DOA Random Tool List

I'm bored having a slow week at work, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite tools that don't necessarily make sound but are still useful, and hopefully get some recommends from everybody else as well :slayer:I apologize in advance that some of the OS tools are windows only, but afaik there are Mac alternatives for those available, like MIDI-Q for mac instead of MIDI-Ox.

All tools listed are free unless marked otherwise. Huge TY to all who have contributed! A lot of these are donation-ware, so obviously contributing to the creators is very much encouraged! To add to this list please add a post in the thread and I'll add them to this as soon as I can. :love: -tekel


FILE/STORAGE - MIDI - WRAPPERS/HOSTS - NETWORKING/COLLABORATION - REFERENCING - MISC - OTHER



FILE/STORAGE

Space Sniffer (Windows)
"...visual representation of files on a drive"
-Havok [and Disorder]

Everything (Windows)
"...miles better search function for Windows"
-Havok [and Disorder]

Revo Uninstaller (Windows)
"...cleans up all the shit uninstalllers leave behind"
-Havok [and Disorder]

dBdone - One beautiful place for your DAW projects (Windows/Mac/VST/AU)
"I recently started using dbone to organize all my projects, and been really enjoying it. Very useful and aesthetic app"
-:Metaphor:

Audiofinder (Mac) - Paid
"My go to sample browser when I want to organize and sift through things again without having to start up Cubase just to get to Mediabay. The built in editor comes in handy when you need to make a quick edit or loop points."
-Monotremata

Teracopy (Windows)
Copy program that takes over copy/paste from Windows, useful for copying to a folder that is almost full as it doesn't require there to be enough free space to begin the copy process.
-Submitted by Plonq

Tunebat (Web-Based)
"Finds bpm and key of songs, samples but not always correct"
-rottenLuckz

MP3Tag (Mac/Windows)
"This is obviously great for macro editing your entire music library, but what I love it for is that it can add tags to wave files, specifically all the 32bit float wave files in my sample and demo directories. This is incredibly handy for sub-categorizing your samples and it is not reliant on a DAW. I also use it to keep track of my WIPs/demos and what key/bpm they are all in. I can sort by bpm and key and see what projects or samples I can combine or strip for parts etc. I've successfully combined multiple tunes I thought were toast from this. The 'comment' tag is great for jotting down notes on what your plan with the sound or project is. I use it a lot." -tekel
"I use it to embed meta into my own tracks before sending demos etc." -insideman
Alternate: TigoTago -fishfingerrr

Beyond Compare (Mac/Windows/Linux)
This is a very useful tool for comparing files, folders, or entire drives, down to the actual data itself if you want. The free version eventually expires but you can just re-install it to extend.

WizTree (Windows)
Storage visualizer, helps find what folders and files are taking up the most space on your drive(s).
-Submitted by Ja-ki



MIDI

CTRLR- Control your MIDI life
MIDI Editor/Librarian
-Dev Zero

MIDI Quest 13
MIDI Editor/Librarian
-Dev Zero

CodeFN42 - Free VST MIDI Plugins & More
"...free stuff ( pc only IIRC though ) Lots of midi tools"
-MVibe

AI-MIDI (Web-Based)
"Converts audio to midi"
-rottenLuckz

Virtual MIDI Keyboard (Mac/Windows/Linux)
This is a very handy and compact midi keyboard for your desktop that can either play generic midi or send midi out. I keep it 'always on top' on my desktop so that it's always there as a pitch pipe if needed (useful for tuning), but it's also useful for programming synths that need specific CC messages or triggers as you can easily send individual CC or notes from it to any MIDI port. The best feature for me is simply how small you can make it on your screen.

MIDI-Ox (Windows)
This is still the best all-around MIDI manager/router/editor for me. It's got more bells and whistles than I'd ever use, but I don't know where I'd be without it for my live pa.



WRAPPERS/HOSTS

VSTHost (Windows)
This is a super old and simple VST host for Windows. I use it to load up an instance of fabfilter pro-q 3 that runs on my interface's loopback so I can always see the curve of what I'm listening to. The main advantage of that is just so you don't have to open your DAW to 'look' at commercial tunes just while casually listening. This has recently been replaced by VISION 4x for me, but VSTHost is still awesome as a lightweight plugin host you can load on your interface's loopback outside of your DAW.

KV Element (Standalone/VST/AU) - Paid ($1.99/mo sub avail)
After having tried a few different plugin wrappers, this is the one I landed on and it's been a game-changer. It's like any other plugin host or wrapper, except for it has a nice functionality I haven't found elsewhere that lets you create templates using 'placeholder' nodes, allowing you to create complex routing templates that don't have plugins committed to them yet. So you can create all kinds of cool routing utilities as templates then load them into projects and replace the placeholders with whatever plugins you want and wala. This has been incredibly useful for triggering envelopes via MIDI in Cubase to get around its limitation of only being able to send MIDI to 5 places max from one midi event. Using Element you can break out MIDI to as many places as you want, just make sure you keep everything similar in depth to avoid sync issues (make sure each endpoint has gone through the same amount of MIDI splitters as everything else etc.)

Plugdata (Standalone/VST/AU)
This is basically like an ultra-light max4live visual programming type environment based on Pure-Data. It's very limited compared to max4live, but if you just want to create a quick custom filter module with 5 LPs and 3 Notches and BP with a ringmod and flanger attached for example, this is perfect. Also free and I believe open source as well. I prefer it to M4L for creating simple custom fx units, it takes much less time to whip up stuff with which you aren't necessarily trying to re-invent the wheel.



NETWORKING/COLLABORATION

Syncthing (Mac/Windows)
"It's like dropbox, but open source and peer-to-peer. Great for keeping large amounts of data synced between multiple computers."
-ziltoid

Jellyfin
"A free media server that you can use to test mixes anywhere else on your home network (or just, y'know, play movies and stuff)"
-kill-9

Input Director (Windows)
This allows you to span your cursor and keyboard across multiple computers (via LAN) as if they were all one continuous desktop. If you are using multiple computers in your studio, this is invaluable. It also has clipboard copy functionality so you can copy a file from one computer to another as if they were just separate folders on one box.

Voicemeeter (specifically, VBAN, Windows)
Most people are already aware of this for virtual audio on PC, but the networking section is really where it shines. If you're using multiple studio computers you can link them all up to your main via LAN and have 24bit PCM streamed at very low latency wherever you want. Perfect for streaming audio from a friend's laptop if they come over to collab so you don't have to worry about taking up inputs on your interface. Can't beat $free.99 on the price tag either.

Youtube - How To Transfer Files Between Mac And Windows 11/10 | Connect Mac to PC
"Not a separate program, but a SUPER-useful thing to have set up: following this tutorial, I set up a folder in Windows that can be seen by any other device on my home network, so can transfer files in both directions, store a truckload of pdf's there that I can open on any iPad/phone (eg books of sheet music). Really helps transferring across the win/mac divide as external harddrives seem problematic for this purpose due to formatting requirements."
-kill-9



REFERENCING

Metric A/B (VST/AU) - $29.99
-Submitted by hyperfocusuk

Traktor (paid) or Rekordbox
"...for checking tracks against others in the mix. Do this over referencing as I want my mixdowns to be different but also hold up against other tracks"
-Seijn

VISION 4x (Standalone/VST/AU) - Paid
I'm sure this is already 'industry standard' for most dnb heads but wanted to include it for anyone who isn't familiar.



MISC

SoundPaste (Mac)
Audio clipboard for Mac
-Submitted by ofs

Zotero (Windows/Mac/Linux)
Research assistant
-Submitted by ofs

Whisky (Mac)
WINE wrapper for Mac
-Submitted by ofs

fmhy.net (MISC)
Miscellaneous single-task tools
-Submitted by ofs

Audacity (Mac/Windows/Linux)
Another obvious one, but wanted to include it here for convenience.

Myriad (Mac) - Paid
"My go to batch processor. Does somethings Wavelab and others cant. If/when I buy a new sample pack, goes right through Myriad first to get normalized, converted to 24/44.1 if not already, and finally, throws away the useless side of dual mono files for me, in one shot. I finally started learning how to use Wavelab's batch tools and whatnot this past year so I try to do more there now to justify buying it hah."
-Monotremata

ASIO4ALL Official Home Universal Windows ASIO Driver
"for my older audio interfaces" -Dev Zero

J's stuff Jbridge
"for my beloved 32 bit plugins" -Dev Zero

Audio Hijack (Mac)
"Basically allows you to record any program - especially useful for Youtube when sampling."
-jay_blueprint

WindowTop (Windows)
This is just for cosmetics, but I love having window transparency and this is the best free solution on windows that I've found. I was using a paid solution before "Actual Transparent Windows" but it doesn't work as well as it used to. WindowTop isn't that great but it's free and a quick dirty way to get custom transparency. If you get this, make sure to check settings>disable toolbar menu, that thing is obnoxious beyond belief.

Blue Cat's Multiband Mixer (VST/AU)
This is basically Multipass but you can add 3rd party plugins. Khs stuff has gotten so good that I need this less and less, but I still use it all the time when I want multiband on a plugin that doesn't have multiband already. The crossovers sound great imo, but the phase smearing they add can very much be exploited. :evil: Try it with your favorite single-band transient shaper. For me that's Oxford Envolution, which having in multiband is truly something special.

EMU Tools (Web)
"That E-Remote fucking RULES."
-Monotremata



OTHER SUGGESTIONS

Tea
-Lord Reese Moog

"Text-editor"
-rotos

Google Keep (Android)
Dolby On (Android - for field recording)
AI: Google Gemini
-Plonq

Fruity Notebook in FL Studio
"I can take notes of what I want to do next to a track and cross them off as I do them. It's great because I can load up any project any time and know what state of mind I left it in, so I can get back to work a bit faster. Also great if I haven't opened something in 6 months and I don't remember where I left off. Overall, just saves time and helps me keep organized, so even if I only have 15 minutes to do something then it will be a productive 15 minutes."
-White_Noise

"MIDI cables. Audio cables. PSUs. Coffee."
-Dev Zero

"Chatgpt with prompts like "chat find me a song with a dreamy guitar in A minor" or "find me a similar song to the winstons - amen brother" lol"
-rottenLuckz

Ableton Utility
-Ed209

- "Quality chair. For me that's an armless Herman Miller Aeron. Enables long sessions without hunching (and since I have a bunch of stringed instruments, the arms would get in the way)"
- "Isobar power supply with line filtering. I bought a 3RU Tripp Lite back in the 90's and it's still kicking. Dropping $1500 on a power strip sounds insane but it's paid dividends."
- "Good cabling and connectors. No, that does not mean Mogami's most expensive everything - but bad cabling / shielding / connectors will definitely add up."
- "Good preamps! I have a few options, depending on the color / shade I want when bringing in signals from the outside world."
- "Soldering / test equipment and a working knowledge of circuitry."
-temulent