This week’s free plugins are the 7 plugins which make up the Free Starter Bundle from Plugin Alliance.
What Is In The Free Starter Bundle?
The bundle comprises 7 plugins:
bx_masterdesk Classic - All in one mastering console
bx-cleansweep v2 - High/Low Pass Filters
bx-solo - channel tools
bx_subfilter - resonant high pass filter
Double MS - MS processing plugin
Free Ranger - graphic EQ
niveau filter - filter plugin
The bx-masterdesk was free for a limited time in 2021 and it now features in this bundle with seven other free plugins which have been free for a long time. but have never before been offered as a bundle.
How Do I Get These Plug-ins?
Just sign up for a free account at plugin alliance and you will automatically receive these 8 FREE plugins from Brainworx, elysia, SPL and Schoeps. comprising various EQs and filters, multiple guitar and bass amps, M/S mixing tools, and more.
1. Open an account with Plugin Alliance
2. Download the Installation Manager
3. Install the free plugins. Done.
You will already have licenses in your account.
No iLok is required to run these plugins. They are available for Mac or PC in VST, AU, and AAX Native and DSP.
In this week's Friday Free Plug-in, we are featuring bx_subfilter from Plugin Alliance, the bx_subfilter is the filter section from the bx_subsynth plug-in. It's not news that the secret to big bass lies in controlling the bottom end, and the humble high pass filter becomes hugely more interesting when it is a resonant filter.
In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers uses the free Brainworx bx_solo from Plugin Alliance on a mix to demonstrate the use of the solo buttons and the stereo width control. In this video Julian illustrates how stereo signal, while made up of a left and right channel, can also be presented as mid and side components, the mid being the sum of the two channels and the side being the difference between those two channels.
High-pass and to a lesser extent low-pass filters are essential tools and using a pair of filters it is possible to keep unwanted audio out of the signal path. Whether used as a safety net or as a corrective tool they are something we use on every mix. In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers uses free bx_cleansweep V2 on the master of a mix.
In this free video Pro Tools Expert Team Member Julian Rodgers looks at the SPL Free Ranger plugin from Plugin Alliance, a cut-down version of the fully-featured EQ Ranger Plus.
It features four very useful bands: The 16 kHz centre frequency band is great for adding very pleasant brilliance; the 1.8kHz centre frequency band really brings out lead vocals and guitars or reduces harshness; the 150 Hz centre frequency band adds warmth, making tracks fuller & fatter, while the 40 Hz centre frequency band adds that sub thump or reduces rumble.
In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert Team member Julian Rodgers looks at the Elysia Niveau Filter from Plugin Alliance. This plug in offers a simple approach to balancing tonal content, with a variable tilt EQ which can offer high pass and low pass filter behaviour at the extremes.
We have just added the Schoeps Double MS Tool to our free plug-in database and so I thought it would be could to take a look at it as double MS or MSM is my preferred surround micing technique.
Julian Rodgers is Editor of Production Expert. He has a background in live sound and has been a Pro Tools user since 2001. He lives by the sea in West Cornwall where he plays piano, bass and guitar equally badly and is an avid collector of microphones and opinions about all things audio.