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BootEQ mkIV, Neural Drumkit, Mogano: Free Plugins – gearnews.com
BootEQ mkIV by Variety of Sound is an updated and much improved version of this beautiful and free console-style EQ and preamp combination! Also in this week’s edition of Free Plugins: Generate an endless supply of drum samples with Neural Drumkit Lite and enjoy the unique overdrive characteristics of Mogano.
Variety of Sound BootEQ mkIV: Musical EQ and Preamp
Great news: Variety of Sound continues to update and improve its freeware classics! BootEQ mkIV is the latest version of their preamp and EQ combination – and it’s a major update.
BootEQ mkIV offers four independent parametric EQ bands with both asymmetric and proportional curve behaviors. The plugin also includes a preamp stage that adds “elegant audio colouration” by adding tube and transformer-based saturation and harmonic overtones.
This new version not only adds VST3 support (yay!) but also offers improved EQ and filter performance. Moreover, the saturation stage is now volume-compensated, which makes maintaining a coherent signal level much easier.
It’s always great when a developer continues to update and improve their plugins – especially in the case of freeware. Kudos to Variety of Sound!
BootEQ is available as VST and VST3 plugins for Windows only.
Fazertone Neural Drumkit Lite: AI-based Drum Generation
Running out of interesting drum samples? Why not use AI to generate a limitless supply? Neural Drumkit by Fazertone uses AI to create a wide range of drum sounds with fully adjustable characteristics.
While you’ll need to purchase the full version (currently $49.99) to get all the features, Neural Drumkit Lite is a free teaser that gives you a glimpse of what this plugin can do. You get 16 slots that you can fill with automatically generated drum sounds. Don’t like the sound? Simply hit “Generate” again and the AI will spit out a new one.
I’ll admit that the free version is rather limited in that it only lets you create bass drums, snares, and closed hi-hats. So if you like it, you might want to consider the full version, which offers a much wider range of sounds, as well as a Neural Editor for fine-tuning the AI parameters.
The plugin is still in development and Fazertone plans to add additional features like sample import, stereo, and more generation options in the future. One to keep an eye on!
Neural Drumkit Lite is available for macOS and Windows in VST3 and AU formats.
Eftilo Mogano: Unique Filter-Based Overdrive
Eftilo Mogano is a delightful one-knob overdrive plugin with a unique twist. Rather than simulating the typical analog op-amp circuit, Mogano models the overdriven input of a voltage-controlled filter. The developer says that this creates dynamic and crunchy soft-clipping and dynamic saturation that works just as well on guitars as on other instruments like electric pianos, bass, synths, and drums. Check out the video – I really like the sound!
Mogano is available for macOS and Windows in VST3 and AU formats.
Looking for more free plugins like BootEQ mkIV, Neural Drumkit, and Mogano? Check out our archive!