Roundup
The Best Plugins for House Music: Synths, Drums and Effects
Updated 2 min read
The best plugins for house music cover five jobs: drums with real swing, a synth for basses and chord stabs, a sidechain tool for the pump, a reverb and delay for space, and something for movement and builds. Pick by job rather than by brand, then learn those few tools deeply.
At a glance
The groove instrument
- What to look for
- Sequenced lead, bass, stabs and pads that follow one chord
- Picks
- Afterhours (ours)
Drums
- What to look for
- Swing, punchy 909-style kicks, tunable
- Picks
- Thump (ours), your DAW's drum rack
Bass and stabs
- What to look for
- Analog-style tone, short decays, organ and pluck patches
- Picks
- Afterhours (ours), Vital, Serum
Sidechain pump
- What to look for
- Tempo-synced shapes, no routing
- Picks
- Pump (ours, free), your DAW's compressor
Reverb and delay
- What to look for
- Long halls, plates, tempo delays
- Picks
- Lumen (ours), Valhalla, stock reverbs
Afterhours (ours): the whole groove from one chord
Afterhours is built for deep house, tech house, melodic house and techno. Hold a chord and a sequenced lead, a rolling or offbeat bass, chord stabs and an ethereal pad play in time with your track. Evolve mutates the lead over 8 to 32 bars, a Build fader performs the 16-bar build and drop, and five style tiles (Deep, Tech, Melodic, Techno, Afro tech) change sound and groove together.
Sequence
Style
Warm organ stabs, offbeat bass, soft swing. Late-night deep house.
Push Build up for 8 or 16 bars, then let go for the drop. Your mod wheel does it too.
Lead
Bass
Stab
Air
The real plugin engine, running in your browser: same DSP code and presets as the VST3/AU/AAX.
Drums: swing is everything
House drums need a punchy, short kick, offbeat open hats and swing on the 16ths. Thump synthesises tunable 909-style kits with house and tech grooves, and every kit plays in the browser.
Sidechain and space
The pump is the sound of house. Pump is our free volume shaper: draw the curve, sync it to the beat, no sidechain routing. For space, a long reverb like Lumen and a dotted-eighth delay on the lead and stabs give the depth of a big room.
FAQ
What do I need to make house music?
A DAW, a drum machine or samples for the four-on-the-floor groove, a synth for bass and chords, a sidechain tool for the pump, and a reverb and delay. Many producers start with their DAW's stock plugins and add one or two specialised instruments.
What is the best synth for deep house?
Deep house leans on organ and electric piano chord stabs, warm analog-style basses and soft pads. A versatile analog-modelled synth covers most of it; instruments built for the genre, such as Afterhours, give you the stabs, bass and groove ready to play.