ULTIMATE FREEWARE 2016
Make space on your hard drive as we reveal the very finest free plugins and zero-cost samples of the past year in our second ever Ultimate Freeware spectacular
Expand your production toolkit for no charge whatsoever – get started on
Really, has there ever been a better time to be a computer musician? Practically every imaginable instrument and effect can be had gratis – you needn’t spend so much as a penny to outfit the virtual studio of your dreams. From virtual analogue synthesisers and realistic sampled instruments to classy modelled mix processors and cutting-edge creative effects, every step of the production cycle can be taken without any involvement whatsoever on the part of your wallet.
But with so much free gear out there of wildly varying quality, downloading and sifting through it all to find the genuine plugin gems and truly golden samples is a Herculean task. It’s almost not worth the bother when you could be spending that time doing other things – actually making music, for instance. No, what the modern computer musician
really needs is a directory of the absolute best free gear out there, saving them time and effort in addition to cash. Well, last year we did just that with 214’s epic Ultimate Freeware, a colossal round-up of the absolute greatest cost-free plugins of all time. We showed you how to use them like a pro, too, of course.
But just one year on, we find ourselves knee-deep once again in more free plugins and samples than our hard drives can handle. Which are the keepers and which aren’t worth the bandwidth? You’re holding the answer in your hands right now: it’s Ultimate Freeware
2016, our guide to the very best free plugins and samples released over the last 12 months!
We’ve broken it all down for you into handy categories and no-nonsense tutorials, and to ensure no one is left out, we’ve put the focus firmly on cross-platform offerings. Each entrant is a true standout for its sound quality and/or unique approach, and we’d have been happy to pay for quite a few of them.
So what are you waiting for? Turn the page, fire up that browser and get downloading!