Four picks from our free-plugin list: rhythmic effects with BattleFX, movement with Curva, sampled strings with Runa Free, and dynamic EQ with ZL Equalizer 2.
For August, we've picked four entries from our free-plugin list: BattleFX, Curva, Runa Free and ZL Equalizer 2. Three are effects. Runa is a sampled string instrument that runs inside Kontakt Player. These are selections for the month, rather than a list of plugins released in August.
The interesting connection between them is how much timing matters to the result. An echo stopping before the next snare can change the groove. A string line needs room between phrases. An EQ cut that helps on one note may take too much out of the next. Those are quite different problems, and each of these tools offers a way to work on one of them.
Below are the reasons for each pick and some specific things to try. Product details come from the developers' documentation; the session examples are starting points for your own experiments.
BattleFX: delay and reverb with rhythmic gaps
BattleFX from Unfiltered Audio brings the Shatter Delay and Headspace Reverb from Battalion into a separate free effect. The detail that makes it interesting here is the ability to choke the effect buffers at repeating intervals. It also offers a Euclidean pattern control for those interruptions.
Usually, when a delay feels too busy, the first move is to turn down its feedback or its level. Cutting the tail at a particular moment gives you another option: a repeat can remain prominent, then stop before the next hit arrives. The silence becomes something you can place deliberately.
Try a short chord on the last beat of every second bar. Let the effect carry it into the following bar, then adjust the choke pattern against the drums. Listen to where the effect stops as closely as where it starts. If the interruption lands in an awkward place, change the pattern before changing the chord.
Leave some phrases dry too. An effect that answers every gap soon becomes part of the background. Bringing it in at the end of a longer phrase gives the listener a clearer change to follow.
Curva: linked changes in pan, tone and pitch
Curva from Sugoi Audio uses a football trajectory to control panning, filter brightness and Doppler pitch movement together. You can draw the path, run movement in sync with the session or use its transient response. It is free, without a licence key or trial period.
The appeal is having those changes related to one another. Drawing three separate automation lanes leaves you deciding how each should line up. Here, one gesture produces several connected changes, which gives you a different starting point for shaping a sound.
A repeated note is a useful first source. Keep the note and its timing fixed while you alter the path. You can then hear whether the movement suggests an accent, a transition or a longer phrase. Add the rest of the track before making the movement more extreme; a pitch change that is interesting alone may distract from a melody.
For a practical arrangement test, process only the final percussion hit before a new section. Compare that with processing the whole pattern. The shorter use gives you a way to mark the transition while leaving most of the rhythm familiar.
Runa Free: sampled strings for Kontakt Player
Runa Free from Wavelet Audio is a string library with two articulations and 20 snapshots. It works in the free Kontakt Player, so a paid copy of Kontakt isn't required. You do need Kontakt 8.1.0 or later, Native Access for registration and roughly 2.81 GB of disk space. It is a library to load inside that player, rather than a separate instrument plugin.
Try writing a single line before stacking chords. Choose a short phrase with a clear destination note, then leave enough space for its ending to be heard. That gives you something more useful to judge than a long held chord: how the notes connect, where the phrase needs emphasis and whether its register competes with another part.
A synth melody can be a starting point, but copying the MIDI unchanged may carry over choices made for a very different envelope. Adjust the note lengths and spacing while listening to the strings. If a fast passage becomes crowded, remove a few notes before adding processing. The quieter moments between phrases can do as much for the arrangement as another layer.
ZL Equalizer 2: EQ that responds to the signal
ZL Equalizer 2 is a free, open-source dynamic equaliser. Its bands can respond to the signal, with threshold, attack and release controls. The manual explains the dynamic controls and the relationship between a band's base and target gain.
Consider a synth part whose filter opens on occasional accents. A fixed cut might soften those accents but also dull the notes between them. A dynamic band gives you a way to reduce the troublesome range when it becomes prominent, with less reduction during the quieter notes.
Loop a passage containing both kinds of note. Set a modest reduction, then adjust the threshold until the band responds where you need it. Listen through the whole phrase when setting attack and release. A setting that controls one accent can recover too slowly for the next note.
There is no obligation to make every band dynamic. If the same tonal imbalance is present throughout a part, a static adjustment may be easier to judge. Use the response of the band to solve something you can hear, rather than treating its movement on screen as evidence of improvement.
Give the new sound a place in the arrangement
A useful way to try a new plugin is to make two versions of a short section. Keep one as it was. In the other, make a deliberate change: replace a background part, alter the end of a phrase or bring an unruly accent under control. Play both versions from a few bars before the edit, and keep listening beyond it.
That longer context matters. A transition can sound dramatic in isolation and still arrive too early. A new instrument might make the verse more interesting while using up the register you wanted to reserve for the chorus. Hearing the lead-in and the next section helps you decide whether the change belongs there.
It also makes the decision to remove something easier. You might like a processed sound enough to save it for another track without keeping it in this one. Record the passage to audio, include the tempo in its name if timing matters, and return to the arrangement. An experiment can be worth keeping even when the current song has no room for it.
Download links and product information were checked on 24 September 2026. See each developer's page for current system requirements.