Polarity-MD, Big Max Zero, Waveform Compressor: Free Plugins of the Week
4,7 / 5,0 | 
Polarity-MD, Big Max Zero, Waveform Compressor: Free Plugins of the Week · Source: Polarity Productions, Big Man Labs, Woodstock Audio
This week’s round-up of freebies is all about dynamics: 4-band OTT, brickwall limiting, and flexible compression. Check out Polarity-MD, Big Max Zero, and Waveform Compressor!
Free Plugins of the Week
Polarity-MD: 4-Band OTT with a Twist
Producer and developer Polarity from Berlin, best known in the audio world for his many useful Bitwig Studio presets and guides, has released Polarity-MD: a four-band OTT-style upward/downward compressor with per-band clipping. If you’re looking for a free tool that’ll make your tracks loud while offering plenty of control, look no further!
With four bands separated by Linkwitz-Riley crossovers, Polarity-MD offers more control and flexibility than the original OTT. The upward/downward thresholds, ratios, and timing are adjustable per band, but there’s also a set of global knobs that affect all bands simultaneously. In addition, each band offers a clipper for shaving off those peaks.
Moreover, Polarity-MD also comes with additional Pre and Post FX stages, each also equipped with a broadband upward/downward compressor and a clipper. The plugin also offers comprehensive metering, with a spectrum analyzer, individual waveform graphs per band, and built-in LUFS metering.
Polarity-MD is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux in VST3, CLAP, AU, and LV2 formats.
Big Man Labs Big Max Zero: Free Ultra Low-Latency Brickwall Limiter
Big Max Zero by Big Man Labs is a free low-latency brickwall limiter for mixing, mastering, and broadcasting. The developer says that it offers clean limiting without coloring your signal or introducing unwanted pumping effects. You can choose from three lookahead / latency modes: 0.5ms, 1ms, or 2ms.
Big Max Zero also offers a choice of four limiting algorithms ranging from transparent to aggressive: Safe, Smooth, Clean, and Loud. The attack and release times are adjustable, and there’s an auto release mode.
Big Max Zero comes with a handy waveform graph that also displays gain reduction, so you can always see what’s going on.
Big Max Zero is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux in VST3, AU, and CLAP formats.
Woodstock Audio Waveform Compressor: No-Nonsense Compressor with Great Visualization
Waveform Compressor by Woodstock Audio is another free dynamics plugin that puts a lot of emphasis on visualization. The dynamic waveform display shows the waveform before and after compression, so you can see what the compressor is actually doing at any given point in time. A gain reduction line is also available. What’s more, you can even zoom in on the waveform, pause it to check out details, and activate beat and bar lines.
The compressor itself is also quite flexible, offering a choice of VCA and Optical modes, a sidechain highpass filter, and an external sidechain input. The attack and release times are adjustable in wide ranges from super fast to super slow. There’s even a Delta Solo switch that lets you hear exactly what the compressor is doing. Useful, effective, and free!
Waveform Compressor is available for macOS and Windows in VST3, AU, and AAX formats.
Looking for more free plugins like Polarity-MD, Big Max Zero, and Waveform Compressor? Head over to our archive!
This might also interest you
