Seven Innovative Add-ons to Stimulate Ideas When You're in a Rut
In the ever-evolving world of music production, staying creative and finding new ideas can be a challenge. However, a host of innovative Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) plugins are now available to help producers overcome writer's block and explore fresh directions. Here are some highly recommended tools that can spark inspiration and generate professional-quality sounds.
First up is Bass Dragon, a plugin that specialises in creating deep, genre-specific basslines that perfectly match your chord progressions. With an extensive internal database of over 19,500 pro-built MIDI segments, Bass Dragon can generate custom basslines based on your chosen genre and key. It also features a built-in synth with 200+ presets, allowing for detailed manipulation of the generated patterns [1].
For instant, clean, and mix-ready drums, Drum Monkey is an excellent choice. This plugin offers AI-powered loop generation across 30+ genres, over 3,000 drum samples, editable piano roll with swing, velocity, and timing controls, and tools for pattern recall. It's an ideal tool for inspiring fresh rhythmic ideas quickly and effortlessly [1].
Boony, an AI-powered web and mobile tool, can generate entire tracks with a single click, based on style choices. It's beginner-friendly and helps break writer’s block by providing full song ideas that you can then customise further. Boony supports quick music creation and sharing and offers both free and paid versions [2].
LANDR, while focusing on mixing and mastering, also helps producers by automatically enhancing track sounds, speeding up workflow and maintaining creative momentum. Although not a compositional plugin, it can help producers refine ideas quickly and keep inspiration flowing [2].
Creative Dynamics Plugins, such as MeldaProduction MSpectralDynamics and Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher, provide unique dynamic processing that can add creative textures and harmonic excitement to ideas, pushing inspiration further by altering sounds in musically interesting ways [3].
For those looking to learn more about these plugins and other music production tools, several degree courses are available in London and online. These courses cover a wide range of topics, including audio plugins and Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), and can help those aspiring to become music producers [1].
In addition to these courses, registering with the school provides access to free sounds, plugins, online course samples, and more, making it an excellent resource for both beginners and seasoned producers alike.
Other innovative plugins worth mentioning include Ableton Granulator III, a free plugin that creates glitches, atmospheric textures, and pads, and Synplant, a plugin with an alien-like design that uses a genetic approach to synthesis to inspire creativity. For producers of hip-hop and trap, Sugar-Bites Effectrix offers an alternative to Gross Beat, with a pattern-based processor for manipulating sounds.
Photosounder, while not a traditional audio plugin, allows transforming images into audio signals, useful for embedding hidden messages in music. Audio Damage AD020 AUTOMATON uses a cellular automata sequencer to transform tracks with four effects: Stutter, Modulate, Bitcrush, and Replicate. Kirnu Cream allows users to edit the gate, swing, octave, and rate of MIDI notes and can help with basslines, toplines, and drum beats.
Lastly, Native Instruments Molekular, which runs in REAKTOR, combines up to 35 different modular effects for exciting results. It features a morphing field for performing mutations and has hundreds of presets to help users get started.
In conclusion, these innovative DAW plugins are designed to support creativity by generating musical ideas, patterns, and professional sounds quickly, enabling producers to overcome blocks and explore new directions seamlessly. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned producer, these tools can help you unleash your creativity and take your music to the next level.
[1] Bass Dragon: https://www.vitalplugins.com/bass-dragon [2] Boony: https://boony.ai/ [3] Creative Dynamics Plugins: https://creativedynamicsplugins.com/
Technology and gadgets play significant roles in the world of music production, particularly in overcoming writer's block and exploring fresh directions. Creative Dynamics Plugins, such as MeldaProduction MSpectralDynamics and Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher, are dynamic processing tools that can add creative textures and exciting harmonic elements to ideas, further pushing inspiration [3]. Boony, an AI-powered tool, can generate entire tracks with a single click, based on style choices, helping producers break through creative blocks [2].
