NoizeClick

NoizeClick is based on a single oscillator – a sine wave. The pitch of the sine wave can be edited using the envelopes available on the plugin interface. There are three main areas on the UI dedicated to different effects and settings.

These are:

• Click Zone.
• Effects Screen.
• Amp Control.

The Click Zone is where the sinewave itself gets modified by a set of envelopes. The Click Zone is divided into three equal parts – Click1, Click2, and Click3. Each of the three parts has independent controls and corresponds to three different frequencies of the overall wave.

Each piece of the click zone has three controls: Start, Decay, and Curve (or boost in the case of Click3).

You can use the Click Zone to personalize your percussion. You could also use the presets to save desired settings and get a headstart the next time you use NoizeClick to create your drums.

The effects screen is at the center of the interface. Here you can select the effect, filter type, and distortion. You can control the settings for the selected filter with the three knobs in the Effects Screen.

The filter effect has four modes; low pass, high pass, bandpass, and band-reject. You can choose any one of these four options and control three aspects of the filter; CUTOFF, Resonance, and Gain.

The distortion effect is straightforward and has two control knobs: Drive and Shape. You can use the distortion to get a more hardcore vibe and add extra character to the kick drum.

The amp section is at the bottom of the UI and consists of an ADSR envelope. This envelope controls the basic parameters needed to define a synthesized note; attack, decay, sustain and release.

The above features are all condensed into one tiny 10MB package, making NoizeClick one of the most advanced kick drum plugins that you can get for free.

It is available in VST3 format on Windows, 64-bit only. There is currently a macOS version in development, so Apple users don't need to worry and likely won't have to wait for long.

NoizeClick is designed for psytrance music, but you can use it for other genres with a lot of digital influences.

As a free kick drum synth, it's a really cool plugin and would definitely be helpful to a lot of home producers. If you like NoizeClick, you can also try out Xenobyte by Sick Noise Instruments, a very affordable analog hybrid synth.

{See video at top of page}