1. Plugin Alliance Free Plugins
Plugin Alliance is offering six plugins from Brainworx, Apogee and Lindell Audio as part of a free account. All you need is a free Plugin Alliance account to use them.
The 6 free plugins
- Soft Limit (Apogee) – Limiter
- bx_masterdesk (Brainworx) – Mastering chain
- bx_refinement V3 (Brainworx) – Harshness remover
- 254E (Lindell Audio) – Compressor/limiter
- bx_console N (Brainworx) – Console channel strip
- bx_boom V3 (Brainworx) – Low-end (kick and bass) enhancement effect
Soft Limit
A recreation of the Soft Limit function found in every Apogee hardware unit since the AD 500. Add a little grit to drums or gently limit the stereo bus to glue instruments together and give tracks character. It is especially suited to vocals, instruments and stereo mixes, softly rounding off transients while tracking or mixing to prevent clipping and unwanted distortion.
Key features
- Limits tracks without distorting them
- Handles everything from subtle limiting to driven, distorted sounds with the Drive control
- 4x, 8x and 16x oversampling
- Automatic makeup gain
- Mono and stereo metering
bx_masterdesk
A mastering plugin that packs the tone of an entire analog mastering desk into one plugin. A carefully selected chain of mastering processors comes pre-tuned, so you can finish a master quickly even without mastering experience. Switch presets to set the direction, then fine-tune with the main knobs such as Volume, Foundation and Tone. You can even finish a master in under a minute.
3-step workflow
- Volume: sets how hard the signal drives the processing chain. Watch the dynamic range VU meter to find the point where the track sounds louder without sacrificing sound quality
- Foundation: balances the low and high ends and shapes the bass that anchors the master
- Tone Stack: fine-tunes the character of the master. You can also adjust the mastering de-esser, the compressor Mix and the stereo width
Key features
- High-end analog mastering chain in a single plugin
- Simple 3-step workflow with clear metering
- Plenty of presets for instant results
- Mid/Side functionality
- Brainworx patented TMT (Tolerance Modeling Technology)
bx_refinement V3
Developed by Brainworx together with Gebre Waddell (Public Enemy, George Clinton, Rick Ross), a member of the Grammy Recording Academy, this plugin quickly tames harsh, ear-piercing frequencies. Just turn the Damping knob to remove harshness from the problem band. V3 has been rewritten from scratch, adding new features and improving stability, clarity and usability.
Usage tips
- Turn the Damping knob to remove harshness in the problem band
- Change how the filter is applied with the Soft, Hard and Wide characters
- Finish with Brainworx’s traditional tube saturation
- Useful for cleaning up live recordings, fixing mic proximity effect and bleed, and, depending on the settings, as a de-esser
- The dynamics and LFO modules can be automated individually, enabling creative uses such as rhythmic pumping, sidechaining and random movement
Key features
- Removes harshness in problem bands
- 40 presets covering the main recording use cases
- Mid, Side and stereo processing (M+S)
- Mix control for parallel processing
- Tube-style saturation
- Dynamic modulation with external sidechain support
- Enhanced LFO with free, tempo-synced and random modes
- Peak-level-based de-harshing
New in V3
- Presence Modulation
- External DYN modulation source
- DYN+LFO modulation
- Modulation amount control
- Random modulation
- Wide mode
- Side-only processing
- LFO meter
- Mono Maker
- Stereo width
- Scalable UI and UI color selection
- Code rebuilt from the ground up for performance and stability
254E
A compressor/limiter that faithfully recreates a vintage British broadcast limiter. The original hardware was built for broadcasters, but rock producers discovered the warm, punchy character it produces when pushed hard, and it became a staple for adding musical weight and energy to tracks and the master bus. It reproduces the rich analog tone of diode-bridge gain reduction in your DAW and is a great fit when you want a powerful drum bus.
Key features
- Limiting and compression run on separate circuits (use either on its own or both together)
- Faithful emulation of a classic compressor/limiter
- Wet/Dry mix knob
- Slow/Fast attack time switch
bx_console N
A channel strip modeled on a rare 72-channel large-format analog console. Typical channel strip plugins model just one channel, so every instance behaves identically. With Brainworx’s TMT (Tolerance Modeling Technology), bx_console N reproduces the module-to-module variations of the real hardware across each of the 72 selectable channels. Load it on multiple tracks to get the depth, width and punch of a real multichannel console.
Included sections
- Compressor/limiter
- Expander/gate
- 4-band EQ
- High-pass/low-pass filters
The EQ delivers natural tone shaping even with extreme boosts and cuts, and the dynamics offer program-dependent release and full sidechain support.
Features not found on the original hardware
- A second release threshold for the compressor (reduces pumping on delicate sources such as acoustic guitar)
- A sidechain-only high-pass filter (keeps punch and clarity on low-end-heavy sources such as kick and male vocals)
- One-click swap of the EQ before or after the compressor
- Compressor/limiter Mix control for parallel compression
- Independent THD control per channel to add harmonic saturation
- Mid/Side solo in the toolbar to pinpoint distortion and phase problems
Key features
- Models a rare large vintage analog console, with 72 different TMT channels reproducing analog variation
- Full-featured channel strip with compressor/limiter, expander/gate, 4-band EQ and wide-range high-pass/low-pass filters
- Brainworx patented TMT simulates channel-to-channel variation of electronic components
- The gate has continuously variable hysteresis control to prevent chattering around the threshold
- Independent, continuously variable THD control per channel
- Independent, continuously variable Virtual Gain control per channel to add analog noise
- Extensive metering and monitoring, including M/S solo
bx_boom V3
The classic kick drum tool returns as V3 with an improved algorithm, helping you define the low end and build impactful beats. Punch and precision are improved, and features, controls and the GUI have been substantially revamped. The “fat kick” that matters in EDM, hip-hop, pop and many other genres can be built quickly with dedicated controls rather than ordinary EQ moves, making it useful for finishing kicks and bass. The new phase rotation control lets you align the sub frequencies of multiple layers so drums cut through accurately.
Key features
- Improved algorithm for punchier results
- New Drive saturation control
- Frequency range extended up to 128 Hz
- New Modern mode for powerful, impactful kicks in any mix
- Phase rotation control to align sub frequencies of multiple layers
- New UI with added features and a resizable GUI
- Can also shape whole drum loops and kicks inside a final mix, which is hard to do with normal EQ
- Distortion and saturation add character and presence to kicks
2. How to Install the Plugin Alliance Free Plugins
You can install the free Plugin Alliance products with the following steps.
- Create a Plugin Alliance account (or log in if you already have one)
- Download the Installation Manager (Mac/Windows)
- Open the Installation Manager, log in and install the free plugins
That is all on the Plugin Alliance freebies.
We also keep track of the latest sales and freebies for plugins and gear beyond Plugin Alliance and keep adding new ones to the roundup of the latest deals. You may find some great discounts, so be sure to check it out.