# Slate Plugins Are they really that good?



## owenave

I have been reading a lot about the Slate Plugins on the Facebook group 
for Slate. I am very interested in several of their plugins. But wanted opinions 
of some here that have them and use them.
The ones I am considering buying are:
VCC- Virtual Console collection 
VMR- Virtual Mix Rack with Neve & SSL Eq's, & a Fet Compressor and VCA compressor
VTM- Virtual Tape Machine emulation w 2" 16 track Studer & 1/2" Studer Mastering recorder
VBC- Virtual Buss Compressors.
Relab LX480 - Emulation of Lexicon 480L Reverb 
Since I am on a limited budget I like to research all before I buy.
Thanks for you input. I want to hear from people that own and of these and use them.
Thanks


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## JT3_Jon

Everything is personal opinion, so its always your best bet is to try their demos and see if you like the sound as well as their new VMR (Virtual Mix Rack) interface. All the Slate Digital products have 14-day demo period if you have an ilok2, which you need for their products anyway. I'm not sure if there is a demo for the Relab as that is technically not a slate product but offered as part of the slate everything bundle.

I personally feel they make high quality plugins that are for sure worth trying. If I wasn't already invested in Universal Audio UAD I would have probably gone with the slate subscription. Not to say UAD is bad, they are awesome, but Slate products are very comparable in sound and usually cost significantly less, especially when they run sales.


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## owenave

JT3_Jon said:


> Everything is personal opinion, so its always your best bet is to try their demos and see if you like the sound as well as their new VMR (Virtual Mix Rack) interface. All the Slate Digital products have 14-day demo period if you have an ilok2, which you need for their products anyway. I'm not sure if there is a demo for the Relab as that is technically not a slate product but offered as part of the slate everything bundle.
> 
> I personally feel they make high quality plugins that are for sure worth trying. If I wasn't already invested in Universal Audio UAD I would have probably gone with the slate subscription. Not to say UAD is bad, they are awesome, but Slate products are very comparable in sound and usually cost significantly less, especially when they run sales.


Yes UAD have some great plugins as well. I just don't want to get stuck with hardware that gets outdated and leaves my plugins useless. 
Thanks for your comments. I plan on downloading the trials also after I get moved and settled
in a couple weeks.


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## jononotbono

owenave said:


> Yes UAD have some great plugins as well. I just don't want to get stuck with hardware that gets outdated and leaves my plugins useless.
> Thanks for your comments. I plan on downloading the trials also after I get moved and settled
> in a couple weeks.



I am using the Slate Everything Bundle. Honestly, do yourself a favour and try them out! I think they are mind blowingly great. For the money, I just can't complain. I will no doubt own them eventually (when I can afford to buy the perpetual licenses) as I have too many bills but this is a great way of trying them out and seeing if you like them. I can't imagine you not loving them though. The Everything bundle just continues to grow as well. Wonderful!


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## higgs

Hi Larry, I've been running the Slate plugins for a few months and I like the sound quite a bit. I can't speak much for how 'authentically' the plugins emulate the desks and tape machines, but I can say when added to my tracks they do make positive contributions. 

*VCC*- This was the reason I bought into Slate's plugins - _I use this lots_.
*VMR*- It's a great set of tools for a reasonable price - _I use this often_.
*VTM*- I like it, but not much more than some of the other emu's (UA and Massey) out there - _I use this some._
*VBC*- I could do without it but as it's part of the VBC/VTM/VCC Bundle, and I purchased during a sale it's not a big deal. I don't dislike VBC, it's just not something I use much - _I rarely use this_
*Relab LX480*- Nope. Not when we have access to great reverbs (valhalla, phoenix) at considerably lower prices. If you're going for the "Everything" subscription based deal, then it's nice that the LX480 is part of the party, but at ~ $500 to purchase a full license... ouch.​
A couple of sleeper's in that lineup are the Custom Series EQs and the FG-Bomber. I use both of those a bunch. Watch the video on the CS EQ's - it is important to note that it is not _just another EQ_. The bomber has 'fattened' up a lot of my synth tracks, and that effect is sorely missed when I do an A-B/on-off comparison.

Maybe do the bundle thing for a month. My desert-island-3 Slate plugins are: VCC, Custom Series EQ and Bomber. If I was allowed a fourth by whomever cast me away, it'd be VMR.


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## jononotbono

I absolutely love the VBC. It's amazing how we all differ!


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## higgs

Also, the everything bundle comes with the Scuffham amp sim, which is hands-down my favorite guitar amp sim. My little boutique 30w Matchless clone has gathered more dust since I started using Scuffham.


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## higgs

jononotbono said:


> I absolutely love the VBC. It's amazing how we all differ!


And it's amazing how only you are wrong...


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## ghostnote

VCC is great. I've tried VBC a while back, but thought Kotelnikov sounded better. The FG-GREY is nice for drums. Didn't like the FG-MU and VTM.


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## owenave

jononotbono said:


> I absolutely love the VBC. It's amazing how we all differ!


Very true. It comes down to personal taste on some of these. I have the waves Neve Eq & Compressors and not all that impressed.


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## owenave

See all these comments help to know better about the Slate plugins compared to the Slate Facebook Group. Every one there likes everything Slate makes. It is always great to get opinions of people who have used them or don't use them much.


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## jononotbono

I don't own any UAD stuff (yet) so perhaps this is why VBC is so great to me? My selection of Bus compressors is limited. I prefer VBC over the NI Bus Compressor (for example) and I don't own any ridiculous hardware compressors yet. Who knows. At this point in time, I love them!


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## higgs

owenave said:


> See all these comments help to know better about the Slate plugins compared to the Slate Facebook Group. Every one there likes everything Slate makes. It is always great to get opinions of people who have used them or don't use them much.


Out of all the plugins I have, Slate's are the most populated in my projects. I find the VMR plugins (any of the pseudo 500 series things) easy and fast to use, and because of that there isn't much time spent on judgement calls and learning where they shine.


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## Noam Guterman

Hey Larry,
These are the ones I own and what I do with them:
*VCC* - I use it all the time. It adds that unique 3% difference to your mix, some glue. It's something I can do without, but once I hear those 3% on my mix never take it off.
*VMR* - I use it occasionally. Especially the FG-401 for drums / master bus tightening.
*VTM* - I use it when I need to smooth the digital edge off. Killer tape saturation.
*VBC* - It used to be my go-to master bus compressor, now I use the VMR more for that purpose. Said that, it can add some very nice coloration on the master bus even with the INIT settings (just to get the modules' input/output saturation).
*FG-X* - This one is on 100% of my stuff. Master peak reduction & RMS pusher, limiter, and even when I'm only bouncing files and use it for the dither.
FWIW, there are 2 more products that I don't own at the moment, but have used extensively for about 6 months of trial period (I am going to get them soon though, I really miss them):
*Custom* *Series* EQ & Lift - Probably the best tonal shaping tools I've personally heard. The EQ reminded me of the Pultec, but it's even more flexible, and generally better. The Lift is like a magic trick. Adds high / low harmonics which sounds really good. Can be dangerous though, as it always sounds better and you can end up with a bright mix.
*FG-Bomber* - This one is a hybrid of numerous dynamic tools. I used to place it on each sub-group with different settings and I always ended up loving the result.
I admit that I'm kind of a Slate Slut, but I'm a happy camper for years, and their plugins have definitely changed the way I mix. Either way, you should run a trial period as the others have advised. Your own opinion will be the most important one.
Cheers


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## RiffWraith

higgs said:


> *Relab LX480*- Nope. Not when we have access to great reverbs (valhalla, phoenix) at considerably lower prices. If you're going for the "Everything" subscription based deal, then it's nice that the LX480 is part of the party, but at ~ $500 to purchase a full license... ouch.



It can be had for less, such as $379.00 at places like plugindiscounts. I agree there are other really god verbs that are cheaper, but if you want the 480L sound, the LX480 is the way to go.

Cheers.


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## Gerhard Westphalen

jononotbono said:


> I am using the Slate Everything Bundle. Honestly, do yourself a favour and try them out! I think they are mind blowingly great. For the money, I just can't complain. I will no doubt own them eventually (when I can afford to buy the perpetual licenses) as I have too many bills but this is a great way of trying them out and seeing if you like them. I can't imagine you not loving them though. The Everything bundle just continues to grow as well. Wonderful!



In case you didn't know, you can get 50% off of perpetual licenses as a student. Because of this, I just purchased the ones that I wanted rather than getting the perpetual licenses. I think within a year I would have paid more in the subscription than for the 3 plugins I got. I could get the rest of their plugins for less than the cost of 2 years. Waves also has an educational discount but their plugins often go on sale for dirt cheap. So I essentially pickup up similar Waves ones to the Slate I don't have for even less than the 50% off. I prefer the Slate but it was a lot cheaper.


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## jononotbono

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> In case you didn't know, you can get 50% off of perpetual licenses as a student. Because of this, I just purchased the ones that I wanted rather than getting the perpetual licenses. I think within a year I would have paid more in the subscription than for the 3 plugins I got. I could get the rest of their plugins for less than the cost of 2 years. Waves also has an educational discount but they're plugins often go on sale for dirt cheap. So I essentially pickup up similar Waves ones to the Slate I don't have for even less than the 50% off. I prefer the Slate but it was a lot cheaper.



Yes! Cheers man! I did know this but I am currently saving up for a Doepfer and a Raven MTi2 so I will just rent the plugins for now and whilst I rent them, I will know them all inside and out. I do own a few Waves plugins but I have to draw a line in the Digital sand with buying Plugins. I would rather spend Money on VIs and Sample Libraries (and physical Musical Instruments of course) because I can actually write Music with them. I mean, how many Compressor plugins does someone really need? Saying that, I do need to pick up the Fab Filter bundle as that's 50% off with Educational discount too. Just one more huh.


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## Prockamanisc

I used to work at Guitar Center, so I would receive generous discounts on plugins. Some (like Izotope) were just plain free. With pretty much everything at my fingertips, I have to admit I use very very little of what I own, including the Slate plugins (although after this thread I'm going to revisit the VCC...it's all about that 3%!). I mostly use UAD, and I use the 1073 EQ, the Fatso Jr, and the 1176 and LA-2A as compressors. If I need some surgical/reparative EQ I use the Sonnox EQ, but I'm gradually switching over to Pro Q2 because it doesn't require a dongle (which means I can use it on both my master and slave). I use Altiverb on everything, even though I have MIR, and I'll use the UAD Lexicon for anything smaller, and the EMT 150 for anything even smaller. Those 9 plugins account for 99% of the plugins that I use, and I have hundreds of plugins. Buy it once, buy it right, invest in yourself, because ears are better than gear. The most useful plugin is the volume fader 

Having a hardware Vari Mu on my master bus makes an awesome difference, but most of all...Spitfire makes the biggest difference! I can pretty much just use that and not need any plugins. Also, having a very playable keyboard is the best investment I've made. Hardware isn't necessary, and in some cases introduces noise where there was none, but having something on hand to give it that push "into the genuine" is necessary. Usually that can be a lot of little things, but some of those little things are better than others for that purpose. Sorry, this has become more of a manifesto on gear lust and my reach for perfection in fidelity.

So to answer: Slate is great, but I like UAD better. Get it once, get it right. Spending twice as much up front will make it so that you don't spend 3 times as much correcting your mistake.


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## higgs

Prockamanisc said:


> I used to work at Guitar Center


Ugh. Green Screen....


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## owenave

Prockamanisc said:


> So to answer: Slate is great, but I like UAD better. Get it once, get it right. Spending twice as much up front will make it so that you don't spend 3 times as much correcting your mistake.


I agree as why I do as much research before I hit the Buy Button. I am on a limited income for now so I try to be wise on my decisions and ask others who use them their opinion. Makes this Forum a great research for knowledge.


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## owenave

higgs said:


> Ugh. Green Screen....


I used to work at the old one on Sunset before they moved to the huge one across the street.
We used to call the the GP center as everything had to do with the Gross Profit.


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## owenave

jononotbono said:


> Yes! Cheers man! I would rather spend Money on VIs and Sample Libraries (and physical Musical Instruments of course) because I can actually write Music with them. I mean, how many Compressor plugins does someone really need? Saying that, I do need to pick up the Fab Filter bundle as that's 50% off with Educational discount too. Just one more huh.


I agree about the virtual instruments. I have been busy this weekend. PayPal gave me a line of credit lol. I did get some good deals this week. EW Hollywood Strings Gold $99, EW Hollywood Brass $149, EW Hollywood Windwoods $99, Bohemian Violin. 
I am 63 and not a student or teacher ... don't think I would qualify for Educational Discount.
They should have a Senior Citizen Discount... lol


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## owenave

RiffWraith said:


> It can be had for less, such as $379.00 at places like plugindiscounts. I agree there are other really god verbs that are cheaper, but if you want the 480L sound, the LX480 is the way to go.
> 
> Cheers.


Yeah PluginDiscounts have all the Slate stuff for cheaper also.


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## higgs

Larry, I just ran across this:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gea...classifieds/1085990-relab-lx480-complete.html


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## owenave

Well I came upon a great deal this week from someone who is getting out of the mixing business and sold his Slate FG-X, VTM, VCC, VBC, & VMR For an unbelievable inexpensive deal. And he paid the fees also. So I am happy.


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## jcrosby

I have UAD and swear by them, Slate are the only other developer I put in the same category... Very real sounding emulations with all of the nonlinearitites of their analog counterparts. (What makes them so similar in terms of realism are the lengths they go to to model the circuitry and saturation characteristics.) If you want to see some testing I did on these: http://vi-control.net/community/threads/ozone-7-advanced.56963/page-2#post-4009218

Although I'd recommend demoing you really can't go wrong... I don't like FG-X though, I bought it and rarely use it. I think it's the one plugin of there's that's good, but can think of 5 others that are as good or better for what it does...

The 480L I personally think is overpriced. Sure it's excelllent, some will argue the 'best', I didn't find it wroth the price tag... Slate's reverbs, or even Valhalla will get you in the same territory and I think you'll find you'd be hard pressed to pick which plugin was which in a blind test... But definitely, demo them and see what you find...


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## jsmithsebasto

Short answer, *Yes. They are amazing*! The hype is real.

I too was skeptical at first, but I have been an *everything bundle* subscriber for a while now and I am sold. They *recently dropped the price* (if you buy yearly) from $24.99/month *to $14.99/month*. They handled this in a *super customer-friendly* way. If you already paid for the month that you switched, the payment prorates your new plan. So nice. Honestly from both an artistic AND business perspective, I have nothing but love for Slate.

I'm not usually a fan of the subscription model, but Slate does it right! They *continually keep adding to and improving the bundle. *


They just added VerbSuite Classics (which is phenomenal). I've used it on quite a few TV cues over the past week or two. Combined with the Bricasti M7 expansion pack (for no additional cost) it is simply stunning! 
There is also models of the Empirical Labs Distressor coming called the FG-Swiss.
There is a suite of analog delays (a la VerbSuite?) coming soon called Repeater.
I believe I've heard talk of a version 2 of the FG-X sometime soon as well???
These guys don't slow down. *I'd highly recommend the everything bundle. *However, if you don't like the everything bundle and you *could only choose one*, I'd suggest* VMR for its versatility.*

Hope this helps.


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## jcrosby

jsmithsebasto said:


> There is also models of the Empirical Labs Distressor coming called the FG-Swiss.*....
> 
> VMR for its versatility.*




Nice! I like the sound of that 

+1 on VMR. It's a staple for me and can't say enough great things about it.


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## higgs

jcrosby said:


> I have UAD and swear by them


I love what I have of UAD's plugins, truly. But I've gotten a bit leery of buying their plugins because I don't like being tied to the hardware just to use the software. I've been using the Waves plugins for close to two decades - that's a bit more my speed. Perhaps I'm antiquated.


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## jcrosby

higgs said:


> I love what I have of UAD's plugins, truly. But I've gotten a bit leery of buying their plugins because I don't like being tied to the hardware just to use the software. I've been using the Waves plugins for close to two decades - that's a bit more my speed. Perhaps I'm antiquated.


Hey whatever works for you, at the end of the day it's about whatever let's you get the job done...
I like the DSP option with UAD. That being said UAD is expensive and limited by your number of processors so yeah, it's frustrating if you're not up for shelling out on an octo or multiple units...

My only gripe with Wave's is their modeling. It's not nearly as true to form as Slate and UAD are... As shown (in the link to the other thread) Wave's API has basically no harmonic distortion, which IMO half the soul of a plugin... I'm not saying that make Waves bad at all, some people prefer the cleanliness or their versions... I just prefer modeled saturation, it's what my ears like...


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## higgs

jcrosby said:


> Hey whatever works for you, at the end of the day it's about whatever let's you get the job done...



I totally agree. I also didn't mean to imply that my choice is the right one - it's just how I feel and how I've developed. 
FWIW I love UAD's DSP; it's a great way to keep resources free on the main machine, and I use it whenever needed. But these days with offerings from Slate, Acustica, FabFilter, and the likes, I'd probably look right past UA.


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## jcrosby

Oh no worries! And I'm not implying mine is either. Ultimately whatever works for you is the best one... I like Fab Filter, Izotope as well, just depends on what I'm working with... And since my master machine is a little older the DSP is a nice boost for me...


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## VertuStudio

Fun seeing all the UAD users who use Slate as well. That's me too. One Apollo 8P and one Quad expander. Subscribed to Slate this week after running out a Waves bundle NFR. My initial feeling after three days of pretty intense work is that, in the future I will probably be running my CPU to the wall with Slate before engaging the UAD. Slate are more varied and more surgical. This new scenario is cool because I'm running 8 Unison Neves in the Apollo (excellent, power-hungry), and now I don't have to worry about turning them off so often when the load gets high. I've taken tracks and swapped out UAD for Slate just to experiment and form a basis of comparison. So impressed by Slate, it's really delightful. I'll pay $15 a month for this no problem, but even cooler if Slate would keep up with new releases and revisions.


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## bryla

I love Slate plug-ins and use them all the time. I subscribe to the Everything Bundle for a price that I would easily spend on plug-ins each year. Now when IK is having a sale I can soberly go through all the plug-ins of theirs and make a checklist to see that I got it covered in my subscription
*VMR*: This is my go-to channel strip plug-in. I've made presets for SSL, Neve and API channels that are clean in their settings but can take me to characteristic sound quickly. These includes the VTC's, VCC's and PRE's with different EQ's and comps.
Other than those I use the FG-Stress, various FG-116 and the Custom EQ's quite a lot!
*VERBSUITE*: Has become my favourite reverb plug-in. It contains both expansions of which I use LX480 often.
*REPEATER*: Is very good but I find my self calling for Replika XT or Echoboy more often.
*S-GEAR*: Has beaten GuitarRig and Waves GTR in my template. I honestly haven't figured out how to customize it but the presets are gold.
*E2*: This with Pro-DS covers all my de-essing.
*VTM*: It's not as subtle as Ozone Tape. I tried using it with the grouping function but had a hard time taming it. If you want tape for color – this is it!
*FGX *and *VBC*: These I use on the master bus. Since I'm a tool I have to remind myself not to ruin it by just making it louder. Subtlety is key and they are good at this! After bouncing I take it to Ozone for exporting, dithering, finalizing aso.


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## VertuStudio

VTM is indeed colorful.


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## VertuStudio

My understanding is that one must commit for a year to gain access to any plan, but I might be wrong.


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## jononotbono

I rent it monthly and can cancel any time.

The Bundle is amazing. Try it out!


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## nas

I like them. I've got VCC and VTM loaded on every mix and they can add a nice subtle flavor and depth to your mixes or be more pronounced if you push them, so how you use them will be dependent on your taste and the style of music you're going for. Generally, I find a little goes a long way.


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## aaronventure

bryla said:


> *VTM*: It's not as subtle as Ozone Tape. I tried using it with the grouping function but had a hard time taming it. If you want tape for color – this is it!


Did you find the noise knob in the settings? I hate to admit it but it took me a few months to realize that it's there when I first started using VTM.  

That thing is *noisy*, so now I just turn it all the way down by default to -80db or whatever it is. It has the loveliest color and low end punch, though. For me, at least.


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## bryla

aaronventure said:


> Did you find the noise knob in the settings? I hate to admit it but it took me a few months to realize that it's there when I first started using VTM.
> 
> That thing is *noisy*, so now I just turn it all the way down by default to -80db or whatever it is. It has the loveliest color and low end punch, though. For me, at least.


It's not noise I'm talking about. I'm used to find the noise button on all Slate :D It's the coloration. It IS lovely but it's hard to use it subtle.


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## ghobii

I've been subscribed to Slate since they started the subscription. My yearly plan is up in 2 months and I'll be canceling. As my mix workflow has evolved, I've decided I don't like color and saturation mixed in with EQ and sometimes compression. I'd rather work with a clean EQ, and add a color plugin if needed, that I can dial in separately. Especially with dense mixes. I also decided I don't like paying the monthly fee, when I already have lots of good tools that are paid for.

I will miss Verbsuite though. Might have to buy it with my $99 voucher.


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## lp59burst

I've been a Slate EB subscriber since the start but I won't be renewing after it expires in December. I really like most of them, however, things have changed. I now have a lot of Waves v10 plugins that I like quite a bit. Mostly bought recently during their seemingly never ending sales and I've decided I like owning better than perpetually renting.

I don't want to be tied down to a "must use our hardware" model either so UA's out for me no matter how good they sound.

I'm also seriously considering the Plugin Alliance "*PickPack*" rent to own model ($29*29mo. = $88 ea.). I already have a few of their plugins and they're excellent in my opinion.

And for a VTM I really like Sknotes' *Roundtone 4* - worth a look if you've not seen it.


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## EgM

I've personally never tried Slate plugins and I have no doubt they're good. Something in me doesn't ring when renting fx plugins, virtual instruments such as EastWest I can understand... Especially now that most fx plugins included in modern DAWs are pretty awesome.

That said, if I ran a big studio with lots of income coming from mixing/mastering, I would probably think otherwise but alas I'm just a composer.


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