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I'm not going to define VST plugins because we have a whole internet for that, but there's been clamoring for a thread like this for a long time. I'll lay out the VSTs that I use most every day first and give them the most attention. I'm by no means the final authority on VST plugins, but that's what the thread is for. The vast majority of the plugins that work for me seem to be retail products although there is some good free stuff. I'm sure somebody has a bunch of experience with free stuff and will be willing to chime in. Instruments will be divided from traditional plugins. Let's get a more or less definitive list of good stuff going. Things I look for in a solid VST plug are smooth sonic response, good range of control, ease of use, speed of setup and how well it performs at the limits of it's operation. Hopefully we can at least get some good discussion started. I'll update the OP semi-regularly for newbs. Instruments Elysia mpressor ~ $199 http://www.elysia.com/software/mpressor/introduction/ This is by far my favorite compression plugin. It's smooth and buttery but can get pretty nasty. It doesn't create artifacts when it's pumping hard. By far the most analogue sounding compression plugin I've ever used, it's easy to dial in a sound that works in your mix really quickly. Shines on vocals, drums, and really dynamic sounds. You can really put a crunch on without throwing out the baby with the bath water. I can't imagine working without it anymore because it makes my life easier. It might be more appropriate for advanced recordists because of the large amount of control available, but even sticking to the basic knobs yields good results. Worth every penny even for an amateur. SoundToys Decapitator ~ $179 or as part of a bundle http://www.soundtoys.com/product/Decapitator/ These guys make great stuff and I'll be talking about more of it. This loving plugin is great. Really great. If you don't have a budget for boutique and vingtage preamps this plug can save your rear end. It emulates the distortion characteristics of five different classic analogue signal paths and it does it so gracefully and believably. From just a little bus distortion or warmth through serious noise it stays with the program. This plugin sounds like the real deal. The tone control is nice too and behaves as one would expect but does so cleanly and fluidly. Also worth the money even for an amateur. Sonnox Reverb, EQ, Dynamics, SuprEsser ~ $$ depending on what you want I find the plugins to sound very neutral almost to a fault, but when I have a problem it's usually the first thing I reach for. The EQ is transparent. It's what I use for surgery and other cutting duties. It can be a little clinical so it's best augmented with a character eq for warming duties. Sounds good at the low end and up top although it's not my first choice for mix bus eq. The dynamics section is really powerful and once again useful for trouble areas. It's brutal and totally flexible. The de-esser is just the best I've found, period. Probably my favorite natural sounding reverb plugin. It reminds me of a really nice old digital reverb when it's set to short decays and it's realistic with longer decay times. Really variable and subtle so you can push it up in the mix if the need arises. Can get a little ugly with weird settings which brings us to... Breverb 2 ~ $220 If you want to start to get weird, this is the way to go. It won't get you all the way there though. More interesting textures than the Sonnox verb and just more vibe. Perhaps a little more user friendly. It reminds me more of the verb found on later eventide multi-effects boxes. I expect a lot of people already use this one. Blends easily in a mix, few artifacts, sounds good for more diffuse sounds and gated Phil Collins drums. The motion controls are nice too. Sound Toys Everything Else They Ever Made And Will Continue To Make ~ $495 For all your multi-effects needs this is where you'll find it. The plugins get used all over the place by everyone's favorite engineers. Echoboy is the BEST delay plugin, Crystallizer is awesome if a little unpredictable but that's why these are so good. The built in saturation on the I/O is good all by it self. It's like a baby Decapitator is built into each plugin. Devil-Loc looks good but I haven't tried it. I'm quite sure it's fantastic. Stillwell Audio Plugs ~ $40-$50 each Great bang for the buck. If I was looking for value this is definitely where I'd turn. 1973 is a great character EQ with a great sounding 780hz setting. If you need a boost at that frequency it's awesome. Does good with the rumblies too and I'll use it on kicks a lot. It's one of those plugins where you can keep twisting the dial and you go way farther than you think you should be able to. Great High shelf. I use the Rocket as a drum bus compressor because it's pumpy and mean sounding. The over-sampling button makes a big difference here and I use it whenever I can get away with it. Impetus is a knob I'd like to see on more compressors. It's super fast so it gets ugly. Transient Monster does a lot of the same things a compressor does but goes about it differently. It's good for spicing things up or taming wild transients. (Imagine that!) Not transparent but that's not what it's intended to be. Verbiage is my goto in the box outerspace reverb simulator. Great for big thick special effects. It has a built in gate that works reasonably well and it's easy to make the sound you hear in your head a reality. Works for general ambiance as well at less extreme settings. I use Event Horizon all the time too if I was that over compressed super hot sound. Major Tom is a reasonable compressor like you'd find in any decent DAW. Maybe a little nicer, it's at least a little different flavor. Being able to switch from feedback to feed forward operation is nice. Softube Emulations ~ $$$ These are kinda expensive. They are totally worth the money but perhaps a little more difficult to justify than the things that I've already mentioned. The Valley People Dyna-Mite is another plugin that's not like any othe VST available. It sounds remarkably shity in an awesome way. It'll handle your typical dynamic tasks including ducking which is awesome. Kind of a Joe Meek style box in character. A little dirty and a little nasty but scores big in the tone category. Sounds great on drums, guitars (gasp), and anything else you don't mind attacking a little. It'd be hard for me to live without this one. The Trident A-range is basically the same thing but in EQ form. If you want to add a little grit or dirt it works. I like to use it for cuts just for the benefit of the saturation control which is nice and different from the Decapitator. Before Decapitator I'd use this and the SoundToys stuff for saturation duties in the box. The Tubetech CL1-B sounds to me like an LA-2A in the box. Maybe not as much as the Bomb Factory ones but those don't really sound like an LA-2A either. I use it where I'd use one of those or an LA-4. If you just want thickening compression I find that this works well. It sounds good on breathy singers and bassssss. Abbey Road Brilliance Pack ~ $125 This is where I go for air. On a drum part, vocal or rarely a reverb return. They couldn't be any easier. My favorite is the one with only one knob that only goes up. I'd be wary of using these in conjunction with cheap tube mics. Other than that they handle the job dutifully with little fuss. Autotune, Vocalign, Stutter Edit, Uhbik, Glitch Everybody knows Autotune, but it's still the best at what it does imo. I don't use it as a vocal 'effect' just for subtle pitch correction. It does a good job on the automatic setting and that's why I like it. Vocalign is great. If you are layering vocals at all you can get that super tight 1000 overdub feel without TOO much fuss. It can still be a pain in the dick though. I use this on all the hip-hop I work on. Stutter Edit is fun to play with and better in a live environment than in the studio. That being said I have used it a few times for effects and it does a nice job. It's definitely a time saver if you want a preset break just like... Glitch! fuchermotkers. It's old and played out but you'll find a use for it. Each of the individual modules is useful in it's own right and being able to sequence them makes you skrillex overnight. Get it and be ready to kill yourself tomorrow. To Be Continued
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Jan 11, 2012 00:25
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reserved vvv I think everything I listed is available as an AU as well. Feel free to dig into those too. muckswirler fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Jan 12, 2012 |
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Jan 11, 2012 00:25
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I guess people on macs dont get to play huh 
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Jan 12, 2012 12:11
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Free VSTs I like/Use Occasionally: Camelcrusher: http://www.camelaudio.com/camelcrusher.php Distortion plugin, very versatile, big sound but limited options. Fairly light on CPU. Chip32: http://www.kvraudio.com/product/229 8-Bit Synth - for vintage video game sounds. I can't work the damned thing but some people swear by it. Definitely worth a look. LiveCut: mdsp.smartelectronix.com/livecut/ Stutter/Glitch effects. Hard to use, but can lead to interesting results. Fairly unpredictable, but that might be the idea. Native Instruments Free Players: http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/?category=1339 Reaktor/Kontakt have free versions (and some ensembles [instruments, basically]) for free on their site. You definitely want these. TAL Audio Synths: http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products Some are paid, but there's a few synths available on their site for free. Apparently popular amongst techno & acid producers. All of these have mac versions! Neat!
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Jan 13, 2012 11:20
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Cockos ReaPlugs ~ Free as in beer http://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/ If you don't already use REAPER, you'll want these in your arsenal. It's a collection of simplistic yet powerful and versatile plugins that are very light on CPU load. ReaComp is a compressor with tons of condigurability and sidechaining support. It is hailed by some as one of the most transparent compressors out there. ReaEQ is a no-bullshit IIR EQ that supports an unlimited amount of bands. ReaFIR is an FFT dynamics processor/linear phase surgical EQ, great for noise suppression or mastering. ReaJS offers you the ability to do whatever the hell you want to the incoming audio and MIDI using the JS scripting language. There are already hundreds of JS effects bundled with the plugin, including some written by Stillwell that clone his VST functionality to some degree. Be sure to check out the floaty delay (a delay that constantly varies speed and has a fattening effect on everything it touches), the presence EQ, the various compressors and limiters, and also the tons of simple utilities. A comprehensive list can be found here. Then there's the noise gate, delay, network streamer and multiband compressor. I'm not sure if the vocoder, pitch shifter and autotune clone are included in the package, but they are bundled with REAPER. snorch fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Jan 13, 2012 |
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Jan 13, 2012 13:41
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I've been really thinking about getting the EW QL composer's pack, any one have good experience with it? I'd be running it on a Macbook Pro with 8gb ram 2.3ghz and through either firewire 800 or eSATA. For VSTs, this website is quite useful to find information: http://www.kvraudio.com/
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Jan 25, 2012 11:19
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Windows musicians should scroll down, but for those of us capable of using Audio Units I really recommend the plug-ins by AirWindows. http://www.airwindows.com Most of them are designed to subtly replicate the analogue response, organic feel, soft saturation and harmonic distortion of classic analogue mixing desks and other gear, but they can also be abused for very interesting results and some of the plug-ins are deliberately quite excessive. They don't have any fancy UI and are also exceptionally lightweight on CPU usage. I love using them on fully digital in-the-box channels to give those tracks the classic old-school analogue feel I grew up with. There's a whole bunch of freebies to try too: http://www.airwindows.com/freebies.html Edit: I'll write up some of my other favourite plug-ins later.
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Jan 25, 2012 16:16
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This thread is perfect for my heavy dive into Ableton. Just wanted to chime in and say thanks for taking the helm on getting this thread started Muckswirler. HA! Whoops, edited for my mistake. You da man swirler etanmaet fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Jan 25, 2012 |
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Jan 25, 2012 20:03
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muckswirler deserves the kudos, not me! But while I'm posting, I'll recommend the Sonalksis FreeG plug-in (Windows, OS X, VST, AU, RTAS). http://www.sonalksis.com/freeg.htm It's just a gain fader! But it's a nice big one that gives a huge amount of accuracy, solid metering (peak & RMS, both instantaneous and maximum recorded), a fine control mode, and tweakable meter ballistics. As the name suggests, it's free so there's really no excuse for keeping it in your toolbox for those situations when the default DAW fader controls are just too finicky for fine detail work.
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Jan 25, 2012 20:25
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The TAL line has already got some love but this one is my standard: http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products/tal-bassline It's the best SH-101 emulator I have ever seen and it's free.
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Jan 25, 2012 22:47
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While it is not the cheapest poo poo in the world, Native Instruments Komplete 8 turned me into an invincible killing machine. Also a lot of plugins come with AU or RTAs when you buy them retail. Not always but major software companies seems to understand that Macs are in use.
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Jan 26, 2012 23:30
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Yeah, Komplete 8 is insane. I've spent a little time with it and there's enough there for pretty much anything I can think of. The new version of guitar rig sounds about a billion times better than version 3 and it's got like 30 instruments or something. Definitely worth consideration on the soft synth/sampler side of things. I need the best string plugin. Which one is good? I'm not interested in 500 GB of samples though. Something that's relatively lightweight, with a few articulations and maybe some synthesis capability. I need it to sound good and be easy to program because I suck at keys. I'll probably add VST instruments and a few other things to the OP this weekend so keep an eye out for the edit.
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Jan 26, 2012 23:59
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I'm on a Mac and I use mostly VST's. Any company who develops VST's and AU's is just putting the VST into an AU wrapper, compiling and distributing it. ValhallaUberMod is what I'm playing with this second, and it is a very odd multitap delay/chorus. For 50 bucks, it has already paid for itself and then some. The only thing that I use that I can think of that is AU only is DrumSpillage, and it is by far the best and most versatile drum synth I've ever used. For me, it kills uTonic, Punch and Tremor.
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Jan 27, 2012 00:05
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renderful posted:I'm on a Mac and I use mostly VST's. Any company who develops VST's and AU's is just putting the VST into an AU wrapper, compiling and distributing it. Valhalla stuff is getting a lot of good word of mouth these days. They also make a $50 reverb plugin that's a lot of fun. Both have full featured demos (with periodic muting of the reverb) that are worth trying.
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Jan 27, 2012 01:57
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I use ValhallaRoom and really love it. Valhalla's principle: Sean Costello also wrote AudioDamage's EOS, which is my more spacey/ethereal reverb. I hear that's what ValhallaShimmer is like, but with some newer/crazier algorithms possibly.
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Jan 27, 2012 07:44
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Paid VSTs I Use A Lot LFO Tool: http://xferrecords.com/products/lfo-tool Filter/LFO tool. Good for trancegates, sidechain eq, risers/faders etc. Very flexible and easy to automate. Probably worth it if you find yourself making electro/house etc. NI Massive http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/massive/ I probably don't need to write up on this. It's (subjectively) the best soft synth available. I feel that if I had no other synths, I'd still do OK, because MASSIVE is that flexible. There's very little it can't do. Completely 100% worth the money (particularly for electronic artists. this makes dubstep, basically). NI RAZOR: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/producer/powered-by-reaktor/razor/ Technically not a VST! Runs in the REAKTOR player. It synthesizes sounds by blasting some 300 oscilaltors (as opposed to other synths <4) into some 'filters' which shape the sound and make a very cool visualization. Good interface as well. Animated dials are very cool. Worth it? For 80 bucks, probably. MASSIVE is more flexible, but this is a good companion. If this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbuZVcw3ZiM touches you in a deep place, get it. Silverline Series Effects: http://d16.pl/index.php?menu=212 These are very cool. They emulate old-timey rackmounted effect units. I don't know too much about these effects (there's six in total) but they work pretty much as you'd expect and sound great. A good amount of presets (for example, Decimort, their bitcrusher includes a good-sounding MPC preset as well as Acid settings and some really crunched 90's video game settings.) They also play nice with directlink for Live users. Worth it: If you can get in on a group buy, like I did (40~ bucks for all six) definitely worth it. Novation Bass Station: http://uk.novationmusic.com/products/software/bass_station/ This thing is pretty OK. Came with my Launchpad on a disk. Wasn't sure about it, but it comes with a few good, fairly natural sounding patches. It's quite easy to program, but I think most people would just use it as a fake moog and go do all their work in something more flexible like MASSIVE. Worth it: if it's included, install it. Otherwise, meh.
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Jan 27, 2012 11:57
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muckswirler posted:I need the best string plugin. Which one is good? I'm not interested in 500 GB of samples though. Something that's relatively lightweight, with a few articulations and maybe some synthesis capability. I need it to sound good and be easy to program because I suck at keys. This is a weird list of requirements-- you say you "need the best" but not many of the available strings libraries meet the rest of your conditions. You don't really say what kind of music/sounds are important-- how do you define "best"? Do you need solo strings, or sections? Why don't you want 500GB of samples if that's what it takes to sound the best? Best sounding strings (subjective) is EW Hollywood Strings. Very large sample set-- I think over two hundred GB with all mics. Gold edition is just one mic and a good option (Hollywood Strings Gold and Hollywood Brass Gold make a pretty killer core setup in my opinion). LA Scoring Strings also very competetive in this arena in terms of sound/realism and is only ~18GB. 8Dio has just announced Adagio series but it's still preorder-- and that is only for violins. Cellos/Violas/Basses are further out. Symphobia2 is very popular and expensive just like the above three options. Cinesamples has some stuff you might like-- check out CineOrch, the Tutti and Low Chords might be to your liking even though they are full orch (not just strings). They sound very good, are easy to play (one note sounds whole chord so yeah) and only $150. Spitfire Solo Strings are reasonable price if you want solo strings. Audiobro also has LA Scoring Strings First Chair although strictly speaking these are first chair and not solo performances and were not designed as such. East West also still sells their older library, EWQLSO. Dated now but last week (NAMM sale) would have been 50% off. I got this cheap via their "Complete Composers Collection". VSL has a huge range-- solo strings, chamber strings, apassionista series etc. They have the biggest range of samples/articulations, and so becomes very expensive to get all of them. And of course K8 already includes some of the VSL strings, choirs, etc. so you could always use those. Based on demos I think 8Dio's Adagio series is going to take the crown as 'best' strings library. HS has best sound, LASS has better playability (auto arranger and auto divisi is also fun/imspirational compositional tool), but it looks like 8Dio is going to have best legatos/realism/emotion. On the cheaper side there's Garritan, Kirk Hunter, and Miroslav. If you want to go synth/modeled route check out AAS String Studio. It's very cool although probably not what you're looking for.
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Jan 27, 2012 20:34
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Gonna leave this link again -- someone has compiled a huge list of free VSTs they really like: http://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=52382
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Jan 27, 2012 21:34
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mr_package posted:This is a weird list of requirements... good stuff. Thanks for the info. LASS sounds like my ticket, but it's easier for me to justify that kind of money if I use it frequently which I may not. I hate having to plug in extra drives just for large sample libraries and I'll never use 450GB of the stuff anyway. That's probably idiosyncratic though. 'Realism' in Rock, Hip-hop, Disco whatever is really all I care about, so the sounds aren't going to be terribly exposed. Not really trying to fool anybody just looking for 'easy' arrangement options and compelling samples. If there's an easy upgrade path on EW Gold I'd rather go that route (begrudgingly lol) or LASS First Chair + Lite. I really won't need solo performances, just basic bass, cello, two violins type stuff. In your opinion which of those two products would you buy?
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Jan 27, 2012 22:14
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I'd get HS Gold. It's $495 (or $695 for the bundle with HB) and will give you a good Hollywood sound out of the box. LASS is very cool but kind of specialized with its divisi stuff and if you're not serious about that aspect of it it's not going to be worth its $1000 price tag to you. Also LASS takes EQ and reverb work to sound "right" by most accounts and I agree. The Colin O'Malley demo ("She Was A Fair Lass") basically sold me on the product but I've yet to get something sounding as good as that, although it may just be my arranging skills. :-) I don't like LASS FC + LASS Lite because the FC patches often have too much vibrato for my taste-- and LASS Lite, being full sections, includes those FC samples in the mix. I think HS is in some ways a missed opportunity (not sure if the limitations I've run in to are in PLAY or in the programming) but I think these are the best sounding samples available. There are issues (some legato transitions are not as smooth as I would like-- crossfades too audible although loading up all the mics (Diamond Edition) mitigates these quite a bit) but in terms of sound quality of the recording/hall/mics/players/etc. they nailed that Hollywood sound 100% But if you're not scoring to picture I might consider something like NI's Session Strings Pro although the demo sounds don't impress me that much. Or Albion, also not too expensive. Also you often get the best sound by layering different libraries. It's tricky, easy to overdo things, but possible to smooth out the weaknesses in each as well. So you can always use that as an excuse to buy more. :-) And if you had an existing arrangement I'd be happy to run though both so you could compare and hear which works better for the style of music you're working with. This is a bit of a derail so to contribute: Softube is awesome. They had a 50% off sale last November that I missed, and am still kicking myself for it. Their TLA-100A is a "set and forget" compressor to me and as soon as I can get it for cheap it's mine. Aether is a wicked reverb which I've not used (just listened to demos). Same story, on sale last year, almost bought it but just couldn't justify another verb. But for spacey FX it seems to be doing something pretty unique. I really like Abbey Road's RS-124. It's weird and annoying to work with (gain structure is plain stupid but it's in the name of "realism"/"accuracy") but on the right material is really incredible.
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Jan 28, 2012 03:13
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Crossposting from the Goons Guilty Pleasures thread in GBS, since my  was a bit out of place there.This is basically my entire "studio": DAW: SEQ24 LoopBe1 VSTHost VSTi: Drumatic3 Combo SuperwaveP8 ProtoPSG Analog Warfare Elek7ro Noisemaker HahahaCS33 & Minim Mixer VST: GVST Bundle ReaPlugs VST FX Suite EasyQ Ambience TubeAmp If you try only one thing, try the ProtoPSG. It's simple and fun and I manage to use one in every track. Bonus homemade presets. Most of these were apparently linked in the post on the Reaper forum Barn Door linked to as well. So they're all free, obviously. I still think these are all worth a mention, because I get by with them on a netbook and they are strictly selected for that purpose (ie. quality/cpu usage). I mean, if you're looking for a bit of techno/trance fun on the road and all 
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Feb 21, 2012 02:49
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I've used that GVST delay in several commercial projects. Its a nice pack, sort of like the mda pack with better skinning, but it doesnt have a signal/tone generator which sucks.
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Feb 21, 2012 08:45
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Quincy Smallvoice posted:I've used that GVST delay in several commercial projects. Its a nice pack, sort of like the mda pack with better skinning, but it doesnt have a signal/tone generator which sucks. I tried the Oatmeal, because someone in the synthesizer thread recommended it as a good synthesizer to start with, and I just got lost in a forest of tiny pots. GISsing, I see there are better skins available, I could give it another shot, perhaps. As an absolute amateur, I'm wondering what the practical use is of a signal/tone generator like the one in the mda pack. And also why the right synthesizer plugin with the right settings couldn't take its place.
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Feb 21, 2012 15:25
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Its a great way to test monitors and to pinpoint possible acoustic issues in your enviroment. if when you play music you hear something buzzing or shaking/rattling, you can use the sinewave thing in mda to figure out at which frequency resonates, and since theres only that one sine making noise it gets a little easier to figure out where it is. not something that will always be usefull I admit, but I have needed it on more than one occasion.
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Feb 21, 2012 16:55
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Quincy Smallvoice posted:Its a great way to test monitors and to pinpoint possible acoustic issues in your enviroment. if when you play music you hear something buzzing or shaking/rattling, you can use the sinewave thing in mda to figure out at which frequency resonates, and since theres only that one sine making noise it gets a little easier to figure out where it is. not something that will always be usefull I admit, but I have needed it on more than one occasion. I was noodling around with ShortCircuit2, looking for a free real sampler. Sadly it's another end-of-life product. I had trouble figuring out how to get samples in there and all the documentation is gone. Worked it out in the end (it requires you to put shortcuts to folders in its data folder, putting the samples themselves there won't work). I kinda like it, although there are still things I don't understand. Routing being one of them. Anyway, that reminded me that some years ago I bought an old Welson Symphony string synthesizer. I went through a lot of effort back then to sample and loop every note it produced, because the thing doesn't have any midi connectivity. I put these online as a samplepack and I was a bit surprised that it's still there. (Here's a link to it in case anyone's interested. I hope this isn't seen as pimping my own stuff or doesn't break any rules.) Was glad to see ShortCircuit recognised the note names in the filenames and does support the embedded loop information. Maybe this is standard these days, I don't know, but functionality like that wasn't all that prevalent five years ago (which is when I last messed with these things).
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Feb 22, 2012 18:32
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Is Komplete 8 Ultimate worth the extra cash? I'm upgrading from Komplete Elements and I am kinda leaning towards just getting the normal suite.
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Feb 23, 2012 01:39
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Tomahawk posted:Is Komplete 8 Ultimate worth the extra cash? I'm upgrading from Komplete Elements and I am kinda leaning towards just getting the normal suite. Personally I'd avoid Ultimate for the price, that extra money could go towards some sweet non-NI plugins, synths, sound libraries, drum machines, etc.
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Feb 23, 2012 09:13
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NI Massive $199 - Like the name implies, this synth focuses on 'big' sounds. It's got a simple interface while still having a ridiculous amount of depth when you dig around. Great for bass and leads. Pretty much a must-have for anyone into making dubstep(brostep) and modern drum and bass.
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Feb 24, 2012 14:11
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MixMasterMalaria posted:Personally I'd avoid Ultimate for the price, that extra money could go towards some sweet non-NI plugins, synths, sound libraries, drum machines, etc. Seconding this. I got the Ultimate upgrade as a birthday present to myself, and I'm kind of regretting it. Session strings pro is way better than the strings samples I had before, but I am not impressed with Alicia's Keys at all, which is surprising since it has good reviews for sound quality. Honestly, I think the New York Grand that comes with Komplete is better. However, the new bass guitar kontakt stuff you get with Ultimate is freaking amazing, so I think I broke about even for $400 (got a deal at GC) if I only really use those two products extensively. Then again, I haven't had a chance to really thoroughly explore Razor, Evolve, or the new compressors yet, so I still might be sitting on a gold mine. Komplete, from what I have experienced, is pretty much the best value you can get for some truly excellent plugins. Ultimate, however, seems to have a much lower usefulness:cost ratio. I wouldn't call it a waste of money; it's just not as good of a deal as Komplete is.
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Feb 24, 2012 17:02
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Are all the sounds and whatever contained in the USB drive? I could see that being a long term benefit.
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Feb 24, 2012 17:05
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Quincy Smallvoice posted:Are all the sounds and whatever contained in the USB drive? I could see that being a long term benefit. Basically, the external hard drive acts like one giant install disc. You don't actually run the plugins from the drive though, so there's not much benefit besides easier install.
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Feb 24, 2012 17:22
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Anyone here familiar with Cakewalk's Rapture? I produce electro-ish stuff and can't find anything about it being used in that sense and would like to know if it's worth getting.
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Feb 27, 2012 00:41
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abske_fides posted:I've been really thinking about getting the EW QL composer's pack, any one have good experience with it? I'd be running it on a Macbook Pro with 8gb ram 2.3ghz and through either firewire 800 or eSATA. I've used several of the PLAY engine and NI engine EWQL plugs on a much less beefy system with no problem. Stormdrum is really cool, as are RA and Gypsy. Ministry of Rock is pretty good although it doesn't offer a lot in the way of tone control. I usually opt for a clean signal run though Guitar Rig to get around that problem. The only thing I could say against it is that the built in convolution verb is a resource hog, but it does sound pretty natural. I could never really use it, but you might be able to on your system. There are a lot of the individual samplepacks that I never touched, so I can't say whether or not they're worth it. I guess it depends on what you want to do, but I have no complaints with RA, Stormdrum, Gypsy, or Ministry of Rock. All good value for money, especially if you manage to catch one of the frequent sales that soundsonline.com has. A couple of years ago I snagged three of 'em for $500 with shipping, when they usually retail for $300-$600 each. ----------------
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Feb 27, 2012 02:38
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Beef Log Boy posted:Anyone here familiar with Cakewalk's Rapture? I produce electro-ish stuff and can't find anything about it being used in that sense and would like to know if it's worth getting. $99 for the download seems reasonable as well.
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Feb 27, 2012 04:05
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snorch posted:Cockos ReaPlugs ~ Free as in beer Some of these VSTs are a bit hit and miss, but for the price (NOTHING) the ones that are great are surprisingly great. I use the EQ on everything and the reverb is surprisingly versatile.
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Feb 28, 2012 14:17
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Quincy Smallvoice posted:I guess people on macs dont get to play huh Yes. Yes we do. Plus we get to have AU plugs too. On the other hand we dont have DX plugs, but uh, sonar lol (I have no idea if sonar still only takes directx plugs. This might be like 5-6 years ago) Anyway. The plugs I own: Native Instruments B4: Utterly wonderful sounding hammond emulation, totally sick for reggae and old school rock Peti: Mainly just use it for an accordion sound in one song. Its okish. Amplitube: Bit of a bank breaker, but in my opinion the best sounding guitar vst around. I know Native Instruments guitar rig has lots more bits and pieces, but Amplitube just feels warmer and less zoom-pedal to my ears. And an assortment of poo poo freeware ones. Gotta admit I crystal is a kind of fun if not a bit perplexing synth. Want list: Arturia minimoog: That thing sounds fan-loving-tastic. duck monster fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Feb 28, 2012 |
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Feb 28, 2012 15:51
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Anyone ever use EZMix or EZMix 2 from Toontracks? I tend to get bogged down screwing around with EQ and effects when I'd rather use my time to work on composition and the such, and so EZMix has kinda gotten my interest. Can anyone tell me if it's any good?
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Feb 28, 2012 18:27
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duck monster posted:Yes. Yes we do. Plus we get to have AU plugs too. On the other hand we dont have DX plugs, but uh, sonar lol (I have no idea if sonar still only takes directx plugs. This might be like 5-6 years ago) I don't think that was true even 5-6 years ago, maybe more like 10? Anyway, yes Sonar takes VSTs nowadays. e: Oh actually it looks like built-in support wasn't until 2005, but there was a wrapper prior to that. Anyway, count me as a big Amplitube fanboy as well. After I bought Amplitube, a lot of my actual amp and pedalboard collection started slowly drifting onto Ebay as I found that I never really used them any more. Amplitube just sounds too drat good. I managed to wangle a lot of weird deals during IK's anniversary specials and got Amplitube 3, Fender, and Metal for under $150. Between those and my Custom Shop addiction, I own almost all of the gear models they have. In addition to guitar, I use the amp and pedal sims for dirtying up/mangling all sorts of synth, drum, and vocal tracks. Trig Discipline fucked around with this message at 14:46 on Feb 29, 2012 |
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Feb 29, 2012 14:33
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In a similar vein to Massive, if you're looking for a good, 'everybody uses this for a reason' distortion plug and are willing to drop some ducats, Ohmicide is fantastic. I'm only now starting to REALLY use it effectively But it's adding some great dirt to my leads and basses. Four bands with adjustable crossovers so you don't really need to to that 'split/isolate/distort each band differently' thing that a lot of D&B/Dubstep/Electro producers swear by - I mean, you're still doing it but it's easy. Pro-tip: Automate said crossover cutoffs for wild movement in your basslines. TAL's Bitcrusher is also great; it's more versatile than Ableton's native 'crusher and has a noise oscillator and some EQ that are mad useful. Plus, like other TAL stuff it's free. Lastly, if you're looking for a good metering plug, yet AGAIN I have to pimp Flux StereoTool. It does more than that (like some stereo widening options) but IMO its meters are awesome. A phase scope (which is just a rad thing to have) for stereo correlation metering, and PPM meters. Free. Dope as gently caress.
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Feb 29, 2012 21:52
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Ohmicide is crazy as hell. Completely nuts. This however http://www.soundtoys.com/product/Decapitator is now my go to crank dial make angry effect. D16 Decimort has taken over bit fuckerupper duties as well. Will have to look into StereoTool however.
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Feb 29, 2012 22:32
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