The best free VST plugins 2020: must-have freeware synths, drum machines and effects By Si Truss ( Computer Music, Future Music, emusician ) 20 November 2020 Make music for nothing with our pick of the finest free sound makers and processors. Virtual synthesizer plugin designed for “heavy” electronic music styles like Dubstep, Drum n Bass, Hardstyle, and Techno. Warrior is yet another freeware synthesizer by Noizefield, following the previously released Mini Bounce, Bounce, Splash, and others. Available for Download. Utility 10 Analog 8 Imaging 6 Modulators 6 Delay 5 Distortion 5 Filter 5 Chorus 4 Dynamics 4 EQ 4 Mid-Side 4 Stereo-Field 4 Synthesizer 4 Vintage 4 Algorithmic 3 Amp-Simulator 3 Bitcrusher 3 Mastering 3 Reverb 3 Subtractive 3. Best Free Distortion VST Plugins FuzzPlus 3 by Audio Damage FuzzPlus 3 is an updated version of the original FuzzPlus pedal emulation which is a straight up fuzz-sounding effect and not so much of a distortion- or saturation one. Blue cat audio’s Blue Cat’s Chorus plugin is a very famous plugin in free VST plugins for vocals. Its available all known formats and supports both Mac and Windows. Main Features of Blue Cat’s Chorus Plugin. Vintage chorus effect with the single voice. Stereo spread controller. LFO shapes (Sine and triangle) In/Out phase mix control.
- Best Free Vst Plugins 2019
- Free Vst Instrument Plugins
- New Free Vst Plugins
- Essential Free Vst Plugins Download
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It’s the end of the month, and your bank account is empty…
…again.
Oops.
And as much as you might feel like buying that new Waves plugin…
(You’ve had your eye on it for months, right?)
It’s probably not a good idea.
But if you’re still looking to expand your plugin library, don’t worry.
Sometimes, the best things in life are free…
Here are 7 of my favorite free plugins. Each of them offers something new and unique (no boring EQs or compressors). Download them all to extend your sonic palette and ultimately, craft better-sounding tracks.
And if you’re looking to dive deeper, I also put together a list of five plugins I use on every mix. If you’re wondering which plugins I recommend, download the list below to make sure you’ve got my top tools for the job.
1. iZotope Neutrino
Neutrino is the baby brother of Neutron—iZotope’s newest channel-strip plugin. While Neutron has a number of innovative features, Neutrino spins off the best of them.
Neutrino tames undesirable resonances caused by poor room acoustics, cheap gear, and heavy-handed processing. iZotope calls the effect “spectral shaping,” and it can sound similar to gentle, low-ratio multiband compression. This can make tracks sound smoother and more polished—like sanding the rough edges off a freshly cut piece of wood. I find Neutrino particularly useful on electric guitar tracks, which often have lots of harsh resonances.
2. Voxengo SPAN
People say “don’t mix with your eyes.”
Meh.
The truth?
Tools that provide visual feedback, when used properly, can help you make better mixing decisions.
A spectrum analyzer is one of these tools. It plots the frequencies of sounds out on a graph, which allows you to “see” what tracks are comprised of.
SPAN is my favorite spectrum analyzer. You can control the ballistics and response of its graph, which makes it flexible enough for a wide variety of tasks. You can even route multiple tracks into SPAN and compare their frequency content.
(P.S. Voxengo has a few other free VST plugins. They’re worth checking out too, but SPAN is my favorite.)
3. Brainworx bx_solo
Bx_solo is a no-frills, stereo-imaging plugin. While it’s the least sexy of this bunch, it can still be pretty useful.
I like to add bx_solo to my mix bus. While I rarely push the stereo width past 100%, collapsing it to zero is an easy way to check for mono compatibility. The mid and side solo buttons are also useful. It’s great to have this one around—you never know when you might need it!
4. HOFA 4U Project Time
Mixing is a race against time.
The more time you spend on a mix, the more attached you become to what it sounds like. This makes it progressively harder to make good mixing decisions. Given enough time, even the worst mix will start to sound decent.
This is one reason I recommend mixing quickly and impulsively. You’ll get to the finish line faster, retain more objectivity, and ultimately, craft better mixes.
The first step towards more efficient mixing is to track how much time you spend doing it. Without this information, it’s easy to get lost in a black hole of endless tweaking.
Project Time makes this easy. Add it to a track, and it will start counting. The timer automatically stops when you close the session, and starts when you open it up again.
Keep an eye on Project Time, and you’ll train yourself to mix faster and more efficiently. It’s also an invaluable tool if you bill by the hour!
5. MeldaProduction MFreeFXBundle
MeldaProduction makes some great plugins. They’ve earned the praise of many notable engineers, including mastering guru Ian Shepard.
The MFreeFXBundle contains 30 free VST plugins. They range from workhorse tools like a compressor and EQ, to less common effects like a ring modulator, flanger, and oscilloscope.
If you’re looking to fill some holes in your plugin library, this is a great place to start.
6. Flux BitterSweet
BitterSweet is among the best transient shapers out there. It can produce results on par with studio mainstays like SPL’s Transient Designer and Waves’ Trans-X.
This simple plugin can achieve a wide variety of effects. Turn the knob to the right to add punch to drums, enhance the pluck of an acoustic guitar, or boost the consonants in a vocal performance. Turn the knob to the left to soften tracks and push them back in the soundstage.
7. iZotope Vinyl
Sometimes a little crackle is a good thing.
Vinyl will make tracks sound like they’re being played on a turntable. You can vary the intensity of the effect by controlling the volume of different types of noise, the degree of wear and tear, and the decade your sound is from. The results range from subtle filtering to Edison phonograph.
This plugin is great for special effects, like filtering down a vocal or making an intro sound tiny.
Moving Beyond Free Plugins: My Favorite Plugins
I hope these 7 free plugins help you craft tracks that sound fresh and unique.
If you’re looking to dive deeper, I also put together a list of 5 plugins I use on every mix. If you’re wondering which plugins I recommend, download the list below to make sure you’ve got my top tools for the job.
Before you go—what’s your favorite free VST plugin? Share your pick in the comment section below.
Bonus: 3 More Free Plugins for Mixing
3 Free Plugins I Use in Every Mix
It’s the end of the month, and your bank account is empty… …again. Oops. And as much as you might feel like buying that new Waves plugin… (You’ve had your eye on it for months, right?) It’s probably not a good idea. But if you're still looking to expand your plugin library, don't worry. Sometimes,
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Some weeks ago I was asked this question: “Which are the most essential plugins (possibly free ones) to mix a song?“. To be honest, I was a little bit confused as I started thinking about strange psycho-acoustic tool to do weird things with audio tracks. Nothing like that. Actually, the answer is quite simple, but before starting my plugins list (believe me, you’ll find a lot a free ones on the internet), I’d like to point out which are the essential “effects” (instead of “plugins”) you need to mix. At the end of the day, the list can be reduced to few ones:
- An Equalizer
- A Compressor
- A Delay (used as “send”)
- A Reverb (used as “send”)
Believe it or not, you really don’t need anything else to mix 😀
If you’re like me and you use Reaper, you can find (among others pre-installed) exactly these ones: ReaEq, ReaComp, ReaDelay, ReaVerberate (a “reduced” version of ReaVerb). That’s all, they are extremely powerful plugins. If you don’t have Reaper but you want to use these fantastic “Rea*” plugins you’ll be happy to find the ReaPlugs suite. This is a free bunch of Reaper plugins (including the ones above) you can use on your preferred DAW (Cubase, StudioOne, Logic, Sonar, anyone!). Anyway, if you like to have more chances to discover your preferred plugin, I can still advice these ones:
Best Free Vst Plugins 2019
EQ:
BootEQ (by Variety Of Sound): not exactly what we can call a “transparent EQ”, but the coloring that this EQ gives to your tracks is really pleasant, it depends on what you what to achieve, anyway give it a try.
Equilibre (by AudioTeknikk): it seems that the developers are not involved anymore in the maintenance of this plugin, too sad, anyway I really recommend it, you can still download Equilibre on vst4free.
Free Vst Instrument Plugins
SlickEQ (by TDR/VOS): this is a recent release, as BootEQ it has a predefined number of bands to use. This is a very good one!
Compressor:
Density mkII (by Variety Of Sound): you’ll find this plugin on the same pages of BootEQ (see above), they’re developed by the same guy. It’s perfect on you Drums bus, to give it the right punch. Very good also on the master bus to glue everything together.
TDR Feedback Compressor (by Tokyo Dawn Labs): I’ll be honest, I never tried it! But it seems very good!
Reverb:
Ambience (by Magnus): perfect for any kind of treatment, it’s amazing how much you can enhance your mix with this one.
EpicVerb (by Variety Of Sound): did you notice how many plugins I’m recommending by Variety of Sound? Good plugins, high quality ones and completely free, need more?!? 😉
Delay:
New Free Vst Plugins
ReaDelay (by Cockos): I avioded to repeat for each category the corresponding Rea* plugin by Cockos but now it’s different. I can’t tell you how much I use ReaDelay, it’s the most powerful and flexible free delay plugin you can find on earth. Download it and use it, now!
If this is not enough for you, you can still try more free plugin by testing the entire Antress Modern Plugins, lots of thing to experiment with on Antress web page.
My advice is to test all plugins you want directly on your mix. It’s amazing how many FX you can find on the web just for free, you could find that they are the best things you ever tried on your songs! Just try to mix an entire song with just EQ, Compressor, Delay and Reverb, it’s the only way to understand what you like!