Christmas is a time of generosity and good cheer, and there's nothing that quite gets us in the holiday spirit like a festive bundle of free plugins. (That's a bit sad, isn't it?) We know we're not alone in that regard, so if, like us, you're the kind of nerd that plans on spending much of the Christmas period tweaking synth patches and tinkering with compressor settings, then you're in the right place.
The holidays are always a good time for free software, as developers attempt to lure us out of our post-Black Friday parsimony with a gratuitous taste of their wares. Today, we've collected the best of these freebies in one place, in the hopes of both saving you some much-needed Christmas cash and providing you with a few music-making toys to play with while the rest of the family argues over who burned the turkey.
1. Arturia Augmented Mallets Play
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: AU/AAX/VST3/VST | Download
Arturia's Augmented series is a collection of software instruments that each centre on a specific type or family of acoustic instrument, fusing meticulously recorded sample libraries with synthesis and effects to create a versatile hybrid of acoustic and electronic sounds.
The latest addition to the Augmented family focuses on mallet instruments, augmenting the plinky-plonk tones of the marimba, vibraphone and celeste with an array of "cutting-edge" synth sounds to create a varied selection of multi-layered and modulatable presets, generously furnished with built-in effects.
2. Acustica Audio Thing-2
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: AU/AAX/VST3 | Download
Earlier this month, Acustica Audio - primarily a maker of mixing and mastering plugins - announced the release of its first soft synth. Thing is a Jupiter-8 emulation (yes, another one) that the company says delivers "exceptional sound quality and unmatched realism" thanks to its newly-developed Modular Unified Synthesis Technology.
Acustica has slimmed down the Thing to create a free two-voice version, Thing-2, that's still pretty capable for a free synth plugin; though only equipped with a single oscillator (and a sub-oscillator), it boasts six filter modes, a versatile envelope and a fairly comprehensive LFO section, along with an Age control that lets you dial in some of the Jupiter's vintage vibes to taste. It's a thing of beauty.
3. PSP Chamber
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: AU/AAX/VST3/VST | Download
PSP Audioware is a respected plugin developer that's been around for more than two decades, so when it releases a freebie, it's always worth a download. Earlier this month, PSP released a new version of its versatile paid-for reverb plugin called EasyVerb, while also launching a free reverb that utilizes one of EasyVerb's ten reverb algorithms.
Despite being based around a single algorithm that's designed to produce "rapidly developing and dense reverberations with a smooth and natural decay", Chamber can produce a diverse range of ambiences through the manipulation of its size control, decay time and three-band EQ.
4. Newfangled Audio Obliterate
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: AU/AAX/VST3/VST | Download
Obliterate is an idiosyncratic hybrid distortion/filter plugin with a fascinating backstory. Newfangled Audio's Dan Gillespie was designing a filter when a bug in the code caused some unwanted, but unique-sounding, resonant distortion. For many of us, this would present a problem, but for Gillespie, it presented an opportunity: he's now captured the "absurd, over-the-top" distortion he stumbled on accidentally and packaged it in a free plugin.
As its name would suggest, Obliterate is bent on destruction, producing a fierce and violent form of distortion that is anything but subtle. It will confidently pulverize any signal, turning synths into sludge and drum machines into digital detritus. Above the central slider for adjusting its obliteration levels, you're given the choice between setting it to ON or MORE ON - this should tell you everything you need to know.
5. Minimal Audio Squash
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: AU/AAX/VST3/VST | Download
Minimal Audio gave away this brand new, ultra-slick (and really fun to use) OTT compressor last month as part of its Black Friday promotions, and we're into it. Stripping away the complexities of a conventional compressor, Squash's intuitive interface is built around a scaleable X/Y pad, allowing users to quickly try out different compression styles in their mixes without stress. Meaning that we can get a robust and effective sound without wasting time.
Squash has been tailor-made for today’s styles, and allows users to quickly scale different options to find their ideal loudness and spectral balance. Behind the scenes there are four bands of dual compression which range from pristine enhancement to quite full-on, over-the-top compression styles.
6. Baby Audio Warp
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: AU/AAX/VST3/VST | Download
One developer that we can always bank on for a festive giveaway is Baby Audio. This year’s freebie has just arrived in the form of Warp, an audio manipulation plugin lifted from Transit 2, the brand’s recent plugin collaboration with Andrew Huang.
Warp’s Speed dial is designed to speed up and slow down audio, which its creators claim it can do with “unprecedented clarity, free from the typical artifacts.” It also features a Stretch control, which allows users to manipulate the pitch of the audio independently from the time. The plugin's third and final control is a Mix dial that allows users to balance the warped and dry signals.
While this three-element setup is fairly simplistic, Warp has the capacity to be a powerful sound-shaping tool, ideal for creating either subtle tape-style wobbles or more extreme audio-mangling effects.
7. Valhalla Supermassive
Platforms: macOS/Windows | Formats: AU/AAX/VST3/VST | Download
Valhalla Supermassive isn't a new plugin, but it's one of our all-time favourites, and was recently updated with a new reverb/echo algorithm that's made this already-fantastic free reverb even more of a must-have.
First launched in 2020, Supermassive is a reverb/delay plugin that specialises in unusual and unnatural ambiences. The majority of its 21 reverb modes are designed to create extremely long and high-density feedback lines, which can create ethereal washes of ambience and long, swelling delay lines. (Pro tip: feed any sound source into its Planetarium preset to create instant ambient drones.)
Version 4.0 is something of a change of tack, though. Whereas previous versions have specialised in reverb effects that are unnatural sounding by design, the Pleiades algorithm is tailored to more natural-sounding ambient effects. While it’s just one more mode to add alongside 20 others, Pleiades is significant in that it has the potential to further expand Supermassive’s usefulness beyond its remit as a go-to creative effect into more functional mixing territory.
