Free Fridays! Fave New Freeware Picks – Saturation, Full-On Synthesis, Digital Drums, and More!

We here at SonicScoop realize that everything comes at a price these days – times can be tough. So for the 13^th time, we have wrangled up these lucky freeware picks that we fell head over heels with over the last few months.

This installment includes seven plugins that will keep us busy for months to come. Now, read up on these keepers and let us tame these beasts:

IVGI – Saturation & Distortion by Klanghelm

Next up we have a freebie that goes both ways – Mac and PC! Not only is that convenient for all users, it is also surprisingly flexible plugin in the distortion department. Sounds can range from a smooth and warm to crunchy and gritty. IVGI is available in RTAS, AU and VST formats. Here is what Klanghelm has to say:

Warm and toasty saturation, on the house.

IVGI can deliver very soft and subtle saturation, that feels at home on the master buss. It is equally capable of very dense and dirty distortion effects to spice up single tracks.

IVGI’s base sound is comparable to the DESK mode in the upcoming big brother SDRR. Just as SDRR, IVGI reacts dynamically to the input signal. Even the modelled fluctuations react dynamically and also change depending on the drive setting, so that it doesn’t get in the way of the SOUND. Stereo tracks benefit from it’s modelled crosstalk behaviour. Just as its big brother SDRR, IVGI features a “Controlled Randomness”, which determines the internal drift and variance inside the unit. It contributes to the livelyness and realness of IVGI’s saturation character. All internal processes are modulated to some extent to make this possible.

IVGI gives you a sensible amount of controls to manipulate the character of the saturation itself. It offers a unique ASYM MIX knob to alter the symmetry of the signal without affecting the harmonic content much. Usually, asymmetry leads to an increase of even order harmonics. But in IVGI’s case, dialing in the asymmetry makes the negative part of the signal “cleaner”. This way you can preserve the dynamic structure of the source better and get a more transparent result. Actually, you can think of ASYM MIX as a transparency control.

IVGI also lets you alter the frequency dependency of the saturation with the RESPONSE control.

IVGI is internally calibrated to 0VU = -18dBFS.

IVGI is free! So try it out for yourself.

ThrillSeeker VBL – Limiter by Variety of Sound

Out of the gate we have a broadcast-based limiter with a few extras. The plugin has vintage warmth written all over it and promises to add that subtle heat of times since past. ThrillSeeker VBL is available for free doll hairs, VST and Windows only! Variety of Sound says:

Bringing mojo back – Thrillseeker VBL is an emulation of a “vintage broadcast limiter” following the classic Variable-Mu design principles from the early 1950′s. They were used to prevent audio overshoots by managing sudden signals changes. From today’s perspective, and compared to brickwall limiters, they are rather slow and should be seen as more of a gain structure leveler, but they still are shining when it comes to perform gain riding in a very musical fashion – they have warmth and mojo written all over.

Thrillseeker VBL is a “modded” version, which not only has the classic gain reduction controls but also grants detailed access to the amount and appearance of harmonic tube amplifier distortion occurring in the analog tube circuit. Applied in subtle doses, this dials in that analog magic we often miss when working in the digital domain, but you can also overdrive the circuit to have more obvious but still musical sounding harmonic distortion (and according side-effects) for use as a creative effect.

On top, Thrillseeker VBL offers an incredibly authentic audio transformer simulation which not only models the typical low-end harmonic distortion but also all the frequency and load dependent subtleties occurring in a transformer coupled tube circuit, and which add up to that typical mojo we know from the analog classics. This would not have been possible with plain waveshaping techniques but has been realized with my innovative Stateful Saturation approach, making it possible to model circuits having a (short) sort of memory.

EXD-80 – Drum Synthesizer by Third Harmonic Studios

The third freeware plugin we have keeps on rolling with the retro vibes – drum rolling that is…! EXD-80 has a variety of digitally processed percussion hits at our disposal from classic emulations to glitchy revelations. The virtual instrument is available for Windows only in VST format. Here are more features from Third Harmonic Studios:

Get your ‘nn-ts-nn-ts-nn-ts’ fix right here.

Overview

Third Harmonic Studios have released EXD-80, a free 32-bit VST instrument plugin for Windows. The plugin is a virtual analog drum and percussion synthesizer featuring:

• 8 Modules – kick, snare, open and closed hi-hats, 5 x percussion sounds
• 4 Stereo output pairs
• Each output pair has its own stereo effects section featuring a Granulator and Waveshaper
• Supports VST host automation and MIDI continuous controllers
• User definable MIDI note mappings
• 128 User drum kit patches (comes with 16 preset drum kits)

EXD-80 is a flexible drum synth that can produce a wide variety of drum and percussion sounds, from emulations of classic drum machines to crazy, mangled glitch sounds – all synthesized, no samples here! It is suitable for many EDM styles including electro, glitch, industrial, ambient, dubstep, drum & bass and hip hop.

SOR 8 Stressor – Distressor EL-8-Based Compressor by Cocell Productions

Distressor emulator – nuff said.

Seeing as how this plugin is based off of the classic EL-8 Distressor analog compressor, we can expect numerous combinations of distortion, compression and side-chaining.  This is the type of plugin we would take home to mom. Available for Mac and PC as VST and AU formats, let’s see some more details from Cocell Productions:

• Modeled Classic Compressor plugin
• Based on acclaimed Distressor® EL-8 Compressor, 500 Series Rack Style.
• Power On/Off Switch (Bypass) .
• Gain Reduction meter.
• Input level meter (-12 dB detect).
• Input control (Relative threshold).
• Threshold Controlled Circuitry(-30 to -50 dB).
• Ratio switch (1, 2, 4, 8, 20 and Nuke).
• Attack time control (0.05 ms to 4 secs).
• Release time control (0.30 ms to 3 secs).
• Post-Coloring modes switch (1, 2).
• Output control (0 to 40 dB).
• Side-Chain Filter modes HP(D) / BP(B) Detector, HP(A) Audio
• Dry/Wet Parallel Compression Knob

FireBird 2 – Harmonic Content Morphing (HCM) Synth by Tone2

If users have room for only one more freeware plugin, we highly recommend this one. Why? Because after seven loyal years, Tone2 has decided to release FireBird 2 as a freeware product (previously $79). The synth comes packed with 437 sounds specific to its unique synthesis method, HCM. You can read more about that here. Only catch – Windows ONLY! Sorry mac loyalists. Here are more details from Tone2:

The FireBird 2 uses Harmonic Content Morphing (HCM) subtractive synthesis.

Harmonic Content Morphing synthesis is based on a large, expandable repertoire of standard waves, like saw, pulse, as well as more complex wave material, like multi-waves, trumpets, organs, pads, pianos and voice samples.
These waves are modified in real-time, by for example transposing the wave by one or two octaves and adding it to the original wave, altering its harmonic structure, syncing, compressing or even expanding the frequency domain of the spectrum. Making the wave for example sound more fat using only one oscillator, transforming each wave into a hyper-wave or selecting some cycles of a sample and moving through them over time (comparable to wavetable synthesis).
Any modification of a wave can be modulated producing lively shimmery sounds (remember: using only one oscillator!) With a total of more than 18,000 different spectra available for combination and modulation, Firebird+ gives an almost unlimited amount of timbres to experiment with.

Features

• Very easy to program and easy to use
• A unique sounding synthesis: Harmonic content morphing (HCM)
• High sound quality: Warm, transparent
• 437 hand picked presets included, over 1000 sounds available
• 84 oscillator types containing 18,000 morphable waveforms
• 38 different filter types
• True stereo mode, 4x unison mode, and up to 8 oscillators per voice
• Can sound like other synthesis methods – additive, subtractive, AM, FM, phase distortion, supersaw, vocoder, sync
• Can sound like natural instruments like piano, brass, organs…
• 23 spectral manipulations or “modifiers” can be applied to the oscillators
• 21 arpeggiator types
• 13 effect types
• Skinable user interface

HUE-X – As musically descriptive as an EQ can get.

HUE-X + M4GIQ Bundle – EQ and Multi-FX Plugin by Mildon Studios

Lastly we have a freeware bundle combining a musical parametric EQ and (the real gem) a 4-band multi-fx plugin. The HUE-X’s musicality comes from the way it is laid out – unlike traditional EQs that display the actual frequencies (20Hz – 20kHz), this one lists the audio spectrum by musical terms from “Boom” to “Sparkle”. Beginners should find it very useful.

The M4GIQ is a cool take on an FX plugin that allows users to apply different effects to different bands which could really help sources cut through mixes in different ways. The plugin bundle is available for Windows users only. Here are the descriptions from Mildon Studios:

HUE-X

Part II of the bundle is M4GIQ – A multi-band, multi-fx plugin.

HUE-X is perfect EQ for those who trust their ears or just love to experiment with sound. It is designed to let you bring

out what you want in the sound instantly and with much ease. Now you can control different characteristics of the sound without having to deal with the obscurity of traditional EQ’s.Screenshot

M4GIQ

M4GIQ is a 4-band multi-fx plugin that lets you apply Gain, Panning, and Delay to each frequency band. This is extremely useful for spreading frequencies across the stereo image, making it easier for the sound to cut through. You can shape the sound further with the Gain controls and High-pass/Low-pass filters. Delay can also be added to make an interesting effect, or to emphasize the spreading of frequencies. Screenshot

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