Voxengo Polysquasher is a mastering compressor AAX, AudioUnit and VST plugin for professional sound and music production applications. Polysquasher was designed with a main goal: to be transparent. Transparent compression action is a cornerstone for any mastering compressor. Download all the best free VST compressor plugin effects. Audio Compression and dynamic processing for mastering, mixing and individual tracks.
The versatile effect is used for narrowing dynamic range, manipulating amplitude envelopes, peak limiting, and more.
Compressors are also well known for having distinct characteristics depending on the circuitry (or in the digital world, the programming,) of the particular model. This raises the question – which compressor works best for you?
Up next in our “Best of Free VST” series, we searched for five of the best free compression VST / AU plugins out there. All the plugins listed have versions compatible with both Mac and Windows and are relatively up-to-date with current operating systems. Some are available directly from Splice’s Plugins catalog.
Be sure to check out the Splice project at the bottom of this article for a demo of the five plugins along with a download of our free custom presets!
As you might guess from the name, Audio Damage’s Rough Rider is a compressor best suited for aggressive pumping rather than subtle attenuation. The compressor has a warm, vintage sound that can add desirable harmonic content to a drum buss or lead guitar. If you’re going for transparency, look elsewhere, but for compression that leaves its mark Rough Rider will do the job.
Download the free plugin here: Rough Rider
Rough Rider is compatible with Mac OS X 10.8 and later versions as well as Windows 8 and later versions.
Klanghelm’s MJUCjr is a compressor that gets a lot of mileage out of minimal controls. A single “Compress” dial manages the ratio and threshold of the compression, while the three-position “Time Constraints” switch simultaneously controls the attack and release times.
Its digital emulation of tube compression provides some colorful saturation, and the compressor can handle smooth attenuation as well as more aggressive pumping. MJUCjr certainly isn’t a compressor intended to be deliberately fine-tuned, but some experimentation can create surprisingly pleasing results (and save the headache of adjusting a dozen parameters).
Download the free plugin here: MJUCjr
MJUCjr is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and later versions as well as Windows 7 and later versions.
The SAFE Compressor is a relatively transparent compressor that excels in subtlety in comparison to the biting Rough Rider or tube-emulating MJUCjr. It has all your standard compressor parameters (threshold, ratio, knee, attack, release, and gain) alongside a simple graphic display that offers a visual reference for your compression curve.
What makes the SAFE Compressor unique is how the user can upload and download custom presets made by other users via Semantic Audio’s server. This nifty feature allows for the SAFE Compressor to have an unlimited number of presets that can be experimented with endlessly.
Download the free plugin here: SAFE Compressor
SAFE Reverb is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 and later as well as Windows and Linux.
FXpansion’s DCAM FreeComp is a circuit-modelled compressor that can deliver some extra punch to a track. Its ratio dial locks at 3 positions, delivering options of gentle attenuation, moderate compression, and near-limiting aggression.
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The UI has a classic look featuring an analog-inspired meter that can toggle between output metering and gain reduction metering. Use DCAM FreeComp modestly to tame peaks and glue tracks together, or crank up the settings for some energetic pumping and envelope shaping.
Download the free plugin here: DCAM FreeComp
DCAM FreeComp is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5.8 and later versions as well as Windows 7 and later versions.
Xfer Records bring the same quality and edge found in Serum (their flagship wavetable synthesizer) to the OTT compressor. This compressor remains minimalistic in its controls while featuring unique functionalities such as upwards and downwards compression as well as multiband capabilities.
OTT shines brightest in genres such as dubstep or electro where it can be used for aggressive envelope manipulation or limiting at higher Depth settings. Used properly, the OTT compressor can rival many commercial compressors in the market.
Download the free plugin here: OTT
OTT is compatible with Mac OS X as well as Windows.
The project below showcases the five compressor plugins with custom presets from Splice. The project first plays an uncompressed drum groove and then loops with a different compressor plugin applied to each repeat.
Download our custom presets for all 5 free compressors.
October 26, 2018
As I cover in my new course Mastering in the Box, there are some incredible plugins available for anyone interested in computer-based mastering. Although nothing can replace an experienced engineer, working in an expertly designed room, on high-end equipment, there are some fantastic free tools available online that will aid engineers working on projects with limited budgets.
Here are some completely free plugins that you can work into your in the box mastering workflow …
As I cover in the course, Metering is absolutely essential to mastering, and SPAN is a versatile and free utility plugin.
It provides spectral analysis, correlation metering and clipping detection, as well as displaying RMS and max crest factor. The interface is simple, clear, and even somewhat customizable. It’s a truly deep, accurate and useful metering plugin, which is refreshing considering that it’s free. It’s also compatible with virtually every DAW.
Described as “a look-ahead brickwall loudness maximizer plugin with a clean transparent sound, designed to retain the original character of the music as much as possible even at high compression levels,” LoudMax is a wonderfully simply tool. It has two sliders: threshold and output — and that’s all it needs.
If you’re interested in learning how a limiter works and affects your material, LoudMax boils the concept down to its most basic elements, all while providing a mostly transparent sound.
This is a more complex and versatile take on limiting. It offers more control than LoudMax, which can be helpful if your program material requires detailed tweaking.
Its five modules include: RMS compressor, peak limiter, high-frequency limiter, clipper, and true peak limiter.
Each of these modules have extremely flexible controls. There are some expensive and well-known limiter plugins that don’t come with features like mid-side processing, oversampling and true peak detection. The fact that these features come included with Limiter №6 makes it even more special.
I’m still pretty shocked that this plugin is free. It looks great, it’s easy to use, and it’s deeper than some metering tools that cost hundreds of dollars more. It allows you to measure PEAK, RMS, EBU R128, VU and PPM. Additionally, it has multi-channel metering so you can see what’s happening on the stereo, left, right, mid, or side channels.
The five different themes allow the user to change the look to various classic VU and PPM Meters, which is a nice touch. (It doesn’t improve the sound quality — I prefer the sleek look of the retro skin.)
Some mixes require a bit of balancing the information spread between the channels, and Stereo Tool v3 is prefect for this application. It includes panning controls for the left and right channels, a vector scope display, global stereo width and pan controls, PPM Input and Output meters, a phase correlation meter, and a variety of other useful features.
If the content you’ve been delivered has balance and phase issues, this is an excellent free plugin.
Being able to sculpt your signal using an equalizer is essential for a mastering engineer. This linear-phase 16-band graphic equalizer is impressive in both functionality and sound.
I’m not sure why every plugin doesn’t have an “undo/redo” function, because after using this equalizer, I find it to be quite helpful. Being able to work in mid-side mode allows the user to treat information in the center separately from the sides, which, when used properly, can result in a much clearer stereo spread, and a more defined space amongst individual elements.
As with each of the great tools on this list, it’s surprising that such a useful tool is free.
I generally believe that in audio, you get what you pay for, but each of the aforementioned plugins are exceptions to this rule.
If you’re interested in expanding your knowledge and learning effective techniques for getting great sounding masters 100% in the box, check out my debut course: Mastering in the Box
Download a FREE 40-minute tutorial from Matthew Weiss on mixing low end.