12 CREATIVE EFFECTS

Forget your subtle reverbs, compressors and delays, these are as creative as instruments…

Melda Production

MBitFun

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

Described as ‘a serious tool for extreme distortion lovers’ MBitFun breaks your audio down into low bit rates and then uses a variety of processes to control multiple parameters. Difficult to understand but huge results!

meldaproduction.com

Tritik

Krush

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

A classic in the freeware community, Tritik Krush delivers lo-fi, driven effects with a great modulation section and an analogue-modelled filter for more control and dynamics. There are presets a-plenty to demo its great sound.

tritik.com

Inear Display

Regressif

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

Where once we all hankered after a top-quality sound, Regressif concentrates on degradation, and features no less than a multimode filter, distortion, sample-rate reduction and bitcrushing. Your audio doesn’t stand a chance… ineardisplay.com

Audioblast

Instalooper

Mac/PC/Linux, 32/64-bit

It might well have been designed for live looping but Instalooper is equally at home mangling and blending loops anywhere and is great for breathing life into any kind of loops, but particularly effective on drums.

audioblast.me

Audiothing

Filterjam

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit)

Another freeware classic, this time a monster multi-band resonant filter that specialises in ringmod-like sounds, all behind a not-so-monster interface. With just a few controls, you’ll be amazed at how deep and dirty any sound can be.

audiothing.net

Stagecraft Software

Autofilter

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

It’s the automation that takes Autofilter into more creative territory than a normal filter, and it’s the looks that also land this plugin a top 12 place. It looks and sounds every bit a pro… stagecraftsoftware.com

Audio Damage Fuzzplus

FuzzPlus3

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

FuzzPlus 3 steps away from its perhaps guitareffect roots with a great resonant filter modelled on that of the Korg MS-20 for huge swirls of distortion. It’s not at Audio Damage’s website but you can still download it from… vst4free.com

Blue Cat Audio

Phaser

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

Designed more to emulate vintage phaser hardware, Blue Cat Audio have built enough modern twists into Phaser to bring it bang up to date so you can explore far more creative textures and territories.

bluecataudio.com

Michael Ourednik

Argotlunar

Mac/PC/Linux, 32/64-bit

Michael Ourednik’s Argotlunar is a free granular processor and used ‘for creating surreal transformations of audio streams’ by smashing your audio up into grains and then processing them with a variety of effects. Dramatic and big.

mourednik.github.io

Hvoya Audio

Ribs

Mac/PC/Linux/iOS, 32/64-bit

Ribs is another granular effect with which you can ‘glitch, scratch, filter, destroy and reconstruct sounds in many different ways’. It has several modes like Beats, FX, Notes and Simple, making it hugely flexible for a freebie.

hvoyaaudio.itch.io

Alex Hilton

A1 TriggerGate

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

Designed for producing the dynamic rhythmic effects found in house, dubstep, trap, and hiphop. TriggerGate goes a few steps further with enough features and onboard effects to go to gated areas you thought were locked. alexhilton.net

Inear Display

Litote CM

Mac/PC, 32/64-bit

What top 12 freeware list would be complete without a plugin? Litote, has four engines – each with a granulator, resonator and diffusion delay – blended with an automated X/Y pad. ineardisplay.com