# Thoughts on iZotope Nectar 2?



## jacobthestupendous (Jul 22, 2016)

I've had my eye on Nectar 2 for a while, and the Production Suite is on sale for $99 from Sweetwater for the next four days. 

Does anyone have this and use it? What are your impressions? How does the pitch correction compare with Logic's Flex Pitch function? Does the convenience of the all-in-one vocal chain really improve your day significantly, or do you mostly use other dedicated plugins to get better versions of the same effects?

My vocal recording chops are limited, but right now so are my needs; my most demanding vocal needs right now are a bit of light podcast recording, but music vocals certainly aren't out of the realm of possibility.

Also, there was a killer loyalty package from iZotope several months back that made all of their stuff very affordable if you owned any of it ahead of time, and $99 seems like a decently cheap buy-in should a similar thing be offered in the future.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts!


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## Dr.Quest (Jul 23, 2016)

I liked Nectar 1 a little better but for voice Nectar is pretty sweet. To be honest I primarily use it for dialog and voice over work and it really shines there. I've used it some in songs and I am equally happy. For $99 I'd say go for it. It is very flexible.


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## MyBootsOnFire (Jul 23, 2016)

I have it and i like it. I record a podcast every week and it's really convenient to be able to save presets for each person. It's nice to be able to get a comp, de-esser, eq, etc. all ready to go with one click. 

For music i think it's a lot like any other plugin. There are times when it works great, and there are times when other things are better. The convenience is still hard to beat when you're working on a tite deadline though. Having a bunch of stuff in one plugin makes life easy, which is the same reason i like Alloy and Ozone. That said i think you could make the argument it does fall into the 'jack of all trades master of none' category a little bit. I have compressor plugins i mite like better, i have saturation plugins i mite like better, but the ones in Nectar are usable. 

I've had good luck with the harmonies and delay effects too. For certain pop or electronic stuff it can do some interesting things. The only thing i don't like that much is the pitch correct. 

Overall i consider it a good purchase and i'm glad i have it.


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## chrysshawk (Jul 23, 2016)

I honestly cannot stand it. Usually there's always a better (and faster) way to achieve the same things, and it's something I would only consider getting if you don't have any decent plugins such as saturation, compression, eq, de-essing, etc. I have not tested a lot of tuning mechanisms in my life, but I do consider this to be worse than Cubase's VariAudio, Auto-Tune and Melodyne.

If one is looking for instantly good vocals, Waves' CLA Vocals is really cool. In fact, the only Waves plugin I own. It goes on discount from time to time, but I think it goes for about $50. There is no tuning there though. Only some eq, compression, delay, reverb, and widening. And I think every one of these aspects sound a lot better than what's found in Nectar.

CH


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## elpedro (Jul 23, 2016)

MyBootsOnFire said:


> I have it and i like it. I record a podcast every week and it's really convenient to be able to save presets for each person. It's nice to be able to get a comp, de-esser, eq, etc. all ready to go with one click.
> 
> For music i think it's a lot like any other plugin. There are times when it works great, and there are times when other things are better. The convenience is still hard to beat when you're working on a tite deadline though. Having a bunch of stuff in one plugin makes life easy, which is the same reason i like Alloy and Ozone. That said i think you could make the argument it does fall into the 'jack of all trades master of none' category a little bit. I have compressor plugins i mite like better, i have saturation plugins i mite like better, but the ones in Nectar are usable.
> 
> ...


I agree wholeheartedly!


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## jacobthestupendous (Jul 23, 2016)

Thanks for the input, everybody! Pretty good mirror of the feedback I've seen elsewhere: several Pretty Good's and a Can't Stand It. 

I record record through an Apollo Twin. I have a modest but respectable collection of very good compression/eq/analog saturation options for latency-free tracking, and I can save channel strips (including UAD plug-ins and settings) for each person in UAD's console software. It sounds like the convenience of auditionable, pre-made vocal chains is the main benefit that people like about Nectar that I don't already have. Also get the impression that if I really need pitch correction, I should save up for Melodyne. 

I'm not sure I can justify $99 right now for convenience. I'm not knocking convenience--time is money for lots of folks, but I'm just a hobbyist so the cost/benefit hurdle is a high one. 

I really appreciate everyone's feedback.


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## chrysshawk (Jul 23, 2016)

Tip: Demo the CLA vocals and see which sounds better.


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