We all love free stuff, especially when it can enhance and refine our music production skills. Most of you will likely be very aware of the big hitters, like Serum, Massive and others which are renowned for their sound design elements, but there are some very useful, free options. We’re back with another roundup of 9 best free plugins you need in your armoury that will take your tracks to the next level. Think epic soft synths that glitch and whirr, effects that will widen and double your sounds, time-stretching tools that will tear your samples into new and amazing realms and some super handy organisational plugins that will leave you never hunting for your samples again. So, if you love free stuff and need some inspiration for your latest track, follow on below and download our top picks.
If you’d like to learn more about how VSTs and plugins work, be sure to check out our online and LA courses. Plus, get 25% off selected online and LA courses before this offer ends on 31st December with the codes ONLINE25 and LA25. We also offer a number of our own freebies here at pointblank which can be found here.
1. Jimmy Edgar: ZIGZAG MAX4LIVE
Jimmy Edgar is best known for his experimental tracks which seem to twist and stretch the standards of club music. His brand new Max for Live device will help you add these rubbery metallic characteristics to your tracks with a few separate controls. He announced this new free device in a tweet explaining that the ZIGZAG MAX4LIVE DEVICE is “based on the time-variant orthogonal matrix feedback delay network reverberator“. Download this free device here (you’ll just have to follow the producer on Spotify to unlock it).
2. iZotope Vinyl
The ultimate lo-fi weapon, iZotope’s Vinyl effortlessly adds vintage character to your mixes. It features a few key controls such as the “Spindown” effect which allows you to create authentic-sounding tape stops, “Wear” which adds retro grain and more. This new vinyl tool is completely free and is available to download here.
3.Voltage Modular Nucleus 2
Featuring 22 modules and 176 presets, the Voltage Modular Nucleus 2 is a subtractive analogue soft synth which is great for those who want to learn more about how subtractive and modular synthesis works. It’s bundled with amazing features including oscillators, filters, envelope generators, amplifiers, and mixers, plus a sequencer, arpeggiator and a full suite of useful utility modules and powerful effects modules. To download this synth for free and learn more about what this synth can do, head here.
4. MT Power DrumKit 2
We could all use more real-sounding drums in our lives – and you’ll need to look no further than the MT Power DrumKit 2. Set up like a real-world kit, this sounds for this VST were specially recorded and processed to make them ideally suited for use in pop, rock and metal productions. That being said, this kit would certainly work well for anyone who’s producing some hip-hop, too.
5. ValhallaDSP Supermassive
ValhallaDSP are renowned for producing some of the best (and best free) plugins on the market. Their reverbs are atmospheric, rich and warm and their Supermassive is no different. Combining delays and reverb, get ready for luscious clouds of reverb, otherworldly delays, swelling waves of feedback unlike any you’ve heard before.
6. Spitfire LABS: Arctic Swells
Spitfire Audio’s excellent LABS series features a variety of raw, natural-sounding instruments created by musicians in London. From keys and synth pads to strings, choir and everything in between, LABS is great for adding some emotion to your tracks. They release a new instrument every month so keep an eye on their website for updates. Download their gorgeous latest ‘Arctic Swells’ which combines a violin and a handmade Native American flute here.
7. Softtube Saturation Knob
Simple and straight to the point, Softube’s Saturation Knob will add colour and analog warmth to your sounds with just the turn of a button. Its three modes mean you’ll be able to create three different sounding distortions – Keep High, Neutral and Keep Low. To Push this plugin to the max and see what it can really do, download it free here.
8. Audio Blast Instalooper
This looping software can do a lot more than just repeat your audio samples. Instalooper houses four channels and a range of dynamic effects which means you’ll be able to stack, pitch, reverse and more all in real-time adding some inspiring twists and turns into your production process. Check out and download Audio Blast’s Instalooper here.
9. Versilian Studios Chamber Orchestra 2 Community Edition
If you’re looking for some rich and authentic-sounding orchestral flair, VSCO 2 has you covered. This free plugin comes packed with 3.2 GB of content including 3,152 sampled sounds from musicians playing real instruments. This is perfect for any music maker producing atmospheric scores, sound for podcasts, film and more. learn more here.
All of the above are just a fraction of freebies the web has to offer. To see what made our previous list of top freeware, head here. Want to binge on some new free plugins? Then check out all of our free plugin roundups here.
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** Editors note: Things have moved on significantly since this article was published 🙂 Please head to our blog homepage for the very latest updates from pointblank.