We all know that VST stands for: Virtual Studio Technology. But when it comes to these plugins, it stands for Very Strange Things.

Creativity can be found in bizarre places. And these VSTs are no exception.

Put them in your best DAW. Who knows? Maybe they’re the secret ingredient you’ve been searching for…

Here’s the 8 freakiest VSTs around.

U-He Triple Cheese

It ain’t easy being cheesy. Or is it?

Either way U-he makes cheesy infinitely fun with this ridiculous comb-filter synth. Comb-filter sounds are created through a series of short delays.

The result is some seriously mind-bending sounds spanning from flighty flutes to ambient washes. Happy cheesing.

Ohm Force Symptohm PE

This synth is absurd as in absurdly cool.

Any instrument that has a preset called ‘Dirty Maurice’ instantly caught our attention. And it didn’t disappoint when we started playing with it.

Highly recommended if you wanna start messing around with the sounds of Planetary Motion, Evil Bass, or Dirty Paula

LiveCut by MDSP SMART ELECTRONIX

LiveCut by MDSP Smart Electronix can seriously freak a loop out. It’s a beat chopper, but it runs on some less-than-normal logic.

Throw a loop in to smash, chop, squish, mangle and roll it until it’s unrecognizable. Then do it again.

Tytel Helm

This VST isn’t that strange… yet.

Helm is a synth VST. But you can run it anywhere, change the source code and generally modify the crap out of it.

So the strangeness is in your hands. How freaky can you make it?

Alan Vista

We had to put Alan Vista Plugins on this list. But we couldn’t decide on just one. So we picked all of them.

From Orchestral Cymbals, to Chinese Gongs, to Woodblocks, Vista has all your tripped out percussion needs covered.

Darwin Arts Trilobite 1.4

What would happen if two synth patches had a baby together? Well now you can find out with Trilobite 1.4.

Trilobite lets you seriously mess with sound synthesis. You can even apply the basic laws of Darwin evolution to grow your synth patches over time.

It’s a bit tough to figure out at first. But the bizarre factor is off the charts once you get into it. Time to start fiddling.

Wavosaur VST Speak

Searching for the best vocal VST? Well the Wavosaur VST Speak might not be the best, but it’s certainly the most interesting.

This spell-and-speak plugin reads back anything you type into it. All in a tweakable voice capable of some pretty strange sounds.

So put it in your DAW and say hello to VST Speak. Then make it say hello back.

What will you make it say on your next track?

Harsh Digital Nose

If a shape could make a sound, what would it sound like? If blue was a noise, would it be harsh or mellow?

Now you can find out with Harsh Digital Nose. Draw shapes, lines, or pictures right inside this plugin to see what they sound like.

Tweak the sound of a purple square, or pitch-down the sound of a green triangle—it’s up to you with this strange but fun plugin.

Thinking outside the box, inside the Box

Creating with VSTs inside the box is insanely fun. When things get weird they usually get inspiring too.

So try these weirdo free VST plugins for some happy noodling.