The Best FREE VST Plugins! 🔥
Out of all those free plugins on the market, you're probably asking yourself which ones to actually pick and make sure you're actually using them and not just letting sit there in your plugin library. Don't worry, I got your back!
In this blog, I'm going to mention some of my favorite vst plugins that I personally use all the time. I'll also note why I love using them and how you can use them to your advantage.
The plugins I'm about to talk about:
1. Acustica Audio Coral2 Baxter
2. Acustica Audio Fire The Gold
3. Analog Obsession LALA
4. Analog Obsession SSQ
5. Analog Obsession Rare SE
6. D16 Frontier
7. IK Multimedia T-Racks Classic Clipper
8. LJKB Luftikus
9. Slate Digital Fresh Air
10. TBProAudio mvMeter2
11. Sonic Anomaly Transpire
12. Klanghelm IVGI2
13. TDR Nova
14. Acustica Audio Black
1. Acustica Audio Coral2 Baxter
An insanely good baxandall equalizer. This type of equalizers are also called "shelving" eqs since they operate with low & high shelf eq filters. However, some units feature an optional high-pass & low-pass filters which are great for certain purposes. Coral2 Baxter performs great on a Mix Bus, Drum Bus and in Mastering. I mainly use it on either my Mix Bus or in mastering. It's definitely worth downloading. Shout out to Acustica Audio for this one!
2. Acustica Audio Fire The Gold
Another fire plugin by Acustica Audio named "Fire The Gold" which is on the market as an analog saturation emulator. It's as simple as turning that big red knob to the point where you actually like how it sounds. Pretty straight forward, and I'm definitely sure that anyone can use this plugin. It features "Ultra" feature which gives a bit of dirtier saturation, but that's all up to your preferences. Definitely worth downloading!
3. Analog Obsession LALA
Everyone knows about that famous optical compressor named LA-2A, but do you know about this free emulation called "LALA" by Analog Obsession? If not, it's an emulation of LA-2A which does an outstanding job on vocals & more signals. It's as simple as tweaking the peak reduction knob to actually capture the peaks and readjusting the gain knob so you compensate for loudness differences. You optionally have a mix knob to create a blending between the dry & wet signal plus you have an external sidechain mode which you can experiment with.
4. Analog Obsession SSQ
Are you a fan of SSL type EQs? If you are, like I am, this plugin named "SSQ" is a free emulation of SSL based EQ which just sounds outstanding. It's split between 4 frequency bands (for low, low mids, high mids and highs) so you can affect each of them separately. You also have a filter knob + drive knob. The feature all of us needed is oversampling which this FREE plugin has!
5. Analog Obsession Rare SE
A Pultec emulation, but capable of going in Mid/Side mode which is great for both mixing and mastering. There's nothing much to say about it. It sounds just amazing and I use it almost in every single mix, since I can rarely find any Pultec emulations that go in Mid/Side mode, even though I have many, many, many expensive emulations.
6. D16 Frontier
Do I even need to say anything here? Once I mentioned this beast on my page, people went crazy! I thought everyone knew about this one, but in the end I was the one to spread that crazy hype about this insanely good unit! This free plugin is a limiter... but capable of being a soft clipper by switching the soft clip switch to On. There are many different presets to get you started and it just sounds outstanding. I still can't believe that this plugin is... free to download.
7. IK Multimedia T-Racks Classic Clipper
This plugin is NOT CURRENTLY FREE, but once-twice a year you can find it for free on IK Multimedia's website. This plugins is probably one of the most "analog" sounding clippers besides Acustica Audio's ASH. I just love the simplicity and the overall look of this plugin. The sound is just on a complete different level.
8. LKJB Luftikus
Such a great mastering EQ which I use mostly to bring the sweetness in the top end while mastering. Works basically like an Air EQ. You have a mastering switch which makes it more useful for mastering. Also, there's an "analog" switch that gives that unique sound, and also "keep gain" switch to make sure you're not getting tricked by louder is better.
9. Slate Digital Fresh Air
This is what happens when one of the top end plugin companies release a free plugin. Fresh Air is just great for bringing the top end & excitement in the mids. I prefer using it in both mixing or mastering. Definitely make sure to download it!
10. TBProAudio mvMeter2
Very straight forward plugin, a free VU Meter. Always needed!
11. Sonic Anomaly Transpire
If you're following my content for some time, you probably noticed how much I actually use this free plugin. It's a transient designer that's super easy & straight forward to use. Not many people knob about it, so I'm here to talk about it. Here's a cool trick to try with it. Insert it on your drum bus and just increase the hit of the transient (first knob). Right after that, follow it with a limiter and use a slow attack time on that limiter. The results are great!
12. Klanghelm IVGI2
I don't see many people using this one, but I find it very, very analog sounding and easy to use. I also like the interface and the sound it offers. It can be a bit tricky to learn at first, but once you understand how it works, it'll become one of your top plugins!
13. TDR Nova
Is this the most legendary free plugin on the market? Everyone knows about it. A dynamic EQ that offers a lot of flexibility and represents a great alternative for well known FabFilter Pro Q3.
14. Acustica Audio Black
Gain staging plugin. I'm using it in almost every session and it really serves me well. Not many people know how to use it, so I'll definitely make some tutorials on how to properly use it in mixing.
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