If you’re looking for free audio plugins for music production, M-Media Audio has eight plugins worth exploring. This collection covers several useful areas of recording, mixing, and mastering, including plate reverb, tube preamp coloration, bus compression, tape echo, limiting, channel strip processing, and tape saturation.
In this video, I’m taking a look at all eight plugins, exploring their features and demonstrating what they bring to the table.
Watch the video below to see all eight plugins in action.
1. Room Service – Plate Reverb
Room Service is a plate reverb designed around the physical behavior of suspended steel. It features fast, dense diffusion, frequency-dependent reflections, and a reverb tail that changes character as it fades.
There are also tube and solid-state characteristic stages and 30 factory presets. It’s particularly useful on vocals, snares, drums, and other instruments that could benefit from plate reverb.
2. Fifth Order – Class A Tube Preamp
Fifth Order is a dual-channel Class A tube preamp designed to add coloration to your audio.
One interesting feature is its always-on coloring stage, meaning you’ll get some tonal character even before adjusting the other controls. It also includes gain and tone controls, presets, automatic level adjustment, and the ability to link both channels.
3. Thunderbuss – Bus Compressor
Thunderbuss combines several processing tools into one straightforward plugin.
It includes compression, saturation, a soft clipper, and a limiter, with just five main controls. There’s also a high-pass filter to help control low frequencies before compression.
Automatic gain compensation helps maintain consistent levels, while the meter can display either gain reduction or input level. This makes it a useful option for bus processing and master channel applications.
4. Warm Repeats – Tape Echo
Warm Repeats is inspired by classic space echo effects and features three playback heads that can be used together.
You can adjust the repeat rate and intensity, with the feedback capable of going beyond 100 percent for longer and more experimental delay effects.
There are two tape modes: Fresh Tape and Worn Tape. A collection of presets provides everything from short slapback delays to more extreme echo effects. It also works particularly well on guitars.
5. Reference Player – Audio Reference Tool
Reference Player is included in the collection, but there’s one limitation worth mentioning: it’s currently available for Windows only through the Microsoft Store.
Since I’m using a Mac, I wasn’t able to test this particular plugin.
6. Volume Dealer – True Peak Limiter
Volume Dealer is a true-peak look-ahead limiter designed to help control audio peaks. It’s another useful processing tool included in the M-Media Audio collection.
7. Violet Crown – Stereo Channel Strip
Violet Crown is a stereo channel strip built around EQ and compression characteristics associated with professional bus processing.
It features three independent EQ bands with separate boost and cut controls, adjustable frequencies, and a custom RMS compressor with programmable sensitivity and automatic release.
You can also change the processing order, allowing you to run the EQ before the compressor or put compression first.
8. Iron Deck – Dual-Channel Tape Machine
Iron Deck is a dual-channel tape machine plugin designed to add tape-style saturation and character to your audio.
It offers independent controls for each channel, different tape speeds, and adjustable tape settings. You can switch between mono and stereo operation and even process the left and right channels differently.
It’s worth exploring if you’re looking to add some tape coloration to your mixes.
Final Thoughts
That’s a look at eight free plugins from M-Media Audio covering everything from reverb and delay to compression, limiting, EQ, and tape saturation.
Room Service, Fifth Order, Thunderbuss, Warm Repeats, Violet Crown, and Iron Deck offer a variety of processing options worth exploring. Reference Player is currently Windows-only, while Volume Dealer provides another limiting option.
If you’re building your plugin collection or looking for additional tools for your DAW, these are worth checking out.
Have you tried any of these plugins? Let me know what you think in the comments.
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