We all love free stuff but the link between price and value is hard to shake off. Just because something is free absolutely doesn’t mean it’s inferior. Here at Production Expert we have been featuring weekly free plugin articles for years so we seen them all. Here is a pick of ten you really should try.

We’ve spread our choices across ten categories. We’ve also limited our choices to plugins which are available in AAX format. Inevitably there are some great alternatives we’ve missed, Share your thoughts on what’s great (and free) in the comments. Click on the images to learn more.

EQ - Sonimus SonEQ

If we’re putting together a free mixing kit, EQ has to be first. Of all the contenders we’re going with SonEq from Sonimus. It’s a character EQ, pretty flexible with more than a dash of Pultec about it. the tube stage can be driven if that’s your thing and yes, it does the Pultec low-end trick. Every bit as good as some things we’ve paid for.

Compressor - Klanghelm MJUC jr

With EQ covered, the next just has to be compression. We were torn between this and the equally great TDR Kotelnikov. However, as TDR feature elsewhere in this list we’ll go with the MCUjr with its more vintage approach. Courtesy of its variable time constants it’s more flexible than an LA2a plugin but it shares a similar “do no harm” approach. There are lots of ways to get this compressor right but it’s pretty difficult to get it wrong. And who doesn’t like big bakelite knobs, even if they are only on screen?

Dynamic EQ - TDR Nova

As promised, here is something from Tokyo Dawn Records (TDR). Their plugins are so good that they really redefine just what you can expect to get for free. Molotok and Kotelnikov would both have been very worthy entrants in this list in the compression category and SlickEQ would have been a great choice as an EQ. In fact we could have done a whole list of TDR plugins.

Nova is a little different and possibly the best of the bunch. It’s a dynamic EQ. It makes a great EQ without going near the dynamic element but it is the dynamic features that really set this apart. You won’t get anything better than this without buying FabFilter ProQ-3. Get this plugin right now…

Delay - Valhalla Supermassive

The best free delay plugin used to be Valhalla’s Freq Echo. it only stopped being the best when Valhalla brought this out. Supermassive is a great delay but play with the density control and experiment with the modes and you’ll soon find that this plugin straddles the whole range of sounds between echo and reverb.

It can do the positively deranged swirling, pitch modulated stuff if you like but however impressive that is, in truth we never use those sounds. Of course, you can do synced or free-running delays, with no zipper noise if you want to automate the delay time but what this does really brilliantly is reverby-delays. Try it, you’ll lose a day to experimenting!

Reverb - Wave Arts Convology

Everybody should have at least one decent convolution reverb and if you want one for free then this is a great place to find it. We all love the flexibility of algorithmic reverbs but if you want a fundamentally different sound hen you change settings there is no better way to get it than to call up a different IR.

This plugin features a selection of 70 from a much larger library of impulse response which is available for this plugin but they don’t nag you to buy. Get a selection of 70 impulses from their vintage library for free - sounds good.

Saturation - TBProAudio Gsat+

The saturation available in this plugin sounds good, but the reason this makes the list over longer established free plugins like Softube’s eternal Saturation Knob is that this plugin would be useful even without the saturation. The monitoring section features a mono button (still missing from the Pro Tools mixer) and channel solos for left right, middle and sides. Really handy! Add to that a calibratable VU meter with excellent ballistics and you have a great tool which also has nice sounding saturation!

Modulation - Klevgrand Svep

Kelvgrand make some really smart plugins and this one gets modulation right. No sickly “swoosh-woosh” here. If you push things it can do wobbly and drunken but it can do subtle movement which doesn’t draw attention to itself. Perfect.

Klevgrand have always done great UIs and this is no exception, with a radar style layout which gives great feedback on what does what making using this plugin a really intuitive experience.

Width - Polyverse Wider

Wide stereo always sounds impressive but most of the ways this “wider than wide” effect is achieved compromise mono compatibility. Wider from Polyverse is very simple, just grab the one control available in the UI to widen (or narrow) your sound up to 200% but the best thing is that it promises good mono compatibility too. not something you’ll get by boosting the level of the sides channel in an MS matrix.

Guitar - Nembrini Minotaur

There are an awful lot of free guitar plugins out there. Amps and pedals, we’re awash with choice. Most of them are pretty good but of course, guitar tone choice is even more subjective than… well pretty much anything judging by the guitarists we know!

Our favourite free guitar plugin is the Minotaur from Nembrini. It makes a change from all the Tube Screamers out there and this plugin version of the mythically rare and unbelievably expensive Klon Centaur overdrive pedal sounds amazing. particularly when we have our resident guitar genius Mark M Thompson playing through it.

Goodherz Midside Matrix - Utility

On the subject of Mid/Side, we all need a plugin to quickly set up LR-MS or MS-LR. Whether you’re processing in MS or decoding an MS mic array, even if you do know how to build it in your DAW mixer, can you really spare the time? Goodhertz make some great stuff, we’ve always been fans of Panpot, which isn’t free but is a great tool for experimenting with the Haas effect and delay-based panning. Midside Matrix is free and is a really useful tool for accessing the mid and sides components of a stereo signal. It’s free and it has presets for Ms-LR and LR to MS.

What About You

So there is our free plugins mix kit. What would you have included? What about free plugins which aren’t available as AAX? There are a lot of very cool VST/AU plugins out there. What would your list look like?