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There are loads of (mostly free) VSTs for windows not available on the mac (most smartelectronix stuff, synthedit, and synth1 come to mind). These are usually the kinds of plugins that do "non traditional" stuff for people looking to do more cutting-edge, experimental stuff with their music, which makes windows ideal for this. I'm assuming Wired will run windows VSTs, which is really exciting as it could allow for a more stable, secure and efficient DAW that will run all these great plugins.

Synthesizers dont die, they just move to software ...

There is no need to "revitalize" the music synthesizer scene, as you suggest - it is alive and kicking. As we speak, literally hundreds of synths with all kinds of engines (additive, substractive, sampling, FM, granular etc.) are being developed, sold and given away for free. Go to KVR to learn more.

Admittedly, not too much open-source in that field. But if you simply want tools for music production, you can be up and running with a cheap off-the-shelf PC and some free software (sequencer, synths, effects) in an hour.

I wish I would have had this twenty years ago, when MIDI came up.

Never took a look at LADSPA as I'm stuck on windows until we see a version of Cubase for linux, or a linux solution that provides all of the functionality of cubase.

But for your own comparison take a look at Kvr-VST which is a vst plugin news/listing site.

There are basically two types of plugin, a simple VST which is for things like effects units and then there are VSTi's which are virtual instruments. Native Instruments do a whole load that emulate synths of bygone days almost perfectly. Korg has also just released three classic synth's as VSTi's which sound so much like the real thing it's scary.

... is that there are thousands and thousands of free ones.

At the Linux Audio Developers conference this year in Karlsruhe, Paul Davis showed us quite a few commercial VST plugins running under Linux, some with copy protection also running. Kontakt, for example, ran great!

But regardless, cross-platform sound-generating plugins are cool. (Except for the .DLL part, eww...)

your most important tools are VSTs

check here: kvr-vst.

you can load them into buzz and then run them like virtual synths. the quality varies, but some of the free ones are actually better than my real hardware synths, notably the killer series, like MindKiller, SoulKiller, etc, or TriangleII, or Crystal...

look around, dont cost nothing and they're fun.

RFIDs in cows & sheep. I wonder if this and helps with disease control.
I count sheep for a living!

Well actually I am a computer programmer, but the other day I found myself in the middle of a portuguese field counting 596 sheep. I work for the agricultural business, and my latest project involves sheep and cattle with RFID tags in their bellies. The system I work with reads signals from an antenna that detects when the animals pass.

Quite a change from my previous job where I was making stock trading systems for a bank.

Assuming you're on the Windows platform, I would suggest you check out FLStudio - it comes with some decent software synths (FLS calls them "generators") and also host many free virtual instruments ("vsti" and "dxi"), as well as shareware and commercial ones.

There are other choices as well - Orion (PC), Muzys (PC & Mac), Cubasis VST (PC & Mac) Tracktion (PC, Mac in beta), Massiva (PC), and Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 (PC) for example. A bit higher up the chain, you have Cubase SE (PC & Mac), and Sonar Studio (PC), Logic Audio big box (Mac) or the self-contained Reason (PC & Mac).

If you want to go beyond synth presets, soundfonts and GM sounds, then you'll probably want to understand analog (subtractive) synthesis - see Analog Synthesis for Beginners for an introduction.

The "definitive site" for this is KvR-VST. Go there and read a bit, then sign up to ask questions. It's a friendly crowd. Just don't go here, that guy isn't very helpful.

Doug

I've used all the big music applications - cubase, logic, cakewalk, etc. and hated them all, but the most interesting thing I've seen for years is a new sequencer called Tracktion - it's got a fantastic, simple functional interface - no menus or dialogue boxes - and after the first minute of thinking "huh??" you're flying!

The best bit is that it's all written and designed by this one guy on his own (in his spare time!) - an awesome bit of coding! He's written the whole thing on top of his own GUI library(!)and judging by the activity on its support forum it's evolving at an amazing rate! It's missing a couple of features, but this is a sizzling bit of software and worth checking out for anyone who likes good UI design!

oh - and the demo tunes are hilarious, too!

• http://www.kvr-vst.com - My favorite VST (softsynth and effect plugin) news and discussion site.
• http://www.em411.com - Another computer music news site.
• http://www.computermusic.co.uk/ - Lovely Computer Music magazine
• http://www.steinberg.net - Steinberg, makers of "Cubase" ... a software sequencer, music work environment and more.
• http://www.emagic.de - Makers of "Logic". A lot like Cubase. Sequencer holy warrior fanatics will track me down and rip me apart for mentioning Cubase first.
• http://www.cycling74.com/ - Makers of sound programming thingies Max/MSP and Pluggo. Pretty complicated, but reportedly worthwhile.
• http://microsound.org/ - Home of arguably the most snobbiest "experimental music" and computer music mailing list on the net. Plenty of interesting stuff here too. Prepare to listen to various 30 minute plus "masterpieces" of quiet shuffling sounds, only.
• http://www.nativeinstruments.de/index.php?home_us - (English Link) Stylish softsynth and plugin rockstar company. They make some incredible products. Geeks will have hard-ons for Reaktor.
• http://www.refx.net - Maker of interesting VST plugins, notably "QuadraSID" which is a sound plugin based on the Commodore 64's famous, classic "SID" chip.

If you think Reason is powerful, you need to be shot. It is a simple sequencer with a few built in samplers, synths and effects. Perhaps you were thinking of Reaktor, made by Native Instruments. There are countless sequencers, effects and instruments out there that can be combined in any way you can imagine. Here are a few links to get you started:

Native Instruments
Cubase VST
K-v-R (huge VST resource)

USB does not have to be too slow for audio...

If you're using pro audio software, you're more than likely using ASIO drivers.

There are some USB devices out there that have a low latency, such as the Emagic 2|6, and (not quite as good) the M-Audio Quattro.

The problem seems to be that developing decent low latency drivers is a major part of the cost of these devices, so a lot of the low end ones just use the generic USB audio drivers provided with either Win or Mac. These drivers both suck.... lots...

For a decent roundup of effective latency on various cards, check out KVR's site.