A few grrreat free plugins! (Part 2)
Added 2022-05-31 14:51:43 +0000 UTCYo yo everybody!
Hope it's been a good month.
Me, took this week off to chill, as it's been mad with work, and the weather has finally shown some signs of warmth and spring.
Just recorded a new Breaks & Beats podcast episode (ep. 27) today – it'll be out on Friday (June 3) and on my podcasts page.
Also, in June month I want to do another song exclusive walkthrough video, and it'll be about my recent remix that I did for Make Or Break – let's talk a bit about breaks soon!
That remix is something I did with Renoise, too, so let's take a look at that: drums, some creative choices, synths etc.
Also, a video about doing a custom breakbeat is coming 🥁
Aaaanyways, it's been a while since my first Patreon post about free plugins.
So, it's time to talk about a few other good ones that I most definitely find worth getting (I use them all myself, obviously!). I'll keep the descriptions fairly short: you'll get a much better and detailed info bit from the sites I'm linking you to.
I know everybody's drowning in free plugs, but I can assure all these are goooood.
👇 GOOD FREE PLUGINS 👇
I admit I don't grab synths that often anymore, and took me a while to get into checking into this, but I'm glad I did – because it's a badbwoy! The best way I could describe this is, it's kind of Serum-ish in that it's a wavetable synth and it does look a bit similar, too. I've been getting some pretty dang good sounds out of this, and I want to learn more. OSCs sound badass, there's plenty of LFOs and envelopes, the (Serum-esque) mod matrix works well, unison is dope, etc…no reason not to get it, almost. I can say if I had to pick one not DAW-specific free synth for the rest of my life, this'd prob be it (I could also recommend Synth1 by Daichi Labs, while it feels less developed than Vital. Another honorable free synth mention is Tyrell by u-He).
Once again, part of Computer Music plugin pack, and once more, I'm not trying to promote the mag (I'm not affiliated, and I've paid for every single issue), but so worth getting. It's a baby brother of the u-He Zebra, but it has a revamped interface. While it's a bit limited, it's become my go-to synth in terms of 808 style basses – somehow its wavetable-morph style OSCs sound mega fat and beefy for basses…a big recommendation!
This requires the free Halion Sonic SE.
Beautiful, smokey piano tones – I love it! I like the chord pads that give you some pretty nice chords for that instant smooth lo-fi hip hop vibes, and also the easy controls that control the "lo-fi-ness"!
VHS AUDIO DEGRADATION SUITE (for Reaktor)
This one is free, but actually requires the full version of Reaktor. I LOVE this one: it's got so many controls for that lo-fi-ness. Absolutely great for house, hip hop etc…I've even used this on some client work on the master.
You can shave off some lows and highs, and all the tape goodies (noise, flutter, drive, compression etc) are there. If you have Reaktor and there's one thing in this list you're gonna grab, make it this one.
We all know DAWs often sound a bit too clean, and little dirt goes a long way in terms of "audio condiments", and this can be just the thing your music needs.
Also speaking of free tape stuff:
CHOW TAPE MODEL (scroll down on the page a bit)
If you want a plugin that lets you make things a bit (or a lot) dirtier, this should be the one. An interesting tape plugin with plenty of controls.
I do think this sounds very good, and you can get this certain compression / "pressure" when you push things.
There seems to be a video manual, which might be worth checking out.
Yet another classy one-knob tool offering classy saturation! Rock it and roast it. Do note that the Saturation Type control decides what is roasted and what is kept…critical for basses especially (that's what I've often used it on).
To quote the site, "SonEQ is a free equalizer plugin that takes parts from some vintage gear and combines them in one."
What can I say: it does sound good, and I love the Drive control for that added analog saturation…use it!
(I could swear I've mentioned this before, but guess not…and this does deserve a second mention)
I admit I like my spring reverbs very splashy, and sure enough this is the number one splashy spring reverb I own – I don't use any other spring reverbs. I just love doing some reverb throws into this on drops or at the end of 16 bars etc…works every time.
If splashy springs are your thing, this is the one.
It's technically free and works forever without limitations, but you can pay for this, and I did, because it rocks, and good plugin companies deserve our support.
A one-knob reverb! I have already been using this quite a bit, using it from short room reverbs to much bigger atmospheric ones…I do like it!
It's interesting that this is a collabo (?) between Reverb (the music shop) and Acon Digital who…
…also do this grrrreat chorus, Multiply, which is absolutely worth getting…even has an EQ.
I've used this for widening a lot!
SIDEWIDENER BY JOEY STURGIS (widener)
OK, technically this isn't free (I'm literally not trying to sell this to you), but if you buy any issue of Computer Music, this is among the plugins in the free plugin vault that you get access to (you get a ton of other stuff, too).
This is THE widener I've used by far the most in the past few years. Period.
Very natural, causes no mono/phase issues, and can obviously generate stereo (even for mono signal) and go really wide.
TBH I very rarely use other wideners anymore.
Sometimes, de-essing a vocal isn't the easiest, most straightforward task.
However, I feel this free de-esser by Techivation does the job very well.
It's rarely let me down, and it's helped with some pretty harsh sibilance cases!
Note that it has different frequency range modes, and it also allows you to hear only what's being taken out, which is very important in de-essing.
Absolute gem of a freebie!
Is there a free plugin we all should know about?
Let us know!
