Open-source and free software

[Saga Musix]

Well, the bad thing that it's the same word in English, you can differentiate between the two "types" of "free" software in German very well for example. But I think that you can find the term Freeware more often than Free Software actually.

[Really Weird Person]

That is a good point, Jojo. Free software, unless I am mistaken, would likely refer to software that comes with a free trial download. Freeware, however, is software that you do not have to purchase a license for and it costs you no money.

[Saga Musix]

Free software, unless I am mistaken, would likely refer to software that comes with a free trial download.

Utterly wrong. This is free software.

[Sam_Zen]

Another little tool by Nir Sofer : Volumouse
More efficient use of the mousewheel, for example by controlling the system volume.

[Diamond]

I think we've probably all at some point learned the hard way the necessity to take backing up data a bit more seriously.  I certainly have myself a couple of times so the following are some of the more useful utilities that I've discovered over the past couple of years for backing up or synchronizing files and folders.

cwrsync - Rsync for Windows (command line only)
http://www.itefix.no/i2/cwrsync
Unison File Synchronizer (GUI or command line)
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/
DirSync Pro (java based) (GUI with command line switches for automation)
http://directorysync.sourceforge.net/index.html
Directory Compare (GUI or command line)
http://tp.lc.ehu.es/jma/win32/dirco.html
FastCopy (GUI or command line)
http://www.ipmsg.org/tools/fastcopy.html.en
Sync (java based) (command line only)
http://syncdir.sourceforge.net/
Synchronizer (GUI with command line switches for automation)
http://neofreeware.free.fr/freeware/synchronizer/synchronizer_us.htm
The official release has a bug which causes an access violation when using the /AUTO switch in combination with /SILENT.  The beta version which fixes this problem can be downloaded here:
With installer
http://neofreeware.free.fr/download/synchronizer_setup_beta.zip
Without installer
http://neofreeware.free.fr/download/synchronizer_beta.zip

Finally, not related to file synchronization, but also useful:
PeerBlock
http://www.peerblock.com/
is an updated version of PeerGuardian
http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

[Sam_Zen]

Dugged out of my archive - Two DOS applications :
Ramtracker and a command-line WAV to XI converter.

[Diamond]

Zip 3.0 - Command line based ZIP utility
Home page:
http://www.info-zip.org/
Win32 binary:
ftp://ftp.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/win32/zip300xn.zip
What makes this one different is the -FS switch which allows you to synchronize a folder with a ZIP file.  Including deleting of files from the archive which no longer exist in the source folder.  I've been looking for a compression utility that could do this for quite some time now so I thought I would share.

[.^o]

personal lists of freewares

AUDIO FREEWARES
http://gravos.110mb.com/index.php?p=1_19_-AUDIO-FREEWARES-

VJING FREEWARES
http://gravos.110mb.com/index.php?p=1_22_-VJING-FREEWARES-

AUDIO LINUX DISTROS & virtualisation tutorial
http://gravos.110mb.com/index.php?p=1_21_-AUDIO-LINUX-DISTROS-

[.^o]

Jeremy Evers has released xi2bmk2, a tool for converting .xi instruments to samples for Beatmaker 2.

Here's a little tool that I cooked up to share with old-school fast tracker 2 heads that play with beatmaker 2.
xi2bmk2 will rip through your dusty old .xi instrument collection, and convert it to a shiny new .bmk2 and .wav collection.

XI2BMK2 FEATURES

*xi2bmk2 will operate recursively on an input directory that you specify. The first folders that it encounters will become the category names in the .bmk2 file.
*You can use the .wavs for whatever you like, but the tuning information, key maps, and loop points are all stored in the .bmk2 xml.
*Since fast tracker's envelopes were so radical, they are not converted to the standard ADSR that beatmaker 2 uses.
*Stereo pair instruments (identified by two files, *L.xi and *R.xi, in the same folder, with matching keymaps and samples) will be magically welded back together into a single stereo instrument.
*xi2bmk2 is available to download for Windows PC at no cost.

http://jeremyevers.com/2011/10/xi2bmk2/

http://www.intua.net/products/beatmaker2

[djkurzman]

One piece of freeware that I am fond of is Stomper by Zap. It's an older drum synth generator that had a lot of potential. Unfortunately it's been collecting dust for years and is not without it's bugs. I'm looking for something a little more up to date, but have yet to find anything quite as useful. It's mostly for making analog drum sounds; although it can also make some super crazy noises (usually before crashing).

http://www.lysator.liu.se/~zap/stomper/whatisit.html

Anyone know of something similar out there?

[.^o]

try this one ??

Orangator

Orangator is a program that lets you create sounds without sampling. It is useful for people who want to make their own samples, but don't have an analogue synthesizer or a professional sampler. With Orangator you can make all types of techno 303-like sounds, synth-strings, sweeps, 808-like drums and even some acoustic-like bells and organs. Orangator features some cool effects like resonance, phaser and delay. Reverb is available only in non-real-time mode.

Features:
*10 independend oscillators.
*Amplitude, frequency, shape modulation.
*Waveforms : sin, |sin|, even sin, square, triangle, saw, double saw noise, light noise, custom, 2 samples.
*16-band harmonics generator with detune.
*Ring modulation, Sync, linear FM synthesis.
*Resonance, high/low-pass cutoff, 2 average filters.
*32-bit Reverb, flanger & chorus with linear interpolation, feedback with cycle feature.
*Realtime effects: feedback & flanger.
*Chord generator.
*Sequencer with 32 notes, portamento, sustain.
*3 envelope generators, 2 lfo's, noise generator, custom graphic envelope.
*Pre/Post overdrive, wrap overdrive.
*Automatic fat sound generator.
*Realtime MIDI input.
*MIDI ADSR envelope.
*Perfect MIDI timing independing on sound card accuracy.



http://www.sonicspot.com/orangator/orangator.html




or look there
http://www.sonicspot.com/samplegenerators.html

[djkurzman]

I noticed Orangator shortly after posting. It definitely looks like it will do the trick. That's an awesome set of links too! They even have an older copy of Stomper listed. lol

I'll post some more generators that I use when I get home. I have a few that aren't listed on Sonic Spot.

[djkurzman]

One of my favorites is SFXR. It generates lots of very 8-bit style sound effects. There are builds for Windows & Linux and also ports for Mac and Andriod (Android version cannot export WAV)
http://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html

I've also used tools from Victor Khashchanskiy, most of which tend to work well in conjuction with each other. All are linked here http://victorx.eu/BitmapPlayer.htm
Bitmaps & Waves - Image to sound with lots of options
Colors & Tones - Image to sound with more of a melodic touch
Draw the Sound - Exactly as it says
Enrhythmizer - Rhythmic enveloping
MoveIt! - Adds doppler effect
SoundMorpher - Signal modulator
SoundWarp - Allows you to warp an image before converting to sound

[oxxi]

I remember using Orangator a long time ago. Interesting program. It has it's quirks and is tedious, but well worth the time spent.

[Voltrom]

Anyone into playin games? Playin Round-based tactical Squad games? Playin X-Com or UFO?

Check this one out:

http://ufoai.org/wiki/News