Here’s our list of excellent Free VST Plugins – real alternatives to commercial VST plugins.
Free VST Effects
Brainworx bx_subfilter. Free.
With the bx_subfilter you can achieve more clarity and definition of the bass range in just a few steps. This useful effect makes it obsolete to manually correct bass tones using an equalizer.
d16 Frontier. Free.
The Adaptive Limiter d16 Frontier is one of our favourite free VST plugins makes individual tracks, groups or complete mixes sounds larger than life. Threshold, release time and the output gain can be individually adjusted. Best thing: The automatic make-up gain reliably protects against clipping and hard limiting!
As I cover in-depth in my new online course (Mastering In The Box), limiting is an invaluable tool for any mastering engineer, when used correctly, of course. Here are some of my favorite and most used limiter plugins. This plugin was a game changer for me. As with every other FabFilter plugin, the. Any references to any brands on this site/page, including reference to brands and instruments, are provided for description purposes only. For example references to instrument brands are provided to describe the sound of the instrument and/or the instrument used in the sample. Leattol updates Esquire Limiter, Esquire Limiter is a free limiter VST plugin that is very light on your CPU, so you can be creative and use many instances of it as you want without worrying about a load on the CPU. This free limiter VST plugin can be used to pumping effect in electronic tracks. A new year, new free VST plugins for you guys! Here’s our list of the best free VST/AU plugins launched in 2019. If you’re looking for effects or virtual instruments and the budget is limited, this list will be perfect for you.
Valhalla Freq Echo. Free.
Grab the best free Compressor VST plugins available from our free plugins library! Here are the Best Free Compressor VST Plugins online that can be used with FL Studio, Reason, Ableton Live, and other VST supported software. VST Download Instructions: Click the name of each VST Plugin. Look around each website for the download link or button. Only download the VST plugin. Do NOT install any suspicious software. VST compressor VST multiband compressor VST limiter VST distortion VST amp simulation VST equalizer VST reverb VST chorus VST phaser VST pitch-shift / autotune VST noise-gate / expander VST vocoder VST multi effect VST spatial / imaging.
Frequency shifters and their metallic sound character are a guarantee for fresh sounds. The Valhalla Freq Echo combines a frequency shifter and a characterful emulation of an analog delay capable of turning vanilla piano sounds into vibrant drones, simple synth sounds into warbling textures and the human voice into extraterrestrial sounds.
Melda Production MAutoPitch. Free.
MAutoPitch is a great free alternative to Auto-Tune & Co. It is part of the MFreeEffectsBundle, a 27-pack plug-in collection of studio and creative effects, providing flexible intonation correction in real time.
Tokyo Dawn Records NOVA. Free.
TDR NOVA can be used not only as a parametric or dynamic EQ, but also as a multi-band, wideband or frequency-selective compressor. With its musical sound and flexible configuration options, it is a real secret weapon for mix and mastering!
Audio Damage Rough Rider 2. Free.
Pumping effect compression is the specialty of Rough Rider. Exactly the right thing to give drums and other rhythmic signals as well as basses more assertiveness. Drastic settings provide a striking as well as musical saturation.
Slate Digital The Monster. Free.
The supercharger for massive drums and basslines. With strong effect compression, the transients of a signal are mercilessly smoothed out. Activate Punch to bring it back – ideal for drums and other rhythmic audio. The Monster also replicates the iconic all-button mode of the cult compressor / limiter Urei 1176.
Free VST Plugin – Synths
Mono/Fury. Free.
It’s not hard to guess that the synth emulated here is Korg’s classic Mono/Poly. This emulation delivers crisp basses, screaming leads, and sparkling arpeggios – just like the original hardware unit.
Togu Audio Line TAL-NoiseMaker Free.
TAL-NoiseMaker is a great virtual-analog synth with intuitive interface. Be sure to try the different filter modes of the powerful multimode filter. Another highlight is the Envelope Editor, where you can draw your own waveform. This can be used to control various parameters such as the filter frequency, making it a modulation monster.
Futurcraft Kairatune. Free.
Bass and lead synthesizer geared to fast workflow, all functions are directly accessible. The sound generator consists only of an oscillator with sub-oscillator, but thanks to MASS and SPREAD, it can easily be turned into a supersaw or -square and stretched out in width.
discoDSP OB-Xd. Free.
The polyphonic Oberheim OB-X is known for its warm, wide and very lively sound. OBXD captures the charismatic sound character of the analog classic from 1979 and also offers useful additional functions such as a multimode filter.
u-he Tyrell Nexus 6.Free.
The Tyrell was inspired by Roland’s Juno 60, but its tonal possibilities go far beyond the hardware model. Analogue standards are provided by the synth in excellent audio quality, and thanks to Osc sync and cross and ring modulation, even aggressive and metallic sounds are child’s play.
Martin Lüders PG-8X. Free.
The PG-8X emulates Roland’s 6-voice analog synth JX-8P from 1985. A great sound, which captures the typical Roland sound character very well – PG-8X is easily placed in our top ten best freeware synthesizers.
E-PHONIC DRUMATIC 3. Free.
Drumsynths usually sound thinner than drumsamplers, but they offer the much more dynamic sound. With Drumatic you get a complete synthetic kit with six drums, which is not only suitable for electro, but can enrich any electronic music style with a very own touch.
Free VST Plugin – Instruments
Ample Sound AGM Lite 2. Free.
Here’s a virtual guitar VST which brings the rich sound of the Martin D-41 guitar with numerous articulations into your virtual studio. You can adjust sound parameters such as the microphone levels, pan position, and stereo width, as well as activate the artificial doubling function. The strummer page, where you can program your own rhythm patterns and chord progressions, is particularly exciting!
PLOGUE ALTER EGO. Free.
Although virtual singers have been around for quite some time, dealing with the tools is usually cryptic. Not so with alter ego: Simply enter text and play MIDI notes and the synth starts singing.
These are the best free VST plugins you can download right now. What you’ll find below is a directory of high-quality freeware instruments and effects in VST plugin format for digital audio workstations on Windows and macOS.
Unlike some other websites with similar content, BPB only features freeware VST plugins that are 100% legal and safe to use. We highly respect the developers who spend time creating free music making tools, and we never host their software without permission.
To browse VST plugins based on their category, scroll down to the next section. You will find an up to date selection of the best free virtual instruments and effects for your DAW. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions if you think that any part of our VST plugin directory should be improved.
Alternatively, you can browse through all the freeware music making tools (including software plugins, mobile apps, digital audio workstations, freeware audio editors, etc.) which have been featured in our news section by visiting the Free Software Archive on BPB. The archive will take you all the way back to 2009 when BPB was launched!
Free VST Plugin Directory
Host Applications
A selection of free audio editors, digital audio workstations, and other applications that host VST plugins:
- Audio Editing Software – Audio editing programs which can host VST plugins.
- Digital Audio Workstations – The best free DAW software.
- Free Mastering Software – Freely downloadable VST plugins for mastering.
- Free Video Editing Software – Edit your music videos for free.
- VST Host Applications – Directory of VST plugin hosts for music production and live performance.
VST Effects
Freeware effects in VST plugin format:
- Auto-Tune (Pitch Correction) – Free alternatives to Auto-Tune by Antares.
- Bitcrusher – An extensive collection of freeware bitcrushers.
- Chorus – A selection of the best free chorus effects.
- Compressor (Bus/Channel) – Compressor effects for bus and channel use.
- Compressor (Multiband) – A collection of multi-band compressor effects.
- Compressor (Sidechain) – A collection of compressor effects with side-chain input.
- Delay/Echo – Add depth to your mix with these excellent freeware delay effects.
- Distortion – Distort and saturate your audio with these freeware plugins.
- EQ (Graphic) – Free graphic equalizers in VST format.
- EQ (Linear-Phase) – Linear-phase equalizers in VST plugin format.
- EQ (Parametric) – Standard parametric equalizers for mixing and mastering purposes.
- Filter – A collection of filtering effects.
- Flanger (coming soon)
- Gate (Noise Gate) – Freeware VST plugins for removing noise from recordings.
- Granulator – A collection of granular effects to really mess up your audio.
- Guitar Amp – Large collection of virtual guitar amplifier VST plugins.
- Guitar Cab (coming soon)
- Limiter – Free limiter effects for mastering and mixing (although that’s mostly a no-no).
- Phaser – The best freeware phaser plugins in the world. Swoooosh!
- Reverb (Algorithmic) – Reverb VST plugins which rely on mathematical algorithms to simulate space.
- Reverb (Convolution) – Reverbs which use impulse responses.
- Saturation (Console/Tape/Tube) – Get a warmer sound using free saturation tools.
- Stereo Enhancer – Enhance the stereo separation in your mix with these freeware effects.
- Transient Shaper – Make the drums more prominent in a mix with these free transient shapers.
- Vocoder – Become the next Daft Punk with these free vocoder VST plugins.
VST Instruments
A selection of free virtual instruments in VST plugin format:
- Drum Machine/Synth – Instruments for synthesizing and sequencing drum sounds.
- Organ – A collection of free organ instruments in VSTi plugin format.
- Piano (Acoustic) (coming soon)
- Piano (Electric) – Virtual instruments which emulate electric keyboards.
- Sampler – The best freeware sampler instruments, with SFZ and SF2 format support.
- Sound Module/Workstation – A round-up of virtual instruments which function as romplers.
- SoundFont Player – If you’re feeling old school, load your old SF2 files with these free plugins.
- String Machine – A collection of string ensemble instruments. Jean Michel Jarre will love these!
- Synthesizer (Emulation) – Plugins which emulate hardware analog and digital synthesizers.
- Synthesizer (FM) – Synthesizers based on frequency modulation.
- Synthesizer (Modular) (coming soon)
- Synthesizer (Subtractive/VA) – Synthesizers based on subtractive synthesis.
Utilities
Other useful freeware VST plugins:
- Arpeggiator – A collection of freeware arpeggiator VST plugins.
- Oscilloscope – Free oscilloscope tools.
- Spectrum Analyzer – Visualize your mix with these freeware spectrum analyzers.
- Step Sequencer – Sequence your virtual instruments with these freeware step sequencers.
Free VST Plugin Awards
For quick access to the best VST plugins from each year, check out the articles listed below:
Developer Archives
An archive of freeware VST plugins which are not supported anymore. These plugins are hosted on BPB with permission of their developers.
If you’re a software developer interested in hosting your VST plugins on Bedroom Producers Blog’s server, feel free to get in touch!
What Are VST Plugins?
In case you’ve never used VST plugins before, here’s a brief introduction. The acronym VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology. It is a special kind of software interface which allows the user to load 3rd party audio effects and virtual instruments as plugins inside a VST compatible DAW program (Digital Audio Workstation). The technology was first introduced by Steinberg back in 1996 and has made a massive impact on the way we make music today.
A VST plugin is a software effect or a virtual instrument intended for use in a host program which supports Virtual Studio Technology, as most digital audio workstations do nowadays. It allows us to expand our software studio with plugins, the same way we would use hardware effects and instruments in a real studio. There are literally thousands of VST plugins available for free download and use, as well as several quite powerful freeware host applications which can be used to create music with virtual instruments and effects.
Building Your VST Plugin Collection
Your computer is the central part of your digital music production studio. Assuming that you’re happy with your hardware setup, the next task is to install the software which will allow you to record and produce music in the best way possible. Choosing the right audio software and learning how to use it properly will ensure an efficient workflow when producing music. The last thing you want to happen is to have a plugin crash while you’re working on a mix, or to use a complex plugin for the first time during a critical mixing session.
Step 1: The DAW
The first step when building your software studio is to choose the right digital audio workstation for you. Whether you decide to use free software or a commercial program is up to you (and your budget), but I suggest you try the demo versions of all VST hosts which you find interesting before making the final decision. The most important thing to keep in mind when choosing your DAW is the workflow. Do you find the application intuitive? Does the user interface seem logical to you? Does the application provide all the recording and mixing features you’ll need during your music production endeavors?
If you’re looking for a freeware DAW to get started, take a look at the free digital audio workstations article. You will find that our preferred choices at the moment are Tracktion 5 and Sonar Platinum, both of which are capable of hosting third-party VST plugins. Again, our advice is to install several digital audio workstations and try them out for a few days before deciding on which one to keep.
Free Limiter Vst Plugins Windows 10
Step 2: Choosing the right VST plugins
Now that you’ve picked your DAW, you’re all set to start building your collection of VST plugins. Remember to always go for quality instead of quantity. The biggest mistake people make when discovering VST technology and the world of freeware plugins is to download hundreds of freebies and to hoard them on the hard drive. This is bad for your workflow and productivity. Imagine all the clutter and chaos in a real-world studio stacked with hundreds of hardware instruments and effects that no one will ever use. You don’t want such a mess in your virtual studio, either.
Instead, be patient when choosing your virtual instruments and effects. This page is a great place to start, as we’ve listed only the best freeware VST plugins in each category.
What you need is a small but mighty collection of audio software which will cover all of your music production needs. Take the time to examine the plugins on offer and keep only the ones that you really need. Keep your mixing toolbox lightweight and efficient. Limit yourself to no more than three virtual compressors, equalizers, synthesizers, etc. Install only the tools which best suit your workflow and learn how to use them. Read the manuals, watch the video tutorials, and spend some time experimenting with your freeware VST plugins.
Step 3: Staying up to date
Free Limiter Vst For Mac
Also, keep your plugins up to date. Developers often release updated versions of their freeware plugins, which include essential bug fixes and additional features. Keep an eye on our news section to stay informed about the latest updates of popular VST plugins. Consider subscribing to our email newsletter to receive the latest freeware news straight to your email inbox.
If you’re looking for even more freeware plugins for your DAW, check out the colossal database over at KVR Audio.
Free Limiter Vst Plugins Youtube
Updated on June 12th, 2019.