When it comes to music production, having the appropriate means to reach creative ends is just as important as having good ideas.

If you’ve worked with Apple’s Logic Pro, you’re already familiar with the abundance of industry-standard plugins, virtual instruments, and audio samples it offers.

It’s one of the factors—if not the primary factor—that makes Logic Pro one of the world’s most popular DAW's  (Digital Audio Workstations).

However, after finding your footing and learning a thing or two about producing music in Logic Pro, you've likely realized that may want to install some free third party plugins. That’s where installing third-party VSTs and plugins can aid you in diving deeper and continuing your creative journey in the world of music production further.

It makes sense to invest in the right gear, both in terms of hardware and software, if you want to make music professionally and want to make money as a producer. But spending hundreds of dollars on plugins right off the bat doesn’t seem like a logical solution.

Thankfully, many companies offer free plugins—either demos or lite versions of their popular models—for newbies to get familiar with what they can offer. Because of this, producers have the freedom to explore many different gears and tools before making up their minds about which ones to spend their money on.

In this post, I will show you some of the best free plugins you can download and install into Logic Pro. Let’s take a quick look at what we’ll cover:

1. IK Multimedia Amplitube 5 CS

2. 2gether Audio Cheese Machine Synth

3. Valhalla’s Demos & Free Plugins

4. KLEVGR’s SyndtSphere Synth

5. Native Instruments Guitar Rig 6 Player

6. Caelum Audio Tape Cassette 2 Saturation Plugin

1. IK Multimedia Amplitube 5 CS

IK Multimedia’s Amplitube is a big name in the world of electric guitar amp simulators.

Anything from clean jazz tones to heavy metal distortions, Amplitube 5 offers a virtually endless list of presets for musicians and producers to work with.

Moreover, the plugin’s interface allows you to set up your own rig by choosing everything from effect pedals, amps, cabinets, and microphones to even room environments.

IK Multimedia offers Amplitube 5 CS for free with a limited number of tools and gears. One of the benefits of the Amplitube 5 over other high-quality amp emulators is that you can purchase each gear one by one. So, you can buy a specific set of amps and pedals instead of paying for the entire library of Amplitube 5.

2. 2gether Audio Cheese Machine 2

If you’re looking for a high-quality virtual synth that emulates vintage string machines, the Cheese Machine 2 from 2gether Audio should definitely be under your radar. This plugin offers a straightforward interface that is easy to use.

Unlike the ‘Pro’ version (which costs $10), the Cheese Machine 2 doesn’t throw tons of knobs and faders to your face from the get-go. This can make the sound-designing process much more manageable for less experienced music producers.

A fair selection of oscillating sounds, reverb, vibrato, and phaser knobs make the Cheese Machine a decent cornerstone for producers to dip their toes into the world of third-party virtual instruments.

3. Valhalla’s Demos and Free Plugins

Arguably, the most popular reverb and delay plugins come from Valhalla. Over the years, they have become industry-standard in many genres. I’ve used Valhalla’s acclaimed VintageVerb on Vocals in a number of my songs, and I have explained extensively on YouTube how I work with it.

Valhalla’s plugins don’t come cheap. Each delay, plate, or reverb plugin comes at a price of $50. However, they offer free plugins and a couple of demos you could download and install on Logic right away.

Valhalla Freq Echo, for instance, is a body-style frequency shifter and analog echo emulator that creates interesting sonic effects. Valhalla advertises it as ‘best for psychedelic, skull-melting chaos.’

The Space Modulator from Valhalla is another powerful plugin that comes for free. With eleven algorithms, the Space Modulator lets you create through-zero flanging, barber pole flanging, detuning, and many more dynamic effects in your projects.

Super Massive is another free plugin from Valhalla that lets producers create dramatic delay and reverb effects with 18 different modes.

Other than those, you can download the demo versions of their most popular plugins to see if you need them in your projects. All of the demos are identical to the paid versions, except the effect fades out and back in every 45 seconds.

You can download these plugins from Valhalla’s official webpage here.

4. KLEVGR’s SyndtSphere Synth

Klevgr’s SyndtSphere offers a very fun and unconventional way of playing around with synth sounds. If you don’t want the hassle of dealing with a bunch of knobs and faders to find the right sound, you can instead “surf” between presets with this plugin.

SyndtSphere offers over 70 high-quality synthesizer sounds that you can surf through and land on what you think suits your project the best. Although it might not be a tool for professionals, it is a simple and fun way for producers to brainstorm new ideas.

What’s more, it is available for iPhone and iPad as well, allowing you to swipe around with your finger on a portable device to spark new ideas and get creative wherever you are.

The innovation of KLEVGR in creating such an easy-to-use plugin is why SyntSphere has made it in my list of 15 best free music production software.

You can download SyntSphere for free from their official website.

5. Native Instruments Guitar Rig 6 Player

Another popular guitar amp simulator on this list, Native Instruments Guitar Rig 6 Player, offers exceptional sound quality that almost no other plugin can top. As the free version, this plugin comes with 50 presets, 13 effect pedals, and a British-inspired tube amp emulator with a matched cabinet.

Compared to the IK Multimedia Amplitube 5 CS, the Guitar Rig 6 Player offers less variety in terms of tools to design sound characteristics. However, its impressive quality, especially for overdriven tones, makes it practical. I’d suggest having both plugins installed on Logic Pro.

You can download Guitar Rig 6 Player for free here.

6. Caelum Audio Tape Cassette 2 Saturation Plugin

If you’ve worked with Logic Pro for a while, you might have noticed that Logic doesn’t offer any audio FX plugin directly under the name of “saturation.” Although there are ways you could saturate audio in Logic using stock plugins, most producers prefer installing third-party plugins to take care of saturation.

One of the most practical free saturation plugins is Caelum Audio’s Tape Cassette 2. The interface is minimal and straightforward. Tape Cassette 2 gives you six control knobs for parameters like Low Pass, Noise, and Wow for you to create unique saturation effects to your liking.

What’s more, various presets allow you to change between sound characters for different purposes and instruments quickly. You can download Tape Cassette 2 for free from Caelum Audio’s official website.

Final Thoughts On Installing Plugins For Logic Pro

Learning how to produce music professionally won’t happen overnight. Once you’ve covered the fundamentals and have made yourself comfortable working with stock plugins in your DAW, free plugins are amazing tools to start expanding your arsenal as a music producer.

The plugins mentioned above should work as practical cornerstones for you to slowly build your library and find what works best for your projects. Although plugins like Amplitube 5 and Valhalla Reverb are really popular among producers, you should not not feel obligated to use them. At the end of the day, your own ears should determine what your songs need.

If you need more help regarding music production, songwriting, mixing, or mastering, I recommend downloading my Free 6 Pillars to Learn Logic Pro Fast guidebook.