Every plugin I use, and what to replace it with for free
This isn't a list I wrote from memory. I unzipped my five Ableton projects and counted every device instance in them. 48 third-party plugins: 7 are already free, 32 have a free equivalent I'd actually use.
Third-party plugins
| Plugin | Maker | Used in | Free alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| FabFilter Pro-Q 3 | FabFilter | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony · Caramelle | TDR Nova · Ableton's EQ Eight |
| Serum 2 | Xfer | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Caramelle | Vital |
| Kickstart 2 | Cableguys | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony · Caramelle | Ableton's Compressor with sidechain |
| Valhalla VintageVerb | Valhalla | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony · Caramelle | Valhalla Supermassive, from the same maker |
| Nexus | reFX | Rise Again · Take Me There · Harmony · Caramelle | It's a ROMpler: there's no free equivalent |
| OTT | Xfer | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony | It's free |
| Tape Stop | Kilohearts | Rise Again · Take Me There | It's free |
| SSL G-Channel | Waves | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings | Ableton's Glue Compressor + EQ Eight |
| FabFilter Pro-Q 4 | FabFilter | Rise Again · Blessings · Caramelle | TDR Nova · Ableton's EQ Eight |
| Sylenth1 | LennarDigital | Rise Again · Take Me There · Harmony · Caramelle | Surge XT |
| FabFilter Saturn 2 | FabFilter | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Caramelle | Ableton's Saturator |
| Serum | Xfer | Harmony | Vital |
| EchoBoy | Soundtoys | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony · Caramelle | Ableton's Echo |
| FabFilter Pro-L 2 | FabFilter | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony · Caramelle | Ableton's Limiter |
| ShaperBox 3 | Cableguys | Rise Again · Take Me There · Harmony | Auto Filter and Auto Pan cover part of it |
| SSL G-Comp | Waves | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony · Caramelle | Ableton's Glue Compressor |
| Analog Lab V | Arturia | Rise Again | Nexus |
| Kontakt 7 | Native Instruments | Rise Again · Take Me There · Harmony | Kontakt Player, free |
| Endless Smile | Dada Life | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings · Caramelle | No free equivalent |
| StandardCLIP | Sonic Academy | Rise Again | Ableton's Saturator in soft clip mode |
| BBC Symphony Orchestra | Spitfire | Take Me There · Harmony | BBC Symphony Discover, free |
| Curves Resolve | Waves | Rise Again · Blessings | No free equivalent |
| Gullfoss | Soundtheory | Harmony | No free equivalent |
| Kontakt 8 | Native Instruments | Rise Again · Blessings | Kontakt Player, free |
| Vitamin | Waves | Rise Again · Harmony | Ableton's Multiband Dynamics |
| CamelCrusher | Camel Audio | Harmony | It's free |
| Maserati GTi | Waves | Rise Again · Caramelle | No free equivalent |
| Valhalla FreqEcho | Valhalla | Rise Again · Take Me There | It's free |
| Sausage Fattener | Dada Life | Rise Again · Harmony | Ableton's Saturator |
| CLA-2A | Waves | Rise Again · Take Me There · Blessings | Ableton's Compressor |
| FasterMaster | Mastering The Mix | Take Me There · Blessings · Harmony · Caramelle | Ableton's Limiter + EQ Eight |
| Decapitator | Soundtoys | Caramelle | Ableton's Saturator or Overdrive |
| RBass | Waves | Rise Again · Take Me There | No free equivalent |
| PTEq-X | Analog Obsession | Rise Again · Take Me There | It's free |
| Clipper | Kilohearts | Take Me There | Ableton's Saturator in soft clip mode |
| Eos 2 | Audio Damage | Harmony | Ableton's Reverb |
| Ozone 12 Imager | iZotope | Rise Again · Blessings | Ozone Imager, free |
| Ozone 5 Imager | iZotope | Take Me There · Harmony | Ozone Imager, free |
| Maag EQ4 | Plugin Alliance | Rise Again | Ableton's EQ Eight |
| Serum 2 FX | Xfer | Rise Again | Vital |
| Ozone 5 Dynamics | iZotope | Take Me There | Ableton's Multiband Dynamics |
| TDR Kotelnikov | Tokyo Dawn | Take Me There | It's free |
| FabFilter Pro-MB | FabFilter | Blessings | Ableton's Multiband Dynamics |
| Addictive Keys | XLN Audio | Harmony | The pianos in Live's Core Library |
| Guitar Rig 5 | Native Instruments | Harmony | Guitar Rig Player, free |
| Spire | Reveal Sound | Harmony | Surge XT |
| SPAN | Voxengo | Harmony | It's free |
| Ozone 12 Bass Control | iZotope | Caramelle | No free equivalent |
And what Ableton already gives you
These come with Live. Across the five projects they add up to roughly half of all the processing.
EQ Eight ×218Utility ×84Delay ×58Compressor ×51Audio Effect Rack ×43LFO ×36Reverb ×27Auto Filter ×21Impulse ×15Saturator ×13Simpler ×13Shaper ×13Instrument Rack ×13Drum Buss ×11Glue Compressor ×10Cabinet ×8Multiband Dynamics ×8Gate ×7Chorus-Ensemble ×6Limiter ×5Overdrive ×2Amp ×2Note Length ×2Filter Delay ×2Channel EQ ×1Vinyl Distortion ×1Echo ×1Phaser-Flanger ×1Tuner ×1Auto Pan ×1Phaser ×1Corpus ×1Envelope Follower ×1