Time to get creative: Free resources available whilst we're in lockdown

We’re all looking for positives over the next few weeks in the face of a nationwide lockdown as the coronavirus pandemic hits the UK.

In the face of a period of self-isolation and social distancing, the wider music industry has rallied around to offer support during this challenging time. 

Visit coronamusicians.info for more information put together by the sector. You can also find out more about what ICMP is doing to support current and incoming students. 

But if you are a musician facing several weeks in the house, then you can do worse than knuckle down and get to grips with the huge number of new resources to have become available in recent days. 

From Korg to Native Instruments, manufacturers are outdoing themselves in their efforts to enable you to make the most of this enforced time at home.

Check out this extensive list of resources… 

Free resources and tools for musicians

Moog have made their Minimoog Model D Synthesiser app for iOS available for free – download it here

Korg also have the Gadget LE app available for free, which is a suite of mobile instruments available for iOS devices – here it is

Focusrite have partnered with Audiothing to offer the SR-88 analogue drum machine emulator for free (until April 24th).

Make and remix music on your mobile device with the free Launchpad app

TF7 is free FM synth for iOS devices, which you can download here

Arturia’s iSpark beat-making iPad app currently free.

AudioKit Synth One is a feature-packed synth for your iPad, including 300+ presets created by professional sound designers behind M83, Tycho, and Rihanna. Grab it free here

Cherry Audio is offering their modular synthesizer package Voltage Modular Nucleus for free

Ghostly’s have produced a guide for artists on how to support themselves during this time – and how music fans can support artists too

Want to start DJing? Traktor DJ 2 is free for desktop and iPad

Avid are currently offering free trials on a number of their products.

Corona Music is a regularly-updated source of info for all musicians during these extraordinary times

Spitfire Audio’s Labs – “An infinite series of free software instruments, made by musicians and sampling experts in London, for anyone, anywhere”. 

Fender are offering 50% off their online guitar lesson annual plan.

KVR Audio is a great source of news and reviews on all kinds of sound-related tools and has an up-to-date database of plugins, free and paid

Bedroom Producers Blog – a site dedicated to free and affordable music-making.

Gearnews have put together a list of 10 neat online collaboration tools

MixMag have pulled together a list of free plugins 

Cubase has created a #StayHome Elements Collection offering Cubase Elements, Dorico Elements, WaveLab Elements and their Absolute Collection free of charge for 60 days.

Soundtoys is offering a free 30-day trial of their entire Soundtoys 5 product line.

Two Notes have made their amp simulation Torpedo Wall of Sound available for free - get it here

Apple and Ableton are both offering a free 90-day trial for their DAWs Logic Pro X and Ableton Live Suite.

Do you want to release music? Songtradr is offering entirely free distribution services till the end of September.

Free Samples, Field Recordings & Sound Resources

Sounds for Lifting Hearts is a free compilation album of field recordings from around the world

Aubit Sound has made its Chainsmokers-style preset / sample pack “Chain-Pop Vol. 1” free - grab it here.

A Sound Effect’s Audio Community Power Pack - free sound effects, video tutorials and advice

The Audio Engineering Society is offering three months of membership for $25 to help audio professionals stay connected.

This is not Rocket Science are offering a free pack of “happy” vocal sounds from  – something uplift your audio work : )

W1 Limiter is a free software tool for taming field recordings.

High-quality free samples can also be found at r-loops | Looperman |  Splice | BBC SoundFX | BedroomProducersBlog 

You'll also find a massive selection of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, all released under Creative Commons licenses at Freesound

Free COVID-19 advice for musicians from the ISM

Looking for help during the lockdown? The ISM (Incorporated Society of Musicians) has set up a COVID-19 advice hub for musicians, which contains free guidance on all aspects of the situation, from  staying healthy to succeeding online. Discover how to make money from live streaming, explore their list of remote learning resources, read up on online safeguarding, and much more. Access the advice hub.

We'll continue updating this list as we find new resources and tools, so please bookmark this page - happy creating everyone!