The plugin market has been flooded with AI-powered tools over the past two years. Most are gimmicks. Some are genuinely useful. I’ve spent the past few months testing the ones that independent Australian producers and engineers are actually using in their workflows.

Here’s what’s worth your time and money.

Mixing and Mastering

iZotope Neutron 5

iZotope has been doing AI-assisted mixing longer than anyone, and Neutron 5 is their most mature product yet. The Assistant feature analyses your audio and suggests EQ, compression, and width settings. The suggestions aren’t always right, but they’re a good starting point maybe 70% of the time.

Best for: Producers who mix their own music and want a second opinion on their processing choices. It’s particularly useful on tracks where you’ve been listening too long and lost perspective.

Price: Around $250 AUD for the standard version.

Sonible smart:EQ 4

Sonible’s smart:EQ analyses your audio and applies corrective EQ to address resonances, mud, and harshness. Unlike a static EQ curve, it adapts in real time to the material.

What makes it special is the group mode. You can link multiple instances across your mix, and the AI balances the frequency ranges between them to reduce masking. It’s like having a mixing engineer’s ears applied to your entire session.

Best for: Corrective EQ work across a full mix. It’s not a creative tool — it’s a problem solver.

Price: Around $180 AUD.

LANDR’s Mastering Plugin

LANDR has moved from a web-only mastering service to an in-DAW plugin. The plugin version gives you more control than the web interface, with adjustable parameters for loudness, compression, tone, and stereo width.

It’s not a replacement for a professional mastering engineer, but it’s useful for reference masters, demos, and situations where you need a quick master for a time-sensitive release.

Best for: Quick reference masters and demo finalization. Not for your final album master.

Price: Subscription-based, starting around $70 AUD/year.

Creative Tools

Atlas by Algonaut

Atlas is an AI-powered drum sample browser that analyses your drum samples and organises them by sonic similarity. You can search for sounds by dragging in a reference sample, and the AI finds similar options from your library.

For producers with thousands of drum samples (which is most of us), this is a genuine time-saver. Instead of scrolling through folders, you tell the AI what you’re looking for and it finds it.

Best for: Beat makers and electronic producers with large sample libraries.

Price: Around $70 AUD.

Output Portal

Portal is a granular effects plugin that uses AI-inspired algorithms to transform audio into ambient textures, evolving soundscapes, and otherworldly effects. It’s a creative tool rather than a corrective one.

I’ve used it to transform guitar recordings into pad-like textures, to create risers and transitions from vocal stems, and to add movement to static synth sounds. The results are unpredictable in the best way.

Best for: Sound design, ambient production, and adding unexpected textures to conventional arrangements.

Price: Around $200 AUD.

Orb Producer Suite 3

This is the most explicitly “AI composer” tool on the list. It generates melodies, chord progressions, basslines, and arpeggio patterns based on parameters you set. You choose the scale, tempo, complexity, and style, and the AI generates musical ideas.

I have mixed feelings about it. The output is usable as a starting point but rarely interesting enough to use directly. It’s most useful when you’re stuck and need raw material to react to creatively.

Best for: Electronic producers looking for melodic and harmonic starting points. Not a replacement for learning music theory.

Price: Around $200 AUD.

Audio Repair and Enhancement

iZotope RX 11

RX remains the industry standard for audio repair, and version 11’s AI-powered modules are remarkable. The Music Rebalance feature (which adjusts the relative levels of vocals, drums, bass, and other elements in a mixed recording) and the Repair Assistant (which automatically identifies and suggests fixes for common audio problems) are both genuinely useful.

Best for: Anyone who records live audio, works with samples, or needs to clean up recordings. Essential for podcast production too.

Price: $400-$700 AUD depending on version.

Acon Digital DeNoise

A more affordable noise reduction alternative to RX. The AI analyses your audio, identifies the noise profile, and removes it while preserving the signal. It’s not as comprehensive as RX, but for straightforward noise reduction, it’s excellent value.

Best for: Budget-conscious producers who need noise reduction without the full RX investment.

Price: Around $130 AUD.

Free Options

TDR Nova isn’t marketed as AI, but its dynamic EQ functionality achieves similar results to some paid AI EQ plugins. Completely free.

Kilohearts Essentials offers a free suite of effects that, while not AI-powered, provides most of what you need for basic mixing and sound design.

LALAL.AI’s free tier gives you limited stem separation processing per month, which is useful for sampling and remix work.

The Honest Assessment

AI plugins are most useful for corrective and analytical tasks — identifying problems in your mix, suggesting starting points for processing, and organising your workflow. They’re less useful for creative decisions, where human taste and intention still matter more than algorithmic suggestions.

The producers I know who get the most value from AI plugins use them as sanity checks and time-savers, not as creative directors. They trust their own ears for the artistic decisions and let the AI handle the tedious analytical work.

The AI agency working with music tech companies says we’re still in early days for AI in creative tools. The corrective applications are mature; the creative applications are improving but not yet at the level where they replace human judgement. That assessment matches my experience.

Start with the free options and the tools that solve specific problems in your workflow. Don’t buy an AI plugin because it sounds impressive. Buy it because it saves you time or helps you hear things you’d otherwise miss.