Plugins are a core part of a sound designer’s tools. With the right plugins in the right combination, you can create some pretty cool sounds, but that can come at a high cost. Though plugins can be quite costly, in this post, I want to share with you my top 10 free plugins of 2020 that I use the most in my work.
Before we begin, it is worth noting that the best free plugins you have are the ones that come with your DAW. Regardless of which DAW you are using, most workstations come with a suite of plugins that include almost everything you would need for your core work including pitch shifters, chorus, flangers, metalizers, delays, EQ’s, and compressors. So start there and learn to use those really well as part of your workflow.
Note that the following list is not in any particular order.
Alright, let’s get started!
The Gain plugin by Blue Cat Audio is actually just one plugin in a suite of free plugins you can grab from their site. It is a really simple plugin with a single knob to control the gain of the audio source.
The reason I like it and use it so much is because I like to keep all my modulations within my insert effects. This keeps my sessions clean and organized. I have, more than a few times, botched my session’s mix because I was scrolling around my mixer and messed with the faders without realizing which ones I touched. Now, I just keep all my faders at the same level. So if I ever notice that a fader is different than the others, I know it is not where it should be and can easily bring it back. Not everyone works like this, but it functions for my personal workflow.
Vinyl by iZotope is a nice little plugin that aims at emulating vinyl recordings. You can add various textures to your track or sounds such as dust noise, electrical noise, scratches, and even spindowns. You can easily add a vintage characteristic to your audio or be creative and use the individual modules as their own layers in your sound design.
This second free plugin from iZotope is great for controlling your audio’s width. Whether you are looking at expanding or reducing the stereo width of your audio, Imager can do just that with one single fader. It also has what they call a “stereoize” fader that can turn a mono source into stereo.
Guitar Rig is a multi-effects plugin that comes with various effect modules that you can stack and modulate to create new and unique sounds that you may not have thought of before. I like to use Guitar Rig to comb through the list of presets, especially when I want to add interesting reverb or delay to my sounds. I also like to use it when I am creating sci-fi textures or magic sound effects.
Glitchmachines is a go-to company for the world of glitch sounds and sci-fi textures. Fracture is one of their free plugins that is a buffer effect, perfect for creating robotic textures, glitches, and sci-fi sounds.
The way I like to use this plugin is to place the dry/wet knob (DW) to full Wet so that I only hear the affected sound. I then press the “?” button which randomizes all the parameters on the plugin. With this, I am able to very quickly create textures and sounds I would not have thought of on my own.
Dron-E is the perfect plugin for creating soundscapes and drones from your existing sound library. You can load up to 127 of your own samples from which the Dron-E engine will choose 4 at a time to create the drone.
I really like this plugin because it has a lot of randomization features to quickly scan through different drone possibilities. I also like to be creative with this plugin and turn off the diffuser (reverb) so that you only hear the dry granular samples playing back. With this setup, you can add your own effects, or sometimes I will use the created sounds as-is.
FreqEcho is a frequency shifter and a delay all-in-one plugin. It has a super simple UI with six knobs. I like to use it to create futuristic and sci-fi sounds. I also find a use for it when creating retro or 8-bit sound effects.
Another free frequency shifter, this plugin is very flexible and powerful. Though it does not have the nicest UI (in my opinion), I like to place it on sound effects and hit the random button in the top menu to randomize all parameters in the plugin and come up with crazy and interesting combinations really quickly.
You cannot have a sound design plugin list without including a pitch shifter. This pitch shifter by PitchProof works exactly as you’d expect. You have a drop down menu to choose how many semitones you would like the audio source to go up or down by. There is also a dry/wet knob which is always useful for blending the exact amount of the effect that you want. And finally a second knob to hone in the exact tuning of your sample.
OTT by Xfer is a multiband upward or downward compressor. This plugin is really nice because it just works easily without too much (if any) tweaking. I like to use this on almost any sound effect to balance out the frequencies and make the effect sound fuller and satisfying to hear.
When I load the effect, I usually like to bring down the upward (upwd%) and downward (dnwd%) knob to 0%. I then dial in the depth usually around 50% or wherever I find a sweet spot for the effect I am working on. If at any point I find there are too many high, mid, or low frequencies overpowering the others, I simply drag down that knob to balance out the sound.
Other Free Plugins!
For those of you who may not already be aware, PluginBoutique has an entire section of their site dedicated to free plugins from dozens of companies. Their free plugins range from all common effects such as EQ’s and compressors to amp simulators and multi-effects. So if you ever find yourself missing something or you just want to have a peek to satisfy your curiosity, head over and see what they have!
Creators of some of the best audio software in the world, they also offer a variety of free software for those getting started in audio. Some mentions worth looking into include Kontakt Player, Reaktor Player, Guitar Rig Player, and SuperCharger.
I would really love to know, and I’m sure others would appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience as well – what are your favorite free plugins for sound design? Did I miss one in this list that should be here? Don’t be shy. Leave a comment below.
Thanks!
What other FREE plugins do you use for sound effects?
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