Tape Fiasco, TeAr, Craze: Free Plugins of the Week
Tape Fiasco, TeAr, Craze: Free Plugins of the Week · Source: Jonas Eriksson, FX-Mechanics, DAWJunkie
One of the first strong contenders for free plugin of the year is Tape Fiasco, a mind-blowing multi-effect that’ll turn your audio into all sorts of glitchy rhythmic shenanigans. Also in this week’s round-up: a polyrhythmic MIDI arpeggiator and a phaser with lots of crunch.
Free Plugins of the Week
Jonas Eriksson Tape Fiasco: A Time-Based Multi-Effect Like No Other
Like to get creative with time-stretching, stutter editing, and speed manipulation? Tape Fiasco by Jonas Eriksson has got you covered! This awesome creative multi-effect is a combination of three distinct time-based effects: granular time-stretching, Varispeed, and Stutter. You can use the effects independently or in combination, and even configure the signal routing between them.
The Stretch effect captures audio in a buffer and plays it back using overlapping grains. You can adjust the grain generation rate, stereo spread, grain playback direction, and Scatter (randomization). Through independent control of the playback speed and pitch, this allows for all sorts of wacky stretching effects.
Next up is the Stutter effect that captures and repeats audio slices. You have extensive control over the timing, pitch, filtering, and probability-based variations, including things like random retriggering, various rhythmic patterns, pitch and volume envelopes, and more. Unleash your inner BT!
Finally, Tape Fiasco also includes a Varispeed effect that behaves like a virtual tape machine, letting you create tape stop effects and even scratch the tape. It also includes wow/flutter and analog-style saturation.
Easily one of my favorite free plugins of this year so far, Tape Fiasco offers loads of opportunities to get creative. Have I mentioned that I’m a huge fan of the GUI?
Tape Fiasco is available for macOS and Windows in VST3 and AU formats. Note that the Mac version only supports Apple Silicon as of today, although Intel support is in the works.
FX-Mechanics TeAr: Polyrhythmic MIDI Arpeggiator
TeAr by FX-Mechanics is a highly unusual and creative MIDI arpeggiator. It offers four independent arpeggiator engines, each with its own pattern, subdivision, and MIDI channel. This allows for complex polyrhythmic patterns that’ll make your head spin.
Unlike standard arpeggiators, TeAr lets you create custom patterns using a rich-text-based input language. While this approach might seem confusing at first, it makes a lot of sense once you get the hang of it – and it’s also a never-ending source of happy accidents.
What’s more, TeAr also includes a huge library of scales and a handy pattern generator that’ll spit out random patterns and Euclidean rhythms at the push of a button. It may look a bit scientific, but it’s a hugely inspiring MIDI effect that can breathe life into your tracks.
TeAr is available for Windows and Linux in VST and VST3 formats.
DAWJunkie Craze: Free Crunchy Phaser Effect
Craze by DAWJunkie is a free phaser plugin with built-in crunch and distortion. You can adjust the phaser using the familiar Shape, Speed, Feedback, and Mix controls, and then dial in the desired amount of Crunch and Crush to spice things up. Craze also includes a low-cut filter and a shimmer effect.
For just $1, you can upgrade to Craze Pro, which offers a couple of extra features like independent speed controls for the left and right channels, an expanded EQ section, and more advanced modulation.
Craze is available for macOS and Windows in VST, AU, and AAX formats.
Looking for more free plugins like Tape Fiasco, TeAr, and Craze? Check out our archive!
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