Top 10 FREE Metal Production Plugins 2019 Here are my picks for the best free plugins for 2019 all geared toward mixing metal! I use many of these in my day to day productions, as I find them useful for actually getting work done. Featuring tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, and plugin effects. Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on my channel! The free SimulAnalog Guitar Suite is a VST plugin collection of accurately modelled analog amplifiers and other classic processors for guitarists. It contains the simulation of the two classic guitar amplifiers the Fender Twin 1969 and the Marshall JCM900, as well as the VST simulation of the following stompboxes: Boss DS-1, Boss SD-1, Tube. These days, all you need is a killer VST plugin along with some impulses to achieve stellar results. In some cases, you don’t even need impulses. If that wasn’t awesome enough, you can even get some great sounding VSTs for free. That’s what we’re going to be looking at in this guide – free guitar VST plugins that sound ultra-realistic. Ample Guitar M Lite II. This little plugin surprised me quite a bit, mainly because it’s an acoustic. 16 AMPs with styles from heavy metal to clean. 2x - 8x sample rate processing. SSE3 or higher 4GB RAM 10GB free hard drive space VST 32bit, VST 64bit.

• Heavier7Strings

  Demo video of Heavier7Strings

• Limbo Violin

  Demo song of Heavier7Strings

• Jordan Playing H7S

  Keyboardist Jordan Rudess from Dream Theater is using H7S!!!

• Heavier7Strings

  Patterns & Effects

• Heavier7Strings

  Rhythm parts

• Heavier7Strings

  Guitar tracks only

• Heavier7Strings

  Effects & Dry sounds

• Heavier7Strings

  Legato Demo

• User Demo

  Excellent music composer GMN Henry for H7S!!!

• User Demo

  Bravo!!!!!!

• User Demo

  Thanks for the precious gift from our user Tremendouz!!!

• User Demo

  Famous composer Dirk Ehlert made a live demo of H7S!!!

• User Demo

  Talented composer Vern Cantrell making this demo 'War Within '

• User Demo

  The wonderful H7S demo video by YangYi

• Tutorial Video By User

  A Russian tutorial video by composer Mikhail Grudinin

• User Demo

  Bravo demo by Russian composer Mikhail Grudinin

• Walkthrough By User

  A detailed H7S walkthrough from our dedicated user Tiago!

• User Demo

  Awesome metal track from our dedicated user Jaroslav Holub

• User Demo

  How to Play the Guitar Without Owning One H7S Demo

• User Demo

  By One Square Meter

FEATURES

Premium 7-string virtual instrument

• High-quality A/D conversion and ultra-low noise level.
• 4 Years of recording and engineering to bring you unrivaled samples.
• 10000+ samples, 24-bit 48khz, 10GB in total.
• Individual samples for infinite sustain to freely adjust decay rate.

Fully equipped effects rack

• What is the first thing to do when one starts a virtual guitar? Usually it is to bypass all built-in effects, as they are mostly too primitive for any serious work. However, the effect rack we provide to you is complete and of production-level quality, not just a toy!
• Clean samples + Effect rack = Complete electric guitar solution
• Effect Rack can be used alone on an audio track, with third-party instruments or even with a real guitar!
• 31 effect modules including; Screamer, EQ12, AMP, Flanger, Wah, Ping-Pong delay, etc.
• 16 AMPs with styles from heavy metal to clean. 2x - 8x sample rate processing.
• 66 cabinet IRs, up to four at once with adjustable delay, volume and phasing.
• 200 factory presets, along with a preset manager to store your own presets.
  

Next-generation DSP for unmatched guitar realism

• Self-developed sampler with no compromise on sound quality.
• Direct-from-disk stream allows for more efficient resource usage.
• The THRASH (Tonal/Harmonic Reconstruction and Shaping) DSP engine.
• Dynamically adjustable sample harmonics.
• Dynamically reconstructed formants.
• Realistic pitch-bend and pitch-shift.
• PitchBend: instead of barely doing pitch shifting, real-world pitch-bend has changes on formant. With THRASH engine, Heavier7Strings dynamically recoups the formant and produces refined pitch-bend sound.
• (round robin) gives you different sound when notes are played repeatedly. The samples in Heavier7Strings have at most 16 RRs recorded, but with THRASH engine we are able to induce randomized tone changes in addition to actually recorded samples, thus produces more realistic repeated playing than just randomly repeats samples.
• Adjustable real-world sampled-LFO for authentic vibrato: many samplers simply use sine wave to modulate pitch to produce vibratos. However, real vibratos played from a guitar player are far from sinusoid-modulated pitches. To pursue realistic and adjustable vibrato sound, we recorded the pitch shift curve from real-world vibrato playing, and use it to modulate the normal playing samples.
• Each instance of Heavier7Strings shares the same memory, allowing for many instances without occupying additional resources.

Real-time virtual guitar performance

• Real-time playable.
• Real-time hammer on & pull off, legato slide in/out, pinch harmonics, tremolo, palm mute, picking noise, polyphonic legato and repeats.
• Automatic determination on fret board position, up/down picking and strumming.
• Automatic playing of power chords.
• Chord detect function.
• Chord Mapping allows you to easily play guitar chords from a keyboard.
  
• 24 hotkeys and a flexible key-mapping system allows for complex real-time performance styles, string and fret assignments, and adjustable humanization.
• True doubling: two guitars playing simultaneously on left and right channel, each has individual random note delay and RR selection.
• Flexible CC mappings instead of fixed key-switch assignments, allowing greater freedom when switching playing styles.
• Unison bend. Choose whether pitch-bend affects all notes in a chord, or only the lowest note.
• Adjustable tension and resonance.
• Adjustable level control per string.
• Adjustable palm muting level and attack.
• Adjustable Drop-A tuning.
• Pickup switch.
  

Patterns

• 300 factory MIDI patterns together with effect rack presets.
• Various styles: metal, rock, pop, clean, along with non-rhythmic noise and ambient.
• Drag MIDI patterns into host DAW.
• User definable patterns.

Minimum system requirements:

List price: $249

Now: $199

With the explosion of popularity with amp simulator plugins in 2019, there’s a virtual sea of choice when it comes to choosing an amp sim for your recording, practicing, and jamming needs.

For recording metal especially, amp sim plugins are as popular as ever with guitar players in the heavy genres.

Why Amp Sims Are So Popular

The reason being the convenience, tonal versatility and palette of heavy tones on offer without racks of expensive gear.

Even the die-hard tube amp purists out there are beginning to switch over to virtual rigs for their recordings.
With all this choice in the modern-day plugin and VST world, which amp simulator plugins are best for metal players?

What This Post is About

In this post, I have taken the time to round up a selection of the best amp simulators which are best for metal players, including high-gain and killer sounding modern amps and effects.

How I Choose Them

• Most metal presets – which software provides enough modern tones in one package
• Best sound – the most authentic and realistic guitar tones for recording and practicing
• Features -depth of customization, amount of presets and effects
• Most value – for the price which offers the most ‘bang for your buck’
• Key features – standalone version, free demo, unique innovative features

Always Try The Free Demo

The best amp simulator plugin is the one that sounds best to your ears and tailors to your requirements the most as a recording guitarist.

So I always recommend giving the free demo version a spin before opening your wallet for a potential purchase.

So without further ado, here’s a selection of popular amp simulators in 2019 for getting a modern and selection of killer high gain metal tones.

Let’s get into it in no particular order….

#1- AmpliTube 4

• Price: €299.99 (Max version)
• Standalone: yes
• Win/Mac (64-bit only)
• Demo version: yes

Amplitube 4 has long been a heavy favorite within the amp sim community especially with metal players. It is regarded as a premium software with hyper-realistic guitar tones, bundles of features, and the ability to modify all components of your rig for ultimate tone tweaking.

Main Features

• Accurately emulated amplifiers and stompbox effects
• ‘Cab Room’ – in-depth cab, microphone, and room ambiance customization
• Rack effects
• Built-in recorder and DAW
• Easy to use interface
• Save and modify presets
• Downloadable content via the ‘IK Custom Shop’
• Hardware Support for MIDI foot controllers

With all these great features, Amplitube 4 is the top option for a sweet metal amp plugin for genuine metal tones and unlimited amounts of tone sculpting customization for professional recording in any DAW.

Which Version is Best

Each version includes all the standard features mentioned above. The differences with each version are the number of amps, effects and presets that are available for dropping into your custom rig.
Amplitube 4 offers a handy free demo for road testing a few amps and effects for getting a feel for things.

If you become convinced there is the option to upgrade to the premium versions later or purchase and download additional amp packs and effects to your rig via the IK Custom Shop.

The Base Version (€49.99)

The Base version is the most affordable version out the pick. The problem is, when it comes to modern metal amps, high gain stompboxes and effects the choices are very light.

There is enough to get you started with a handful of unofficial Marshall type British amplifiers. But when it comes to metal amps, there is only one modern metal amp (although it is based on a Mesa Boogie.)

If you are new to amp sims then this is a great program to dip your toe and get you going.

Deluxe Version (€299)

The Deluxe version is the next step up offering 140 pieces of gear with a large range of amps, cabinets, microphones, stompboxes, and effects.

All this gear is Amplitubes unofficial presets so no official skins, unfortunately. However, the presets sound authentic which are emulated versions of popular amps, cabs, effects, and microphones.

Again only a few metal amps to choose with most of the selection of amps being American vintage amps with a few modern high gain amps. Which brings us to the last version…

Best Option: Amplitube 4 ‘Max’ (€299)

The Max version, in my opinion, is the best bundle containing 300 pieces of gear although it is the most expensive investment.(See Max version full list here)

The ‘Max’ version contains the Deluxe version and all the awesome official amp packs including the sick sounding official Mesa Boogie pack (list below.)

• Official Mesa Boogie Pack – (6 official Mesa Boogie Amps)
• Amplitube Metal – Amplitubes unofficial high-gain amps and cabs
• Orange amps bundle – Official Orange amp bundle
• Slash – Official Slash Marshall amps and effects
• Jimmi Hendrix Pack – Collection of historic Fender Amps
• Official Ampeg bass pack – Ampeg amp and bass cabs

Where vst plugins kept reaper. This version offers the most and valuable presets that will satisfy the metal players with a line of amps from Mesa Boogie, ENGL, Soldano, Orange, etc.

AmpliTube 4 – Official Mesa Boogie Pack

Conclusion

AmpliTube 4 is an ‘all in one’ amp sim for taking care of your metal recording needs. You will have to invest a fair bit for all the additional metal content through the IK Custom Shop or the ‘Max’ version. However, Amplitube 4 focuses on authenticity, aesthetics, and sonic realism ideal for metal tone purists. Hence why it is regarded as one of the best amp simulators money can buy.

#2 – BIAS FX 2

• Price: = $299
• Standalone: yes
• Win/Mac
• Free Demo: yes

BIAS FX 2 is an updated complete guitar tone studio VST plugin equipped for complete tonal customization.

The original BIAS FX was a popular amp sim within the metal recording community for an endless selection of options for creating any players virtual dream metal rig.

Features

• Genuine sounding emulated amps and effects
• A grand total of 200 presets
• 100 amplifiers and cabs (34 high gain amps)
• 100 effects total
• Tone Studio – create and download custom rigs from the online community
• ‘Guitar Match’ – Alters your guitars core sound to vintage single coils or humbuckers
• Recorder
• Looper

BIAS FX 2 is the new incarceration packing tons of high gain amplifiers modeled from popular amp brands such as Mesa Boogie, Engl, Diezel, Soldano, Bogner, and many more.
When it comes to choice, the software features 100 amps (34 high gain modern amps) with 100 effects allowing all the possible tone any metal player could need.
Screaming leads, heavy rhythm, ambient cleans, experimental effects the possibilities are endless with the amount of customization on offer with this package.

Guitar Match

‘Guitar Match’ is a new innovation feature unique to any amp sim. How it works is Guitar Match ‘samples’ your pickups then altering your core tone to a selection of 17 classic guitars to choose from.
For example, can alter your warm EMG humbuckers to a classic clean Telecaster single coil pickup for a brighter and more ambient clean tone adding some sparkle to your sound.

Bias FX does not just emulate amps… it can now emulate guitars! What a time to be alive!

Conclusion

BIAS FX2 is a premium amp simulator with tons of editing and tonal customization. This software directly rivals Amplitube 4 in terms of realism and having the ultimate platform for building your dream rig.

#3 – BIAS AMP 2

• Price: $269 (Elite version)
• Standalone: yes
• Win/Mac
• Free Demo: yes

For technical amplifier purists out there, BIAS Amp 2 takes amplifier tinkering and tweaking to a whole new level.

This amp sim plugin stands out from other programs as you have the ability to build your custom dream amplifier from the ground up. Everything in close detail!

For example, you can modify intricate components such as the pre and power tubes, transformers, biasing, EQ shelf-frequencies, etc all impacting on the overall tone and performance of your dream amp.

Features

• Intricate and deep tone sculpting
• ‘Amp Match’ – upload an mp3 file to create a custom amp to that tone
• Tonecloud – download and upload presets to and to the online community
• Standalone version
• 100 amp match features
• Official Celecestion speaker impulses

Keep in mind, this program is not a ‘build your dream rig’ plugin as there are no masses of effects and stompboxes.

Although it features a good selection of reverbs from small ambiance to long lush reverbs.
It’s more of a ‘build your dream amp’ sim as a stepping off point which you can either load another amp sim plugins alongside for adding effects and additional details around your dream amp.

Integration with BIAS FX

For ultimate tone customization, you could import your dream custom amp from BIAS AMP 2 into any version of BIAS FX.

Meaning you can add your dream amp into BIAS FX for adding the effects and ‘icing on the cake’ details to your dream rig which are lacking in BIAS AMP 2.

Conclusion

BIAS AMP 2 is perfect for tube amp lovers who want an immerse editing experience for creating a custom core amplifier from the ground up. It is not for users looking for the all in one tone library VST plugin like BIAS FX, Amplitube 4, Helix Native, etc. However, is an excellent software for crafting that perfect tube amp tone for jamming and recording.

#4 – Helix Native (Line 6)

• Price: $399 (Elite version)
• Standalone: no
• Win/Mac
• Demo version: yes

The Helix Native by Line 6 features 60 amps, 30 cabinets, and 100+ effects. Offering plenty of core presets for endless amounts of metal tones for your dream virtual rig.
All the presets are Line 6 reincarnated versions of popular amp companies… Mesa Boogie, Peavey, Engl, Bogner, Soldano, Orange, and many more.
The tones I must say are notably responsive and genuine to their modeled counterparts. You can create an army of metal presets that sound genuine as any other amp sim on the market today.

Features

• 60 amps, 30 cabs, 100+ effects
• Upload Impulse Responses (IR)
• Realistic amp emulations
• Versatile in sounds

Another good feature is you can upload custom impulse responses to improve on the current selection of sounds if they are not to your taste adding more flexibility.
The Helix has a logical and notably low-key interface which makes dragging dropping presets easy and customizing is a breeze with the movable sliders making customizing a simple process.

The Pricing

As great as the Helix is and deserves a spot on this list, I would say the $400 price tag is a little too steep in my personal opinion. I would say a price range of $150 – $250 would be somewhere more appropriate.
However, for a complete tone studio library, the Helix is a fantastic option and offers tons of value for the high price tag and is up there with the best amp sim plugins on offer.

Conclusion

Helix Native is ideal metal players looking for an ultimate guitar tone library plugin. Although the interface and visuals are not on par with other sims, however, the authenticity and depth of customization and quantity of presets make it a strong contender.

#5 – Overloud TH3

• Price: $269
• Win/Mac
• Standalone: yes
• Demo version: yes (15-day trial)

Overloud TH3 may not be at the same level as popularity as Amplitube or Bias FX in the amp sim community.

However, this is software has stepped up its game from the previous version boasting the most presets of any of the choices on this list. And with this comes a wide variety of sounds and tones.

Overloud TH3 features accurate versions of classic metal amps from Mesa Boogie, Peavey, Engl, Diezel, Randall, etc for massive metal variety.

All emulated to a high level of realism and tonal responsiveness for easily creating a legendary custom metal rig.

Best Vst For Metal

Features

• Tons of amps and dynamic effects
• Genuine amp and effect tones
• Online community for important and exporting presets
• Support for MIDI foot controllers
• Live option for playing live
• Standalone version for quick jamming

The interface has been redesigned and uncluttered all unnecessary distractions for easily dragging and dropping presets into your rig without any navigation problems.

There are tons of loaded features straight out of the box. This sim also does not sell you any additional content unlike other sims and is slightly more affordable than other larger sims on this list.

Presets

• 1000 custom presets
• 89 amps
• 50 cabinets
• 77 pedals and rack effects
• 18 microphones

Conclusion

Overloud TH3 Is ideal users looking for a reliable and premium amp sim for a variety of metal tones with simple navigation and tons of presets. It may not be the most popular sim compared to other premium software. However, It is very worthy of having a spot on this list.

#6 – Emissary (Ignite Amps)

• Price: Free
• Standalone: No
• Win/Mac

The Emissary was released in 2014 and to this day is still a very popular metal plugin continuing to receive praise from the online guitar recording community.

The Emissary plugin is a single emulated modern high gain amp head fully equipped for sculpting any style of metal.

Sound

The amps core tone is known for emulating the sound of a ballsy and aggressive tube amp perfect for enabling with any style of metal.

Although it sounds just as good with rock, clean and milder tones the plugin is really at home when used for aggressive metal tones.

Besides the great versatility of sounds on offer, let’s not forget this plugin is completely free for download and use on your tracks right away.

This software is not meant to be a tonal library like other programs, It’s simply to deliver one great sounding and versatile amp with the beauty of no cost up front.

Need a Cab Sim?

Keep in mind, you will need a cabinet simulator for pairing with the amp head plugin in order to get the best sound.

For this, I recommend the NadIR cab simulator which is another popular choice for a solid cabinet sim for pairing with your amp head plugins.

Conclusion

This software is a fantastic and popular free amp sim plugin within the metal recording community. Simply drop it in your DAW as a plugin for brutal tones without paying top dollar. This option is great if you are new to the world of amp simulators to test the sound and how to configure them which can lead to a paid program down the line.

#7 – The Nameless Suite & NTS Suite

• Price: $99 each
• Standalone: yes
• Win/Mac
• Free demo: yes (each offer 14-day trial)

For this selection, I couldn’t decide which plugin to choose between both of these metal monsters, so as a Brucie bonus, I included them both!

The Fortin amp sim series brings forward two epic and brutal sounding amp simulators covering virtual amp purists perfectly for the genres of rock, heavy rock and of course metal.

Both amps are aggressive, high gain, modern voiced, versatile and drapped in metal tones. Both versions also include virtual pedals being an overdrive, noise gate and boost for further tone shaping control.

The Nameless suite and the NTS are two separate plugins costing $99 a piece integrated with a handy standalone version for using the software independently outside of a DAW.

But what are the differences and which one to choose? fleetwood mac oh daddy free mp3 download Let’s discuss them both…

The Nameless Suite

The Nameless suite to this day is a popular metal plugin for unleashing a saturated modern tone on your tracks.

When it comes to tone, the nameless suite to my ears is modeled to sound like the classic ‘Peavey 5150’ with a beefy sounding 4×12 cabinet.
The Nameless has been regarded by the amp sim community as the ‘tighter’ and more ‘controlled’ version perfect for lower tunings for chugging, djent, and metalcore.

The amps sound is certainly tighter across all frequency ranges and is more at home with modern and heavier detuned versions of metal.

The NTS Suite

The NTS Suite is the newer alternative choice featuring the benefit of a second channel for sparkling clean tones and a different tonal personality compared to the original Nameless amp.

The NTS suite is modeled to sound like a ‘Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier’ and has a noticeably trebley top-end and a more saturated tone lending itself well to more extreme styles of metal such as thrash and death metal for example.

Which to Choose?

Both amps are awesome sounding high gain tube amp plugins perfect for sculpting any metal tone. Your choice ultimately comes down to personal preference and which tones you prefer.

Conclusion

Both options are affordable amp simulators for amazing heavy tones without paying the price for a premium amp simulator plugin. Although their price is small the sounds you can create can be huge.

#8 – Peavey Revalver 4

• Price: $99
• Standalone: yes
• Win/Mac
• Free demo: yes

Peavey amp fans and enthusiasts look no further! Here I bring to you the catalog of official Peavey amplifiers in simulated form for your enjoyment.

Peavey has historically produced some of the best metal amps over their existence, providing the heaviest and brutal guitar tones to the masses.
Well, as you expect from Peavey Revalver 4, some of the classics included in this package are the: 6505, Valveking, 5150 and many more classic Peavey beasts.
You also get unofficial amp brands modeled from classic models from Vox, Marshall, Diezel, and, Mesa Boogie which is unexpected but nice to have.

Features

• Large selection of amps, cabs, and effects
• Realistic ReValver engine
• Microphone selection, positioning, and ambiance controls
• Upload impulse responses
• Standalone version
• Modify your guitars core tone to sound like a different guitar
• Rack effects
• Slick interface
• Schematic designer

Conclusion

Peavey Revalver 4 is an honest and great value software with tons of features and presets without paying $300+. This is a great option for beginners getting into amp emulation and for the advanced users alike.

#9 – Scuffham S-Gear

• Price $129
• Standalone: yes
• Win/Mac
• Free demo: yes (15-day trial)

Scuffham S-Gear is another popular software placed in the affordable bracket on this list.

Concerning the metal players, the software boasts emulated amps sounding similar to a Mesa Boogie, Soldano, Marshall and a vintage Fender amp offering a nice palette of tones.

Features

• 5 versatile pro studio amps
• Rackmount effects (reverb, delay, modulation)
• Load your own impulse responses
• Includes a cab simulator
• Versatile option of tones

The stand out amp from the bunch is the ‘Wayferer.’ This amp can go from heavy chugging to crystal clear tones cleans and vintage crunch all from the one amp.

The new version of Scuffham S-gear includes rackmount effects (modulation, reverb, and delay) all integrated into a simple and easy to use interface.

I must admit, This is not the most flashy option on the list but for the price, the value is definitely there for an affordable virtual amp for playing metal. The best thing to do is give the demo a try and let it convince you.

Conclusion

S-Gear has been praised for its professional sound at an affordable price. It has been used by beginners learning the ropes or advanced users wanting to try something different.

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Do You Play Bass?

Now we have come to the end of the list, as a guitar player do you play a bit of bass on the side? Then you must read my post…

I round-up the best and most valuable amp simulators if you are a recording bass player. These amp sim plugins are the best choices for any bass player who wants great DI bass tones.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there’s a lot of choice for acquiring an amp sim for a great sounding, saturated high-gain goodness and a variety of heavy tones.

I have always loved the convenience, versatility, and sound of amp sims from the first time I tried Guitar 4 Pro.

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But not with the sea of virtual amp simulators due to their rise in popularity, there’s now almost too much choice on offer.

So with that, the take-home point again is to always try the demo version to see which software meets your tonal and recording needs out of all these options I have mentioned.

Thanks for Reading

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