Do you want to learn GarageBand? Click HERE to get started (it's free)
Free GarageBand plugin Bundles

Free Garageband Plug-In Bundles

You know me – I love a freebie. Almost as much as I love having a fiddle with some brand spanking new plug-ins in GarageBand!

For this post i’ve searched far and wide for the very best free GarageBand plug-in bundles that not only come packaged with a generous and useful set of plug-ins that you can use in GarageBand, but are also completely free of charge!

 

Watch the video rundown on the bundles covered in this post here:

 

 

More Free Plugins

As if that wasn’t enough, in the video below I share even more of my favourite plugins that you can download to your Mac for free!

 

 

Melda Productions Free Effects Bundle

 

First up we have the MFreeEffectsBundle from Melda Productions – a free suite of 26 plug-ins. Melda Productions mention that “Their features are limited, compared to other commercial plug-ins, but still extraordinary when compared to most plug-ins on the market.”

You’ll find all sorts of goodies in here – from a super useful Compressor, to an Oscillator, Tremolo and more. The very first edition of my Mixing Guide featured the MCompressor from this very bundle, before Apple decided to include an actual useable built in Compressor in the version 10.0.3 update.

 

Melda free plugins

 

A quick note on installing these plug-ins: While the bundle comes with it’s own installer (super handy) You’ll need to select the MFreeEffectsBundle option when installing to ensure you get the whole package (not so handy).

 

Melda Productions install

 

You’re getting a whole lot of shiny new plug-ins here for free and while they’re definitely a bit trickier to get to grips with than Garageband’s built in Smart Controls, they’re very flexible and sound fantastic!

You can get hold of them here: Melda Free Effects Bundle

 

Blue Cat’s FreeWare Plug-Ins Pack II

 

If you’ve joined The GarageBand Guide community, there’s a good chance you’ve received an email from me letting you know just how much I love Blue Cat’s Freeware Plug-Ins Pack.

Of the plugins featured in the bundle, Blue Cat’s Free Amp really shines. In fact, I put a video together a wee while ago outlining how to get the most out of it:

 

 

Not only do all of Blue Cat’s plug-ins sound great and come in very handy (the frequency analyzer is particularly fantastic), you’ll also receive a full PDF manual for each as well as a bunch of presets and even GUI skins! Crazy!

The pack comes with it’s own installer, which makes getting set up a breeze.

 

Blue Cat Sidebar

 

 

 

You can get them here: Blue Cat’s Freeware Plug-In Pack II (Make sure you select the ‘MAC AU” option in the sidebar on the right of the site.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it – over 30 free plug-ins in total for you to get your teeth into. Have you used any of the plug-ins in these bundles? What do you think of them?

Let me know in the comments below, or get in touch on Facebook or Twitter!

Show Comments (29)
  1. I installed the bundle onto mac, can’t figure out how to load them into GB although I can find the folder they are in. any tips?

    1. As long as you’ve chosen to download and install the ‘MAC AU” version of either the Blue Cat or Melda bundles, you should find them in your list of audio units in the Smart Controls inspector window Michael.

  2. Hey Patrick thanks for the heads up on these free plug ins… but I have a further question. If I want to increase the ‘virtual instruments’ available i.e Bass, Horns, keyboards (not synths sounds) etc above the 200 included, where would you suggest I might look? Reason is that I find the bass guitars in particular don’t sound so good/’real’ (I actually think the ‘real instruments’ samples sounded more ‘real’ in the old versions of GB say 5-6 years ago…but that’s just to my ears) I’d be happy to pay for extra instruments if I found some I liked. Thanks and keep up the great work. Cheers Mark QLD Australia

    1. Hey Mark, i’d recommend you check out apple’s Mainstage program. It’s designed to allow you to play Apple’s virtual instruments in a live setting, but also adds all of its loops and virtual instruments to Garageband after installation.

  3. You’ve built a great resource here, Patrick. Thanks to your site and links out to other tutorials, my GB iOS skills are ramping quickly!

    I have a question for your Q&A segment:
    When using the Looper view of GB for iOS, is there any way to record automation (either the FX automation or just basic volume) — either for an entire column, or for an individual loop cell ?

    Thanks,
    Geoff

  4. Patrick, you friggin’ rule, dude! I’m about to go get these free bundles. For you know any really awesome, or what you might consider way above the rest, delay plugins for free, I’ll hit any and every one up. Been searching for some time for something that I can’t explain, define, or describe, but when I find it, my ear will know. Thanks for all this great info, brother!!

  5. Thanks for everything, Patrick. I’m considering testing out free demo of Guitar Rig 5 as a Plug-in. Any advice or suggestions on how well it integrates with GB?

  6. Hi Patrick, are there any free G.B. plug-ins for cleaning up/restoring files recorded from cassette tape?
    I am able to record but the files need to be brightened up somewhat

  7. Hi Patrick

    is there a free plug in for Garage Band which will clean up/brighten files recorded from cassette tape?

  8. Hi Patrick,
    I noticed that the Mac versions of Lepou plug ins can be only downloaded from the original website which doesn’t exist any more.

  9. I’m looking for a limiter plugin for GarageBand. I’m doing narration work. Do you have any suggestions about where to find limiter plugins? Thanks!

  10. Hi Patrick, I just downloaded and installed two of your plug-in bundles (Melda and Blue Cat) and managed to find the way to address them (not so obvious). Now my small question. Every time I use a new effect, it adds itself to the Recent plug-in list, thereby building it up longer and longer. Is there a way to remove an earlier used effect name from this list? Thanks, Barend.

  11. Hello, At the very first, thank you for this available website.
    I compose mainly classical music and I would like to know where can I find more free instruments for garageband?
    Thank you.
    br
    Yves

  12. Does your plugins work for all versions of GarageBand or only the newer updated versions?
    I have GarageBand 11 on a MacBook pro 13″ 4gb 16 bit

  13. Hi Patrick

    I came across the T-Guitar in Halion VST , it sound really cool. Can it be use in our GarageBand.

  14. I’m “old School” – I still use a DX7, Roland and Proteus keyboard …. turn them on, connect a MIDI cable, and they WORK. ALL THE TIME. So, my Mac runs 10.6.8. I don’t NEED anythintg newer – until now. These patches don’t work unless I have 10.7. I tried it on my spare Mac, and NO THANKS. 10.11 is great, but I don’t NEED it. If you ever get these to work on 10.6, give me a holler:
    MC_Squared@partycentral.ca

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.