It’s often the case that paid premium plugins are sought after by producers as tools to help create. While there are many great paid plugins on the market, free plugins tend to be overlooked. However, in this list we’ll look at the best free effects plugins currently on the market that any producer should find useful.
1. Ribs Granular FX Plugin by Hvoya Audio
Granular Synthesis is an often, underutilized tool that can allow you to create unique otherworldly sounds and atmospheres. Ribs is a versatile granular synth that can be used in a ton of different ways from playing your sound using single midi notes, to generating complex beat rhythms using different sized grains.
2. TAL-Filter 2 by TAL
TAL-Filter 2 is a filter modulation plugin that will allow you to quickly automate the filter of any sound you would like. This effect is create to use on pads(and other similar sounds) to add movement.
3. Finisher MICRO by UJAM
Finisher MICRO is an incredibly simple and fun plugin to use. With Finisher your getting an effect rack with a ton of presets ranging from subtle effects to more obvious in your face effects.
4. PanCake 2 by Cableguys
PanCake 2 is another very straight forward plugin that can add movement to your sounds. This plugin can allow you to quickly add complex panning automation to your sounds.
5. Vinyl by iZotope
Vinyl is a great plugin to use when you want to add some grit/vinyl effect to your sounds. It is especially useful if you produce a lot of Lo-Fi hip hop.
6. Wider by Polyverse
Wider is a stereo widening plugin that will let you create a wider stereo field on any sound your apply it to.
7. Ozone Imager 2 by iZotope
Similar to the previous plugin Ozone Imager 2 is a stereo widening plugin. However, unlike Wider, Ozone Imager 2 has a Vectorscope that lets you clearly visualize your stereo image.
8. Ambience by Smartelectronix
If you’ve been wanting to move on from the stock reverb in your daw, ambience is a great place to start. With ambience you get a ton of realistic sounding reverb spaces that you can tweak to your liking.
Hopefully this list has given you some new plugins to play with. This concludes our list for the best free effects plugins of July 2021.