Free Gross Beat alternatives for any DAW
Gross Beat only runs inside FL Studio. If you make beats in Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Cubase, REAPER, Bitwig or Studio One, you need another plugin for stutters, half time, tape stops and trance gates. Here are the free ones, what each can and can't do, and the catch with each. I make simpleStutter. For the others, I checked each download page, format list and price on 30 October 2026.
By Aiden Shihadeh, developer of simpleStutter · Published
Quick answer
| Plugin | Formats | Systems | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| simpleStutter | VST3, AU | Windows, Mac, Linux | Repeats, half time, reverse, scratches, tape stops and gates on a 16-step grid |
| Glitch 2 | VST2, VST3, AU | Windows, Mac, Linux | Sequenced retriggers, reverse, tape stop, gater and more |
| Kilohearts Trance Gate | VST, AU, AAX | Windows, Mac | Step gate only, no time effects |
| Logic Remix FX | Built into Logic | Mac | Repeats, gates, reverse and tape stop, played live on XY pads |
| Ableton Beat Repeat | Built into Live | Windows, Mac | Repeats only |
How these were picked
Every plugin here is free or comes with a DAW, runs in a current 64-bit DAW, and does at least one of the things people use Gross Beat for. Formats and systems come from each developer's own page in October 2026.
I make simpleStutter, the first plugin on this list, so read my part with that in mind. Glitch 2 does some things simpleStutter doesn't, and I've said where. They're all free to try. Gross Beat belongs to Image-Line, and simpleStutter isn't affiliated with them.
simpleStutter comes out free on 3 November, for any DAW on Windows, macOS and Linux. Get an email when it's out
What Gross Beat does, and who can't use it
Gross Beat is Image-Line's time and volume effect for FL Studio. It keeps the last two bars of your audio and plays them back along an envelope you draw: a flat line plays normally, a slope slows the sound down or reverses it, and a step jumps back to repeat a slice. A second envelope does the same for volume, which is how it makes gates and sidechain-style pumps. You keep patterns in slots and switch between them with MIDI notes as the track plays.
Image-Line's shop sells it as "Gross Beat (FL Studio Only)" for $99, and it comes with the FL Studio Signature Bundle and All Plugins Edition, not Fruity or Producer. FL Studio runs on Mac too, so Mac users can have Gross Beat as long as they make music in FL Studio. In Logic, Ableton or anything else, there's no Gross Beat to load.
So the question is which parts of it you need:
- Time effects: beat repeats, half time, reverse, scratches and tape stops. Only simpleStutter, Glitch 2 and Remix FX do these.
- Volume effects: trance gates, mutes and pumps. Every plugin here except Beat Repeat does these.
- Pattern switching: changing the effect on a MIDI note. simpleStutter and Glitch 2 do this; Trance Gate switches between its eight patterns.
Free plugins
simpleStutter
simpleStutter is my own plugin and works the closest to Gross Beat of the free options. You put blocks on a 16-step grid that lasts half a bar, a bar or two bars: repeat, half time and other speeds, reverse, scratch, tape stop, spin up and volume. Volume blocks sit in their own lane under the time blocks, so a trance gate can play over a half time. It comes as VST3 on Windows, Mac and Linux and as an AU on Mac, so it loads in Logic Pro and GarageBand.
- Free: every block and volume shape, pattern slots 1 and 2, and 54 of the 254 factory patterns, with no time limit.
- One-time unlock: all 12 slots switched by MIDI notes C to B, all 254 patterns, and saving your own patterns and blocks, for £19.99, with a launch price for the first two weeks.
- Catch: it's brand new, with the first version out on 3 November 2026. There's no AAX version for Pro Tools and no CLAP version.
Glitch 2
Glitch 2 by illformed is a sequenced multi-effect: you paint effects onto a step sequencer and each one plays where you put it. Its effects include retrigger, stretcher, shuffler, reverser, tape stop and gater, along with filters and crushers, and each key on your MIDI keyboard can trigger a different scene. It used to be paid. It was made free in August 2026 in memory of its creator, Kieran Foster.
- Good for: more effect types than anything else here, including filters and bit crushing, and the same free version on Windows, Mac and Linux.
- Catch: it's a glitch tool first. It does slowdowns and gates, but there's no separate volume lane to put a gate over a repeat, and there's no AAX version for Pro Tools.
Get it from illformed. Ignore the many sites offering "Glitch 1.3 64-bit": the old free 1.3 was a 32-bit Windows plugin, and Glitch 2 replaces it.
Kilohearts Trance Gate
Trance Gate is a step-sequenced gate with an attack, decay, sustain and release envelope on each step, and eight pattern slots you can switch between. It's free with a Kilohearts account as part of their Essentials plugins.
- Good for: clean trance gates and chopped pads, with an AAX version for Pro Tools.
- Catch: it only changes volume. It can't repeat, slow down or reverse the sound, which is the half of Gross Beat most people miss.
Get it from Kilohearts.
What your DAW already has
Logic Pro: Remix FX
Logic Pro on Mac comes with Remix FX, a performance effect with a Repeater, Gater, Reverse, Tape Stop, Scratch, Downsampler and filter, all set to note divisions. You play it live on two XY pads and buttons, and Logic can record your moves as automation.
The catch is that there's no step grid or pattern list. Every stutter is a move you play or draw as automation, which suits DJ-style drops more than a pattern you repeat across a track.
Ableton Live: Beat Repeat
Beat Repeat captures a slice of the incoming audio and repeats it, on a fixed grid or at random, with pitch decay and a filter on the repeats. It's good for stutters and fills.
It doesn't do half time, reverse, tape stops or gates, so for "Gross Beat for Ableton" you'd pair it with a gate or use one of the plugins above.
FL Studio users
FL Studio installs a demo of Gross Beat, and the full version comes with the Signature Bundle and above or for $99 on its own. If you have Gross Beat already, you don't need any of this.
Free plugins people suggest that don't fit any more
- Glitch 1.3: the old free version was a 32-bit Windows VST, which current DAWs can't load. Use Glitch 2.
- Audiomodern Gatelab: the original free version is no longer available, and Gatelab 2 is paid.
- Glitchmachines Hysteresis and Fracture: both free and still worth having, but they're glitch delays and buffer effects, not tempo-locked time patterns.
If you'd pay
The paid plugins people compare with Gross Beat are Cableguys ShaperBox 3 (its TimeShaper module draws time envelopes much like Gross Beat), Cableguys HalfTime for half time alone, and Sugar Bytes Effectrix 2 for sequenced effects. In October 2026 they cost about €99, €12 and €129. For tape stops alone, simpleTapeStop is free.
Common questions
Is there a free version of Gross Beat?
No. FL Studio comes with a demo, and the full plugin is $99 on its own or part of FL Studio Signature Bundle and above. The free alternatives that come closest are simpleStutter and Glitch 2.
Can I use Gross Beat in Ableton or Logic?
Not directly. Image-Line sells it for FL Studio only. If you own FL Studio, you can load FL Studio itself as a plugin in another DAW and run Gross Beat inside it, but most people find a native plugin simpler.
What's the best free Gross Beat alternative for Mac?
simpleStutter and Glitch 2 both run natively on Apple silicon Macs as AU and VST3, so they load in Logic Pro, GarageBand and Ableton Live. Logic users also have Remix FX built in.
Is there a free half-time plugin?
simpleStutter's Speed block plays half time like a slowing tape, or keeps the pitch, and it's in the free version. Glitch 2's stretcher stretches slices out too.