VST Instruments

Now you’ve got to understand that I was born in the 50’s, grew up in the 60’s, and played in a rock band 5 nights a week all through the 70’s. So guys like Rick Wakeman (Yes) and Keith Emerson (ELP) were my influences as were bands like Gentle Giant and Genesis. I've been searching for VST instruments that emulate keyboards like the Mellotron, Rhodes, B3, Clav, Minimoog, etc, that I use to own and play. 

Here is a list of VSTi's that you can buy that emulate those classic synthesizers:

• Moog Modular: Moog Modular V from Artruia
• ARP 2600: ARP2600 V from Arturia
• Minimoog: Minimoog V from Artruria
• Mellotron: M-Tron from GForce
• Hammond B3: B4 Organ from Native Instruments
• Sequential Circuits Prophet 5: Pro-53 from Native Instruments
• Fender Rhodes: Lounge Lizard EP-2 from Applied Acoustic Systems

Here is a listing of some FREE VSTi instruments to use with ACID Pro or any VSTi compatible host. I found most of these through K-v-R web site which is an excellent directory of everything VST.

• Mellotron: Tapeworm from Tweakbench has strings, voices, flues, brass
• Fender Rhodes: Mr.Ray 2 or 4Front Rhodes, Piano, Bass, E-Piano - Some exceptional pianos
• Tonewheel Organ (B3): ORGANized trio
• Various Pianos: mdaPiano / mdaePiano / mdaDX10
• Multi-sound: Plugsound FREE - from UltimateSoundBank
• Multi-sound: SampleTank 1.1.9 FREE
• Polyphonic Analog Subtractive Synthesizer: LinPlug FreeAlpha
• Polyphonic Analog Subtractive Synthesizer: Superwave P8
• Soundfont Player: rgc:Audio SFZ

Soundfonts

SynthZone Soundfont Resources is an outstanding resource for soundfonts.

VST Effects

ACID Pro 5.0 now supports VST effects. Here is a list of some great free VST effects:

• Kjaerhus Audio Classic Series (Chorus, Compressor, Delay, EQ, Flanger, Phaser, Limiter, Reverb)
• Voxengo has some great VST effects both for free and for a fee.

Control Devices

You will need some way of controlling your VSTi synths. There are both hard wand software solutions available:

• M-Audio has an excellent line of MIDI Keyboard Controllers. I use the Radium49 and I love it.
• Frontier Design Tranzport is an excellent transport controller for recording and playback.
• Bome's Mouse Keyboard is an excellent software keyboard for those times when you don't have hardware available.