Here’s my quick list for must have plugins to to have in your toolbox. These are great for any producer, game composer, sound designer or a music hobbyist! We are privileged to have access to all this free music technology.
Synths and instruments
Helm
Helm is a free cross-platform polyphonic synthesizer, which works as a standalone program and as a VST/AU plugin.
Komplete Start
A Must have! A curated selection of studio-quality instruments, effects, utilities, loops, and samples for FREE! I wish I had access to all these great quality sounds from Native Instruments when I started out.
Reaktor Player
REAKTOR PLAYER is a free engine that hosts cutting edge synthesizers and effects built in REAKTOR. Great for sound design and electronic music!
Blocks Base
Free modular synthesizer. It has everything you need and above to start exploring modular synthesis. This package contains a set of 24 modules (called Blocks) which can be used to build a custom modular synthesizer
Nils‘ K1v
This bad boy is a rompler that emulates a famous japanese classic from 1988. It includes 768 presets, the original factory bank and all ROM cards. Do you love retro sounds? You will love this!
Mikro Prism
This synth been around for a long time, but it’s a forgotten gem for unusual sounds.
Beatzille
U-he’s strike for the blocks! It presents an introduction to modular synthesis and a taste of the power of Bazille without being overwhelming. All for free with unbeatable U-he sound.
Podolski
With this simple One oscillator virtual analogue synth, you can create great sounds with ease. Freely available from U-he’s website.
TyrellN6
Based on a design similar to Roland’s classic Juno 60. It’s great for funky synth sounds and phat basslines!
Triple Cheese
winner of the 2006 KVR Developer Challenge, Triple Cheese is a unique-sounding freeware synthesizer plugin.
Zebralette
A free synthesizer and an introduction to Zebra2’s fantastic oscillators packed into a simple, easy-to-learn framework.
Effect & utility plugins
Span
SPAN is a free real-time audio spectrum analyzer.
Signalizer
Another audio visualizer. You will get vector scope, oscilloscope and a Spectrum analyzer all in one plugin.
Celestial
For anyone who want’s to add creative texturizing and psychoacoustic action to their tracks. It’s new, free and it’s awesome.
In order to get this plugin you have to go to the Acustica website and sign up for or log in to your user account. Download Aquarius, the Acustica download manager. Find Celestial in Aquarius and start installing!
Camel Crusher
With the growing importance of digitization we start looking back for the warm, saturated analog sounds. This is great for achieving that and harsher distortion.
Hysteresis
Hysteresis is a versatile effects processor geared toward electronic musicians and sound designers. Process anything from drums to synths, guitars, vocals and sound effects. Great for anything
Wider
Fully mono compatible widener plugin, which means that any widened signal will always stay in phase with itself. It enables you to create extremely lush and rich stereo images
Vinyl
Add instant vintage character to anything and for free! Perfect for making adding nostalgic Lo-Fi character to your sound. It’s also easy on CPU.
TAL Reverb 2 & 3
TAL Reverb 4
These TAL reverbs are great. I use them for anything I want to add a lush ambience for or add a slightly vintage sounding reverb. Especially great for that vintage “gated reverb” sound.
Protoverb
A free room experimental reverb. Protoverb generates random delay line lengths, networks and feedback strategies. If you are lucky you will find a great setting.
FreqEcho
An awesome creative tool for anyone who’s working with audio. For general mixing all the way to really crazy sound design.
8-Bit Shaper, Delta Modulator, Dimension Expander, DJMFilter and OTT
Free VST effects from Xfer. If you are looking for a powerful free distortion plug-in, Stereo Widener or a Filter. Look no further!
Analog Obsession
Tunca, the developer of these amazing plugins is bringing the classic sound of analog hardware into your DAW. You don’t need to spend hundreds on expensive plugins or hardware. Load these for that analog vibe! (Also consider donating, so the developer can create more awesome plugins!)
Airwindows
Here you can get dozens of free quality plugins! Don’t let the visuals fool you, they sound great. My favorites are the ADT (Artificial double-tracking), SRSLY (psychoacoustic stereo processor) and BussColors (console emulation) which sounds as good if not better than my J37 from Waves.
Ribs
Ribs is a powerful granular FX/synth that provides detailed control over it’s granular engine. You can glitch, scratch, filter, destroy and reconstruct sounds in many different ways! It’s super useful for sound design purposes!
SuperFlyDsp WahWah
Automatic Wahwah is a emulation of a Wahwah effect. Add this on anything from rhodes to guitars to add that funky vibe!
