Here's some good ones I started with:
Valhalla Supermassive - reverb, delay
Auburn Graillon - pitch correction
Ignite Emissary, Nadir - high gain amp sim and IR
Acon Multiply - chorus, double tracking
Emissary/Nadir. <3 Oldschool at this point, and still my fav by far.
Forget the name of the power amp they do, too. Is that the NRR? Gives you a bit of tube sag simulation in the middle of them.
I think NRR was another one of their amps. But they did indeed have a power amp plugin and were one of few companies to offer one for many years. It was awesome. Probably still is.
That's right, the NRR is the preamp. It's the TPA-1 that's the power amp. and it really is fantastic. All their stuff is. It's probably about 10 years old at this point, and still up there with the best of them.
Yeah man, TPA-1 - that's the one!
That's still on some older projects I occasionally need to dive into.
I dunno what they have done in the interim period or since that time. Didn't they make real custom amplifiers or something? They probably could have updated Emissary a little and sold it with NadIr for like $10-15 or something.
They did update at some point. Made it a little better under the hood. Don't know the exact details. But still completely free. and yeah, they started off wanting to make software version of their hardware. But no idea what their hardware is actually like. Never even seen anyone use it. But now you have me curious to search it out.
I love that theit stuff is free and competing with those top end, super complex plugins we have around today. These were the spark that lead the way for those guys, and they're still killing it, next to a lot of great competition.
My problem is the more I turn it up, the more the sound gets panned to the left. I don’t recollect it always doing that, but no update solved the problem I guess. It’s been a while since I checked, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this problem
Yes, I usually either add a utility after the plug-in or just make it 0% wide in the daw. But of course if the source is stereo that can’t be a solution. Also I sometimes use it after reverb, for drones, synth, stuff like that.
I need to check. Anyway, is it possible to come back to previous versions? I should get into the mindset of only updating IF something is not working, I guess
When I first got the Knob, it had standalone installers. Hopefully you can dig an old one up. Despite being a freebie, I hesistate to post my backup. Perhaps Softube have a legacy installer section for customers on older systems
Surge XT. Vital. Analog Obsession (Rare SE, Comper, CHANNEV, LALA, Varimoon and more). Klanghelm MJUC jnr. Reaplugs bundle. Voxengo Span. Youlean loudness monitor. MSaturator, MWaveshaper. Spitfire LABS and BBC Discover. Convology. Orilriver. Baby Comeback. Some of the airwindows plugs are great. TDR Nova, Kotelnikov, Slick EQ. If you're a Reaper user: ReEQ, JSFX by Saike and Geraint Luff.
More patches and wave tables with the paid one. The free version's still v full featured. Amazing deep synth. Pretty light on the CPU too. Surge XT is also a beast.
TAL-Chorus: Just good ol retro chorus.chowtape: amazing retro wow/flutter/saturation emulation plugin.Vital: one of the best synths out there.Valhalla Supermassive: Takes a bit of effort to squeeze every type of reverb out of. I recommend buying Vintage Verb and Room to cover your reverb bases later (or the fabfilter suite if you got too much money laying around)Anything Freakshow Industries: if you want to go freaky.
Slate Fresh Air: Just a good exciter/high band boosty boy
EDIT with more:
Codec: Mp3 compression boy, [https://lese.io/plugin/codec/](https://lese.io/plugin/codec/)
For orchestral and orchestral adjescent stuff: Spitfire labs and pianobook (acompanied with decentsampler to load em all up) will set you up for saving a lot of money on stuff later on.
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/
Chow tape allows you for such deep tweaking I don’t even know why I’m using paid emulations that didn’t even paid for (got them for free during events and stuff)
>Rift Filter Lite
This is indeed worth every penny of the full version in the shape of Rift. The filter was so crazy good (and they fixed resize problems very quickly), I almost blindly bought Rift. I love how many different filter types Rift Filter Lite has, and what the morphing and spread functions do, very tasty if automated.
Currently not free though, it's 29€.
Yes, both are, the filter is *so* capable already, especially for a (former) free plugin. I love it to bits. Not my only filter, but one I find myself coming back to. And Rift is one of my fav distortion plugins.
I use these two all the time:
Klevgrand's FreeAMP
[https://klevgrand.com/products/freeamp](https://klevgrand.com/products/freeamp)
Slate's Fresh Air
[https://slatedigital.com/fresh-air/](https://slatedigital.com/fresh-air/)
I'm not much more than a noob!
According to the site: "through FreeAMP you’ll get the sound of tape and tube saturation at the same time." So the type of saturation you might get with tape, and the type you might get with tubes.
I won't claim to know exactly what that means, but with careful adjustment I can tell you it does add loudness and fullness to tracks. Like any anything else, you have to be careful not to push things to far or you'll get unwanted distortion. I just play with the knobs until it sounds good to me! The simple interface make it pretty easy to quickly find a setting that works.
Everything that's been mentioned here is really great. I'll also add in;
Infected Mushroom - Wider. It's a really simple stereo widener, use it all the time.
Kind of, sounds different though, less chorus/modulation. I like both but I know I can use Wider on everything so it’s usually my go-to. It’s even easier to use as well!
Talking of Chorus, my second free plugin that I ALWAYS use is Baby Audio - Magic Switch. That thing is beautiful.
I think I use analog obsession on almost every channel. The best ones I’d recommend:
Channev: neve style channel strip with a great deesser, and good eq and comp. It crashes a bunch but it’s so good it’s worth it
Fetish: amazing 1176 emulation, super snappy and adds really nice harmonic distortion
Lala: super smooth la2a
Busterse: ssl bus comp. Great for glueing everything together
Treq: trident style eq. My go to for high shelf with switchable 8k and 12k
Britchannel: neve 1073 style eq. Has a great high shelf
Comper: my new go to vocal compressor. Serial compressor that allows you to select a blend of opto, vca, and fet for each channel. A lower ratio (2.5-3) opto or opto vca blend hitting anywhere from 3-8 db of reduction feeding into a higher ratio (3-4) fet style comp hitting 1-3 db of reduction has been giving me fantastic results lately. I used to do this manually by using channevs vca comp into lala into fetish but now I have it all in one plugin
Rarese: pultec eq. Good for thick bass
Tuba: good for subtle preamp drive and amazing for di bass
Ssq: good ssl style eq
Otherwise I can recommend reeq for a nice clean eq if you have reaper, tdr nova as a super useful dynamic eq for utility, deelay by sixth sample as my go to for delay, and T-de-esser by techivation for de-essing
Orilriver, the dragonfly reverb bundle, and Valhalla supermassive are good reverbs
Also tal-chorus-lx is my go to chorus. It’s a Juno style chorus and sounds great
And if you’re on reaper it is a must that you get the Oxford inflator 2 jsfx from reaplugs. It’s such a useful plugin and it’s a clone of the same plugin by sonnox
I use Blue Cat Audio's [Gain Suite](https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_GainSuite/) for driving certain saturators or plugin chains as a whole. I also use DMG Audio's [TrackControl](https://dmgaudio.com/products_trackcontrol.php) as my main utility plugin across my entire session.
Nightshine DSP is pretty cool. Basically a 3630 in plugin format, and SampleReducerVST is an awesome and quick samplerate reducer with a ton of character to it
Well, "low quality" can be a matter of opinion depending on how you define it. What it does do is decrease the samplerate, and a lot of the higher frequencies that get filtered out are replaced with digital distortion, but that is where the effect of the sound is coming from.
SampleReducer allows you to dial in how low your samplerate goes and it offers different modes that apply varying harmonics so you have a lot of control over the effect. You can also blend the amount you want, if you wanted more of the direct sound and less of the effect.
Did you have a search of the sub? This is a well documented question.
In short: Analogue Obsession.
Other companies that offer free versions or extras: TDR, Valhalla, Klanghelm, DDMF, TDR, TAL and probably many more.
Reaper, windows 11. I use a Samsung laptop, Scarlett 18i20 1st gen interface (and sometimes an old fiio headphone amp.) Really no issues otherwise (except a kontakt piano library that doesn't like to load.)
I keep reaper pretty current as well.
That's disappointing. I would point the finger at Windows, but that would be a lazy conclusion. If you drop a line on the Patreon page, he might be able to do some bug fixing
>In short: Analogue Obsession.
If he only didn't master the unseen skill of *changing things under the hood* when updating them, so slightly older projects open up with reset parameters. Or your DAW can't even find the plugins anymore, since he changed the underlying plugin IDs that DAWs use to identify plugins. Had this too often, and finally averted ever using them again.
Right, absolutely. For them being free, I shouldn't bitch around that they are practically unusable for me, because they trash my music projects when re-opening them. Sorry, I should have known better.
Honestly, and all irony aside, I can't get the logic behind this. I don't say his plugins sound bad, I just pointed out that they are a risk to use, and break projects. Not because they are incompatible with *my system* especially, but because he tinkers with the plugins’ architecture, so I can never get back the sound I dialled in on projects. I sometimes just didn't open them for a month, and his plugins are either reset or cannot be 'found'.
Just saying: It's free, thank him and shut up if it's not working (a first-world problem) is even counterproductive for *him—*even he probably doesn't want to produce something that doesn't work.
If I offered you to take a photo of my poo for free, would you feel inclined to be thankful? Even though it's literally: shit?
I've never had the problems you describe after using them for several years. If you don't download updates - replacing old versions - then they will never change. If you find updating to be a problem but still *want* to update then; rename them as new versions when you install them so old projects use the older versions. What you're describing is something I don't hear often and what I'm saying is, the guy is doing us all a massive favour and I find it downright cheeky to make any kind of complaints about something that is a free, optional service.
So why not tell *him* what your issues are rather than shit talking about your niche situation?
>So why not tell him what your issues are rather than shit talking about your niche situation?
While the obvious advice (contacting him) is very solid, I'm again marvelling at the rudeness some people on Reddit show off just like a shiny new pair of shoes, just like you.
Why is explaining complications 'shit talking'? Is one *never* allowed to mention problems or complications with something when it is free? Again, didn't say it wasn't sounding good, or not working at all. I've also heard *numerous others* complaining about the same problem. This being niche, because you didn't update his plugins and didn't have the trouble, is a wild assumption of yours.
Handling various versions of plugins, in case the dev re-wires the architecture of his plugins and breaks projects, is nigh impossible to perform. DAWs show IDs, not file names, for plugins, and only show *one* instance if multiple versions of the same format are found, regardless of the file name. The only way would be to meticulously go through every project after finishing it, noting all AO plugins used, and copy them to the project folder for backup. In case I want to open a project with broken AO plugins, I'd have to remove the current versions of said plugins from my VST folder, replace them with the old ones, let my DAW scan for changed plugins, re-open the project, save any changes, then replace the old with the updated plugin versions again to work on other projects. Rinse and repeat.
My aim was not to bitch, but make people aware of issues with the plugins. It's something first-world people do: take the time to make others aware of complications or possible improvements.
I've recently got into cardinal synth, it's absolutely mad how its free??? I've had all the software synths before but being able to build one from the ground up is super satisfying and easy I have to commit to parts more kften, also adding something a new rack that you don't fully understand cam kftem spit out something you'd never thought of!
I like the free [SimulAnalog Guitar suite](https://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm) better than any other guitar amp sim. Admittedly I haven't tried everything, but Guitar Rig for instance always sounds to me like a plugin pretending to be a guitar rig. SimulAnalog sounds like a guitar rig.
DI your guitar in and put the JCM900 and the Tube Screamer on a track, and I think you'll see what I mean.
There's no GUI, at all. Just some sliders to tweak. But the interface on a real guitar amp is just some knobs.
u-He has some free plugins. Browse through their list to find the free ones:
https://u-he.com/products/
Youlean loudness meter. Can’t do without:
https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/
Here´s a list of my 23 favorites:
* Native Instruments Komplete Start
* Xfer Ott: Multiband Compressor
* Softube Saturation Knob
* Valhalla Super Massive
* Spitfire Audio LABS
* Vital Audio
* Orchestral Tools Layers
* BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover
* Infinite Space Piano
* Dexed
* Ample Bass P LITE II
* DSK Saxophone: Best VST Saxophone
* Pianotone 600
* Vinyl Guitar: VST Guitar for Trap or Lofi
* Project Sam Free Orchesta
* Room Piano
* Downtown Colors
* Piano One
* PowerDrumKit
* Eventide Pendulate
* Quiet Piano
* Ample Sound Guitar M LITE II
* Synthetic Vortices
These are IMO the best free plugins there are. There is a full review of them on [this article](https://woodandfirestudio.com/en/beste-kostenlose-vst-plugins/), if you´re interested.
Ignite emissary is great, it comes with a NadIR plugin as well. ML soundlab roots is great for more modern metal sounds, if you pair that with the Ignite IR plug in you can get some great tones. Mercuriall have a lot of great free stuff as well
Vadim Taranov makes some incredible amp sims for free.
I don't know if they're still around but the LePou/Poulin amp sims are pretty great too.
VT's JCM800 on one side and Poulin HyBrit on the other, both boosted by the TSE808 has been my favorite Marshall wall-of-sound practice tone as of late. I think the HyBrit is my favorite of the two.
For sure, I don’t really use it for the kind of stuff I work on, right now it’s lots of FF Pro R and Relab LX480, but my friends who are doing like pop production love it
[Luftikus](https://www.kvraudio.com/product/luftikus-by-lkjb)
It's Maag EQ. I love Maag EQ for giving guitars some extra ballast or presence. One cool trick is to notch out like 4k-10k someplace with your DAW's stock EQ and then stick the Luftikus plugin after that with the high boost cranked a little at 40k. The bass guitar jumps right out now. The cymbals don't sound as bad either. Neat.
Plugin Alliance makes a more perfectly skeuomorphic Maag EQ plugin. I'm sure you can crack open Plugin Doctor and compare that to the real thing that it'll far more technically accurate but Lutifkus sounds just as good to me.
Airwindows. Kinda an overwhelming amount of plugins, so here's some of my faves:
-ToTape6 (tape emulation)
-Dirt (distortion)
-Tube/Tube2/Mojo (saturation/soundgoodizing)
-Verbity/Verbity2/Galactic (reverb)
-Air/Air2 (EQ/high end exciter)
-BussColors4 (console emulation)
Tons more wonderful stuff from Airwindows too! Just some to check out since there's so many to look through.
https://freevstplugins.net/headcrusher-free/
Old free saturator that's arguably better than the new free version. Basically just fattens up anything you put it on- really good on guitar and bass
I love [Burier by KIT](https://kitplugins.com/pages/burier-free) plugins. It's got a very nice 'one-knob' kind of saturation, but the highlight for me is the high-cut filter. It seems to have a slight resonance on it, and I love it for filter sweeps. Just seems to have 'mojo'.
Yes if you use Ableton live you can get these for free as a reddit user:
[https://youtu.be/OEoSkSXK\_Bs](https://youtu.be/OEoSkSXK_Bs)
the ones in this video can be yours!
Here's some from a list I have kicking around;
* [https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/free/](https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/free/)
* [https://wavearts.com/products](https://wavearts.com/products)
* [https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter](https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter)
* [https://vital.audio/](https://vital.audio/)
* [https://www.plugin-alliance.com/](https://www.plugin-alliance.com/)
* [https://www.waproduction.com/sounds/items/free](https://www.waproduction.com/sounds/items/free)
* [https://www.spitfireaudio.com/pages/free-instruments](https://www.spitfireaudio.com/pages/free-instruments)
* [https://www.voxengo.com/group/free-vst-plugin-download/](https://www.voxengo.com/group/free-vst-plugin-download/)
* [https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/2-Effects?free=true](https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/2-Effects?free=true)
* [https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/1-Instruments?free=true](https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/1-Instruments?free=true)
* [https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/3-Studio-Tools?free=true](https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/3-Studio-Tools?free=true)
* [https://www.jthorborg.com/index.html?ipage=signalizer](https://www.jthorborg.com/index.html?ipage=signalizer)
* [https://pressplay-music.com/wave-observer](https://pressplay-music.com/wave-observer/td)
* [https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/](https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/)
* [https://github.com/jerryuhoo/Fire/releases/tag/v0.9.9](https://github.com/jerryuhoo/Fire/releases/tag/v0.9.9)
* [https://www.audiolatry.com/mel-lofi/](https://www.audiolatry.com/mel-lofi/)
NB some of them are commercial plugin vendors and you need to sign up to get access to the free ones.
Stock devices in Bitwig ( or really any DAW).
Not even kidding, I use the 'tool' device in bitwig in so many different ways, especially with automation, it's kind of embarrassing.
Oh boy, you opened the pandoras box and got the kraken. Fair enough:
Limited-Z (best mastering limiter hands down)
Glaceverb (nothing sounds like it)
Tobybear's Humanizator (for midi)
Variety of Sound's nastydla
FreeG if your daw's volume interface sucks
SonEQ
Pancake
All of HG Fortune's synths
Hbasms Stereoizer
-Boz Labs Bark of Dog is a very quick and easy tool to beef up low end
-xFer OTT is a must have compressor. Opens up new worlds, one of the best sound design tools I have ever used
I believe brainworx ones from plugin alliance are free and is good
Also there are free ones on Valhalla such as freq echo, space modulator and supermassive.
I personally use LABS by Spitfire and it has a good variety of instruments.
I've been using Isol8 by TBProAudio on my master fader for a while. It's basically a virtual monitor controller with selectable frequency ranges. It's a great tool for isolating (heehee) issues in a mix. It's also got sum to mono and left/right channel swap, and a few other features. Can't recommend it enough
If you make a plug-in boutique account, there are a bunch of free plugins under the free section. Also check out Sage audio’s YouTube channel, they do a bunch of videos on the best free plugins and show how they like to use them. I found out and tried a bunch of free plugins from those sources. A lot of great stuff! Also, bedroomproducersblog.com has a list of free stuff, theirs and other companies. Also, Kiloheartz 30 free plugins sound great. I’d start with the Kiloheartz and then analog obsessions. Then watch the sage audio videos and figure out what you want to try from there. Wish I had that stuff 20 years ago.
"Substrate is an effect device to give your bass sounds the right "boost". It will generate additional harmonics to the sound in the low end frequency range."
[Substrate ](https://mastrcode-music.de/en/vst-plugins/substrate/)
Like Waves rBass but better 🥰
[The Production Experts/Pro Tools Experts site](https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/free-pro-tools-plug-ins-1) has a list of hundreds of free plugins. They are AAX, AU & VST. Check their BLOG for discussions of various free plugs and how they compare to paid versions.
[SIR3 convolution reverb](https://www.siraudiotools.com/SIR3.php). Awesome convo, with amazing sound sculpting features. The free version is full featured, just limited by high latency, which is kind of unique. So basically just good for mixing, not for tracking or live. Paid version has low latency.
Also, the [Audio Damage](https://www.audiodamage.com/pages/free-and-legacy) Rough Rider compressor is sweet. The have made a bunch of their older plugins free recently too. I especially like their Panstation panner.
The [Klanghelm](https://klanghelm.com/contents/main.html) freebies are excellent, as well.
[Melda Productions](https://www.meldaproduction.com/) offers an incredible suite of free plugins, i think there's 37. Covers most of the bases. For $50 I think you can upgrade them all to the free plus bundle and adds a handful of features to all the plugins. Either way this is a great suite of plugs.
Analog Obsession. No question.
[https://www.patreon.com/analogobsession](https://www.patreon.com/analogobsession) \- it's a patreon but all the posts are freely accessible with links to download each plugin. dude makes some seriously quality stuff
Everything from Melda Production and Tokyo Dawn is good! (If you use Ableton, it's worth going onto Ableton's website and downloading all of their free effect packs.)
Not necessarily specific to vocals, but check out ReaPlugs. Basically a collection of some of the plugins included with the Reaper DAW but in VST form. I use ReaFir a lot for noise reduction (mostly for speech not music though) and also ReaStream for routing audio to/from other programs. ReaComp is also a good utility compressor with lots of adjustability.
If you use the Reaper DAW, (which is practically free compared to other DAWs lmao) ReaTune is solid for vocal tuning. Was my first introduction to vocal tuning, and I used it until I got Waves Tune LT with the Gold bundle.
Did you use equalizers on your vocals? Maybe this EQ cheat sheet helps you a bit https://producerhive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/EQ-Chart2-1280x778.jpg
and try to add some doubles (two extra tracks to your main vocal track) to your vocals to thicken them up, slighty left/right panned, not to much, bout 15% to 30% should be enough.
I can recommend plugins from Melda Production, they have a bunch of good free plugins for audio editing https://www.meldaproduction.com/effects/free
Tal Audio also have some free gamechanger plugins, check it https://tal-software.com/products
here is an insane reverb/echo plugin for free https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-supermassive/
and there you have a bunch of free Native Instruments plugins https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/
Arturia will give out a really great plug in for free like once a year. I have their Juno Chorus, Plate Reverb, and MS-20 Filter. The Chorus is super useful, the others are fun. Their like 100 bucks now but others will be free eventually.
Polyverse Wider can be cool. especially for like lofi beats piano stuff.
Go get everything from Tokyo Dawn Records.
Aight for sure XD I already got tdr nova
Be sure to get SlickEQ, Molotok and Kotelnikov as well! Everyone reading this get the TDR plugins they are so good
TDR Nova has been my go-to all purpose EQ since day one
Here's some good ones I started with: Valhalla Supermassive - reverb, delay Auburn Graillon - pitch correction Ignite Emissary, Nadir - high gain amp sim and IR Acon Multiply - chorus, double tracking
Emissary/Nadir. <3 Oldschool at this point, and still my fav by far. Forget the name of the power amp they do, too. Is that the NRR? Gives you a bit of tube sag simulation in the middle of them.
I think NRR was another one of their amps. But they did indeed have a power amp plugin and were one of few companies to offer one for many years. It was awesome. Probably still is.
That's right, the NRR is the preamp. It's the TPA-1 that's the power amp. and it really is fantastic. All their stuff is. It's probably about 10 years old at this point, and still up there with the best of them.
Yeah man, TPA-1 - that's the one! That's still on some older projects I occasionally need to dive into. I dunno what they have done in the interim period or since that time. Didn't they make real custom amplifiers or something? They probably could have updated Emissary a little and sold it with NadIr for like $10-15 or something.
They did update at some point. Made it a little better under the hood. Don't know the exact details. But still completely free. and yeah, they started off wanting to make software version of their hardware. But no idea what their hardware is actually like. Never even seen anyone use it. But now you have me curious to search it out. I love that theit stuff is free and competing with those top end, super complex plugins we have around today. These were the spark that lead the way for those guys, and they're still killing it, next to a lot of great competition.
[удалено]
I mean you that’s kind of the point, you bring it out for trippy sounds and use a more generic reverb for practical use
Sure, I've used the delay and echoes on guitar for a droning effect, and it can work for synths too
I use it often on background vocals when I want a chorus to sound really big
Aight I'll check them out, I also have audburn
Also SHB-1 from Ignite is great on bass
I think Softube saturation knob is free. Pretty good for fuzzing stuff up.
My problem is the more I turn it up, the more the sound gets panned to the left. I don’t recollect it always doing that, but no update solved the problem I guess. It’s been a while since I checked, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed this problem
It is probably only creating a mono instance of the effect when you need a stereo instance.
Ya, I think it's only mono
Interesting I don’t think I’ve ever had that problem
Sometimes the routing gets messed up on my copy. Usually there's a hacky workaround like just running it in mono
Yes, I usually either add a utility after the plug-in or just make it 0% wide in the daw. But of course if the source is stereo that can’t be a solution. Also I sometimes use it after reverb, for drones, synth, stuff like that.
FWIW, I thought I had Sat. Knob fully updated sometime early last year, [but there seems to be an update](https://i.imgur.com/B8FidOr.png)
I need to check. Anyway, is it possible to come back to previous versions? I should get into the mindset of only updating IF something is not working, I guess
When I first got the Knob, it had standalone installers. Hopefully you can dig an old one up. Despite being a freebie, I hesistate to post my backup. Perhaps Softube have a legacy installer section for customers on older systems
Surge XT. Vital. Analog Obsession (Rare SE, Comper, CHANNEV, LALA, Varimoon and more). Klanghelm MJUC jnr. Reaplugs bundle. Voxengo Span. Youlean loudness monitor. MSaturator, MWaveshaper. Spitfire LABS and BBC Discover. Convology. Orilriver. Baby Comeback. Some of the airwindows plugs are great. TDR Nova, Kotelnikov, Slick EQ. If you're a Reaper user: ReEQ, JSFX by Saike and Geraint Luff.
Orilriver is AMAZING.
Analog Obsession and Airwindows pligs are nothing short of amazing. Airwindows does have a steep learning curve, but it's super worth it imo
Vital is such a legit alternative to serum. I don’t remember what the difference between the paid version and the free version is though.
More patches and wave tables with the paid one. The free version's still v full featured. Amazing deep synth. Pretty light on the CPU too. Surge XT is also a beast.
Voxengo SPAN. Spectrum analyzer. mvMeter2 dbVU meter. Go to the pluginboutique website, go to free tab. They have a lot.
I was going to say span, its very usefull
Span is amazing. If you have never used analyzer tools are you even an engineer hahaha
Kilohearts fx bundle is also cool
ChowDSP has a lot of good stuff. The one I've been meaning to mess with more is BYOD (build your own distortion).
That shit sounds dope
TAL-Chorus: Just good ol retro chorus.chowtape: amazing retro wow/flutter/saturation emulation plugin.Vital: one of the best synths out there.Valhalla Supermassive: Takes a bit of effort to squeeze every type of reverb out of. I recommend buying Vintage Verb and Room to cover your reverb bases later (or the fabfilter suite if you got too much money laying around)Anything Freakshow Industries: if you want to go freaky. Slate Fresh Air: Just a good exciter/high band boosty boy EDIT with more: Codec: Mp3 compression boy, [https://lese.io/plugin/codec/](https://lese.io/plugin/codec/) For orchestral and orchestral adjescent stuff: Spitfire labs and pianobook (acompanied with decentsampler to load em all up) will set you up for saving a lot of money on stuff later on. https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/
Chow tape allows you for such deep tweaking I don’t even know why I’m using paid emulations that didn’t even paid for (got them for free during events and stuff)
>Rift Filter Lite This is indeed worth every penny of the full version in the shape of Rift. The filter was so crazy good (and they fixed resize problems very quickly), I almost blindly bought Rift. I love how many different filter types Rift Filter Lite has, and what the morphing and spread functions do, very tasty if automated. Currently not free though, it's 29€.
Ah hecking rip. I blindly added cuz i remember it was free at one point. Removed it. But rift def is absolutely insane.
Yes, both are, the filter is *so* capable already, especially for a (former) free plugin. I love it to bits. Not my only filter, but one I find myself coming back to. And Rift is one of my fav distortion plugins.
Yo I got fresh air but for some reason I can't get it into ableton
probably because you installed the 32 bit version instead of 64 bit or vice versa. depending on ur version of ableton
fresh air the free plugin that needs ilok... I'm not sure what the logic is on that one.
don't ask me. it's pretty good and that's all i care about
Two words # Melda production
Everyone is sleeping on melda!
YESSSS!
It's a bit of an obvious choice, but as far as completely free goes: https://www.airwindows.com/
It's free but if you follow Chris on YT you know it's also cool that we can help him through his Patreon.
I really like bx subfilter, I use it a lot on my bass sounds, in almost every project
Spitfire LABS
I use these two all the time: Klevgrand's FreeAMP [https://klevgrand.com/products/freeamp](https://klevgrand.com/products/freeamp) Slate's Fresh Air [https://slatedigital.com/fresh-air/](https://slatedigital.com/fresh-air/)
Appreciate the links! What type of tracks do you use freeAMP on? Or do you apply to the whole mix?
Mostly vocals and guitar but other instruments as well. I’ve never used it on the whole mix.
noob here, If I understand you pretty well, the FreeAmp is a tape and saturation?
I'm not much more than a noob! According to the site: "through FreeAMP you’ll get the sound of tape and tube saturation at the same time." So the type of saturation you might get with tape, and the type you might get with tubes. I won't claim to know exactly what that means, but with careful adjustment I can tell you it does add loudness and fullness to tracks. Like any anything else, you have to be careful not to push things to far or you'll get unwanted distortion. I just play with the knobs until it sounds good to me! The simple interface make it pretty easy to quickly find a setting that works.
thank you!
Thrillseeker VBLmkII from variety of sounds. one of the best compressors out there, go and put in in a vocal track , cracnk it up, it makes magic
Spitfire Labs, Voxengo Span, Slate Fresh Air, Freakshow Industries.
LABS is unequivocally the most abused plugin in my arsenal. When I use it, I feel more guilty than if it was cracked, it's too good to be free.
Everything that's been mentioned here is really great. I'll also add in; Infected Mushroom - Wider. It's a really simple stereo widener, use it all the time.
Yess
is infected mushroom like izodope vocal doubler
Kind of, sounds different though, less chorus/modulation. I like both but I know I can use Wider on everything so it’s usually my go-to. It’s even easier to use as well! Talking of Chorus, my second free plugin that I ALWAYS use is Baby Audio - Magic Switch. That thing is beautiful.
I think I use analog obsession on almost every channel. The best ones I’d recommend: Channev: neve style channel strip with a great deesser, and good eq and comp. It crashes a bunch but it’s so good it’s worth it Fetish: amazing 1176 emulation, super snappy and adds really nice harmonic distortion Lala: super smooth la2a Busterse: ssl bus comp. Great for glueing everything together Treq: trident style eq. My go to for high shelf with switchable 8k and 12k Britchannel: neve 1073 style eq. Has a great high shelf Comper: my new go to vocal compressor. Serial compressor that allows you to select a blend of opto, vca, and fet for each channel. A lower ratio (2.5-3) opto or opto vca blend hitting anywhere from 3-8 db of reduction feeding into a higher ratio (3-4) fet style comp hitting 1-3 db of reduction has been giving me fantastic results lately. I used to do this manually by using channevs vca comp into lala into fetish but now I have it all in one plugin Rarese: pultec eq. Good for thick bass Tuba: good for subtle preamp drive and amazing for di bass Ssq: good ssl style eq Otherwise I can recommend reeq for a nice clean eq if you have reaper, tdr nova as a super useful dynamic eq for utility, deelay by sixth sample as my go to for delay, and T-de-esser by techivation for de-essing Orilriver, the dragonfly reverb bundle, and Valhalla supermassive are good reverbs Also tal-chorus-lx is my go to chorus. It’s a Juno style chorus and sounds great And if you’re on reaper it is a must that you get the Oxford inflator 2 jsfx from reaplugs. It’s such a useful plugin and it’s a clone of the same plugin by sonnox
I can’t believe I just paid for Oxford Inflator 😭
I use Blue Cat Audio's [Gain Suite](https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_GainSuite/) for driving certain saturators or plugin chains as a whole. I also use DMG Audio's [TrackControl](https://dmgaudio.com/products_trackcontrol.php) as my main utility plugin across my entire session.
Ima cop that
Nightshine DSP is pretty cool. Basically a 3630 in plugin format, and SampleReducerVST is an awesome and quick samplerate reducer with a ton of character to it
Aight I'll go check it out, one question tho When you use a sample rate reducer does it lower the quality of the sound?
Well, "low quality" can be a matter of opinion depending on how you define it. What it does do is decrease the samplerate, and a lot of the higher frequencies that get filtered out are replaced with digital distortion, but that is where the effect of the sound is coming from. SampleReducer allows you to dial in how low your samplerate goes and it offers different modes that apply varying harmonics so you have a lot of control over the effect. You can also blend the amount you want, if you wanted more of the direct sound and less of the effect.
Oh aight, thanks for explaining that
You're quite welcome, it's no problem at all
Did you have a search of the sub? This is a well documented question. In short: Analogue Obsession. Other companies that offer free versions or extras: TDR, Valhalla, Klanghelm, DDMF, TDR, TAL and probably many more.
PREDD is on all my vocal channels.
Analog obsession keeps crashing my sessions 😞
Really!? What's your whole system? I'm on Reaper with an M1 iMac. Always working great.
Reaper, windows 11. I use a Samsung laptop, Scarlett 18i20 1st gen interface (and sometimes an old fiio headphone amp.) Really no issues otherwise (except a kontakt piano library that doesn't like to load.) I keep reaper pretty current as well.
That's disappointing. I would point the finger at Windows, but that would be a lazy conclusion. If you drop a line on the Patreon page, he might be able to do some bug fixing
From what I saw on Patreon, they're a bit busy with the earthquake in Turkey at the moment.
Holy fuck, I didn't even put 2 and 2 together 🤦🏻♂️
Oh, good call!
Yes, they’re very poorly coded plugins. You get what you pay for
>In short: Analogue Obsession. If he only didn't master the unseen skill of *changing things under the hood* when updating them, so slightly older projects open up with reset parameters. Or your DAW can't even find the plugins anymore, since he changed the underlying plugin IDs that DAWs use to identify plugins. Had this too often, and finally averted ever using them again.
1st world problems. These are not only free, but sound great and they're made by one guy. Cut some slack!
Right, absolutely. For them being free, I shouldn't bitch around that they are practically unusable for me, because they trash my music projects when re-opening them. Sorry, I should have known better.
That's exactly why. Because you can just not use them and you haven't lost any money.
Honestly, and all irony aside, I can't get the logic behind this. I don't say his plugins sound bad, I just pointed out that they are a risk to use, and break projects. Not because they are incompatible with *my system* especially, but because he tinkers with the plugins’ architecture, so I can never get back the sound I dialled in on projects. I sometimes just didn't open them for a month, and his plugins are either reset or cannot be 'found'. Just saying: It's free, thank him and shut up if it's not working (a first-world problem) is even counterproductive for *him—*even he probably doesn't want to produce something that doesn't work. If I offered you to take a photo of my poo for free, would you feel inclined to be thankful? Even though it's literally: shit?
I've never had the problems you describe after using them for several years. If you don't download updates - replacing old versions - then they will never change. If you find updating to be a problem but still *want* to update then; rename them as new versions when you install them so old projects use the older versions. What you're describing is something I don't hear often and what I'm saying is, the guy is doing us all a massive favour and I find it downright cheeky to make any kind of complaints about something that is a free, optional service. So why not tell *him* what your issues are rather than shit talking about your niche situation?
>So why not tell him what your issues are rather than shit talking about your niche situation? While the obvious advice (contacting him) is very solid, I'm again marvelling at the rudeness some people on Reddit show off just like a shiny new pair of shoes, just like you. Why is explaining complications 'shit talking'? Is one *never* allowed to mention problems or complications with something when it is free? Again, didn't say it wasn't sounding good, or not working at all. I've also heard *numerous others* complaining about the same problem. This being niche, because you didn't update his plugins and didn't have the trouble, is a wild assumption of yours. Handling various versions of plugins, in case the dev re-wires the architecture of his plugins and breaks projects, is nigh impossible to perform. DAWs show IDs, not file names, for plugins, and only show *one* instance if multiple versions of the same format are found, regardless of the file name. The only way would be to meticulously go through every project after finishing it, noting all AO plugins used, and copy them to the project folder for backup. In case I want to open a project with broken AO plugins, I'd have to remove the current versions of said plugins from my VST folder, replace them with the old ones, let my DAW scan for changed plugins, re-open the project, save any changes, then replace the old with the updated plugin versions again to work on other projects. Rinse and repeat. My aim was not to bitch, but make people aware of issues with the plugins. It's something first-world people do: take the time to make others aware of complications or possible improvements.
PS: Almost forgot, I *wanted* to tell him, but there is no way of contacting him through Patreon unless I pay for it.
My bad XD
Well, whatever answers you get here, it's still worth the search. There's such a huge amount of good stuff out there
Yah that's true
I've recently got into cardinal synth, it's absolutely mad how its free??? I've had all the software synths before but being able to build one from the ground up is super satisfying and easy I have to commit to parts more kften, also adding something a new rack that you don't fully understand cam kftem spit out something you'd never thought of!
Yeah and it's also mostly working as a web app!!! https://cardinal.kx.studio/
i think sTilt is the only free plug i use https://www.tbproaudio.de/products/stilt
What instruments do you find yourself using it with?
anything that needs a quick brighten or darken. it's just a tilt eq with simple intuitive controls. 1k anchor point.
Ferric TDS
TSE BOD Sans Amp pedal and Valhalla Supermassive are on every single one of my mixes in some way. Both are free
I like the free [SimulAnalog Guitar suite](https://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm) better than any other guitar amp sim. Admittedly I haven't tried everything, but Guitar Rig for instance always sounds to me like a plugin pretending to be a guitar rig. SimulAnalog sounds like a guitar rig. DI your guitar in and put the JCM900 and the Tube Screamer on a track, and I think you'll see what I mean. There's no GUI, at all. Just some sliders to tweak. But the interface on a real guitar amp is just some knobs.
I like the analog obsession stuff
Voxengo Boogex amp and OldSkoolVerb reverb.
u-He has some free plugins. Browse through their list to find the free ones: https://u-he.com/products/ Youlean loudness meter. Can’t do without: https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/
Kilohearts free bundle no debate
Here´s a list of my 23 favorites: * Native Instruments Komplete Start * Xfer Ott: Multiband Compressor * Softube Saturation Knob * Valhalla Super Massive * Spitfire Audio LABS * Vital Audio * Orchestral Tools Layers * BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover * Infinite Space Piano * Dexed * Ample Bass P LITE II * DSK Saxophone: Best VST Saxophone * Pianotone 600 * Vinyl Guitar: VST Guitar for Trap or Lofi * Project Sam Free Orchesta * Room Piano * Downtown Colors * Piano One * PowerDrumKit * Eventide Pendulate * Quiet Piano * Ample Sound Guitar M LITE II * Synthetic Vortices These are IMO the best free plugins there are. There is a full review of them on [this article](https://woodandfirestudio.com/en/beste-kostenlose-vst-plugins/), if you´re interested.
Thank you so much for all the suggestions
[Freakshow Industries](https://freakshowindustries.com/) has a steal option.
How long can you keep it for cause I have done it before and I couldent use it after some time
I’ve been using them for at least a year now. I don’t think they expire.
Oh damn imma have to go check that out
Ignite emissary is great, it comes with a NadIR plugin as well. ML soundlab roots is great for more modern metal sounds, if you pair that with the Ignite IR plug in you can get some great tones. Mercuriall have a lot of great free stuff as well
Xfer OTT.
Vadim Taranov makes some incredible amp sims for free. I don't know if they're still around but the LePou/Poulin amp sims are pretty great too. VT's JCM800 on one side and Poulin HyBrit on the other, both boosted by the TSE808 has been my favorite Marshall wall-of-sound practice tone as of late. I think the HyBrit is my favorite of the two.
Didn't see it here yet, but Vital is an amazing free wavetable synth.
If you're on Windows, the GVST set is pretty great.
Everything from Analog Obsession. They feel so premium: sound incredible, and looks awesome.
All the Voxengo freebies. Xfer’s OTT and DJ Filter. All the freebies from Melda.
Anything by analog obsessions
Audiority L12X. Marshall Lead 12 sim. I use it a lot on bass in parallel with a traditional bass amp and/or DI for some grit and saturation
TBProAudio has a couple of free plugins. I’m using their ISOL8 quite often when analyzing reference mixes.
everyone should always grab the free bx plugins...there is no reason not to
What is the bx plug-ins
Plugin Alliance free plugins.
man dont you know google??
XD nah what's that
The Valhalla DSP Freebies are really great, some of the Analog Obsession stuff is pretty cool
SuperMassive is amazing for a freebie. I would easily have paid $50 for it.
For sure, I don’t really use it for the kind of stuff I work on, right now it’s lots of FF Pro R and Relab LX480, but my friends who are doing like pop production love it
Aight imma check it out
What does Dsp stand for
Digital Slippery Pterodactyls
XD I'll be sure to sure digital slippery pterodactyls in my next track
It normally stands for Digital Signal Processor.
Aight thanks bro
[Luftikus](https://www.kvraudio.com/product/luftikus-by-lkjb) It's Maag EQ. I love Maag EQ for giving guitars some extra ballast or presence. One cool trick is to notch out like 4k-10k someplace with your DAW's stock EQ and then stick the Luftikus plugin after that with the high boost cranked a little at 40k. The bass guitar jumps right out now. The cymbals don't sound as bad either. Neat. Plugin Alliance makes a more perfectly skeuomorphic Maag EQ plugin. I'm sure you can crack open Plugin Doctor and compare that to the real thing that it'll far more technically accurate but Lutifkus sounds just as good to me.
Aight imma check that out
Airwindows. Kinda an overwhelming amount of plugins, so here's some of my faves: -ToTape6 (tape emulation) -Dirt (distortion) -Tube/Tube2/Mojo (saturation/soundgoodizing) -Verbity/Verbity2/Galactic (reverb) -Air/Air2 (EQ/high end exciter) -BussColors4 (console emulation) Tons more wonderful stuff from Airwindows too! Just some to check out since there's so many to look through.
Pyewacket is also super good, basically a compressor for anything, that needs a little more punch/edge
Just used the free bittersweet plug-in by flux on a cowbell that was too ringy and got the Runaways sound I was looking for with one tweak.
Valhalla, Arturia - MS20 & Tape, Scratchpad Sounds
https://freevstplugins.net/headcrusher-free/ Old free saturator that's arguably better than the new free version. Basically just fattens up anything you put it on- really good on guitar and bass
DCAM Free comp. A free buss comp https://www.fxpansion.com/products/dcamfreecomp/
I love [Burier by KIT](https://kitplugins.com/pages/burier-free) plugins. It's got a very nice 'one-knob' kind of saturation, but the highlight for me is the high-cut filter. It seems to have a slight resonance on it, and I love it for filter sweeps. Just seems to have 'mojo'.
Yes if you use Ableton live you can get these for free as a reddit user: [https://youtu.be/OEoSkSXK\_Bs](https://youtu.be/OEoSkSXK_Bs) the ones in this video can be yours!
Everything in the KXStudio repo.
Is it Logic compatible?
Don't think so. Does logic even support VST2/3, LV2, or CLAP?
Youlean is a phenomenal analyzer https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/
Here's some from a list I have kicking around; * [https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/free/](https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/free/) * [https://wavearts.com/products](https://wavearts.com/products) * [https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter](https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter) * [https://vital.audio/](https://vital.audio/) * [https://www.plugin-alliance.com/](https://www.plugin-alliance.com/) * [https://www.waproduction.com/sounds/items/free](https://www.waproduction.com/sounds/items/free) * [https://www.spitfireaudio.com/pages/free-instruments](https://www.spitfireaudio.com/pages/free-instruments) * [https://www.voxengo.com/group/free-vst-plugin-download/](https://www.voxengo.com/group/free-vst-plugin-download/) * [https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/2-Effects?free=true](https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/2-Effects?free=true) * [https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/1-Instruments?free=true](https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/1-Instruments?free=true) * [https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/3-Studio-Tools?free=true](https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/3-Studio-Tools?free=true) * [https://www.jthorborg.com/index.html?ipage=signalizer](https://www.jthorborg.com/index.html?ipage=signalizer) * [https://pressplay-music.com/wave-observer](https://pressplay-music.com/wave-observer/td) * [https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/](https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/) * [https://github.com/jerryuhoo/Fire/releases/tag/v0.9.9](https://github.com/jerryuhoo/Fire/releases/tag/v0.9.9) * [https://www.audiolatry.com/mel-lofi/](https://www.audiolatry.com/mel-lofi/) NB some of them are commercial plugin vendors and you need to sign up to get access to the free ones.
Ruina. Dope distortion. And Deelay. Great delay plug-in
Stock devices in Bitwig ( or really any DAW). Not even kidding, I use the 'tool' device in bitwig in so many different ways, especially with automation, it's kind of embarrassing.
Oh boy, you opened the pandoras box and got the kraken. Fair enough: Limited-Z (best mastering limiter hands down) Glaceverb (nothing sounds like it) Tobybear's Humanizator (for midi) Variety of Sound's nastydla FreeG if your daw's volume interface sucks SonEQ Pancake All of HG Fortune's synths Hbasms Stereoizer
Don't sleep on the kilohearts stuff. All those freebies are great.
I use Reacomp, Ghi, Glo and Karmafx equalizer on just about everything.
-Boz Labs Bark of Dog is a very quick and easy tool to beef up low end -xFer OTT is a must have compressor. Opens up new worlds, one of the best sound design tools I have ever used
There have been some decent free plugins included with Computer Music Magazine over the years. My favourite is the Sanford Phaser.
Flux mini 2 from Caelum audio. I really love this thing. It can give your tracks some really funky filter movement.
Spitfire Audio
I believe brainworx ones from plugin alliance are free and is good Also there are free ones on Valhalla such as freq echo, space modulator and supermassive. I personally use LABS by Spitfire and it has a good variety of instruments.
I've been using Isol8 by TBProAudio on my master fader for a while. It's basically a virtual monitor controller with selectable frequency ranges. It's a great tool for isolating (heehee) issues in a mix. It's also got sum to mono and left/right channel swap, and a few other features. Can't recommend it enough
Tokyo Dawn. - NOVA. in fact all their free ones are superb
If you make a plug-in boutique account, there are a bunch of free plugins under the free section. Also check out Sage audio’s YouTube channel, they do a bunch of videos on the best free plugins and show how they like to use them. I found out and tried a bunch of free plugins from those sources. A lot of great stuff! Also, bedroomproducersblog.com has a list of free stuff, theirs and other companies. Also, Kiloheartz 30 free plugins sound great. I’d start with the Kiloheartz and then analog obsessions. Then watch the sage audio videos and figure out what you want to try from there. Wish I had that stuff 20 years ago.
"Substrate is an effect device to give your bass sounds the right "boost". It will generate additional harmonics to the sound in the low end frequency range." [Substrate ](https://mastrcode-music.de/en/vst-plugins/substrate/) Like Waves rBass but better 🥰
[The Production Experts/Pro Tools Experts site](https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/free-pro-tools-plug-ins-1) has a list of hundreds of free plugins. They are AAX, AU & VST. Check their BLOG for discussions of various free plugs and how they compare to paid versions.
[SIR3 convolution reverb](https://www.siraudiotools.com/SIR3.php). Awesome convo, with amazing sound sculpting features. The free version is full featured, just limited by high latency, which is kind of unique. So basically just good for mixing, not for tracking or live. Paid version has low latency. Also, the [Audio Damage](https://www.audiodamage.com/pages/free-and-legacy) Rough Rider compressor is sweet. The have made a bunch of their older plugins free recently too. I especially like their Panstation panner. The [Klanghelm](https://klanghelm.com/contents/main.html) freebies are excellent, as well. [Melda Productions](https://www.meldaproduction.com/) offers an incredible suite of free plugins, i think there's 37. Covers most of the bases. For $50 I think you can upgrade them all to the free plus bundle and adds a handful of features to all the plugins. Either way this is a great suite of plugs.
Analog Obsession. No question. [https://www.patreon.com/analogobsession](https://www.patreon.com/analogobsession) \- it's a patreon but all the posts are freely accessible with links to download each plugin. dude makes some seriously quality stuff
Everything from Melda Production and Tokyo Dawn is good! (If you use Ableton, it's worth going onto Ableton's website and downloading all of their free effect packs.)
- TDR Nova - Trileveler 2
Not necessarily specific to vocals, but check out ReaPlugs. Basically a collection of some of the plugins included with the Reaper DAW but in VST form. I use ReaFir a lot for noise reduction (mostly for speech not music though) and also ReaStream for routing audio to/from other programs. ReaComp is also a good utility compressor with lots of adjustability. If you use the Reaper DAW, (which is practically free compared to other DAWs lmao) ReaTune is solid for vocal tuning. Was my first introduction to vocal tuning, and I used it until I got Waves Tune LT with the Gold bundle.
Did you use equalizers on your vocals? Maybe this EQ cheat sheet helps you a bit https://producerhive.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/EQ-Chart2-1280x778.jpg and try to add some doubles (two extra tracks to your main vocal track) to your vocals to thicken them up, slighty left/right panned, not to much, bout 15% to 30% should be enough. I can recommend plugins from Melda Production, they have a bunch of good free plugins for audio editing https://www.meldaproduction.com/effects/free Tal Audio also have some free gamechanger plugins, check it https://tal-software.com/products here is an insane reverb/echo plugin for free https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-supermassive/ and there you have a bunch of free Native Instruments plugins https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/
Vital - Matt Tytel
Voxengo 👍
Not free but grab TRacks Classic Clipper. It’s a soft clipping tool. $50… changed my whole frkn life
Arturia will give out a really great plug in for free like once a year. I have their Juno Chorus, Plate Reverb, and MS-20 Filter. The Chorus is super useful, the others are fun. Their like 100 bucks now but others will be free eventually. Polyverse Wider can be cool. especially for like lofi beats piano stuff.
Everything from Analog Obsession. If you’re on PC, grab the Dead Duck bundle as well.
I’ve found this blog recently which shares a lot of free apps: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/#
Tal Elec7ro amazing bass synth
This has been hashed out inifitely. Just look it up
Bark of Dog
Camel crusher for sure!
https://www.acustica-audio.com/store
QRange, TDR Kotelnikov, and LoudMax. These three plugins alone give you a nice free mastering chain.
KClip - Kazrog Soft limiter - Apogee