logo
    • Donate

    Captain's Sounds

    Free Ableton racks, presets & sample packs. No paywall — just sign in and download.

    Explore

    • All packs
    • Free VSTs
    • Equipment rentals
    • Donate
    • Download history

    Support the site

    • PayPal paypal.me/captainofbass
    • Venmo @captainofbass
    • Cash App $captainofbass
    Donate

    © 2020-2026 Captain's Sounds · Privacy Policy

    Resources

    Free VSTs

    These VSTs are worth having in every arsenal, despite being FREE. I‘ve left out a few that I use because Ableton has better internal options.

    Looking for more?

    I‘m listing the ones I use, but here are a few good lists if you‘re looking for more: KVR list · LANDR list · theproaudiofiles.com list · thehomerecordings.com list

    I also recommend picking up a copy of Computer Music (online or mag), you will get a GIANT backlog of amazing VSTs for free!

    Packages & companies with several products

    GVST

    Several great effect plugins & synths

    Melda

    Free effects, and amazing plugins

    Native Instruments - Komplete Start

    Synths, effects, instruments

    Plugin Alliance

    Effects

    Reaper - ReaPlugs

    Plugins from Reaper DAW as VSTs

    TAL

    Effects & instruments (older plugins may require a 32bit VST bridge like JBridge)

    Voxengo

    Awesome utilities and effects

    By category

    Analyzers

    • Melda - MOscilliscope
    • s(M)exoscope
    • Voxengo - SPAN

    Auto-tuners

    • GVST - GSnap
    • Melda - MAutopitch

    Bit Crushers

    • Melda - MBitFun

    Clippers

    • Venn Audio - Free Clip
    • GVST - GClip

      Windows only

    Compressors

    • Klanghelm - DCA1
    • Klanghelm - MJuc Jr

      Mu compressor

    • Melda - MCompressor

      Adjustable compressor

    • Xfer - OTT

      Modeled after Ableton's OTT multiband dynamics, but still useful

    Filters

    • Melda - MComb

      Comb filter

    • Plugin Alliance - bx_cleansweep

      Analog LP/HP

    Glitch

    • Illformed - Glitch 1

      May require JBridge

    • GlitchMachines - Fracture
    • GlitchMachines - Hysteresis

      Glitch delay

    Instruments

    • Dexed

      Yamaha DX7 clone

    • Helm

      Free, but excellent synth

    • Spitfire Audio - Labs

      Excellent sampled instruments

    • VCV RACK

      The mother of free modular synths — install the 0.6.2c version (from vcvrack.com/downloads) before the latest to get the VST bridge

    • VeeSeeVST Rack

      A pre-built VST of VCV Rack with several free modules included

    • Wavosaur - VST Speek

      8-bit speech engine

    Mix

    • Plugin Alliance - bx_subfilter

      Mix tool for your sub chain

    Reverb

    • Melda - MConvolutionEZ

      Convolution reverb

    Saturation

    • Klanghelm - IVGI
    • Softtube - Saturation Knob
    • Voxengo - Tube Amp

    Stereo Imaging

    • Izotope - Ozone Imager 2
    • Polyverse - Wider

      My fav plugin for generating width

    • Voxengo - MSED

      Mid/side adjuster

    • Xfer - Dimension Expander

      Chorus spatial expander to emulate NI Massive dimension expander

    Timestretching

    • Xenakios - PaulXStretch

      Extreme time stretching

    Vinyl Effects

    • Izotope - Vinyl

    Vocal Effects

    • Izotope - Vocal Doubler