Everybody loves a free plugin. From bedroom beatmakers to professional producers, few can resist the allure of a decent freebie, but with so many powerful pieces of free music software being released each month, it's hard to keep up.
That's why here at MusicRadar HQ, we keep a close eye on the music production world, taking note of the latest and greatest free plugins worthy of decorating your channel strips and clogging up your hard drives. Here's a round-up of this month's discoveries.
1. Blanketfort Audio Breakshaper
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST3/AU | Download
Breakshaper is a multi-effects processor that promises to "get your drums where you want them with a minimum of fuss". Uniting tone-shaping, distortion and dynamics control in a single plugin, Breakshaper is - as its name suggests - well-suited to gifting drum breaks with character, drive and overall oomph, taming wayward transients while injecting samples with a welcome dose of grit and saturation.
The plugin's state-variable filter can be used to reign in low-end rumble, while the harmonics control will bring some high-frequency sheen to your hi-hats and cymbals, before the final result is glued together with a basic but effective compression module.
2. Modalics Plugin Buddy
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST3/AU/AAX/Standalone | Download
Plugin Buddy is a plugin host and utility that does a lot of useful things. As a standalone app, it can host VST3 plugins, so you can use it to open up and play with instrument, effects and MIDI plugins outside of your DAW.
But, as Plugin Buddy is also available in AU and AAX formats - and hosts VST3 plugins - you can also use it to circumvent compatibility issues by opening up VST3 plugins in DAWs that don't support them, such as Pro Tools.
That's not all; Plugin Buddy is also equipped with some useful MIDI utilities, a two-oscillator synthesizer and two effects: a clipper and a low-pass filter.
3. Venus Theory auras:polyscape
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/VST3/AU/AAX/Standalone | Download
This month, YouTuber and musician Venus Theory announced the launch of a new series of free sample instruments built to run in the free Decent Sampler plugin, kicking off with a free library of samples of the Arturia Polybrute 12.
This collection of "deep and cinematic" sounds were sourced from Cameron's custom-built patches and recorded through analogue tube preamps to "capture the glorious and imperfect nature of analogue synthesis". This is a great opportunity to capture the sound of a $4k analogue synthesizer in your productions without spending a penny.
4. Wavea Flite
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST3/AU | Download
Flite is a new synth and sampler plugin with free and paid-for tiers; the free version features an extensive sound library based on 2.5GB of samples from a long list of rare and classic synths from Yamaha, Roland, Oberheim, Sequential, Korg and more.
Flite's entire preset library can be accessed for free as part the plugin's free tier, while the plugin's paid-for tier will give you access to additional functionality such as in-depth parameter editing, preset saving, and sample importing.
5. UFX Reverb
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/VST3/AU/AAX | Download
Available for free until the end of October, UFX Reverb is a versatile reverb plugin with a full-featured spec sheet. The plugin's 10 reverb modes would be more than enough for a freebie, offering conventional Spring, Plate, Room and Hall options alongside reversed and gated reverbs, but in addition to this we have a wide array of tools for sound design that makes UFX far more than just a bread-and-butter 'verb.
The plugin's filter section offers a rather generous selection of 26 filter types, with presets that incorporate distortion, modulation and lo-fi effects, while the Finisher dial opens up an even more impressive smorgasbord of additional effects with glitchy rhythmic processors that slice, dice and mangle your reverbs into exciting new patterns.
6. Full Bucket Music DrumTraqs
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/VST3/CLAP/AU/AAX | Download
Full Bucket Music has been delivering free plugin emulations of rare and classic synths by the bucketload this year, and it looks like the developer has no plans to slow down, as it unveils an emulation of the Sequential Circuits DrumTraks drum machine.
Full Bucket's recreation features the original factory samples found in DrumTraks, alongside some extra ROM samples. The plugin simulates the original Z80 chip found in the original drum machine, and - despite its lack of sequencer - recreates its endearingly clunky song and pattern-based workflow.
Tuning and levels for each of DrumTraq's fourteen sounds can also be adjusted individually, while each of its six channels can also be tweaked in volume or panned to create stereo drum patterns. It's also got MIDI CC support, along with SysEx and MIDI import and export, in case you want to load in patterns and patches from the original hardware.
7. Nebuphonic Nebudestru Destruction Unit
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST3/AU | Download
If you like distortion (and who doesn't, really?) then Nebuphonic's Nebudestru Destruction Unit (try saying that five times in a row) is the free plugin for you, delivering a comprehensive selection of destructive processors alongside a variety of tone-shaping controls to tailor its sonic degradation to suit any mix or application.
Nebudestru offers up seven distortion types, including emulations of the distortion introduced by tape machines and tube amplifiers, alongside bitcrushing and saturation. You'll also find an EQ with 5 clarity-degrading preset curves, a vinyl-style noise generator, low and high-pass filters and not one or two, but three LFOs for modulating the plugin's parameters. All in all, a remarkably healthy set of options for a free plugin.
