Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
  • Guitars
  • Amps
  • Pedals
  • Drums
  • Synths
  • Software
  • Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Recording
  • Buyer’s guides
  • Live
  • DJ
  • Advice
  • Acoustic
  • Bass
  • About us
  • More
    • Reviews
Magazines
  • Computer Music
  • Electronic Musician
  • Future Music
  • Keyboard Magazine
  • Guitarist
  • Guitar Techniques
  • Total Guitar
  • Bass Player
More
  • How to make an AI cover song
  • 84000+ free music samples
  • Foo Fighters' new drummer
  • Ken Scott on recording The Beatles
  • First EVH Jump synth recording

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Computer Music

6 of the best free VST/AU plugin utilities and tools

By Computer Music
last updated 20 September 2022

Not synths or effects, but other good stuff

Plugins of practicality

Plugins of practicality

Some of the best free software out there is aimed not at generating or processing sounds, but aiding the process of making music.

This selection of plugins may not be as glamorous as a new synthesizer or compressor, but each and every one is a must-try!

• The best free music software and plugins: DAWs, synths effects and more

For more on making music with freeware, check out the March 2015 issue of Computer Music (CM214). Also be sure to browse our round-ups of the best free plugin synths, free mixing plugins, free sampler plugins and free creative effect plugins.

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Voxengo Span
PC/Mac, VST/AU

Voxengo Span

Span is a free spectrum analysis plugin that's designed to let you see exactly what’s going on in your tracks, frequency-wise.

Superb for mixing and mastering, you can use it to locate conflicting frequencies between tracks or to match the frequencies of your mixes to commercial tracks that you admire.

Download Voxengo Span

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Expert Sleepers Clocker and Latency Fixer
PC/Mac, VST/AU

Expert Sleepers Clocker and Latency Fixer

Clocker provides MIDI clock signals for outputting to your external hardware, giving you independent control over said hardware’s clock rate, while Latency Fixer reports latency to the host, enabling any DAW with latency compensation to adjust its timing accordingly. Ideal for DAWs that don’t compensate for the latency introduced by hardware processors.

Download Expert Sleepers Clocker and Latency Fixer

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Bram/Smartelectronix s(M)exoscope
PC/Mac, VST/AU

Bram/Smartelectronix s(M)exoscope

A feature-packed oscilloscope that gives graphical representations of your signals - an awesome audio-monitoring tool!

Download Bram/Smartelectronix s(M)exoscope

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Beyerdynamic Virtual Studio
PC/Mac, VST/AU

Beyerdynamic Virtual Studio

Check your mix with this one. It’s a plugin designed to be used in conjunction with headphones to simulate different speakers in various listening environments.

Download Beyerdynamic Virtual Studio

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
Mdsp/Smartelectronix Miditools
PC/Mac, VST/AU

Mdsp/Smartelectronix Miditools

Among this trio of useful MIDI-centric plugins are ::ENV2MIDI::, which analyses the level of incoming audio and spits out MIDI CC data mimicking that curve - sort of a MIDI envelope follower - and. ::MIDICCMAP::, a MIDI CC re-mapper that can be set up to act as a proxy for MIDI learn or hardware controller boxes that lack presets, with the caveat that it only maps one controller.

Download Mdsp/Smartelectronix Miditools

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Blue Cat Audio Gain Suite
PC/Mac, VST/AU/AAX/RTAS

Blue Cat Audio Gain Suite

A collection of tools designed to give you control over the volume of any audio track. They’re useful for their many automation features, mid/side ability and interconnectivity.

Download Blue Cat Audio Suite

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Computer Music
Computer Music
Social Links Navigation

Computer Music magazine is the world’s best selling publication dedicated solely to making great music with your Mac or PC computer. Each issue it brings its lucky readers the best in cutting-edge tutorials, need-to-know, expert software reviews and even all the tools you actually need to make great music today, courtesy of our legendary CM Plugin Suite.

More about tech
Cakewalk software

BandLab confirms that it plans to discontinue its current free Cakewalk DAW and bring back a new version of Sonar

Caelum Audio Choric

Caelum Audio Choric review

Latest
Andrew Watt joins Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam onstage during the 2021 Ohana Music Festival on September 26, 2021 in Dana Point, California.

Stone Gossard reveals Pearl Jam are close to finishing a new album with "hardcore fan" Andrew Watt producing: "He can play all of our songs and all Soundgarden's songs back at us"

See more latest ►
Most Popular
Best Fender amps 2023: From all-tube classics to cutting edge modelling options

By Richard Blenkinsop6 June 2023

5 of the best free guitar amp simulator plugins

By "OSC" Steve6 June 2023

Watch a teenage Josh Freese appear in a promo video for Simmons electronic drums

By Stuart Williams5 June 2023

Danny Carey reveals the Tool songs he finds most difficult to play live

By Stuart Williams5 June 2023

How Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was written in a couple of hours and took most of its sounds from the Korg Triton

By Ben Rogerson5 June 2023

Score significant savings on Strats, Teles, Jaguars and Mustangs as Thomann slashes the price of popular Squier models

By Daryl Robertson5 June 2023

10 of the best new free plugins we discovered this month

By Matt Mullen5 June 2023

Choose a genre and BPM and this online DAW will use AI to make a complete track for you

By Ben Rogerson5 June 2023

Watch Noel Gallagher use a Fender Strat for High Flying Birds’ “blasphemous” cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart

By Jonathan Horsley2 June 2023

Ben Folds names the only album on which Elton John is “represented as a piano player”

By Ben Rogerson2 June 2023

Is Dave Grohl’s new Epiphone DG-335… Gold?

By Jonathan Horsley2 June 2023

  1. plugins
    1
    10 of the best new free plugins we discovered this month
  2. 2
    Is Dave Grohl’s new Epiphone DG-335… Gold?
  3. 3
    Score significant savings on Strats, Teles, Jaguars and Mustangs as Thomann slashes the price of popular Squier models
  4. 4
    How to make an AI cover song with any artist's voice
  5. 5
    Behringer launches the Moog-esque Edge and Spice synths and hits back at “all the critics who claim that we’re driven by profit”
  1. jon hopkins
    1
    Jon Hopkins spent 4 months perfecting the synth riff for Open Eye Signal on a 1979 Korg MS-20: “So much effort into trying to make something sound effortless”
  2. 2
    10 of the best new free plugins we discovered this month
  3. 3
    Watch Noel Gallagher use a Fender Strat for High Flying Birds’ “blasphemous” cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart
  4. 4
    Score significant savings on Strats, Teles, Jaguars and Mustangs as Thomann slashes the price of popular Squier models
  5. 5
    Propellerhead’s ReBirth is reborn as a hands-on hardware synth, and it’s all thanks to Look Mum No Computer

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.