Orange Gate, Akira Tube, Magic Carpet: Free Plugins of the Week
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Vain Audio has updated the free Orange Gate plugin with some powerful new features. This week’s roundup of freebies also brings you a free tube saturator and a trippy multi-layer delay.
Free Plugins of the Week
Vain Audio Orange Gate Is now also a Compressor
When Orange Gate by Vain Audio first came out in 2024, it was a fairly straightforward gate pluginwith a handy visualizer. The new version, which the developer released a few days ago, builds on this foundation but adds new features for more detailed dynamic processing.
Most importantly, Orange Gate is no longer just a gate, but also a compressor. As the developer puts it: “If you’re loud enough, you’ll be heard. If you’re too loud, you’ll be silenced.” The gate and compressor sections each have independent Threshold, Attack, and Release controls.
Each section also offers a sidechain filter with several modes for triggering the gate and/or compressor using a specific frequency range of the input signal. Neat! The visualizer is of course still there and does a great job of showing the effects of the gate and compressor simultaneously.
While the first version of Orange Gate was only available for Windows, the new version comes in VST3and CLAP formats for Windows and AU/CLAP for macOS Ventura and above (Apple Silicon only).
Smaolab Akira Tube Free: Tube Saturation and Distortion
Akira Tube by Smaolab is a tube saturation and distortion plugin available in free and paid versions. The free version offers one type of tube distortion (Stone), which is optimized for bass frequencies. You can further shape the sound using a 3-band EQ, an analog-modeled lowpass filter with limited controls, and a waveshaping clipper. It’s also got input and output level controls and a dry/wet mix knob.
The Pro version, which is currently on sale for €19.50, adds advanced features such as two additional distortion modes (Hype, BadTripe), extended filter controls, an exciter, full oversampling control, and more presets.
Akira Tube Free is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux in VST, AU, CLAP, and LV2 formats.
UnplugRed Magic Carpet: 3 Delay Lines for Trippy Sounds
UnplugRed makes some of the most unusual and creative free plugins, and Magic Carpet is no exception. It’s a delay plugin with three independent delay lines, each with its own time control. The peculiarity is that the three delay lines share a common feedback path, which leads to lots of cross-talk. According to the developer, the result is a delay that starts sparse but gets denser over time. It sure yields some floaty and trippy results!
If you dare, you can activate Noise Mode to raise the feedback to unstable levels. Proceed at your own risk! 😉
Magic Carpet is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux in VST3, AU, and CLAP formats.
Looking for more free plugins like Orange Gate, Akira Tube, and Magic Carpet? Check out our archive!
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