Vst Plugins To Add Color
Time to update your producer toolkit.
32-bit plug-ins on 64-bit Windows: C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesVST2. Any other folder your VST host application is scanning during startup by default is also suitable. But, to keep plug-in installations independent from a specific VST host release, never install plug-ins into the program folder of the VST host application or any other. I am recently had downloaded the synth1 vst 64 bits, and i begun the process of instalation. But the issue begins when i open the vst on ableton 9.7.5 64 bits, and the vst appears whitout a preset sound, even when i loaded the complete information from the folder vst, including the factory banks. If anyone can helps me, whit an advice. RC-20 Retro Color is a creative effect plugin that adds life and texture to any recording. It easily recreates the warm, cozy feeling of vintage recording equipment, but also works perfectly in any modern production setting. That’s why we’ve created and compiled a list of 50 best vst plugins to add to your music production collection in 2021. Here’s our list of the top 50 best VST plugins (2021): It’s a table with a search function, so search for what you’re looking for, & it’ll come up! ‘delay’, ‘mastering’, ‘compressor’ (if you want. Unlike a compressor, Bass Rider works note by note, without disturbing their inner dynamics, so they sustain and decay naturally. Best of all, since Bass Rider keeps your levels steady with automatic gain adjustment, now you can focus on the feel and flow of your bass—and use compression to add color and character.
There’s no shortage of innovative VST plugins out there right now. The hardest part is picking from the thousands of available ones.
Don’t worry, we got your back. We’ve hand-picked a selection of plugins to make it easier for you. Oh, and they’re free!
The theme of this selection is effects – they’ll give your mix that extra crunch, oomph or whah.
Here are 10 free VST effects plugins that’ll add flavour to your sound:
1. Best free echo VST: Valhalla Freq Echo
The Freq Echo is a frequency shifter with analog echo emulation. My personal favourite.
It adds chorus, phasing and flanger effects. Go ahead and create some wild glissandos and runaway echos.
It’s great for dub and psychedelic effects. Use it for beefing up basslines.
If you’re a fan of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire you’ll love it.
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/AU in 32 and 64-bit, AAX 64-bit, RTAS).
Download it here.
2. Best free fuzz VST: FuzzPlus3
Here’s the updated FuzzPlus distortion VST pedal emulation from Audio Damage.
The central knob is the fuzz distortion. There’s also a Korg MS-20 style low-pass filter. And you can feedback the signal for some extra juice.
Amazing on synths and drums for meaty, distorted effects.
Use the presets or save your own.
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/VST3/AU 32 and 64-bit).
Download it here.
3. Best free EQ VST: MH Thump
MH Thump adds low end to your track. It recreates that nice thump you get on a vintage TR-808 drum machine.
It’s an audio processor that analyzes an audio input – say your drum track. Then it synthesizes a low frequency signal to add some body.
Free Vst Plugins Download Windows 10
There are two independent oscillators and many knobs for fine-tuned control.
Go ahead and beef up those beats!
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/AU/AAX 32 and 64-bit)
Download it here.
4. Best free bitcrusher VST: Krush
Krush is a very interesting bit crusher VST.
It creates that crunchy digital bit reduction effect. But it can also imitate a warmer analog effect with the drive and resonant filter.
If there can be such a thing: the Krush is a very elegant bit crusher.
The Dry and Wet faders allow you to play with how much of original signal and the effect you want.
The modulations can be free form or synced to a rate of your choice. Save and recall presets easily.
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/AU/AAX 32 and 64-bit)
Download it here.
5. Best free overdrive VST: Mercuriall Tube Screamer 808
Meet the Mercuriall Tube Screamer 808 – your new overdrive VST effect plugin.
It’s modeled after the holy grail of tube screamers: the Ibanez TS-808 pedal.
Make your guitar sounds grungier. Flip between the TS-808 and MOD modes with the metal switch.
MOD will give you a slightly darker sound.
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/AU/AAX 32 and 64-bit).
Download it here.
6. Best free tremolo VST: Pecheneg Tremolo
The Pecheneg is a tremolo VST effect. It gives you the power to create rhythmic modulations with your sound.
The Tempo section allows you to play the frequency either by selecting a Note or a Frequency.
Just like when you use LFOs, the Pecheneg Tremolo allows you to change the wave shape.
This effect will improve the groove of your track. It’ll give life to your synth or bassline.
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/AU 32 and 64-bit)
Download it here.
7. Best free chorus VST: TAL Chorus -LX
TAL‘s stereo Chorus-LX is inspired by the Roland Juno-60 chorus. It’s a simple but powerful chorus VST.
It has two different modes (I and II) that you can use separately or together.
Select how much of the effect you want with the Wet/Dry knob.
Use it to give some grit and body to your bass or synth line.
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/AU/AAX 32 and 64-bit).
Download it here.
8. Best free EQ VST: TDR Nova
The TDR Nova is a four-band dynamic Equalizer (EQ). A true workhorse.
It allows you to make a drum track crisper or boost certain frequencies as needed.
Any producer needs a bread and butter EQ VST. This is the one.
It has a built-in spectrum analyzer for precise EQing.
It’s also got a preset manager, A/B comparison, undo/redo functions and more.
Compatible with Mac OS and Windows (VST/AU/AAX 32 and 64-bit).
Download it here.
9. Best free reverb VST: Protoverb 1.0
The Protoverb 1.0 by U-He is a different kind of reverb VST.
The coolest thing about the Protoverb is that you can generate random settings and save the ones you like.
The spirit of this plugin is trial and error – we like that. It encourages users to share their favourite settings from a button on the plugin.
Compatible with Mac OS, Windows and Linux (VST/VST2/AU/AAX 32 and 64-bit).
Download it here.
10. Best free panning VST: PanCake 2
Last but not least: the most flexible panning VST effect you’ll ever find.
PanCake 2 lets you manually draw the curves of your panning modulation. You can also generate one randomly.
It’s easy to use and very visual. The LFO in the PanCake 2 can be synced to your DAW.
Pan your sounds sharply for dramatic effects. Pan them smoothly for subtle variations.
Compatible with Mac OS or Windows (VST/AU in 32 and 64-bit).
Download it here.
Spice up your mix
A mix can go from bland to grand with the right effects.
The good news is that you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars for that.
We’ve selected 10 VST effects plugin that we know you’ll love.
Grab all ten and try them out. Tell us what you think of them in the comment section!
And check out other VST plugins we recommend:
Although we have all the tools we need to produce extremely clean and precise music without any unwanted artefacts there’s something about the imperfections of analog recording equipment that triggers certain emotions in us.
So if you want to produce lofi music it’s important to pick the right sounds and samples from the start. You could, for example, sample old vinyl records or buy an old drum machine. It would however be easier to just get your hands on a decent LoFi House or Hip Hop sample pack.
Once you have a selection of cool sounds & samples you can further refine your music to sound like it was recorded a few decades ago. Luckily there are plenty of cool lofi plugins available so you don’t have to actually own an old tape machine. Here are some of the best options:
Free LoFi Plugins
I want to start this list with a bunch of free lofi VSTs, because I know that a lot of producers are one a budget, especially when they’re still going to school (or music is their only income lol). That said, you don’t always have to spend money to get some quality software. The freeware in this list can easily compete with some of the paid stuff I’ll mention later on.
BVKER LoFi Rack
The “LoFi Rack” is a free Ableton Rack based on Live’s stock plugins. It comes with 8 macros allowing you to decrease the band width, add vinyl crackles, detune and distort the source sound. Unfortunately it’s only available for Ableton Live users, so if you’re using another DAW you have to pick some of the other options in this list. If you’re using Ableton however, hop on my newsletter and I’ll send you a free download link.
iZotope Vinyl
As the name suggests, iZotope’s “Vinyl” is a plugin emulating the characteristic imperfections of vinyl records. Since the freeware only comes with a handful of parameters it’s easy to use and setting it up won’t take much time. What I love the most is that you can adjust the year of your “recording”. A must have for every lofi producer if you ask me.
Spitfire Audio Labs
Labs is a free software instrument made by the London based sound design company Spitfire Audio. There are several extensions available, including pianos, brass, choirs and synths. Most of these instruments are rather unique and therefore a nice addition to the basic instruments libraries you probably already own. The cool part about Labs is that it comes with only a handful of parameters so you won’t spend 10 years trying to get everything perfect. The sound either fits your production or not.
Tritik Krush
Tritik’s Krush is an effect plugin with 3 different distortion types. A bitcrusher , a downsampler and an analog drive knob. It further comes with 2 filters and an LFO that can be used to modulate every parameter. It’s available for both Windows and Mac in VST, AU and AAX format so really everyone can get their hands on this.
HY-Lofi2
This one is a free bit quantizer, waveshaper & filter plugin made by Tadashi Suginomori from HY-Plugins. It’s meant to process “audio to give it a low fidelity sound”. Just like Krush it combines different distortion modes with high and low-pass filters. More precisely it has one drive knob and a quantizer, which can run in different modes and qualities.
Legowelt Ableton Racks
Legowelt is a dutch producer known for releasing samples from analog hardware units, but you’ll also find some Ableton Racks on his website, including the Smackos Tape Station, the Smackos Lemuria Vintage Sampler Simulator, the Smackos 808 Simulator and the Smackos Amiga 909.
Sound-Base Audio Retro Boy
The Retro Boy is a Windows only VST synth. It comes with one oscillator, 7 waveforms and controls for ADSR, vibrato and decimation, which makes it perfect for Chiptune or 8-bit music. Since there isn’t much processing going on, the synth is quite CPU-friendly.
Best LoFi Plugins
Although you can definitely do some cool stuff with the freeware I mentioned so far there are some paid options no lofi producer should miss out on. A lot of them do more or less the same thing so in the end it’s up to personal preference (and budget), which ones you should get. Luckily most of these plugins aren’t that expensive compared to some of the stuff by other brands.
Vocal Vst Plugins Free Downloads
XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color
Probably the most hyped plugin of this list is the R-c20 Retro Color by XLN Audio. It combines 6 different effect units, including noise, wobble, distort, digital, space and magnetic. Combining these options basically allows you to recreate any lofi characteristic you could possibly think of. If I could only pick one plugin of this list I’d probably go for this one, since it comes with the most features.
Baby Audio Super VHS
Considering that Baby Audio is a rather new plugin company, their products already gained quite much attention. Super VHS again combines multiple effects, including a distortion unit, a retro sounding VST reverb and detune knob labeled “drift”. All knobs sound surprisingly good and I really dig the design.
D16 Group Decimort 2
Decimort 2 is a bitcrusher on steroids. It offers two optional anti-alias filters, adjustable jitter, two quantization methods and controllable dithering. If you’re looking for a cool bitcrusher, this is definitely the one you should get your hands on. With less than 50 bucks it’s also pretty affordable.
AudioThing Vinyl Strip
The Vinyl Strip is just like RC-20 a multi-effect plugin consisting of 6 different modules: Distortion, Compressor, Bit Crusher, Tilt EQ, Vintage Reverb, and something they call Vinylizer. In contrast to most plugins mentioned in this list, you can change the signal flow simply via drag-n-drop. On their website is stated that you can activate your license without an internet connection, which is pretty cool if you still live in a cave 😉
Devious Machines Texture
Texture is a plugin I just recently found out about watching Virtual Riot’s production workshop he did for Cymatics. It allows you to add noise to any kind of source sound. The cool part is that unlike similar effects you can even load your own noise samples and can adjust the exact frequency range, amount, ADSR and stuff like that.
Cableguys ShaperBox
When it comes to beat making, there’s one plugin every FL Studio user slaps on their melodies: Gross Beat (you’ll find plenty of memes about this). The problem is that it can’t be used in other DAWs (at least on Mac). This is where the Cableguys come into play. Their ShaperBox combines different effects that can all be modulated. The Time one is especially interesting for lofi producers, because it allows you to play back your melodies in halftime, add cool pitching effects and mix everything in with the dry signal.
Initial Audio Analog Pro
Analog Pro is once again a plugin meant to bring your digital audio tracks to live by simulating analog hardware. It comes with a variety of adjustable controls, including Noise Level, Noise Type, Impulse Type, Impulse Mix, Emphasis, Stereo, Lowcut, Highcut, Wow, Flutter and Amount. While I’m writing this the plugin is on sale for €26.10 (which is 64% off) so feel free to check out if this offer is still available.
Aberrant DSP SketchCassette
SketchCassette is a VST inspired by 4-track cassette recorders. It comes with most features the other plugins in this list have. Since it’s however available for only $20 it’s particularly interesting for producers on a tight budget.
Goodhertz Wow Control
Wow Control focuses on the weird and random modulations of analog playback devices. According to their website Goodhertz has carefully studied the essence of three different tape machines to make sure their plugin is the most comprehensive tape model they ever heard. I haven’t tried it out to be honest, but there are some videos about it on YouTube so feel free to check them out if you’d like to learn more about it.
PSPaudioware VintageWarmer2
The PSP Vintage Warmer is a tool simulating the saturation of analog compression / limiting. It comes with classic compression controls, such as knee or release time, and since it can run in multiband mode you can further control the individual bands a bit. In contrast to most usual compressors it comes with a big drive knob. Since it also comes with a mix knob you can drive the compression / saturation quite hard and mix it in just a bit to make your drums or vocals or whatever a bit fatter.
Wavesfactory Cassette
According to Wavesfactory’s website “Cassette is an audio plugin that imparts the unique character and sonic imprint of an often maligned recording medium”. You can also get your hands on their free Cassette Transport plugin, which “simulates the sound of tape speeding up and slowing down”. Or with other words: it’s a pretty cool tape stop plugin.
Psychic Modulation EchoMelt
Echomelt is “designed for adding character, texture and warmth to your sounds”. Top ten vst plugins 2014. It doesn’t look that stunning, but it comes with an echo and chorus unit, which sets it apart from the other options in this list.
Aphex Vintage Exciter
The Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter by Waves is modeled on a tube-powered hardware unit. It allows you to increase high frequencies without raising the level too much.
Conclusion
Vst Plugins To Add Color Picker
As you can see, there are plenty of lofi plugins available that make your productions sound like they were recorded with a toaster (or something like that). The free offers, especially Vinyl and Labs are no brainers, since . well, they’re free, so make sure to download them straight away if you haven’t done so yet 😉