Freebies: Awesomely-Free Audio Goodies January 2023

Kilohearts Free Essential Effects

Kilohearts has a HUGE collection of free plugins that work with their Snapin Host Plugins (Phase Plant, Multipass), or with your DAW. There are 32 freebies listed and they are very high quality, so I recommend checking them out. The Transient Shaper in particular is loved by audio creators everywhere.

Operating System: PC or Mac (M1 Native supported)
Software: Any DAW supporting VST 2, VST 3, AAX, or Audio Unit plugin standards. All plugin formats in 64-bit only.

Blue Cat Audio Freeware Plug-ins Pack

Blue Cat Audio updated its Freeware Plug-ins Pack last month. This bundle contains a wide range of premium modulation effects, a guitar amp simulator, a single and dual-channel equalizer, a unique midi-controllable gain suite, as well as a professional spectrum analyzer.

• Chorus
• Flanger
• Free Amp
• FreqAnalyst
• Gain Suite
• Phaser
• Triple EQ

Operating System: Mac, Windows
Formats: VST, VST3, AAX, AU. 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.

If you like the Blue Cat Audio Freeware plugins, check out the Blue Cat All Plug-ins Pack.

u-he Tyrell N 6 V3

This virtual analog software synthesizer from u-he has loads of features, including

• Virtual analog with classic architecture plus extras
• 2 oscillators, noise, ring modulator
• 2 LFOs with 8 waveforms, host-syncable
• Over 580 factory presets
• much more!

Operating System: Windows, Mac, and Linux
Formats: AU, VST2, AAX

Note: It’s only available at Amazona, a German magazine, and doesn’t require a serial number. The Amazona website is in German, so the link below is to the u-he website, which describes the plugin in English.

Minimal Audio Rift Feedback Lite – Feedback Processor

Rift Feedback Lite is a Musical Feedback Processor that lets users apply melodic effects to audio with unbounded creativity.

Formats: 64 bit AU, VST, VST3, and AAX

System Requirements:

• macOS 10.9 or higher
• Windows 10 or higher

You may also be interested in:

Evabeat Melody Sauce. Now a full audio and midi plug-in, Melody Sauce helps you create awesome melodies in seconds. You can hear melodies straight out of the box, no need to route MIDI to other instruments.

Blue Cat Axe Pack. The ultimate software package to shape the tone of your favorite axe (guitar or bass), and play your instrument “in the box”. It’s loaded with 9 of Blue Cat Audio’s guitar and bass plug-ins.

Oi, Grandad! Grandular Synthesizer

Oi, Grandad! is an open-source 4-voice granular synth, built with HISE. It also includes 12 independently triggered complex modulation sources.

Formats: VST, AU

System Requirements: Mac, Windows, Linux

Another Granular Synthesizers to check out:

Imaginando FRMS - Granular Synthesizer

A granular synthesizer beast with an FM leash

FRMS is a versatile granular synthesizer that combines granular synthesis with FM synthesis using a flexible layering system. From heavily-dense ambient drones to glitchy mechanical beings, turn simple sounds into complex evolving soundscapes, with up to four layers of synthesis in any combination.

Learn More

Zak Sound Azure Lake – Free Sounds

Start your year with 28 inspirational sounds to create beautiful melodies. “The sounds were inspired by the serenity and tranquility of nature’s lakes and the environment that surrounds them. We named it “Azure Lake” because the sounds are calm and serene like lakes.”

System Requirements:

• macOs El Capitan or Monterrey (I’d guess it works in others too since it says it has Native Apple Silicon support)
• Windows 7,8,10, 11

Formats: AU, VST3

Free Vinyl Static Samples

Give your recordings 200 audio files worth of vintage appeal with some Lo-Fi Vinyl Static sounds from Patch Banks.

Released: 1/26/2023, so it’s fresh!
Download size: 1.12GB… or 1.3GB… It says both.

Want to really ramp up your Lo-Fi game?

Waves Retro Fi

True Lofi Analog Magic

Spark real life in your tracks: Retro Fi is the ultimate lofi FX chain, with everything you need to produce authentic lofi textures, warm analog sounds, and mesmerizing nostalgic vibes.

Vintage cassette tones. Deep vinyl grooves. A massive palette of lofi noises, spaces, devices, and textures. Retro Fi has what it takes to breathe life into the dullest synth line, drum break, vocal adlib, or instrumental track.

Learn More

Conor Dalton’s Mixing Guide

Download an extensive PDF guide from Scotland-based audio mastering engineer, Conor Dalton. Conor owns a studio called Glowcast Audio Mastering and is hosting the guide, linked below.

In the guide, he talks about the top issues he sees as a mastering engineer. He dives into what makes a mix translate well across different places (think car speakers, phones, air pods, radio, etc. He also gives advice on achieving powerful mixes, and tricks you can use in the mixdown. Learn about headroom, gain staging, dominant resonances, mixing bass, compression, and much more.

Via MusicTech