Darkpalace Studio has updated Parrot, its free multi-modal delay plugin for macOS, Windows, and Linux, to version 1.1.
Parrot originally entered the KVR Developer Challenge 2026, where it finished in third place. We didn’t cover it individually on BPB at the time, but definitely check out our mini review of Sweet Audio’s Scintillate, the KVR Developer Challenge winner.
The new v1.1 update gives us a good reason to fix that. It introduces some cool additions, including a built-in sample reduction effect (love those in a delay!) and a filter-in-loop option.
Parrot is essentially a three-band parallel sound design playground. Each band targets a specific area of the frequency spectrum, so you can place delays and textures exactly where you want them instead of processing the entire signal in the same way.
You can choose anything from narrow 24 dB/oct peaks to broad 6 dB/oct bandpasses, and then adjust each band independently using the Gain, Mix, Feedback, Solo, and Mute controls. The bands can also be linked for quicker editing.
Each band offers stereo, ping-pong, and no-delay modes. Synced delay times cover straight, dotted, and triplet values, while the free mode extends to 1500 milliseconds.
What’s really cool is that disabling the delay turns Parrot into a parallel multiband texturizer, which makes it far more flexible than you’d expect from a delay.
The per-band effect selection includes Tube, BBD, saturation, pitch shifting, frequency shifting, bitcrushing, dispersion, flanging, chorus, and flutter, as well as the new sample-rate reduction option.
I like the interface a lot. It has a very playful look, but everything remains neat and easy to use, which is important when a plugin gives you this many ways to pull a sound apart.
I love experimenting with delay plugins in my sound design work, and I had a lot of fun with this one. The pitch shifter is especially useful for sound design because it lets you manipulate the melodic and rhythmic content of the delayed bands without overpowering the entire signal.
Parrot also provides MIDI key tracking with 16 selectable channels, left/right or mid/side processing, true-peak limiting, up to 8x oversampling, and factory presets.
Parrot supports 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, macOS 13 or higher on Intel and Apple Silicon, and Ubuntu 22.04 or higher. It is available in VST3 and CLAP formats, with AU support on macOS and LV2 support on Windows and Linux.
Download: Parrot (FREE)
Deal of the day 🔥: Get the VATRA mix finisher plugin by Flame Sound!More:
- Sweet Audio Scintillate is the FREE KVR Developer Challenge 2026 winner
- Get 50+ FREE plugins in the KVR Developer Challenge 26
- FREE FX plugins aplenty with the KVR Developer Challenge 2026
Last Updated on August 24, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
