Who doesn't love a free plugin? From amateur bedroom producers to big-time pop hitmakers, a penchant for free music software is the great leveller that unites us all.
That's why here at MusicRadar HQ, we maintain a watchful eye on the world of music-making software, taking note of the latest and greatest freebies that we deem worthy of lining your channel strips and clogging up your hard drives.
Here, we present a monthly round-up of this month's discoveries. Without further ado, let's dive into some fantastic free plugins...
1. Full Bucket Music Six-Traq
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/AU/CLAP/AAX | Download
Full Bucket Music is up to its old-school tricks again with the release of Six-Traq, a software clone of 1984’s Sequential Circuits Six-Trak. One of Dave Smith’s lesser-known instruments, the Six-Trak was one of the first multitimbral MIDI synths, and featured six analogue oscillators and a - you guessed it - 6-track sequencer.
Six-Traq models the look, feel and sound of the original hardware but offers extended Poly/Multi modes that up the polyphony count from six to 96 voices. For the oscillator, you get a choice of three waveforms plus an additional white noise generator, and there’s a self-resonating four-pole lowpass filter. Individual envelopes for the oscillator, filter and amplifier are included, as is the sequencer and an arpeggiator.
2. Steinberg X-Stream
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/AU/AAX | Download
If you’re looking for a free way to turn a static sample into something special, Steinberg has a little something for you in the form of X-Stream. Said to “turn any samples into smooth evolving soundscapes and textures,” this free synthesizer works by stretching, looping and otherwise manipulating your audio using its spectral algorithms and effects.
In fact, although playback is monophonic, you can actually feed X-Stream complete tracks if you wish, then get busy twisting them out of shape. What’s more, pitch-shifted copies of your sample can be stacked up to create chords that can be played from just one note. You can modulate two parameters simultaneously on two different axes with the X-LFO, and it promises to be easy to create custom envelope shapes.
3. Davisynth Ripple Delay
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/AU | Download
In designing the Ripple Delay delay plugin, Davisynth Audio says it wanted to create a natural-sounding delay that avoided the "sterile" tone of many other delay plugins through a unique take on modulation.
A multi-tap delay that lets you dial in patterns of up to 32 taps, Ripple foregoes individual tap editing in favour of an approach based on modulation curves, automation envelopes and "ripples" - curves that affect the pitch of the sound by modulating delay time - that can be used to achieve complex, evolving delays.
Ripple is available in both Pro and Free versions, with the Free version lacking some of the more in-depth automation and modulation capabilities - despite this, it's still well worth a download.
4. Sinuslabs Bandbreite
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/AU | Download
There is no shortage of both free and paid-for tape emulation plugins out there, and while our pick of the bunch is the free Chow Tape Model from ChowDSP, we were impressed by this recent offering from Sinuslabs.
A tape emulator and saturator, Bandbreite will gift your tracks with the sought-after warmth, body and character of analogue tape. Dial in noise and flutter reminiscent of vintage tape machines, simulate the saturation achieved by classic tube amps, or introduce some overdrive with the Slam parameter; a decent set of options for a free plugin.
5. Slate Digital Fresh Air
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: VST/AU/AAX | Download
We're cheating a little bit here; we've known about Slate Digital's excellent high-end processor Fresh Air for a while, but it's so darn good that we felt it was worth revisiting in this month's round-up. Based on "vintage exciter circuits and advanced dynamics processing", this two-knob wonder introduces high-frequency sparkle, shimmer and presence to your recordings, confidently working its magic on anything from vocals and keys all the way to the mix bus itself.
While the plugin's tweakability is limited - its two controls allow you to dial in excitement to mids and highs separately, but that's about it - Fresh Air's simplicity of operation makes it a quick and easy solution if you're after something to simply slap on a channel strip and get instant results.
