A curated list of VST plugins.
This list is not intended to encompass all available plugins but rather to serve as a reference for the most useful and time-tested plugins, presented with a straightforward structure and concise, no-nonsense descriptions.
Feel free to suggest your favorite plugins, but please refrain from copying random products from the oversaturated VST marketplaces. Reference what you actually use and find indispensable in your work, and keep your descriptions succinct. This list is designed for users, not for sales purposes.
- Baby Audio Atoms - Physical modeling synthesizer. Demos: 1, 2.
- U-He Diva - "Dinosaur Impersonating Virtual Analogue synthesizer". Demos: 1.
- Native Instruments Massive X - NI's flagship synth. Demos: 1, 2.
- TAL NoiseMaker - (Free) Virtual analog synthesizer with a great sound and low CPU usage. 128 factory presets included. Demo: 1, 2.
- Kilohearts Phase Plant - An award-winning, semi-modular softsynth. Demos: 1.
- Arturia Pigments - Polychrome software synthesizer, a VST with the power to create any sound, from the best mix-ready modern presets to deep custom sound design. Demos: 1, 2.
- Xfer Serum - Advanced wavetable synthesizer. Demos: 1.
- Vital - Spectral warping wavetable synth. Demos: 1.
- U-He Zebralette - (Free) Easy spectral synth with an advanced wavefor editor and overall impressive feature set for a free synt. Demos: 1, 2.
- BPB 64 - (Free) Commodore 64 Virtual Instrument. Demos: 1.
- Plogue Chipsynth C64 - SID sound chip emulation. Demos: 1.
- Plogue Chipsynth MD - OPN2 (YM2612) emulation (Sega Mega Drive/Genesis). Demos: 1.
- Plogue SFC - 16-bit era timbre layering synthesizer (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Demos: 1.
- Arturia Acid V - 303 emulator, "corrosive bassline machine" as Arturia call it. Demos: 1, 2.
- Cherry Audio DCO-106 - Roland Juno-106 recreation. Demos: 1.
- Cherry Audio GX-80 - Yamaha CS-80 emulation. Demos: 1, 2.
- D16 Phoscyon - Acid line synth, 303 silver box emulator. Demos: 1.
- Dexed - (Free) Open source Yamaha DX7 emulation and MIDI cartridge manager. Demos: 1.
- AudioThing Noises - An experimental instrument with a playful and inspiring interface designed to bring a vast world of noise into your music and audio production. Demos: 1.
- KICK 2 - Kick drum synthesizer. Demos: 1.
- ALM Motto Akemie - FM drum synth and step sequencer. Demos: 1, 2.
- Fors Opal - Drum synthesizer and sequencer. Demos: 1, 2.
- AudioDamage Replicant - IDM-style glitchy rhythmic patterns with various effects and modulations. Demos: 1, 2.
- Klevgrand Slammer - A multi-sampled drum plugin that contains 30 different instruments made from many carefully recorded and edited samples. Demos: 1.
- Eventide Blackhole - VST version of the effect pedal. Demos: 1.
- Kilohearts Convolver - To convolve is to multiply one sound with another. Sort of. Demos: 1, 2.
- LiquidSonics Seventh Heaven - Convolution reverb, Bricasti M7 emulation. Demos: 1.
- Valhalla Super Massive - (Free) Massive reverbs, harmonic echoes, space sounds. Demos: 1, 2.
- Valhalla VintageVerb - 22 classic digital reverbs and three color modes inspired by the most beloved reverb hardware from the 1970s and 1980s. Demos: 1.
- U-He Colour Copy - A virtual analog effect inspired by classic bucket-brigade delays (BBD), but extended with modern features. Demos: 1.
- Sixth Sample Deelay - (Free) A plugin for creating reverbs from small chambers to huge cinematic swells, distortion from subtle saturation to aggressive waveshaping, modulation for making your sounds come alive, and much more. Demos: 1.
- AudioDamage Other Desert Cities - With six algorithms, each with its own unique personality, and extensive modulation capabilities, Other Desert Cities can fill multiple niches, from basic stereo dual delays to never-before-heard granular pitch-shifting chaos. Demos: 1.
- AudioThing Outer Space - A faithful emulation plugin of a famous vintage tape echo made in the early seventies. Demos: 1.
- Cherry Audio Stardust 201 Tape Echo - A hot-rodded interpretation of the classic Roland "Space Echo" tape echo effects of the 70s and 80s. Demos: 1.
- Valhalla Delay - Valhalla DSP's take on classic and modern delay and echo units. Demos: 1.
- SoundToys Decapitator - Subtle to extreme hardware-modeled saturation. Demos: 1.
- ChowMultiTool - (Free) "Swiss Army Knife" plugin containing EQ with linear phase and "drawable" capabilities, waveshaper with minimal aliasing and lots of customizability, band-Splitter with multiple outputs and perfect reconstruction, SVF with key tracking and parameter modulation (CLAP only).
- Klevgrand DAW Cassette - Tape Deck Emulation. Demos: 1.
- Klevgrand DAW LP - Vinyl Player Simulation. Demos: 1.
- Arturia Filter MS-20 - A software emulation of the classic Korg MS-20 analog synthesizer filter. Demos: 1, 2.
- Infiltrator - Suite of effects processors, with 54 different modules to choose from, many of them boasting multiple sub-types. Demos: 1.
- AudioThing Speakers - Microphone and speaker simulations. Demos: 1.
- Masterme - Automatic audio mastering plugin for live-streaming and internet radio stations. Demo: 1.
- Musik Hack MasterPlan - Radio-ready masters in minutes. Demos: 1.
- TDR Nova - (Free) Parametric dynamic equalizer. Demos: 1.
- FabFilter Pro-L 2 - True peak limiter plug-in, with multiple advanced limiting algorithms and extensive level and loudness metering. Demos: 1.
- FabFilter Pro-Q 3 - High quality parametric equalizer. Demos: 1.
- Izotope Tonal Balance Control - Overcome your listening environment and make mixes that translate. Demos: 1.
Notable extensions for Max for Live, which, while not formally VST plugins, are still worth mentioning.
- Altar of Wisdom MultiOscillo - Oscilloscope. Demos: 1.
- SL Oscilloscope - (Free) Oscilloscope, goniometer, phase correlation meter, stereo balance meter and peak level indicator. Demos: 1.
- IFTAH STING - Acid line generator. Demo: 1.