Great free VST FX

[Nahuel]

I should have started a free plugins vs hardware topic...

[matt thomas]

dontcrack.com keeps a good database

Audio freeware for mac and pc

narco

[Nahuel]

Yes thanks Narco, KVR have a huge database too.

However the point of this topic would be to post links to free plugins that you consider "great" or at least very good, let me explain: I'm actually digging in the various databases and I'm a lil lost because there's bazillions of free vstz, I though it would be cool if we recomend the really good ones to each other. That said if it does not work I'll take my fail like a man...

[matt thomas]

oh I see

unfortunately I can only comment on AU, but check out which ones transcribe across to VST

The flux ones you mentioned are good
Audio damage's fuzz and compressor (although you din't want compressors)
colortone and phasetone are useful
frohmage from ohmforce is great (a filter)
inspector by roger nichols is a useful tool
expert sleepers latency fixer is useful for negative delay (shifting tracks earlier)
fish fillets include more than just compression
Airwindows makes good AU's (not VST's I think)
king dubby delay is good
PSP's pianoverb is interesting
there is a company that has a range of VST's called "G-whatever" like G-limit etc, which are quite good

again my post isn't as useful as you'd hoped, but hopefully you can get something from it

narco

[Nahuel]

Thanks!

[Nahuel]

ok, just reporting back after trying a brunch of free vstz.
I found that a lot of what I tried is not worth mentioning.

The free ones from audio damage are good, really.

frohmage is ok, GUI is kinda wreid to

gsnap is a free autotune like that can acheive a smaller sounding version of the Cher (T pain) effect, not bad if you dont want to buy autotune.

the stuff from signal to noise is good but the best ones (multiband saturation) dont work properly in my host (ableton), the eq/filters seem to do their job, the GUIz are cool.

from kjaerhus I kinda liked the phaser/chorus/flanger, not that great to, the rest was really average to me.

Everything from Bootsy stands up, sound good, nice GUI, a bit intensive on the cpu maybe but nice.

Inspector is a bit small for a freq analyzer but nice.

The fish filets are cool, especially the deesser but you already knew.

PSP piano verb is ok, nottin great to.

FA3 is an decent amp sim with a bruch of pedals and a good looking GUI, cool.

[slaphappygarry]

I LOVE this delay:

VST TAL-DUB-II

Mess about with the resonance and drive and you can get some really musical and strange delays.

G

[Nahuel]

^^cool one!

[Nahuel]

Ok, so I finally found a few good ones, finally signaltonoise stuff is amongst the best you can find (IMO) and the multiband sat plugin works perfectly well in ableton.

bootsy stuff is cool.

for wreid and powerfull modulation chek out "de la mancha" some nice stuff outhere too.

the naive lpf from admiralquality is a winner too.

tss amp sim are very good.

If you find other outstanding stuff post in here

[TheArchitect]

some interesting stuff.....

I just won't use any freeware that requires running an executable. I just don't trust them in terms of Virus' and the changes they make to registry settingI won't know about.

I will try VST's that just require dropping a DLL file into the folder. Some are decent, some not. I am pretty particular about what I will put on the DAW. Certainly some tools are needed but I prefer to move mics and capture room ambience as much as possible

[Nahuel]

sure, I'm actually putting together my new rig so I use my older one to test a brunch of stuff, was looking into the freewares to complement my setup, never took the time to really dig into it before, I would never build a setup just with freebies but it can add to the palette.

[TheArchitect]

Originally Posted by lpuma

sure, I'm actually putting together my new rig so I use my older one to test a brunch of stuff, was looking into the freewares to complement my setup, never took the time to really dig into it before, I would never build a setup just with freebies but it can add to the palette.

I do have a few purchased items but I use a lot of freebie plugs. 99.9% are not very good but if you have the time to sort through them there are a handful of good tools out there.

Freebies
The Kjaerhus Classic series
SIR
Audio damage Rough Rider
Karlette

Purchased
Kjaerhus GEQ7 and GCO1
Audio Damage Fluid and Adverb (formerly Reverberance)
AutoTune 5
Melodyne

There are cool VSTi as well

Kontact Player
Lallapoluza
SuperWave

[cooker]

This companys freeware vst's are huge: MeldaProduction Free VST plugins, effects, virtual instruments

I tryed some, not breath taking but cool.

and of course: Acusticaudio I really don't remember what was in the free lib. but I was blown away the time I tryed it (and even more impressed after buying it)...flanger, chorus, filter it has nearly everything needed (though I'm more into the eq's).

Also I search plug-ins from here as its easy(ish) to find what you need when needed: GERSIC.COM free audio plugin database

[2Loud]

was happy with Smart Electronix "Ambience" Reverb.
Love it on certain stuff...I would say it is definitely worth of checking.
Its kind of donationware so not sure if it suits the thread

[Alxi]

I'll shime in

Cyanide from Bram at Smartelectronics.

It's a waveshaper ( saturation/distortion plugin )

I use it all alot. On drums ( snare speacially ) and on anything that needs a bit of saturation. Easy to use but can really destroy a track... be gentle.

KVR: Smart Electronix Cyanide - Virtual Effect

-Alxi-

[Big Jinx]

Wow...a "thread from the dead" resurrection....

Found a very good sounding FREE EQ VST. But seems to be a bit of a CPU hog. Current system is quad 3.35ghz (OC'd) 4gb ram running Reaper 3.xx. EQ takes a second to initialize on all session re-loads.

KVR: Variety Of Sound BootEQ - Virtual Effect

[English Bob]

Maybe a necrothread isn't a good choice for my first post, but whattell...

I found Heeb's Crunch Dude while I was searching around for a way to liven up some DI'd rhythm guitar. Most distortion plug-ins are too OTT for me, but CD did a great job of adding grit and presence without descending into muddiness.

Now I'm off to check out some of the other recommendations.