15 Essential Free VST Plugins
I love trying new free plugins, so I've compiled a list of my favourite essential free VST effect plugins and summarised why I like them and what they are good for.
1. S(m)exescope.
* Essential for waveform monitoring before mixdown
* Identify problems early on in the mix, saving time later
* Easily monitor compression output
2. Molot Compressor
* Molot "Hammer" in Russian
* Sharp hammering, hard compression
* Adds colour to sound
* Difficult to tweak, but works well on right settings
* Includes limiter, Saturation, Dry mix parameters
* Includes Mid / Side / Sidechain, Mono, Stereo modes
3. TDR Kotelnikov Compressor
* Light, subtle and natural sounding compression.
* Max 7:1 Ratio (No Limiting)
* Precise parameter adjustments
* Includes sidechain highpass filter
4. D16 Frontier Limiter
* Good sensitive limiter
* Includes soft clip
* Clean, Simple interface
5. TDR Nova EQ
* Nice subtle curves
* Includes frequency analyzer
* Inlcudes multiband and wideband compression
6. TDR Slick EQ
* Good for subtle gains / warmth and color
* Inlcudes undo/redo, A/B toolbar
* Clean, user-friendly interface
7. Valhalla FreqEcho
* Good for stop / speed up effects
* Good for short delay + Phase & Flange effects
8. Oril River Reverb
* Good clean sounding reverb
* Simulates from small room up to great hall reverbs
* 3 band equalizer for wet signal
* Seems a bit heavy on CPU, takes a 2-3 seconds before knobs adjust
9. FAT Filter
* Simple filter
* Good for smooth high pass and low pass filter sweeps / transitions
* Very lightweight, low CPU usage
* Clean UI
10. Audiothing Filter Jam
* Multi-Band Resonant Filter
* Good for resonant sounding filter effects
* 4 Filter modes
* Simple, Smooth and low CPU usage
Download Audiothing Filter Jam
11. Colour EQ
* Good for subtle colouring
* 5 band filter
* Additional paramter for bandwidth shaping
* Can achieve different results to standard EQ's
* Low CPU usage
12. Wavearts Tube Saturator Vintage
* Good for subtle saturation
* Optionally apply saturation to 3 bands (High Mid Low)
* Optionally just add drive to full bandwidth
* Includes VU meter for monitoring
* FAT mode for increased punch
* Very CPU heavy owing to it's circuit simulation technology
Download Wavearts Tube Saturator Vintage
13. PTEq-X
* Digital emulation of 3 famous vintage passive program equalizers
* Good for subtle warmth in mid range frequencies
14. Rough Rider Compressor
* Good for hard, attacking compression
* Good for rhythmic and/or buss compression
* Adds colour to sound
* Includes sensitivity parameter, to adjust between hard and subtle compression
Download Rough Rider Compressor
15. Multiply Chorus
* Clean & smooth interface
* Clean sounding chorus effect
* Apply subtle chorus to frequency bands