 Hey, I'm Anfa and in the previous video I told you why I use open-source software and Linux for music production. In this video I'm going to tell you what software I use precisely and also share my own reasons for choosing that, because I want this video to help you decide if this stuff is going to work for you. And for that you need to know why it works for me, not just that it works. I'll skip a lot of detail, because this video could easily last a week and we don't want that. Please keep in mind that I have preference, so my weapon of choice might not be the best for you. But in case this sounds fun, my current toolchain might be a great starting point for you. Alright, let's begin. And I will begin with the operating system. You already know that I'm using Linux for all my work, but the number of Linux distributions is approaching infinity, so that info alone isn't that helpful. In the past I've been happily using KX Studio Live DVD as my main system. That one is now badly outdated, so I had to switch. For a few years now I've been running Linux Mint 18.3 with KDE 5. Why did I choose this one? Three main reasons. With Linux Mint I can use both KX Studio Repositories and PPAs. KX Studio Repositories, I already made two videos about these, so let me just say it's a fantastic source of cutting edge open source software for the audio production. PPAs are personal repositories, usually created by developers to distribute newest versions of their software. I use it for a couple of video tools like OBS and simple screen recorder. Second reason, KDE 5 or Plasma Desktop as it's also called. It's a great looking desktop environment that has a lot of features that I find missing from its alternatives. And third, Linux Mint has a great tool for managing video card drivers. So I was able to install Nvidia drivers and get CUDA working relatively easy there. Now it doesn't have really much to do with music production but I also do graphic design for the animation and rendering and I need this stuff. However, it can also be helpful for playing games. So that's my main reasons for choosing Linux Mint 18.3. However, the problem I'm facing right now is that Linux Mint is no longer shipping with Plasma Desktop. So I'm actually looking for a replacement. I just don't think Cinnamon can replace Plasma in my life. Before I move on to the next section I would like to discuss a topic known as the Modular Workflow. Now the Linux audio ecosystem has a lot of standalone programs that can be used together with the Jack server to create a virtual modular environment. It's a bit like having a desk and putting a mixer, some effects synthesizers, sequencer and connecting all of that with cables to produce music. Now this can be a lot of fun but I think there's one big problem with all modular setups. You can't easily save and load your work. And for me that really kills productivity. I know there are so called session managers but I really, I couldn't ever get this stuff to work for me so I have ultimately decided that whatever I'm going to be using to make music it has to live inside of a digital audio workstation. Fine! Now we can move on and talk about the Digital Audio Workstation. For many years I've been making music with LMS in tandem with Ardor. I've produced multiple full length albums this way, including the most recent one titled Suppressed. However in 2017 I finally decided to drop LMS and focus my workflow entirely on Ardor alone. Why? I made a detailed video comparing the two in the past so let me just rephrase that real quick. For many years LMS was the only integrated music production environment with media editing and sound design capabilities that would suit my needs. LMS however lacked advanced signal routing, LV2 plugin support, audio recording and editing and other functions that Ardor boasted for years already. In order to be able to do everything I wanted I had to use both programs together. I used to do it like this. Make instrumentals in LMS, export a mix, import it into Ardor, add vocals, guitars or extra editing and effects, then export another mix and finally master all the mixes in a separate Ardor session to produce the final album. However Ardor was developing its media workflow for quite a few years now and once I found it has matured enough to be production ready I've decided to drop LMS and simplify my workflow. So that's that. The last part of the toolset I want to talk about are the plugins. Ah that's a big one. We're gonna need a few subcategories here. Let's talk about synthesizers first then we'll move on to FX processors. You see I'm a bit weird in this regard. Other people use drum samples they found on the internet and I used to do that too back in 2005 but now I synthesize all my drums. That's why I don't use any sampler. Moving on. The synthesizer plugins. And the synthesizer plugin that I used 95% of the time is the infusion. Why? Again it's the most powerful, versatile and modern open source sound synthesizer out there. I dare you to prove me wrong on this. There is something on the horizon that might challenge this but for now Xenofusion has almost everything I need. In case you don't know Xenofusion is a new graphical user interface to XenotsubFX 3.0. It runs in a single window, it's scalable, it's awesome. It made me work with XenotsubFX even faster. In case you want to learn the all user interface, a few years ago I made a long as video covering everything in great detail and also lots of the knowledge will translate to Xenofusion as well as it's the same synth under the hood. However if you feel intimidated by XenotsubFX complexity I can recommend a few other liver synthesizers that are not as layered, namely Tull Noisemaker, OBXD, Helm, Oxy FM Synth and Dext. If you're hardcore. However, know this, that XenotsubFX can do almost everything that these synthesizers can and much much more. So if you're really serious about sound design and you want to use open source stuff, learn XenotsubFX. But Anfa, you have to recommend me some sampler plugins, please! All right, all right, why, I actually use them too when I do more guitar-focused stuff. Okay, so let's talk about the sampler plugins. You can use hydrogen drum kits installed on your system using a plugin called BRMR Sampler. It's simple, it only allows stereo output. You could work around this, but I never had it crop out on me, so it's safe to use. If you need quick, great sounding acoustic drum sounds, I recommend AVL Drum Kits. These are LV2 plugins and encapsulating acoustic drum kits created by the AV Linux project. These come both in stereo and multi-channel variations and are integrated extremely well with order. They are black boxes, however, so you can't swap out the samples, but that's the point here. Another plugin I used is Fabla. It's a simple but nice-looking sampler from Open AV Productions, single-layered. I have experienced some problems with it, so I wouldn't call it exactly rock solid, but I like it. There's also Fabla 2, which has awesome functionality, but is unfortunately still far from being production-ready at this point. I've briefly tried Sample V1 and Drum KV1 from the man behind Q-Tractor. I think these are solid options among LV2 samplers, but again, I haven't worked them too hard, so don't blame me if they disappoint you. There's also some decent-looking drum samplers in the LSB bundle. They support velocity layers, stereo or multi-channel output. Again, my experience is very limited, so proceed at your own risk. I mentioned one last drum sampler because it's freaking kickass. Drum Gizmo. If you know how to mix acoustic drums from scratch, watch this talk by BENT, and you can tap into the amazing drum kits and technology of Drum Gizmo. I am the main developer of Drum Gizmo. Ten years ago, when I made it, I had a very specific workflow in mind. My tip? Pick a drum kit and read its README file before you start. There's a listing of all the output channels and what they are supposed to be. Without that, you'll be lost. Once you start that out, you can do stuff like this. Enough drum samplers for one video. Now let's talk about something I'm really excited about, and that is the effect processor plugins. Let's start with Delays. 12 vintage delay. Syncs to BPM. Sounds great. I use this all the time. A delay. An arduous Lua plugin that can be used for some awesome flanging effects if you automate the delay time in millisecond range. Delayorama. A great plugin for creative effects that can deliver up to 128 delay tabs, each with procedurally generated delay time and amplitude. Reverse. Mverb is my favorite right now. Its sound is full and smooth without that strange, tinny character that many synthetic reverbs have. It's also very flexible and it looks nice. GX Zitar Rev 1 Stereo. This is a guitarics interface to the famous Zitar Reverb by Fons Andriensen. It sounds awesome. It's quite flexible, so it won't replace Mverb for me because you can't make it small enough. GX Reverb Stereo. This one sounds a lot like a spring reverb, which is very rare among synthetic reverbs. It sounds nice on drums and guitars, so there's not much things to set up here. EQs and Filters. I use EQ 10Q for everything. I used to use KALF Equalizer 8-Band. This one is also very nice, so one day I just decided to try EQ 10Q and it stuck with me. KALF Filter. I use this one all the time to reveal sounds with the low pass modes or to add motion to my bass patches using notches and band pass modes. Pitch Shifters. I love MA pitch shift for messing things up, especially when you automate the ratio and window parameters. It creates cool glitchy effects. I would recommend Rubber Band Pitch Shifters for more traditional pitch shifting as they allow precise musical control of the pitch and they also sound pretty good. For some quick sound butchery I also like using AM Pitch Shifter. It can sound very glitchy in bed and I like that. Distortion. Wolf Shaper. I've made three videos about this one already. It's extremely flexible and can be used just as well for gentle saturation as for head splitting distortion. Tap Tube Warmth is a great sounding yet simple saturation plugin. I love it on bass and drums. Don't be discouraged by the lack of a custom graphical use interface. Also, KALF Saturator is based on the algorithms of this plugin. Caps Amp VTS Tube Amp Plastone Stack. This is a great all-in-one plugin for guitar distortion. Again, don't be misled by a lack of a custom GUI. It sounds great. And not just on guitars. GX Amplifier X. This is a fancy looking, great sounding, all-in-one guitar distortion suit with tube, cabinet and tones accumulation. Dynamics Processing. KALF Compressor is what I use all the time. It's great looking, versatile, easy to use. The compression graph function is very helpful. KALF Sidechain Compressor. Same story. Only now the kick drum compresses the bass line. KALF Limiter. I put this on every master bus I see. Multiband Compressor Stereo X8 from LSP. This is an 8-band compressor. By default it runs with 4-bands. It sounds way cleaner than the KALF Multiband Compressor. So the interface is a bit cluttered. KALF DSer. I put this on every vocal track. And sometimes on bass and lead tracks as well. The highs are getting painful at certain notes. There's a neat trick for ya. Super Smelly Shampoo Spies. Super Smelly Shampoo Spies. Sidechain Gate Stereo from LSP. I use this to gate pads or vocals with a trigger synth. Like this. Super Smelly Shampoo Spies. Super Smelly Shampoo Spies. Other. Argot Lunar 2. It's a versatile granular processor. You can do dozens of strange effects with this one. Noise Repellent. This is a real-time denoising plugin. It has some latency, but Ardor can cope with that. Bad quality voice recording. Testing 1-2-3. Bad quality voice recording. Testing 1-2-3. TAL Vocoder 2. This is a simple yet powerful vocoder that won't kill your CPU. Bad quality voice recording. Bad quality voice recording. KALF Vocoder. A fantastic vocoder that might actually kill your CPU. Bad quality voice recording. Autotune. This one is great for either monitoring your vocal performance quality or fixing it. Super Smelly Shampoo Spies. Super Smelly Shampoo Spies. Or creating these weird synth-like vocal lead lines by using the auxiliary MIDI input. BitRat Repeat. Great for glitchy repeating effects. Very versatile. Don't be scared off by a lack of a custom graphical user interface. BitRat TapeStop. Likewise, very useful for this one iconic effect. TapeSh. All right, let's cut it here. There are dozens more that I'd love to talk about, but this video is getting a bit too long. In the future videos, I'll take a closer look at the plugins I mentioned here and some other ones as well to help you get the most out of what the free and open source audio ecosystem offers. Thanks for watching. I hope this video was worth your time. I also want to thank all the Patreon supporters who are enabling me to make videos like this one. If you'd like to join them and help keep this show going, please go to patreon.com.anfa. That's all. Now go and make some music.