Find the sonic key that will open the door to a whole new realm of creative potential in this list!
Music production is a many-headed beast, with a variety of disciplines combining to make up one creative endeavour, namely: writing, recording, arranging, mixing and mastering. There’s another step on the production journey though, one which borrows from and overlaps with some of the skills mentioned above - sound design.
Originating from the world of film and television, where audio professionals have long been tasked with creating the sonic identity of a project, in music production the term sound design refers to any process where you’re shaping the timbre and texture of a sound. It’s a fluid process of transformation and creation, and it’s very fun!
Of course, to manipulate sounds in this fashion requires some outside-of-the-box thinking, as well as a set of creative tools that work in unusual and inspiring ways. For this reason, we’ve picked a list of the best sound design plugins on Plugin Boutique to help you explore new sonic territories.
Arturia Pigments 5
Arturia have contributed some mammoth synthesizers to the world of music production and sound design–a vast majority of their new-age works being digital emulations of traditional analog hardware synths. Pigments, however, is purely a software synthesiser and one of their most impressive technologies to date. It’s an ear candy dispenser for any modern sound designer, providing practically every possibility!
Capable of not one but four forms of sound synthesis under one hood, able to be used individually or in conjunction, Pigments provides a near-infinite pool of sound potential. Not to mention, the interface is one of Arturia’s most elegant, with a customisable and modular workspace and colour-coded navigation. Once you’ve familiarised yourself with Pigments, it’s likely to become a permanent, go-to addition to your virtual sound design synth cabinet.
Even if you’re not well-versed in the intricate details of sound synthesis, Pigments 5 comes locked and loaded with 1,500 presets for you to experiment with and build from. There’s also an internal store for users to upgrade the sound bank with if they wish. All the additional soundbanks are reasonably priced too. Overall, Pigments is a sound design titan, built and distributed by a trustworthy and legendary vendor.
iZotope VocalSynth 2
Massachusetts developers iZotope are renowned for making award-winning plugins that seamlessly integrate with one another to provide a holistic music production experience, whether you’re mixing and mastering, repairing audio or getting involved in some sound design. Like Neutron, Ozone and other titles in the company’s roster though, VocalSynth 2 is just as formidable an entity on its own.
A creative processing toolkit that features a Vocoder, Talkbox, Compuvox, Polyvox, and Biovox (a brand new effect based on the sonic qualities of the human vocal tract), Vocal Synth 2 obviously excels at conjuring up unique and transformative vocal effects. Each vocal effect module is blendable and reorderable, which means you can carve up your signal plenty before you’ve even touched the plugin’s seven stompbox-style effects (Distort, Filter, Transform, Shred, Delay, Ring Mod and Chorus).
As is the case with most areas of sound design, it pays to think outside the box, so it’s no surprise that Vocal Synth 2 performs equally well when applied to any sound source. From subtle to extreme, natural to otherworldly – this plugin is sure to open up a new world of sonic possibilities.
Lunacy Beam
Introducing: a convolution reverb FX plugin with an additional granular engine. It also happens to feature filters and a never-before-seen dynamic audio graph system. What does that mean exactly? It means Beam is potentially one of the coolest reverb plugins you could ever be introduced to as a sound designer.
This plugin allows for near-endless combinations of parallel and serial sequences, with a maximum of six different parallel paths. It works by allowing you to string together different FX nodes–all being either a Space (reverb), Grains (granular), or Filter node. Altogether, the nodes contain 100+ presets, with modifiable parameters. The plugin itself comes worth 250+ total presets, all contributed by acclaimed sound designers from across the globe.
Perhaps the thing that makes Beam so unique is its inclusion of a granular FX module. The Grains node is boasted to produce shimmering particle clouds, glitchy percussive grooves, and rhythmic soundscapes. To sum things up: If you’re looking for a non-run-of-the-mill reverb effect at an affordable price, Beam should be a top consideration.
Krotos Reformer Pro
Sound design is a thriving industry, with a huge demand for high-quality audio assets for interactive media assets like video games and applications, or traditional entertainment fields like film and TV production. Professional sound designers need professional tools, which is where companies like Krotos Audio come in.
The Scottish developer specializes in powerful and efficient sound design tools for post-production, game audio and music, of which Reformer Pro is one. The goal behind the plugin is to give sound designers and foley artists an alternative to the sample libraries that they usually depend on. Reformer Pro allows you to ‘perform’ realistic foley within your DAW, rather than tediously cutting, dragging and dropping. For foley artists, in particular, this is a game-changing concept, as it means they won’t need to use potentially expensive studios to gather sounds.
There are over 2 GB of high-quality and versatile sounds covering common sound design scenarios, which can be controlled via a microphone (or any pre-recorded audio) in real time. Reformer Pro is a near-revolutionary prospect in sound design and foley, but as the plugin doesn’t recognise the pitch of an incoming audio signal, it won’t be quite as rewarding for melodic use.
Devious Machines Infiltrator 2
If you’re seeking a one-stop plugin with an abundance of sound manipulation effects, Infiltrator 2 by Devious Machines could be your match made in heaven. The mad multieffects plugin is stacked to the rafters with possibilities, and it’s made a whole lot of noise in the world of sound design and music production since its release, and rightly so, with it being held in high regard by a near-bottomless list of industry-leading names.
With 54 total effects modules, in categories like Filters, Effects, Spectral, Utilities and EQs, Infiltrator provides an inexhaustible and extensive pool of creative combinations. All of the effect modules included in Infiltrator 2’s mighty bank could very well have been released as individual plugins on their own accord. You can technically even use them as such, should you wish. But, the fact that we have the opportunity to throw them into a mixing pot under one dedicated interface, only taking up a single slot in your FX chain, makes Infiltrator a delightful and welcomed companion.
A couple more notable things to mention: Its preset library and step sequencer. Infiltrator 2 now comes jam-packed with 1,500 presets, intended to cover numerous genres, and its step sequencer allows users to activate and deactivate different effect modules over a looped time frame. The customisation and potential this offers is insane! Let this plugin infiltrate your soundspace, and give you a whole load of new fodder for creative sound design inspiration!
Minimal Audio Current 2.0
Get yourself a one-time perpetual license for one of the most exciting new synth releases of recent times. Equipping yourself with plugins capable of bringing abundant choice to your sonic easel should be your first call to action as a sound designer. Just one single decked-out synth can truly keep inspiration coming through even the most tumultuous of creative droughts. Minimal Audio have hit the ball out the park with Current 2.0, providing a vibrant and fruit-bearing resource for any weary sound designer short of options.
One reason why Current is a secure bet for long-term fruitfulness is due to one of its unique features: The Stream. Minimal Audio have designed the synth with a cloud-connected stream of sound sources, allowing you to access an ever-expanded library of sound options directly from inside the instrument (as long as you have an internet connection). Aside from that, the plugin is an absolute powerhouse, capable of wavetable, granular, additive and FM synthesis, with plenty of filtering and modulation options for you to sink your teeth into on top of that.
One final notable feature of Current is its easy-to-use X/Y macro controls, providing an effortless and efficient way to engage with the primary control panel of the interface. Honestly, for the amount of content this tool can provide, its price point makes for just another positive praise we can add to its list of pros – and remember, it’s a one-time fee to get Current 2.0 in your DAW!
Output Portal
Because of it's capacity to totally deconstruct and reconfigure sounds in unique ways, granular engines are extremely useful tools for sound design. You know the deal: audio comes in from a sound source, it gets broken down into tiny fragments ranging from 1–100 milliseconds called “grains” which are then re-sampled in a variety of different ways to produce new sounds.
Portal is a granular FX plugin that you can feed any audio, for it to re-synthesize it in a new and musical way. As with all Output plugins, its interface is stunning, which immediately gets you in the mood for expansive sound design. A large circular “portal” takes up the majority of the interface, which is an X/Y slider that controls two macro knobs (these vary according to which of the 250+ neatly ordered presets you’ve loaded up).
Under Portal’s hood is where the real potential for sound design lies. Here, there’s an extensive array of grain controls that allow you to manipulate individual grains in pretty much every way imaginable, whether you’re pitch-shifting, time-stretching, adjusting Density and Size, or getting stuck into some transformative grain delay. Modulation is achievable by two looping multistage envelopes/LFOs, which kicks the plugin into yet another gear.
Eventide Crystals
As with any creative field, in the world of sound design, it’s just as important to venture into experimental territory and have fun with your work. We don’t always want to be messing around with oscillators and predetermined sound presets. Sometimes, throwing a simple spanner into the works, like Eventide’s Crystals, can be just what’s needed to introduce a little intended chaos into any workflow that’s fast-becoming orderly and mundane.
Crystals is a relatively straightforward, yet effective harmonizer effect, featuring reverse reverbs and delays with twin reverse pitch shifters. If that sounds eccentric to you, that’s because it is. This unique combination of effects under one roof allows for some truly majestic results. The reverse granular delays are perhaps what make it so unique, but combining that with pitch shifters and accompanying reverse reverbs was an ingenious idea. You can push Crystals to its non-comparable limits and see what it's capable of, or utilise it merely for its reverb capabilities alone. The choice is yours.
Lastly, Crystals’ Ribbon control allows you to modulate multiple parameters at once, adding further uniqueness and customisable sound-design potential. If you're looking for more than just salt and pepper to spice up your concoctions, you definitely should consider this nimble effect plugin for its abilities to play with your sound.
Waves Space Rider
Having as many options as you possibly can is only a surefire way to increase creative potential. However, sometimes we can be overloaded for choice if we have one too many plugins to try out all at once. That’s where implementing a robust and elaborate effects plugin, such as Space Rider, where the variety is all-encompassed into one neat package, is a worthwhile consideration. Technically, Space Rider is a Chorus, Delay and Reverb in one, but the whole is more than the sum of its effects.
Aside from providing a wide array of possibilities in one interface, Space Rider – by the revered developer Waves – has some pretty cool unique features. First of all, there’s its ability to morph between two whole ‘patches’ – alpha and beta setups of all the plugin’s parameters. This is done using a slider, aka the eponymous ‘Rider’, which even itself has a few tricks up its sleeve. This neat little control allows you to fade between two assignable effects modules at once, sure, but it can also be linked to incoming audio signal, bouncing left and right between the two setups, driven by the level of the incoming audio.
Overall, a multi-effect plugin like Waves’ Space Rider serves as a great bus track effect, where you can route multiple tracks to the same effects send. The Rider control is an added bonus that will save you even more time and energy on messing around with automation. This feature alone might be enough to place Space Rider high on your top-choice list once you’ve familiarised yourself with it.
Sugar Bytes Turnado
Sound design doesn’t have to be incredibly complicated, in fact, at its best, it’s often the simple processes that do the trick. And, when something works, it tends to stick around. While new-fangled plugins professing to be fuelled by revolutionary sonic concepts or AI power may fill the headlines, there are some plugins that have been go-to sound design tools for years because of their sheer efficacy.
Turnado is one such plugin, released all the way back in 2011 by Berlin-based developer Sugar Bytes. You can tell its age by its quirky GUI, which lacks the sleek aesthetic you’ll find on most plugins nowadays, but otherwise is totally intuitive and well thought out. And, with Australian Grammy award-winning electronic artist Flume on record as being a big fan of the plugin, there’s no doubt that Turnado is a serious sound design tool.
The plugin features a palette of 24 effects to choose from, ranging from the ordinary (Reverb, Phaser, Flanger) to the obscure (Spectralizer, Vowel Filter, Granulizer, Slice Arranger and much more). From there, it’s as simple as dropping effects into one of the plugin’s eight “performance” slots, where you can turn them on and adjust the intensity with one knob per effect. You can edit and automate effects in detail in Expert Mode, as well as use two LFOs/step sequencers per slot for hands-off control.
Baby Audio Atoms
Synths are really the bread and butter of sound design because… well, they’re designed to design sound. But, with such a competitive market and developers releasing new synths every day, it can be difficult to find truly innovative sound engines to power your projects. That considered, Baby Audio’s Atoms is the breath of fresh air you might need to add new energy into a toolbox that’s feeling a little tired.
Atoms has been built with the intention of treading new water. The synth utilises physical modelling technology to create dynamic, living sounds that fluctuate in an organic way to replicate acoustic instrument properties and real-world unpredictability. The developers have also pushed this natural sound realism to another level by implementing six primary motion controls that govern how the sound will shape itself. It’s a randomization engine – however, a calculated randomization engine, with the purpose of creating luscious soundscapes.
A tool like this can either become one of your closest sound design allies in a short span of time, or it’ll be that one instrument you rely on when you’re really in need of something special – something that you can’t quite replicate elsewhere. Either way, we’re sure you’ll enjoy some one-on-one time exploring this one-of-a-kind treasure.
iZotope Stutter Edit 2
When American electronic music producer BT first started out in music production, he developed a signature technique that involved cutting sections of audio and applying effects in different ways. The stuttery, glitchy sounds he produced established him as an in-demand producer and artist, but unfortunately, they also required him to spend a large part of his time manually editing audio in his DAW. He needed a solution and decided to build his own custom plugin.
Fast forward to the present, and Stutter Edit 2 is the second iteration of BT’s ingenious multi-effects plugin, designed in collaboration with iZotope and used in the sound design of huge blockbuster productions like Star Wars and Stranger Things. You can use it to cook up rhythmic repetitions of small chunks of audio and combine them with other effects, in either Auto or MIDI mode.
With Stutter Edit 2 you can create a unique chain of effect events instead of static settings, which can be called up using MIDI input. The plugin has a large bank of effect events, or “gestures”, including cinematic rises, exciting transitions and filter sweeps. There’s a handy purple bar that gives you a visual representation of what’s happening to your audio, and you can customize gestures for length, release, direction and more, as well as editing modulation curves that affect the stutter itself.
Zynaptiq MORPH 2
Located in Hannover, Germany, Zynaptiq creates technology and applications for processing, analyzing, categorizing and generating audio-visual data. Their team are experts in state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and signal processing techniques, and even allow their own pitch-shifting and time-stretching technology to be used by other developers. Thankfully, they keep some of the secret sauce for themselves, using it to create innovative plugins that are perfect for sound design, one of which is MORPH 2.
The essence of MORPH 2 is something that Zynaptiq call structural audio morphing, whereby you seamlessly blend one sound with another across an X/Y axis. This is no mere cross-fading tool, however, as MORPH 2 instead applies the characteristics of one input signal to the other, meaning you get a hybrid sound that is totally original. Think of it like a vocoder, yet the plugin can take any sound sources and allow you to set a transition point between them.
Morphing can be carried out with one of five state-of-the-art processing algorithms with their own distinct character, which provides the high resolution and detail to fuel the plugin’s mutations. There’s also a really precise formant shifter which is excellent in its own right, and a hall reverb to add some dimension to the sounds you create.