Marco Sebastiano Alessi |
July 13, 2024
Here's a list of the 14 best VST plug-ins for FL Studio, featuring free and paid options to create professional-grade music. Aimed at both beginners and pros, this list will save you time and help you find the right virtual instruments and effects for your music production needs.
FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops) is among the most popular digital audio workstations for EDM and hip-hop music production. Native FL Studio plug-ins are great, and depending on the edition you own, you might have some premium FL Studio plug-ins that can easily compete with any third-party plug-in option.
However, if you want to expand your sonic palette and stand out among the top producers in your genre, you’ll need to step up your game and produce with the best plug-ins and tools that pro music producers like Martin Garrix use.
There are so many plug-ins available for FL Studio that finding out which ones are good for you may require hours, days, or even months of exploration. I made this list with the best VST plug-ins for FL Studio to make your research less stressful and save you time to focus on music production.
The list has two main sections: free and paid VST plug-ins. If you’re on a budget, you can start with the free VST section and return to the paid plug-ins section once you're ready to upgrade your FL Studio plug-in library.
Some of the paid options have trial versions you can download and try on FL Studio, so do check them out even just to see what the paid plug-ins can offer. Others, such as CrumplePop's carefully crafted audio enhancers, come with a wide selection of subscription options tailored to your budget and needs.
Let's dive in!
7 Best VST for FL Studio: Free Plug-ins
In this list of FL Studio VST plug-ins, you'll find both virtual instruments and effects for music producers and sound designers.
PopRemover by CrumplePop: AI Pop Remover Tool
If you’re more into vocal production, whether it’s podcasts or vocal tracks, PopRemover will help you deal with the most common problem in voice recordings: plosives. PopRemover is a simple and quick solution to remove plosives from your speech and listen in real time.
PopRemover is one of the best plug-ins included along with RustleRemover in the CrumplePop Starter Plan. RustleRemover helps eliminate those annoying noises from lapel mics brushing against clothing in real time. Included with the plug-ins is CrumplePop's SoundApp application, where you have all the tools in one clean app. Thankfully, you can use each VST plug-in in FL Studio.
PopRemover uses AI technology with real time playback to automatically detect and remove disruptive plosives: you can enhance your audio recordings simply by dragging the plug-in onto your audio files. You can also fine-tune the final result, making PopRemover the ideal tool for professionals and beginners alike.
Pros:
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Straightforward UI and easy-to-use controls.
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Click and drag pop remover.
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Automatically removes plosive noises.
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Advanced AI detection with real-time playback
Cons:
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CrumplePop's starter version only includes PopRemover and RustleRemover tools for free.
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Analog Lab Play by Arturia: Virtual Instruments Bundle
Analog Lab Play is Arturia's free software instrument with a library of essential synths, keys, pianos, organs, basses, pads, and more from the award-winning V Collection, Pigments, and other Arturia products and plug-ins for FL Studio.
Analog Lab Play has 100 presets for inspiration from the best of Arturia's virtual instruments. If you need more, you can buy more sounds to add to your collection and expand your production toolkit. Analog Lab Play differs from other plug-ins like Spitfire's Labs because it includes sample-based instruments plus some of Arturia's software emulations to create more authentic sounds. It allows you to search by instruments, instrument types, and sound banks to find the sound you need at that moment.
Pros:
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Free instrument presets.
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Easy to use interface.
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It's best for new producers looking for more sounds than the native FL Studio plug-ins.
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VST plugin and standalone version.
Cons:
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It’s installed via Arturia's app, which can be a drawback for some users.
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Komplete Start by Native Instruments: Bundle Production Suite
Continuing with bundle VSTs, I just had to put this on the list. Komplete Start by Native Instruments is a plug-in bundle with synths, drumkits, organic instruments, sound design tools, and professional audio processing plug-ins like Ozone 11 EQ from iZotope’s mastering suite, Ozone 11, that all FL Studio users should try at least once.
The FL Studio plug-ins bundle by Native Instruments now includes six VST instruments. You will get nature-inspired sounds with Hypha, vintage synth with Analog Dreams, atmospheric soundscapes in Ethereal Earth, several Kontakt instruments with Factory Selection 2, Irish Harp, and the traditional Chinese dulcimer with Yangqin.
The six effects VST you get from Native Instruments are Ozone EQ, reverb plug-in Raum, Supercharger to add a warm tube compression, delay effect with Replika, Vinyl for a vintage dusty and mechanical sound, and a free version of Guitar Rig 7 Player featuring a collection of stompboxes, compressors, delays, cabinets, reverbs, and amps.
Komplete Start by Native Instruments is a good starting point for beginner producers and FL Studio users making music in a virtual studio, but even if you’re a professional producer, it can expand your sound library significantly and help you sculpt new sounds.
Pros:
Features a collection of virtual instruments to produce music for any genre.
Includes an array of plug-in effects to mix and master your music.
Simple installation.
Cons:
Some VSTs, like Guitar Rig 7, may be limited compared to the Pro version.
The native Instruments app is required to download and manage the VST plug-ins.
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Vital by Matt Tytel: Warping Wavetable Synth
Sometimes, you don’t need a pack or bundles of sounds. Maybe you need one thing: a good synth that can create interesting sounds. Many sound designers, audio engineers, music producers, and FL Studio users are delighted with Vital by Matt Tytel, the same person behind Helm, a free and powerful polyphonic synthesizer you should also check out.
Vital is a warping wavetable synth that can run as a standalone app or VST plug-in inside FL Studio and other DAWs. It features high-quality wavetable oscillators with frequency and wave warping, two routable voice filters, audio-rate modulation, stereo-splitable LFO, keytracked LFO settings, custom sample source, MPE support, and more to make the best sound imaginable.
Pros:
Great sound quality.
Easy to learn.
Fun UI.
Quick installation.
Affordable options to upgrade.
Cons:
Limited to 25 wavetables and 75 presets.
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Graillon 2 Free Edition by Auburn Sounds: Basic Pitch Correction VST Plug-in
If you’re looking for a good pitch correction VST plug-n, Graillon 2 Free Edition has your back. The free version is limited to pitch correction and shifting tools, but that’s all you need for a basic pitch correction in music production.
Graillon 2 is optimized for vocals, but you can apply it to any track. Make your recordings sound natural with a clean pitch correction and preserve the formants, or get creative with robotic and otherworldly sounds. The user friendly interface is clean and intuitive: you’ll know what each knob does just by looking at it.
You can get a lot of stuff done just with the free edition, and whenever you’re ready, upgrade to get pitch-tracking modulation and bit crusher for $38.67 (it can go as low as $29 when it’s on sale).
Pros:
Easy to use.
Good quality sound.
Cons:
Limited to pitch correction and shifting.
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Valhalla SuperMassive by Valhalla DSP
FL Studio native reverb plug-in is pretty good and gets the job done. However, when you need massive and heavy delays and reverbs to create space sounds and atmospheric and harmonic echoes, Valhalla SuperMassive will be a life changer. It's one of the best free reverbs VST plug-ins you can get to upgrade your sound design and production toolkit.
Valhalla SuperMassive features 20 reverb and delay presets that can be customizable, controlling the mix, width, delay, warp, depth, EQ, and more, with easy-to-use controls. Applied to different instruments, Valhalla SuperMassive is a versatile tool to create immersive soundscapes.
Pros:
20 reverbs presets.
Customizable.
Intuitive user interface.
Cons:
I honestly can’t think of any cons. You can’t ask more from a free plug-in.
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Limiter No.6 by Vladislav Goncharov: Mastering Plug-in
Mastering is something most beginner producers are afraid to do themselves, and it’s usually a good practice to let someone else do the mastering of your tracks. However, it’s a skill that you will need to learn at some point. Among the Free VST plug-ins available for post-production, Limiter No.6 is a freeware modular effect to limit the dynamic range and suppress peaks in the audio signal.
Limiter No.6 features five RMS compressors, a peak limiter, a high-frequency limiter, a clipper, and a true peak limiter, and high-quality input signal processing suited for mastering. It’s a straightforward plug-in when you need a final limiter.
If you can make a great mix, this limiter will help you shape your audio levels and amplify the power of your bass sounds, while preserving the quality of your production.
Pros:
High audio quality.
Includes presets.
Cons:
The UI can feel laggy and outdated.
7 Best VST for FL Studio: Paid Plug-ins
FabFilter Pro-Q3
The FabFilter family plug-ins for FL Studio are one of the top VST plug-ins you can get, and the price is worth it. If I had to choose only one from FabFilter, even one from this list, it would be Pro-Q3, the best EQ I’ve ever used.
The Pro Q-3 seamless interface allows you to create points in the curve, drag the band up or down to boost or reduce it, and change the gain in seconds with simple controls. It features 24 EQ bands, a Dynamic EQ mode, EQ Match to match another signal, a built-in spectrum analyzer, and more.
Pro Q-3 CPU optimization allows it to run in multiple instances, keeping FL Studio at high performance during mixing.
Pros:
User-friendly interface.
High sound quality.
Brickwall settings for LP and HP filters.
GPU-powered graphics acceleration.
Cons:
Pricey (but worth it).
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RC-20 Retro Color by XLN Audio
RC-20 Retro Color is a saturation VST plug-in to add analog warmth and texture to your recordings. It features six effects modules you can combine to create warm, unique sounds, or you can use each one of them independently.
It includes saturation and distortion, a degrader and bit crusher, a noise generator, wobble and flutter, a volume drop module for the dusty and unstable analog playback, and a reverb module for depth and width.
Tweak each module with easy-to-use knobs and control the amount of the effect you want to add with a simple Magnitude slider.
Pros:
Great vintage simulation.
Easy to use interface.
Incredible sound.
Number of presets.
Cons:
It could offer more modules.
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Soothe2 by Oeksound
Soothe2 is a dynamic resonance suppressor that will save you time editing and fixing unwanted resonances by automatically addressing the issue to maintain a smooth and clear sound. Forget about fine-tuning each frequency by hand and affecting others nearby.
Soothe2 will help you detect and remove harshness from sound recordings, control sibilances and tonal balance from poor recordings and other resonance issues like muddiness and the proximity effect. It gives you more time to focus on creating music and less on fixing audio.
Its UI is neat, intuitive, and visually attractive. Soothe2 comes with quick presets to apply for beginners but provides advanced users the flexibility to adjust individual bands in the spectrum.
Pros:
Easy to use.
Plenty of presets.
Cons:
Price.
It may not be worth it if you're fast-fixing resonances manually with EQ.
iLok account is required for installation.
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The King's Microphones by Waves
If you love the vintage sound of microphones, you'll love this plug-in. The King's Microphones is a plug-in developed in collaboration with Abbey Road Studios that emulates the frequency response of the exclusive microphones used by the Royal Family for speeches.
It provides an authentic vintage vocal vibe from the 1920s and 1930s for your podcasts, videos, and sound design. In music production, you can add texture to instruments like guitars and basses for a lo-fi sound. But it also works great for modern trap, hip-hop, and adlibs.
Pros:
Emulate the unique sounds of the King’s microphone.
Simple interface.
Easy to use.
Cons:
There are better options if all you want is a vintage sound.
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Addictive Drums 2 by XLN Audio
Packed with top-notch drum samples, Addictive Drums 2 provides real acoustic drums played by professional drummers in a handy VST plug-in. It features many presets you can mix to create your custom drum kit with a huge range of sounds.
Apply a preset and experiment with Addictive Drums 2 built-in effects, EQ, shaper, reverb, delays, distortion, compression, and vinyl noise to craft original sounds. There are additional collections of drum kits, beats, or single drums FL Studio users can get to expand their drum options.
Pros:
Amazing drum sound.
You can buy a collection of kits whenever you need or can afford them.
It allows you to build your own drum kits.
Presets are sorted by genre.
It's easy and fun to create drums from scratch.
Cons:
Buying extra drum kits can be expensive in the long run.
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Melodyne by Celemony
Melodyne is a non-invasive pitch correction and time-shifting tool available as a standalone application and native plug-in for FL Studio that delivers a natural sound to your vocal productions.
Use Melodyne to adjust each note's pitch, vibrato, volume, sibilants, duration, timing, and formats, and improve your performer's intonation, phrasing, dynamics, and timbre while keeping the correction natural and barely noticeable. You can adjust pitch and mitigate sibilances independently for both instruments and vocal tracks to produce a huge range of sounds.
Pros:
Natural pitch correction.
Chord track and chord grid for chord recognition.
Sibilant detection and balance tool.
Cons:
The best features are not available in the Essential version.
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CrumplePop Complete
The Pro version of CrumplePop Complete features all the AI noise reduction tools with real time playback for Pop, Clipping, Wind, Rustle, Traffic, Echo which is removal of a huge range of background noises and the Levelmatic tool. They are designed to reduce your workload in post-production and grab your audience's attention with improved, polished, and professional audio quality.
CrumplePop plug-ins are intuitive, with a user interface that is easy to navigate with a single knob, for beginners who are not experts in audio and professionals who want to focus on other tasks of production.
Pros:
Quick audio fix solution.
AI technology does a good work detecting and isolating noises and voices.
Easy to use.
Subscription plan available.
Cons:
Plug-ins are installed via a desktop hub.
Final Thoughts
Finally, let me summarize what I believe are the things to consider when choosing the best FL Studio plug-in, virtual instruments and effects.
Paying for a plug-in doesn’t mean getting better results; sometimes, you can improve your sound with a stock plug-in or free VST plug-in. Among the some of the best plug-ins, you can find a stock plug-in that you can use perfectly without investing in a professional and expensive plug-in.
I'd recommend getting only the best plug-ins you need and know you'll use in the future instead of downloading a bundle with thousands of presets for virtual instruments and effects or new features that FL Studio users already have or don’t need.
You don’t have to buy all the best plug-ins and VST instruments that everyone else uses. You can start with your factory library or a free or affordable VST, learn how it works, and upgrade once you realize it has limitations that compromise your workflow and musical ideas or require new features. You may also prefer a subscription plan over buying full licenses if available. That’s up to you.
If you want to try a paid VST plug-in, check if it has a trial version before buying it, and check for some reviews from FL Studio users.
Good luck, producer!
