I guess you would have to agree with me that the best way to polish your vocal recording or a vocal sample is to sprinkle some effects, just like the way you would sprinkle a reasonable amount of ingredients on your food. If done right, it sounds delicious right, yum yum ;)
Vocal effects are no exception to the ingredient perspective, you need to add a reasonable amount of effects to make them sound lively, and enjoyable to the listeners.
Don't get me wrong, I ain't saying you should stack effects upon effects on your vocal samples, too much of everything is bad. That said, let us look at the best free awesome VST effects plugin in the music production scene.
Let's ride on...
1.) AegeanMusic - PitchProof
If you haven't heard of PitchProof, then, you are definitely missing out, this is like the secret tool I use on Vocals but it wasn't even developed for Vocal, it was actually designed to work on monophonic signals such as guitar solos, but I'll give you a tip on how I have been using it:
You don't want to apply it in real-time, what you should do instead is to first select the key of the harmony, then you turn the Blend knob all the way to the right; wet e.g:
Export the vocal result, add whatever effects plugins you get on your toolbox (vocal, flangers, etc) to spice up the pitched vocal, and then stack it on top of the original vocal. Boom, you have something unique!
Note: You don't have to always push it all through the wet side as this might cause artifacts, just experiment and stick with what works for you.
You can even export more vocal, and maybe this time, you can try by reducing the detune knob, anyways, experiment until you get your preferred test.
That said, let's look at some of the features of PitchProof:
The Blend control knob would let you adjust the level of pitch shift, while the Pitch drop-down menu lets you select pitches like +7 or -7, or harmonies which are intelligent pitch-shift effects.
Moreover, there are also some options at the bottom of the PitchProof plugin which give you the option to switch between stereo and mono; mono could save your CPU, while the stereo option could cause a resource hog if used on multiple inserts.
Transient Fix can be switched on or off to spice things up a little!
| Harmony | Info |
| 2nd | Dissonant harmonies |
| 3rd | The Typical Major/minor Chord Harmony |
| 4th | The same as the +5 semitones setting except a few notes are flat. |
| 5th | The Same as The +7 Semitones Setting Except the Last Note of The Major Scale Is Flat Making It "diminished". |
| 6th | A nice-sounding alternative to typical harmony intervals. |
| 7th | Dissonant 7th Chord Sounds. |
Download AeageanMusic Windows/OSX
2.) Auburn Sounds - Graillon
This is an autotune VST plugin designed and developed by Auburnsounds. This plugin is superb in the way it handles pitch correction.
It not only supports pitch correction but supports the generation of throat sounds, making octave sounds, and enriching, and enhancing vocal expressiveness.
Also, there is a pitch shift parameter that transposes vocals up and down in octaves and semitones.
Features:
- Pitch Shifter cleanly transposes a voice up and down and has been optimized for voice.
- The Pitch Correction module brings an immediate robotic sound, while the Bitcrusher addition softly adds sparkles to the mix.
- Freemium
System Requirements
- Available as VST, VST2, AAX, and Audio Unit plugin for macOS and Windows platforms.
Download Graillion Auto-Tune Plugin
3.) JHudStudio - Vocal King
Vocal King helps glue the vocal in a mix, and it comes with preloaded cool parameters, that could help in customizing the audio signal of a vocal track.
The Pres Compressor knob helps in bringing out the clarity of a vocal, so, turning up the gain of the Pres Comp brings out the presence in the vocal along with giving it a smooth compression. On the other hand, the Low cut, Tighten, and Bass knobs complement the Pres Comp in taking out muddy frequencies without the vocal sounding too thin.
I also love playing with the Crispy knob as it sprinkles some sparkles to the audio signal.
Features:
- Help vocals to stand out in a mix by giving them amazing presence, clarity, and compression. Can easily work on any other content.
- Acts like are preamp giving the signal a strong boost.
- Easy-to-use interface for fast results.
- Easy-to-read meters
- Very CPU efficient compared to other types of plugins.
- It can be used on many other audio sources as well.
System Requirements
- Vocal King supports MAC/Windows/32bit/64bit/VST2/VST3/AU. Supports MAC OS X 10.7 / Windows 7 and higher. Older systems may not work.
4.) Sonic Anomaly - Vola
Vola is a Voice Optimized Leveling Amplifier made for broadcast voice dynamics processing, it also works with different kinds of audio material, like drums, percussive instruments, and synth pads.
This fantastic tool is solely for cleaning up sound files but can be used for extreme compression effects as well.
Features
- Real-time Visual Metering for changes in dynamics
- Upwards & downwards compression, each separately adjustable.
- Stats Display and more compression settings
Download Vola Vst (Windows)
Download Vola Jsfx (Windows and Mac)
5.) g200kg - KeroVee
This is a pitch correction VST plugin tool and has been strengthened to support natural pitch correction.
This tool is handy and can perform different and various types of voice effects, for example, a conversion of the male voice to a female voice and vice versa.
KeroVee comes bundled with useful parameters for the effectiveness of the auto-tuning process, Parameter includes:
- Scale Button: This is for specifying the scale you want to tune. Setting a wrong scale would result in an awful result, in a simple sentence, Know your scale before you go into this one
- TuneSpeed: This will allow you to set the speed of correcting the pitch.
- Nuance: This is one of the best and lovely parameters, you can use this to set a fine vibrato of the original sound, and use this to create all sorts of weird effects.
- Amount: Set to zero (0) if you want no correction, setting to 100 will result in full correction of the pitch
- and many more parameters like the Transpose option, master volume, etc.
System Requirements
- A compatible host program that supports the VST formats
Download KeroVee Auto-Tune Plugin
6.) Martin Eastwood - Duet
Have you heard those natural double effects in some tracks? Do you wonder how those are created? I guess yes ;)
Let me introduce to you - Duet, a double-tracking effect designed to enhance your audio sample be it vocal or even instruments, Duet is well capable of sparkling them up. The way Duet work is by pitch-shifting both the left and right inputs individually using a novel synchronous overlap and add technique, allowing pitch to be manipulated in real-time while still maintaining the time duration of the audio.
One thing I love about Duet is the way it can accurately create the illusion of multi-voices and adds varied textures to the mix. Experiment with Duet to see how it works.
Note: This is only available for Window
7.) MaxSynths - DSP-2
DSP-2 is designed with an intelligent Dynamic Processor, a 4-band equalizer fixed on vocal key frequencies, a saturator, and a room emulator based on the Schroeder reverberator. DSP is super simple to use and can serve basically all your vocal processing needs, again, experiment and keep experimenting to get the best settings that would soothe your need.
Features:
- Intelligent Dynamic Processor (IDP).
- 4 different automatic operative modes.
- Selectable compression ratio.
- Saturator with three different operation modes.
- EQ fixed on vocal key frequencies.
- Room emulator based on the Schroeder reverb model.
- Transparent increment of the perceived volume level.
- High precision input/output VU-meter.
- Low CPU usage.
8.) Distorque - Azurite
Azurite is a vocal effect by Distorque which is built for a multi-voice chorus with a focus on rich sounds and versatile controls.
According To Distorque:
My goal in designing it was to make as flexible a chorus as possible without losing great tones and ease of use. The result is an effect that will be handy for producers, guitarists, and glitch lovers alike.
One of the great features of this plugin is the way you can create multiple simultaneous voices. Each of these voices can be further customized with its own delay line that is modulated by a separate LFO. Adding multiple voices leads to a thicker, smoother, and less wobbly tone. It also makes vivid stereo spreading possible with a mono signal.
The voice control helps you to choose how many voices you want for the chorus, e.g one, two, four, or eight.
Features:
- Stereo or mono operation.
- Colour control emulates vintage analog choruses.
- 2 band EQ.
- LFO tempo sync.
- Feedback control allows for flanger sounds.
- 27 built-in presets.
- Delay time from 0.2ms to 200ms.
- 7 LFO shapes: Sine, Triangle, Sawtooth, Ramp, Exponential, Inverse Exponential, and Random.
- Spread control for a stereo widening of a mono signal.
- Control randomizer.
- Other controls: Depth, Speed, Wet Mix, Output, Separation, and Dry Delay.
Note: This is only available for Window
Download Azurite Win 32 VST / Win 64 VST
9.) TerryWest - EasyVox
EasyVox contains a bunch of tools for vocal processing, such as:
- Dynamic mono vocal compressor/limiter/enhancer
- Three bands equalizer
- Autogain and Pre-Limiter
- Auto Noisegate
- Auto Band-off
- Three EQ models
- Fine EQ option
- EQ activity/bypass LEDs
- Low-Mid-Hicut
- Vocal Doubler effect
- Pre-in/Post out gain
- In/out/reduction meters
Donate To The Developer, It helps him to build more exciting plugins
Note: This is only available for Window
10.) MGF - TimeWarp
Last on our list is Timewarp by MGF, which is a vibrato effect with 2 LFOs that can pan the pitch modulation amount for a stereo effect.
Features:
- Sine, Triangle, Saw, and random waves with control over the shape and smoothing.
- Optional 4x upsampling and a smooth modulation algorithm ensure clean sound with minimal aliasing. Normal quality
- saves CPU and sounds brighter but less silky.
- 2 different interpolation algorithms are available (ALG).
- Fast modulation settings are possible and encouraged
That is it, Good luck and have fun with the music!