Best free VSTs?

[gubu]

Hi folks,

Thanks to Lee Flier's advice in another thread, I'm no longer afraid to try a different DAW on my old Mac! So I'm gonna install Reaper tonight and see how it works out.

 

A RTAS->VST wrapper is probably in my future, so I can continue using some of the non-Waves plugins I have that I can't live without. But I know that I've been missing out on the huge amount of free VSTs that have been available while I've been stuck in RTAS land.

 

So, what are the best free VSTs out there? EQs, comps, limiters, reverbs, modulators, delays, quirky fx, synths, samplers, everything really.

 

I'll be doing a lot of googling and downloading over the next week, so hopefully the replies here will give me a head start in separating the wheat from the chaff.

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

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[BushmasterM4]

Kjaerhus Classic (free) plugins are quite nice. The Chorus plugin is really good. There are more at kvraudio

 

http://www.kvraudio.com/developer/kjaerhus-audio

[Lee Flier]

Yes, before I got my UAD2 the Kjaerhus plugs were my go-to ones, and a lot of them were free. Unfortunately, they're out of business, but their old plugs still work fine. Shame they went under, they had some really nice stuff.

[gubu]

Just been checking the KVR line. The free stuff is Windows only

[Phil O'Keefe]

There's free stuff out there for Mac users too - make sure you use the "advanced search" option and specify which OS you're using when you do your searches on KVR, or it will pull up a bunch of irrelevant stuff.

[gubu]

Thanks for the link Phil. I just went to the front page of that website, and all the freebies were Windows-only.

 

I'll check it out.

 

edit:- Holy makeup gain Batman, there's hundreds of them!!

[americansinner]

I use Win but seen a friend's Mac setup, so based on who I think do Mac versions....

 

EQs

Variety of Sound is all win I'm afraid, but have some great ones. worth checking. The Reaplugs are Mac or WINE compatible?

 

comps

Molot by vladg (same as link below)

 

limiters

http://vladgsound.wordpress.com/plugins/limiter6/

MLimiter -MeldaProduction

http://www.yohng.com/software/w1limit.html

 

Reverb

Ambience -Magnus

Tal Reverb (more than one version iirc) Togo

 

modulators

 

delays

freqecho - valhalla

TalDub -Togo

 

quirky fx

not sure for Mac, I dont have a lot in general

 

synths

Crystal -Green Oak

Togo has some, I forget the names, good but not my favorite, pretty sure they do Mac versions

Martinic might have some

 

samplers

don't know sorry.

 

Again sorry if I'm wrong, my best recollection.

[KillerV]

I get quite a bit of use out these free plugs:

 

Bootsy Ferric

Digitalfishphones Blockfish and Spitfish (still my go-to de-esser)

ReaEQ and ReaComp (from the Reaper plugin bundle)

George Yohng W1 Limiter

Sonalksis FreeG (great trim/gain tool)

SSL Listen Mic Compressor (great if you want something vibey)

SIR 1011 Convolution Reverb*

 

*I mainly use this with a set of Bricasti M7 impulses that Acousticas made availible for free a while back and some Lexicon impulses.

[gubu]

Thanks all!

 

Some of the above aren't compatible with anything before OSX 10.5, but there are plenty that are

 

It's a bit disappointing that the SIR convo verb is one of those that doesn't - I was looking forward to hearing some of the Lexicon IRs. In any event, there is loads here to keep me going.

 

Thanks again!

[UstadKhanAli]

I think Blue Cat has some free stuff, and...I can't remember the name exactly, CamelPhat Camel Audio or something like that, which has a cool filter. There was a Fromage filter, which may be the same thing. I can't remember right now. But all this stuff was free and useful and available for Macs.