovery is a few years away.
That’s it for this session. If you see any of these links in a row and you were the person I found them from and you want a link back, let me know and I'll add that. I hope adding the lines in between the sections helps you navigate the different sections. Maybe I need a table of contents so people can jump to the different sections. Have fun checking out the stuff, and feedback is always welcome. Or at least often welcome.