There are a bunch of free plug ins out there that you can use within programs like Adobe Audition. Some of them are either BAD or they do many of the things you can ALREADY do in Audition or in whatever editor you are using. Below are a few that I recommend
Important!
Remember that when you install a new plug in you will need to activate it within Adobe Audition and likely any other audio or video programs where you intend to use it!
Here’s a little demo.
Fracture
FRACTURE is a FREE buffer effect plugin by Glitchmachines geared toward creating robotic artifacts and abstract musical malfunctions. Fracture features a buffer effect, a multimode filter, three LFOs and a delay. The order of the effects in the processing chain can also be reconfigured. This plugin is geared toward adding glitchy articulations and abstract textures to your projects. Use it on anything from drums and percussion to synth lines and sound effects. Fracture’s intuitive interface and diverse features make it simple to give your projects a unique technical edge.
Link to Download
glitchmachines.com/downloads/fracture/
Type:
downloadable VST or AU plug in
Learning Curve:
Medium ★★☆☆
Pros:
Fairly easy way to create glitchy effects.
Works as an Adobe Audition plug in (or in any other DAW)
Cons:
None really. it does what it does!
Hysteresis
HYSTERESIS is a FREE glitch delay plugin by Glitchmachines geared toward creating robotic artifacts and abstract musical malfunctions. Hysteresis features a delay effect with stutter, lowpass filter and modulation effects thrown into the feedback signal path. Process anything from drums and percussion to synth lines and sound effects. On top of being able to create incredibly wild signal mutations, it can also be used to generate classic delay effects.
Link to download:
glitchmachines.com/downloads/hysteresis/
Type:
downloadable VST or AU plug in
Learning Curve:
Medium ★★☆☆
Pros:
Fairly easy way to create glitchy effects.
Works in Audition or any other DAW
Cons:
None really. it does what it does!
Emergence
Emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors which emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.
This plugin is a real-time granulator. It continuously records the input signal into a buffer. The content of the buffer is played back as many short pieces of sound called grains. Up to 600 grains can be generated in 4 streams, each having it’s own set of parameters that control grain generation.
A single grain is not that interesting. The most exciting things happen when hundreds of overlapping grains play together, creating anything from complex delay patterns to strange noises to beautiful layered soundscapes.
Link to download:
https://daniel-gergely.itch.io/emergence
Type:
downloadable VST or AU plug in
Learning Curve:
Medium ★★★☆
Pros:
This plug in has the functionality of many effects you’d spent $$$ on! It is very configurable, allows for various kinds of randomizion easy way to create glitchy effects.
Works in Audition or any other DAW
Cons:
None really. it does what it does!
Puremagnetik : Expanse
This is a noise and drone generator plug-in that lets you spectrally blur, pitch, and filter audio. According to Puremagnetik, it’s capable of outputting “sweeping backdrops, resonating low drones, and many other textural canvases.” The plug-in has Filter, Stasis, Shift, Blend, Space, Size, and Output controls. The function of each is explained above the control set. This is a very interesting plug-in that combines noise generation, spectral blurring, pitch shifting and reverb into one seemingly potent unit. I gotta give this one a spin for sure!
Type:
downloadable VST or AU plug in
Learning Curve:
Low ★☆☆☆
Pros:
Fairly easy way to create smeary textural effects.
Works as an Adobe Audition plug in (or in any other DAW)
Cons:
None really. it does what it does!
Link to download:
https://puremagnetik.com/blogs/news/two-free-plugins-expanse-driftmaker
Puremagnetik : Driftmaker
Summed up, this plug-in chops audio into grains and mangles the signal in an analog-inspired fashion. Driftmaker has Parse, Chop, Time, Drift, Blend and Gain controls – the function of each explained above the control set. What we are looking at is a granular delay with analog-style saturation and filtering, which sounds very exciting to me.
Type:
downloadable VST or AU plug in
Learning Curve:
Low ★☆☆☆
Pros:
Fairly easy way to create atmospheric granular textural effects.
Works as an Adobe Audition plug in (or in any other DAW)
Cons:
None really. it does what it does!
Link to download
https://puremagnetik.com/blogs/news/two-free-plugins-expanse-driftmaker
Pancake
This tools allow you to pan sounds from left to right automatically. Use soft or hard control points to draw and construct your own modulation curves. PanCake’s easy interface helps you quickly create gentle transitions or sharp bends in your waveform and a precise display of channel left/right volume provides helpful visual control.
Type:
downloadable VST or AU plug in to automate panning
Learning Curve:
Low ★★☆☆
Pros:
Great tool to automatically move sounds around the stereo field.
Very configurable.
Cons:
This can take some time to figure out the settings.
I have noticed that it can stress out and crash Audition occasionally. For example, when i select a preset it crashes. I recommend working with and editing in the first screen that loads.
Link to download
https://plugins.landr.com/en/product/cableguys-pancake
Pianoverb
PSP PianoVerb is our freeware plug-in which reproduces special kind of reverberation originally provided by piano strings. It generates reverberation using twelve string operators with adjustable damping and decay time. Each of them is tuned to a particular note starting from A(55Hz) to a G#(103.8Hz). The PSP PianoVerb string system can be transposed in the range of +-24 semitones, tuned within a range of +-100 cents and be detuned as well. Transposing to lower octaves produces a bigger and less resonant sound similar to traditional reverbs, while in turn transposing to higher octaves produces a very bright harp-like effect.
Link to download
https://www.pspaudioware.com/products/psp-pianoverb
Chowdsp
This is a developer who creates pretty wonderful free plug ins that are highly configurable. Try them all! They include the following
BYOD
Build-Your-Own-Distortion (BYOD) is an audio plugin that allows the user to create custom guitar effects, with a focus on guitar distortion. The plugin contains emulations of guitar distortion and tone-shaping circuits from various, along with a handful of other useful effects.
Chow Tape Model
Chow Tape Model is a digital emulation of a reel-to-reel analog tape machine. The original algorithm was developed to emulate the Sony TC-260, but has since been expanded to be able to model a wide variety of tape machines.
Chow Matrix
Chow Matrix is an infinitely growable delay effect, with complex internal modulation and feedback. With extra features including pitch-shifting, diffusion, and distortion, the plugin can be used to create everything from subtle multi-tap delays to expansive reverberant spaces.
Chow Centaur
Chow Centaur is a digital emulation of the Klon Centaur guitar pedal. The plugin contains two modes, “Traditional” which uses traditional circuit modelling technicues, and “Neural” which uses a recurrent neural network to model the gain stage from the original Klon circuit. More technical details can be found in the accompanying technical paper.
Link to download
https://chowdsp.com/products.html