Top 5 Coolest Free Plugins for Music Producers 2023

Will from Ghosthack shares his top five coolest free plugins for sound design and music production. He is a big fan of sound design and likes weird and bass-heavy music.

These plugins are not commonly known and bring something new to the table.

Vital

Will considers this wavetable synthesizer to be the coolest plugin. It is similar to XFer Serum and has three oscillators, a noise oscillator, filters, LFOs, envelopes, and a whole effects section.

Some of the key features of the Vital synthesizer include:

• Spectral warping: The spectral warping feature allows users to morph between different waveforms and create complex, evolving sounds. It's a powerful tool for sound designers looking to create rich, textured sounds.
• Modulation options: Vital offers a wide range of modulation options, including LFOs, envelopes, and more. This allows for complex modulation of different parameters, giving users a lot of control over their sound.
• Effects: Vital includes a range of high-quality effects, including distortion, reverb, delay, and more. These effects can be used to shape the sound and add depth and character.
• MPE support: Vital supports MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression), which allows for expressive, nuanced playing using devices like the Roli Seaboard or LinnStrument.

Get Vital for free here!

You need some presets for this synthesizer?

Try our Essential Sounds for Vital including 100 presets now!

Glitchmachines Fracture

This plugin is like a granular synthesizer but an effects version that granularly affects the audio going into it. Some results are fun, but the approach in general should consist of just chopping stuff and running it through fracture for cool glitchy sounds.

Some of the key features of the Glitchmachines Fracture plugin include:

• Buffer effects: Fracture allows users to use buffer effects to chop, stutter, and manipulate audio in various ways. The buffer size can be adjusted to create glitchy, stuttering effects or longer, evolving sounds.
• Modulation: The plugin includes 3 LFOs. These can create complex, evolving effects that change over time.
• Filters: Fracture includes multiple filter types, including low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass filters. These can be used to shape the sound and add texture and character.
• 100 Factory Presets: given how unusual this plugin sounds, having a pool of presets to quickly scroll through helps a lot at speeding up the creative process.

Get Glitchmachines Fracture for free here!

iZotope Vinyl

This plugin has been recently updated. It warps and changes an audio clip to make it sound like it is coming from a vinyl record. It includes options to select the year, wear and tear, low pass, Lo-Fi, spin down, and RPM.

If you’re after that Lo-Fi or Boom Bap vibe, pouring a bit of it here and there will help achieving that organic sound.

Get iZotope Vinyl for free here!

Valhalla Freq Echo

It’s a frequency-shifted echo. You can create a sort of modulating pitch sound with it. It can be cool to try on percussive sounds.

Some of the key features of the Valhalla Freq Echo plugin include:

• Frequency shifting: The plugin allows users to shift the frequency of the delayed signal, creating unique and interesting tonal effects.
• Synced delay times: Valhalla Freq Echo includes a range of synced delay times, including whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and more. This allows users to create rhythmic and musical delays in time with the song.
• High and low-pass filtering: The plugin includes high and low-pass filters that can be used to shape the sound of the delayed signal. This allows users to create filtered delay effects that blend well with the original sound.
• Feedback: Valhalla Freq Echo allows users to adjust the amount of feedback in the delay signal. This can be used to create sustained echoes that build up over time.
• Stereo widening: The plugin includes a stereo widening effect that can be used to create a wider and more spacious sound. This can be especially useful for creating atmospheric and ambient effects.

Get Valhalla Freq Echo for free here!

Noisebud Burt 2.0

Will considers it the most impressive of all the plugins on the list. It’s like a synthesizer has been thrown into a blender and then somehow put together again. The plugin can produce various sounds, but they are all somewhat broken and corrupted, giving them a raw and analog feel.

The plugin can be run through other processing to enhance the overall sound quality. It can be cool to mess with analog sounds that needs some more details and character to be interesting.

The paid version comes with some more features:

• Control the LFO amount with the Modulation Wheel.
• Control the LFO speed with the Modulation Wheel.
• 5 Additional seasoning distortion algorithms.

Get Noisebud Burt 2.0 for free here!

You need new inspiration for your music projects?

Try our Quadshaper Multiband Distortion Plugin in a free demo version here!