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== Plugins ==
''Plugins'' are software algorithms designed to process audio or MIDI, similar to stomp boxes or fx units. Plugins are more flexible, however, since they can be altered after the original audio recording and automated by the DAW. They are most often found as inserts for tracks. Plugins cover the same ground as most guitar effects:
* Compression/Limiting
* Noise Gating
* Distortion
* Modulation (Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Tremelo)
* Pitch Shifting (including the infamous auto-tune)
* Delay
* Reverb
Yet others cover grounds related more strictly to audio production:
* Dithering
* Noise Reduction
* Mastering
* "Glitch" Effects (bit crushing, reverse, slice/stutter, cutoff filters)
The term ''VST'' is often synonymous with plugin. VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology, which is one of the most popular API's for programming plugins. However, there are other types of plugins, such as ''Audio Units (AU)''. Also, a piece of VST software may be a synthesizer rather than a plugin, although these are technically called VSTi's.
== Virtual Instruments ==