I need some foley sounds and I'd rather not go get them from random sfx sites and the likes.

Things like grass rustling, stepping/running on multiple surfaces, the wind blowing, a sandstorm blowing, rain, thunder, etc etc. The basics. I would actually go out and record most of them myself - if I had a good recording setup. Next best thing is foley but that has the same problem.

Can these be imitated convincingly with physical modelling or something similar?
Right now I really need a good, windy but light sandstorm. Nothing apocalyptic, just something that'd make you go "oh yeah better not go into that unprepared but it's not the end of the world"

 

1.) AudioWeather – Free VST

Main Features

• 32/64 bit and AAX/VST/AU compatible
• Dynamic weather synthesizer for dummies
• Free version is limited to 5
• http://lesound.io/product/audioweather-free/

2.) Creating Wind (White Noise/On Any Synth!)

 

Not physical modeling, because it is air:

 

What about physmod wind instruments then?

Also that's exactly what I need for quite a lot of stuff, shame it's UVI. Guess I'll have to bust out a VM for it.

 

Shame its UVI? Did you want something subpar instead? Wind/Air are pretty much what that expansion is for, and it is not modelled. Modeling anything, really; is always much more CPU intensive of an approach. and there is no physical component to what that soundset does. So if you want a street sign oscillating in the wind during your sandstorm, it might be the wrong pick.

 

Chill, I only said it due to the lack of an OSX release.

 

what's not chill? I think if I wanted a sandstorm, I'd sample it from Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol film. It has the biggest sandstorm I have ever seen in a film.

 

Syncersoft has a bunch of freebie sound vsti like this and many others.

https://syncersoft.com/

 

boom library - turbine
https://www.boomlibrary.com/sound-effects/turbine/

boom library - grip
https://www.boomlibrary.com/sound-effects/grip/

 

https://nusofting.com/plugins/noisetar-freeware-synth/
Noisetar is a synthesizer dedicated to the generation of many different noise based sounds.

The generation is purely mathematical, no samples or wavetables are used, thus allowing for an easy continuous morphing from one sound to the other. Twelve parameters control the generator, moreover its output can be further shaped and enriched inside Noisetar with its two filters, a chorusing reverb and a stereo enhancer. As modulators Noisetar offers an ADSR envelope and keytracking, with seven destinations.

Using the included bandpass filter, which is tuned to the incoming MIDI notes, is also possible to play Noisetar melodically.

Noisetar is designed with DAW parameter automation in mind to tailor complex custom modulations tied to each project rather then dealing with complicated patches.

Noisetar has its own sound space, ranging from various digital noises to crackle, rattles and crepitations similar to wood fire or rain, scratchy percussions and foot stomps, with many others from the lowest booming and gurgling drones, to thin misty hisses. The quality and types of Noisetar sounds obviously doesn’t cover all possible noise sounds, but most certainly will increase your noise arsenal without taking up more than 2MB on your drive.

Any musical genre can make use of a versatile noise synth. Enjoy exploring its unique sound space.

Features:

Unique integrated sound engine, with comb filter, LFO, AM, FM etc…
Polyphony ten voices.
Keytracking for various parameters.
Melodic bandpass filter with adjustable bandwidth.
ADSR envelope with 4 targets.
Effects:

12dB/octave, low pass and high pass.
Chorusing Reverb.
Stereo Enhancer.
Others:

All parameters can be automated inside a DAW.
Tooltips on screen.
Resizable GUI.
Custom colours and texture.

 

Big. Bigger. Mad Max

 

The best thing to do is to ask Darude.

 

When in doubt take inspiration from the masters:
Ben Burtt, (4 Academy Awards, a guru among Hollywood sound designers) explains how he sounded Wall-E

Ben is also responsible for every Star Wars sound effect, including the voice of Chewbecca, voice of R2D2 and the most iconic SFX ever: the lightsaber

I'm totally addicted to Ben Burtt work, watching this videos you can realize that synthesis is not always the best way to realize an idea, in fact he used a lot of machinery and microphones to do the magic.

 

Unfortunately, as the OP said, he lacks a setup for recording sounds.

 

As BEAT16 pointed you toward, go check out the entire LeSound lineup and see what you like. Many of their tools use a combination of physical modeling and granular synthesis to create realistic, ever-changing natural sounds. Fire, wind, rain, footsteps (which is one of their sample-based tools, but give it a look)... Very interesting stuff.

 

The original post left me with a question that recurs when i revisit the thread.
Foley has the same problem...?
What problem?
The only problem i can see mentioned is that you don't have a good recording setup.
Do you mean to say that , in general, foley have the same problem of not having a good recording setup, or is it some other 'same problem'?

 

Good stuff. There is also

Noisemakers PANO https://www.noisemakers.fr/pano/ , which is a foley hybrid-sampler.

 

For all that kind of stuff I use mostly Krotos, depending on the need, but mostly Reformer Pro (great for grass rustling or textile movement for exemple) and Weaponizer (great when you need to do some precise sync like steps or gunshots).

They got some great sound pack but you can also use your own, like Big Room Sound, Boom Library or Sound Effect Bible. The good thing is that it use those sounds in a way that match the dynamic of the sound you use as input (it can be your voice that make the movement or the original bad sound from the video you're working on, it just use it as a time marker, so no problem with shitty sound) and with that it make the sound not really recognizable from its original source (you can even mix different sound from different pack).

Weaponizer use a bit of synthesis but it's mostly sample based, it's just there to give more option when creating your sound.

LeSound got some equivalent, but I don't use them that much (some where on sister site at some point, maybe still there if you want to give it a try).

For foleys in general, it's best to use samples, you could of course recreate everything with something like Phase Plant for exemple, but it would take you way more time to have a good convicing result. Even for fictional sound, it's best to start from a sample source, so you already have a natural movement and dynamics (unless you create robot sound like R2D2, then you can use your imagination)

 

All very interesting options above.
Also IMO you could reach good results with factory library of Reaktor.
Lot of noise makers included, some hybrid, some pure physmod.
Better if you could edit it yourself of course, but it requires at least some basics of (Reaktor) programming, you can consider it the LabView of sound (that by chance is from NI - National Instruments, not Native...).