2023’s best new free plugins and virtual instruments2023 was another stellar year for free software and plugins, with some superb releases from both smaller developers and big-name companies.

READ MORE: Best free plugins and freeware of the month: December 2023

We’ve been selecting our top five favourites each month of the year, but here we select the ones that really stand out above the rest and are well worth checking out.
Bedroom Producers Blog – BPB 64

Mac and Windows
64-bit VST/VST3/AU

Who doesn’t love a bit of chiptune? Bedroom Producers Blog and Sample Science’s BPB 64 features 37 multisampled instruments taken directly from the legendary Commodore 64 SID chip.
Three different SID chips were sampled and packaged into plugin form with full control over filter, envelope, glide, modulation, and built-in delay, reverb, chorus, and distortion effects. As it was sampled directly from the chip, you get all the grit and lo-fi crunch that the C64 was known for, with iconic synth sounds, leads and arpeggios.
Download: Bedroom Producers Blog – BPB 64
Baby Audio – Pitch Drift

macOs, Windows and iOS
64-bit VST/VST3/AU/AAX

If you feel like your tracks are sounding a little sterile, then Baby Audio’s pitch fluctuation effect will be an instant download for you.
Pitch Drift has a single slider that lets you adjust the depth of the random fluctuations, from subtle, pitch instabilities, to more extreme out-of-tune effects. You can then hover over the central screen that gives you visual feedback to set the speed. The plugin is powered by the “Drift” algorithm from BABY Audio’s Super VHS, and can help your tracks to feel warmer and more organic sounding.
Download: Baby Audio – Pitch Drift
iZotope – Ozone 11 EQ

macOS and Windows
VST3, AU, AAX

iZotope has taken the EQ module from Ozone 11 and is giving it away as a standalone plugin. It has a beautiful resizable GUI, flexible filter shapes, Analog and Digital modes with adjustable linear phase per band, auto Gain Match, and hi-res metering.
What really makes it special is the new Transient and Sustain processing modes. Alongside the L/R and M/S modes, you can sculpt the transient and sustain portions of your signal separately, so you could tame a bass pluck whilst leaving the tail intact, or reign in a nasty kick drum knock. It’s available separately or as part of NI’s free Komplete Start instruments and effects bundle.
Download: iZotope – Ozone 11 EQ
Samplab – Samplab 2

macOS and Windows
64-bit VST3/AU

Imagine being able to load a sample into a plugin and then split the instruments and edit the notes as though they were MIDI. You can do just that using Samplab 2, available as both a desktop app and a plugin.
Once you load a sample, the software has to connect to the Internet to work its AI-splitting magic, then you can edit in real time inside the DAW, or export audio or MIDI. There’s a free version that lets you work with mono audio files up to 10 seconds in length, with a maximum of 15 minutes worth per month. Alternatively, you can opt for the premium subscription version for $9.99 per month, which adds stereo files of any length, premium warping and note controls, and up to 180 minutes per month.
Download: Samplab – Samplab 2
Kazrog – KClip Zero

macOS and Windows
64-bit VST/VST3/AU/AAX

KClip 3 has is revered as one of the best and most versatile clippers around. Kazrog’s free version lets anyone get in on the action, whether you’re trimming peaks on masters, busses or tracks to achieve transparent loudness or saturation.
Where KClip 3 has 8 clipping modes, this free version just has one, with controls for In, Out and Soften (for selecting between hard and soft clipping), and a Gain Link function. Don’t let its simplicity fool you though, as under the hood is mastering grade oversampling (2x online, 16x offline), making this a useful and pro-sounding tool.
Download: Kazrog – KClip Zero
Wavesfactory – Flash

Mac and Windows
64-bit VST/VST3/AU/AAX

A transient shaper is an incredibly useful tool, and this excellent free one from Wavesfactory has a few useful features that help it stand out. Under the hood, it uses the same algorithm as Quantum to help separate the transient and sustain signals without the use of a threshold. You then have controls to increase or decrease the attack and sustain, plus mix and output dials, a built-in clipper and a meter so you can keep an eye on the peaks.
What sets this one apart, though, is the freely adjustable dial where you can select whether to apply the effect to the stereo field, mid channel or sides, or somewhere in between.
Download: Wavesfactory – Flash
Soundly – Place It

macOS and Windows
64-bit VST3/AU/AAX

Soundly’s useful plugin uses impulse responses to emulate what your audio would sound like played on an array of speakers such as in-ear headphones, a laptop, a radio, a megaphone and more.
It then lets you place it in one of 40 environments such as a basement, an office, a vehicle or a cave. You get a dial for each, which controls the amount of the effect, plus a slider in the middle that muffles the audio to make it sound like it’s coming through a wall.
Download: Soundly – Place It
SuperflyDSP – Flying Reverb

macOS, Windows and Linux
64-bit VST3/AU

SuperflyDSP’s has had some excellent freeware releases over the last year or so, including the Lost-Tapes, Lost-Vinyl and Lost-Sampler plugins.
This simple but effective reverb plugin, Flying Reverb, lets you simulate spatial reflections with room, hall and temple options. You can then choose from a cleaner Classic mode, a Shimmer mode for more ethereal sounds, or a Lost mode, which is essentially the Shimmer mode with added artefacts. Other features include a host syncable pre-delay, lowpass and highpass filters, and a wet signal tape modulation and overdrive.
Download: SuperflyDSP – Flying Reverb
HY-Plugins – HY-Slicer2 free

macOS, Windows, and Linux
64-bit VST/VST3/AU

This cut-down version of HY-Slicer2 can be used as a fun and creative way to re-invigorate your loop library. You get 3 slicer units where you can load 3 different samples that get chopped into smaller pieces. These can then be sequenced in the Sampler Track where you can rearrange up to 16 slices. Things get a little more interesting when you start using the additional lanes which let you sequence things like chance, reverse, tune, pan, filter, FX sends and more. You also get built-in effects and master effects to refine your new loops, and a Pattern chainer to help develop longer ideas.
Download: HY-Plugins – HY-Slicer2 free
Polyverse Music – Filtron

macOS and Windows
VST, VST3, AU, AAX

Polyverse’s Filtron is an excellent, vibrant-sounding 12dB state variable filter plugin, with a state-of-the-art zero delay filter design. It can smoothly transition between lowpass, bandpass and highpass, is capable of self-oscillation, and includes a fat-sounding internal saturation.
There are also Cold and Hot post overdrive modes for some additional bite, and the parameters can be modulated via the sidechain signal. This means you can do some very cool CV-style modulation, and each channel in the stereo pair is treated as a separate modulation source.
Download: Polyverse Music – Filtron
Rewired Records – SideKick 2

Windows
64-bit VST3

Create sidechain-style ducking effects and rhythmic trance gates with this free LFO shaping tool from Rewired Records.
It offers 10 presets to get you started, but you can easily edit shapes and patterns by clicking on the window to add points and curves to the LFO. There’s also a Mix dial so that you can control the amount of the effect, and a Sync section where you can choose from 1/1, 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8 of a bar for the loop.
Download: Rewired Records – SideKick 2
BFD Drums – BFD Player

macOS and Windows
64-bit VST/VST3/AU/AAX/Standalone

BFD is well-known for its realistic, deeply sampled acoustic drum instrument BFD3. The company has now released the free BFD Player, which provides 5GB of high-quality drum sounds, 340 grooves in a range of styles, and a handful of pro-mixer presets. You can use the kit piece browser to swap out different drum components and then search for MIDI grooves using tags such as genre and tempo, or play in beats using a keyboard, controller or MIDI kit. It can run inside your DAW or as a standalone app, and you can purchase additional sound, preset and groove expansion packs.
Download: BFD Drums – BFD Player
The post 2023’s best new free plugins and virtual instruments appeared first on MusicTech.

3 strategies for auditioning samples: How to choose the right sound
We discuss some strategies you can apply to arrive to a decision the next time you're stuck between two (or ten) samples.

Terran Orbital’s biggest customer is close to securing funding for multibillion-dollar constellationTerran Orbital may be close to receiving a major payment from its biggest customer, CEO Marc Bell announced internally at a company-wide meeting earlier this month. Rivada Space Networks is in the final stages of closing funding to help fund a mega-constellation to be built by Terran at a cost of $2.4 billion, revenues that […]
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Sweet Relief Musicians Fund: JaM with Jonah Kagen BenefitMake a tax-deductible donation to Sweet Relief before the year ends and help hundreds of musicians and music industry workers that are dealing with physical and mental illness, disease, and age-related issues.

sweetrelief.org

Cheers & Applause with JaM Cellars and Jonah KagenBenefiting Sweet Relief

LIVE THIS FRIDAY 12/29 @ 4:00p PST—POP the lush Butter Bubbles and join for the LAST #JaMHappyHour of the year—benefiting Sweet Relief Musician’s Fund! Hosted by iHeartRadio’s Jana Sutter and featuring LIVE music from Jonah Kagen. Tune in on Facebook and YouTube, @JaMCellars, for an hour of sips, cheers, doin’ good—JaM is donating $1, up to $3,000, for every like, comment, and share made during the show! Make sure to tune in!

Tune In Here

Audiolatry Releases Easy Strings FREE ROMpler Instrument
Audiolatry has just released Easy Strings – a free (or ‘pay what you want’) ROMpler for macOS and Windows users. This ROMpler features samples recorded from violin, viola, and cello ensembles.  It’s not a deeply sampled instrument, as the developer Audiolatry states; hence, only one velocity layer is available.  The goal of this plugin was [...]
View post: Audiolatry Releases Easy Strings FREE ROMpler Instrument

10 Most Read Posts on Hypebot in 2023As 2023 winds down, we share Hypebot’s most-read posts of the last year, and believe it or not, they aren’t only about AI, and all are worth revisiting as we. Continue reading
The post 10 Most Read Posts on Hypebot in 2023 appeared first on Hypebot.

25 Social Media Questions musicians should know the answers to [Bobby Borg]Social Media is an integral part of every musician’s success. But with so many platforms, things can get complicated. This video helps answer frequently asked questions about social media that. Continue reading
The post 25 Social Media Questions musicians should know the answers to [Bobby Borg] appeared first on Hypebot.

YOUR MORNING COFFEE PODCAST: Big Music Stories ’23 • MIDiA’s Predictions • Label Crisis • Immediate Family film • MoreYear-end Episode 176 of Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart’s popular Your Morning Coffee: Weekly News for the New Music Business podcast is now available. Learn more and listen here. Episode. Continue reading
The post YOUR MORNING COFFEE PODCAST: Big Music Stories ’23 • MIDiA’s Predictions • Label Crisis • Immediate Family film • More appeared first on Hypebot.

Swarm Reverb from Minimal Audio Minimal Audio's new reverb plug-in is capable of delivering everything from simple room ambiences to dramatic creative effects

Minimal Audio Swarm Reverb Minimal Audio's new reverb plug-in is capable of delivering everything from simple room ambiences to dramatic creative effects

Paris producer Maison Blanche draws for Rave-O-Lution 309 drums on new EP, ‘Food For Soul’Maison Blanche is seductively smooth when it comes to house music. In his past catalogue of tracks, there are transformed disco samples, noodles of funky bass guitar and warm, jazzy keys all adeptly put together – all to make the listener dance.

READ MORE: “Everyone’s multitasking, and I’m no exception”: DIY talent Aerosol Jezus spent two years making a music video

We speak to Maison Blanche about his Paris-based studio based in the suburbs. He tells us all about the thought behind the studio’s two rooms, and tells us about how he layers drums with those of his go-to 1996-released Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution 309 drum machine.
Food For Soul by Maison Blanche
What do you love about the Paris house scene and sound?
What I particularly appreciate is the diversity of the Parisian scene and sound. There’s a mix between talented young producers and seasoned artists who never stop surprising us with their music.
Are you more hardware-based or software-based when it comes to music production?
To be honest, I have always been more inclined towards software with various plugins, but over the past three years, hardware has become a more significant part of my world. This shift is particularly evident with the acquisition of certain machines, such as my Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution 309.
Maison Blanche using the Rave-O-Lution 309
Tell us a bit about your studio/creative space.
My current studio is located in the suburbs of Paris. It’s a studio I recently began sharing with two other artists I particularly appreciate, Cosmonection and Herson. Together, we redesigned two spaces in our studio to fully fuel our creativity – the Gear Room and the Instrument Room. The Gear Room allows us to centralise the synths and drum machines.
For the second room, we have an acoustic room with guitars, bass, percussion and a mic for vocal recording. The room has an excellent sound so we use it for that. However, everything is modular, we can move machines from one room to another, to work on a live performance for example.
What atmosphere do you try to create in the studio?
We wanted to create an intimate and minimalist atmosphere that allows us to easily express our desires of the moment. All elements of the studio are closely placed from the main desk, where everything is controlled. All we have to do is produce. We’ve also decorated the studios with our personal belongings which makes us feel at home.
Maison Blanche’s studio
Which DAW do you use?
I’ve been using Ableton Live since I started production. I’m comfortable with this DAW, I think it’s easier to handle than other DAWs.
What is your favourite piece of gear?
My favourite gear is my Rave-O-Lution 309. It’s a powerful groove machine created in 1996 by Quasimidi. I often use it when I want some drums that sound raw! You can also use it for Analog Emulation Synthesis (A.E.S). This allows for the analogue oscillators to be physically modelled. So we have basses, leads and more general synth sounds via different presets which are all adjustable.
Maison Blanche’s mixing desk in his studio
What about plugins – any essential plugins you can’t live without?
My two favourite plugins are the Korg M1 for the instrument part and the XLN Audio RC-20 retro colour for the mixing part. The Korg M1 is a virtual keyboard with all the presets from the original M1 released by Korg. I could buy the hardware synth but it would take up too much space in the studio rack. The XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color is a VST that emulates different equipment/effects such as a 12-bit sampler or a sound ripped from a vinyl. I use it regularly to change the way certain instruments sound. I never work without these two pieces of software these days.
What synth or effect can be heard the most on your new release?
The synth you hear the most in my productions is the Korg M1 – I add it practically everywhere thanks to its many different presets. It was used a lot in the 1990s/2000s, and it has a sound that’s close to the result I want to obtain.
Is there live instrumentation on this? It sounds so organic, human and funky. Tell us a bit about this process, specifically with the track, You’re Gonna Like It.
I really like mixing live organic instruments and analogue synths in my tracks. For You’re Gonna Like It, I worked on a groovy bass and a funky organ, and then I added some percussion like shakers and claps. My guitarist friend, Jim Prunier, added his final touch with a guitar solo in the break of the song which reinforces this organic and funky side.
Maison Blanche’s synth rack in his studio
Dexter On The Dancefloor is a smasher! Tell us about how you built around the sample here.
My friend and producer Cywil sent me this groovy but very slow track from 1979.
I love French touch and house from the 2000s, so I made that crazy disco loop sound with a ‘French’ vibe. I added some drums from the Rave-O-Lution and the Behringer RD-9, stuffed it with pads and synths from the Behringer Deepmind, for example, and finished it with a groovy bassline from the Minimoog Model D. I wanted to keep this track simple so the disco loop remains in the foreground.
What’s been the biggest investment in your studio?
The biggest investment in my last studio was this big mixer from Behringer – the Eurodesk SX3242FX, but it wasn’t worth it at all lol. I bought it because we wanted to integrate all the instrument tracks onto a single mixing desk. Unfortunately, it takes up a lot of space and now that I’ve changed studios, it’s no longer of much use to me.
What is next on your shopping list studio-wise and why?
I would love to find a LinnDrum LM2 in good condition but it’s so expensive! It would fit perfectly with the tracks I make.
What is your dream piece of gear and why?
It may be cliché but a Roland TR-909 is truly the dream because of the history of house music, but also because I’ve been always using samples/clones of the classic one.
Rave-O-lution 309 in Maison Blanche’s studio
If you were left on a desert island, what one item would you take with you to make music with forever?
I think I will take a Darbouka, a traditional percussion instrument from North Africa/Middle East. Because of my Moroccan roots, this is the first instrument I thought about. But to be honest, I really don’t know how to play it but I guess I will have all the time to master this instrument.
How did you go about getting the acoustics right in the studio?
We had some knowledge about the acoustics of a room. In my old studios, nothing was perfect but we managed to reach an interesting result. Currently, our studio is in the basement, with various sound-absorbing foams on the walls, the speakers placed in a certain way as well as the equipment allowing us to obtain the best result.
What is your top piece of production advice?
Keep it simple. As long as you do some quality things, there’s no need to add 15 layers of percussion or three layers of synths in your mix to sound good.
What is the one piece of advice you would give someone starting out building a studio?
I think it’s the same advice as before, you have to keep it simple, no need to buy 20 machines at the beginning if you don’t or hardly use them. Master the DAW first, buy good quality speakers (no need to buy very expensive speakers for that) and a USB audio interface to start properly. Then add the machine(s) that suit you the most to finally improve your studio.
You can hear more of Maison Blanche’s music via his Bandcamp.
The post Paris producer Maison Blanche draws for Rave-O-Lution 309 drums on new EP, ‘Food For Soul’ appeared first on MusicTech.

How to record and process bells
Explore the different ways bells can enhance a track, and learn how you can record and process them right in your home studio.

Apple Vision Pro tipped for late Jan/early Feb releaseWe’ve known about the Vision Pro for more than half a year now (not to mention the years of rumors), but Apple’s first “spatial computing” device is one of consumer electronics’ biggest question marks heading into the new year. The $3,499 headset was given an “early-2024” release time frame when it was unveiled at WWDC […]
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Brit Floyd at the YouTube Theatre Any fan that’s serious about the legendary band, Pink Floyd, must check out their number one cover act known as, Brit Floyd. Their show featured music from the original band’s catalog; from “Hey You” to “Run Like Hell,” this particular concert revolved around Pink Floyd’s Dark side of the Moon album. They celebrated its fiftieth year since its release. This all took place at the YouTube Theatre in Inglewood, CA.

Imagine watching a visual vinyl album from the seventies in real time, as Brit Floyd's show contained the latest in concert technology. There were colorful lights that did more than illuminate their entire set. There were a combination of lasers to animation to smoke, and more. It was a spectacle, to say the least. Musical acumen is what these professional musicians brought to the stage. Brit Floyd gave those in attendance the feel, the sound and the energy of Pink Floyd.

With approximately 25 songs that they covered during a 2-hour set, Brit Floyd delivered. In addition to the Dark Side of the Moon, songs from The Wall, Wish You Were Here, and Animals were performed. From start to finish, this concert was magical. 

Photos by Xxposure LA

Bless Audio Releases Abyss FREE Distortion And Reverb Plugin
Bless Audio released a free distortion and reverb effect plugin called Abyss. It’s available as a ‘pay-what-you-want’ on Gumroad, with no minimum price for both Mac and Windows machines. Abyss is a creative tool with simple controls spread out on a captivating interface. Layout-wise, you can access controls over the distortion (DISTO) module on the [...]
View post: Bless Audio Releases Abyss FREE Distortion And Reverb Plugin