Airwindows Consolidated summarized Chris Johnson’s stellar DSP effects work, featuring nearly 400 effects in a new free multi-FX plugin.
He offers many classic effects like reverbs, delays, distortions, and more, as well as many innovative ones with fresh ideas. Since the beginning of the year, Chris has added numerous new algorithms.
You can download the algorithms as individual plugins or in the Airwindows Consolidated, which offers over 500 algorithms in a single plugin to explore. The new algorithms are:
- ToTape9: Airwindows tape emulation and brightness compression.
- Donut: is in memory of Dilla.
- Slew4: a tape compression without the tape, for brightness control.
- BezEQ2: a unique, subtle three-band shelving EQ.
- FatEQ: a FatEQ balances bands only with density.
- ZAcidLowpass: like if an e6400 went insane and grew shark teeth.
- ChimeyGuitar2: is a wilder ChimeyGuitar.
- DeNoise: can work as a multiband gate and as a wild effect.
- kWoodRoom: is a small wooden performing space.
- TapeHack2: brings Airwindows tape to a new level.
- SweetWide: a strange grungy stereo widener.
- ConsoleX2: the Channel and Buss plugins that make up the ConsoleX2 system
Please give Chris a virtual round of applause for all the work he’s put into this project. Or simply support him on Patreon. Hats off to him, and yes, it’s growing and growing. Definitely a project not to be missed.
Airwindows Consolidated is available now as a free download and runs as an open-source VST3, AU, CLAP, and LV2 plugin on macOS, Linux, and Windows. You can support Chris via Patreon.
More information here: Airwindows
Update from December 28, 2025
Before we close out the year, let’s take a look at Airwindows’ continuously growing project. In recent months, a large number of new algorithms have been added once again.
My favorite from these is the new kAlienSpaceship, which is a pretty unique-sounding reverb processor.
- SmoothEQ3: the most approachable EQ.
- ConsoleH: these are the Channel and Buss plugins that make up the ConsoleH system
- DeBez: gives you retro sampley textures!
- PurestDualPan: an updated PurestGain, but as a dual pan.
- PurestSaturation: an experiment in softclipping.
- VerbThic: a classic artificial reverb for being opaque and textured.
- VerbTiny: a classic artificial reverb that expands reverb shape.
- Dynamics2: the compressor gate for new Console plugins!
- ChimeyDeluxe: a very flexible compressed DI conditioner.
- SoftClock2: a groove-oriented time reference.
- HipCrush: is the de-rez section for ConsoleH.
- Cabs2: uses really phasey filters to be a speaker cabinet simulator.
- kAlienSpaceship: is an unreal realistic reverb.
- PearEQ: a six-band Pear-based graphic EQ.
Thank you for the new algorithms, all of which are available for free. Either as a standalone plugin or in AirWindows Consolidated, which I recommend.
Update from September 28, 2025
And it goes on and on and on. Yes, Chris from Airwindows is unstoppable. There are constantly new algorithms to discover.
Among others, there is a new, lovely, small-room reverb modeled after David Bowie’s vocal reverb. Also nice to have is TakeCare, a lush chorus ensemble effect.
- kStation: a realistic small room modeled after David Bowie’s vocal reverb.
- Discontapeity: combines air modeling with tape-style overdrive.
- kGuitarHall2: puts things in a Loud Room.
- SmoothEQ2: a wildly intuitive vibe EQ with clarity and intensity.
- kCathedral5: lets you place yourself anywhere you like in the space.
- TapeHack: a new dimension in tape realism, abstracted to software.
- TakeCare: a lush chorus ensemble universe.
- Silken: a high frequency boost that gives ambience and texture.
- PointyDeluxe: devours all mix space.
- kCathedral4: is the Cathedral sound expressed as distant space.
- Pressure6: refines the Pressure compressor and how it moves.
- PrimeFIR: a mostly linear-phase brickwall with a taste for the bizarre!
- DeCrackle: isolates clicks and vinyl crackles to remove them.
- kBeyond: a recital hall.
- VerbSixes: a calibrated reference reverb plugin for Householder matrices.
- Mastering2: an Airwindows style, and can do elliptical EQ now!
Thank you so much for the new algorithms. Please support Chris on Patreon, so the project can continue.
Update from May 25, 2025
Fact: We haven’t talked about the fantastic free plugins/algorithms from Chris Johnson, aka Airwindows, for almost a year. Sorry about that.
Those who actively support the project have already followed the release. For those who haven’t, here’s a summary. Since the beginning of the year, Chris has packed 19 new algorithms into Airwindows Consolidated. Yes, 19 new ones.
Highlights for me are the new kCosmos, an infinite space ambient reverb, the SquareRoot, a unique soft saturation, and the AngleFilter.
- AngleFilter: the synth-style extension of AngleEQ.
- ChimeyGuitar: supremely compressible instrument amp.
- kCosmos: infinite space ambient, or titanic hall reverb
- BeziComp: radical compressor that eliminates aliasing!
- SoftClock: groove-oriented time reference.
- PointyGuitar: supremely adaptable instrument amp
- SmoothEQ: a sharp, accurate, transparent three-band filter.
- AngleEQ: a strange and colorful EQ.
- DubPlate 2: like an ITB mastering house for electronic music.
- Distinegrate: Discontinuity alogrithm on steroids.
- DubPlate: like a busy mastering house for electronic music.
- Eliliptical: elliptical highpasses the side channel.
- SquareRoot: new discoveries in soft saturation
- CansAW: Chris’s Airwindows room, in a plugin, for headphone mixers
- BezEQ: strange, alien three-band shelving EQ
- LRConolve: multiplies each channel by the other
- kGuitarHall: accentuates loud midrange shronk
- Mastering: an Airwindows-style, and can do things that nothing else can!
- BiquadHiLo: the highpass and lowpass filter in ConsoleX
Mille grazie, Chris, per le nuove algoritmi. It’s fantastic what tools this developer gives the community for free.
They are available individually as plugins for macOS, Linux, and Windows, or in the Airwindows Consolidated plugin.
Update from September 29, 2024
The Consolidated plugin is probably the best deal if you want a free multi-FX plugin. Here, you get over 400 Airwindows algorithms in one plugin.
Since the last article update in July, Chris Johnson, the developer, has added numerous new exciting algorithms.
The latest update includes:
- kCathedral3: a giant cathedral-like space reverb using Bezier undersampling
- Flutter2: a flutter effect taken from the tape plugin ToTape7
- Dubly2: it’s based on the noise reduction system in Spinal Tab
- DubSub2: new bass adding algorithm
- TapeBias: an algo that allows you to underbias and overbias your signal
- ToTape7: tape emulation with bias and dubly
- Isolator3: a two-knob isolator filter
- Console9: the summing part from the ConsoleX plugin in standalone
- Dubly3: refines and transforms the Dubly sound
- TopTape8: further development of the Airwindows tape emulation with gain staging, bias, and optimized Dubly fx.
This is another impressive update for the Airwindows Consolidated plugin.
Update from July 8, 2024
In May, I reported on the Consolidated plugin, which bundles all 400+ Airwindows algorithms into one epic free plugin. It’s already July, and there are some nice new algorithm additions:
- CreamCoat: a classic reverb with soft undersampling that can generate smooth, lush ambiances
- DeRez3: a unique bit-crusher based on Bezier curves with dry/wet control
- Wolfbot: an aggressive Kalman bandpass with evil in its heart
- Parametric: a three-band EQ based on the Console X EQ with advanced features
- BiquadStack: a parametric EQ made out of stacked bi-quad filters
- CrunchCoat: a cursed retro digital reverb
- Distance3: combines the best parts of Discontinuity and Distance (mimics through-air high-frequency attenuation)
- Discontinuity models air under intense loudness.
It’s growing and growing. It’s amazing what Chris packs into this plugin. Big thanks!
Article from May 7, 2024
Free plugins are great because they allow you to make high-quality music on a minimal budget. The market for free plugins has grown significantly in recent years, and so has their quality. Projects like the open-source Surge XT synth alone show what level free software has reached.
Almost everyone in the music production world is familiar with the name Chris Johnson aka Airwindows. He has already released almost 400 free effects plugins. This is incredible work and a lot of plugins, especially if you install them all. To make things smarter, there is now a new Airwindows Consolidated plugin.
Airwindows Consolidated
The days of 400 individual Airwindows plugins are over. The new Airwindows Consolidated brings all AW effects with built-in documentation in a simple, single multi-effects plugin for Windows, Mac, and Windows. Yes, an epic free multi-FX plugin.
The plugin is super straightforward. You can select the algorithm at the top. Then you have the parameters on the left and the description of the effect on the right.
Currently, there are almost 400 algorithms that the Consolidated plugin contains. It includes reverbs, amp simulators, filters, distortions, lo-fi processors, tape emulations, EQs, saturators, and more.
Chris Johnson aka Airwindows says about the Consolidated plugin:
For many years, I’ve built up a library of DSP effects, executed in a stripped-down, retro-friendly format that is impossibly light and efficient compared to how plugins usually are.
It’s also completely overwhelming at nearly 400 plugins all with their own names (or iterations like Channel6, Channel7, Console8, Console9 and so on) and stuck on older formats like VST2, because for years I insisted that Steinberg might try to take away the legal right to put out VST2 plugins and I wasn’t going to risk that, being committed to supporting all possible machines.
Airwindows Consolidated fixes all those things, at a stroke. It’s just become the one true way for a lot of people to use the Airwindows plugin ecosystem, and it will be fully supported going forward as a format for all new plugins (at least, all new plugins that aren’t themselves a giant leap forward, more on that later).
First Impression
This is an epic release for the free plugin community. Almost 400 effects in one multi-FX plugin is crazy and once again shows the incredible work of Chris Johnson. I hope to see at some point an iOS AUv3 port of these.
Airwindows Consolidated is available now as a free download and runs as an open-source VST3, AU, CLAP, and LV2 plugin on macOS, Linux, and Windows. You can support Chris via Patreon.
More information here: Airwindows GitHub
“ I hope to see at some point an iOS AUv3 port of these. ”
Same here!
Doesn’t sound like it’s in the books despite Johnson’s comment to the effect that BaconPaul added support for
“All the things a JUCE project can produce.”
In fact, I’d love it if Surge XT were to run as AUv3 on iPadOS. It’d make a huge difference there.
In the meantime, I’ll focus on creating my own AUv3 patches using Plugdata. Just discovered AUv3 support and it makes the whole difference in the world, to me. I still do most of my patching from the desktop and then I can use those patches on my iPad Pro (M1, not the new M4 with Apple Pencil Pro, unfortunately).
Just a heads up- this has also been ported to a vcv rack plugin as well.
Nice! Wonder if also updated for the 4ms Metamodule as that runs the previous set really well.
Wow that chamber reverb sounds lovely, it’s amazing that it’s free, I’d never heard of this before.
Bravo! Bravíssimo!
from what I’ve read, he says to check for updates by re-downloading the program. that’s really cool. updates for a free vst.
Wow! Also somehow never heard of these plugins before. This is going to keep me busy for while.