This roundup of freeware plugins features a stereo imager from iZotope, a set of one-knob effects from Abletunes, a chord generating tool from CodeFN42, a vintage vocoder from TAL, and a transient designer by FLUX.
Each month we search the web for some of the industry’s most essential freeware instrument and effect plugins. Our list of quality plugin downloads offers modern tools for your arsenal without having to spend a dime or waste time trawling the internet.
iZotope | Ozone Imager
Ozone Imager is a freeware stereo imaging plugin for your DAW or NLE. Born from Ozone 8’s legendary Imaging technology, Ozone Imager can narrow or widen your stereo image with simple controls, stunning visuals, and incredible sound. Download it today and turn narrow, dull audio into a full, impactful track.
Abletunes | Knobs
Abletunes Knobs is a set of three stereo plugins that map several parameters to one knob for your convenience.
DRIVE KNOB: Distortion unit that delivers some nasty wide-band distortion. Great for adding some tone and color to your sounds. For this reason, it sounds good on drum and percussion tracks. DRIVE also adds some pleasant grit to bass lines, leads, keys, and anything else you run through it.
ATTACK KNOB: Simplified transient shaper that affects only the waveforms attack. In effect, it adds bite to drum loops, enhances percussive transients, strengthens guitar solos, and more.
SPACE KNOB: Mid-sized room reverb for creating a sense of space around your sounds. This bright sounding reverb works well on almost anything.
CodeFN42 | Chordz
Chordz is a full-featured plugin that allows you to trigger chords by playing single notes. Play complicated chord progressions with one finger using either a MIDI keyboard, various pad controllers, or through your DAW’s piano roll.
Chordz also comes with more than 40 scale/chord templates, and a chord library with more than 50 chord types. You can also add your own custom templates, create new chord types, and customize chords directly in the GUI.
Chordz also works as an educational tool. For example, use Chordz to learn various musical scales and their corresponding chords.
TAL | Vocoder
TAL-Vocoder is a vintage vocoder that sports eleven bands that emulate the sounds of vocoders from the early ’80s. It includes analog modeled components in combination with digital algorithms such as the SFFT (Short-Time Fast Fourier Transform).
Vocoder also features an envelope follower for each of the eleven bands, harmonic enhancing controls, an “Ess” enhancer for taming harsh frequencies, and more.
Furthermore, the internal carrier signal is a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator). Moreover, the Carrier section includes Pulse, Saw, Noise and SubOsc controls as well as various other sound sculpting features.
FLUX | BitterSweet v3
BitterSweet v3 is a transient designer with a simple one-knob design. Turning the knob to the Sweet side reduces the transients which commonly decreases any transient-rich percussive sounds in the mix. Whereas, turning the knob to the Bitter side magnifies the transients which commonly increases any transient-rich percussive sounds in the mix.