Which are the best channel strip plugins available for the music producers? We’ve prepared for you a list with the best ones, in both free and paid.
Neutron 3 Elements Channel Strip by iZotope (Paid)
From the makers of popular audio plug-ins like RX and Ozone, Neutron 3 is designed to bring your mix workflows into the 21st century. The completely new Neutron Elements includes 4 powerful tools for great mixes for less than the cost of a single plug-in. At $129, it’s the easiest way to get your feet wet with all the tools Neutron has to offer and add some serious power to your plug-in collection. It’s the easiest, most intelligent way to bring unrivalled quality and speed to your mix.
Features
- 4 modern tools for great mixes: Compressor, Exciter, Transient Shaper, and EQ—now with Soft Saturation mode.
- Track Assistant listens to your audio and creates a custom preset for you based on what it hears.
- EQ with intellect: EQ Learn auto-detects frequencies that need your attention.
- Beautiful, smooth visualizations and a resizable interface invite you to step in and take control.
[ Click here to buy + more info ]
SLAM2 Channel Strip by BeatSkillz (Paid)
SLAM2 comes from the original makers of the hit Slam series of plugins but with much more musical settings and a higher quality of sound. This plugin will keep you inspired and let you work fast & sound great!
SLAM2 is designed to hide the complex and great-sounding processing behind the scenes and present a simple and inspiring Interface that is very intuitive and has all controls needed to “Phatten” Channel, Drums, Vocals, Synths, or an entire mix with just a few controls. Behind this simple interface lies very very complex processing.
Features
- Easy to use
- Great on tracks, busses, and mixes
- Punchy, clear, and wide sound
- SLAM your drums, bass, vocals, synths, and other sounds
- Dry and Wet controls built-in
- Pro results without chains of plugins or confusing parameters
[ Click here to buy + more info ]
Goliath V2 Channel Strip by Tone Empire (Paid)
Goliath V2 features 4 analogue modelled processing chains featuring ALLOY (Nickel, Iron, Steel based Transformers), TUBE, TAPE & VINYL with a drive control plus a FET based envelope and a 3 band EQ.
This is a truly revolutionary and “analogue” sounding tool. Be prepared to be pleasantly surprised!
Features
Analog Processing:
ALLOY
This is an analogue processing chain featuring the famous British 1081 sound which has characteristics of its transformer made of Nickel, Iron, Steel.
This gives you a taste of that clean silky analogue processing.
TUBE
The Tube chain is modelled using a modern/ classic valve processing chain with an AIR circuit. An immediately pleasing sound that will bring 2nd order harmonics to your material.
TAPE
Here Tone Empire have used the ATR – 700 Tape Recorder at 15ips to capture that warmth and compression of Tape. Immediately hear your transients being “warmed” up and also get third-order harmonic saturation.
VINYL
This one features an analogue mastering chain going to a Neumann vinyl cutting machine and multiple IRs sampled from the dubplate. Finally, get your record to sound like a “Record”!
[ Click here to buy + more info ]
32C Bus Channel Strip by Harrison Consoles (Paid)
The 32C Bus combines 4 famous Harrison processing modules – the Mixbus32C Tape Saturation / Drive processor, a Bus Compressor with Harrison’s renowned 32C Hi-Pass filter, the Mixbus32C three-band Bus EQ and the Mixbus32C Master Strip Limiter – into a single comprehensive bus processing plugin.
The new cross-format 32C Bus plugin combines 4 famous Harrison processing modules – the Mixbus32C Tape Saturation / Drive processor, a Bus Compressor with Harrison’s renowned 32C Hi-Pass filter, the Mixbus32C three-band Bus EQ and the Mixbus32C Master Strip Limiter – into a single comprehensive bus processing plugin.
Provided in all major workstation formats: AAX, AudioUnit VST and VST3 for nearly any host DAW.
[ Click here to buy + more info ]
Summit Audio Grand Channel Channel Strip by Softube (Paid)
Combining the smooth operating EQF-100 parametric passive equalizer with the mild but authoritative TLA-100A compressor, Summit Audio Grand Channel is a highly versatile channel strip that will cover a large part of your mixing needs.
The Grand Channel combines the warm and smooth tone sculpting Summit Audio EQF-100 Full Range Equalizer with the rich sounding and dead-easy-to-use Summit Audio TLA-100A Compressor. Having the two combined in a single plug-in makes adjustments easier, as you will often find that the compressor affects the equalizer and vice versa. By default, the sound reaches the equalizer before the compressor, but you can easily reverse the order with a single switch.
Features
- Flexible and easy to use with huge sonic range
- Individual bypass for each of the two units saves CPU power
- Change the order of the equalizer and compressor with a single switch
- Each and every component carefully modeled
- Extremely analog behavior of frequencies, phase, distortion, attack, release, etc
[ Click here to buy + more info ]
HOFA System Basic Channel Strip by HOFA-Plugins (Free)
SYSTEM basic is the freeware version of the popular EQ, dynamic & FX toolbox from HOFA. 29 plugins are available which you can use individually (also as inserts in your DAW) or connected to each other. The routing happens automatically in SYSTEM, with multiband, M/S and dual mono routing always available.
Load more than 150 HOFA presets, that can be edited to a limited extent.
There are two kinds of presets: plugin presets that correspond to the HOFA SYSTEM basic functionality can be used. For instance, all AlgoVerb plate presets can be used.
In addition to plugin presets, HOFA SYSTEM can save entire processing chains. These chains can be used and edited, as long as the presets use parameters that are available in the freeware version. If a chain preset contains plugins that require a special license, it can only be used if it is a factory preset. In this case it isn’t possible to change the routing or other parameters.
Features
- 29 plugins with flexible routing and processing options
- 150+ presets of the full version can be loaded
- AlgoVerb Plate algorithm for more spatial depth in your productions
- All plugins are usable in your DAW or in HOFA SYSTEM
[ Click here to download + more info ]
Code Red Free Channel Strip by Shattered Glass Audio (Free)
Code Red Free is inspired by a classic, all tube, British console form the late 60s. The original console was known for its EQ, bold and punchy character, and the warmth it imparted. The Beatles recorded most of their material using this, and other versions of this console. Easily recognized overdriven sound of the Beatles’ Revolution was created by chaining two preamps from this console.
Shattered Glass Audio has gone to considerable lengths to find accurate information and reproduce the original EQ curves and accurately model the preamp.
[ Click here to download + more info ]
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