Good FREE plugins!

Ahoy all plugin lovers (I assume that is all of us here, hehe)!

Now that we have a nice number of people in the house…I thought we might try having a shared discussion.

Who doesn’t like good free plugins? I thought we might share our findings.

I’ll start by posting a few good and useful ones that I've used and actually found decent.
I don’t want to go all long and crazy this time (I feel I get overwhelmed seeing lists of 50+ plugins, as you can never be arsed to try them in depth). I may well add some more later on either as a comment below. I hope we get a nice number of good recommendations, so do let me and others know in the comments what you’d suggest!

This time, I don’t want to write long, exhaustive post – I can appreciate lenthy posts myself but also understand sometimes it’s nice to have something that’s easier to digest for a change. So, I’ll give you some pointers and you’re free to do some research on these plugins on your own and most importantly test them, as they’re free!

PS: Taking next week off, so do expect an interesting video about a certain new product ;--)

EQs

• TDR Nova – a great dynamic EQ. I use dynamic EQs heavily in all my work, to control frequency ranges and to prevent them going too loud instead of simple compression affecting the whole signal. This is a solid free choice!
• TDR Slick EQ – a nice semi-parametric EQ with saturation. Sometimes it's good to not look at the sound, and EQs like this are nice in that regard. And it allows for a bit of added character as a bonus.

EQ/saturation
• SGA1566. A two-stage tube mic preamp…try out the sumptuous saturation you can get out of this one.
• Code Red Free. Models a British EQ. From the same company as the above preamp. The tone you can get from driving this one is so dang good on drums!
• Bad Buss Mojo. This one can go CRAZY. ”It’ll go from “I can’t hear that you’ve done anything, but I like it” all the way up to “Why did you run my mix through a guitar amp?”
• IVGI. ”Reacts dynamically to the input signal. Modeled fluctuations react dynamically and change depending on the drive setting. IVGI features a Controlled Randomness, which determines the internal drift and variance inside the unit.”
• Airwindows Drumslam. It models one of my favorite old tape emulation plugins, Massey Tapehead (which, sadly, isn’t available in any formats other than AAX anymore). Try it on drums!

SYNTHS
• Synth1 – an amazing virtual analog synth. The site says, ”the most famous Subtractive & FM synthesizer in the world and the most downloaded VST plug-ins of all time.”
• Tyrell. A freebie from the software mastermind, u-He. Promises an ”analogue sound” and I do agree that the sound you get out of this badboy is well worth the price tag!
• Oxe FM synth. Doesn’t try to be the most amazing-looking FM synth in the world, but it does sound good!
• Fury 800. An emulation of Korg Poly-800. Sounds so good! So oldskool…do try out the presets!

COMPRESSORS
• TDR Kotelnikov. This is too good to be free. I love it that it can so nicely be set between peak and RMS modes. ”Kotelnikov has the ability to manipulate the dynamic range by dramatic amounts, while carefully preserving the original tone, timbre and punch of a musical signal.” I fully agree!
• VladG: Limiter no6.There was a period when I spent a lot of time with this multi-module beast. It offers a compressor, limiter, high frequency limiter, and a clipper.
This is NOT a recommendation for professional-level mastering use, but one thing I’ll say: you can get your song fairly dang loud with this guy using its limiter and clipper. Tip: Use ”digital clip” as the setting of Protection module. It will clip the master (instead of pushing the peaks down like a good limiter does): the other modes, while protecting you from peaks, smash transients, sadly. You can get some hecking loud ”home masters” with this guy!
(The reason I can't recommend it for pro-level use: you either smash transients while getting no ISPs OR keep the transients in the clipping mode…and a clipping mode is not a good look if anyone takes a look at the waveform of the song.)

FX etc
• Izotope Vocal Doubler. iZotope Vocal Doubler is a free plug-in designed to enhance your vocal with a natural doubling effect, adding richness and depth.
• Izotope Vinyl. Vinyl simulates the dust, scratches, warp, and mechanical noise reminiscent of yesteryear.

Clippers
• Event Horizon. Good one! Even mixing legend Dave Pensado likes it! Clippers can be good for clipping peaks off of the signal (allows for making it louder) and also adding a bit of tone on it.

OK…your turn: let us all know what you’d recommend!