FL Studio is one of the most powerful music production tools around, with an array of synths and effects available right out of the box. But like most producers, you could probably use a few more plugins! Here we’ve put together some of the best free plugins for FL Studio, which should cover you for almost every imaginable musical scenario.
The best thing about it is that it's a free fl studio plugin that comes with the program. All you have is a simple interface with three operators. While it might appear limiting for people who need to have more from their synthesizer, ImageLine's 3xosc is expandable. Don't be deceived by its appearance, or its hefty price tag.
Sitala
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Sitala is a drum plugin that can also be used as a standalone app. Although it is about as simple a drum plugin as you could want, it will find a place in almost any project due to its musicality and highly intuitive interface. Sitala’s six knobs and sixteen pads encourage you to use it as an instrument, which results in more musical beats and grooves.
Best Features & Specs
Sitala features 16 assignable pads that should be familiar to anyone who’s ever used a drum plugin before. You can drag and drop your own samples right into these pads or use the factory kits that come with the plugin.
Sitala also includes an array of sound-shaping tools that lets you put your own stamp on your drum sounds. With features such as ‘Shape’, ‘Compression’, and ‘Tone’, recreating traditional drum beats or more experimental grooves is a piece of cake.
Bottom-line
Like the best free FL Studio plugins, the beauty of Sitala lies in its simplicity. We found that it lets you lay down grooves quickly, and the results are always musical. We especially like how the interface allows you to play it like an instrument.
Piano One by Sound Magic
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Sound Magic’s Piano One is reminiscent of the Yamaha C7 concert grand, which is highly revered by many professional piano players. Based on Sound Magic’s Hybrid Modeling Engine, Piano One combines the best qualities of physical modeling and sampling. The result is an amazingly rich and responsive sound that often felt like playing a real piano.
Best Features & Specs
Sound Magic’s Hybrid Modeling Engine does a great job of combining the realism of piano samples and the responsiveness of physical modeling. Unlike other modeled instruments, Piano One responds instantaneously, with no sluggishness or delay. The sound is reasonably rich and full-bodied, particularly when playing sustained low notes. The plugin even comes with an onboard reverb that simulates environment and soundboard resonance for added realism.
Bottom-line
Even with its limitations, Piano One is a pretty impressive piano plugin. If you need a range of basic piano sounds but don’t have the cash for a humongous piano library, Piano One is worth looking into.
TyrellN6 & Zebralette by u-He
TyrellN6 is based on the legendary Roland Juno 60, which is one of the most iconic analog synthesizers ever made. Users of the venerable classic will appreciate the simplicity and ease of use of this plugin, which lets you create deep bass, lush pads, and cutting leads with relatively little effort.
Zebralette isn’t based on any particular instrument. Rather, it is a teaser of sorts for u-He’s well-respected Zebra 2. It has the same great-sounding oscillator that is in Zebra, giving you a taste of what you could achieve with the more fully-featured product.
Best Features & Specs
TyrellN6 and Zebralette give you a pretty diverse range of sounds, from classic to cutting edge. TyrellN6’s classic architecture is the ticket to thick and lush vintage sounds, with noise and a ring modulator joining the two oscillators for extra flavor.
Zebralette is a more esoteric plugin that allows for the creation of more outlandish and experimental sounds. This is a great entry point into the sonic possibilities offered by Zebra 2, and we were thrilled to find that Zebralette patches can be opened in Zebra 2.
Bottom-line
TyrellN6 and Zebralette are compact yet powerful synths that will find a place in any modern production. Even if you already have some powerhouse synths in your collection, these two free VSTs for FL Studio are worthy additions.
Guitar M Lite II
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Guitar M Lite II offers studio musicians the crisp and authoritative sounds of the Martin D-41 acoustic guitar in a convenient software plugin. Developed by Ample Guitar, M Lite is a great way to add glistening acoustic textures to your productions, even if you don’t happen to have a guitar player handy.
Best Features & Specs
M Lite is a sample-based instrument that weighs in at just under 850 MB. It includes standard guitar articulations such as hammer-ons and pull-offs, palm mutes, and pops, allowing you to create surprisingly realistic performances. The plugin also offers Customized Parameters Control (CPC), which lets you add more expressive touches via MIDI CC or automation.
We especially like the plugin’s Strummer function, which allows for some pretty convincing strummed performances. Strumming is where most acoustic guitar plugins fall short as far as we’re concerned, so were pleasantly surprised to find it implemented so convincingly in a free plugin.
Bottom-line
Those with discerning ears aren’t likely to be fooled by M Lite. But if you need some rudimentary acoustic guitar parts for a mockup, this plugin will do very well in a pinch.
LABS by Spitfire Audio
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Spitfire Audio’s LABS has created quite a stir in the software plugins world, so we were eager to put it through its paces. At present, the collection already covers a pretty broad range of instruments, and more are being added all the time. And because each instrument is a labor of love by dedicated musicians and sampling experts, the results are consistently impressive.
Best Features & Specs
Each LABS instrument comes in the form of a dedicated plugin, rather than a library you load in a software sampler. We found the user interface to be focused and refreshingly straightforward, with easy to use controls for dynamics and expression. We also like the inclusion of a knob that can be customized for whatever function the user wants.
The LABS collection currently includes strings, guitars, pianos, brass, drums, vocals, percussion, synths, and experimental instruments. Although not quite as detailed as more extensive sampled libraries, we had no trouble making them fit into our productions.
Bottom-line
The LABS instruments are about as straightforward as plugin instruments can be. Even if you already have a collection of software instruments, you will probably find a use for some of these plugins.
Vinyl by iZotope
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iZotope has long been known for its excellent noise reduction and sound improvement plugins. So it was a bit of a surprise when the company rolled out a plugin that adds grit and dirt to audio. With Vinyl, you can dirty up your tracks with a healthy helping of dust, scratches, and mechanical noise, instantly giving them the character of a vintage recording.
Best Features & Specs
As the name implies, Vinyl makes tracks sound like they are being played from a turntable. Ideally suited for every stage of the production process, we found this to be the most convenient solution to get the authentic vibe heard on ’60s and ’70s recordings.
We like how you can control how much ‘pixie dust’ you can add to your tracks. Whether you need just a few cracks and pops, a touch of mechanical noise, or you really want to thrash your audio, Vinyl provides independent control over each element.
Bottom-line
Vinyl works on pretty much everything from drums and strings to full mixes. If your tracks are sounding just a bit too clean, this plugin will let you dirty them up in a few clicks.
Ozone Imager 2 by iZotope
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iZotope’s Ozone Imager 2 offers a quick and easy way to alter the stereo image of your tracks. Whether you need to widen a pad or string section or narrow down your bass and kick drums to fit into a mix, Ozone Imager lets you do so quickly and easily.
Best Features & Specs
The most obvious application of Ozone Imager is to widen an audio track. If you need your synth pad or string section to fill up the soundstage, Ozone Imager will get the job done without imparting any sonic anomalies that could make mixing a nightmare.
Ozone Imager provides two flavors of Stereoize: one lets you widen source audio with a cool phasing effect, while the other widens signals more subtly. The plugin also has three vectorscope meters that give you instant visual feedback on your stereo spread.
Bottom-line
Ozone Imager is a fairly simple plugin that is useful for mixing as well as creative experimentation. If you are struggling to make certain elements fit into a mix, this is one you can try out, of check out or list of other mixing plugins.
MAutoPitch
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MAutoPitch is a pitch correction plugin developed specifically for vocals and monophonic instruments. Simple and straightforward, it is nevertheless capable of producing great-sounding results that compare favorably to more expensive pitch correction plugins. It even has formant shift and stereo-expansion features that expand its capabilities as a creative audio production tool.
Best Features & Specs
Compared to many FL Studio plugins for free, MAutoPitch has quite an impressive user interface. It can be resized freely and has standard meters as well as time graphs. It also has sophisticated multi-parameter features such as mid-side and 8-channel surround processing. We particularly like the onboard safety limiter and the automatic gain compensation (AGC) features that keep levels in check.
All MAutoPitch parameters can be mapped for MIDI control and automation. This enhances the plugin’s value as a creative tool, making it more than just a “set-and-forget” processor.
Bottom-line
From subtle pitch correction to creative sound design, MAutoPitch does it all. If you do a lot of vocal work, this plugin is an essential addition to your toolbox.
Supermassive by Valhalla DSP
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Supermassive is only one of a handful of time-based plugins that form the bedrock of Valhalla DSP’s stellar reputation. The company’s delays and reverbs compare favorably to much more expensive plugins, and their features and capabilities are well known to producers across the globe. With Supermassive, the company once again proves its expertise in developing lush and exquisite sounding plugins, with a few more tricks up its sleeve.
Best Features & Specs
Supermassive is designed specifically to produce spacious and expansive delays and reverbs. Ideally suited for adding atmosphere to dry and lackluster productions, it sounds just as good when dialed down for more subtle ambiance.
Like all Valhalla DSP plugins, Supermassive is freely resizable, with precise controls for every parameter. It is based on a system of feedback delay networks, with each delay ultimately being processed by a unique WARP control. This allows you to produce everything from twinkling echoes to rich and deep reverbs and everything in between.
Bottom-line
Supermassive is easily a great VST for lush ambiance, even able to compete with our list of top VSTs on the market. Even if you already have a couple of favorite reverbs and delays, you will likely find yourself patching in Supermassive every time you need a unique atmosphere in your productions.
Pancake 2 by Cableguys
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Cableguys’ Pancake 2 handles a variety of panning and imaging functions in a slick and easy to use interface. Like all Cableguys plugins, Pancake 2 offers full control over the most useful parameters, giving you total control over your sound. You also have plenty of options to modulate the source audio as you wish, so you have free rein over your creative vision.
Best Features & Specs
PanCake allows you to set and forget the modulation depth and rate if you wish, although you could also draw in your own modulation curves. This feature is perfect for panning audio in time with the tempo or ramping up the speed for a buildup.
Fl 12 Plugins Free
Of course, the plugin’s LFO can be set to sync to your host DAW’s tempo as well. Speeds from ¹⁄₁₂₈ notes to 32 bars are possible, giving you a wide range of movement options. The plugin also has a left/right display so you always know what is going on with your soundstage.
Bottom-line
Like the other top FL Studio plugins out there, Pancake 2 can be as simple or as complex as you wish. Whether you need subtle movement in your tracks or you are looking for more intense panning functions, Pancake 2 is one of the best free plugins for FL Studio.
There are various options in the market to choose from in order to create something in the digital or virtual world. Similarly, nowadays even music is created by means of efficient software applications which generates music according to the needs and taste of the user. Thus additional aids are also required by the user along with the main software to create and compose music. One such external aid software is called FL Studio and it has been popularly used by many DJs like Martin Garrix, Avicii etc.
What is FL Studio?
Best Free Plug-ins Fl Studio 12
This is basically a digital audio workstation which is used by the users and the musicians majorly to compose music along with many other DJ software applications. It generally hosts a wide amount of music data and gives the user multiple numbers of trials. This software generally works on the additional plugins which are incorporated to enhance the quality and composition of the music.
It has developed over time corresponding to the availability of various versions in the market namely:
- FL Studio Express– This was the first version that was incorporated and it was present at a nascent stage where there was no option for auto-looping or auto recording of the audio.
- Fruity Edition– this was the most popular edition which is still being used by many popular musicians because of the added feature of a live synthesizer present in the software.
- Producer edition– This was an advanced version with the availability of auto-recording options along with the means to add additional Plugins as well.
- Signature Bundle– It had the number of features which accentuated the demand of the software with the additions of guitar stream effects and wave sampler.
- All Plugins Bundle– This version had more options to add external plugins especially the number of synthesizers.
- Free Demo– This was introduced as a trial version but it had certain drawbacks as well so the better option to choose would be to go to other available editions of this software.
- Groove– This was basically introduced for a touch-based music creation especially on Windows 8 operating system.
This software efficiently functions with the help of some of the best FL Studio plugins and these are used to create and compose music as per the wishes of the composer.
Best FL Studio Plugins
Best Free Fl Studio Plugins
The FL Studio is used by the masses as it gives the amazing option to use the best plugins for FL Studio and thereby it accentuates the performance of the software and thus it delivers efficient output. Some of the best FL studio plugins are:
1. Dashboard
It is an included an inbuilt plugin and so it is used for the creation of fully automated interfaces for various hardware MIDI devices. This eventually helps the FL Studio to control the hardware within the program. As far as the latest version 9.0 is concerned it is also equipped to handle multiple controllers in order to produce different generators and effects.
2. Edison
It is basically a waveform creator which exists as an independent software created and it thus does not require any external aid like FL Studio to run as it can run and function all the tasks on its own. The various functions which can be easily done by this software are:
Best Free Plugins Fl Studio 20
- Spectral analysis
- Convolution reverb
- Loop recording
- Loop construction
- Support cue points.
These functions were basically added in the new Producer edition of this software.
3. Fruity Video Player
This plugin was added in the Bundle addition of the software and it is basically used to produce and allow composition and synchronization of the audio and video of the files.
4. Deckadance
It is basically a standalone software which includes an independent DJ console and it can also be used as a plugin with FL Studio in order to produce collaborated music. It also has the major variety of options for synthesizers and thereby help in providing an efficient output.
5. Maximus
This plugin was introduced in the Bundle edition and it is widely used now. It is basically a multi-band audio limiter and it acts as a compressor for mastering all the projects an tracks added in the software. It can also be used for various other purposes such as:
- It can be used as a noise gate.
- It is also used as a ducker and a “de-esser”.
- It can also be used as an expander.
6. Riff Machine
It has been introduced in most of the versions and it basically used in a self-generating module. It randomly selects any instrument and thereby reshapes the parameter controls of the melodies to be fitted in the form of a piano roll. Thus the major function of this plugin is to reshape and reconfigure all the melodies.
7. Fruity Stereo Shaper
It has been introduced in the current version called as Version 9. It is basically used for stereo processing. It also includes an inbuilt mixer and then it is used to control the left and right channels along with their inverted equivalents. It can also be used to control channel delay and phase offset.
Thus these are the various types of best FL Studio plugins but they are also added and mixed with other types of third-party plugins which supports the software. These third-party plugins are VST and DirectX plugins. These various third-party plugins are also one of the best free plugins for FL studio and thus they generate a high amount of popularity in the market.
Few Best VST Plugins
There are various VST plugins in the market and few of them are given below as:
- Native Instruments Komplete 11 Ultimate– It is the best VST package in the world with an inbuilt auto recording and music composition functions. It can be used to create multiple genres of music such as Jazz, Rock, Metal, Pop, Punk, Electronic etc. It also has an option for inbuilt musical instruments to be added with all the musical compositions and it does not require any external addition for live instruments to be played. It also has a powerful live drum player, a powerful sampler and also a symphony orchestra as well. It also has a powerful piano instrument feature called a Una Corda. Thus it is one of the most efficient software that can be used to compose music.
- Toontrack Superior Drummer– This is basically a powerful drumming software plugin which can be used to create the sensations and effects of a live drumming session. It actually includes more than 230 GB of live drum samples and thus it offers a variety of beats to be chosen from. There is also an integrated audio to MIDI conversion device which automatically converts to MIDI notes. There is also an inbuilt artificial intelligence software which detects the style and format of drum beats that will go with any composition and thus makes the life of the composer easier. This AI is named as X drums. It also adjusts the beats and rhythm of the drums with respect to pitch and other voice articulation techniques.
- FXpansion Geist 2– It is also a beat production and a drumming software which is used as a VST plugin. It can be used to change the voice articulation according to the beats and it is also used to create unique grooves and also used to create deep sample manipulations. It also has a graph sequencer which comes handy while adding and slicing the note overtones and thus it is also important to note the pitch, starting point and reverse point of the musical notes. It can also be used to play live music along with beats and it can be used to produce all kinds of music like EDM, Electronica and other drum based music.
- Arturia V Collection 6– It is basically a keyboard and synthesizer inbuilt software plugin. It has 21 keyboard options to choose from. It mostly specializes in organs, pianos, and synthesizers and it can be used to create music from the genres of early 1960 and 1970. This is one of the best options to be added to the virtual instrument collection as it provides wide ranges of instruments to be chosen across decades and thereby help in creating varieties of music from all genres.
Most of these virtual instruments when added as plugins require high system configurations which can be sustained by a high pitch Graphics card and also an advanced version of any operating system whether Windows or Mac as they provide efficient functioning of the software. It also requires a minimum amount of internal memory space consisting of minimum 15 GB RAM and thus the usage of these software applications must be restricted only for professional purposes otherwise it is quite costly and it eventually takes a toll on the pocket.
Conclusion
Thus there are few best free plugins for FL studio as well and these are mostly the earlier versions Best FL Studio Plugins and the demo versions which was released by the FL Studio, but due to the wide expansion in the music industry, these free plugins are not used anymore but generally all the Virtual instruments are used at a full swing in order to get easy and efficient music output without much effort and consideration.