studiotoolz♥

pMix (short for preset mixer) is a new composition and performance tool that facilitates the control of multiple plugin parameters using an intuitive graphical interface. pMix hosts four VST plugins and lets you interpolate between presets by navigating a 2D visual environment. Presets are represented by coloured balls that are positioned on a plane. The [...]

bs-0 is a software playback sampler for Steinberg VST 2.4, and Apple Audio Units plug-in format.
You can play all SoundFont 2 files for Creative Sound Blaster series, and DLS (Downloadable Sounds) files on your host application. bs-0 supports Mac OS X and Windows .
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http://homepage.mac.com/bismark/bs-0/ (95 clicks)

Free, advanced instrument with access to the best NI sounds
KORE PLAYER is a free software instrument designed for use with KORE SOUNDPACKS. Built on the same principles as the flagship KORE 2 Super Instrument, KORE PLAYER includes six Native Instruments sound engines under the hood and provides ready-to-play sounds that can be browsed and tweaked [...]

MissWatson is a lightweight testing host designed for debugging and batch processing with a single plugin. It runs from a console and can easily be attached to a debugger such as GDB for plugin analysis. It has a number of options that can be passed to it from the command line, fully simulating a realtime [...]

A terrific, free audio tool is lurking in Mac OS X Tiger’s developer tools. AU Lab is intended for testing Audio Unit effects and instruments, but it’s feature-packed enough to be useful to end users, too. If you haven’t already, install Xcode Tools from your Tiger install disc. Then launch Developer > Applications > Audio [...]

A soundfont host written in Max/MSP. Works as a standalone application. Drag a soundFont file “xxx.sf2″ on the window to load the soundFont.
features:
MIDI Input
Keyboard
MultiTimbral
Chorus & Reverb
Audio Recorder AIFF & Wave
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http://perso.wanadoo.fr/Paresys/ARGO/AppFluidsynth.html (454 clicks)

host application for VSTi plug-ins, now ported to OS X. It loads one VSTi at a time, and no effects, but it’s intuitive and stable.
http://www.refusesoftware.com/freeware.html (321 clicks)

VST shell is a shell for VST instruments and effects, to enable you to use them outside of your usual VST host. Multi VST Shell is a multitimbral version, enabling 4 VSTi’s to be played at once.
http://www.wildfrontear.co.uk/ (452 clicks)

VST host application with advanced routing, presets and mouse+keyboard control.
http://www.fredrikolofsson.com/pages/code-apps.html (450 clicks)

Jesusonic is a fully programmable effects processor for guitar, bass, vocal and general use.
Using the Jesusonic, you can combine any number of effects in whatever order you choose. Effects can interact with eachother (for example, a volume detection effect can trigger a tremolo effect), or with the user (you can assign triggers to effects [...]

In SONASPHERE, functional units, such as sound samples, effects and mixers, are represented as small spherical ‘Objects’ floating within 3D Space. Connections are made between these objects, using simple mouse interaction, to establish signal stream networks.
A Sample Object playing a sound sample file, is connected to an Effect Object, which is then connected to a [...]

Impromptu is an OSX programming environment for composers, sound artists, VJ’s and graphic artists with an interest in live or interactive programming. Impromptu is a Scheme language environment, a member of the Lisp family of languages.
Time plays a major role in the Impromptu environment allowing accurate real-time scheduling of events and code blocks. Impromptu is [...]

VSTi / Audio Units (AU) Host application running as a MAX / MSP Standalone.
http://mmturner.home.mindspring.com/software.html (1592 clicks)

This is a simple soft synth built around the inbuilt DLS synth code in Mac OS X. It lets you plug in a MIDI interface and MIDI keyboard, load up a DLS or Soundfont and play.
Basically you should plug in your MIDI interface, start up SimpleSynth, select your MIDI input from the pop-up menu [...]