An extensive collection of some great free VST plugins for guitars, drums, mixing and mastering. Plugins include both open-source and third-party addons.
> Compatible with all major DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations).
> Available in all major formats such as VST, VSTi, VST3, AU, AAX, and more.
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> Compatible with all major DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations).
Virtual Studio Technology (VST) plugins are predominantly used by bedroom producers, hobbyists, professional recording engineers, and music composers in studio as well as bedroom projects. In the olden days, recording music involved lugging around heavy analog physical gear that was not only painstaking but also expensive.
Then came along Virtual Studio Technology (VST) that was developed either to complement or replace analog physical equipment. Hence, instead of investing in expensive musical instruments such as guitar, drums, synthesizers or hardware effects units such as stompboxes and processors, you can use VST plugins that basically perform the same function at a fraction of a cost or even free!
Most VST plugins are compatible and intrinsically designed for use with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) or audio editing program. VST plugins serve different purposes. While VST instrument plugins (VSTi) allow you to insert a gamut of virtual instruments into an audio recording/track without using physical versions of those instruments, VST effects plugins help add rich effects that can modulate or alter your audio tracks in myriad ways.
Types of VST Plugins
There are 3 types of VST plugins, they are as follows:
VST Instruments: As the name suggests, VST instrument (VSTi) plugins produce realistic audio that sounds like it was created by real-world instruments such as an electric/acoustic guitar, piano or synthesizer. Furthermore, many of these VSTi plugins sport graphical user interfaces that resemble popular hardware synthesizers' controls and ethos in terms of circuitry.
VST Effects: VST effects plugins can modulate audio in myriad ways. Please note that VST effects plugins can not create new audio. However, they can be used for embellishing the sound by adding reverb, phaser, delay and other effects. VST effects plugins can also provide different types of visual feedback based on spatial audio recognition.
VST MIDI Effects: VST MIDI effects plugins work with Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data, either on their own or in conjunction with other VST plugins.
How to use a VST Plugin?
Virtual Studio Technology plugins can function both as standalone units or loaded in digital audio workstations for composing music. If you want to use a VST plugin to aid your music composition endeavors, you first need to purchase, download and install a DAW such as FL Studio, Ableton Live, or Reaper.
Here's how you use a VST plugin in your DAW -:
Locate a VST plugin you want, and download it. You can either purchase a premium VST plugin or download a free VST plugins.
If the plugin comes in a ZIP file, unzip it.
Move the unzipped VST plugin files in a folder. Next, move this unzipped VST folder to the plugins directory file of your DAW.
Alternately, if the VST has an executable file, run it. This is a safer and faster way of installing a VST plugin since it also allows you to choose the installation folder.
Launch your favourite DAW, and search for new VSTs in the plugins repository.
To check the usability of the plugin, create a new project in your DAW, and select the newly added VSTi as an instrument. If it is an effects VST you can place it on a channel track using the mixer. Voila! You are now ready to roll and produce professional sounding great music!
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