Favorite Plugins – Free or Cheap?

[Rob (Cruciform)]

I use the free Flux stereo tool constantly. It’s a go-to.

http://www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool-v3

Denis has already mentioned the Melda tools bundle. The loudness meter is really useful.

[Neil Dube]

Hi all, good thread!

My favourite free plugin is, by some distance, Pocket Blakus, a virtual cello that works with Kontact. It’s so expressive and nicely recorded. It’s much better than some of the well known sound libraries… http://blakus.com/pocketblakus-192.

I was also a big fan of Alchemy before its demise and subsequent reincarnation within Logic. I’m not an Apple user, so that’s that unfortunately.

TTFN

[ErickMcNerney]

Lesser known but still great. azurite and detuna. They are both chorus plugins with unusual results.

[SabalSounds]

Hi all – first post for me in these forums. Thanks to all for the great info.

I’ve used a lot of what has already been mentioned and I will add:

I think the best $50 USD I ever spent was on Valhalla ROOM. Fantastic reverbs with many editable parameters (the GUI is nothing fancy but I’ve grown to love it too)

[woodsdenis]

Freebies

Run by a member here Emmett Cooke, sign up to the site . They have crazy one off deals, mainly on sample libraries. The freebies are excellent.

[Chuck Mott]

Softube Saturation Knob is an oft quoted by the pros free plugin. It is very good, up there sonic wise with some high priced plugins. Klangheim compressors also, and to upgrade them is cheap also (around $25). I’d say it is almost worth it to switch to logic just for some of their plugins, particularly their compressors and Alchemy synth.

Since I can vouch that the plugins on this page that I actually have are indeed excellent, I’d say raid the manufacturers on this page:

The Best Free VST / AU Plugins 2015

BUT:

Watch this first and if the term offends Art, feel free to delete:

[MattStarling]

I’d like to point out that the purchase of just one issue of Computer Music Magazine comes with dozens and dozens of very useful plugins included. These are often slightly cut down versions of commercial plugins and occasionally full versions. The variety is excellent too.

Oh and I think it’s the best technical magazine for folks like us too, so that’s a nice bonus.

[Krisemm]

I have 1500 plugins on my system so Im something of a collector. All either free or legitimately owned.

With that much experience of VSTs, I gotta second that promotion of Klanghelm. I own all the klanghelm plugins and in particular, I use multiple instances of MJUC on every track. Its a no-brainer, seriously.
They look great, sound fantastic on anything really, and Tony the dev is a great guy, and quick to respond to customer support.

For anyone with Reaktor, check out the boscomac ensembles. They’re all free, and just great. His Floodverb is the best reverb I’ve ever used

http://boscomac.free.fr/

I also gotta say, these plugins have been tested against some products from other big named VSTs, and the bigger names were put to shame.

Another beauty is U-He’s Podolski. Its a great synth for pads with a nice arpeggiator.
Im a big fan of U-He and have Bazille, ACE, and Hive, but the podolski still has its uses

https://www.u-he.com/cms/podolski

[Mc_GTR]

I use Hofa Project time in every template. Comes part of the free suite here https://hofa-plugins.de/en/plugins/4u/

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