Airwindows has released Starter Kit, a bundle of eleven free audio effects in VST and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstation software on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Starter Kit is a set of eleven audio effects and mixing tools designed for a wide variety of audio-related purposes. The bundle contains an assortment of equalizers, compressors, saturation effects, clippers, and audio utilities.
See also: 40+ Music Production Freebies To Help You #StayAtHomeAirwindows has been releasing high-quality plugins for quite some time now. The peculiar thing about Airwindows software is that the plugins don’t have a graphical user interface. Instead, they rely on the host application’s default look and feel. It’s all about the functionality and sound quality with these plugins.
Another thing worth pointing out that there are so many free plugins available on the Airwindows website that a new visitor simply wouldn’t know where to begin. This was the case with me, actually. Many readers recommended Airwindows plugins in the BPB comments section, but I simply didn’t know which ones to download first. There are a few hundred plugins to choose from!
Well, the good news is that Chris (the developer behind Airwindows) has compiled this neat pack, which contains eleven must-have plugins. Here’s the list of included software:
- Baxandall
- Capacitor
- ClipOnly
- DeBess
- Focus
- Interstage
- Monitoring
- MV
- Pressure4
- PurestConsole
- PurestGain
Download these plugins completely free of charge from the Airwindows website and have fun! Check out the intro video below to hear the Airwindows plugin in action and learn more about their functionality.
Airwindows plugins are open-source. The developer has a Patreon page that you can join if you want to support his work. Do you use Airwindows plugins? Is this your first time testing them? Join the discussion and let us know in the comments section below.
More info: Airwindows Starter Kit (4.26 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/AU plugin format for Windows/macOS/Linux)
More articles:
11 Comments
Michele
onI’ve recently discovered Baxandall, it’s an incredible eq.
John
onI am also recommending FathomFive for bass boosting, which is really nice https://www.airwindows.com/fathom-five/
Ike
onI just wish they were skinnable / someone would create a GUI for them (with some basic metering, gain reduction meter for the compressors)
Dom
onAirwindows plugins are great. No GUI, no excessive overheads, just functional plugins where you use your ears not your eyes.
Yogi
onReally good plugins.
Mike
onI think the idea of a starter kit is great. I keep hearing how great these are but the sheer number of plugins he offers, and the complex setup for the console ones, is kind of overwhelming.
Raven
onConsole is not complex to set up at all. You just load the “consolechannel” as the last effect on the mixer channel, and then you load the “consolebuss” as the first plugin on the bus… literally done.
That said, airwindows plugins remain to me to MOST elegant i have used in the last 15years! Even if his Eq adds a bit of saturation, its simply incredible on rich sounds.
So many of his plugins deliver a superior tone and deal directly with digital limitations
Honestly i check and crawl the airwindows channel more often than i do BPB! I wish more companies would make simpler lighter heavy hitters like Chris.
I think analogue obsession could benefit hugely from Chris’s simple algorithms.
Atme
onAirwindows plugins are brilliant! <3
Tomislav Zlatic
onYes, they are – using them more and more, and I’m blown away.
xmiinc
onAfter spending some hours trying to get the Airwindows plugins to work, both the Starter Kit, and the signedAU full suite, I can’t get them to be recognized by LPX7.2native on an M1 Mac (OS Monterey 12.0.1). I tried it all, using Terminal to accept them as 3rd party software, dragging them individually into the Plug-ins directory, leaving them in the Airwindows folder. The ONLY thing that worked was a single AU plug, “Mackity”, that the author posted on a blog as a test for compiling M1 plug code so as to function natively.
xmiinc
on…but aside from that single instance, all others don’t merely fail validation, they’re not even seen AT ALL by Plugin Manager, even in the manufacturer list! Only his M1 test plug “Mackity” was recognized.