# Top 5 plugin companies for fx



## X-Bassist (Sep 13, 2021)

After collecting hundreds (thousands?) of plugins from over 100 companies over the last 2 decades, I thought I would look back and see what companies would I buy from if I could do it over? What plugins do I actually use the most over a long period of time, making them much more valuable to me than the rest put together?

Surprisingly, most of them came down to 4 or 5 companies, so I thought I would share and see what other old timers have found out... so please share your experience...

1) Fabfilter - Top of the tops, I always use them for uncolored compression (C2), limiting (L2), amazing 24 band dynamic EQ (EQ3), de-essing (DS), gating (Pro-G), and Delay (Timeless 2), even the reverb is useful. For clean, invisible processing, they are my go to daily for almost anything. Add their owners discounts that get me their latest plugins for $40 or less, and I'm loving these guys.

2) Kush Audio - for warm colored sound, Novotron (compression), Goldplate (plate reverb), and Clariphonic (high harmonics) are amazing for lovely color or clarity where there was none. I use Novotron on most things musical, and Clariphonic on anything needed clarity, including dialog. They also have good 50% off sales that get me looking.

3) Sound Toys - Sound Toys 5 has a lot of the classic tape sounding delays, echoes, filtering that warms up the sound and gives you that analog feel. Not sure how they did this, but the presets are great. I've mixed many films just scrolling through presets and finding the right fit. Echoboy, Microshift, Tremolator, Panman, and Crystalizer have all given me some great fx I haven't heard elsewhere. I bought a few plugins at first, then they had a sale that gave me the ST5 bundle for $50! Great deals on upgrades.

4) Denise Audio - I started with sweeper, then got God mode, Slappy, Perfect room... very inexpensive and very creative, always a new twist on the classic fx. As they grow they keep improving the plugins, window resizing, eq control of the effect, more presets. They have the right combination of interesting sounds that can't be found elsewhere, and cheap prices that become cheaper at intro price, with subscriber discount (subscribe!) gets most plugins down to $30... the latest was $11 for me. Lunch or a new plugin? Incredible. 

5) Izotope - I can't work in film mixing without them atm. Cleaning out noise, hum, reverb, mistakes, breathing, clicks, pops, crunching, dry mouth, random noises, even creating clean room fill... RX8 Advanced does eveything I need to clean tracks that use to be guides for ADR (RX Standard is also great with most of the tools you need). I think it's been almost 5 years since I've recorded ADR for a film, they always want production cleaned up. Ozone has also been great for mastering music or adjusting a lead vocal level in a mix, Trash 2 has been a decent distortion tool (with wonderful presets), and insight 2 has been good for metering it all. The few things they do well, they do very well. And their 50% off sales are a nice time to buy in.

These are the 5 I use the most. Most of the others I rarely touch, except reverbs, what I need layers of (like strings). Lexicon reverb bundle, Polyverse Comit, Zynaptiq Adaptiverb, Izotope Neoverb, Eventide SP2016, Relab LX480, Fabfilter Pro- R are all decent reverbs, but I do wish someone could come out with on that has the warmth and life that my hardware reverbs have (Lexicon 480L and 300). Someday.


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 13, 2021)

Thumbs up on the first two, for sure.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

I've always failed to understand the love towards FF plugs.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 17, 2021)

X-Bassist said:


> 4) Denise Audio


Very cool to see this acknowledged. Because yes @denise.Audio has quickly become one of the top tier developers for me as well!


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> I've always failed to understand the love towards FF plugs.


Well. ProQ3 is the fastest and easiest to use EQ to date ever. Is it the best sounding in all situations? Probably not. Does that outweigh the ease of use? Not for a lot of people. Same with ProL2.

As a professional UX designer/researcher, I can say the EQ design is sublime.

The rest of the Fabfilter plugins are more hit or miss, but many others are also excellent. I’m disappointed in the usability of Timeless3. Saturn 2 has some great things and less great things about the UX.


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## sostenuto (Sep 17, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Very cool to see this acknowledged. Because yes @denise.Audio has quickly become one of the top tier developers for me as well!


Yep ! Looong period of building toolbox and tons of stuff gathering dust.
Plugin Alliance content is large ( 26 _ bx, 10 _ Unfiltered Audio, 10 Misc. ).
Waves, Melda, _all_ Soundtoys 'Little', NI _ K12U, xxxxx.
PA FX often covers daily home studio needs. 
Tough to go with Pro /Commercial Studio alternatives. 😳 
_Choices like Current SSL Native S-EQ 2 @ $40. are welcome options. _


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Well. ProQ3 is the fastest and easiest to use EQ to date ever. Is it the best sounding in all situations? Probably not. Does that outweigh the ease of use? Not for a lot of people. Same with ProL2.
> 
> As a professional UX designer/researcher, I can say the EQ design is sublime.
> 
> The rest of the Fabfilter plugins are more hit or miss, but many others are also excellent. I’m disappointed in the usability of Timeless3. Saturn 2 has some great things and less great things about the UX.


Or marking😉


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## José Herring (Sep 17, 2021)

Curious choices for sure. I've only just in the past year started to increase my Plugins. 

I like PA a lot. I'm surprised when I see criticisms of it because they have great stuff. Has elevated my mixes to Broadcast ready with just one purchase. The SPL stuff and the Shadow Hills emulations are great. And, I've only just scratched the surface of my subscription. 

Izotope. Love hate. I've been using Ozone since version 3 I think. In a lot of ways I preferred the older versions as the newer versions are so complicated I end up just dialing up the presents and hoping for the best. 

Reason. Don't laugh. They have some creative FX though I've tried to move away from can't find anything really to replace them. The delay is the best I've used. Sweeper has flanging, Phasing and filtering with lfo, envelopes, ect. It's a beast. Synchronus is an amazing automating multi effect. The list goes on and on. 

Recently I've gotten into FabFilter. Late to the game really because the prices always struck me as too high for what you're getting. But, I like the EQ a lot and recently trying the reverb. At that price point though it's too much for what you are getting. I have tons of great reverbs that cost a fraction of that. I really like the EQ on it but nothing that can't be replace with an EQ after the reverb on the chain. So while I like it, can't get into it too much. 

Melda Production. Hands down the best sounding but ugliest looking stuff on the market.


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## muziksculp (Sep 17, 2021)

1. Fabfilter
2. iZotope
3. Sonnox
4. Kush Audio
5. Liquid Sonics For Reverbs

I use quite a variety of other developers for FX plugins, but these are the five primary ones.


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## Technostica (Sep 17, 2021)

INA-GRM are great for left field stuff.


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Or marking😉


Sorry, I don't understand what you're implying.


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## José Herring (Sep 17, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Sorry, I don't understand what you're implying.


I think Faruh meant Marketing which is really an odd statement because I find that FabFilter probably does less marketing than any major plugin developer.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Sorry, I don't understand what you're implying.


Damn, it's autocorrection on my phone. 
I meant marketing. 
And I implied that FF sound bad and not convenient to the level where you sacrifice sound quality. For example, Equilibrium is much superior to FFs EQ and also very convenient(when you set its GUI as you like), and it also has much more options. 
The big difference between these two is marketing - DMG never did any crazy things in this regard, while FF were showing up everywhere, fork every possible hole in the web.


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Damn, it's autocorrection on my phone.
> I meant marketing.
> And I implied that FF sound bad and not convenient to the level where you sacrifice sound quality. For example, Equilibrium is much superior to FFs EQ and also very convenient(when you set its GUI as you like), and it also has much more options.
> The big difference between these two is marketing - DMG never did any crazy things in this regard, while FF were showing up everywhere, fork every possible hole in the web.


Ah. I didn't like Equilibrium so didn't buy it - much, much prefer to use ProQ3. Superior to me, as Equilibrium is superior to you. Fabfilter is mostly word of mouth except when they release something new. Or I'm blind to marketing, which might be the case.

I'm largely down to just using 2 EQs at this point: ProQ3 and Slick EQ M. I have a dozen others that never get used (I'll still hold onto E27)... I think it might be time to sell things, even though I hate to part ways with plugins as a collector.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I think Faruh meant Marketing which is really an odd statement because I find that FabFilter probably does less marketing than any major plugin developer.


You probably didn't catch the period when they were very-very active in their regard.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Ah. I didn't like Equilibrium so didn't buy it - much, much prefer to use ProQ3. Superior to me, as Equilibrium is superior to you.
> 
> Fabfilter is mostly word of mouth except when they release something new. Or I'm blind to marketing, which might be the case.


Well, that's surprising to hear. I've never met anyone who, when tried both, preferred FF version.


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## José Herring (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> I meant marketing.
> And I implied that FF sound bad and not convenient to the level where you sacrifice sound quality.


But they're Dutch.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 17, 2021)

José Herring said:


> But they're Dutch.


And we all know how much Dutch stuff sucks José, come on…


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

José Herring said:


> But they're Dutch.


Now it's me who doesn't understand what was implied 😸


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Well, that's surprising to hear. I've never met anyone who, when tried both, preferred FF version.


Again, I'm a full-time UXer, not mixer. Many plugins are considered "great" by others that I simply cannot stand to use as they're ugly and/or not worth the effort when there's something easier to use. Same with DAWs. More and more, I'm wanting simplicity with quality, which ProQ3 delivers in huge amounts.


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## José Herring (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> You probably didn't catch the period when they were very-very active in their regard.


No I didn't. I honestly paid very little attention to FF until I recently got ProQ3. And I only got it because of JXL. Yeah, I'm that guy that gets things because other people more famous than me use it. I'm not ashamed to admit that either.


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## Jeremy Morgan (Sep 17, 2021)

José Herring said:


> Curious choices for sure. I've only just in the past year started to increase my Plugins.
> 
> I like PA a lot. I'm surprised when I see criticisms of it because they have great stuff. Has elevated my mixes to Broadcast ready with just one purchase. The SPL stuff and the Shadow Hills emulations are great. And, I've only just scratched the surface of my subscription.
> 
> ...


The laugh was for melda, I swear! Too true.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Again, I'm a full-time UXer, not mixer. Many plugins are considered "great" by others that I simply cannot stand to use as they're ugly and/or not worth the effort when there's something easier to use. Same with DAWs.


Oh, understandable. I can't stand Reaper by the same reason. And by the same reason I turned Equilibrium into one black screen with dots.


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## José Herring (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Now it's me who doesn't understand what was implied 😸


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Oh, understandable. I can't stand Reaper by the same reason. And by the same reason I turned Equilibrium into one black screen with dots.


Ha! I wasn't going to name names, but Reaper is way up toward the top on that list of software I can't stand 

To be fair, it's been a couple years since I tried Equilibrium, so I will demo it in the coming months again (just changing jobs so have to wait a bit). Same with Trackcomp. Same as I'd demo the SSL EQ that's on sale - if they had a way to demo it that wasn't hidden/nonexistent!


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 17, 2021)

José Herring said:


> No I didn't. I honestly paid very little attention to FF until I recently got ProQ3. And I only got it because of JXL. Yeah, I'm that guy that gets things because other people more famous than me use it. I'm not ashamed to admit that either.


I didn't imply that somebody was influenced by marketing, I implied that with marketing more people know about your thing, while without it even the grates thing ever can be left unnoticed.


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## Consona (Sep 17, 2021)

I'll admit, I'm a Waves' bitch. Whenever there's a sale (LOL), I buy some plugins of theirs. 90% of my mixes is Waves plugins and I can do whatever sound I'm after with them. The rest is some Valhalla and Sonnox stuff. And use Izotope's Neutron Elements as my graphic EQ.
(And I have way too many plugins I don't use.)


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## doctoremmet (Sep 17, 2021)

Consona said:


> I'll admit, I'm a Waves' bitch


I happen to like the kind


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## José Herring (Sep 17, 2021)

Consona said:


> I'll admit, I'm a Waves' bitch. Whenever there's a sale (LOL), I buy some plugins of theirs. 90% of my mixes is Waves plugins and I can do whatever sound I'm after with them. The rest is some Valhalla and Sonnox stuff. And use Izotope's Neutron Elements as my graphic EQ.
> (And I have way too many plugins I don't use.)


I am too now. I avoided Waves for YEARS because all I heard was complaining about Waves. But, I've got quite a bit of waves stuff and I find the plugins to be so excellent.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 17, 2021)

I love threads that show some Waves love. The Renaissance stuff and the H-series ones are just plugins that put a smile on my face every time I use them.


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## KEM (Sep 17, 2021)

I love Soundtoys, Soundtoys goes on everything!!


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## kgdrum (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Damn, it's autocorrection on my phone.
> I meant marketing.
> And I implied that FF sound bad and not convenient to the level where you sacrifice sound quality. For example, Equilibrium is much superior to FFs EQ and also very convenient(when you set its GUI as you like), and it also has much more options.
> The big difference between these two is marketing - DMG never did any crazy things in this regard, while FF were showing up everywhere, fork every possible hole in the web.


These are great developers making top shelf tools,a user might be more comfortable with one more than the other and some might be easier to dial in for the particular job for YOU but assuming your preference is an absolute is a bit myopic in my opinion.


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## sostenuto (Sep 17, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> I love threads that show some Waves love. The Renaissance stuff and the H-series ones are just plugins that put a smile on my face every time I use them.


Have enjoyed Waves for many years. Goes back to v9.2 and now only a few scan into Reaper v 6.36. Had remote session with Waves Support and thought all would now appear. NOT ! ☹️
Hope this can be rectified, as not purchasing more until convenient to use 'non-professionally' without ongoing WUP.


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## fakemaxwell (Sep 17, 2021)

1. Dylan
2. Dylan
3. Dylan
4. Dylan
5. Dylan


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## Consona (Sep 17, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I am too now. I avoided Waves for YEARS because all I heard was complaining about Waves. But, I've got quite a bit of waves stuff and I find the plugins to be so excellent.


After all the time of having Waves stuff I bought the SSL Compressor and V-EQ 4. Can't believe I was ever able to live without them.

Some people say Waves emulations are old and bad and whatever, but man, the stuff V-EQ can do, I was like WHOAH, this is amazing!!! With just this one plugin I've made the smoothest strings sound ever out of Trailer Strings!  I put it on drums and it brings out some frequecies I didn't even know they existed there.

Once I have some more money, I'll probably buy the SSL/API/V-series bundle. And Kramer PIE. 

Also, I have some dynamic EQs, but none reacts to the sound as damn well as Waves' F6! Not even close! And the stuff I can do with L3-16!!! If you guys want to demolish cinemas Zimmer style, go buy that beast! Together with Cla 76 and SSL Comp, it's pure mayhem.

Their stuff is really good.



doctoremmet said:


> I love threads that show some Waves love. The Renaissance stuff and the H-series ones are just plugins that put a smile on my face every time I use them.


Hehe, Ren and H are two series I still don't own and use!


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## Collywobbles (Sep 17, 2021)

Another loooong time waves user here. My personal gripes with them have always concerned their awful licencing/update/installation processes. The plugins themselves are (mostly) great though.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 17, 2021)

Consona said:


> After all the time of having Waves stuff I bought the SSL Compressor and V-EQ 4. Can't believe I was ever able to live without them.
> 
> Some people say Waves emulations are old and bad and whatever, but man, the stuff V-EQ can do, I was like WHOAH, this is amazing!!! With just this one plugin I've made the smoothest strings sound ever out of Trailer Strings!  I put it on drums and it brings out some frequecies I didn't even know they existed there.
> 
> ...


Thanks for this. I don’t have their SSL and V-Eq either yet. Definitely going to check those.


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Oh, understandable. I can't stand Reaper by the same reason. And by the same reason I turned Equilibrium into one black screen with dots.


I decided to take some time this afternoon to re-demo Equilibrium. So far, it MIGHT be more featured, but it's a pain to use in comparison to ProQ3 (and also not as nice looking). I noticed a sound difference pretty quickly, where Equilibrium sounded "tighter". So I loaded up Plugin Doctor and it's merely a Q difference: Equilibrium Q of 1 = ProQ3 Q of 1.4. And then they sounded identical to my ears (as well as on the graph).

So far, I still have zero interest in Equilibrium based on my testing so far (not just Plugin Doctor!). I'm either going to just have to buy the SSL plugin or not - I'm not going through Gobbler for a demo.


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## Living Fossil (Sep 17, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> I have a dozen others that never get used (I'll still hold onto E27)...


Funny thing is i've bought E27 quite a while ago and completely neglected it. 
Recently, i gave it another shot and it completely blew ma away....it's quite a weapon on the right material....


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 17, 2021)

Living Fossil said:


> Funny thing is i've bought E27 quite a while ago and completely neglected it.
> Recently, i gave it another shot and it completely blew ma away....it's quite a weapon on the right material....


Right? It can be something. It was my first or second character EQ ever and will likely be the one I hold onto more than the rest I'm thinking of parting with (eg TE-100, which I like the sound of but never use, etc.).

Have you updated to the latest version of the E27? They improved the CPU efficiency as well as scalability (gets bigger, does get a little fuzzier), and more. Also, if you've forgotten, holding shift, I think, while using a knob, adjust in tiny amounts.

Oh, my other favorite character EQ is the Noiseash Need 31102 - wish they'd optimize the CPU for it, but it's not bad. It's even grittier (Neve style) than the E27.


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## Living Fossil (Sep 17, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Right? It can be something. It was my first or second character EQ ever and will likely be the one I hold onto more than the rest I'm thinking of parting with (eg TE-100, which I like the sound of but never use, etc.).
> 
> Have you updated to the latest version of the E27?


I guess my E27 is up do date...

BTW i love the TE-100 too. It's great to give elements more plasticity and depth and in the same time put them in the background.
There are just too many great options in EQ land... 
(however, for clean EQing TDR's Nova GE is my favorite due to the available controls when used in Dynamic EQ mode)


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## jcrosby (Sep 17, 2021)

Izotope
Fabfilter
Valhalla DSP
Slate Digital
Sonimum (Satson primarily. Tuco's pretty great as well though...)
Native Instruments (Raum, Dirt, Bite mainly)

There are others but more often than not it's just one or a few staple plugins.

Plugin Alliance - Blackbox & Metric AB mainly.
Soundtoys - Decapitator & Echoboy mainly. (But everything's great, I NEED to use Devil-Loc Deluxe more!)


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## bill5 (Sep 17, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> I've always failed to understand the love towards FF plugs.


They cost more. Therefore, better.  

Mine off the top:

izotope
Valhalla
TDR

Really about it. Anything else is a variety of other companies; those above are the only ones I use more than one of their plugins. I tried Melda and hated the UI so they're out. Ditto Blue Cat.


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## Dirtgrain (Sep 17, 2021)

Tokyo Dawn
UVI
Valhalla
U-he
Output


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## Junolab (Sep 17, 2021)

Softube, Liquidsonics, Relab, Tone Projects (Unisum, Kelvin)


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## HM_Music (Sep 17, 2021)

1. Fabfilter - of course, it's just the must have for whatever you're working with. The best plugins in terms of flexibility, there's not even much to discuss. And a very nice loyalty system, with each purchased plugin lowering the price of the others.
2) Slate digital - pretty handy subscription model, has a lot of stuff, especially vmr and its emulation of the console vcc. Besides mixing effects have th-u, ana synth, reverb, which I wouldn't use because I have better one, but reverb is good.
3. Plugin Alliance - a diverse selection of interesting things, I personally really like amek eq 200, elysia alpha, vertigo vsm, in general probably the most loyal company, you can use a year on a subscription, and then even get a voucher for the amount of subscription, which can still be used during discounts.
4. Waves - Also a lot of interesting, especially aphex which has no alternatives. The only big disadvantage is the updates, upgrades cost more than buying a new plugin.
5. Soundtoys - all sorts of cool things, well, and a very good saturators, my favorite radiator.


Of course there are other developers who can not get into the my top, because they do not have that much choice, but probably have the best plugins in their category, such as liquidsonic, soothe, gullfoss, neuraldsp...
Also companies that have a great selection but interesting for me plugins not so much, like kush audio omega, the famous blackholle and top for its money valhalla, for me it is shimmer.

About izotope, their plugin ozone 8 standart causes problems, crashes or not responding in studio one. I would like to take their tonal balance control package but the only reason is the fear that it won't work stably. Projects that used ozone I can not reopen after closing, it was necessary to open Daw, then add ozone to a clean project and then open the desired project, no idea how it works, but tried and after reinstalling the Windows the result is the same. Although it may be a problem in StudioOne, at the time I had the 3 version, but only ozone caused problems.
Maybe someone has encountered something like this in StudioOne. I already upgraded it to 5.4, do you have any problems with ozone version 9?


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 18, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> I decided to take some time this afternoon to re-demo Equilibrium. So far, it MIGHT be more featured, but it's a pain to use in comparison to ProQ3 (and also not as nice looking). I noticed a sound difference pretty quickly, where Equilibrium sounded "tighter". So I loaded up Plugin Doctor and it's merely a Q difference: Equilibrium Q of 1 = ProQ3 Q of 1.4. And then they sounded identical to my ears (as well as on the graph).
> 
> So far, I still have zero interest in Equilibrium based on my testing so far (not just Plugin Doctor!). I'm either going to just have to buy the SSL plugin or not - I'm not going through Gobbler for a demo.


The difference stars when you push limits. ProQ starts cracking much faster. Especially in cases of extreme cuts.
It also moves much smoother with automtion.
And the real power of Equilibrium is in its modes(just Free Phase mode that allows you to manually change phase for every filter you added is nobrainer).
The last two points is one of the main reasons why Equilibrium is a go-to for many mastering engineers.

Speaking of pain. In its standard form it's indeed a pretty inconvenient thing, especially compared to ProQ. You have to spend time to simplify it's GUI(when I'm at PC, I'll send screenshot here).
And AFAIK Dave Gamble is working on an update.

Anyway, the last time I compared these two eqs was when ProQ was in its second version cycle. I really wanted to like ProQ due to GUI, but failed.
But, I'll do what you did - I'll download the demo and try it again.


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## Consona (Sep 18, 2021)

Collywobbles said:


> Another loooong time waves user here. My personal gripes with them have always concerned their awful licencing/update/installation processes. The plugins themselves are (mostly) great though.


The day I'll have to pay for WUP I'll be cursing the company, but so far...  



doctoremmet said:


> Thanks for this. I don’t have their SSL and V-Eq either yet. Definitely going to check those.


You can get V-EQ4 as a free plugin, and demo it, of course, so check it out.

Also V-EQ4 and SSL Comp are really CPU friendly, which is another nice thing about them.


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## TomislavEP (Sep 18, 2021)

For most tasks, I use the stock plugins that ship with DAW. Before switching the REAPER full time I was a Pro Tools user. As an alternative to stock plugins, I use those that come with Komplete when I need some extra color.

Frankly, the only 3rd party plugin developers that make products I "can't do without" are Valhalla DSP and IZotope. BTW, I do have a number of other commercial plugins from companies such as AudioThing, Sound Toys, Sonible, Sound Spot, etc. but I don't use them as nearly as much, although I got most of these for free through various giveaways.


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## easyrider (Sep 18, 2021)

1. Softube Console 1
2. Fab Filter
3. Plugin Alliance
4. MixBox
5. Lexicon PCM Native Reverbs ( End Game Reverb)

I’ve got Everything from Ik and Soundtoys, Most of PSP, Arturia , McDSP ultimate CS

Getting the Softube Console 1 changed everything….liberated me from the paradox of choice.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 18, 2021)

easyrider said:


> 4. MixBox


Cool one isn’t it? I already loved PSP’s InfiniStrip but this one is next level…


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 18, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> The difference stars when you push limits. ProQ starts cracking much faster. Especially in cases of extreme cuts.
> It also moves much smoother with automtion.
> And the real power of Equilibrium is in its modes(just Free Phase mode that allows you to manually change phase for every filter you added is nobrainer).
> The last two points is one of the main reasons why Equilibrium is a go-to for many mastering engineers.
> ...


Ok, I spent an hour testing ProQ against Equilibrium.

1)Nothing has changed. ProQ still sounds average at best compared to DMG.
What I mean by that:
in some cases very unpredictable behavior(it does what I didn't ask it to do or it doesn't do what I asked it do);
it kills transients;
it takes life away from a sound - by that I mean that resonances are starting to sound very static after some filtering, of course sometimes you would want to have it as an effect, but you definitely wouldn't want it from your everyday EQ;
it does something weird in high end, especially with shelfs, I don't know how to describe it precisely, Ig you have to listen it yourself, but generally it feels like it tries to soften the sound with some kind of additional algorhythm and in my taste is almost always fails, makes sound more "plastic".

2)The number of filters in Equilibrium just kills it. ProQ doesn't come even close to the number of possibilities of soundshaping that Equilibrium provides. You have to try all those filters and their options to understand what I'm talking about. Every possible character, sound you would desire can be achieved in a matter of a few clicks. It comes with price - you have to learn how to use them and to get used to their behavior. But it is worth it(at least from my perspective).

3)DSP options of Equilibrium are still unmatched by anyone.

To sum it up. I opend started only because I saw how someone called ProQ as "best sounding EQ" or "amazing sounding EQ". It's just not.
ProQ is a great alternative to your stock digital EQ, it has more options than probably all stock digital equalizers, it is more convenient to use and so on. But it is not the "best sounding EQ", not even close. There are other options outside of DMG, which also sound good and better than ProQ.

And here's the screenshot I promised:


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## doctoremmet (Sep 18, 2021)

I am glad you have found an EQ you like this much.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 18, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> I am glad you have found an EQ you like this much.


Damn, I knew I'm opening myself for a little bit of trolling with this post 🤧


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## doctoremmet (Sep 18, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> Damn, I knew I'm opening myself for a little bit of trolling with this post 🤧


I was just having fun, no offense 
I have never used any Fabfilter stuff, so at least it was not a fanboy kneejerk haha. I’m quite fond of the Melda EQs and Waves F6, PSP E27 and ChopShop. I guess we all have our favourites?


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## easyrider (Sep 18, 2021)

Gearspace.com - View Single Post - DMG EQuilibrium - Others take note !!


Post 9811562 -Forum for professional and amateur recording engineers to share techniques and advice.



gearspace.com














Gearspace.com - View Single Post - DMG EQuilibrium - Others take note !!


Post 9811566 -Forum for professional and amateur recording engineers to share techniques and advice.



gearspace.com





Fab Filter EQ ended up on the record.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 18, 2021)

easyrider said:


> Gearspace.com - View Single Post - DMG EQuilibrium - Others take note !!
> 
> 
> Post 9811562 -Forum for professional and amateur recording engineers to share techniques and advice.
> ...


That's not an adequate comparison as most of those EQs are analog wannabes, while FF and DMG are purely digital EQs. While Equilibrium has analog filters, they're recreating shape of those filters, but not overall sonic character(no saturation, no noise as so on).
Btw, gear... space has some amazing threads with discussions of digital and Equilibrium in particular.
Some developers also were very active in those threads, including DMG devs. Highly recommend to spend some time there.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 18, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> I was just having fun, no offense
> I have never used any Fabfilter stuff, so at least it was not a fanboy kneejerk haha. I’m quite fond of the Melda EQs and Waves F6, PSP E27 and ChopShop. I guess we all have our favourites?


No offence taken. Innocent trolling is always welcome. 

And probably I should've been more precise with my comments. I was so... Passionate about this topic because a few years ago I was trying to stick to ProQ really bad. I liked that it was so easy to use and it was popular even back then, so it was easier to do collabs and sharing projects in general. I even tried to find workarounds to compensate things that wee missing compared to Equilibrium(and at that point I didn't know that plugin that well). And in the end of the day I just had to give up in face of reality. 

The reason I was so obsessed with this is the idea that "you have narrow down your options in digital EQs to 1-2 units". It helps you to become better and better with this one tool and to do things much faster. It is possible because good digital eqs are very predictable and controllable. It can't be said about analog wannabes, so the more of analog emulation you have - the better, as they so sound different and you can't say what this particular plugin would do in this or that situation.


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## Living Fossil (Sep 18, 2021)

I guess this whole discussion about Equilibrium vs. Q3 is useless.
In terms of functionality Q3 offers more (dynamic bands), in terms of sound Equilibrium is better, if the user knows who to use it (it's really a complicated EQ) 

And then,both of them can't follow resonant frequencies, which the EQ section of Nectar 3 offers (correct me if i'm wrong and Q3 and Equi do it in the meantime).
For dynamic EQing, as stated, my favorite is clearly Nova GE with its comprehensive controls.
(I also have FF's MBPro, but use that one only occasionally for more specific stuff like upwards compression, like 2 times a year).

But the whole discussion is rather pointless, both – Equilibrium and Q3 – are great and everything else is personal preference and preferred workflow.


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## easyrider (Sep 18, 2021)

Living Fossil said:


> But the whole discussion is rather pointless, both – Equilibrium and Q3 – are great and everything else is personal preference and preferred workflow.


Indeed….The Best DAW is the DAW that works for you….same with any other tools we have at our disposal….EQ, Compression, anything….


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 18, 2021)

Living Fossil said:


> I guess this whole discussion about Equilibrium vs. Q3 is useless.
> In terms of functionality Q3 offers more (dynamic bands), in terms of sound Equilibrium is better, if the user knows who to use it (it's really a complicated EQ)
> 
> And then,both of them can't follow resonant frequencies, which the EQ section of Nectar 3 offers (correct me if i'm wrong and Q3 and Equi do it in the meantime).
> ...


Yes, but the conversation started from FF ProQ. If we go to the dynamic EQ and MB dynamics rabbit hole, I have something to offer from DMG as well: Multiplicity - the best sounding MB processor😁
But I guess we better stop here 🤭


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## doctoremmet (Sep 18, 2021)

I am always somewhat amazed by people using adjectives like “the best” when it comes to tools. Like there are objective criteria rather than merely personal ones to “measure” the quality of a plugin. A decade from now new plugins will likely arrive on the scene that claim to faithfully reproduce the “flaws” of Fabfilter retro plugins, because by then the current ‘flaws’ will have become sought after fx


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## Technostica (Sep 18, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> I am always somewhat amazed by people using adjectives like “the best” when it comes to tools. Like there are objective criteria rather than merely personal ones to “measure” the quality of a plugin. A decade from now new plugins will likely arrive on the scene that claim to faithfully reproduce the “flaws” of Fabfilter retro plugins, because by then the current ‘flaws’ will have become sought after fx


A year or so after the release of the very popular Queen biopic, guess who was voted the 'best' guitarist of all time?
I was surprised he had made it to the top, then I recalled the recent film and signature IKM Amplitube plugin. 
As you imply, it's a popularity contest in general.

With some equipment there is a measurable component to it than can be looked at objectively.
But even then, when it comes to tools for music production that can be irrelevant.


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## ceemusic (Sep 18, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Ah. I didn't like Equilibrium so didn't buy it - much, much prefer to use ProQ3. Superior to me, as Equilibrium is superior to you. Fabfilter is mostly word of mouth except when they release something new. Or I'm blind to marketing, which might be the case.
> 
> I'm largely down to just using 2 EQs at this point: ProQ3 and Slick EQ M. I have a dozen others that never get used (I'll still hold onto E27)... I think it might be time to sell things, even though I hate to part ways with plugins as a collector.


Although both products are top notch if you into quality Equilibrium edges out FF so in that respect it is superior (although I don't care to reference them that way.)
At the end of the day it's just software. You can make great mixes with a daws stocks plugins if you know how to use your tools.


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## Faruh Al-Baghdadi (Sep 18, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> I am always somewhat amazed by people using adjectives like “the best” when it comes to tools. Like there are objective criteria rather than merely personal ones to “measure” the quality of a plugin. A decade from now new plugins will likely arrive on the scene that claim to faithfully reproduce the “flaws” of Fabfilter retro plugins, because by then the current ‘flaws’ will have become sought after fx


I was joking as we were having conversation over "the best things!" and what I consider as "the best" 🙃

But seriously, if anyone would find any better MB processor than Multiplicity, I'll be happy to be wrong. 

Agree about "new retro" stuff. It's already happened. If we read articles from 90s, you would see how many people were making fun of low bit gear, now there is countless number of plugins that "degradate" your sound to that exact quality people were making fun of. 😄


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## easyrider (Sep 18, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> I was joking as we were having conversation over "the best things!" and what I consider as "the best" 🙃
> 
> But seriously, if anyone would find any better MB processor than Multiplicity, I'll be happy to be wrong.
> 
> Agree about "new retro" stuff. It's already happened. If we read articles from 90s, you would see how many people were making fun of low bit gear, now there is countless number of plugins that "degradate" your sound to that exact quality people were making fun of. 😄


I’m so cutting edge I avoided the 90s microverb plugin from Korneff Audio just released and Kept my original crappy reverb unit instead…😂

And yes it’s in my rack….😂


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## kgdrum (Sep 18, 2021)

easyrider said:


> I’m so cutting edge I avoided the 90s microverb plugin from Korneff Audio just released and Kept my original crappy reverb unit instead…😂
> 
> And yes it’s in my rack….😂


That’s nice I think I still have an old Korg delay lying around but I have to say the KORNEFF MDR is GREAT!
With the newsletter subscription it costs $16.00
It’s a really nice plugin it captures that retro vibe really well.


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## kgdrum (Sep 18, 2021)

While I find 5 choices limiting here’s a few I really love and use often.

UAD
AUDIOTHING
FUSE/BLACK ROOSTER
LIQUIDSONICS
PA


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## RAdkins (Sep 18, 2021)

I am surprised no one has mentioned UAD.


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## kgdrum (Sep 18, 2021)

RAdkins said:


> I am surprised no one has mentioned UAD.


Me too,lol


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 18, 2021)

Faruh Al-Baghdadi said:


> The difference stars when you push limits. ProQ starts cracking much faster. Especially in cases of extreme cuts.
> It also moves much smoother with automtion.
> And the real power of Equilibrium is in its modes(just Free Phase mode that allows you to manually change phase for every filter you added is nobrainer).
> The last two points is one of the main reasons why Equilibrium is a go-to for many mastering engineers.
> ...


Thanks for the tips on what to compare beyond the basic boost/cut/shelf - I'll try more out this weekend.


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## sostenuto (Sep 18, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> Me too,lol


Well ..... several good Plugin Alliance votes !! 😊  Kinda UAD-ish 🤷🏻‍♂️


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## kgdrum (Sep 18, 2021)

sostenuto said:


> Well ..... several good Plugin Alliance votes !! 😊  Kinda UAD-ish 🤷🏻‍♂️


You think? How so? For me the two developers have entirely different paths from development to marketing. How do you think PA is “kinda UAD-ish”?


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## Collywobbles (Sep 18, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> You think? How so? For me the two developers have entirely different paths from development to marketing. How do you think PA is “kinda UAD-ish”?


Maybe in reference to some 3rd party UAD plugins eventually getting native releases via PA?

Also, I believe the lack of UAD mentions is probably because of the hardware requirement... A business model I sincerely hope they revisit in the future. They could probably make more money overall if they just made their plugins available without the need for their proprietary hardware IMHO.


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## sostenuto (Sep 18, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> You think? How so? For me the two developers have entirely different paths from development to marketing. How do you think PA is “kinda UAD-ish”?


Brainworx bx_dynEQ V2, SPL Transient Designer ? 🤷🏻‍♂️


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## kgdrum (Sep 18, 2021)

Collywobbles said:


> Maybe in reference to some 3rd party UAD plugins eventually getting native releases via PA?
> 
> Also, I believe the lack of UAD mentions is probably because of the hardware requirement... A business model I sincerely hope they revisit in the future. They could probably make more money overall if they just made their plugins available without the need for their proprietary hardware IMHO.


OK that I can understand,for long time users such as myself UAD offers some really amazing effects. If you already have the cards or an UAD i/o and wait for sales it’s not that expensive for a huge selection of great plugins,amazing customer service and support.
Would I jump on the UAD bandwagon now if I didn’t already have the cards and about 100 of their plugin’s? Probably not but regardless of the proprietary card or i/o they have an amazing selection of great sounding plugins.


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## kgdrum (Sep 18, 2021)

It still puzzles me that PA has really never been competitive with reverbs.


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## Collywobbles (Sep 18, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> OK that I can understand,for long time users such as myself UAD offers some really amazing effects. If you already have the cards or an UAD i/o and wait for sales it’s not that expensive for a huge selection of great plugins,amazing customer service and support.
> Would I jump on the UAD bandwagon now if I didn’t already have the cards and about 100 of their plugin’s? Probably not but regardless of the proprietary card or i/o they have an amazing selection of great sounding plugins.


For sure. I know that their effects are fantastic, but the competition has definitely caught up, so they're essentially missing out on a massive chunk of the market now. I (and many others) would buy their plugins in a heartbeat if not for the hardware requirement. Their approach simply seems a bit outdated given all the amazing stuff you can simply buy, download and use within minutes these days.

But hey, what do I know? Maybe they're still making a killing, sales wise.


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## sostenuto (Sep 18, 2021)

Have and enjoy bx _ rooMS, but agree; odd that PA has not done more.


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 18, 2021)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Thanks for the tips on what to compare beyond the basic boost/cut/shelf - I'll try more out this weekend.


It really seems to be about workflow, and I prefer the workflow of ProQ3. Equilibrium has some nice defaults, but it's as hard or harder to use them than just using ProQ3 to get to the same place. It's pretty quick to dial in ProQ3 to match - and then they're the same. More menu and settings fussing with Equilibrium but good defaults, whereas there's decidedly less fuss with ProQ3, but you might need to quickly add an additional filter here or there to match. I can see potential value for some people in Equilibrium, depending on their common tasks/workflow.

Equilibrium IIR mode has the identical phase characteristics as ProQ3 Zero phase, and FIR in Equilibrium is the same as Natural phase in ProQ3.

As you'd expect, they're both clean digital EQs. I haven't tried automating them yet. I don't think you can go wrong with either EQ - just pick the one that you like the workflow of the most, and then dig into the details.

To see the differences in Q, look at phase, etc., I do encourage the use of Plugin Doctor. It also helps to use to do a fair comparison.

Again, I'm merely an enthusiastic, dedicated, knowledgeable amateur - I don't do this for a living (or to make any money at all). Your own comparisons, whomever is reading this that is, will likely differ.
/ends my comparison

I was looking through my plugins, organized into several categories, with a "Less Used" subfolder for most top-level categories. I don't really have any brands that stand out as one I favor over others. Even in synths, I have Repro and Hive2 up front but Diva sits in the Less Used folder, for example. I'm fortunate to have had more money than sense when purchasing, though, so I definitely have a lot of plugins, many of which are hidden/not installed, or put into Less Used. That allowed me to pick and choose rather than rely on a couple of brands with great bundles.


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## Loïc D (Sep 18, 2021)

No particular order :
PA (mention for brainworx stuff)
Valhalla
Apple (Logic stock)
Liquidsonics
Fabfilter
Softube (I’m surprised it doesn’t get more votes)
Eventide
Soundtoys (excellent but takes time to get something outside the presets)
Native Instruments
etc.

I stopped using Waves because of their update policy and I had to many issues updating, uninstalling, etc.


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## bill5 (Sep 18, 2021)

Loïc D said:


> I stopped using Waves because of their update policy and I had to many issues updating, uninstalling, etc.


Same, which is why I wrote them off. Plenty of great stuff out there without such nonsense. 

Also I don't think PA should be on here as it's a series of companies, not one. I have heard good things about Brainworx though.


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## NekujaK (Sep 18, 2021)

It's interesting that Acustica hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread. I think I know why...

To me, Acustica's plugins sound exceptional and I love their overall design approach. But even though I own a substantial amount of their offerings, I find I actually use them very rarely. There are several reasons for this:

*CPU*: Acustica's plugins can put quite a heavy load on your CPU, especially if you use a lot of them in a project. For this reason, I mostly limit them just to instrument busses and the master bus. Putting their channel strips on every channel simply isn't practical, which is a shame.

*UI Response*: The thing that bothers me most about Acustica plugins is the laggy response of buttons and some dials in their UI - it's a really annoying speed bump in my mixing workflow and makes the plugins seem fiddly. More than anything else, this makes me reluctant to use them.

*Too Many Choices*: Acustica is extremely generous in providing multiple varieties of preamps, compressors, and EQs in their channel strip plugins, which is really great, but I simply don't have time to audition 36 preamps when I'm mixing, plus compare endless permutations of compressors and EQs, especially with the laggy UI. There is often a sense of being overwhelmed when pulling up one of their plugins.

That said, Acustica's plugins sound amazing, and I'm usually always pleased with the results when I decide to use them. If the first two issues above could be addressed, I'd happily use them almost exclusively!


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## Nimrod7 (Sep 18, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Very cool to see this acknowledged. Because yes @denise.Audio has quickly become one of the top tier developers for me as well!


Denise got my attention from this thread! 
Which plugins from Denise would you recommend checking?


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## kgdrum (Sep 18, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> Denise got my attention from this thread!
> Which plugins from Denise would you recommend checking?


It’s probably just me but the only plugin I ever bought from Denise Audio was Bad Tape which I can’t stand,I think it’s so awful I think it should be named “Horrble Attempt of a Tape degradation plugin”
I like effects that mangle ,degrade and transform sounds. Audiothings Wires is a favorite of mine ,I love quality colored Tape sims like Alborisie Dub Station and all sorts of tape sims ,bit crushers,filters etc….. but Bad Tape? For me it was one of the worst effect plug-ins I purchased in a really long time.
So to make a long story short,Denise Audio? I haven’t looked ,purchased or payed attention to them since I got Bad Tape.
Maybe I might like other products they make but after Bad Tape I haven’t been able to take Denise seriously.


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## vitocorleone123 (Sep 18, 2021)

kgdrum said:


> It’s probably just me but the only plugin I ever bought from Denise Audio was Bad Tape which I can’t stand,I think it’s so awful I think it should be named “Horrble Attempt of a Tape degradation plugin”
> I like effects that mangle ,degrade and transform sounds. Audiothings Wires is a favorite of mine ,I love quality colored Tape sims like Alborisie Dub Station and all sorts of tape sims ,bit crushers,filters etc….. but Bad Tape? For me it was one of the worst effect plug-ins I purchased in a really long time.
> So to make a long story short,Denise Audio? I haven’t looked ,purchased or payed attention to them since I got Bad Tape.
> Maybe I might like other products they make but after Bad Tape I haven’t been able to take Denise seriously.


I also have a couple of plugins of theirs I never use - no interest in anything from them in the future, honestly.

EDIT: That sounded a little harsh, but they'd have to really up their game at some point to compete for my $$ again. Stranger things have happened!


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## bill5 (Sep 18, 2021)

NekujaK said:


> It's interesting that Acustica hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread. I think I know why...
> 
> To me, Acustica's plugins sound exceptional and I love their overall design approach. But even though I own a substantial amount of their offerings, I find I actually use them very rarely. There are several reasons for this:
> 
> ...


You forgot "they are ridiculously overpriced" and "their web site is an annoying PITA/POS."  Sorry, if you're happy with them, great, more power to you, but there are great-sounding plugins all over the place which are vastly cheaper, not CPU hogs, make it clear and easy to find out quickly what the heck they actually are, and I can't even comment on lag which also seems to be an issue.


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## Stephen Limbaugh (Sep 18, 2021)

Fabfilter
Soundtoys
MIRpro
Universal Audio
Xfer Records


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## NekujaK (Sep 18, 2021)

bill5 said:


> You forgot "they are ridiculously overpriced" and "their web site is an annoying PITA/POS."  Sorry, if you're happy with them, great, more power to you, but there are great-sounding plugins all over the place which are vastly cheaper, not CPU hogs, make it clear and easy to find out quickly what the heck they actually are, and I can't even comment on lag which also seems to be an issue.


Of course there are many great-sounding plugins besides Acustica - I use many of them on a consistent basis. That doesn't detract from how good the Acustica plugins can sound - but for all the reasons we both mutually listed, I don't use them very often.

For sure they're expensive, but so are FabFilter plugins. Devs are free to charge whatever they feel their plugins are worth and what the market will bear. Their affordability doesn't change how they sound.

Besides, we all know that all you really need to achieve perfectly good mixes are just your DAW's stock plugins, but that's not what the topic of this thread is about.


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## doctoremmet (Sep 18, 2021)

Nimrod7 said:


> Denise got my attention from this thread!
> Which plugins from Denise would you recommend checking?


I don’t get the hate ^ but hey don’t mind me. Denise have done two excellent reverbs but if I had to recommend a couple I’d say check out PerfectPlateXL and DragonFire compressor.







As for Bad Tape, it does exactly what it is aims to do. It doesn’t want to be a standard tape emulation.


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## daviddln (Sep 20, 2021)

I like Fabfilter and Izotope. And also VSL for the Vienna Suite Pro. I mainly use plug-ins from these three companies.


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## SteveC (Sep 20, 2021)

As an EQ I use a towel which I hold skillfully and virtuously in front of the speakers and then record the whole thing again with my mobile phone. In this way I try to keep up with the sound that reaches the consumer. - and sometimes FF and other stuff


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## doctoremmet (Sep 20, 2021)

SteveC said:


> As an EQ I use a towel which I hold skillfully and virtuously in front of the speakers and then record the whole thing again with my mobile phone. In this way I try to keep up with the sound that reaches the consumer. - and sometimes FF and other stuff


Could you create an IR from that? Asking for a friend


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## juliandoe (Sep 20, 2021)

Fab Filter (general purpose)
Soundtoys (color and character)
Klanghelm (compressors and saturations)
Valhalla (delay and reverb)
DMG (mastering)


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## SteveC (Sep 20, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Could you create an IR from that? Asking for a friend


I guess so! With a bear or a hamster in the room?


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## Monkberry (Sep 20, 2021)

PA
DMG (Limitless & Track Comp 2)
Tone Project
Relab
Newfangled Audio (Elevate Bundle)
Sound Theory


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## ThomasL (Sep 20, 2021)

If I had to work with only 5 developers plugins it would probably be the following:
Softube
PreSonus (YES! Stock plugins, crazy I know! They do create extras, like the MixFX ones, really like them)
UAD
SoundToys
Eventide


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## proggermusic (Sep 20, 2021)

Epic thread! It's cool to read everyone's favorites, there are so many wonderful options out there today. Here are mine at the moment.

Valhalla DSP for all things reverb and delay!

Fuse Audio Labs for excellent analog modeling of tube preamps, tape, EQ, etc.

Black Rooster Audio for more of what Fuse does well, plus great compressors.

NEOLD (via Plugin Alliance) for REALLY great tube sounds.

Soundtoys for a little bit of everything. (EchoBoy and Valhalla Delay are neck and neck for my #1 delay plugin.)

Between these fine companies I'm absolutely set, and only buy new plugins for fun. I've been tempted by FabFilter but I'm honestly perfectly content with Logic's workhorse transparent EQs, limiters, etc. I just use third-party plugins for color, which the above do incredibly well. Plus, they've permanently quelled my temptation to shell out for a UA system... so I'm grateful for that...


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## NULL_Bits (Sep 21, 2021)

I’ve kinda gone full circle with plugins. Years and years ago I just went with stock Logic stuff, then I started getting into 3rd party plugins, then I went absolutely insane buying them - including doing the whole UAD thing (god the amount of money I’ve spent on plugins… embarrassing) and now I’m more-or-less back to square one.

I’ve really fallen off the UAD bandwagon over the last year or two. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on them, but then started doing more online collaborations and really started working with another guy remotely all the time, but we have different plugins and he doesn’t have UAD so doing the whole bounce tracks all the time and such became cumbersome. We decided to create a template using only stock Logic plugins with a few minor exceptions (a Waves SSL bus compressor, a few Soundtoys plugins, and Fabfilter Pro Q3) and it has been like a breath of fresh air. No more overcomplicating plugin choices or analysis paralysis, no more being tied to UAD’s giga-dongle (since you can only run UAD plugins with a UA interface/satellites), my mixing speed has increased dramatically and it’s less stressful.

Just my personal experience, I certainly don’t poo-poo people who love UAD, they make great stuff, but I can get plenty out of out Logic’s stock stuff and plenty of nice character with a few select character plugins from Soundtoys and such.


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## Russell Anderson (Sep 21, 2021)

Hardly a mixer track goes by without something from Melda, TDR or Kush now. It would be probably a slightly more detailed story if I owned Satin and Presswerk, or Saturn/Spectre 2 (which doesn’t exist, but if SlickEQ M’s stereo and Spectre’s EQ difference-saturation had a baby with an envelope follower and modulation system...)

I’m not counting reverbs. I plan on having a problem with reverbs some day, when I can afford it.


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## ThomasL (Sep 21, 2021)

Russell Anderson said:


> I’m not counting reverbs. I plan on having a problem with reverbs some day, when I can afford it.




Reverbs are the one thing you actually never can have too many of...


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## Russell Anderson (Sep 21, 2021)

ThomasL said:


> Reverbs are the one thing you actually never can have too many of...


Fortunately for my wallet, LiquidSonics offers two demos of each product, and 2c B2 I can demo whenever I want. Those generosities may end up saving me or making them $300+, and I am very appreciative. I love reverb... and I love the different workflows as well.


----------



## zoixx (Sep 21, 2021)

Great thread, thanks for the Denise Audio tip. Their Noize 2 plugin looks interesting when importing your own samples. Anyone has any experience with it?


----------



## Consona (Sep 21, 2021)

David Bendeth's +10db Compressor - Boz Digital Labs


Note for M1 Mac Users: This plugin is not yet compiled to work natively on M1 Macs. We are currently in the process of rewriting it so that it will, but it will take some time. In the meantime, it should work under rosetta on M1 Macs. +10db Compressor is meticulously modeled after one of the...




www.bozdigitallabs.com




Try this one out, guys. A very impressive compressor, on sale.


----------



## doctoremmet (Sep 22, 2021)

zoixx said:


> Great thread, thanks for the Denise Audio tip. Their Noize 2 plugin looks interesting when importing your own samples. Anyone has any experience with it?


Yes. It is great to make weird noisy ambiences with. I used it in this unfinished demo I did for Karoryfer’s Glockenskull guitar. All glitchy noises are Noize 2 (and [reversed] reverb is all PlateXL).

View attachment Robotnicza- temp master.mp3


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## zoixx (Sep 22, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Yes. It is great to make weird noisy ambiences with. I used it in this unfinished demo I did for Karoryfer’s Glockenskull guitar. All glitchy noises are Noize 2 (and [reversed] reverb is all PlateXL).
> 
> View attachment Robotnicza- temp master.mp3


Cool!


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## StillLife (Oct 11, 2021)

easyrider said:


> 1. Softube Console 1
> 2. Fab Filter
> 3. Plugin Alliance
> 4. MixBox
> ...


I like C1 very much as well. Considering getting some more channel strips (only have the stock ssl4000), but won't that bring back the paradox of choice... What is your ecperience , Easyrider, because if I recall it well, you do possess multiple c1 channel strips?


----------



## StillLife (Oct 11, 2021)

Easy, as I hardly use more than 5:

1. Softube Console 1. Brilliant workflow.
2. Kush Audio, great sounding, character and a very nice and infomative youtube-channel.
3. Soundtoys. Creative stuff.
4. Output (Thermal & Portal are pretty unique)
5. Liquidsonics. The best sounding reverb to my ears, for my music.

I used to do a lot with NI, Izotope and Toontrack ezmix, but I found I was relying on presets too much. The above 5 have changed the way I mix.
Now, of to the Softube website to see what is on sale today...


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## easyrider (Oct 11, 2021)

StillLife said:


> I like C1 very much as well. Considering getting some more channel strips (only have the stock ssl4000), but won't that bring back the paradox of choice... What is your ecperience , Easyrider, because if I recall it well, you do possess multiple c1 channel strips?


It all depends on what sound your after….the Zender Bender is great on the Drum bus…


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