Free Plugins I Use Professionally (not time limited)

[@Bthelick]

FYI none of these are time -limited but I did make a mistake; Meat Beats' Fem Baso is not free it's $20 my mistake sorry ALSO: Free mac alternative to ArxOne is MONSTR by White Elephant.

[@sawtooth808]

That is okay, because there are free downloads based on the Korg M1 (House and Garage piano samples), and the Emu Orbit. So no worries 😉

[@SpaceGhostPercc]

Not only that but you didn't even put time stamps. Do better buddy

[@stretchwatson9263]

@@SpaceGhostPercc I bet you expect your mum to iron your underpants for you as well. Fair play to BTheLick for putting this together (even without timestamps :D)

[@San7hos]

Boom! If you want to throw some money, don't forget to buy this guy a coffee. It's worth more than any of the paid plugins!

[@Iaintthesharpesttoolintheshed]

@@San7hos true that!

[@ps4broadbanddrifter281]

I can't help but think about all the content creators that would not have bothered to do this unless the manufacturer was offering a paid sponsorship. You've got a big heart and I love it.

[@bencastor9207]

@@ps4broadbanddrifter281 plenty of them do though? I've seen countless videos like this one, I've never seen a video as long as this though but it's dependent on whether people are going to watch all the way through or not, longer videos run the risk of dropping retention time so they may lose ad revenue.

[@illford]

There's tons of videos like this that have nothing to do with sponsorships

[@edubblesspirit]

You need to be careful, big VST will come after you for this! Great collection, thank you for putting this together.

[@Bthelick]

Big VST lol 🤣

[@sawtooth808]

Hey Big Vst will lay the CLAP down on you (terrible joke is terrible I know)

[@MattPerrin]

Just wanted to give you props for calling out some of the "distraction" plugins thrown into some of those bundles. I've been avoiding the slew of recent "freebies" to focus on what i actually have already.

[@chriscjjones8182]

First time I've actually been interested in sitting through a video this long in a long time. Definitely going to have to check out some of those plugins. Great video

[@samir.elkadmiri]

Having Dan Worral and Bthelick is like having the cure for ignorance ❤

[@okay1904]

Bthelick, this is an outstanding comprehensive review. Thank you. Very well done. I've been an aficionado of free as well as paid plugins for a while, and this is really good. I would add Izotope Ozone EQ, which is also free, and a better replacement for Waves Q10, cos it does not cramp, and Izotope also has a % feature to adjust the gain of ALL the bands. I discovered so many free plugins from this video. One would need to watch this a few times, not just to get the list of plugins, but also to revisit the opinions expressed therein.

[@kurtschenning1698]

Great vid. I made a personal list, thought I could share it. Instruments: • Vital - Wavetable Synth • *M1 - Classic House Synth • LABS - Sampled Instruments • Meatbeats - Bundle • Ample Sound - Disco Bass & Guitar EQ: • BootEQ4 - Flavor EQ • TDR NOVA - Clean, precise & dynamic EQ • SLIKEQ - Flavor EQ for top-end with auto gain balance for better judgment of changes • Roth Air - Adds air to vocals Dynamics: • Transient Shaper - Drums and percussion shaping • Kilohertz Stutter - Stutter effects • OTT - Hypercompression • TDR Kotelnikov - Clean compressor (doesn’t alter sound) • TDR Molotok - Character compressor (adds color to the sound) • MJUC Tube Compressor - Classic compression in fast mode • *Shaperbox / *Kickstart / STFU - Various tools for LFO sidechain • Trackspace - Creates more space within frequency spectrums through ducking/sidechain Reverb: • MChamberVerb - Clean reverb for dance music • EpicPlate - Reverb for sound design • Tensjr - Lo-fi reverb • Adverb - 80’s style reverb • Vahalarereverbmassive - Large reverb tail Delay: • Deelay - Complete delay set • *Echoboy - Vintage tape delay Modulation: • Stock Plugins - For clean sound • Valhalla Space Modulator - Flanger with character and flavor • TAL-Chorus LX - Chorus with character • Soldier Sound's Doubler - Vocal doubler Utility: • SPAN - Frequency analyzer for problem solving • Correlometer - Fixes phasing issues • Isol8 - sub check • Stereo Effects: • Stereotouch - Mono-to-stereo effect (delay 1ms, 30ms + filter, then adjust volume to taste) • Polyverse Wider - Makes mono sounds naturally wider while maintaining mono compatibility • Alex Hilton Stereo Control - Full stereo field tool • Geniometer- stereo visual • Distortion: • BPB Saturator - Saturator effect • Freeclip 2 - Clipper with oversampling • GRIND - Waveshaper patterns for creative effects • Krush - Bitcrusher with good drive function • Kilohertz Distortion - General-purpose distortion • Bass Saturator by Bedroom Producer - Special for bass tone distortion Lo-Fi: • *RC 20 - Full bundle for lo-fi effects • Texture by Clark Plugins - Adds texture to sounds Other: • *SoundGym -ear training • Beginner course 100 Four Corners Music Games (Part 1) by Joe Luegers Music Academy (KZbin) • *Splice - Sample library • *Meatbeat - Vinyl house drums and soundbanks 3 simpel ste

[@tilsgee]

@@kurtschenning1698 no free reverb plugin? :/

[@adamswierczynski]

@@tilsgee Valhalla supermassive

[@kurtschenning1698]

@@tilsgee chamberverb

[@BEATPLAGUEDFALIFE]

i do appreciate how you broke down the sections and what one would possibly use them for , good job.

[@End_V]

Thank you so much Ben!!! Now I am all set up to produce. There are no excuses for me anymore, time to practise and release!

[@sixthsample]

Fantastic video! Probably the best roundup of free plugins I’ve seen. Thanks so much for the shoutout, too-I really appreciate it. :)

[@Bthelick]

Heeeey You're here welcome! And thank you for your generosity

[@toddhatfield5329]

@sixthsample Deelay is absolutely incredible. Thank you for making it!

[@wernerclarssen2939]

I'm a big fan from Variety of Sound for years now. So happy you gave credits to them! ❤

[@johnnorthtribe]

I have always tried to make my own bass drums in different drum machines. Kick3 is a massive upgrade from Kick2 (which I have been using for years) €20 for an upgrade if you own Kick2. Best black friday deal in my opinion. 😊

[@titinettne8978]

One day I'll save the world just to ask to meet you, and then I'll tie you up in my basement so I could finally be proud of my songs :D You are the one that helps the most in here thank you so much

[@Bthelick]

Errrr , thanks? Maybe? 🤔🤣

[@phatplates]

👀

[@Musikkeller-Innsider]

This is a coffee-worthy channel indeed, just bought you one. Thanks for your insights, passion and generosity!

[@BEATPLAGUEDFALIFE]

it was long but definitely worth it man , time well spent , thank youi.

[@semyonboyk0]

Surge XT is my most used and beloved synth, paid or free

[@davidrawek258]

First off your channel is really great and I look forward to watching more of your content I will definitely be a better producer thanks to you. I downloaded some of the free plugins you posted to try. When getting masker I clicked on a link on the downpage that installed unwanted software that hijacked my chrome... Just a heads up to those who come after either skip that one or be very careful which link you click and make sure it is the real one.

[@sweetpo1]

Oh FFS, and here's me thinking i would get something done today, now i'm just installing plugins.. !

[@phamphiletsoalo6101]

@@sweetpo1 😭guilty pleasure

[@saltron7800]

Thanks Ben!!!!!! Been waiting for this one ❤❤

[@sean16hall3]

I love Gsat plus for saturation. It’s great for giving tracks different distortions. It has different stages and also you can add even or odd ordered harmonics easily. Oh yea it comes with clipping and over sampling.

[@Bthelick]

Yes I have it but I don't like it. It just doesn't sound good to me on most sources. Much like the analog obsession stuff the added harmonics seem to behave in a very linear, very digital fashion. It also overloads badly, and seems to have a very narrow sweet spot before it does.

[@scott21113]

This definitely was worth the wait. Thank you for taking the time to do this and share your experience with these. I am very picky about what I use in order to keep my workflow manageable and distraction free. This was worth every minute.

[@wojciechtemplar8255]

Great selection of plugins !

[@ElektronikArzt]

I like mcompressor. Customizable curve, shows where current volume is on curve and you can maximize end of curve to 0db.

[@sonicbits71]

Thanks for mentioning Exakt Lite! Good and informative video, thanks!

[@Bthelick]

Oooohhh hey thank you for making it!

[@sonicbits71]

@@Bthelicksend me an email and I will arrange a license for the non-lite version for you.

[@ivm70]

I've been doing home production for a few years on low/no budget. Most of the VSTs I use in my projects are the same ones you recommend. That's very reassuring. :)

[@olStickyTapes]

one other "free" reverb/delay option people might like is spectral plugins "spacer" thee absolutely fantastic go-to reverb plugin for me, the plugin retailed at $120, but can now be gotten for free from their website, its super easy to use and packs a mountain of versatility, it has separate sections for reverb, convolution reverb, grain reverb, delay, grain delay, and chorus, *each can be moved around in the chain, and come with their own separate e.q.'s... it also comes with haas settings, saturation, width and more.... i also like their other plugins, especially their osc-45 tape emulator.

[@Antweezy]

love the video and i'm glad you commented on distraction plugins.I've been saving up for a new computer and plan on only using stock vsts until there's good enough reason to expand. Limitation breeds creativity

[@Bthelick]

It absolutely does that attitude will get you far 👊

[@mckelepic]

Best plugin video ever

[@fastrack2170]

This is the first video im seeing from you right now. By the sound of your Manners and Humble speaking, I can tell you really know how to Compose music on a Daw. I subbed your video for the love of it.

[@escapegulag4317]

31:25 good point. Most people ignore the rug pulling that companies do these days.

[@AnkitSangeeT]

One non dynamic EQ i love is Shape it by soundly

[@lateralshiftmusic]

Melda is sick! I use the domineering lake setting on the charm verb, it's git a really nice tail to it for atmosphere :)

[@dzaxys4643]

I always start watching your videos thinking i know it all and end up learning a bunch of stuff thanks✌️

[@ottakileon]

hey @bthelick, I love your videos. You're doing an incredible job. the simplest tutorials in the whole Ableton yt!!! Your videos get me unstuck. I want to ask you only for one video covering a progressive house in the style of GMJ & Matter, Dowden, Guy J, Noise Generation, Kostya Outta, etc. I'm curious how you would simplify this

[@Nayah9]

Thanks for the free shoutouts! At 15:26 I notice you haven't yet updated Valhalla Supermassive to version 4.0 which includes the new Pleiades algorithm. Enjoy! 🙂

[@Bthelick]

Yes I remembered that just as I started recording haha thanks 👍

[@tenjisaga]

I would absolutely love a tutorial explaining your use of sound delay for the bass groove at 19:50 :)

[@Bthelick]

It's a pretty subtle feel thing. Have you seen the house drums tutorial? kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3-ZmHyteZp4b7Msi=X6e6f74algOCOJLU That explains a lot About shifting feel concepts. I do actually shift a bass part in this old video kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZofRpZmXrb15ZrMsi=UHBp4B_CK3L5g9K3

[@xthiagojunx]

I love Micro Keys. even tho I have Vienna Instruments Strings, I still uses Pizzicato of that thing. its way easier and I love the sound

[@boronoro]

Great wealth of knowledge here!! Cheers! Great addition to last Sunday stream!

[@robbiestyles794]

The background music is soooooo good. And great recommendations 👍🏾

[@agressteve5008]

The little diffrent make the channel❤

[@benstrong2850]

You've answered my prayers 🙏🏻 Amazing video as always thank you!

[@CatFish107]

Cardinal / vcv heck yeah! Almost all I use. No DAW either.

[@aspirativemusicproduction2135]

I can see the value of this information. I myself use mostly stock plugins. There was time when I had the energy to try most free plugins available. One has to be careful because trying many plugins is a disease. Like playing video games. You don't know why you spend three days playing and you don't know why you keep trying plugins. And in the end I am using the stock parametric EQ and the stock limiter, stock synths and everything. So for those who have few hundred bucks I highly recommend to buy the full version of a DAW and use the stock plugins. Or if they are poor or cheap maybe get Reaper and use the free plugins from the web. I myself find it overwhelming using too many plugins. After all all that matters is the final result. Is there a good song with good production or not.

[@Bthelick]

How dare you say my path of exile addiction is a disease! 🤣🤣

[@aspirativemusicproduction2135]

@Bthelick 🤣

[@Phazen]

im gonna watch this video so many times

[@Surgeeon]

You should have mentioned, cherry audio - synth expander module. If you haven’t used it I would recommend trying it. It sounds huge.

[@TracyLee7777]

Wonderful ❤

[@SnazzyBoxx]

Thanks for this list! amazing channel 🔥🔥

[@aviveyal07]

Thank you for this awesome video!

[@ClaudeYoung]

Awesome video again! Cheers for sharing these brilliant plug-ins!

[@mikesaintjulesmusic]

0:54 - New version of Vital?

[@Bthelick]

No just a skin I found on forum. "Default modify2" by Panasony

[@juliusaitken]

Thank you, thank you, and thank you again.

[@gnthr7992]

Cool Video and really cool channel !!! I just want to share that somehow I got the complete Arturia FX for 50 Bucks during this "black Friday special season" .. which was the only reason why I actually went for it !

[@Bthelick]

Whaaaaaaaa?? Good find!

[@xrabbz2010]

ive got a feeling im gonna find some gems in this video 😁 thanks bro

[@EugeneHoverhand]

Airwindows gang gang

[@Bthelick]

Aw damn yeah I should have give Chris a shout

[@MrDisrupta]

Mackity my most used. What is yours

[@EugeneHoverhand]

@@MrDisrupta Impressive. CrunchyGroovewear.

[@MrDisrupta]

@@EugeneHoverhand I've not tried that one. What's it do?

[@EugeneHoverhand]

​@@MrDisrupta I use it to position instruments on each channel in the mix and make them all stand out and sound less muddy against each other. Basically as low effort EQ or comb filtering but it sounds more natural.

[@Swiftopher755]

Just put stereo touch on a piano and i love it! Not sure if its in video but i know you use it

[@WilliWerkel]

My most used free VSTs that have not been mentioned: - Tone Projects Basslane - Wave Alchemy Magic7 - bom shanka machines occularScope - Dimethoxy Plasma - DSP56300 Emulations (Osirus / OsTirus / Vavra / Xenia)

[@voyy2631]

thanks for all the work you put in your videos!

[@robertparenton7470]

Thank You for your efforts and time.

[@nedring987]

So much info! Maybe I missed it, but UAD has some worthwhile bundles, too, now that they're native...

[@Bthelick]

Nah I can't go back there, or recommend them in good consciousness. I spent 8,000 with UAD before 2012 barely any of those plugins work now. Most of what I bought they did not port to native. And some that they have I would still need to pay to 'upgrade' so they are compatible with native. Also ilok.

[@itsjohnlux]

I just gained so much more tools thanks champ

[@Worrelpa]

You just being awesome as usual 🎉🎉🎉

[@BuddieOLLi]

Hi ! from Germany. LABS has also amazing Choirs.

[@TheTonyTitan]

Correlation has more to do with phase than width

[@Bthelick]

correlation in this case is the phase difference between the left and right. So it's both. The less correlation there is between left and right the wider the sound appears to be. Correlation IS the measurement of phase difference!

[@C-MAGs]

That was a really useful video. Thank so much. 😀

[@samfooz]

12:35 Such a soulful background track - absolute charmer! Where can I find it?

[@Bthelick]

Thanks, It's in the release queue, out soon 👊

[@cekirdekci32]

I appreciate your channel💕

[@cryptout]

What a treasure trove 🎉❤. Thanks 🙏

[@dr.gregoryf.maassen2637]

Very educational. Thanks for sharing.

[@MattRid]

Great comprehensive video

[@escapegulag4317]

This is a very good list

[@AS09Recordes]

Very Good job Sir

[@sweetpo1]

That VItal skin though!! Where, when how?

[@Bthelick]

Default modify2 by Panasony. On the forums

[@NoMoreLivesMusic]

@@sweetpo1 Google vital synth neon theme. There is a vital forum link that shows up, the skin is posted in there along with other amazing themes :)

[@fritsvanzanten3573]

Hurray! Bthelick answered (above/below): "The vital theme is "default modify2" by Panasony I find it on the forum" (Vital-forum).

[@sweetpo1]

@@Bthelick missed this! But nice one!

[@R-LOG546]

Legend cheers man 👍🏾

[@tomaszgorzelak8723]

about reverbs You forgot Melda convolutionEZ it's great! Kofi landed :P Thanks mate 🙃

[@Smythpete]

Thanks enjoyed that great choices

[@909.gabriel]

Simply the best!

[@cosmo1231]

Wow. Thank you so much for these gems. But what in the world is this song being played on the background @ 21:00?? I need it

[@Bthelick]

It should be released sometime in the next month, keep an eye on the Spotify etc

[@EdeP79]

Absolute Goldmine of a video! Question: what do you think of Reason as a DAW?

[@Bthelick]

I've not used it since it didn't support audio. It was always fun but slow for me , and that sentiment seems to still be the case for those I hear that have used both Ableton and Reason.

[@bigmanmike12]

Thanks again Ben

[@fritsvanzanten3573]

You liked almost every comment, except the one I, and by now eight others, wondered where to get the neon/glow skin/theme for Vital 😉

[@Bthelick]

Sorry , it's the only way I get to keep track. If I like others and not yours it means I'm saving it as a to-do later. Or might be making a video. On the creator back end of KZbin the only way to keep track of comments for later is ironically not reply. As there is a section for KZbin creators that tracks unreplied comments, as soon as I interact it can't be tracked easily. The vital theme is "default modify2" by Panasony I find it on the forum

[@tkpng]

how the fuck is this video so good?

[@bensilverman5680]

Where’s your vital skin from? Awesome content as usual

[@Bthelick]

Thanks. Look for default modify2 on the vital skin forum thread 👊

[@vohra79]

Great video! very helpful. Is there any free alternative to melodyne. I use logic's flex pitch but I am not satisfied with the final output. It may be my skill or the software. I am not sure.

[@Bthelick]

Not really , I have tried a melodyne style pitch tracking plugin, (well it behaved more like the waves tune), called mx tune (I think) , but the interface was terrible and the results were unreliable. What melodyne achieves is not trivial to code, the only competitor imo is cubase's internal one by Yamaha , We've only just got good real-time efforts for free , i wouldn't expect a free alternative any time soon. Melodyne is well worth the money if you need that much control

[@robertbialous7555]

Thanks 👍

[@fallenleaf24]

You skipped over the Masker. Was curious how you thought of that over say Soothe2? Cheers for all the great information!

[@Bthelick]

Oh damn must have cut the take by accident. It's not an equivalent to soothe, it's an equivalent to trackspacer. It's for unmasking side chain signals. Soothe is a resonance suppressor, a kind of plugin I rarely find a use for in honesty.

[@fallenleaf24]

@@Bthelick oh right I get confused between the masker & the other one thats meant to tackle Soothe2 and I can never remember the names of either until I see one other the other.. xD I have trackspacer it's a staple in the tool kit!

[@Bthelick]

@fallenleaf24 yeah to be fair the first KZbinr I saw demo it (sage?) got that wrong too.

[@fallenleaf24]

@@Bthelick there happen to be a few plug-ins that have blurred lines between them. especially in this aria. I think I caught the Sage audio vid too, which probably hasn't helped my confusion!

[@critical-thought]

Yeah for paid plugs, I have 100% discarded almost all my Waves plugs. Never allowed myself to get sucked into UAD. Lately have been leaning more toward the Native Instruments family.

[@playbooksessions8325]

You are a legend! I often hear a lot of hype about 'Rvox' by Waves - I may have missed it in the video but is there an alternative for that one that you know of please?

[@Bthelick]

Yes just use the klanghelm mjucjr . The only difference is instead of 1 parameter you have to adjust 2.

[@anattaevergreen]

Thank you

[@skeamusic5012]

Doesnt seem to download proper (the tessla, bass saturator and feenstaub) and show under my plugins, never had an issue like this before

[@Bthelick]

Check the faq I think your windows may need a library updating if I remember rightly

[@skeamusic5012]

@@Bthelick Or maybe its only for windows? Im on a mac

[@Bthelick]

@@skeamusic5012 ah right no I said in the video variety of sound are unfortunately windows only.

[@Slowlyburnedelectronics]

I just rushed and bought the UAD producer pack for 86 euro which I thought it was a balanced bundle ( at least for items that I didnt have). But I got frustated with the ilok thing. If I had realised beforehand that needed Ilok I would have never purchase it.

[@Bthelick]

I have $8000 of UAD and I can't access 85% of it now without buying new hardware as most of what I bought never got covered to native still. Never again.

[@altseason_musik]

31:00 for real, the Waves plugins are so badly designed and soooo heavy on my machine (Mac Air 2017) that it completely ruins the workflow

[@alanp741]

One issue with the free spitfire instruments, especially bbc discover, you can't reinstall them on a new computer, whether you got a new machine or you needed to reinstall Windows bc it got corrupted

[@Bthelick]

Really? I changed computers last year and didn't notice anything. Is that a recent thing?

[@AlienAmbient]

+ Decent Sampler

[@djstevekelley]

Thank yooou! Great video! :)

[@ManicOnTheBeat]

Please do sound review

[@Bthelick]

For all 75??? Phew. Well, you could just watch my videos I make use of them all the time. That was the point of the video after all, to show the plugins I use everyday!

[@ChawapTV]

how do you get that Vital skin ? it's pretty damn cool !

[@Bthelick]

Search "default modify2" by Panasony on the forums

[@Andysmusicaljourney]

I tried using Cardinal with Studio One, but it just crashes immediately when trying to actually do anything with it. :(

[@Bthelick]

Aw damn that's a shame

[@pushtoenter4174]

Nice