Best Vst Distortion Plugin
Distortion is one of those effects that can have a use in any recording or music production setting. Even if you aren’t particularly into brash and dirty sounds, distortion plugins will have value for warming up sounds and introducing a bit of analog-style tone and response to your productions.
The Melohman is the go-to distortion VST for many of the most successful producers in the game, including Armin Van Buuren and Skrillex. There are many reasons for this, including its incredible versatility and user-friendly interface. DJs also love all of the features this plugin offers that are designed with performance in mind. Can we discuss Distortion plugins for VST on Mac? What are some cool ones out there. The generic Distortion on Cubase 5 imho is fairly average. I want to send some Synth bases through, maybe some guitar audio through, maybe vocals etc. I am not necessarily looking for an Amp simulator but please feel free to enlighten me. FREE VST PLUGINS. Search for: FREE VST PLUGINS. Free Audio Plugins. Wave Destroyer size 3 MB / 2 MB / 2 MB Wave Destroyer is an audio distortion plugin capable of. Without a doubt, distortion and saturation VST plugins will for the foreseeable future remain essential in sound production. It’s almost obvious, but as it turns out- there isn’t a better way to add musical warmth and cohesion to your mixes than using these effects. This is a three multi-band distortion plugin that you could use if you were looking for a replacement- or cheaper version of iZotope Trash. This plugin has a price of 49 USD, half of what iZotope Trash is at, yet it offers the same high quality distortion effect and will basically yield a great sound at cheaper price.
Here we rundown some of the best free distortion VST plugins available. Whether you are looking to give your tracks a slight edge or you are after total industrial mayhem, these plug-ins will deliver at a price that your wallet will love.
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Introduction: About Distortion Plugins
Distortion plug-ins replicate the sound of analog circuitry being pushed to the limit.
With tube amps or op-amp circuits, feeding excessively high levels early on in the chain results in a warm, gritty, and present sound that sounds bigger, louder, and more exciting.
Distortion is used to marvelous, effect by guitarists, but it can also add life to synth parts, drums, and even vocals. In fact, if you work in a studio long enough, you would be hard pressed to think of a sound source that wouldn’t benefit from varying degrees of distortion in some way.
Free Distortion Plugins
The List
Distortion Plug-in Roundup
Creative Intent’s Temper Distortion is a distortion plug-in that has a rich saturation stage.
The variable saturation curve helps produce a warmer and edgier sound than most distortion plug-ins are capable of.
It also employs phase distortion that helps enhance clarity and produces a more characterful drive. A resonant lowpass filter and a feedback control further aids in tone shaping.
One of the best qualities of Temper is how it can be pushed to extreme levels of distortion while still retaining clarity.
As far as digital distortions go, this is one of the few that manages to be pleasant sounding even as it mangles your sound.
TNT by Ourafilmes was originally intended as a drum and distortion plug-in that is also useful for creating special effects.
It is actually a suite of distortion plug-ins consisting of a single band and a multi-band unit, each of which come in mono and stereo versions. The single band version is further enhanced with the addition of a tone knob.
Later versions of the plug-in come with a 6dB crossover filter that enables the separation of the low and high bands.
With the ability to set different saturation algorithms for each band, TNT is quite a bit more versatile than your typical distortion plug-in.
Best Vst Distortion Plugins
Audio Damage is well known for its quality plug-ins, and FuzzPlus 3 holds up the company’s reputation admirably.
An updated version of the company’s original FuzzPlus pedal emulation, the FuzzPlus delivers the same great-sounding fuzzy distortion and enhances it with a filter modeled after the filter on Korg’s classic Microsoft-20 analog synthesizer.
Along with the ability to feed the processed signal back to the distortion circuitry, this results in increased sound-shaping possibilities.
The FuzzPlus 3 works amazingly well for processing drum loops and synths, transforming them into weird and wonderfully bizarre rhythms and textures.
But it is also quite capable of restraint, producing subtle saturations and tonal coloration when adjusted to moderate settings.
Distorque’s Plusdistortion is a plug-in emulation of the MXR Distortion+ pedal, which is favored by guitarists for its wide range of tones.
From light grit to all-out fuzz, the Distortion+ pretty much covers all the bases, and Plusdistortion is every bit as versatile.
The secret to the Distortion+ is the germanium diode clipping circuitry and the lo-fi op amp that produce the pedal’s distinctly characterful tone. The Plusdistortion somehow manages to capture the spirit of the pedal, with the added tweakability afforded by software.
Also from Distorque is Rangebastard, which is an emulation of another classic guitarists’ tool, the Dallas Rangemaster.
Like the Plusdistortion, the Rangebastard builds on the tone-shaping capabilities of the original with added features and tweakability.
With 2x oversampling, stereo and mono modes, and controls for input filtering, transistor, and even grid current, the Rangebastard is pretty much the Dallas Rangemaster on steroids.
More mangled textures are in the offing from Distorque, by way of the Face Bender.
Fans of classic fuzz pedal circuits will recognize the name as a combination of the Fuzz Face and Tone Bender MKII, both of which are still highly regarded in the guitar world.
Like those two pedals, the Face Bender delivers nasty, spitting distortion that walks the fine line between musicality and all-out sonic mayhem.
Full-on, retro-style fuzz is the primary domain of this plug-in, but it can also be dialed back for more tasteful saturation.
Finally, DistoCore’s Disto::FX is every bit the “Dirty Sound Destructor” as the marketing copy so proudly boasts.
Designed for all-out sonic assault, this is a loud and proud distortion plug-in that specializes in a surprising variety of distortion flavors.
Top Pick
Creative Intent’s Temper Distortion is the clear winner in this roundup. With the ability to get as down and dirty as any of them, it also cleans up nicely for more sedate and sensible saturation.
This is not to say that the rest of the entrants are slouches. Ourafilmes’ TNT and Audio Damage’s FuzzPlus 3 are certainly quite capable of delivering everything from a slight touch of grit to end-of-the-world sonic devastation.
Distorque’s pedal emulations for their part are all potentially useful for more traditional, stomp box flavors. And you just gotta love Disto::FX’s ability to make a heaving, bristling mess out of anything.
So while Temper Distortion gets the nod as our “top pick”, we wholeheartedly suggest that you download them all and have all your distortion bases covered.
After all, you can’t beat the price!
In this section of our free VST plugins directory, we’re taking a look at the best freeware distortion effects in VST and AU plugin format for digital audio workstations on PC and Mac.
Everybody loves distortion. No matter what style of music you make or what kind of sound design you do, distortion is universally used in a way that few other audio tools are. You can use it to warm up sterile digital tracks and give them a more analog feel, add grit and grind to guitars or vocals, or beef up drum tracks to make snare drums cut through the mix better. The applications are pretty much endless.
While distortion plugins used to be somewhat one-dimensional, they have come a long way and have gotten a lot more elaborate. It used to be that gain and volume were pretty much the only parameters that distortion plugins offered, but those days are gone. Now distortion plugins fall into many categories: multi-band and phase distortions, bitcrushers, hardware preamp emulations, dynamic distortions, you name it.
So if you are looking for some new ways to play with distortion, give some of these plugins a shot. Your tracks have a lot to gain.
FuzzPlus 3 by Audio Damage (MacOS, Windows)
While many of the options on this list lean more toward saturation and straight up distortion, the FuzzPlus 3 sits directly in fuzz territory, as the name implies. It offers a low-pass filter, Audio Damage’s take on the same found in the Korg MS-20 synthesizer. You can even feed the processed signal back into the “circuit” for more creative options.
The FuzzPlus 3 sports a sleek interface with five simple control parameters. You can set the specific Frequency and Resonance (the amount of frequency boost) of the filter section, the amount of Distortion, and at the output section – the amount of Feedback and Output Level. Visually, there is a spectrum analyzer that shows you the amount of clipping of the waveform of the signal. It is not extremely accurate, but it does give you a general visual representation of how your signal is being affected.
FuzzPlus 3 is a terrific option for sonic annihilation, and while its usefulness is a bit esoteric, it can add some unique flavor to your tracks. If sonic annihilation is your thing, be sure to check out the amazing Rough Rider compressor which was also developed by Audio Damage.
More info:FuzzPlus 3(VST/VST3/AU/AAX)
Krush by Tritik (MacOS, Windows)
If you’re looking for something more extreme, then try Krush, a multi-faceted bitcrusher. It offers three simple controls to set the type of distortion – Drive, Crush, and Downsample. Drive adds a more traditional distortion, and this parameter applies pleasant amounts of saturation throughout its entire range. Crush sets the bitcrusher controls and can sonically annihilate any signal, while the Downsample control is excellent for creating chaotic 8-bit sounds. There is also a Filter section that features low-pass and high-pass options with controls for frequency and resonance.
The second row of parameters offers modulation controls for the distortion and filter settings, as well as a waveform selector and Rate option. You can sync the modulation to the tempo of your session as well, taking out some of the guesswork. Finally, there are dry and wet sliders to set the overall balance. For electronic styles and sound design, this plugin absolutely crushes it.
More info:Krush(VST/AU)
Temper by Creative Intent (MacOS, Windows)
Throw any preconceptions you have of distortion away! As the only phase distortion on this list, Temper is a bit confusing at first glance. Based on a phase distortion algorithm, it can do what nothing else on this list can – much more than traditional clipping.
The flavor of distortion is set with three controls – Curve, Drive, and Saturation. The Drive knob goes from -10 to 10. With the gain set to zero, there is no distortion at all. At any other setting, the plugin applies a different flavor of distortion that is determined by how the Saturation and Curve controls are set. The Cutoff control sets the frequency of the low-pass filter, and the Resonance controls emphasis. Temper also adds a bit of harmonic excitement.
Showing dry and wet signals simultaneously, the spectrum analyzer gives a solid visual representation of what the plugin is doing to your signal. You might not find much use for it on guitars or a drum buss, but it can do great things for electronic instruments and styles of music.
More info:Temper(VST/AU)
SGA1566 by Shattered Glass Audio (MacOS, Windows)
The SGA1566 is a hardware preamp emulation, and its design is a take on a two-stage 12AX7 tube preamp. It can add a lot of life and fatten up tracks recorded digitally or through solid-state gear. The plugin is excellent for use on pretty much any mix element, from vocals to bass, as well as a tool for subtle saturation on busses and the master channel.
The control scheme is pretty sophisticated, with knobs for Input and Output gain, as well as a Gain knob that controls the amount of drive to the tube section. One of the coolest features is that the Baxandall EQ section can be placed before or after the distortion, adding versatility. SGA1566 is notorious for eating up a lot of CPU. To remedy this issue, there is a switch for high or low performance, but the sound has more fidelity at the higher setting. It can also be run in mono or stereo.
More info:SGA1566(VST/AU)
Tube Saturator Vintage by Wave Arts (MacOS, Windows)
The Wave Arts Tube Saturator is an authentic digital model of a dual 12AX7 triode hardware preamp. It features a sleek GUI and robust feature set, and while it uses a lot of CPU, it is a fantastic alternative to expensive preamp emulations from companies like Slate and Waves.
As with hardware tube pres, a Drive knob controls the amount of gain, and an Output control sets the level. The EQ section is pre-distortion and allows for control of Bass, Mid, and Treble frequencies. The EQ section can also be bypassed, turning it into a two knob overdrive of sorts. The plugin also sports two toggle switches, one to bypass the EQ section and another to turn on “Fat” mode which simulates changing the bias of the first tube stage to increase gain and saturation.
It’s great for adding color to digital tracks or those recorded with digital or solid-state preamps. It can also add analog saturation to any source. You don’t really have to be judicious with it either, as it pretty much makes any track you use it on better.
More info:Tube Saturator Vintage(VST/AU)
Best Free Vst Distortion Plugin
Saturation Knob by Softube (MacOS, Windows)
It doesn’t get any more straightforward than the Saturation Knob from Softube. It is an easy-to-use plugin that will work with pretty much any setup, as it comes in 64 and 32-bit versions in multiple formats. A single knob controls the amount of saturation, and a 3-way toggle switch lets you control which part of the frequency spectrum of your signal is affected by the saturation – Highs, Neutral (changing all frequencies), and Lows.
Saturation Knob is great for adding an analog vibe to sterile digitally-recorded tracks, or when you’re looking for a little warmth and a bit of compression. Throwing it on a vocal can help it sit right in the sweet spot, it can make acoustic guitars cut, and can glue groups of tracks and busses together. The plugin works best as a subtle saturation tool, as there isn’t much gain on tap and the Gain control can get a little smeary around 75%. There is no way to control the output volume, so subtle is the name of the game.
More info:Saturation Knob(VST/AU/AAX/RTAS)
Greed Smasher by Mercuriall (MacOS, Windows)
Mercuriall plugins are known for making high-quality plugin guitar pedals, and the Greed Smasher takes that a step further as it is an emulation of the Mesa/Boogie Grid Slammer overdrive. Like most 3-knob stompboxes, it features controls for Gain, Tone, and Level.
With the Gain low and the Volume up, it provides a great push when used on the front end of amp sims – just like a real overdrive pedal. Mesa/Boogie products are known for having loads of gain on tap, but even with the Gain maxed out it doesn’t seem to lose clarity or focus.
More info:Greed Smasher(VST/AU) Hybrid plugin vst won't show up.
Marauder by AudioParlour (Windows)
Marauder is the only dynamic distortion on this list. The design is based around two gain stages that determine the character of the distortion, with the signal going through a preamp stage and then being fed into two VCAs. A feedback-style compressor controls the envelope, which determines how the signal is distributed between the gain stages.
It is pretty versatile and is right at home on electronic sources like synths and pads. While it does take a bit of fine-tuning to get the right sound for your source, what you can do with it is impressive. In addition to offering many ways to control the effect, the coolest control is the Mix knob. It allows you to blend in the amount of dry vs. wet signal to taste. Dynamic indeed. Marauder’s biggest drawback is that it is only compatible with 32-bit VST plugin hosts on Windows.
Best Guitar Distortion Vst Plugin
More info:Marauder(VST)
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