Hello Composers, Mike here. Are you looking for a simple stereo widening VST plugin that can add width and depth to your music?

iZotope Ozone Imager is a completely free VST plugin, and it works really well! =)

Our goal is to develop some of the best free audio / vst plugins on the market. Get Magic Switch, a free chorus plugin modeled loosely after the Juno 60 analog chorus effect. Or download our free delay / echo plugin Baby Comeback, developed in collaboration with Computer Music Magazine. Virtual Studio Technology (VST) is an audio plug-in software interface that integrates software synthesizer and effects in digital audio workstations. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware in software.

There are many stereo imager plugins out there, but I personally only use plugins that truly enhance the final sound.

If you are a perfectionist like me when it comes to good audio, you will be glad to know that the Ozone Imager is one of the best ones I’ve heard out there.

And it does its magic while also being super quick and easy to use. Perfect! =)

It has even been endorsed by Alan Meyerson. Scoring Mixer for The Dark Knight, Gladiator etc. I will quote him: “Imaging control is one of the big bonuses of the digital signal processing world. No plug-in does it better than Ozone.”

Visual Stereo Overview

With Ozone Imager you will get immediate and intuitive feedback as you adjust settings. You get both a Vectorscope as well as a Correlation Meter, witch visual feedback to help guide your mixing and mastering decisions.

Wide or Narrow?

You can of course choose to go in the opposite direction, and reduce the stereo width on particular sounds. Don’t forget that depth comes from contrast.

Some sounds should be more in the centre of the stereo field, while others should be more spread out to widen the field.

For example: I personally like to use the Ozone Imager plugin on my different group bus tracks. This gives me control to decrease the stereo field on the bass group, increase it on the harmony group and so on.

I also like using it on the final stereo master bus, to add a touch of extra stereo depth to the final mix.

Simple Interface

You get two simple sliders. The first is the width control, which goes from -100 to 100. -100 is effectively making the sound completely mono, while 100 is doubling the stereo width on the sound you feed into it.

The stereoizer slider is where you can adjust the character of the stereo effect. It is very subtle, and you will probably find yourself focus far more on the stereo width slider which is where the main magic is.

My Final Thoughts

I would say that every music producer needs a good stereo widening plugin. And the Ozone Imager is one of the best I’ve used, both in terms of sound and ease of use. And all of this for free!?

Download Ozone Imager for Free here. And also get full specifications and learn more about it.

PS. Get these Free Bonuses Today

It’s time for a selection of free VST plugins that don’t produce any noise, nor have something to do with sounds.
Plugins for storing comments / any text in your DAW project, or for displaying RSS news in real time, showing the time of the day, etc. they’re all here : here’s a list of utility plugins !

1. VSTNotes

download : direct link

This was a free plugin by ProXL, it’s Windows only & 32 bit : you can add any number of instances in your project and take some notes, the notes are saved with your project.
It works well, even in host that steals the key-press like Ableton.
You can choose a background color, mix any font/color/style.
Perfect for saving comments or lyrics or anything you want to type.

2. VSTNotepad

VSTNotepad

download : http://www.codefn42.com/vstnotepad/index.html

Vst plugins on getintopc. This is also a VST for saving text notes in your projects, but this one has a 64 bit version
Windows only.
It works well in all hosts i have tested.

Free Stereo Utility Vst Download

3. BreakinNews VST

download : http://www.groovezing.com/en/download.php

This VST let you set a RSS flux and then displays the titles in a scrolling text.
By default it displays the latest news from a US network.
Clicking on a text opens a tab in your web browser with the article content.
It’s for Windows 32 bit.

4. Big Clock

Big Clock

download : http://thepiz.org/plugins/?p=Big%20Clock

A nice VST plugin for Windows : it displays the host transport time, is resizable and configurable.
you can also display the current time.

5. VSTClock

download : http://www.groovezing.com/en/download.php

This one displays the current time ! it’s resizable, you can also set a “digital display” instead of the analog clock.
Works for Windows, 32 bit.

6. TackyBrowser

download : archive

It’s a browser plugin, set a path and then you can drag and drop the files in your DAW (if your host supports it).
It’s free, 32 plugin bit for Windows.

7. ObliqueVST

ObliqueVST

Free Stereo Utility Vst Software

download : direct from archive

Free Stereo Vst

The famous Brian Eno´s Oblique Strategies VST plugin !
It’s the plugin version of Brian Eno’s “Oblique Strategies” cards.
It’s 32 bit only and for Windows but you can download the source code if you want to adapt it to Mac OS X and/or 64 bit : source code on archive.org

Deesser Stereo Vst

8. CrunkBall VST

download : direct dl

A synthedit plugins absolutely essential : ask a question, then click on the “?” : the CrunkBall gives you nothing but the undisputed truth.

9. Bonus Tracks

Similar to VSTNotes & VSTNotepad you also have :
TrackPAD VST : for Windows & MAC OS X, i have only tested for Windows, it seems to work well!
ExtraNotes VST : For windows Mac & Linux : this one lets you load an image or type text , it has been very buggy for me (Ableton 32 & 64 bit), maybe you’ll be more lucky.
MNotePad : present in the MFreeEffectsBundle from Melda Production, i haven’t tested it, but it looks nice!

also from InsertPiz, the cpuram plugin : for displaying the RAM & CPU usage in your host.

If you feel like i forgot essential utility plugins, feel free to comment!
i didn’t include MIDI plugins (like virtual keyboard) or metering/analysis plugins.