If you work in audio post-production, then some kind of sound effects librarian package becomes an essential tool. Basehead has released a 2024 Free Edition of their sound effects management software and even better it comes with unlimited local files and a bundle of free sounds. In this article, we take a look at this free package and compare it to some alternatives, both free and paid-for.

BaseHead Free Edition For 2024

BaseHead has been around for quite a few years now. Back in 2021, they decided to give a little love back to the audio community. To achieve this, they produced a simplified and FREE version of BaseHead, which was called the Creator Edition.

Jump forward to 2024, and they have been hard at work producing the 2024 versions of Basehead. Interestingly, they have released the Free Edition first, which enables both existing and new users to explore the improvements coming in the 2024 editions of Basehead.

The free version has primarily been designed to help out anyone newly getting started in the audio post-production sector, including film, radio, TV and gaming. The Free Edition enables you to do all the usual BaseHead tasks like Importing and Searching metadata together with being able to Spot or Drag pitched and trimmed files to your favourite DAW or Video Editor as it’s built on the same SFX Search Engine that they use in the other paid-for versions of Basehead. As they say, “Learning is much easier and effective when you start off with the correct tools”.

Please note that schools and facilities won’t be able to use multiple Free licenses. They say, “EDU’s need to purchase special EDU specific licenses and Facilities have money. Plus students really should be using the Ultra Edition when learning. EDU’s should contact us for how to obtain licenses that are insanely cheap!”

Feature Summary Of The Basehead 2024 Free Edition

• NO Local Record or Database Limits!

• Built on their brand new Basehead 2024 Engine.

• Includes 25,569 CloudBased SFX with no Monthly Subscription!

• Integrates with all major Digital Audio Workstations.

• System Requirements for 2024 Edition

  • Windows 10 or Windows 11

  • macOS 10.15 or higher (Intel and Apple Silicon)

How To Download And Install The Basehead Free Edition

• You will need to create a free Basehead account.

• Go to the Basehead Webstore and ‘buy Basehead free 2024’ for $0.

• To streamline the authorization process, you need to be logged into your BaseHead, LLC account to be able to create a certificate on your local machine to use it.

• Download Links will be shown after the store purchase and you can also find them in your Account Dashboard.

• After Installing Basehead 2024, if you don’t have a full license, you will be greeted by an intro screen. If you don’t have a full version of Basehead, then choose the option on the right-hand side to start the Free version Authorization process.

• Make sure you are logged into your BaseHead, LLC account and click ‘Activate FREE License’ so it can start the OAuth Activation process. NOTE: This can take up to 15 seconds.

• Then you should see the License Succesfully Activated window. Click the ‘Copy Token’ button and return to Basehead to finalize the activation process.

• The process should ‘auto-authorise’ your Basehead 2024 Free Edition, and then you are good to go.

How Does The Free Edition Compare To The Other Basehead Editions?

A Selection Of Alternatives

Soundminer is perhaps the best-known tool for managing sound effects and to help you find your way around, we have a set of tutorials available from Tim Nielsen.

Basehead comes in 3 other editions as well as the 2024 Free Edition. We have featured a free tutorial from Jonah Guelzo on how to use the earlier versions of the Basehead Ultra edition. You can see how the different versions of Basehead compare in the table above.

Soundly comes in two other editions and a free version. In our look at v2.5, we included some free tutorials on how to use Soundly. There is also a free version of Soundly, which, like the Basehead 2024 Free Edition, is a cut-down version of the full-fat version.

What We Think About The Basehead 2024 Free Edition

This is a great way to get a free sound effects management software package. It offers unlimited CloudPacks and now comes with unlimited records and local files, which makes it a really powerful tool for those of us with a sizeable sound effects library of our own.

For a free package that includes over 25,000 free cloud-based sound effects as well as access to any sound effects in their store is an impressive offer. When you are ready to move on up and go for one of the paid-for options then you can migrate everything you have without any problems.