Pro Tools perpetual licenses with an active 1-Year Software Updates + Support Plan get access to 80 plugins-or 55 plugins without a plan. It’s kind of too good to be free, so this would qualify as an instant download in my books.* The tables above show all plugins that come with Pro Tools and Pro Tools | Ultimate subscriptions, including access to the Avid Complete Plugin Bundle (a $49.99 USD/year value), HEAT (a $495 USD value), UVI Falcon (a $349 USD value), Celemony Melodyne 5 essential (a $99 USD value), and 3 months of Antares Auto-Tune Unlimited at no additional charge. If that wasn’t enough, the VST also comes with selectable power tubes with individual bias controls. Everything you could want in a heavy, beautiful amp sim. In addition to the typical EQ and gain controls for the two channels (clean and lead), you also get switches for bright, deep, and shape for additional tone tweaking, as well as depth and presence for more tonal possibilities. The graphical user interface looks just like a real amp head, so guitarists should feel right at home. But the results you get will still depend a lot on the guitar you use, the effects you apply, the impulse responses, and most importantly, the player. Sure, it’s a bit of a one trick pony (good for heavy genres). It was modeled after its hardware equivalent, originally created for Ryan Huthnance (The Seer, Gaped, Chrome Bison, Emissary Studios) in 2014. Honestly, it’s hard to believe it’s free.Īnd it isn’t just a “made up” amp. The legendary Emissary is a metal machine. So, with that, here are the best free standalone amp sims and effects. These are separate from effects suites (which we will be looking at later) for obvious reasons – you only get one effect! But there are original creations as well.Īnd then we have effects pedal VSTs. A VST that simulates a specific guitar amp, usually one that already exists. There are a few types of guitar VST plugins, and the first kind we’ll be looking at are standalone amp simulators and effects (Impulse Response or IR loaders inclusive).Ī standalone amp sim is just that. Every producer needs these! Standalone Amp Simulators & Effects Let’s look at the best free guitar VST plugins. Using these, you can shape your tones during recording and even after recording, right from inside your DAW. You can even do a combination of the above!īut it’s never been more popular to do your recording “inside the box,” which is exactly what free guitar VST plugins allow you to do. You can record a guitar direct, and “re-amp” it later to achieve your ideal tone. You can record directly through a DI or multi-effects processor. You can go “old school” and mic up an amp (or even multiple amps). There are so many ways to record guitar these days.

Best virtual guitar vst