Seven free plugins that are actually good as quick as possible.
Number one: Thump One by Toy Box.
This plugin is pretty interesting. It’s a wavetable synth intended for kicks, leads, and basses, but what’s really cool is it focuses on what they call flexible envelopes. Every parameter has an adjustable envelope, and messing with just a couple of these can dramatically change the sound. It’s a bit of a different workflow and feels pretty inspiring. I’m a big fan.
Number two: Inner Pitch by Auburn Sounds.
It’s a real-time pitch shifter with minimal artifacts. People are saying it’s an alternative to Waves SoundShifter, which is a real industry standard among top producers and sample makers. It’s definitely worth checking out.
Number three: Flax Reverb by Platen Studio.
This is a nice plate reverb for people wanting to take reverb seriously. I think we can all be lazy sometimes and throw reverb plugins at instruments, cycling through random presets without taking the time to think about the settings. This plugin encourages you to choose your decay, pre-delay, and even has an onboard graphic EQ for really honing in your desired sound. I think it’s a great way to approach reverb.
Platen also has a nice little DJ Filter, which lets you seamlessly switch from a high-pass to a low-pass filter. It’s a good thing to have in your arsenal for transitions and getting creative. They also have a free delay called Delay 11. It’s really straightforward and makes it easy to achieve dark delay atmospheres. Platen Studio kindly sponsored this blogpost. They are a newer plugin company based in the UK and are bringing some good stuff to the table. On the paid side, it’s worth mentioning that they have Swift Saturator, which is a multi-band saturator. It’s got three bands to work with and really helps refine and level up saturation in your productions. I’ve been using Swift Saturator for a lot of heavy drums and making samples more gritty.
Also, what’s better than one delay? Two delays! They also have this vintage delay plugin called Delay 44, which uses two delays at once and includes an onboard autopan function to make the delays swirl around each other. It sounds great on stuff like arps and background vocals. Big shoutout to Platen Studio for sponsoring this blogpost and making interesting plugins for the community.
Number four: Game Boy by NN Audio.
I downloaded this because, obviously, it looks cool. I expected it to just be crappy 8-bit sounds, but actually, no. It’s full of retro synth sounds that you’d find on any retro game. It looks cool, it sounds cool, and it’s free. What more could you ask for?
Number five: Cymatics Deja Vu.
Cymatics must have looked at Cableguys Halftime and said, “What if we make our own but free?” And that’s all I have to say on the matter. It’s a good free plugin.
Number six: Keyz by Martinic.
They call it the new musician’s string bass emulator, but what does that mean? Apparently, it’s the first monophonic string bass simulator. It’s something along the lines of a Rhodes piano. I forgot I even had this until I saw Mr. L.Dre himself say he uses it, which does make sense. It doesn’t do a lot of different things, but it would definitely work for some chill lo-fi vibes.
Number seven: Cheese Machine 2 by 2getheraudio.
This is a nice little retro synth, and the name “Cheese Machine” suggests cheesy pop synth hits, but it doesn’t really sound like that to me. It’s got quite a lot of dark synth patches that remind me of The Weeknd’s Trilogy or certain Drake songs.
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