The Best FREE Plugins EVER!

[@moarfizz]

Vital is definitely my go to I have been using it for about a year now, I love it so much I will be naming a song after it

[@BirdYoumans]

While I miss the days of sitting on the edge of your seat as you go through a take with your band and hope that everyone gets a "good take" at the same time, These days we are blessed to be able to create the whole thing with patience and imagination. But I fear we lost something when we quit working as a group. However, I do love the tools we have today. I go back to the first studio I worked in. It had two Ampex two track recorders and an overdub was when you fed one machine into the board with whatever you were overdubbing and caught it on the other Ampex. Had to do the entire song of course. No selective punch ins per se. That was accomplished by taking the best parts of multiple takes and splicing them together using a razor blade and a splicing block. My how times have changed. Now, depending on the strength of your computer, we basically have unlimited tracks that can be manipulated in all sorts of ways. No razor blade needed lol! Love what you do! Thank you!

[@brianbatie6650]

Don't miss those days at all. Philosophical discussions on why the drummer must double time in the middle of a song, late singers who never bothered to learn the lyrics, tape hiss, side players who play wrong on purpose for the overtime pay, "talent" flexes ego on my dime, diagonal splices of tape, etc. I am blessed to live in a time where it is all gone.

[@CyberTwigs]

Have you heard of endlesss studio? Free software that is unique tech but more importantly to me, is bringing back that joy of working together

[@JAAHUNGHAAM]

Nice video as always. And I've this very special respect for you channel because, it's your channel I got to know about cakewalk.

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you so much its appreciated!

[@deegarmr2623]

I. Love. Cakewalk.

[@raphaelwolfgang2484]

Very nice way to conclude with a beautiful piece of music showcasing all the plugins presented before. Amazing!

[@CreativeSauce]

Glad you like it Raphael!

[@orderd29]

I can't believe how good that sounds. And with free plugins?! Aren't we blessed as home recordists?

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you, and yes, we certainly are!

[@hannahmillington5781]

People spend a lot of money on plugins hoping they will be a magic button to fix their sound and they never are. Some of the best plugins are the free ones!

[@iblametheparents1025]

@@hannahmillington5781 Having done some tape recording in the 80s I'm flabbergasted at how much good free stuff is out there now inc Cakewalk, Hydrogen Drums, Audacity and loads of instruments.

[@derekmidgley]

I love what you did here. What a great arrangement and use of some superb plugins. I think you need to identify your favourite free reverb and delay plugins next!

[@CreativeSauce]

A great idea, and thank you :)

[@billbromer]

Wow, this is the most useful approach to a “best plugin” video. Thanks, I am going to comeback to this a couple times since you put so much good info in one place. Really nice tune, too.

[@danielolumese9083]

Why cant I like this video more than once ? I love your musicality and content on your channel !

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you Daniel - you are very kind.

[@alejandrovictoricavega3222]

Love all the selections! All of them... I would Add Klanghelm's Mjuc jr's compressor and Oril River reverb... I can't live withouth those and many of the ones in this list such as SSD drums

[@thecatfarm]

I love it when you tell us about all the cool free stuff! Thanks.

[@CreativeSauce]

And I love telling you!

[@BillGraper]

You no longer have to wait for 14 days for the Spitfire Audio. I just downloaded it 2 days ago. It still goes to your e-mail, but now it's instant! It sounds amazing!!! Considering the fact that I've seen some orchestras from them that are up to around $3,500, it's awesome that this one is free. It sounds professional enough.

[@daniellesaux6152]

You've got a nice Wishbone Ash vibe going on that tune Mike!

[@DavidSmith-ne1zp]

I have to say Valhalla’s Supermassive is one of the best freebies I have ever come across. So lush!

[@paulofarrelL]

Great rundown....and a beautiful piece of mudic!

[@richardroskell3452]

You’re the best Mike! Great to have you back and making awesome content.

[@CreativeSauce]

I appreciate that!

[@JOHNNYSTEINBERG]

Great thanks, plug ins clearly have come a long way. Some smashing stuff on here, cheers

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you!

[@tforcya]

Really enjoy the Frontier limiter. Great for pushing a compressor into filthy saturation, or as a last compression/limiting stage on my master bus.

[@francissreckofabian01]

I've been using the TDR plugins for quite awhile. I actually bought the paid versions recently (there was a sale!) I like the Ample guitars too. For imaging I used A!Stereo Control (Alex Hilton) for a long time. It allows you to reduce the bass content from 500 Hz and below.

[@CreativeSauce]

Nice tip thank you!

[@piscesman54]

I've been using the Tokio Lab compressors for a while now, and they're excellent. They also have a free EQ called VOS Slick EQ, with some very nice presets. Great for mastering.

[@squids.studiolab]

Fantastic video and pretty much exactly what I was looking for, thanks Mike!

[@Rockstarrodeos]

Thanks Mike , I enjoy your videos and inspire me to keep creating in Studio One Pro

[@Vobacoach]

Thanks a lot for this awesome video (and the awesome demo-song) !! Great plug-ins and great vst instruments, definately. I would have been very happy, if you would have had added some "before-after" comparisons with the effects-plugins. But nonetheless a great video.

[@deegarmr2623]

My fav is the BBC Orchestra plugin. I couldn't find another like it for free. Special shout out to Guy Michelmore, whose videos gave me the tip. I'm gonna check out that amp sim and some of the compressors. Thanks for the informative videos!

[@CreativeSauce]

Agree, Guy is awesome!

[@marcoabyss]

BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover is the best! the instruments are panned as if you were sitting in the audience listening to an orchestra, so it really gives off that authentic orchestra feel in the mix. it's my go-to plugin for symphonic/cinematic stuff. PS pretty much everything Spitfire Audio does is high-quality and on a different level. LABS absolutely sound amazing, easy to use, and they're free! LABS drums, in my opinion, is one of the best drum plugins out there. i've got all the LABS instruments and they've pretty much removed any need to get other instrument plugins. I love you, Spitfire Audio.

[@andygallaghermusic6184]

Yet another fantastic informative video Mike, I’m working my way through all your videos on cakewalk at the moment, they are just brilliant. Thank you 🙏

[@CreativeSauce]

Glad you like them! Thank you Andy :)

[@andygallaghermusic6184]

@@CreativeSauce they’re brilliant, I’ll be getting my new setup soon and found your videos invaluable. I’ve been treating them like an online course I’ve learned so much, so thanks again

[@joegrint6280]

Great video Mike - thanks. Liked your slip into Yorkshire dialect when you said the doubler switch gives the Martin Lite ' a right nice wide stereo feed' ;-)

[@CreativeSauce]

Lol, gonna need to watch that again now! Thanks Joe :)

[@joegrint6280]

@@CreativeSauce You'll be singing 'Ilkley Moor baht 'at' before you know it. :-) Hope things are going ok

[@CreativeSauce]

Thanks Joe. I guess, as we as can be expected, but fun to make a video.

[@joegrint6280]

@@CreativeSauce It's good to see you. One step at a time mate.

[@sciencesaves]

i haven't used any of these plugins but your mix sounded great even through youtube

[@MorbidVizions]

Solid list of free plugins. Looking forward to implementing some of these soon! Thanks for the ideas!

[@adamwaters161]

Great video again Mike and beautiful played and produced too. I have almost all of the plugins mentioned. My go-tos are usually: Ample Guitar M Lite Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra TDR Kotelnikov Keyzone Classic Piano

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank Adam :) Keyzone is really versatile for sure.

[@isright1]

Cheers for the vid. Got myself some good plugs off the back of this that I never realised where free! ✌🏼😎👍🏼

[@jorgemanuelgomez2972]

Pure gold. So thanks my friend.

[@SophiesName]

kotelnikov is a super transparent compressor whereas molotok will introduce more character and saturation to the sound, In The Mix made an amazing video about them!

[@RonnieVaiArovo]

If I made the same video, I'd showcase the same free plug-ins. Stellar job Mike 👌

[@CreativeSauce]

Lol, cheers Ron :)

[@europeReport]

great concept to introduce the plugins by creating a song. black and white for bypass also cool.

[@Frank.Zimmermann]

Great pick! I also own the majority of these plug-ins. By the way, I can highly recommend the entire FX Bundle from Sonic Anomaly. TDR NOVA & Kotelnikov are my stars - especially when it comes to mastering. Your demo song sounds great. Thanks a lot for the video! :)

[@juandiingles9943]

Thank you very much. I just started making my music and, as a beginer, I found this video very helpful. With it, at least, I have a good starting point. You've got my thumbs up!

[@remco2777]

That sounds amazing! Thanks for your video

[@jonathanariasmusic8242]

Verry Good and verry helpfull... i love all your videos... Thaks for sharing all this... God Blessyou so much... keep it up bro, keep that good work... you dont only teach and help us, you also inspire us... Thank you...

[@alexmarianoribeiro]

My compliments to SSD5, Ample Guitar and Spitfire. I use all of them often. They really make the difference. Thanks Master. Like and Subscribed

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you!

[@christophercoston1703]

THANK YOU for posting this, I am now subscribed! Cheers

[@Azfun6]

Very cool Mike, well done. Really good to see you back. Thanks for sharing.

Great episode, Mike! These are all great plugins! This was very helpful. Thanks Mike!

[@francklaufer9301]

Merci cher Monsieur!

[@kimh.6680]

Vital uses a *lot* of CPU but sounds absolutely GREAT!! 🙂 For adding width, I prefer "DSPplug Blumlein Haas" over Ozone Imager, bc it sounds most pleasant to me among all free alternatives I know.

[@davidAll5]

excellent video the sample song is so creative, so inspiring thank you

[@kalehorvath]

Awesome Mike! Have you used anything from Analog Obsession yet? I have to say, the Channev channel strip is my go to right now. Unreal how it is a free plug in. Would love to hear you review some of his plug-ins!

[@rossmac4771]

Not just a good choice of free plugins - nice playing Mike!!

[@CreativeSauce]

Hey thank you Ross!

[@somarsevleuh7040]

great work finding the plugins

[@SeanArteaga]

This is exactly what I was looking for!

[@CyberTwigs]

Great video thank you. Have you looked into endlesss studio at all? Would love to see a walkthrough of that

[@AbhayadevS]

Nice video... I liked the limiter 👍

[@CreativeSauce]

Thanks 👍

[@ANNIHILISTIC]

TDR Nova has been on literally every production I've made since I heard of it. The option to actually show you what it's cutting gives you SO MUCH CONTROL. I found it when I needed a way to cut certain clicky sounds my bass was making on certain notes. It cut those frequencies only after they became too loud, otherwise leaves them alone allowing me to have my cake and eat it too!

[@CreativeSauce]

a great use case scenario thanks. I similarly use it of acoustic guitar when my percussive slaps get out of control.

[@ANNIHILISTIC]

@@CreativeSauce Exactly! Before TDR Nova I tried simply EQ-ing those frequencies out, but it changed the sound and I thought to myself "If only I could EQ those frequencies only when they show up" :D

[@davidmeyer8756]

Thanks Mike! Terrific as always.

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you David :)

[@technobotpc]

I am new to your channel. The 'click the dislike button twice' comment compelled me to sub - was hilarious, never heard that before! Was a helpful video.

[@RecordingStudio9]

Thanks Mike. All been in my draw for many years.

[@CreativeSauce]

Thanks Vatche :)

[@ulrichburke]

Best free EQ is EQium - unlimited bell curves, sensitive low-high pass and it's got a volume control. If you've got something that doesn't have CC Changes, it's darned useful to have a volume control for it, even if onlon the E.Q. Chris.

[@JamesMc2]

Great sounding song, mix, and selection! ..I saw someone mention this company below but it deserves another, Analog Obsession, it’s unreal that he’s giving his plugins for free, they sound absolutely Amazing and there are so many!

[@Markrspooner]

Surge is also another great synth to use those not as visual as Vital

[@Machoniak]

Amazing video mate. Big thumb up 😉👍

[@cristianjuarez1086]

damn ample guitar sounds BEAUUTIFUULL

[@Rickytee2]

Super vid Mike yet again you've saved me some money :)

[@CreativeSauce]

Lol - so you owe me now? :p

[@hinesification]

All the TDR stuff is vital. OTT is also great!

[@Al69BfR]

I think Klanghelm offers also some great free versions of it‘s paid plugins like Tokyo Dawn does.

[@dsjunges]

What a fabulous piano!!

[@nunojorgenjstudio7954]

Hi Mike. You definitely have to check out the other Sonic Anomaly plugins. Nonetheless, great selection.

[@phadrus]

Hey, I looked for this company and their website no longer works. Looks like they may be out of business. I was surprised I’d not heard of them.

[@nunojorgenjstudio7954]

@@phadrus you can still find them here plugins4free.com/dev/565/

[@tonyrapa-tonyrapa]

I love free VSTs/plugins... especially when they are excellent (of course, not all free plugins are great). I also believe that we should support the makers of these plugins. So, as and when funds become available, I try to donate or buy the upgrades of these plugins. And right now, Tokyo Dawn is having a sale on their plugins... 120 Euros for their Everything bundle... I just helped myself to that great deal - and I know now that I will not regret it.

[@jasyenjo]

I love playing musical instruments!!!! I do it every day

[@CreativeSauce]

You should!

[@czr7j9]

i tried ssd5 but found it too complicated as i am not a drummer and couldn't find a tutorial, so i use MT-Powerdrumkit which is free and still allows you to assign each instrument to a track so you can control the sounds. The standard sound isn't bad either

[@klisher]

12:57 Salamon is a brand of Ski Boots.. So i think thats where the name comes from.

[@andrewkaiser7203]

All really great plugins. Nice demo song. For the acoustic guitar on the song: Some reverb would make it sound more natural, especially since it's the dominant sound at the beginning of the piece. Oril Reverb is a very good free reverb. In the context of this piece, dial down the high frequencies. Voxengo's Old School Verb is really good too.

[@Tmidiman]

Free, I’d say the P bass from Ample Sound is a winner, as far as what I’ve tried. I bought 3 of their basses after using that one for a while.

[@aaron_stanton]

Great stuff! Yeah the TDR ones for me too, very much agree, especially NOVA. Also I've found myself using a lot of the LABS stuff from spitfire audio recently. For compressors I tend to use some of the klanghelm freebies too which I think are great for something a bit different.

[@unnatjha3689]

I enjoyed it so much that I hit the like button twice

[@CreativeSauce]

Lol :)

[@simoncortes8196]

Would have pick the very same ! Great vid :)

[@CreativeSauce]

Haha, cheers Simon!

[@blogsfred3187]

Very good presentation, innovative way to do this

[@ayodyarathnayake1373]

I love the Amplitube Metal collection but I have to say, the Amp sim that comes with Cakewalk is a great option too. It's very versatile and sounds awesome. The only drawback I found is the user interface is kinda hard to use.

[@djpurefire]

Hey Mike thank you so much for your impressive video sir, i like your song too, thats lovely. I already have half of these plug-ins & i couldn't agree more with your choice. The ones which i do not have look awesome too, thank you for sharing your selection, much appreciated. I like the sound of that bass guitar plug-in, awesome. My "can't do without plug-in" from your list is most probably TDR Nova or TDR Kotelnikov. Missed out are Analog Obsession (on Patreon) including Specomp, BPB Rare (Pultec EQ), very nice plug-ins imao. I hope your injury is healing well & your not in too much pain, bless you & kind regards, keep well ☘️😉💛

[@viktor187]

For me, the plugin I cant do without is Amplifier by IK. The amps sound so good that I'm about to buy some of the other amps available.

[@phoenixlandingstudio6594]

Great video, I don’t know what it is about Melda Productions plug-ins but they look so visually off putting? And the paid ones are so expensive. But hey you can’t complain with the free ones.

[@Euthymia]

The Meldaproduction plug-ins' look can be made much more appealing with some adjustment to the "style" (or skin) and colors. Unfortunately the default style and color are pretty unattractive, IMO. One of the first things I do when setting them up for other people is switch to the Argon style.

[@vesa-heikkimikkola6087]

Thanks again for awesome video!

[@CreativeSauce]

My pleasure :)

[@ys4448]

👍👍👍👍 Very good choice. There is also Sinefactory by Orchestral tools its awesome

[@manasiangal1405]

Hello sir, Spitfire Audio LABS can very well get a place here! Hope you are well! 😊

[@electricaardvark]

Yup LABS absolutely rocks the Free PlugIn thing too - such an amazing variety of instruments (for want of a better description) the only limits are hard drive space and your imagination!

[@manasiangal1405]

@@electricaardvark trueee!

[@niclasnightflame]

Thank you a lot for all these great recommendations. Do you know, if all the plugins you showed support NKS? For me and many other blind music producers this feature is very important, because we often work with NI's keyboard controllers which provide a voice assistant for blind people and over the browser from the keyboard the VSTs and their presets get accessible. So if you know something about that, I'd be grateful, if you shared your knowledge.

[@maxxyporky]

Great sounding demo, nice video

[@SeanArteaga]

What about for Latin music? Have any free plugins for Latin drum beats/instruments. And accordion! I need an accordion plugin! Your videos are all fantastic.

[@paveltalatay2629]

Really nice choice of plugins! As for console-style saturation, I'd go with IVGI by Klanghelm.

[@highstreetjackmusic]

Fantastic video. Thanks!

[@michaeltablet8577]

Very well done! Thank you so much!

[@1867D]

Mike, Thoroughly enjoy your videos. Question: I have had a Yamaha Tyros 4 keyboard for a number of years. Can it be connected to my computer in such a way that, when I want to use a VST in Cakewalk, I can play the sounds of the VST using the actual keys on my Tyros 4 keyboard?

[@mlwsf]

Devil Spring Reverb by Lost in 70s tends to make it on most of my deals even if it's only on the guitar. (I am not what one would call a high gain guy.) Once I found the presets and that it had a tape echo emulation it became more valuable. Rare by Analog Obsession or Warmy EP1a by Kiive Audio seem to live an my master bus these days. Curious why you didn't go with Ozone Elements 9 which includes the imager?

[@royaltyfreemusiccollective8662]

Great video Mike - you missed off the best free plugin of all time..OTT by Xfer !

[@CreativeSauce]

Oooo - I'll look into that!

[@royaltyfreemusiccollective8662]

@@CreativeSauce Use it sparingly..the default preset is set to 100% which annihilates the signal !..You have to dial it back.

[@phadrus]

I would 2nd this. Also, one of the few free plugins with upward compression.

[@royaltyfreemusiccollective8662]

@@phadrus Also one of the few free plugins that you regularly see used by pro mixers/producers

[@333flip2]

i just sat here for an hour and downloaded the acoustic guitar plug in 3 times... it is not in my downloads or anywhere else, anyone know what is happening?

[@rome8180]

Slate Drums, Spitfire BBC, and TDR Nova would definitely be among my favorite free plugins. The Ample Bass is great too, but I'm a bassist and would rather just play my own "real" bass. A few other free plugins I use constantly are Kiive Audio Warmy EP1A and the Kit Burier. The Warmy is a Pultec style EQ. I put it on bass, drums, and the master bus. It's probably my favorite plugin, period. The Kit Burier is an awesome saturation plugin. There are about half a dozen more I could name. I have a lot of plugins I paid for, but I end up using free ones just as often.

[@b.ewoolcock7755]

Hey Mike. Thank you for you tutorials. Are you using just a keyboards to play those Midi instruments (bass, guitars drums etc)

[@RonJonesREjonzin]

Hi, I'm not sure if Addictive drums 2 still comes with Cakewalk or not, it was included with Sonar at no additional cost, but I think I prefer it to SSD5. The Tokyo dawn products are wonderful, for no cost you can't beat them in my opinion as well, along with Voxengo products. Although the Span, Span plus and really all the Voxengo products are not much to look at, but in terms of functionality they are also superior for the no cost units. I'm looking forward to trying Unlimited, as I have only just been acquainted to it here, thanks for that. I like your demo, nice little piece. So thanks for your fine work, looking forward to more. Ron J.

[@ACRMusical]

Sir, how to convert a midi track to audio track within cakewalk for mixing and mastering

[@mooners40]

anyone know how to install the Unlimited plug in ? Its a dll - what do i do with that ?

[@stsxcalibur]

Thanks Mike, You Rock!

[@blackship14]

I tried downloading steven slate drums free version but reaper cannot recognize its plugin file :(

[@bill4510]

Thanks Mike.Good one.