Sound design plugins are those that are useful for shaping and designing original sound effects and processing existing sounds into something new and unrecognizable. You’ve probably heard their work in countless recordings without ever knowing it.
If you’re serious about audio production, knowing what tools are available to shape the sounds you’re after is half the battle. Some of the plugins included on this list are industry staples. Others weren’t intended for sound design but can be “hacked” to get the job done.
Aether
If you don't have five-hundred big ones to shell out for Altiverb, look straight into the eyes of Aether. 2cAudio’s Aether is a powerful, self-modulating algorithmic reverb plugin whose reputation speaks for itself. It has been used in countless film, television, gaming, and music applications on major releases.
Aether consists of two discrete engines. The first is ER (early reflections), relating to the portion of reverberation that hits a listener’s ears just after the direct sound. The second engine is LR (late reflections), handling the aspects of reverberation that arrive at the listener’s ear much later than either the direct sound or early reflections.
Aether blends these two engines across an intuitive interface. Part of what makes this plugin so advantageous is the way it pairs flexible routing and filtering options and a colossal library of factory presets and frequency profiles with an easy-to-use interface.
Aether
Ohmicide
Brought to you by the twisted minds at Ohmforce, Ohmicide is a distortion plugin with tons of character. With four frequency bands (each with their own editable parameters), a variety of distortion types, and MIDI compatibility, Ohmicide is a flexible sonic mangler consistently capable of hurting your feelings.
If you’re looking to create harsh digital effects and butcher your source signal into hellish bliss, Ohmicide is an excellent place to start.
Ohmicide
Omnisphere 2
Omnisphere 2 by Spectrasonics is an immensely powerful VST instrument/synthesizer with capabilities extending through the realm of sound design and beyond. It is a fantastic tool for constructing one-shot samples of all kinds, kinesthetic atmospheres, and impactful progressions.
Its library is vast, ranging from more traditional instruments like pianos and strings to more esoteric synthesizers and sonic experiments (think waterphones and tesla coils). The ability to blend sounds and apply effects -- Omnisphere 2 boasts more than 50 onboard effects -- offers a lot of sonic potential. Its user interface is relatively simple to operate once one familiarizes themselves with the workflow.
Omnisphere 2
Reaktor 6
Reaktor 6 by Native Instruments allows users to build custom effects, samplers, synthesizers, and beyond. File this one under “industry standards.”
Its adaptive interface allows for modular patching of the 70+ sounds immediately available in the included bundle, plus thousands more in the user library. Users select “blocks” -- essentially individual modules (oscillators, ADSRs, quantizers, etc.) -- and chain them together to create unique sounds. The sheer scope of possibility makes this a must-have for any serious sound designer.
Reaktor 6
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Speakerphone 2
Speakerphone is unrivaled speaker emulation software. Need the sound of a particular type of speaker or amplifier? No problem.
Speakerphone 2 also gives you the option to alter your source signal in various ways. For example, in addition to manipulating the speaker impulse response, users can fiddle with the microphone impulse response, cover source (i.e., sources that muffle the sound, such as blankets, boxes, etc.), distortion, and EQ.
And this is only a small portion of what it can do. Transistor radio, walkie-talkie, or intercom effects are popular uses here.
Speakerphone 2
Stutter Edit
iZotope’s Stutter Edit is essential when one needs to expressively transform their source signal. Stutter Edit allows users to create an effect and play it like an instrument.
Each key triggered loads a different arrangement of the thirteen effects offered. For example, playing a half step up will give you a different sequence of effects from that of the original key.
Stutter Edit also contains a noise generator, which comes in handy with sweeps, fills, and transitions. The hands-on immediacy of its interface and workflow make it easy to implement into any type of project, whether it’s remixing or creating original material.
Stutter Edit
Turnado
Turnado by Sugarbytes is a deep multi-effects plugin capable of serving a variety of different functions. Its interface is wonderfully simple: turn a knob to initiate an effect, turn the knob further to either increase/decrease or modulate the effect.
Turnado offers 24 algorithms that can be selected and used across its eight knobs. Although it’s marketed as a beat manipulation plugin (which it most certainly is), it offers an array of delays, distortions, filters and reverbs which can be carefully manipulated in accordance with the parameters of a scene or designed to fit a particular mood or atmosphere.
Turnado
Volcano 2
Volcano 2 by FabFilter is a delightfully intense auto-filter. The top half of the interface is an interactive filter display which allows the user to manipulate up to four filter curves by selecting a filter and directly changing its settings (characteristics, cutoff frequency, peak, response, and slope).
The bottom half of the interface displays the modulation sources (XLFOs, envelope generators/followers, and MIDI source). Users can configure new modulators and chain them together into delightfully complex amalgamations, resulting in essentially endless possibilities.
Volcano 2
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So that's our roundup of a healthy range of software to quench all of your sound design-related thirsts. More-than-honorable mention goes to Apple Logic X, which comes with an inordinate amount of included instruments, samplers, and plugins, while tacking on a fully-featured multitrack DAW and sequencer. Its "Space Designer" and "Delay Designer" plugins alone are worth the entire price of admission. Some mention is also due to Native Instruments KONTAKT which has become an industry standard sampler to host many of these stellar sound design products. As always, let us know what we missed in the comments section.
Software & Plugins