Unfortunately, fancy plug-ins that make cool noises can sometimes be expensive and budding Sound Designers might see that as a barrier to entry. That’s what inspired me to compile this list. Because financial status shouldn’t prevent you from becoming an audio wizard. The following list is comprised of many powerful tools from reputable companies (in no particular order) for Sound Designers of all skill levels. Will update if/when I find some other rad, free plug-ins.
As far as free plug-ins go, it’s gonna be hard to beat the offerings from Valhalla. These are all absolutely fantastic and should be in every Sound Designers tool box.
“ValhallaSpaceModulator is our take on flanging.
Eleven algorithms allow you to get through-zero flanging, barberpole flanging, detuning, doubling, strange echoes, reverbs, and all sorts of effects that defy description.”
“ValhallaSupermassive has been designed from the ground up for MASSIVE delays and reverbs. Blow your mind and your music to new levels of consciousness and experience. Get ready for luscious clouds of reverb, otherworldly delays, swelling waves of feedback unlike any you’ve heard before.”
“Freq Echo is perfect for dub, Dr. Who, and all of your psychedelic needs.
Bode-Style Frequency Shifter + Analog Echo Emulation create surprising sonic effects. Subtle chorusing and double tracking to barberpole phasing and flanging to endless glissandos and runaway echoes.”
Glitchmachines makes some COOL SHIT, that’s all I need to say about them. Two powerful plug-ins for the low cost of free.
“Fracture is a versatile effects processor geared toward electronic musicians and sound designers. This plugin was designed to add glitchy articulations and abstract textures to your projects. Use it on anything from drums and percussion to synth lines and sound effects. Fracture’s intuitive interface and diverse features make it simple to give your projects a unique technical edge.
Our free downloads feature exclusive releases developed with the same uncompromising production values as our paid products. These critically acclaimed free plugins and packs have been featured on countless ‘best-of’ lists and are favorites among electronic musicians and sound designers.”
“Hysteresis is a versatile effects processor geared toward electronic musicians and sound designers. Process anything from drums to synths, guitars, vocals and sound effects. On top of being able to create contorted signal mutations, it can also be tamed to generate classic delay effects.
Our free downloads feature exclusive releases developed with the same uncompromising production values as our paid products. These critically acclaimed free plugins and packs have been featured on countless ‘best-of’ lists and are favorites among electronic musicians and sound designers.”
If you haven’t used a granular synth before, you’re in for a treat. This is a great one to start with.
“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!”
From the company that makes Serum, OTT is super popular among Sound Designers. The only plug-in on this list without a blurb to sell you on it from their website because they know they don’t need it. Great for when you just need MORE. Because who needs dynamics anyways? Also pick up the Delta Modulator and Dimension Expander while you’re on the download page!
Saturation Knob is one of my absolute favourite plug-ins. I use it ALL THE TIME (very subtle-y). Great for adding excitement to any of the elements of your mix.
“The free plug-in Saturation Knob is a modeled output distortion that can be used anywhere you need some grit. Use it to fatten up bass lines, add some harmonics and shimmer to vocals, or simply destroy your drum loop.”
Zynaptiq makes some absolutely wild plug-ins and they happen to give Subspace awat for free! Requires iLok.
“SUBSPACE is a super-lush sounding and totally streamlined reverb plugin. It is based on the allpass reverb module found in our acclaimed MORPH 2, WORMHOLE and ADAPTIVERB plugins, and features just two controls: a switch that selects one of four presets, and a dry-wet control. Adding (inter-)stellar reverb to your sound was never easier!”
An extremely powerful rival to the mighty Xfer Serum. But free! (with ability to upgrade later-on with more wavetables, presets, and other goodies)
“Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer. Discover how warping the harmonic makeup of a wavetable can completely create a new set of sounds. Stretch, shift, smear and skew harmonics up, down and around the spectrum to explore new timbres and create sounds you didn't think possible with wavetables…”
A little “sampler pack” of the Melda lineup. Some fantastic tools to have on hand.
Melda Production MFreeFXBundle
“MFreeFXBundle contains a set of audio effects, which are completely free. Our commercial plugins offer many more features, but these are still extraordinary when compared to most plugins on the market. You can extend the features of these free plugins at any time by purchasing a licence.”
Six simple plug-ins from an awesome company. I have nothing but good things to say about Kilohearts.
“The Kilohearts Toolbox STARTER gives you access to 6 of the most versatile snapins on top of everything in the Kilohearts Toolbox FREE. These essentials will get you very far and the bundle is a good choice if you need to customize your channel strip and be able to reuse it at any time, in any DAW.”
iZotope needs no introduction as they are an absolute powerhouse in the plug-in industry. Here are some tools that are always good to have. Vinyl is probably my fave of the bunch, but Imager gets a fair amount of use in my sessions as well.
“Updated in 2019 with immersive, fluid visuals, full resizability, and a smooth new Stereoize mode, this free plug-in offers a wider world of possibilities for imaging in your mix.”
“Vinyl simulates the dust, scratches, warp, and mechanical noise reminiscent of yesteryear for FREE.”
“iZotope Vocal Doubler is a free plug-in designed to enhance your vocal with a natural doubling effect, adding richness and depth. Our acclaimed doubling technology has been reimagined with a brand new interactive UI dedicated to helping you achieve a great double faster than ever.”
Loudness is extremely important in the modern age. Too loud and you’ll be turned down by streaming platforms, too quiet and your mix will sound weak in comparison to other mixes. Loudness Meter lets you know where your mix truly sits.
“Youlean Loudness Meter helps you find the true perceived loudness of your audio and prepares it for TV or streaming services release.”
Freakshow Industries (free-ish) allows you to “steal” their plug-ins right from their website. I recommend you try them out for free and pay later if you end up using it frequently.
Freakshow Industries Dumpster Fire
“Sometimes a track takes that dark turn. Every path leads ever deeper into desperation. Nothing is working, perhaps the well is dry. Delete it all. Salt the earth. Anything but this.
Never far away is the thirst for cleansing fire. Undo has become a parasitic companion. Defeat is calling like a moth to the candle flame. Endure this manic force in resolute defiance. Strike the eldritch match of transformation.”
“BACKMASK USES GOVERNMENT APPROVED PARADOX PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES TO EXPOSE THE HIDDEN TERRORS OF MUSIC.
UNCOVER THE PLOTS OF GHOSTS, ALIENS AND OTHER ROGUE ENTITIES WITH FREAKSHOW INDUSTRIES BACKMASK”
“I. The little tape machine that couldn't; broken, abandoned, forgotten. Twisted by forbidden science.
II. The parasite. A sort of digital control collar. Home to the deranged consciousness of a long forgotten god.
By their powers combined, the final agent of doom looks upon this world with hungry eyes.”
Powerful, lightweight M/S utility plug-in.
“Midside Matrix pares down our acclaimed mid/side processor, Midside, to just the essentials: mid/side matrixing, gains, monitoring, & metering — all in a simple, lightweight package. And, because we love M/S processing so much at Goodhertz, we decided to make Midside Matrix free for everyone!”
Just a great sounding plug-in for adding some life and excitement to your project. I use this all the time; way more than I thought I ever would. Needs iLok account.
“Fresh Air combines serious audio processing behind a gorgeous facade. Based on vintage exciter circuits and advanced dynamics processing, Fresh Air lets you add just the right amount of brilliance & shine to your mix in simple interface you can start using right away. Put it on individual tracks or your entire mixbus— whatever you choose, the results will blow you away.”
From the company that makes Manipulator and other crazy-good plug-ins. Wider is a simple-to-use stereo imager.
Polyverse / Infected Mushroom Wider
“Wider takes the massively popular stereo section from its sibling, Manipulator, and creates the illusion of an expanded stereo image of a mono signal to an awe-inspiring amount of width. However, Wider is a unique stereo plugin in the sense that it is completely “mono-compatible”, meaning that any signal that has been extended will always remain in phase with itself, even if summed to mono.”
I’m a HUGE fan of Panipulator, especially when working with music. I keep this in mono mode and place it on my master buss in bypass, one click allows me to hear the mix in mono and identify problematic areas within my mix. Other imaging plug-ins can do this too, but Panipulator is extremely light on CPU-usage and is more no-nonsense than the other options.
“Panipulator is an indispensable, CPU-friendly tool that lets you achieve accurate mix translation across various less-than-ideal playback systems. With simple streamlined controls, you can you check mono compatibility, speaker polarity, identify phase issues in multi-miked instruments, isolate speakers in mono, and more—and it’s absolutely FREE.”
“Bark of Dog 2 is a unique, stereo/M-S low-frequency enhancer that combines a resonant filter and Pultec-style boost-attenuation EQ in a simple, easy to use plug-in.”
Extremely powerful dynamic EQ plug-in.
“NOVA is a parallel dynamic equalizer. Appearing in the familiar layout of a parametric equalizer, each band also includes a full featured dynamics section allowing the processor to cover an impressively wide range of applications. Be it a master lacking density, the drum bus asking for more crispiness, or a sibilance problem in your perfect take: NOVA has an elegant answer.”
Prolific and impressive plug-in maker from Poland!
“PSP PianoVerb is our freeware plug-in which reproduces special kind of reverberation originally provided by piano strings.”
Was introduced to Klanghelm by their IVGI saturation plug-in several years ago. They have a few free options that are complete mojo machines.
“It's a variable-mu** design with lots of vibe, capable of smooth leveling but also heavy pumping effects. With its two gain stages and interstage transformer simulation it offers a very deep and lively soundstage.”
“I've always wanted to do a compressor with just an input and output knob, a compressor that just works: gentle, faithful, from almost invisible, smooth leveling to heavy pumping with a nice crunchy saturation and punchy enough to treat drums with.”
“IVGI can deliver very soft and subtle saturation, that feels at home
on the master buss. It is equally capable of very dense and dirty
distortion effects to spice up single tracks. IVGI's base sound is comparable to the DESK mode in the big brother SDRR.”
Music label, virtual instrument designer, and maker of free and cheap plug-ins.
“Driftmaker is a delay disintegration device that parses incoming audio, recalls certain parts and adds analog deterioration to the signal.”
“Expanse is a noise and drone generator that can be spectrally blurred, pitched, and filtered. It is a simple yet versatile tool that can produce sweeping backdrops, resonating low drones and many other textural canvases.”
I just recently found out about this guy. A quick read-through of his bio makes it clear that he is the real deal. Love his passion and no-frills approach to UI.
Michael Norris SoundMagic Spectral
“SoundMagic Spectral is a freeware suite of 23 Audio Unit plug-ins that implement real-time spectral processing of sound. This set of effects give you unprecedented control and creativity in the processing of audio, whether from static audio files or live audio streams.”
Maker of some WILD open source plug-ins.
“FogPad is a multichannel reverb effect with a little twist: instead of aiming to recreate a large amount of acoustic spaces, FogPad provides a murky nebula of frozen thoughts, recollecting long forgotten events. The reflections can be bent and transformed through use of its fully automatable parameters.”
“Transformant provides a multichannel formant filter effect that is tailored to provide gritty, honking, nasal grunts rather than pristine angelic choirs.”
“HomeCorrupter provides an effect that harks back to a period in which computers weren't actually that good at handling audio.”
“Regrader provides a delay effect in which the repeats degrade in various ways to provide a malevolent twist on the ears.”
Wampler is big in the guitar pedal world. These effects are from one of their DSP-based pedals. Cool!
“Test out 3 plugins from the Terraform including the Dimension Chorus, the U-Vibe, and the Envelope filter.”
Another name that’s big in the studio and guitar pedal world. Who doesn’t want another synth, especially when “chaotic” is used as a descriptor.
“Bored of the same old synth sounds? Newfangled Audio's Pendulate is refreshingly different. Pendulate is a chaotic monosynth that uses a brand new double-pendulum-oscillator to create previously unheard sounds - biting basses, searing leads, and gritty textures. It can smoothly fade from a sine wave to total chaos, with an expanse of territory to explore in between.”
“With its bit crushing and downsampling algorithms, Krush combines the crispy taste of the digital realm with the warmth of its drive stage and analog modeled resonant filters. A modulation section allows you to quickly add extra life to the sound by modulating any parameter.”
“Thump is a unique audio processor that allows you to synthesize low frequency audio to add low end to a track or generate another sound entirely. Thump looks at the pitch and dynamics of its audio input and uses this information to control its oscillators. You can add low end to drums, augment a bass or even create synthetic drones.”
A few free options from a seasoned synth designer.
“Created in 2005 and still going strong. Podolski is a free, straightforward, CPU-efficient virtual analogue synthesizer. One oscillator, one filter, one envelope and an arpeggiator / sequencer. Simple, but with a few tricks up its sleeve. Create high quality sounds with ease.”
“Zebralette is our version of a Trojan horse. A free synthesizer and an introduction to Zebra2's fantastic oscillators. Perhaps it will persuade you to try Zebra2 and upgrade. If one oscillator is this powerful, imagine what you can achieve with four… and all the other great features available in Zebra2.”
“Triple Cheese, winner of the 2006 KVR Developer Challenge, is a truly unique freeware synthesizer. No traditional oscillators or wavetables, no FM or phase distortion and no analogue modelled filters here. A touch unusual and a little cheesy, Triple Cheese is quite capable of some surprising sounds.”
“TAL-Filter-2 is a host synced filter module with different filter types, panorama and volume modulation possibilities. This can be used for tremolo or trance gate effects. Panorama modulation maybe is useful to pan your percussion, hats or sound effects in the stereo room for more interesting rhythms and sounds.”
“TAL-Reverb-4 is a high quality plate reverb with a vintage 80's character.”
TAL-Chorus-LX
“TAL-Chorus-LX is a 1:1 standalone version of the chorus implemented in TAL-U-NO-LX”
“TAL-NoiseMaker is a virtual analog synthesizer with a great sound and low CPU usage.”
“TAL-Vocoder is a vintage vocoder emulation with 11 bands that emulates the sound of vocoders from the early 80’s. It includes analog modeled components in combination with digital algorithms such as the SFFT (Short-Time Fast Fourier Transform).”
A free bundle from a fantastic eurorack module company.
Freequel Bundle: Sinc Vereor, Virt Veroer, Ruina
”Sinc Vereor’s intuitive and inviting controls belie the power of this lightweight synthesizer. Loosely based on Noise Engineering’s beloved Eurorack module Sinc Iter, the wavemorphing/wavefolding Tone control makes sound design a breeze. Blend between familiar waveforms like saw, triangle, and square. Super mode adds 6 phase-offset oscillators. Use Noise mode to generate self-similar noise for percussion, effects, and more.Virt Vereor is a powerful synthesizer based on a unique set of synthesis algorithms. Bass is a quadrature algorithm described in Bernie Hutchins’ seminal series Electronotes. Sawx is a supersaw-inspired beast. Harm is an additive algorithm with spectral control and distortion of partials. Virt Vereor makes a tremendous amount of unique sounds with an immediate and usable interface.
Ruina is a creative stereo distortion plugin built on digital distortion algorithms: no emulations here. Intuitive and fully automatable controls make it easy to get a gentle, nuanced color, to obliterate a signal, or to dial in anything in between. Don’t feel like tweaking the parameters? Ruina comes with tons of presets to fit any need. With seven distortion types, it’s easy to turn your sounds into something new and unique with Ruina.”
