UAD's free plugin offer is the biggest no-brainer I've seen this year – but time is running out to get your hands on a world-class studio weapon for nothing

A laptop in a music studio with Universal Audio plugins running on it

(Image credit: Universal Audio)

Now that Cyber Weekend is done and dusted, you'd expect that most of the best deals have met a similar fate. Hold your horses though, because this hard hitter is still around. From now until December 31st, you can bag your pick of one of ten Universal Audio plugins completely free of charge. If you missed out on this one first time round, that gives you til the end of the month to pick yours up.

Grab yourself a totally free plugin over at the Universal Audio site

It's not just that deal remaining either, one of the best value ones in my opinion was your pick of 10 Universal Audio plugins for just $99, which is still going at the time of writing. Choosing from 50 of UA's most iconic software, it's the perfect way to build your dream tone locker for significantly less than it would cost to buy them all separately.

UAD Spark is also available at a significant reduction, with full access for a year for just $79. It gives you nearly every single Universal Audio plugin, with 60+ pieces of software and more being added all the time. Whether you want to audition UA plugins to see what you like, or you just want a huge palette of tools to paint your mixes with, as someone who uses UAD Spark in my own work, I can't recommend this one enough.

I’ve used all ten of the plugins that UA is currently giving away, so if you want a nod in the right direction, I personally think the Verve Analog Machines Essentials is one that’s properly underrated. I use it a lot when an instrument needs a little extra pizazz without having to resort to EQing or going back and adjusting the overall mix.

If you don’t already have it, the 1176 Classic FET Compressor is another must-have. 76-style compression is one of those things that’s just ubiquitous with music production, with pretty much every major studio having at least one. Whether you want to get things to sit better in the mix or you need something fast to tame transients, the 1176 will be eminently usable in a huge range of mixing scenarios.

If you already have the 1176, the LA-2A is also available for free. I like to use both together, with the 1176 catching the fast transients and the LA-2A providing a limiting effect to catch those peaks that sneak through. You can use it to tame bass guitars and acoustic instruments like piano and acoustic guitars too, delivering a smoothing effect that imparts its own subtle character.

The Universal Audio Galaxy Tape Echo is another one I use regularly, great for slapback on a lead vocal or for some super cool delay throw effects when you need them. You can push it into self-oscillation for those ‘Karma Police’ style spiralling delay tones. It’s also got a handy tempo sync so your delays will always be in time with the rest of your track.