# EQ / comp VST-plugins - your feedback/recommendations?



## Chriss Ons (Jun 24, 2013)

I'm looking for affordable, yet transparant EQ and compressor VST plugins - mainly for use on acoustic instruments, and orchestral buses/stems. Can spend ca. $ 200 right now. I saw a few that are on sale until the end of the month and which, judging from magazine-, online and/or Youtube reviews , seem to offer good value for money:

I'm thinking of buying either these two together:
Mäag EQ4
+
Vertigo VSC-2 compressor

or one of these (EQ + comp)
Softube Summit Audio Grand Channel
Waves API Collection Native bundle

I'm leaning towards the Mäag + Vertigo... Wonder if anyone on here wants to share their experience with any of these - or maybe suggest alternatives? Thanks in advance.


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## ghostnote (Jun 24, 2013)

Seriously, I'd go for Fabilter or Tonebooster plugins. The ones @ Fabfilter are a bit pricy, but they are worth every penny http://www.fabfilter.com/. I wouldn't neccessarily go for the limiter or the comporessor, but the EQ is almost a must. Toneboosters is also great http://www.toneboosters.com/. IMO not as good sounding as the Fabfilter ones, but a bargain for 15 bucks/each. They even made a new one which seems to be a EQ and Compressor hybrid which might be interesting for you:
http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-flx/


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## Ron Snijders (Jun 24, 2013)

+1 for Fabfilter here. The EQ is great, and it has both linear phase and minimal phase options as well, so you get some flexibility there  Not to mention the very friendly interface.

(If you decide to get something from them, let me know. As an existing customer, I can send out 10% discount codes. Just to be completely transparant, that also gives me a 10$ voucher, which I obviously don't mind getting, but being friendly to my fellow forum member is more important  )


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## Consona (Jun 24, 2013)

I agree that http://www.toneboosters.com/ are great plugins. I own ReelBus (analog tape recording simulator) and I really like it's sound. Some people even say it sounds better than Waves' Kramer Tape plugin and other pricey alternatives. And I use free EZQ eq plugin a lot too, it changes color of sound.


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## mark812 (Jun 24, 2013)

Excellent, 64-bit and free: As good as many expensive compressors I've tried: http://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-feedback-compressor-2/

+1 for ToneBoosters.

Also a great compressor, very affordable as well: 
http://www.klanghelm.com/DC8C.html

For buss compression, The Glue without a doubt.


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## rayinstirling (Jun 24, 2013)

for equalization?
Equilibrium..............no competition
http://www.dmgaudio.com/products_equilibrium.php


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## Marius Masalar (Jun 24, 2013)

+478 on FabFilter. Anything of theirs is worth owning.

If you're considering Softube stuff (which everyone should be with the mad sale that they have going on) I'd recommend the Passive-Active pack over the Grand Channel — more flexibility for half the money (as far as EQ goes).

Oh, and if you're buying FabFilter stuff, shoot me (or any other FF customer) a PM and we can hook you up with a 10% discount on anything you buy from them. Once you're part of the family, you'll also enjoy some crazy discounts when you decide to buy more of their stuff.


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## bryla (Jun 24, 2013)

Big fan of FabFilter and especially L and C... and Q and Saturn and Volcano and Timeless

If you in any way are connected to a school be it a student or teacher you get.... wait for it..... 50% discount


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## Den (Jun 24, 2013)

I can say only that I tried a big number of EQ and comp's these years.
All I can say is that we have to split them to 3 groups.

Character EQ for boosting
Clean surgical EQ for cutting
Linear phase EQ for mastering
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The best of the best sound that you can find in the plugin world is Steinberg/Yamaha
Portico 5033 EQ. Sounds like hardware. Modern Neve sound that sounds natural.
I using Softube Tubetech EQ's and they are really soft and wide.

For cutting I really tried them all. Equilibrium is too heavy on CPU when you put it on the FIR mode with some bigger numbers of the impulse length. On the digital mode it sounds somehow plastic to some people that I can confirm.(cumulative effect of this eq) Linear phase is nice and analogue mode sounds really nice.
Fabfilter is very nice tool for cutting, and sounds nice (latest version). Also the most beautiful sounding filters are in the Flux Epure V3 64bit. 

For the linear phase EQ I prefer Spline EQ. Free version is available and also it costs only 19$. This one sounds so clean and pure that I never use any other for this job.

There is too many EQ's out there, and many of them are also very good.

You can also master with analog phase EQ like UAD Massive Passive. It was too many legendary songs that was mastered with analogue EQ's. Phase is not the enemy like it looks like (marketing).

I prefer softer EQ in digital domain. Many of them have really strong character.

Brainworx BX Digital also sounds good (minimum phase with M/S, De-essor)

Waves MM EQ also very good, stronger character.
Neve classic emulations UAD for stronger character.

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Compressors

RND Portico 5043 is my favorite. Sounds like hardware.
CL1B Tubetech in use also. (guitars, voice) Powercore or TDM version.
The Rocket is also very good character punchy comp 1176 style.(drums, percc)
Waves RComp is also in use a lot. Transparent 
TDR Feedback comp free is also very good clean compressor (Vocals)
DC8B Klanghelm very good warming for (Bass Gtr.) e.t.c.
Elysia Alpha comp for M/S mastering.


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## ThomasL (Jun 24, 2013)

A big +1 for Toneboosters but take a look at DDMFs 6144 EQ, good one!

www.ddmf.eu


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## Consona (Jun 24, 2013)

mark812 @ Mon Jun 24 said:


> Excellent, 64-bit and free: As good as many expensive compressors I've tried: http://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-feedback-compressor-2/


Thank you for tip. Just tried it, it's amazing plugin!


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## mark812 (Jun 24, 2013)

Consona @ Mon Jun 24 said:


> mark812 @ Mon Jun 24 said:
> 
> 
> > Excellent, 64-bit and free: As good as many expensive compressors I've tried: http://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-feedback-compressor-2/
> ...



You're welcome. :wink:


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## Waywyn (Jun 24, 2013)

as for EQ, I would definitely go Fabfilter Pro!
I would also check out GEQ by Voxengo. It is a free EQ and also adds some nice harmonic distortion. Nice to get this silkyness on strings.

As for compressor, this is totally a matter of taste, but what I found to be a great tool is the Dynamic Spectrum Mapper!


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## germancomponist (Jun 24, 2013)

Waywyn @ Mon Jun 24 said:


> As for compressor, this is totally a matter of taste, but what I found to be a great tool is the Dynamic Spectrum Mapper!



Yeah, this is a cool tool, like the Sonnox inflator also is. I do not know exactly what is going on under their hood, but the results sound cool.


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## Chriss Ons (Jun 25, 2013)

As for EQ, I'm getting the Fabfilter Pro-Q first. I see why it's getting so many recommendations - great plugin, and the price is worth it IMO. 
[strike]Still undecided on the compressor[/strike] ***, I have not yet demoed all of the suggestions made here... many of which I really liked so far. Some of the less expensive plugins sound great as well.
Thanks heaps for the replies, everyone.

(***) edit: eventually went for http://www.fabfilter.com/shop/mastering-bundle (Fabfilter's Mastering bundle), which includes the Pro-Q equalizer, Pro-C compressor and Pro-L limiter.


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## woodsdenis (Jun 25, 2013)

Josquin @ Tue Jun 25 said:


> As for EQ, I'm getting the Fabfilter Pro-Q first. I see why it's getting so many recommendations - great plugin, and the price is worth it IMO.
> [strike]Still undecided on the compressor[/strike] ***, I have not yet demoed all of the suggestions made here... many of which I really liked so far. Some of the less expensive plugins sound great as well.
> Thanks heaps for the replies, everyone.
> 
> (***) edit: eventually went for http://www.fabfilter.com/shop/mastering-bundle (Fabfilter's Mastering bundle), which includes the Pro-Q equalizer, Pro-C compressor and Pro-L limiter.



Good choice, all suggestions in this thread have their merits, for good all round neutral stuff, FabFilter all the way. The ProL especially is a fantastic limiter. Don't forget as you buy more Fabfilter plugs you get more discounts on them.


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## Waywyn (Jun 25, 2013)

Sorry, one more  Only because it has been released yesterday (I believe) and it sounds absolutely fantastic!

Check out the new Virtual Buss Compressors by Steven Slate! These things sound awesome! To be honest I don't own any hardware compressors , but I heard a lot of gear throughout the years and to me this sounds like the expensive sh*t!

http://youtu.be/MsNozwPZLJU


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## Chriss Ons (Jun 25, 2013)

Waywyn @ Tue 25 Jun said:


> Sorry, one more  Only because it has been released yesterday (I believe) and it sounds absolutely fantastic!
> 
> Check out the new Virtual Buss Compressors by Steven Slate! These things sound awesome! To be honest I don't own any hardware compressors , but I heard a lot of gear throughout the years and to me this sounds like the expensive sh*t!
> 
> http://youtu.be/MsNozwPZLJU



Heard about this yesterday, too... may very well pick that one up as well (there's a good deal on Audiodeluxe with their current Summer Savings discount, but it only lasts 'till the 30th I think).
Just the other day I got the Steven Slate Virtual Console Collection and totally love it; as it can really make subgroups 'gel' together... in a good way.


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## Den (Jun 25, 2013)

Just to put this one EQ again.
If you care about the sound much.
http://www.waves.com/manuals/plugins/marroquin-eq.pdf

This EQ is very special.

HP is inspired by the high pass filter on Manny’s SSL 9080 XL K desk

110 Hz and 220 Hz come from the 1073

While 50 Hz and 140 Hz from the Quad 8 are wide bells, the 250 Hz from the same EQ is much narrower. The 110 Hz and 220 Hz are shelf type filters.

For low mid/mid band EQs, Manny’s Quad 8 and Motown take center stage. 250 Hz, 400 Hz and 1500 Hz are inspired by the Quad 8, while the 320 Hz and 800 Hz hail from the Motown

The mid/ high mid range is inspired by three different units: The Motown, the Neve 1073 and the API 550B. The 800 Hz and 5 kHz cutoffs are inspired by the Motown; 1.6 kHz and 3.2 kHz by the 1073; and 8 kHz by the API 550B

the high frequencies on this EQ are so silky Avalon 2055 Cutoff points range from 10 kHz to 25 kHz, which adds some beautiful “air.” This band also has a shelf/bell selector.

LP is inspired by the low pass filter on Manny’s SSL 9080 XL K desk


The best of the bests!
Demo it.


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