You can now keep using Electrum Core by United Plugins for FREE after the trial period expires.
United Plugins offers a 15-day trial of Electrum Core (usually €49), and you can now continue to use it beyond the trial period. The free version of the software is called Electrum Core 2nd Hand Edition.
There won’t be any nasty noises or time limits when the trial expires, although it’s not quite business as usual.
Some features will be off-limits, but the core functionality will still be available. Electrum Core is the latest plugin to get this treatment from United Plugins, but it’s not the first. Plugins like Front DAW, Royal Compressor and QuickBass are already available on the same terms.
Electrum Core is the junior version of United Plugins Electrum. While it doesn’t offer every feature of the more expensive Electrux (it’s basically the amp and cabinet minus full pedalboard of effects), it still delivers a wide range of guitar tones.
There are five amps, all sharing the same set of controls, making them easier to navigate. The available amps aren’t emulations of specific hardware models as such but offer a progression from clean to dirty tones.
The shared controls are relatively straightforward, with Gain, EQ, Balance, etc. There are a few nice additions like Tight Mode (Low-cut), Luster, and Corrosion to add brightness and dirt.
The Cabinet section offers sixteen types of cab simulation, and 21 alterations, making over 300 models in total. The cabinet simulation relies on modeling rather than IRs, hopefully leading to a more natural sound.
Electrum Core comes with a handy gain-staging tool in the Analyze Input Level button. When pressed, the plugin will analyze your playing and automatically set the optimal input level.
It also features a nifty little CPU-saver, where it engages Sleep Mode if no processing is currently required.
“Some of our plugins have their 2nd hand versions – after the trial period expires they do not start producing unpleasant noises but continue working in your projects. You only lose access to some of their features. Namely, those are Front DAW, Royal Compressor, QuickAG and QuickBass. Newly, Electrum Core joins the club. Enjoy your free guitar amp and cab after its trial expires.”
If you want a wide range of guitar tones with minimal fuss, Electrum Core might be for you. The timing is pretty good, too, as we just featured Clean Electric Guitar from SampleScience, and maybe the two are a good match.
Electrum Core is available in 64-bit VST, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS (10.10 upwards) and Windows (8/10/11).
Download: Electrum Core (free to use with limited functionality after the trial expires)
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4 Comments
Scherbenfabrik
onNice article, neat plugin, easy to use and sounds great with lots of control.
Could not find any information about what features might be deactivated when the free trial runs out. Guess I’ll find out in around 2 weeks.
Not that expensive tho, and i am already thinking about adding it to my setup, thanks to its versatility.
Jeppespelar
onI thought this looked really cool too (havent tried it yet though) and was wondering the same. If you look at the picture in the united plugins news article you can see some knobs that looks like they’re missing: https://unitedplugins.com/news/detail/84
Do you think it will be useful even without those options?
Scherbenfabrik
onI have the compressor (2nd Hand Edition), and although its quite annoying sometimes i really like the idea. There are no features that gets disabled, just some missing knobs. In this case my guess is that some amp types will be missing, some cabinets and maybe some of the knobs, but whats left will sound the same.
Just wondering if presets made during trial will still work. That would be awesome, they just can’t be altered later on ofc.
About the picture, yeah, that’s a lot of knobs missing. Just checked with my still on trial version. Looks like cabinet sim is completely unavailable. That’s too bad, they sound pretty nice.
James N
onit’s a cool freebie for sure, although, I’m not entirely sure which features will be deactivated, either.
Cheers!