“The best things in life are free.”

“You get what you pay for.”

If cliches are cliches because they’re true, which one of the above applies to free audio plug ins?  Well, ca depend.

When it comes to the Valhalla Freq Echo delay plug in, the answer is definitively the latter.   This gem of audio awesomeness can be procured for zilch at Valhalla’s website by clicking on the picture above for a link.  It’s fun, easy to use, and capable of being subtle or wild as you wish.

Free plugins are risky.  Not financially, but spatially and temporally.  They can clog up your toolbox in ways that can make it hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.  They can feed a consumer culture mindset that constantly wants to waste time acquiring stuff rather than actually working with it.  Recently, I’ve been using a program called Auganizer to organize my plug-ins in folders that go by their function and value to me, rather than by manufacturer name.  (It works pretty well, though there have been a few frustrations.)  In the process, most of the free plug ins I have were removed from my drop down menu, proving that yes, sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

Valhalla FreqEcho made the cut.  Now that I’ve slimmed down my menu, I order this tasty little item more often than ever.  Valhalla, I am coming….On we sweep with threshing oar, our only goal will be the western shore.