10 Best Plugins For Making Beats (Hip Hop, Trap, Drill)

U-he Diva

U-he Diva is a must-have synth for beatmakers. The plugin features a series of analog oscillators, filters and effects, giving the warmth of 80-90s hardware synthesizers. You can produce harmonic-rich synths, leads, soft bass, and pads with ease using this plugin. The plugin also comes with 1200 premade presets that can be used to make great beats.

Features

• 5 oscillators models based on classic synth hardware
• 5 filter models based on classic synth hardware
• 2 host-synced LFOs with multiple waveforms, restart options and phase controls
• 2 stereo effects slots, each with chorus (3 modes), phaser (2 modes), plate reverb, delay, rotary speaker

UJAM Beatmaker

In recent years, UJAM has emerged as one of the best VST and sound developers for various genres. Their flagship series is filled with outstanding sounds and libraries for beatmakers. 

• Beatmaker Hustle - Best for Trap, Grime, and Dirty South
• Beatmaker Glory - Best for Pop and Trap music
• Beatmaker Nemesis - Best for Cyberpunk
• Beatmaker Kendy - Best for Pop, Hyperpop and K-Pop

Price and Demo

Thickify

Thickify is an excellent effect plugin for making the beats sound professional. This plugin can make the sound fat and saturated. Adding the plugin to your mix can make the sound fat, introduce analog character, and make it sound together.

Features

• Control the amount of even to the odd harmonic ratio(colour)
• Automatic gain compensation
• Variable slope
• 2-4x oversampling for clear distortion and tonality.
• Soft analog overdrive

Price and Demo

Xfer Records Serum 

Serum is a well-known synthesizer among beatmakers. The excellent wavetable oscillators, dual filters, modulators and a series of great effects make it one of the best synth VSTs for making beats. With Serum, you can create unique expressions and rhythms inside the plugin itself. 

Features

• Great collection of native wavetables.
• Outstanding drum transients and modulation source for making unique drum samples.
• Serum has an amazing FX Rack, capable of creating expressions and variations inside the plugin itself.
• With Serum, it is possible to merge synth sounds with organic samples, vinyl noises, transients and more. This makes it an excellent synth for sounds with sharp transients.
• Great Visual feedback.
• Compared to other Wavetable synthesizers, Serum has a relatively easy learning curve.
• Serum has a great collection of advanced modifiers capable of manipulating the timbre of the sound.
• It has the best wavetable editor among the wavetable synth family. 

Price and Demo

XO By XLN Audio

For beatmakers, drums are the most essential part of the production process. A good-sounding beat must have good-sounding drums. However, finding the right sound can be challenging with lots of drum samples and one shot in the library. Furthermore, it can cloud the selection process of individual samples. XO by XLN audio makes the drum selection process very easy. It sorts the one-shots based on timbre and sound type, making it easier for beatmakers to find the suitable sample quickly and easily.

Features

• Sample sorting based on sound type.
• You can sort out your favourite samples and use them at any time.
• You can edit your samples inside the XO.
• XO has an inbuilt drum sequencer that can be played from the piano roll or live using a drum machine or midi.

Price and Demo

Stutter Edit 2 by iZotope

Beatmaking is one of the fields of music production where a lot of work is done by playing live. As such, having a great effect chain that can flip the sample with a single key can be very handy. Stutter Edit 2 by iZotope does just that. It has many great effects that can be applied in the mixer track as an effect plugin or live through a midi controller.

Features

• Stutter: control length, quantization, and panning.
• Advance Curve Editor.
• Effects Modules Series.
• Control through piano roll or midi controller
• Extensive collection of amazing presets made by the best producers in the business.
• Absolute control on the parameters like glitch, time, speed and FX.

Price and Demo

Battery 4 by Native Instruments

Battery 4 is a powerful drum sampling tool from Native Instruments. It is an excellent plugin for sampling, manipulating and playing drum samples. In addition, this VST plugin gives a great collection of inbuilt effects and visual feedback, making sample editing and processing more effortless.

Features

• Fast workflow
• Easy editing of drum samples.
• Easy midi mapping and colour control.
• Series of outstanding digital and analog effects.
• Outstanding visual feedback for better spectrum analysis.
• SOLID EQ, SOLID BUS COMP, TRANSIENT MASTER, tape saturation, one-knob compressor and new filters
• Great collection of pre-processed and professionally recorded drum kits.
• Easy sample sorting with tags and colour codes.

Price and Demo

TRackS 5 Tape Machine 440

Modern beats often lack the feel of analog hardware. The saturation and color from a classic tube and tape have their musicality. The TRackS 5 Tape Machine emulates the Ampex 440B series. This mix and master bus plugin can instantly add soul to the sound. It's an excellent VST for adding color to the sound and glue them together.

Features

• Instance glue to all the mixer channels.
• 4 tape formulae; 250(3M/Scotch "250 Audio Recording Tape), 456(Ampex 456 High-Output Mastering Tape), GP9(Quantegy GP9 Grand Master Platinum), and 499(Ampex 499 Grand Master Gold Studio Mastering Audio Tape).
• In-built Record and Play bias, filters, and audio calibration.
• Input and output controls
• True Stereo function
• Transparent modelling option.

Price and Demo

RC 20 Retro Color by XLN Audio

RC 20 Retro color has emerged as one of the most favourite multi-FX plugins among the producers. With its unique effect models, the plugin adds a sonic character to the sound. This effect plugin has 6 main effect models - Noise generator, Wooble and Flutter, Saturation and Distortion, Degrader and Bitcrusher, Reverb, and Dynamic Volume. These core effect modules can enhance the character and feel of any beat.

Features

• Great collection of presets.
• Pre-recorded high-quality noises, including vinyl.
• Wet/Dry mix.
• Simple user interface and controls.
• Analog as well as digital saturation models.
• Tone control over the noises.
• A unique metallic character with pitch wobble.

Price and Demo

RC 20 Retro color has a 10 days trial period. After that you can get a full copy for just $99.95.

Learn more about RC 20 Retro color

Vital by Matt Tytel

Vital is a free wavetable synthesizer capable of producing some of the most outstanding sounds for beatmakers. Vital has analog and rich-sounding wavetable oscillators, unlike other wavetable synths in the market. It also has an excellent modulation function, effect slots, and digital and analog filters. Vital is the best free synth for any aspiring as well as sessional beatmaker out there,

Features

• Free as well as a paid option
• 3 wavetable oscillators, 1 noise oscillator, a dual filter, and a dedicated effect chain.
• 8 LFO and envelope modulations each.
• A large number of special modifiers for each oscillator.
• Text to wavetable.
• Up to 16 unison voices per oscillator.
• Great wavetable import and editing option.
• Simple learning curve and User Interface.

Price and Demo