Free AU Plug-Ins For Garageband, Logic

22Apr07

Send to a Friend | Feed for this Entry | Filed under: Garageband, Software Effects & Audio Processors

Maxim Digital Audio (MDA) has a collection of free Audio Unit plug-ins that can be used in Garageband, Logic and other apps that support AU’s. They’ve been available for a while, but we hadn’t highlighted them here yet and they are definitely worth checking out.

The plug-ins are Mac versions of plug-ins that are also available in VST format.

The free AU plug-ins include:

Combo - Amp & speaker simulator
Degrade - Sample quality reduction
Detune - Simple up/down pitch shifting thickener
DubDelay - Delay with feedback saturation and time/pitch modulation
Dynamics - Compressor / Limiter / Gate
Leslie - Rotary speaker simulator
Re-Psycho! - Drum loop pitch changer
RingMod - Simple ring modulator
RoundPan - 3D panner
Shepard - Continuously rising/falling tone generator
Talkbox - High resolution vocoder
TestTone - Signal generator with pink and white noise, 1/3 octaves and sweeps
Tracker - Pitch tracking oscillator, or pitch tracking EQ

We especially like Detune, which can create effects ranging from the mild chorus to bizarro detuning and tracker, which can be used to turn audio files into strange synth melodies.

Unfortunately, Talkbox opens in Garageband, but doesn’t work.

Here’s how you can install the plugins.

Pages: 1 2

Tags: AU, Garageband, Logic, Macintosh, MDA

20 Responses to “Free AU Plug-Ins For Garageband, Logic”

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1 Thomas on Apr 8th, 2008 said:

I’m having some trouble opening the plugins in Garageband. The download page says to put it into the plug-ins etc folders but garage band doesn’t come with those from what I can see.
2 john finn on Apr 17th, 2008 said:

I have only recently started using garageband and I am wondering how do I import AU plugins to garageband. I would be grateful if you could help me out with this situation. Thank you very much.

John
3 synthhead on Apr 17th, 2008 said:

Thomas & John

For au plugins that don’t come with installer, you copy them to this folder:
Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components

Then open up Garageband and check them out!
4 whisperycat on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

Hi synthhead. I found my way to this page because I’ve downloaded daHornet and it won’t, just will not, install. The .components file is in the right place but GB never picks it up. Can you offer any suggestions? Thanks.
5 synthhead on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

whisperycat - looks like the problem is with daHornet - not you.

I gave this a try and had the same exact problem.
6 whisperycat on Jun 17th, 2008 said:

Synthhead, thanks for coming back with an answer so quickly!
7 kevin on Jul 11th, 2008 said:

i’ve put these in the components folder in the library. how do you access them using garageband?
8 kevin on Jul 11th, 2008 said:

nevermind i got it
9 nigel on Jul 16th, 2008 said:

i can’t figure out how to access them.
10 synthhead on Jul 16th, 2008 said:

nigel -

Once you’ve got them installed, go to the instrument you want to put the effect on, and click on that instrument and then select Track - Show Track Info.

In the track info pane, open up Details and then click on an open effects slot. Scroll down to the Audio Units Effects, and the free plugins should show up.

Let me know if that doesn’t solve your problem!
11 Clyde on Sep 5th, 2008 said:

Synthhead thanks! That got me up and running using Orca.
12 knobexploit on Sep 27th, 2008 said:

Dragged the package to above mentioned folder, nothing happens. Cannot see any plugins in my list…checked if i used the right folder etc…i just dont understand…
13 synthhead on Sep 27th, 2008 said:

Knobexploit - make sure you put the component to Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components.

Then go to the instrument you want to put the effect on, and click on that instrument and then select Track - Show Track Info.

In the track info pane, open up Details and then click on an open effects slot. Scroll down to the Audio Units Effects, and the free plugins should show up.
14 knobexploit on Oct 1st, 2008 said:

I did put them in the designated folder lib/Audio/plug/comp

Bu they just dont show in my Garageband FX list when i pull it down…

All there is to see is the standard Garageband FX nothing more..

Whats wrong???
15 daniel on Oct 1st, 2008 said:

same thing happens to me too i think these are in compatible
16 chad on Oct 2nd, 2008 said:

i figured it out everyone! i had the same problem! after i restarted by Mac and open Garage Band again they were there!
17 knobexploit on Oct 2nd, 2008 said:

Did a restart, checkd if the file was still in my components folder and still no FX…grmpfff
18 synthhead on Oct 2nd, 2008 said:

knobexploit - you may want to try contacting the MDA people. It could be that your Mac is not compatible with the current version of the effects.

Good luck with this!
19 schprocket on Oct 6th, 2008 said:

knobexploit - which ‘effects’ are you pulling down?

If you’re looking at the one in the top rh side of the window, that’s not it (that’s where I thought they went)

You have to go to detail, located in the lower rh side where there’s several pull=downs, including the standard compressor, gate, echo, and reverb. The plug-ins you’ve added will appear beneath the standard GarageBand plug-ins but you’ll have to scroll down in the pull-down to see them.
20 schprocket on Oct 6th, 2008 said:

P.S. that might be as clear as I thought…

If you set the instrument effects (top rh side) to No Effect, each user selectable pull-down in the lower rh side will read None.

Where each one of those “None” entries appears, you should find the list I’m referring to (in the above post) when you click on any one of them.

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