Yes, you have to signup for a (free) account with IK Multimedia in order to get it, but it’s worth the extra hassle. IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 Free Guitar multi-effects (*also good for synth processing) Try using it as a parallel effect, mixing in a little effected signal with the original for great ‘coloured’ results. Somehow, Camel Crusher can be smooth while still obliterating or aggressively fattening up your sounds. Camel Crusher stands head and shoulders above the rest based purely on it’s usability – it’s difficult not to find a good sound quickly, which cannot be said for most plugins in this area. There are many distortion, bit-crushing and saturation plugins. Camel Audio Camel Crusher ‘Colour’ / distortion effect plugin

All LePou plugins available in VST for Windows, most of them are also in VST and AU for Mac. If I had to choose just one (and I did, here), it would be the Le456. It helps that they look as good as they sound. Not so much a plugin as an institution amongst guitarists in the know, LePou makes really good guitar amp and cab simulators. I tend to loop a drum beat or synth line, go mad with the Crusher, Gater, Shuffler and Reverser sections, and record the realtime output so I can go back over the ‘performance’ and lift out the best smaller sections to use as fills and effect edits. It features a sequencer that you can apply colour-coded slices to – each colour represents one of the 9 effects, which is then applied to that section of the incoming audio. Still the best free glitch effect plugin. Illformed Glitch Multi-effect plugin for glitch effects and stutter edits If you’re looking for the best free VST synths, see this companion list.

Here’s my choice of free effects and processors. And using free tools is a great example of one of my 10 Principles Every Producer Must Know To Achieve The Pro Sound: Use Available Tools To Their Full Potential. I’ve used them all in commercial projects at one time or another. Whether you’re just getting into music production, you want to expand the basic toolset of effects that came with your DAW, or you’re just looking for something different for your next production, these are all worth downloading and trying out immediately. A selection of great free VST plugins that all hold their own against their commercial counterparts.

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