1. Best Free Ir Host Vst Software
2. Best Free Ir Host Vst Download
3. Best Free Ir Host Vst Plugin
4. Best Free Ir Host Vst Plugins

Impulse Responses are the number one thing that can help you find the perfect guitar tone when using amp simulator plugins to record and play guitar through a computer.

Digital amp sims have come a long way in recent years, but with some styles of music, such as heavy metal, it can be hard to find the right tone. That’s where impulse responses come in handy.

Working with virtual studio technology (VST) plugins is tremendously convenient, but a lot of the best VST plugins out there are very expensive. If you're looking to expand your library of VST instrument (VSTi) plugins, or tweak your mixes with some great effects or MIDI effects VST plugins, you can do it for free. NadIR is meant to be used as a cabinet simulator for live playing and jamming, tracking or mixing inside hosts capable of VST or AU Plug-Ins support. Three routing modes: Mono, Dual Mono and Stereo. Selectable quality control for max IR length (up to 0.185 seconds).

It’s absolutely amazing how good of a sound you can get out of an amp sim with the right impulse. You can achieve the same tone from your favorite song or guitarist with little effort.

Most amp sims worth using allow you to import IR’s, or you can use a free program like LeCab 2 or NadIR. There are tens of thousands of impulse responses available online. Some cost money to buy, like Rosen Digital and RedWirez Impulses, but there are tons of free ones online that are really good if you know where to look.

What is an Impulse Response?

Impulse Responses are basically designed to capture the unique sounds of various cabinet and microphone combinations.

They also capture the frequency of the entire signal chain from the mic, the power amp, preamp, and even the specific sound of the room, among other things.

How to Use Impulse Responses

Most amp sims support importing Impulse Response files. I use Recabinet 4 and TSE X50. Those are both paid amp simulators, but offer free demos. Both are really good at simulating the Peavey 6505/5150.

There are free options as well. Along with the LePou Free Amp Sim Plugins, there’s the LeCab 2 that can load up to six impulse responses at once, and it’s free.

Another free standalone IR loader is NadIR by Ignite Amps. It can load two IRs at once and the plugin includes other controls like panning, filters, stereo control, and delay.

Free Impulse Response Downloads

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After downloading a few IR packs here and there, I came across the 7deadlysins Impulse Pack over at Osiris Guitar.com that contains thousands of impulses, with many of the best and most popular IR’s included all in one place.

Some of the better ones to start with include the Guitar Hacks Impulses, the Engl Pro 4×12 V30 pack, the Mesa Boogie 4×12 700+ Gods Cab IR’s (or you can download it separately below), and there are a bunch for specific bands and songs.

7deadlysins Impulse Pack (230 MB)

Additional Free Impulse Response Downloads

Free Redwirez IR Library – Redwirez offers a free pack of Marshall 1960A IRs, with Celestion G12M-25s, and it includes 17 different mics to choose from, each in dozens of variations.

OwnHammer – An impulse response library based on “V3 Mix” sampling methodology with neutral tube power amps.

Catharsis Impulses – The 7deadlysins pack contains thousands of IR’s, but somehow Catharsis isn’t among them.

God’s Cab 1.4 – This is included in the 7deadlysins pack but it is an older version. This includes over 700 Mesa OS IRs and Axe-FX ready files at 44.1, 48, and 96 khz sample rates.

ToneVampIRe HD – Another popular IR pack, ToneVampIRe HD includes 44 impulses for 37 songs, from artists like Deftones, Metallica, Mudvayne, Rammstein, and Slipknot.

Libra is a zero latency, 8 channel Impulse Response (IR) convolver, designed to be used as a cabinet simulator for guitar and bass (pre)amplifiers (AAX/AU/VST/VST3 or even hardware).

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It has been designed to perform pristine quality convolution in real time, while being light on the CPU and easy to use, providing advanced built-in filters and delay controls to let guitarists and bassists shape their tone with ease, without the need to be professional audio engineers.

Its unique Cartesian Mixer allows the user to mix up to 8 different IRs in a graphical way, keeping the output level consistent and allowing to perfectly balance different cabs and mics.
Additionally, you can export the equivalent IR to use it in your favourite device.

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Libra is meant to be used as a cabinet simulator for live playing and jamming, tracking or mixing inside hosts capable of AAX/AU/VST/VST3 Plug-Ins support.

Features

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• Zero Latency
• Low CPU usage
• Mono and Stereo support
• Automatic high-quality resampling for IRs with different sampling rates
• High-quality analog shaped filters
• Selectable delay for phase interactions between loaded IRs
• Automatic phase recognition and flipping for negative phase IRs
• Resonance for power-amp/speaker interaction control
• Continuous graphical morphing control between loaded IRs
• Option to merge multiple IRs into one and export it as a new IR
• Option to freeze multiple IRs processing and greatly reduce CPU usage
• Global input level and single IR level controls
• Fully automatable controls