Soft Drums Lite, LS-1173, Honest Overdrive: Free Plugins of the Week
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Soft Drums Lite, LS-1173, Honest Overdrive: Free Plugins of the Week · Source: Somerville Sounds
Looking for mellow acoustic drum sounds? Soft Drums Lite by Somerville Sounds could be just what you need! Other freebies of the week include an API-inspired EQ and preamp and a versatile distortion plugin.
Somerville Sounds Soft Drums Lite: Keep it Mellow
If you’re into folk music, Americana, singer/songwriter, and other mellow styles, you may find that most commercially available drum libraries sound too harsh and punchy for your needs. It’s the same phenomenon that makes many ear-catching synth presets unusable in an actual production: They sound great by themselves, but once you start adding other things, they feel overly assertive and out of place.
That’s where Soft Drums Lite by Somerville Sounds comes in. Based on the developer’s original Soft Drums Kontakt library, this free plugin contains a great-sounding drum set played with broomsticks – for that tasteful “in-between sound” between sticks and brushes.
Soft Drums Lite also includes a couple of basic sound shaping options like filter, saturation, and room microphones. There’s even a Slam button for a heavily compressed and saturated sound – just in case the drums are just a tad too soft.
Soft Drums Lite is available on a pay-what-you-want basis. The plugin runs on macOS and Windows in VST3, AU, and AAX formats.
Lotus Sound LS-1173: Free API-Inspired EQ and Preamp
It’s easy to see which classic hardware units this new free plugin by Lotus Sound is inspired by. LS-1173 is an EQ and preamp modeled after classic API hardware. The developer claims that the plugin faithfully recreates the “warmth and richness of the original hardware”.
The EQ section offers three semi-parametric bands with adjustable center frequencies. The low and high bands can be switched between bell and shelf characteristics. In the preamp section, you’ll find a drive knob for that iconic coloration and character, as well as an output level control.
LS-1173 is available for macOS and Windows in VST, VST3, and AU formats.
Wire Grind Honest Overdrive: All the Distortion you Really Need
Honest Overdrive by Wire Grind is a simple but effective overdrive and distortion effect. Instead of a drive control, it offers a Clipping Threshold knob for adjusting the level at which clipping begins. The Softness Amount control lets you dial in anything between soft and hard clipping. With two indicators for “Overdriven” and “Maximum Saturation”, it’s easy to keep an eye on what the distortion is doing.
Honest Overdrive is a VST3 plugin for Windows.
Looking for more free plugins like Soft Drums Lite, LS-1173, and Honest Overdrive? Check out our archive!
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