To produce the perfect song or podcast, you need to the right tools in your arsenal.
Luckily, Muse Hub is packed with a potent mix of plug-ins to elevate your tracks, from dynamic effects to customizable virtual instruments. You can find free, easy-to-use plug-ins made by the Muse team, or browse powerful software from leading developers Baby Audio, LANDR or Solid State Logic, to name just a few.
Most plug-ins are compatible with any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), so you can plug-them right into your existing workflow! But if you’re dabbling in audio for the first time, Audacity and effects plugins are the perfect place to start. Audacity is the world’s most popular free editing tool, and easily accessible within the Muse Hub.
Find out how to use plugins in Audacity in our walkthrough below:
Step 1: Download Muse Hub and Audacity
If you haven’t already, grab the Muse Hub app from musehub.com. Install it by dragging the app into your Applications folder (on macOS) or double clicking it to get started (Windows).
Make sure you download Audacity (free) from the Apps page in the Hub. Muse Hub will download, install and even open the application for you in one click – it’s that easy!
Step 2: Browse Plug-ins
Open Muse Hub and navigate to the “Plug-Ins” page. Browse, download or buy any plugin you want to install. There are free plug-ins available from the Muse team, alongside brilliant and innovative plug-ins from leading developers. A great pack to get started is the free MuseFX.
Step 3: Launch Audacity
If Audacity is already open, you may need to restart it in order for your new plug-ins to be detected. Or, you can manually request a plug-in scan: go to ‘Analyze → Plugin Manager → Rescan’ to detect new plugins.
Step 4: Add Realtime FX to tracks inside Audacity
Audacity works with two types of effects; today we’re going to focus on the Realtime FX – this the most common use case for plug-ins, and simply means that the audio on the track is processed during playback.
Create a new track in Audacity (ideally a stereo track). To apply plugins to your track, select the ‘Effects’ button, which will open a sidebar. From there, select ‘Add effect’ and choose the effect you want to use.
To open the visual interface of your plugin, click on its name in the Realtime Effects sidebar.
Now start experimenting with effects to take your projects to the next level by adding colour, interest and texture to your mixes.
Looking for a more in-depth tutorial on Audacity?
Check out Audacity Explained® here.
