Product Reviews by KVR Members

Don't let this one slip into obscurity. It was one of the best sounding free VSTs in its day and still sounds great. The thick sound of its lowpass filter over the tri-saw in unison is yet to get old to me after all these years. It has a real texture to it that comes through in the mix and the envelope curvature is tuned just right for punchy basses.

This is last chorus you'll ever need.

Most choruses are one-trick ponies modeled after simple guitar pedals, with a handful of parameters, so it's refreshing to see a truly comprehensive chorus with such extensive options - including both feedback and separate voices (most choruses are either/or).

Don't neglect its contour, coloration, or dry delay parameters.

This is an excellent antique-style mid-range exciter, or when you're feeling abusive, great for mangling mid-range noise.

I'm not going to say it isn't harsh, because harsh is kind of the point, but it's not a gritty digital harshness; I don't find myself gnashing teeth like with many digital distortions on complex content in this frequency range. It's more of the grit I'm looking for. It does full-range content pretty well, but it shines on retro leads.

The comprehensive options under the hood make it my go to for this type of tool.

Oh my. This is a subtle, esoteric compressor if there ever was one, but it remains one of a handful of freeware plug-ins I can't believe is free.

If you're not familiar with feedback compression, or if you're indifferent to compression's inner workings such as the particulars of envelope curvature, side-chain filtering, oversampled control signals to catch intersample peaks, et cetera, this might be an easy compressor to overlook.

The comprehensive control scheme allowing to meter off a crest factor rather than merely peak or RMS, and the ability to set different release controls varying on peak vs RMS, makes this compressor unbeatable for more complex signals higher up in the buses of the mix. Or dynamic, polyphonic instrument tracks.

Add to that a built-in adjustable high-pass filter to the side-chain (makes for a cleaner sound on bass-heavy buses with a slight roll-off, or when cranked it allows it to double as a remarkable de-esser on top of being such a great vocal compressor already), adjustable stereo sensitivity rather than simply choosing between stereo/mono - this is a compressor designed for and by professionals.

There are a kajillion stereo utility plugs in a similar vein, so which do you use? This one. It's efficient, stable, seemless, and versatile.

99% of "circuitry modelling" is promotional snake oil for a company to sex-up their conventional DSP plug-ins. It's easy to tell this isn't the case here, as this is one of the best tube simulations I've ever tried.

The proper circuit model brings my machine to a screeching halt, but the hybrid model is still very good - often I'll produce under hybrid, and then render under the model. This is an addictive "mojo" plug-in. Few others compare.

Very good compressor, comprehensive control and release parameters are rare. It has been improved upon by Kotelnikov, which looks identical but has been improved in almost every way under the hood.

The interface is deceptively simple, but you don't need many parameters for complex sounds with phase distortion synthesis. Still, Digits is more about its core sound quality than it is about total functionality. While additional modulation options and envelope complexity like that of Kassiopeia would be welcome, I find myself coming back to Digits because of its crisp/punchy character triumphs gross versatility.

In terms of sound quality alone, I'm yet to find a better phase distortion synthesizer.

Super under-rated chorus/flanger. It's not a big in-your-face creamy modulation sound like many others try to achieve, though it's no slouch for unsubtle sounds, either.

There are an obnoxious amount of modulation freebies to choose from - let this one be your clean digital flanger/chorus. Its core sound is top notch.

Unbeatable pad/atmosphere reverb in the freeware world.

Most software (and especially most available freeware) reverbs transform your input source's textures into noisy mush when you task them with long reverb sounds. Abstract chamber does a remarkable job of retaining your texture, and the specialized modulation evolves the sound over the course of 8+ second reverb tails in a natural, perfect way almost all other reverbs simply can't. I've honestly never heard a reverb rock a 20-second tail so well.

Your mix will appreciate the clarity.

You can tell the developer has a serious ear to make a reverb like this. All the engineering in the world won't beat a designer who can hear the difference.