Free Flanger VSTs: Which Ones Actually Rip for Metal?

The flanger. It’s an effect that can instantly bring to mind Eddie Van Halen's "Unchained" riff or the psychedelic swirls of 70s rock. But in a modern metal mix? It can feel like a risky move. Go too hard, and you sound dated. Too subtle, and what’s the point?

Here’s the deal: a flanger is just a tool. And like any tool, from a simple EQ to a complex compressor, what matters isn’t how expensive or fancy it is—it's how you use it. You don’t need to drop cash on a boutique flanger plugin when there are killer free options that can get the job done, whether you’re adding subtle movement to a lead or mangling a bass track into oblivion.

We're going to break down some of the best free flanger plugins out there and give you some actionable ways to use them in a heavy mix. Because a great mix isn't about having a thousand plugins; it's about knowing a few tools inside and out.

Our Top Picks for Free Flanger Plugins

Forget endless searching. These free flanger VSTs have been battle-tested and are more than capable of handling anything you throw at them.

Blue Cat's Flanger

First up is a modern classic in the freeware world. Blue Cat's Flanger is clean, comprehensive, and surprisingly versatile. It’s not trying to emulate a specific piece of vintage gear, which is its strength. It’s just a damn good digital flanger.

What Makes It Great for Metal

It can go from a super-subtle, shimmering chorus-like effect to a full-on screeching jet engine sweep. The interface is straightforward, giving you direct control over Rate, Depth, Feedback, and Mix. No fluff, just function. This makes it perfect for precise, surgical applications.

Actionable Tip: Add Life to Guitar Solos

Got a killer guitar lead that feels a bit static? Don’t drown it in reverb. Instead, slide Blue Cat’s Flanger on an aux send. Set a very slow Rate (think 0.1-0.2 Hz), a moderate Depth, and keep the Feedback low (under 25%). Blend this in very low behind the dry signal—just enough so you can feel the movement. It adds a sense of width and three-dimensionality that helps the lead float over the rhythm section without sounding obviously "effected."

TAL-Flanger

If you’re after a specific vibe, TAL-Flanger is your go-to. It’s a simple but gorgeous-sounding plugin modeled on the flanger/chorus section of a vintage Juno-60 synth. This means it comes with its own built-in character.

What Makes It Great for Metal

That vintage character is perfect for adding a touch of lo-fi moodiness or 80s nostalgia. It’s not the most flexible flanger on this list, but what it does, it does beautifully. It’s great for clean intros, melodic interludes, or anything that needs a touch of analog-style warmth and wobble.

Actionable Tip: Build Tension in Intros

Use TAL-Flanger on a clean or slightly gritty guitar part that opens a track. Start with the Mix knob fairly high and the Rate slow. As the intro builds towards the first heavy riff, automate the Rate to slowly speed up. This creates a rising sense of tension that makes the impact of the full band feel even bigger. It’s a classic production trick for a reason.

Kilohearts Flanger

The Kilohearts Flanger is part of their free a la carte "Essentials" bundle. Like all Kilohearts plugins, it's dead simple, CPU-friendly, and sounds fantastic. The real power here, though, is its integration with Kilohearts' free Snap Heap plugin, which lets you build complex parallel and serial effects chains.

What Makes It Great for Metal

On its own, it’s a solid, no-nonsense flanger. But in Snap Heap, it becomes a sound design weapon. You can run the flanger in parallel with a distortion unit, a filter, and a pitch shifter, all within one plugin, to create truly unique textures.

Actionable Tip: Metallic Drum Ambience

Here’s a trick for industrial or modern metal styles. Put Snap Heap on a parallel drum bus. Inside Snap Heap, drop in the Flanger. Set the Rate to sync with your track's tempo (like 1/16th or 1/8th notes) and push the Feedback up to get a metallic, resonant tone. Then, add a Filter after the Flanger and cut out all the low end below 500Hz and the highs above 8kHz. Blend this parallel signal underneath your main drum bus. You’ll get a rhythmic, clanging texture that adds aggression and complexity to your drums without turning the core kit sound to mud.

MFlanger (MeldaProduction)

If you’re a tweaker who wants every parameter imaginable, look no further than the MFlanger, part of the massive MFreeFXBundle. Melda plugins are legendary for their deep feature sets, and this is no exception. It has adjustable oscillator shapes, stereo widening, and advanced modulation routing.

What Makes It Great for Metal

The customization is endless. You can move beyond simple sine wave LFOs and design your own modulation shapes. This allows you to create rhythmic, stuttering, or unpredictable flanger effects that simply aren’t possible with other plugins. It might be intimidating at first, but the sonic potential is huge.

Actionable Tip: Gated Bass Texture

Want to add some gnarly, industrial grind to a bass guitar? Send your DI bass to an aux track and insert MFlanger. Go into the oscillator shape editor and draw a hard square wave. This will make the flanger effect turn on and off abruptly, creating a rhythmic, gated effect. Set the rate to a fast, tempo-synced value. Use an EQ to cut the low-end mud from this effect track and blend it behind your main bass tone for a layer of aggressive, electronic texture.

Beyond the Plugin: It's How You Use It

Having the right tool is one thing, but knowing how to use it is what separates a good mix from a great one. The most expensive plugin in the world won’t save a bad decision.

Skills > Tools

You could own twenty different flanger plugins, but if you don’t understand how rate, depth, and feedback interact, you’re just guessing. The truth is, any of the mixers you see on Nail The Mix, from Jens Bogren to Will Putney, could take any one of these free plugins and get a world-class result. Why? Because they’ve trained their ears. They know what they want to hear and use the tool to get there. It’s a core philosophy you’ll see demonstrated in every single NTM session: master your fundamentals.

Watch Out for Phase and Latency

A flanger works by duplicating your audio, applying a tiny, modulated delay to the copy, and mixing it back with the original. This process of creating phase cancellation is what gives you that signature "swoosh." But it also means you’re messing with phase relationships. When you use a flanger on a parallel bus, be aware that the plugin introduces a small amount of latency. Most DAWs have Automatic Delay Compensation to handle this, but it’s not always flawless. Always check your parallel effects in mono. If the sound gets thin, weak, or "hollow," you might have a phase problem.

Where to Use a Flanger in Metal

Don’t just limit it to guitar solos. Try these placements:

• Vocal Throws: Automate a flanger to pop up on just the last word of a screamed vocal line for a cool, psychedelic effect.
• Synth Pads: Add movement and texture to atmospheric synth layers in an intro or bridge.
• Drum Overheads: A slow, wide flange can make cymbals feel huge and washy. Just be sure you’re not sacrificing transient punch. Use it in parallel!

Ultimately, the best way to get killer sounds is by building a solid foundation. That means getting your metal guitar EQs right and understanding how to use compression effectively before you even think about modulation effects.

If you’re ready to see how the pros make these decisions in real-time, on real sessions, check out the Nail The Mix sessions catalog. You get to download the full multitracks from bands like Lamb of God, Gojira, and Periphery and watch the producer who mixed the record rebuild it from scratch, explaining every plugin, every fader move, and every creative choice along the way.