29 Best Sound Design VST Plugins In 2023 (Creative Tools)

The following article discusses the best, most innovative, inspiring, and creative plugins for sound design in 2023.

We have discussed every tool, from software synthesizers to delay effects to samplers, and created a comprehensive list that will fulfill all your sound design needs. Having considered pricing, creativity, sound quality, interface, and many more factors while researching this post, we are excited to share this list of sound design tools with you.

In a nutshell, here is our list of the best sound design plugins:

1. FabFilter Creative Bundle (For Creative Sound Design)

2. Sugar Bytes Graindad (Granular FX, Stutter, Glitcher & Automator)

3. Tracktion Novum (Creative Sampling/Granular Synth)

4. Devious Machines Infiltrator 2

5. Output PORTAL (Granular FX)

6. iZotope VocalSynth 2 (Vocoder Synth)

 7. Waves CR8 (Creative Sampler)

8. FabFilter Timeless 3 (Ultra Flexible Delay) More Info & Price (Trial Available)

9. UJAM Dynamo (Instant Rhytmic Machine)

10. Devious Machines Texture (Multi Effect)

11. Audio Damage Enso (Multi FX)

12. AIR Music Tech – The Riser (Creative Transition Generator)

13. Native Instruments Reaktor 6 (Custom Synth Playground)

14. Native Instruments Absynth 5 (Semi-Modular Synth)

15. Native Instruments Replika XT (Advanced Delay)

16. Izotope Trash 2 (Highly Customized Distortion)

17. Polyverse Manipulator (Vocoder/Pitch Shifter)

18. FabFilter Volcano 3 (Creative Filter)

19. Glitchmachines Polygon (Sample Granulizer)

20. SoundMorph Dust (Binaural Granular Synth)

21. Audio Damage Grind (Wavetable Distortion)

22. Audio Damage Discord 4 (Pith Shifter / Reverb / Delay – Awesome on Synths)

23. Melda MMultiBand FreqShifterMB (Frequency Shifter)

24. XferRecords LFO Tool (Modulation Tool)

25. AudioThing Fog Convolver (Convolution Reverb)

26. Melda MRingModulatorMB (Ring Modulator)

27. Eventide Quadravox (Harmonizer/Pitch Shifter)

28. Cableguys TimeShaper 2 (Multiband Stutter/Half-Time/Reverser/Scratch/Tape-Stop)

29. Sugar Bytes Turnado (Multi FX 3)

On top of that, three complementary free-of-cost software are also included in the post. Also, whether you are an expert sound designer or a novice, we have covered you. Whether you want to do sound for films, songs, video games, or a mobile app, I am sure the following list will help you.

Also, Download our free Delay plugin with sound design in mind:

Deelay by Integraudio & Sixth Sample – Free Delay VST/AU Plugin

 

29 Best Sound Design Plugins In 2023 (Creative Tools)

1. FabFilter Creative Bundle (For Creative Sound Design)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

 

FabFilter creator bundle is the most versatile set of plugins you’ll find. 

FabFilter is known for its high quality, flexibility to different genres & purposes, and immense functionality among music producers and sound designers. Its popularity is due to the consistent innovation FabFilter has done over time, summing up with the most user-friendly designs and precise algorithms.

The bundle contains the following plugins: Twin 2 (a soft synth), Volcano 3 (a filter modulation plugin), Saturn (a multi-band saturator plugin), and Timeless 3 (a creative tape delay tool).  

Key Features:

• All-in-one bundle
  This covers up the entire sound design workflow, from a synthesizer in which oscillators act as the sound source to innovative effect plugins and tone shapers, delivering everything you need to finish the process.
• Intensive tone shaping
  Apart from being a multi-band saturator, Saturn also has an inbuilt dynamic processor knob, a 3-band equalizer for each frequency band, and several modulators. However, the remarkable thing about it is its huge variety of saturation & distortion algorithms, which makes it a reliable harmonic processor for every purpose. In addition, the presets themselves can create innovative sonic scaping and inspire fresh ideas.
• The song-starter twin 2
  Twin 2 is the ultimate polyphonic synthesizer with a whopping 1600 presets, an innovative interface, and simple drag-and-drop modulation settings. That acts as a great song starter, combined with Volcano 3, which can add the special juice of movement even on the most ordinary sounds.

Compatibility:

The plugin set is available in AAX, VST, VST 3, and AU formats and requires Intel Core 2 Duo/AMD Athlon 64 X2 or higher and a minimum of 4GB of RAM. In terms of OS, it requires macOS X 10.9 or later or Windows SP or later.  

Summary:

The only downside of the FabFilter creative bundle is that all these plugins are CPU-heavy and may be difficult to use together in a chain. However, even individually, each software is a force of nature and has powerful capabilities. After using FabFilter, you can never go back to stock plugins. 

Related Reading:

Top 10 FabFilter Plugins For Mixing & Mastering 

2. Sugar Bytes Graindad (Granular FX, Stutter, Glitcher & Automator)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Graindad is a granular effect plugin by Sugar Bytes for high-quality and real-time audio manipulation. 

The advanced grain engine plugin allows you to adjust the grain size, position, pitch, speed, and jitter settings. You can also adjust the settings for filter and time modulations and add reverb and delay effects to your sounds. In addition, it has an audio editor that allows you to freeze, texturize, reorganize, and slice your audio.

Key Features:

• Granular capabilities
  The plugin allows you to chop the audio into 64 grains and has 12 main controllers for manipulating the audio. In addition, the plugin has two modulation structures: harvested for creative, playful, and simplified granular manipulation and the classic system with step sequencers, LFOs, and envelopes.
• Modulation capabilities
  You can use MIDI notes and randomizers as the sources to trigger modulations, along with the typical step sequencer, LFOs, and envelopes. The plugin also has Modmix control, allowing you to crossfade between the two granular engines.
• Effects
  The plugin allows you to have high quality and a wide variety of effects, like filters, reverbs, delays, etc. For example, the reverb category includes effects like HQ reverb, spring reverb, and shimmer. The delay effects include phasers, flangers, and other time-based effects.
• Harvester
  The most advanced feature of Graindad is its Harvester system which allows you to modulate all twelve controls simultaneously, allowing for complex modulations and effects.

Compatibility:

Graindad is available in Audio Unit, VST2, VST3, AAX, and Standalone plugin formats and requires a minimum of macOS 10.12 or Windows 7 operating system.

Summary:

The possibilities with this great granular plugin are infinite. However, due to its unfamiliar workflow, it may be a bit strange at first, but it is fun once you get hold of it. In addition, the creative output you can derive from the plugin is limitless.

It’s just great for randomizing percussions. Resample it, slice it and find the best bits to fit in your composition – great practice for advanced DnB production.

3. Tracktion Novum (Creative Sampling/Granular Synth)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Novum is a unique and artistic granular synthesizer that works on an interesting algorithm.

It has huge capabilities for both beginners and experienced sound designers, music producers, and composers because of its out-of-the-box synth engine and attractive interface that allows you to load up a sample – which it breaks down into six different layers.

On each of these layers, different syntheses and processing can be applied. For novice producers, there are more than 300 presets that you can apply to each of these layers, which could dramatically shift the timbre, texture, envelope, and other parameters of the sound to the extent of turning a drum loop into a pad sound. Instead, it utilizes the beauty of granular synthesis in the best and most creative way possible, opening up the possibilities of a limitless sonic universe.

Key Features:

• Innovative sound design engine
  Have you ever wanted to take a guitar sound and play it with the timbre of a horn or have the transient and envelope characteristics of an organ in a flute? Novum makes that possible with its layer decomposition system and by combining granular and spectral synthesis. The approach is different from regular subtractive synthesis and uses many spectral filtrations and the samples’ re-harmonization.
• CPU Efficient
  Even with a lot of functionality, Novum is designed to be light on CPU, and we can load up multiple instances simultaneously.
• Incredible GUI
  Visually it gives you great monitoring of the waveform and three-dimensional structure of the audio, including its harmonics, by having colorful graphics, multiple sliders, and even a pitch detector, which could inspire innovation in the sound design process. It also has unique sound-shaping functions like “timbre flower” and “syntify”.
• Grains editing
  Under the Timbre section of the plugin, you can manipulate various characteristics of the grains in which the sound is broken down, like size, density, skewness, gain, pan, and more.

Compatibility:

Novum is available as an AU/VST plugin in macOS 10.13 or Later, 64-bit Intel or Apple Silicon, and as a VST in Windows 10 and 11 -64-bit.

Summary:

The only downside of the plugin is that it’s too new and has a workflow that is not conventional; hence it also has functions that may not be familiar at first glance. But a new approach to synthesis is also an upside, as it could inspire new sounds and enhance your sound design process by introducing a new perspective. 

Related Reading:

Top 13 Synth VST Plugins (And 5 FREE Synths Plugins)

4. Devious Machines Infiltrator 2

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

The Infiltrator 2 is a monstrous multi-effect that can combine, sequence, and adjust a whopping ten separate effects. 

Devious Machines calls it a “turbocharged” update, and with 54 effects modules instead of the 28 in version 1, it’s evident the company has been hard at work. The layout is instantly recognizable, and existing customers can upgrade for no additional cost, which is a major plus.

You can utilize many copies of the same modules, and there are ten effect slots, user-editable multi-segment envelopes, and assignable macros, much like in the original Infiltrator. The amount of control you have in real-time truly sets it apart from other multi-effects. There are now two independent envelopes for each effect, each of which can be synced to a maximum of 128 bars in duration.

Key Features:

• Presets
  When it comes to presets, it’s common for effects plugins that pack a punch elsewhere to fall short. This could be because some people view the use of presets as lazy. But we consider it presets to be a crucial demonstration of a plugin’s capabilities. Infiltrators 750 presets already quite a lot, but v2 more than doubles that number.
  It’s an insane amount, but at least they’re organized into categories and subcategories. To jumpstart your imagination, check out the Sound Design folder, where you’ll find patches like Faller Robo 4 Bar and Inertia. Presets like Bit Meddler, Future Announcement, and Slick Shifter are just a few examples of the incredible variety of sounds you can create with this plugin.
• Distortion Module
  A new “Degrade” setting has been added to the Distort module for all distortion fanatics. The degrading vibe of this loud and destructive processor becomes apparent at around 30%. Concerning reverb, everything has been rolled into a single module with three different settings (Reverb, LoFi, and the brand-new Void). An ‘infinite’-like effect is achieved at the highest settings, and the sound is textured overall.
• Master Section
  An improved Master section with drive and compression is included in Infiltrator 2, and the same type of compressor controlled by a single knob is now available as a standalone module. The Master tab has a bass bypass option (40Hz to 1kHz), effectively disables all processing for frequencies below the specified threshold.
• Time Manipulation Modules
  The modules that can alter past events are the most original additions. It’s great because of how simple it is to create tape slow-downs and reversals and how Stretch and Varispeed cover most speed ranges and spectrum. You now have many options for adjusting how your music is played back in time, with this new effect and others like the stuttering Looper.

Compatibility:

This plugin is available for macOS 10.10 or higher (64-bit only) and Windows 7 or higher (64-bit only). It comes in VST/RTAS/AU/AAX formats and supports 32 and 64 bit systems.

Summary:

Each effect in the plugin now has a second, assignable envelope that can modulate any of its parameters, greatly increasing its modulation capabilities. The additional Formant and Notch filter modes in the Dual filter are welcome additions. The improvement enhances the original in-depth and polishes it without changing its character. It’s not a cheap plugin, but it’s invaluable if you want a comprehensive set of creative tools.

5. Output PORTAL (Granular FX)

More Info & Price
Granular synthesis allows you to push any audio input to its limits.

Granular synthesis is a sound processing technique that divides an audio sample into numerous pieces known as “grains.” These grains let you create unique sounds and rhythmic patterns based on your preferences, and the possibilities are truly limitless.

Output PORTAL provides precisely that, but its biggest feature is its ability to expand its capability to many audio input sources.

Key Features:

• • XY Control
    The large, circular “XY Control” on the bottom left side of the main screen has a distinct attractive design that provides a clear picture of the granular parameters you may want to modify. A smaller circle displays the current settings, and you can move it about to change the values for “Pitch” (Y) and “Movement” (X).
  • Effects
    There are seven built-in effects that may be freely utilized. You may choose from “Stereo Delay,” “Distortion,” “Filter,” “Chorus,” “Phaser,” “Reverb,” and “Bit Reducer,” each with its own set of settings such as “Size” and “Width.”
  • Presets
    Presets not only give quick, terrific sounds, but they are also an excellent method to begin studying a certain effect. Granular synthesis isn’t the most straightforward tool to use; thus, it’s good to have over 250 factory presets that can be tweaked to your liking while still providing quick playability.
  • Grain controls
    These settings are in charge of the majority of PORTAL’s sound processing modifications. You may change the settings for the “STRETCH,” “PITCH,” “SPEED,” “REVERSE,” “DENSITY,” “GRAIN SIZE,” “TIME,” “SHAPE,” “PAN,” “OFFSET,” and “FEEDBACK” parameters, which all affect how one grain behaves in relation to others.
  • Modulation
    The “Modulation” part of the “Advanced Page” is made up of two assignable envelopes that are shown in an appealing and simple visual that highlights the waveforms. In the “Sine Wave” section, for example, you’ll discover a perfect sine wave in a brilliant yellow hue, and you may choose a specific node and freely change it. These types of tweaks will give your modulation a distinct sound that is specific to the input signal you’re changing.

Compatibility:

This plugin is available for macOS 10.9 or higher (64-bit only) and Windows 7 or higher (64-bit only). It runs in VST, AAX, and AU plugin formats.

Summary:

Synthesizers are excellent for creating new textures and soundscapes, regardless of the sort of synthesis used. Granular synthesis, for example, works with tiny divisions of an audio sample, and changing it by these little portions might be beneficial for more nuanced sonority changes.

In PORTAL, you may select the input signal to be adjusted (line, MIDI, other plugins, vocals, you name it!), and the program will handle the rest. All commands are simple to change and read, which may entice producers who are unfamiliar with granular synthesis to experiment with it.

Related Reading:

Top 11 Granular Plugins For Future Sound Design

6. iZotope VocalSynth 2 (Vocoder Synth)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Izotope vocal synth 2 simplifies vocal synthesis with its easy-to-understand & execute sound engine and signal flow.

The main attraction of the plugin is its modules that enable advanced processing and modulation and allows synths and vocals to combine with and modulate each other. CompuVox, Talkbox, vocoder, and some of these modules or vocal engines.

Hence you get almost every type of vocal synthesis, along with an internal pitch corrector on which you could set the scale of the song, so your voices or the synths don’t go out of tune. Apart from the five vocal engines, it has seven stompbox-style vocal effects like filtration, distortion, beat-repeating, speaker convolution modeling, stereo delay, chorus, and ring modulation.

Key Features:

• Polyvox module
  Polyvox module produces harmonies for which we can control the pitch. You can add these harmonies to the voices and the synths using MIDI input. You can also play around with vocal nasality, vowel shapes, and formant using it, which could be utilized for creative vocal effects & fat, and interesting layering.
• An immense range of Presets
  Even if you don’t know what each knob and tab does, you can easily load up a preset from its huge collection of presets and get plenty of options to create insane vocal effects.
• Modes for maximum functionality
  One need not sing notes to use the plugin and its sound design features. VocalSynth 2 has different modes like MIDI, auto, and sidechain, which takes input from MIDI data (MIDI mode), a vocal recording (auto mode), or any audio waveform (sidechain mode).
• Interplugin communication with other ozone plugins
  You can access VocalSynth 2 with other plugins of the Ozone universe like Neutron, Ozone, and Tonal Balance Control, which gives you comprehensive control over the editing & processing of your sounds.
• Vocal preservation
  The inbuilt auto-tune preserves the organic texture of the vocals, so the output doesn’t sound entirely synthetic and robotic.
• Plenty of effects
  One can add many effects on top of the sound like distortion, filter, transform, shred, chorus, and more. There are also some modulation effects available and an XY pad too.

Compatibility:

VocalSynth 2 is available in AU, AAX, VST2, and VST3 versions, and requires macOS High Sierra (10.13.6) – macOS Monterey (12.3.x) for Mac, or Windows 10 and 11.

Summary:

If you are looking for a plugin with comprehensive vocal synthesis and effects, Izotope has created a great solution for you. The plugin has everything one could ask for in the simplest way possible, with its exciting interface and interactive design.

Related Reading:

Top 6 Vocoder Plugins (Effects & Synths + FREE Vocoder)

7. Waves CR8 (Creative Sampler)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Waves CR8 is a multi-layer sampler with wide functionality and an efficient sample finder.

It allows you to layer up to eight sounds and has a non-complicated interface. It also packs Cosmos – a unique sample finder, as it browses through your samples and uses its algorithm to classify these samples in an organized fashion. On top of it, you can apply a good amount of modulation and filters to each sound.

With over 2500 free samples and 800 presets, CR8 makes sound design easy, accessible, and fun. You can load up a sample up to 30 seconds in length and further manipulate its envelope, pitch, and other parameters.

Key Features:

• Mixer Window
  You can change the balance of each of the layers of the sampler by using the mixer window that allows you to change the volume, pan, tune, width, and the mode & scheme of the sample.
• Multiple Stretching algorithms
  Under the scheme drop-down menu, you can apply one of five different stretching algorithms: voice, beat, harmonic, melodic, and classic, each for different timbres and textures of sounds.
• Root & BPM Detection
  That is an underrated sampler feature that is hard to find in most samplers. However, CR-8 has an inbuilt key and BPM finder that makes sampling easier for music producers.
• Modulations
  The plugin offers 4 LFOs/sequencers, 4 ADSR envelopes, and more modulations to be applied to any control with easy drag and drop. 

Compatibility:

The software is available as VST, AAX, and AU plugin and requires a macOS 10.14.6 or later or a Windows 10 or later operating system. 

Summary:

CR-8 by Waves offers more functionality and scope than an average stock sampler available in any DAW, with easy loop, reverse, freeze, and more options for immediate control and a workflow that makes it easy & fun to work with one-shot samples and loops. As a sound designer, plenty of opportunities open up with this highly-capable sampler.

Related Reading:

20 Best Waves Plugins For Mixing, Mastering & Producing

8. FabFilter Timeless 3 (Ultra Flexible Delay)
More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Timeless 3 takes delay effects up a notch with its analog filters and interesting modulations & effects. 

Initially, it was created only for warm & vintage tap delay effects, but now it’s become way more than that, and we can create almost any type of effects using the in-built Pro-Q/equalizer, saturn/saturation, LFO modulations, its special cross-feedback functions, and much more. 

Fab Filter has constantly innovated to create and recreate the Timeless to produce a perfect product with ” timeless capabilities”. For example, one can set the pan and level of every single voice in the delayed or wet signal.  

Key Features:

• Expansive Modulations
  You can do a lot with the modulation section, as it can have LFO, slider, XY controls, envelope follower, envelope generator, and MIDI as its source. You can set up to 50 modulators.
• Characters Section
  Here you can add effects like Lo-Fi, Diffuse, and Dynamics and control their overall mix using their sliders. This allows you to shape the sounds as per your taste tonally.
• Versatility
  Whether it is a simple yet subtle delay effect on pop vocals, high-feedback psychedelic delay on guitar, or a spaced-out synth delay, you can apply Timeless3 to it. You can create & emulate almost every kind of delay effect ranging from slapback echo, flanged delay, looping delay, or analog/tape delay.
• Visual Feedback
  The plugin has a great interface, as it offers visual monitoring of almost everything we perform in the plugin. In addition, the GUI is intuitive, playable, simple, and easy to navigate.

Compatibility:

It is available in VST/VST3, AU, and AAX versions and works with Mac (10.12+) and Windows (7 or later). 

Summary:

Fab Filter makes plugins that are hard to ignore and tempting, and Timeless is one such tool because of its simple drag and drops modulations, creative effects, warm sonic characteristics, and eye-catchy design. You will find yourself with expansive functionalities you didn’t know you wanted in a delay plugin. The price could be heavy, and too many possibilities could be overwhelming for some people, but the plugin is still a good investment overall.

KOAN Sound made awesome advanced tutorial on using Timeless 3. You can check their patreon here. 

Related Reading:

Top 12 Delay Plugins For Music Production (VST, AU, AAX)

9. UJAM Dynamo (Instant Rhytmic Machine)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Dynamo is a creative plugin introducing interesting movements and new rhythm patterns in your sounds. 

An example of great use of the plugin is to throw it on a vocal track and then adjust its knobs to create some cool & dynamic vocal chops. Another example is to apply it on the entire beat or the mix bus and change its entire groove. 

Dynamo simply creates animated and morphed rhythmic effects on whatever you use it on, but it is not limited to that. You can also create interesting effects on your sounds, as it packs a chain of various effects ranging from EQ, Chorus, Reverb, etc. 

Key Features:

• Simplified Interface
  You can add new movements & grooves just by rotating four knobs. There are only four controls. However, a lot is going under the hood, which makes the plugin user especially beginner-friendly.
• Rhythm selector
  The pattern knob in Dynamo gives you up to 5 different patterns to choose from to add juicy grooves to your sounds.
• Effects section
  The plugin packs a huge matrix of step filters, multiband distortion, delays, convolution reverbs, and many more effects.

Compatibility:

Dynamo is available in AU 2, AAX, and VST formats and requires Windows 7+ or Mac OSX 10.14 or later and a minimum of 8 GB RAM and 900 MB of hard disk space. 

Summary:

With 50 precisely curated audio effect configurations built from 27 algorithms, it’s a great tool for creating rhythmic transformations, which could inspire fresh ideas in a streamlined fashion.

Related Reading:

Top 20 UJAM Plugins For Music Production 

10. Devious Machines Texture (Multi Effect)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Devious Machines’ Texture uses a library with over 340 acoustic and electronic samples to synthesize new layers into your track.

The plugin analyzes the transients and dynamics of your sound to add textures from its library. You can modulate the dynamics and EQ to make these textures fit your music. This is an excellent plugin for enhancing your mixes. 

You can use it to make programmed drums more natural or generate ambiance and crowd noise, as well as analog noises of different kinds.

Key Features:

• Sample
  This area lets you choose the noise that will modulate your sound. There are over 340 options, all adjustable through sample-dependent parameters, like Colour, Octave, and Pitch. Moreover, you get a dual lowpass and highpass filter that lets you shape the source’s tone. The link option connects this filter to the sidechain filter.
• Dynamics
  This section is divided into two main parts: the Sidechain Filter and the Envelope. You also get a gate and a limiter, which you can control in the Envelope section. The controls for this section are straightforward. The plugin offers attack, hold, and decay knobs in linked or dual-mono configurations. Additionally, you can activate Makeup, which will compensate for the gain loss caused by the processing.
• Modulation
  The Modulation panel is here to help you add movement to your sound. You can use the envelope from Texture and the output of an LFO to the resulting sound with new depth and character. Five LFO types let you sync to the host tempo, but you can also adjust how synced they are using the Phase knob.
• Two EQs
  One for the clean input material and another for the sound generated by Texture. These are 5-band parametric EQs, and you can right-click the filter icons to get extra options beyond shelves and bells.

Character & Sound:

The plugin can add incredible natural or digital-sounding layers that enhance the listening experience. From pitch-modulated effects to a subharmonic synthesizer, you can use Texture to make your music more enjoyable. 

The plugin will always analyze your track volume and respond by generating a sound that perfectly matches the source’s dynamics. Whatever extra modulations you add will only make the sound more unique.

From version 1.5 forward, you can also add your own samples as texture sources. Additionally, the plugin also offers two granular synthesis modes that amplify its resourcefulness.

You can not only choose from the vast library or add your own samples; now, you can also use the granular method to select a part of the sample and resynthesize it. Then you need simply to use the Color knob to choose the area where the grains are played.

Compatibility:

This plugin is available for Windows 7 or later and macOS 10.9 or higher in VST, AU, and AAX formats.

Summary: 

Texture, by Devious Machines, is a fantastic plugin that saves a lot of time in sound designing. It’s easy to lose yourself to this plugin’s far-reaching sample collection, which makes it an alluring tool for many producers in search of suitable sonic layers.

The user interface is friendly, and the controls are simple, so even inexperienced producers can benefit from its outstanding sound.

11. Audio Damage Enso (Multi FX)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Enso is a virtual audio looper that lets you record and loop audio with several real-time effects in your DAW. 

It allows you to record and playback up to 10 minutes of stereo audio multi-directionally at different speeds. The single-button loop engine is fully automatic and lets you add effects in a very tape-style fashion. Hence, even if it works as a modern looper, its sonic behavior is modeled after vintage tape machines.

Key Features:

• Intuitive Interface
  The resizable GUI is stunning and uncomplicated, with the signal chain being straightforward and streamlined, making Enso easy to use and operate with, both in the studio and live settings.
• Tradition signal flow
  Like old-school loopers, the plugin can have the input mixed with buffer content, after which it can be sent to effects, or like a tape looper, the feedback path contains the effects and speed changes using the Dub in Place button. One can also have four different start and end points, in which sector crossfades can happen.

Compatibility:

It’s available as a VST, VST 3, AU, and AAX for Windows 8.1 or higher (64-bit only) and macOS 10.12 or newer, as VST and VST 3 for Unbutu 18 or later, and AUv3 for iOS or newer. 

Summary:

Enso is a fun tool and is great in emulating the warped sonics of vintage tape manipulators, which makes it a great tool, especially for guitarist-producers. In addition, its workflow is creative and can inspire your sound design process. Lastly, the onboard effects sound analog and are of good quality.  

Related Reading:

Top 10 Best Audio Damage VST Plugins 

12. AIR Music Tech – The Riser (Creative Transition Generator)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

The Riser is an innovative transition creator tool that you can use to create interesting sweeps, swells, fades, and risers effects.

A lot of times, it’s hard to find transition loops that fit the song tempo, pitch, mood, and other parameters, without introducing artifacts. You can create those sweeps & risers in synthesizers, but that’s too time-consuming. AIR Music Technology has a solution by which you can create these sound effects efficiently and tweak them according to your song and taste.

It works like any synth plugin and has three sound generators: sweep, noise, and chord. You can load up a waveform of your choice in the chord and sweep oscillators. It also has a filter, 2 LFOs, 1 amp LFO, and effects.

Key Features:

• Versatile range of presets
  The Riser has 300 uniquely designed, tweakable presets of different genres and styles and a randomizer that produces new patches with a click of a button.
• Immense Utility & Easy Workflow
  The plugin has a simple workflow. For example, it has an Invert mode which creates complementary patches by changing the direction of the transition. Similarly, the signal path is uncomplicated and easy to understand.

Compatibility:

The plugin is available in VST and AU (64-bit) only; however, its AAX version is available in the AIR Creative Collection. It requires Mac OS X 10.8 – macOS 10.12 but is not compatible with M1 chips. For Windows users, it demands Windows 7 or newer versions. A minimum of 1 GB RAM and 1 GB of hard disk space is required to run the software.  

Summary:

The Riser is great for creating dramatic sound effects and is optimized for EDM, scoring, and creating remixes. The oscillators programmed by AIR are of high resolution, the time-based effects (delay and reverb) add a good ambiance to your transitions, and the plugin overall has an attractive interface, which makes it a decent tool to keep in your arsenal.

Related Reading:

Top 8 Riser, Drop & Sweep Plugins For Transitions 

13. Native Instruments Reaktor 6 (Custom Synth Playground)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Reaktor 5 is a development environment for audio, effects, and synths, plus much more.

Some of you may know Reaktor for its built-in synths plus its vast selection of user-made libraries. Alternatively, you may use Reaktor for sampling your audio files instead of using a built-in sampler in your DAW. Offering a manual patching system gives you ultimate control of what is affecting your synth/sound, plus where it is being outputted to. Having this level of controllability can be overwhelming, but with a somewhat simple layout, Reaktor makes it easy to create huge sounds in minutes!

The way your sound is processed is through a graphical signal flow paradigm; this will be where all of your parameters, events, MIDI, and oscillator data are combined. Using a smart system of color-coded cables, you will be able to quickly hook up your patch blocks to affect your primary sound source.

The power of building your blocks can create an edge over others using stock sounds. Getting back to the basics with music and keeping it simple, these guys do very well, granted if you have never applied Reaktor before, it may be a little overwhelming, but once you have found your way around the plugin, it becomes your playground for all things especially sound design.

Patch Blocks offer effects for your sound sources, Reaktor provides many patch blocks to get you started, but the power lies under the hood. You can head over to this link here to download some highly complex synths/effects/generators.

It’s safe to say you wouldn’t be running out of creative ideas with this any time soon; with an ever-expanding library of sounds, VSTs, and blocks, this really can become an epic weapon for your arsenal. You can get Reaktor 6 from NI’s official website.

Key Features:

• Unique building blocks built to do various tasks
• Over 4000 user libraries are continually growing
• Leading algorithms that go on behind the scenes to make your sounds pop
• Unlimited possibilities for your music, movies, or games

When To Use:

• Creating sequence-based sounds
• Having a sample but wanting to manipulate it to your liking
• Live performances – you can create custom effects for live shows
• When you want to create a sound you have in mind, using the built-in patches, you can create really anything you can think of

14. Native Instruments Absynth 5 (Semi-Modular Synth)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

We are taking a look at another Native Instruments plugin; these guys have several industry-standard plugins such as Absynth 5 with its semi-modular layout, offering a diverse choice of sounds and the ways to output sounds are immense.

Absynth 5 is an amazingly natural and organic-sounding synth. It offers three oscillators capable of many tasks you throw its way; this has been a go-to plugin for many professionals since its release back in 2000. With a vast popularity rise, the developers knew they were onto something and, for over a decade, have been putting more and more features built into the synth.

With three powerful oscillators with a popular selection of wavetables, your sound will then be sent to various 8 modules with their own set of 14 filters plus many effects. These modules can be set up in whatever order you wish; for example, you may have a sound that needs a higher pitch; for this, you may decide to use the ‘Frequency Shifter’ before you send your music to a filter, and then your output.

Custom wavetables are another critical feature to Absynth. Offering a window view allowing you to take any wavetable and add more harmonics to create a custom wavetable, you can alternatively create them from scratch, having full controllability. Finally, you can save these for later uses. Envelopes are what control the overall velocity shape of your sound. Absynth comes with preset envelope modes but also has a detailed envelope editor for all three oscillators. Get the copy of NI Absynth 5 here.

Allowing fully controllable macros that can be assigned a variety of parameters, many synths nowadays offer this. Still, like many other plugins, they have great functionality in creating movement, atmospheres, and drones.

Having this level of controllability in one synth puts this synth on a high podium within the industry.

Key Features:

• Oscillators capable of combining subtractive synthesis, FM synthesis, wavetable synthesis, granular synthesis, sampling with wave-morphing, filters, modulators, and effects
• Built-in sampler allowing you to send your audio samples to any of the built-in effects modules that can be used alongside an oscillator with a wavetable
• Coming with a selection of 1800 pre-made deeply atmospheric sounds, there are several possibilities straight off the bat
• Define your path of sound processing
• The Mutator – This offers a new way to blend multiple synth patches into a new custom synth patch

When To Use:

• A most common use for Absynth is when you start a new music project/film scoring session/game sound design. With the vast number of presets plus the mutator, you have an unlimited resource of sounds continually being pushed out.
• Great for creating custom wavetables.
• Having the ability to combine your samples with oscillators can really take a flat kick drum into a thumping kick in the teeth
• Great For making your own atmospheric pads within the “Sound Mutation” section

Related Reading:

Top 10 Modular Synth Plugins (+ 3 FREE VST Plugins)

15. Native Instruments Replika XT (Advanced Delay)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Replika XT is a highly developed delay combined with a diffusion algorithm packaged into a user-friendly but highly effective plugin. Native Instruments have made this a high-quality, all-in-one plugin for more purposes than just delays used by many professionals.

Replika XT makes your life much easier by developing intelligent delay rhythms, widening your mix, or an untapped sound design factory with just the turn of a few knobs.

Offering you several parameters to affect your delay that other delay modules don’t have adds a level of uniqueness to what can be a plain sound before applying Replika. Diffusion is what brings life to the spaces in your tones, and you may be using a pad that cuts off immediately after being played or doesn’t have a sense of space. Adding diffusion will process your sound with many more reflective surfaces being picked up, ultimately resulting in a broader, more spacious, and organic sound tweaked to your liking.

Key Features:

• Ping Pong delay switch
• Built-in filters for easy manipulation of delay and diffusion
• Accurate visual display of real-time delay pattern
• Five different delay modes inspired by prevalent delays throughout history (Modern, Vintage Digital, Analogue, Tape, Diffusion)

When To Use:

• Creating repeats can turn a single hit sound into a whole other element within your projects without causing you a headache
• Diffusion offers the ability to turn. Plain flat sounds into huge ear-catching sounds. You may decide to use this when your music isn’t covering enough of your stereo field
• Built-in filters are handy for taking out nasty or unwanted frequencies. Giving you five filtering options, you can boost and cut until your heart’s content

16. Izotope Trash 2 (Highly Customized Distortion)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Trash 2 has to be my favorite distortion plugin to use for all of my sound design channels.

Trash 2 is a distortion, mangler, and transform plugin capable of giving you highly in-depth graphs, windows, and parameters to play with. Combining filters, convolve, delays, and dynamics, you can get stuck into all it has to offer with the click of a few buttons. Coming with some presets to get you started, you will immediately hear the sound tearing effect of Trash 2.

Trash 2 comes with four multi bands allowing you to pinpoint what frequency range your distortion goes to or even add multiple types of distortion to set ranges. Use the dual stages to apply various distortions to 1 of 4 bands, meaning you have full flexibility.

You may distort a sound which then causes nasty peaks and inconsistencies within the frequency range. The built-in multi-band compressor and gate allow you to control the music as it comes out of the processing line.

Key Features:

• Pre and post-processing filtering can be applied
• Convolve – convolution modeling allows you to place your audio into another space or object entirely freely
• Multi-band compression/gate window fully patchable to all four bands
• Limiter to control the chaos going on under the hood

When To Use:

• Adding life to. Dull sound.
• A little tip to anyone who uses or wants to use Trash 2 – under the saturation types, you will find ‘Tape Saturation.’ This subtly adds weight, but when turned up, it can add the fullness you’ve been missing in the sound
• Moving a sound into a new environment or space using convolve

Related Reading:

Top 10 Izotope Plugins & Products (Paid & Free)

17. Polyverse Manipulator (Vocoder/Pitch Shifter)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

The team over at Polyverse brings you, Manipulator.

This intelligent real-time pitching plugin is used to create exciting pitch differences in your live vocals, recorded tracks, and even keys/synths. Giving you the power to alter the timbre of a sound, this tool provides a new innovative idea to process your sounds. Bear in mind; that this plugin doesn’t like polyphonic sounds unless your goal is to destroy sounds, then feel free.

With some built-in effects, you can sculpt how Manipulator will react to your sounds based on their velocity. 

Key Features:

• Manipulate your sounds into new ideas
• Timbre and pitch controls
• Live performance processing
• Ability to change melodies of existing performances
• Up to 10 fully customizable effects

When To Use:

• For weird, creative vocals, twists, and pitches
• Has the ability to perform live and implement the keyboard for key tracking

Related Reading:

Top 10 GOA & PsyTrance Plugins (Best Psychedelic Trance Tools)

18. FabFilter Volcano 3 (Creative Filter)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Volcano 3 is a creative filter plugin that can create some insane movements to your sounds. 

Derived from analog synth filters, the plugin offers some great capabilities of modulated filters that can be applied to any sound, from a synthesizer to an organic acoustic guitar, to create interesting motion. Apart from its sleek interface and drag-and-drop modulation effects, the upgrade in Volcano 3 is the drive knob and the improved non-linear behavior of the filters. 

Key Features:

• Effective Filter Styles
  There are about 11 filters available to the user, and each of these algorithms is different, which can add a variety of sonic characteristics to the sound.
• Routing
  You can change the signal flow and how the different parts of the plugin run into each other using the Routing tab. The different filters, along with their modulators, can be routed to parallel, series, or a hybrid of both.
• Noise generator
  You can use the built-in noise generator in the plugin to create interesting sounds. You can apply different filters to the noise and tune their resonances to particular notes or frequencies using keyboard tracking to produce anything from spacey pad sounds to stabby plucks.

Compatibility:

Available in VST, VST3, AU, and AAX formats, the plugin works on both Mac and Windows. 

Summary:

Volcano 3 has tremendous sound design capabilities due to its superior sounding filters, easily assignable and editable modulation effects, easy-to-set signal flow, and simple yet attractive interface. The workflow is intuitive and easy to use, and there are plenty of presets to inspire new ideas. 

Related Reading:

The 8 Best Filter Plugins For Precise Cuts & Boosts (+ 5 Free Filters)

19. Glitchmachines Polygon (Sample Granulizer)

More Info & Price 

Polygon is a sampler-based plugin aimed at electronic producers; using four modules to play your selected sounds (also comes with over 1GB of preset samples) you can develop your old samples into whole new sounds.

Polygon offers granular mode and sub-oscillator to be used to layer with 1 of 4 modules. Polygon brings several top effects and processes, cramming it all into a naturally pleasing format.

The effect processors are metallizer, stutter, and ring mod, frequency modulated (FM). These can go a long way toward adding texture and harmonics to your sounds. Following from there, there is a selection of 8 LFOs, all mappable to parameters; envelope 1-4 gives you pinpoint precision for each sample, but also, if you do not want to change the individual containers, there is an available master envelope which will affect all four modules. Like many popular plugins, Polygon has a matrix menu where you can assign a parameter to one another or view preexisting sources, offering flexible control from start to finish. See more info about the plugin here.

Key Features:

• 4 Monophonic modules for samples
• Granular Mode/Various play/loop modes
• 4 Mod Envelopes & 8 LFOs
• 3 FX Processors (metalizer, stutter, and ring mod)
• Sub Oscillator to deliver the punch back to your samples

When To Use:

• When you are bored of your sample library and want to spice things up! This plugin is excellent for rediscovering old sounds and turning them into something completely new
• You could use Polygon for creating a variation of a loop to give your project that edge
• Polygon has many uses for your samples, you can turn hi-hat into a modulating rhythm, or you can take a vocal sample and manipulate your heart’s content

Related Reading:

Top 6 Glitch Machines Plugins For Music Production 

20. SoundMorph Dust (Binaural Granular Synth)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

SoundMorph’s Dust is in its lane; Dust uses sample-based granular synthesis to twist and manipulate the selected sounds.

Taking particle simulations to a whole new level, Dust uses a particle system allowing users to move and line them within the simulation space independently. Each particle is binaurally based on the position of the particle to the center of the visual display. Forward will push the sound to the front of the speakers, and backward will do the opposite, giving you full control over how your music is perceived.

The sequencer editor allows you to decide when the particles are emitted; each step has four different changeable values. We all love to experiment with LFO well with a very versatile LFO built-in that can be attached to any parameter in Dust, giving you full control. All modulation is additive, meaning it will only add to the manually set value rather than replacing it.

The flow field is generated by complex equations; this determines how particles move around the space and are defined by an equation. Effectors replicate a customizable magnet. The flow field is selected from a list of built-in equations or defined by a user-based equation offering full flexibility.

Key Features:

• Built-in convolution reverb (This works by taking tonal, textural, and temporal characteristics from a loaded audio file instead of computing them algorithmically. This means that instead of calculating the reverb for a given sized room, you can record the sound of a cave in a lead pipe or concert hall and apply this as your reverb.)
• Particle emitter x8
• The ability to save and load presets
• Importing your sounds to work with
• Up to 4 modulations on parameters

When To Use:

• Any sample you want to granular synthesizes this is your go-to tool with so many options and rational equations
• Dust is perfect for when you have a finished project, but you may have some spaces you want to fill; for example, I might want to add a soft or sharp texture under my track to fill the gaps

21. Audio Damage Grind (Wavetable Distortion)

More Info & Price

Grind is an absolute monster for anything like saturation and waveshaper distortion; Audio Damage says themselves, “Make no mistake: this is not a subtle, polite tool.” with that said, you can tame Grind and all its parameters.

Offering a lot under the hood, Grind brings you a multi-mode filter, distortion/saturation, and a wavetable-based waveshaper.

Developed with high-quality distortion/saturation algorithm’s you can take any sound and tear into smithereens, granted you might not want that effect, but this is what Grind is for; its to make a sound and send it through a bright array of processes all controllable by yourself. Grind’s features 11 types of resonant filter, regular 12/24dB high-pass, 12/18/24dB low-pass, and 24dB Band-pass, Notch, emulations of the famous Korg MS-20 LP/HP, and the screens from Audio Damage’s “vintage” 914 band-pass and Filterpod low-pass.

Key Features:

• Modulate with the low-frequency oscillator
• 11 highly developed saturation/distortion algorithms
• Bypass for each processing step
• Offers a noise gate
• Blending wavetables with the turn of a knob

When To Use:

• You might find yourself using Grind for anything from drum loops to bass sections, even to vocals. It’s up to you to decide what sounds need a little touch of this plugin. For example, you may want to crush your drums until they are not recognizable, but you might consider putting the same patch but with a much less dry/wet ratio creating a symphony of saturation/distortion

22. Audio Damage Discord 4 (Pith Shifter / Reverb / Delay – Awesome on Synths)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Audio Damage brings you a plugin modeled off the H910 since this is a digital stereo pitch shifter.

This gives you multiple options on how to pitch your chosen sound and pitch it up to 6 octaves above its played key. This is a real sound mangler since its first release in 2004; Audio Damage has continued to update and bring you the latest sound advancements.

This plugin contains three intelligent algorithms (Vintage, Clean, Granular), each offering its strengths. Tempo synced delays and filters allow you to match the BPM of your projects. Also, Discord easily adds a reverb into the feedback loop, making shimmering easy to access.

Discord 4 has to be a fan favorite for its reformed GUI; Audio Damage listened to listeners’ feedback and made their plugin much more user-friendly. With an easy-to-follow visual display, you are able able to tweak your Discord setting to your liking, implementing all four effects (Shifter, Delay, LFO, Filter, Reverb). Get Audio Damage Discord 4 here.

Key Features:

• Ability to choose three unique pitch shifting modes (Vintage, Clean, Granular)
• Handy LFO tool to add modulation
• Soft saturation/limiting is involved under the hood
• Unique artifacts can be created with ease

When To Use:

• Add to a single note midi clip, tweak the setting and hear the magic
• Useful when wanting to add shimmering to a sound with the use of the reverb effect
• When wanting to add a delay that is temp synced to your project

Related Reading:

Top 6 Pitch Shifter VST Plugins (+ 3 Best FREE Plugins)

23. Melda MMultiBand FreqShifterMB (Frequency Shifter)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Melda brings us MFreqshifterMB, an advanced frequency shifter plugin that analyses the harmonic data of your sound.

With this, you can decide to do some stereo width, flatten out the music, or destroy the music. Six multi bands give you full controllability of the frequency cross-overs, allowing you to process each group independently.

Onboard is a modulation section that is attachable to any parameter, choosing from several modulation sources such as (LFOs, audio level followers, envelope generators, randomizer, and pitch detectors). Included with this plugin, Melda Production appreciates that it can be overwhelming. First, they offer dozens of presets to get to grips with everything that goes into MFreqshifterMB quickly.

The power of this plugin is unlimited.

Whether you want to recreate all your samples into something new, or you want to take a predicting example and correctly put it into the correct key that you are working in, this plugin has got you covered.

Key Features:

• Accurate frequency shifting for precision movement
• Dozens of presets to get you started
• 6 Multi bands that are capable of clean crossovers
• Random button for creative ideas
• Synchronization with time signatures

When To Use:

• When you have a sample that you want to use but it isn’t in the right key
• Developing your old samples into new ones
• Adding stereo width to your sounds
• When you want to identify and modify individual frequency bands

Related Reading:

Top 12 MeldaProduction Plugins For Music Production 

24. XferRecords LFO Tool  (Modulation Tool)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Serum may come to mind when you think of XferRecords.

The team with excellent knowledge of all thing electronic music bring you a nifty LFO tool that is very user-friendly. LFO Tool plugin allows you to mold custom LFO curves and shapes, plus LFO comes equipped with dozens of presets to achieve results instantly.

With LFO Tool, you have the option to process incoming audio and generate a MIDI message sequence for other instruments. With a high level of control over what filter types, filter drive, LFO routing, and the ability to correlate MIDI notes to actions, Xfer has pushed the boat out on this.

Giving you full controllability over the speed of your LFO, you can choose from having a standard time signature with or without swing and Hz mode for precision LFO speeds. Get LFO Tool on Pluginboutique.

Key Features:

• Simple interface, which makes LFO very easy to use with massive outputs
• An array of filters to choose from to suit your liking, plus a filter window to represent what’s going on
• MIDI patchable settings are allowing you to control parameters with your MIDI controllers
• Offers Mac OSX and Windows versions
• It is coded in C++ to minimize CPU usage
• Sample-accurate sync

When To Use:

• It can be used as a ducker (side-chain emulator)
• Very useful when using multiple instruments to create a chain for MIDI to follow
• The filters alone can be a source of inspiration

25. AudioThing Fog Convolver (Convolution Reverb)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Audio thing brings you Fog Convolver; this is a stereo convolution reverb plugin.

Using the impulse signal of a recorded audio Fog will add reverberation and effects.

Coming with a library of over 250 impulses to get you started, it can also be combined with your IR samples. You will be able to record a tick or clap typically in the environment, and Fog will emulate the environment.

The Fog has exact stereo width and a visual display to see your L&R channels; this is very helpful for knowing what your IR will do to your sound. With full controllability of your IR, you can choose the starting and endpoint, fade in or fade out and create curves. See more information on Pluginboutique.

Key Features:

• Over 250 impulses to get started
• Ability to add your own IR and edit within the plugin
• Exact stereo width to accurately represent the input
• Customizable browser window including tags and rating to find impulses easily
• Drag and drop samples into the plugin

When To Use:

• To create a unique reverb for your sounds, either chosen from the hundreds of samples or a sample of your choice
• When experimenting with your sound recording. You can put my sample or tape into Fog, and it will read the IR

Related Reading:

The 10 Best Convolution Reverb Plugins 

26. Melda MRingModulatorMB (Ring Modulator)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Ring modulators were invented by Frank A. Cowan in 1934 and patented in 1935.

Since the digital domain, there has been an increase in ring modulators on the market. Melda Productions bring us MRingModulatorMB; this is a very in-depth engine with a lot to discover.

Changing the frequency will tell the ring modulator to apply its setting to different frequency ranges in the sound. You can also add several modulators to the patch, such as LFO, level follower, midi/audio triggered ADSR enveloper, randomizer, or pitch detector. Having these modulators add another layer to uncover and play about within your projects, also there is a ‘Multi parameters’ button to which you can map multiple parameters.

The browser window will allow you to load up the global presets. Still, also, the team over at MeldaProduction has been making a community list of presets which you can download and efficiently apply to your sounds!

Key Features:

• Dual user interface – offers a simplified mode to show you what the main parameters are
• 6 Multi bands to affect single frequency ranges
• Including the most versatile algorithms for the oscillators, wavetable, and step sequencer
• Automatic gain compensation (AGC)
• Safety limiter to save your ears and DAW
• Stuck between presets? Add up to 4 presets to an X-Y pad

When To Use:

• When wanting to turn a plain sound into an alien morphing beast
• A great way to add another layer to your sound
• Using the X-Y pads, you can quickly create a variety of preset ring modulators

Related Reading:

The 6 Best Ring Modulator VST Plugins | KiloHearts, Melda

27. Eventide Quadravox (Harmonizer/Pitch Shifter)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Quadravox is a harmonizer/pitch shifter made by Eventide, combining the ability to add this to drums, vocals, synths, etc.

Anything you want to add more voices to, pan, delay, or pitch, Quadravox has got you covered. Being optimized for multiple instances, you don’t need to worry about your patches clashing.

Harnessing the power to use this for creative purposes, songwriting, or to widen out the sound with its powerful algorithms. Having up to 4 voices giving you four different ways to process one sound; you can move the harmony one of two ways you can move within the notation grid or use the pitch interval arrows (up or down).

You will struggle to run out of ideas with Quadravox due to the built-in random button; for example, you might not know where to start or where you want to end up, hit the random button, and let Quadravox do the hard work for you. This plugin offers a very easy to execute way of adding more voices to your single sounds.

Key Features:

• Optimized for multiple instances
• Four voices
• Accurate pitch adjustment
• MixLock keeps dry/wet mix of the effect static as you scroll through presets or user-defined snapshots. The KeyLock does the same for the Key and Scale

When To Use:

• Monophonic synths – adds width and depth
• Adding more voices to a vocal channel
• Creating drum sequences that sound alive

Related Reading:

Top 12 Eventide Plugins With Best Value

28. Cableguys TimeShaper 2 (Multiband Stutter/Half-Time/Reverser/Scratch/Tape-Stop)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

TimeShaper 2 is essentially an all-in-one station for all things related to audio manipulation.

For example, you can scratch tracks by drawing in your unique pattern into the window viewer, or you can decide to stutter, tape stop, pitch, and reverse the audio all in one plugin! Cableguys thought of what things vinyl DJs have at their fingertips and decided to make a user-friendly plugin where you can achieve well-known effects.

Create instant stutters, rewinds, and tape stops, all with just drawing in your desired pattern. Having the ability to change and move your modulation points to your liking easily, this tool becomes very powerful for tasks that are just not achievable without vinyl gear.

Like many other plugins, this has a dry/wet knob allowing you to blend your creation with the original sound; this can give you hours and hours of rediscovering and mangling your projects or even your favorite tracks.

Half-speed is something else in its respect; with the power of taking any hit or loop, you can manipulate the playback pitch with many options for getting the desired sound. But this also offers the feature of hooking it up with your instruments in MIDI and manage the live playback loop!

Key Features:

• User-friendly display
• Easy to get results with the built-in draw modes
• The ability to choose a multi-band mode that manipulates two bands independently
• Scratch on time
• Reverse in real-time
• Flange and chorus
• Design your own LFO’s
• Fine mode
• A library of shared patches

When To Use:

• This plugin is fantastic to use when you want to emulate vinyl DJ effects, but you don’t want to have to combine six plugins, or you don’t have the equipment to record your vinyl gear.
• This saves so much time!
• The sheer number of possibilities with this plugin is enormous. Introducing a pen tool, you do have freedom of choice with how you decide to apply the various settings

29. Sugar Bytes Turnado (Multi FX 3)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Turnado is a powerhouse with eight slots that can be equipped with over 20 effects!

Some of these effects are reverse delay, pattern delay, stutter, reverb, phaser, freeze verb, vinylizer, and many more.

With an individual control for each module, you can automate up to 8 effects at once. With a much thought-out GUI, this plugin can be used in the studio or on live performances with a window for quickly switching up the modules.

Within the effects editor, you can connect up to 5 parameters to one knob, also achievable with the built-in LFOs/step sequencer. Giving you total freedom and choice makes Turnado a formidable contender on our list.

Key Features:

• 24 effects to choose from
• Up to 5 parameters can be mapped to 1 knob
• Dynamic signal flow gives you more in-depth control over your effects
• Built-in LFO’s/step sequencer

When To Use:

• It can be used for live performances to cue different effects for tracks quickly
• Great way to enhance your tracks with the customizable 1 knob feature
• A vast number of ways to patch in effects, and there are endless possibilities for sound design

Best Free Sound Design plugins

1. Inear Display REGRESSIF (Sound Degrader)

More Info & Download

REFRESSIF is a sound degradation plugin that uses bit crusher and sample rate reduction effects to smash the sound. 

Essentially, it’s a low-fidelity plugin with a collection of digital distortion effects that transforms even basic sounds into digital noise. It has a filter section, two LFO modules (with seven waveforms), an LFO mix module, and a LOFI section with adjustable signal flow. 

Key Features:

• Clean Interface
  The resizeable GUI is simplistic and easy to use, with different color codes assigned to each module, which allows easy patch creation and tweaking of the built-in patches or presets. It uses an intuitive modulation routing paradigm using patch chords.
• Sound Engine
  It has four analog-style filters, pre- and post-filter digital distortion, dry/wet control, 40 factory presets, and a randomizer option. The LoFi section can be connected in series or parallel and be assigned a ring modulation effect.

Compatibility:

REGRESSIF is available as a VST and AU plugin and has a minimum requirement of Mac OS 10.11 or higher and Windows 7 or higher. 

Summary:

The plugin is great for creating heavy distortion and lofi effects on any sound to make it more destructive and chaotic, and can also be slightly mixed into any sound to give it more weight and to make it stand out. 

2. Glitchmachines HYSTERESIS (Creative Glitch Delay)

More Info & Download

Hysteria is a glitch delay plugin for creating artistic yet inhuman artifacts and stutters to any sound. 

Different sections in the plugin are delay, stutter, filter, modulation effects, presets, and output. With this, we can create anything from a basic delay to robotic musical malfunctioning. It also has a RANDOM button to randomize the knobs in the plugin and create a new preset every time you click this button. 

Key Features:

• Analog modeled lowpass filter
  The filter section includes a lowpass filter with the floor knob to set the frequency, a mod knob to control the modulation going into the filter, a rate knob to adjust the modulation speed, and a resonance knob to set the resonance of the low pass filter.
• Delay
  The delay can be synced and used as a ping pong (oscillating in left and right channels) delay, with a separate feedback knob to accentuate the effect further.

Compatibility:

Hysteresis is available as a VST3 and AU plugin with a minimum operating system requirement of Mac OS 10.14 and Windows 10.  

Summary:

The plugin is great for creating glitch-hop music, hyper pop, punk, and other new-age grunge and electronic genres and for soundtrack scoring and game sound design of similar genres. It’s a straightforward and easy-to-use plugin with 60 presets to start with. 

3. UJAM Finisher MICRO (Multi FX)

More Info & Download

Micro is a multi-effects single knob sound design plugin for immediate inspiration. 

It has 25 complex automated multi-effect chain modes linked to one knob for which we can change the amount. You can also adjust the modes. It could transform your sounds or stems into something different that you may not have predicted. Surprise is the ultimate selling point for this plugin. 

Key Features:

• Quick Inspiration
  The plugin allows you to readily audition different effects on your track, which is especially useful when you’re not sure what is it exactly your sound is missing. In that case, this plugin can give you some quick suggestions and act as the secret sauce in your mixing and production workflow.
• Cool effects
  It also has some interesting effects: Big Hair, Cab & Room, SpaceGrinder, Old Radio, and more.
• Pretty interface
  The GUI of the plugin cannot be any simpler, given it has just one knob to work with. On top of that, the plugin design is aesthetically pleasing and offers good eye candy.

Compatibility:

Available as a VST, AU 2, and AAX, the plugin requires a minimum of 4 GB RAM, 200 MB of hard disk space, and Windows (8 or 8+) or macOS 10.12 (or later versions). 

Summary:

Micro can be good for changing the vibe when you’re bored or uninspired and given it is free and supplies boundless sonic variety; there’s no harm in adding it to your sound design toolkit. 

Other Great Tools For SD:

Sonicsmiths The Foundry (Kontakt Sample Library)

More Info & Price 

Sonicsmiths The Foundry is an AARE – Adjective Assignable Randomizer Engine within the Kontakt player; the Foundry contains various parameters to manipulate over 19,000 sounds adding up to about 20GB of data.

With all these sounds allowing you to layer another sound with it, the possibilities are endless.

From real pianos to vast organic orchestral atmospheres, even to live recordings of ducks, these guys have added an immense library of sounds. But that isn’t all The Foundry can offer.

With some styles to choose from, such as bed/pad, fx/hit, rhythmic, and texture, this will give you several samples based on those parameters. Once you have selected a style, you can pick some adjectives to match the sound. For example, I might want to have a pitched sound that is soft, clean, and pulsing; The Foundry makes this foolproof to get amazing results with very minimal distractions.

Murray Gold

Key Features:

• Intuitive X-Y axis for blending sounds
• Built-in random button to turn your patch into something new
• Effects modules (SEQ, Granners, Filters, Body, Distortion, Delay, Rotor, Panner, and Sends)
• 3-mode step sequencer (can create extremely complex rhythms

When To Use:

• If you lack inspiration, The Foundry can be very powerful for finding that first spark
• To quickly create multiple patches, all with the same timbre
• The Foundry is best used when you have an artist in the studio or a client who wants you to fit a brief. With the endless sounds and rhythms this engine can pump out, you won’t be lacking in material

Eventide Physion (Multi FX 3)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

This new intelligent way of processing allows you to independently affect the transient and tonals parts of a sound, giving you the power to add small touches to huge effects.

Reshape your music however you choose; this plugin gives you the ability to sculpt your sounds to your liking or fit a project.

Offering a visual display of the waves form, you can add up to 6 effects (Delay, Tap Delay, Dynamics, Phaser, Reverb, Gate + EQ) to further develop your sound.

There are truly unlimited possibilities with Eventide’s Physion. For more information, click here.

Key Features:

• Accurate visual display
• Amazing audio split (transient, tonal)
• 7 Effects for both Transient (Delay, Tap Delay, Dynamics, Phaser, Reverb, Gate + EQ) and Tonal (Delay, Compressor, Pitch, Chorus, Reverb, Tremolo, EQ)
• Output level to stop clipping

When To Use:

• For pinpoint accuracy, it gives you full control over the sounds
• Recreating old samples to bring them into the future
• You can use the accurate waveform display to see where your sound is lacking

PSP N2O (Semi-Modular Multi FX)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

PSP N2O is a semi-modular multi-effect plugin that offers full freedom of control.

Built-in high-quality modules can be patched in any way you like, taking the same concepts as its family member, the PSP Nitro. With a new user interface making it much more simplified to create drones, pads, and atmospheres, this becomes a powerful tool for professionals.

There are three windows you will spend most of your time in are modular, global, and operator sections. Parameters can be applied using a fixed tempo typically set by the host tempo, but this can be changed by disabling the lock feature and typing in your rhythm.

Each operator contains morphing resonant and formant filters, eq, delay, reverb, pitch-shifter, compressor/expander, distortion, full-wave rectifier, and many more, all coming with animated display slots.

Key Features:

• Over 190 presets
• Built-in limiter to eliminate overloads
• Included side-chain input
•  Extensive optimization

When To Use:

• For sound design control. Giving enough options to develop your sounds to a new level
• Intuitive pitching system gives you a visual representation of your patches, giving you full control

Waves Doppler (Doppler Effect)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Have you ever had a car honk its horn as it has gone past you? It creates a sense of the sound moving, but it also does for that, it changes the initial frequency of the music when your ears perceive it.

With that cleared up, the Waves Doppler is essentially an emulator of that effect.

Doppler gives you a visual representation of the stereo field, plus an orange lone and circle, which indicate the direction of the sound and the position of the sound source. Implementing some key parameters such as gain, pan, pitch, track time, and center time will apply the Doppler effect to your sound. However, you desire.

Key Features:

• Accurate visual display
• Does what it says on the tin
• Reverb controls
• Click and drag functionality
• Offering different modes (Energy, manual, continuous cycling, and one-shot)

When To Use:

• You may find yourself editing a film or trailer if there are any moving sound sources or environmental elements. Doppler can be used to make it sound how it would work in real life to the human ear
• This can be used in music production, too; you could use this on your riser so just before the drop to quickly slopes from L-R, giving an ear-catching effect.

Antares Harmony Engine Evo (Real-Time Harmonizer)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Harmony Engine EVO is used for generating vocal harmonies. Harmony engine takes a monophonic voice and creates up to 4 harmonies corrected layers. With vibrato and pan, this gives you the power to make it sound like the singer or someone else!

Harmony engine “Humanise” functions let you set individual random pitch and timing variations for each channel for natural-sounding results. Having Antares built-in choir vocal multiplier on all five channels (including input), each channel can sound like 4, 8, or 16 voices.

Harmony Engine EVO has a pinpoint accurate harmony control tab, allowing you to change the root note, scale, and what chord you would like to create. You can control this with MIDI and control the outcome of harmony based on MIDI values.

Key Features:

• Four harmony corrected channels
• Intelligent artifact-free pitch shifting
• Formant corrected harmony channels
• Ability to recall up to 6 different vocal groups
• Groundbreaking vocal tract modeling

When To Use:

• When you have a dry vocal and want to add a harmony or backup layer
• Remodeling vocals to make them sound more natural
• Harmonize up to 16 voices per channel to create choir effects

SoundToys FilterFreak (Creative Filter)

More Info & Price 

Emulating legendary hardware filters, including Sherman Filterbank, SoundToys brings us FilterFreak.

FilterFreak is a modulator for two screens within the plugin, combining both filters with various settings such as LPF (low-pass filter), BPF (band-pass filter), HPF (high-pass filter), and BSF (band-stop filter). You will have the power to visualize the screens in real-time.

Filterfreak 1 is a simple single-use filter with the thing you would expect from a standard screen, including resonance, cutoff, and mix, including the added extras in FilterFreak. FilterFreak 2 gives you two analog filters side by side; you can apply modulation settings to provide you with a world of filter movement.

Key Features:

• Choice of one or two filters
• Create your own LFO shapes with the editor
• Replication of analog gear that offers the same effect as the real gear
• Envelope follower and sample-and-hold effects
• Including seven analog styles (Clean, Fat, Squash, Dirt, Crush, Shred, and Pump)

“…truly jaw-dropping, goose-pimple-inducing levels of creative inspiration and excitement.” – Remix Magazine

When To Use:

• Quickly creating movement in your sound while maintaining proper audio levels and limits
• Push the resonators up to see the real power of FilterFreak
• Epic for creating old-school wah tones or creepy science fiction samples and hold effects

illformed Glitch 2 (Mutli Effect / Sequencer)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Glitch 2 is a step sequencer but with a twist, with the ability to draw in a sequence of effects! With a list of effects such as Modulator, Tape Stop, Reverser, Distortion, Gater. Each effect has its window to deliver the desired sound by adjusting the parameters.

You’re not limited to just one effect; you can combine multiple effects to create pleasing tones and modulations. Everything is tempo-synced, meaning keeping everything you do within the BPM of your projects.

Key Features:

• Color-coded effects and user-friendly layout
• Tempo Synced effects and sequencer
• Pattern editor with drag and drop. Draw, erase, resize, split and join blocks all in one
• Allowing the ability to trigger a unique scene with your MIDI notes on your keyboard
• A built-in random button to keep inspiring you
• Filter, mix, pan, and volume controls can be found on each module

When To Use:

• Adding flair to your tracks
• Easily layering effects to create amazing-sounding changes to your sounds
• Having full controllability of which multiple patches from your keyboard – this can be used for intro, drop, and breakdowns

Loomer Manifold (Stereo Widener)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Manifold is an audio effects unit that processes the desired signal giving it a fuller, bigger, and living sound.

Cleverly cutting the audio in up to 20 voices, all applied with detune, they are rearranged around the stereo field, producing fantastic results. A great feature is that you can either add a beautiful blend of subtle modulation or take it to the max, which will extremely detune the sound source and fatten up the sound.

Dual high-pass and low-pass filters sculpt your sound through the process giving you full flexibility on what frequencies get processed, also equipped with L-R panning.

SoundToys PanMan (Auto Panner)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

PanMan is an in-depth panning module from the guys over at SoundToys, PanMan can be perceived as just a simple panning plugin, but this is where you would be fooled! PanMan brings the simple functions of panning sound and implements a few cool other features that professionals love.

Create unique panning effects that are tempo-synced to your project; alongside that, PanMan offers the ability to create a visual representation of rhythmic patterns and panning waveshapers. There’s also Attack and Release, giving you control over how quickly the effect kicks in and how slowly it is released.

Amazingly PanMan offers you six modes to choose from when applying to the pan, including LFO, step, and random. The filter option is a great tool to cut out unwanted frequencies caused by PanMan. Visit Pluginboutique for further info.

Setting the threshold within PanMan will enable your music’s dynamics to control the speed, offset, and width of the sound source.

An excellent additive to this plugin is the ability to pick 1 of 7 analog styles (Clean, Fat, Squash, Dirt, Crush, Shred, and Pump), all offering a unique style.

Key Features:

• More than just a panning plugin
• Rhythm editor is great to manipulate your pan settings precisely
• Threshold allows your music to control the setting of your pan
• 7 Analogue styles
• Built-in filter

When To Use:

• PanMan is excellent to use over other panning plugins because it offers so much more under the hood than other plugins
• When you want to add a sense of depth to a sound
• Creating unique panning effects with several effects

DOWNLOAD MANUAL

SONiVOX Wobble Dubstep Grime Generator

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

SONiVOX brings you a generator for wobbles, fx, and atmospheres. This plugin makes it easy to create some of your favorite bass sounds with ease with two channels; it gives you the ability to change the width, filter, filter q, and LFO.

Including three windows sound, pattern, and effects, this gives you full control over the noise generated, the pattern it plays in tempo sync, and the rest being applied to the sound. Effects that you can add are delay, chorus, and reverb; with over 200 presets in Wobble, you can have an infinite number of sounds just by turning the knobs.

The pattern generator is tempo-synced to your DAW, allowing you to draw up and down, velocity, note offset, LFO 1/2, and other parameters found within Wobble. There is also a glide feature built in allowing your notes to glide between each other, coupled with a pitch and mod wheel for fingertip modulation.

Key Features:

• Patch browser
• On/off switch for modulation
• Built-in effects
• MIDI learn control mapping

When To Use:

• Cool for quickly creating ideas
• Create interesting fx/buildups for your projects
• Unlimited possibilities with the width knobs

Waves Doubler (Chorus)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

Waves Doubler uses pitch and delays to deliver you a harmonized doubler effect to your vocals, polyphonic instruments, and even full mixes.

With the use of an original doubler, you can copy the signal from 2-4 times; each voice has its independent values to change, such as gain, pan, delay, and tune. Doubler stands out from its competitors because it offers the pitch to be adjusted while maintaining the length of the audio being played.

Offering a visual display of where your audio copies are being played within the stereo field plus where they sit on each other. Following the processing chain alone, you also have a representation of where your sounds are sitting on a frequency spectrum, which then passes into a filter at the end. With the gain slider, you can stop nasty clipping by pulling back your signal.

Key Features:

• Ability to double-track/chorus/shimmer/presence.
• Visual representation of real-time modulation and copies.
• Preserves the audio time even after pitching.
• Gain control to stop clipping.

When To Use:

• To take a mono sound and give it a sense of depth.
• Adding chorus to a vocal or creating a backup vocal to mix with your lead vocal
• Use the feedback to make your copies last longer and repeat.

Melda MGranularMB (Granular Effect)

More Info & Price (Trial Available)

MGranularMB is a versatile plugin that can turn anything, such as your lead, into a pad or even add a killer boost to your drums.

This plugin cuts your sound into small pieces (grains) and turns that into completely new music. As always, the guys over at MeldaProduction have made the plugin work on a multi-band system.

Panoramic and pitch shifting are very common with granular synthesis, but these guys take it a whole other step further. With the implementation of graph-based transformations, intelligently pitches each grain to harmonize and layer up to 20 sounds at once to create a complete grain cloud.

Having a vast number of presets, you will find it easy to create great sounding patches with this granular plugin. Following the same trend as other plugins from the team at MeldaProduction, it implements the intuitive X-Y pad allowing you to blend up to 4 presets at a time.

Key Features:

• 6 Multi bands to accurately apply your patches to the selected frequency range
• Intelligent granular algorithm
• Control on how many copies are made and processed
• Pitch control to create a different pitch layer with your sounds
• A good number of presets to run with from the start
• X-Y pad for multiple patch blending

When To Use:

• Creating a new sound from your old sounds
• Selecting specific frequency ranges to add the patch can give your sound width or diversity while maintaining original sounds
• Are you bored with your lead sounds? Why not turn them into pads with this plugin

Conclusion

Today we broke down and took an in-depth look at 29 of the best sound design plugins in 2023; we have tried to put as much information as here to guide you through the many pieces of software you have floating about. Not everything here you may find helpful to your needs, but it’s always good to know what you may need before you need it. With that said, we hope you have enjoyed this article on Integraudio.

Readings that you may like: 

Other Plugin Roundups:

Genre Focused:

Top 10 EDM Plugins  (And 10 Best FREE Plugins For EDM)

Top 10 Plugins For TRAP Beats (And 5 Best FREE Trap Plugins)

20 Best Plugins For Rock Musicians (+ 6 FREE Plugins)

Top 14 Trance Plugins (Uplifting, Tech, Progressive, Vocal, Dream, Hard)

Top 10 GOA & PsyTrance Plugins (Best Psychedelic Trance Tools)

Top 7 Plugins For Dubstep (With 10 Best FREE Effects & Synths)

 

Top 20 Synthwave Plugins (+ 11 Best FREE Plugins)

Top 15 Plugins For Techno, House, Electro, Tech House, UK Garage

Top 6 Plugins For Latin Music  (And 4 FREE Tools)

Top 12 Plugins For Hip-Hop (+ Best Kontakt Libraries)

Top 7 Plugins For Game & Film Scoring  (+ 6 Best Kontakt Libraries)

Top 10 R&B And Pop Music Plugins & KONTAKT Libraries 

30 Best Free Plugins For DnB, EDM, IDM & Experimental Music 

 

EQ Plugins

Top 12 Free EQ Plugins For Precise Mixing & Mastering

Top 9 Mid/Side EQ Plugins  For Mixing & Mastering (+ 2 Free Tools)

Top 7 Graphic EQ Plugins  (With 3 Best Free EQs)

Top 7 EQ Plugins For Mastering In | And Best FREE Mastering EQs

Top 6 Passive EQ Plugins (Klevgrand, SPL, UAD, Waves, IK Multimedia)

Top 11 Plugins For Making Metal (Best Guitars, Drums & Effects)

 

Metering:

Top 5 Audio Metering Plugins (LUFS, RMS, LRA, True Peak)

Top 6 Spectrum Analyzer Plugins  – Spectral Analysis Tools

Top 6 Oscilloscope Plugins To See The Waveforms

Top 5 Key Detection Plugins & Software  (+ Best FREE App)

 

Kontakt Libraries

20 Best Kontakt Libraries For All Categories (Synths, Drums, Vocals)

Top 7 Drum Libraries For KONTAKT (And 4 Freebies)

Top 7 Trap Music Kontakt Libraries (And Best Lo-Fi Kontakt Library)

Top 7 Metal & Rock Kontakt Libraries (Best Guitars & Drums)

Top 10 Guitar Libraries For Kontakt (Acoustic, Electric, Bass & Freebies)

 

Top 7 Trailer Scoring Plugins & Kontakt Libraries 

20 Best Free KONTAKT Libraries For Various Instruments

Top 9 Piano Kontakt Sample Libraries  (And 5 Best Free Pianos)

Top 10 Percussion KONTAKT Libraries  (And 3 Freebies)

Top 7 Kontakt Libraries For Horror & Thriller Scoring (No VSTs)

 

Audio Restoration, Calibration & Utility:

Top 6 Noise Reduction Plugins (And 3 Best Free Tools)

6 Best Audio Restoration Plugins & Software 

Top 7 Phase Alignment Plugins To Fix Your Bass & Drums

Top 10 Room Calibration & Headphones/Speakers Correction Plugins 

 

Instrument Plugins: 

Top 6 Vocoder Plugins (Effects & Synths + FREE Vocoder)

11 Best Rhodes VST Plugins (AND 5 Free Rhodes Plugins)

Top 12 Randomizer Plugins Including FREE Plugins

Top 6 Kick Drum Plugins (Best Kick Designer Tools)

Top 12 Woodwind Plugins (And KONTAKT Libraries)

Top 10 Double Bass Plugins (Best Upright Basses)

Top 5 Strings VST Plugins (AND 4 Best Free Instruments)

 

Top 6 Sampler Plugins (And 3 Best FREE Plugins)

Top 6 Classical Guitar Plugins & Kontakt Libraries (And FREE Guitars)

Top 7 Wavetable Synth Plugins 

Top 12 Sub Plugins (Best 808 & Bass Tools For Massive Low End)

Top 10 Plugins On PluginBoutique (And 7 Best Free Plugins)

Top 11 Plugins On Plugin Alliance 

Top 7 Acoustic Guitar Plugins (And 4 Best Kontakt Libraries)

 

9 Best Bass Guitar Plugins (And 2 Best Freebies)

Top 6 Electric Guitar Plugins (Best PAID & FREE Picks)

Top 10 Arpeggiator VST Plugins (Best Synths, MIDI Effects & Tools)

Top 10 Modular Synth Plugins (And 3 Best FREE Plugins)

Top 6 Choir Plugins & Sample Libraries (And 3 Best Free Plugins)

11 Best Percussion & Drum VST Plugins (And FREE Plugins)

 

Top 8 Piano Plugins (Best Sounding Pianos & 5 FREE Piano Plugins)

Top 6 Organ Plugins Ever Made  (And 3 Best Free Organs)

Top 14 VST Plugins For Beginners (And 9 FREE Plugins)

Top 9 Drum Machine Plugins (And Groovebox Plugins)

4 Best Banjo Plugins (Best Banjo Instruments)

 

The 5 Best Ukulele Plugins & Kontakt Libraries 

Top 13 Synth Plugins (And 5 Best FREE Synths Plugins)

Top 13 Sequencer Plugins  (Synth, MIDI & Step Sequencers)

The 10 Best Multi-Effect Plugins (And 3 Best Free Plugins)

Top 12 Plugin Bundles For Musicians (Synths, Mixing & Mastering)

 

Processing & Sound Design:

8 Best Lo-Fi Plugins (PAID & FREE)

Top 11 Plugins For Mixing Vocals  (For Home Studio)

Top 12 Saturation Plugins (Best Mixing & Mastering Tools)

Top 6 Pitch Shifter Plugins (And 3 Best FREE Pitch Shifters)

Top 6 Chorus VST Plugins For Musicians (And 3 FREE Plugins)

 

Top 6 Limiter Plugins For Precise Mastering & Mixing

The 8 Best Filter Plugins For Precise Cuts & Boosts (+ 5 Free Filters)

6 Best Autotune Plugins To Improve & Enhance Your Vocals

Top 10 Transient Shaper Plugins (VST, AU, AAX)

Top 7 Enhancer Plugins (For Bass, Drums, Vocals & Harmonics)

 

Top 6 Flanger Plugins (And 5 Best FREE Flanger Emulators)

Top 7 Phaser Plugins (And 3 Best FREE Phasers)

Top 10 Plugins For Mixing Drums (And 3 Best Free Plugins)

Top 7 Bitcrusher Plugins (And 4 Best FREE Bitcrushers + 3 Bonuses)

Top 6 Plugins For Voice-Over & Dialogue Cleaning (Post Production)

Top 10 Stereo Imaging Plugins (Best Old & Modern Picks)

 

Top 5 Multiband Limiter Plugins 

Top 7 De-Esser Plugins For Better Vocals (And 4 FREE Plugins)

Top 7 Clipper Plugins (Best Limiter Alternatives)

Top 6 Chord Generator Plugins That Inspire Melodies (+ FREE Tools)

7 Best Exciter Plugins For Mixing & Mastering

Top 7 Channel Strip Plugins (And 2 Best Free Plugins)

 

Top 11 Distortion Plugins (And 4 Top Free Plugins)

Top 5 Comb Filter & Resonator Plugins | Melda, Kilohearts, Tritik

The 7 Best Vibrato VST Plugins | Audec, Audiority, Melda

The 7 Best Tremolo Plugins | Eventide, Melda, SoundToys, Kuassa…

The 7 Best Harmonizer Plugins | Eventide, Melda, Aegean Music

7 Best Sidechain Plugins (VST, AU, AAX) | Xfer, Cableguys..

 

Top 10 Noise Gate Plugins (And 6 FREE Free Gate Tools)

The 6 Best Ring Modulator VST Plugins | KiloHearts, Melda

7 Best Autopan VST Plugins | CableGuys, Melda, Waves, Soundtoys

The 6 Best Frequency Shifter VST Plugins

Top 11 Granulizer Plugins For Future Sound Design

29 Best Sound Design VST Plugins

 

Compressor Plugins

Top 11 Free Compressor Plugins (VCA, Vari-Mu, FET, Digital)

Top 7 Multiband Compressor Plugins (And 4 FREE Plugins)

Top 5 Diode-Bridge Compressor Plugins 

Top 6 Mastering Chain Plugins: Complete VST Solutions 

Top 10 FET Compressor Plugins 

The 7 Best VCA Compressor Plugins (VST, AU, AAX)

Top 11 Mastering Compressor Plugins (And 2 FREE Plugins)

Top 10 Opto Compressor Plugins For Transparent Sound

The 7 Best Vari-Mu Compressor Plugins (And 2 Best FREE Tools)

 

Reverb & Delay Plugins:

Top 12 Reverb Plugins (And 5 FREE Reverb Plugins)

The 6 Best Spring Reverb VST Plugins | AudioThing, GSi, u-he, Eventide

Top 12 Delay Plugins For Music Production In (VST, AU, AAX)

Top 10 FREE Delay Plugins (VST, AU, AAX)

The 10 Best Convolution Reverb Plugins 

 

Amps & Preamps:

Top 10 Guitar Amp Plugins (And 5 Best FREE Simulators)

Top 10 Bass Amp Plugins (And 5 Best Free Simulators)

Top 9 Preamp Plugins (For Vocals, Guitars & More!) + Free Preamps

 

Other Recommended Gear:

Top 12 NearField Studio Monitors On Any Budget

Top 10 Midfield Studio Monitors For Home Recording

Best Biggest Studio Monitors (FarField Monitors)

Top 10 Guitar Pickups for Low Tunings 

Top 10 Analog Compressors For Mixing & Mastering (On Any Budget)

Top 12 USB Audio Interfaces Under 150$, 200$, 300$ 400$ (Any Budget)

 

Top 12 Hardware Equalizers (Analog EQs For Mixing & Mastering)

Top 6 Analog Hardware Limiters 

Top 6 Solid State Bass Amps (On Any Budget)

Top 6 Ribbon Mics On Any Budget (For Vocals, Drums & Guitars)

Top 6 Cheap Dynamic Mics For Vocals Under 50$, 100$, 200$ & 300$

 

Top 6 Chorus Guitar Pedals (On Any Budget)

6 Best 61-Key MIDI Keyboards (On Any Budget)

9 Best 49-Key MIDI Keyboards Under 100$ & 200$

Top 5 Best 25 Key MIDI Keyboards (On Any Budget)

Top 12 Acoustic Drums (Best Kits/Sets On Any Budget)

 

Guitar/Amp Focused:

Can I Put Nylon Strings on a Steel-string Guitar?

Do Electric Guitars Sound Good Unplugged?

Buying Your First Guitar: 2 Things To Know

Are Tube Amps Worth It? (Tube vs Solid-State Amps)

How Often Does A Guitar Need a Setup?

Can I Play Classical Guitar On A Steel-String Guitar?

 

How often guitar necks need reset?

Can You Play Two Guitars Through One Amp?

Can a 6 String Bass Be Tuned Like A Guitar?

Can I leave My Guitar Tuned Down a Step? Yes, But Is It Safe?

Should I Learn 4, 5 Or 6 String Bass Guitar & Why?

How To Know If your Guitar Amp Is Broken?

How To Fix Distorted Bass Guitar Sound?

 

Do Fender Guitars Appreciate In Value?

Should You Put Stickers On A Bass Guitar?

How Acoustic And Electric Guitars Are Made?

Is Electric Guitar Too Loud for an Apartment?

Does a Preamp Improve Sound Quality?

If I Learn Acoustic Guitar Can I Play Electric Guitar?

How Many Hours A Day Should You Practice Bass Guitar?

Do I need an AMP/DAC To Run Bookshelf Speakers?

How to Record Electric Guitar Into Logic Pro X?

Do headphones get worse with age?

 

DAW Related:

Best DAWs For Musicians Available (With FREE DAWs)

How To Develop DAW Software?

What’s The Most CPU Efficient DAW? – 5 DAWs Compared

How To Make Music Without Using A DAW?

Pro Tools Guide: How To Use AutoTune & Pitch Correction?

Ableton Review: Is It Worth The Money? (Cons & Pros)

Logic Pro X Review: Is It Worth It? (Cons & Pros)

How To Use Auto-tune & Pitch Correction In Cubase?

How To Fix Ableton Crackling, Crashing & Freezing? Step By Step

 

Plugin Related:

What Are Audio Plugins? Different Types of Plugins Explained

What Are The Best Tools To Develop VST Plugins & How Are They Made?

Cost of Developing Audio VST Plugin: Several Factors (With Table)

VST, VST, AU and AAX – What’s The Difference? Plugin Formats Explained

Complete Guide To Noise Gate – What It Is, What It Does & How To Use It?

How To Clip My Drums? Here Is How & Audio Teasers (Before/After)

 

Complete Guide To Limiter: How To Use It (+ Best Plugins & Analog Limiters)

Mixing With Reverb: How To Add Life To Your Mixes

Linear Phase vs Minimum Phase EQ – Full Guide

Difference Between LUFS, RMS & True Peak Loudness Meters

How And When To Use Algorithmic And Convolution Reverb In Your Mix?

Difference Between Active EQ, Passive EQ and Dynamic EQ

 

Headphones & Studio Monitors:

Do headphones get worse with age?

Monitors vs Studio Headphones For Mixing & Mastering

Top 10 Room Calibration & Headphones/Speakers Correction Plugins 

Does Heat Damage Headphones?

Are Noise-Canceling Headphones Good For Music Production?

Can Headphones Break in Cold Weather?

Why do headphones & cables get sticky?

 

Can Wearing Headphones Cause Hair Loss?

How Do I know If My Studio Monitor Is Blown?

Side Effects Of Sleeping With Your Headphones On

Do You Need Music Amplifier For Studio Monitors or Studio Headphones?

Do Headphones or Earphones Damage Your Brain?

Can Headphones or Earphones cause Deafness or Toothache?

FarField, MidField & NearField Monitors – Their Uses, Pros & Cons

 

MIDI & Synths:

Should I Buy A MIDI Keyboard Or Synth? (Are Synths Worth It Anymore?)

Why Is Audio Gear So Expensive? (Especially Synths)

Top 12 Synth Brands – Analog, Digital & Modular Synth Manufacturers

11 Tips How To Choose MIDI Keyboard 

Should I Buy MIDI Controller Or Keyboard? Cons, Pros & Tips