# Melda, Fabfilter, Flux bundles



## macteacher (Dec 17, 2014)

Hi All,

So I've been demoing Melda, Fabfilter, and Flux bundles for mixing and mastering and have been considering buying bundles rather than going a la carte as the savings is greater.

With end of the year sales in full swing again, and having missed the Black Friday deals as I was still evaluating, I'm reaching a decision point.

Each of these packages certainly have their strengths and I also like the idea of having a familiar interface to work with across a tool set.

I should also mention that up to now I've been using mostly built in Pro Tools plugins to address my needs, but I'm interested in adding some powerful 3rd party plugins as well.

I've read everything I could find on all the forums on VI on the above products, and I was curious if anyone else had made the same comparisons and what their feelings were, especially after purchase and working with them for a bit.

Thanks!

(FYI, I've found a lot of info on the above here in the Sample talk forum which is why I posted here)


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## Marius Masalar (Dec 17, 2014)

I've tried the Melda and Flux plugins and I own basically everything FabFilter's ever done.

There's a good deal of overlap between some of the products, and some cover ground that others don't, but FabFilter has been at the heart of my setup since I started using it and given a choice of only one of the bundles, I wouldn't even hesitate for a second—FabFilter.

Absolutely no contest.


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## PeterKorcek (Dec 17, 2014)

what about Izotope, specifically alloy 2 - is it that great difference in EQing when compared to Fabfilter Pro 2Q if somebody has had the opportunity to try them out both?


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## macteacher (Dec 17, 2014)

thanks so much for the response!

any other thoughts?


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## Mystic (Dec 17, 2014)

FabFilter makes some of the best plugins you'll find. They have really impressed me the past few years. Saving for Total Bundle at the moment.


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## Peter Alexander (Dec 17, 2014)

Melda bundles are incredibly value priced especially considering what you're getting. If you want Melda - wait until Dec 26 for the Boxing Day sales. 

We're also about to announce the FabFilter sale, too.


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## macteacher (Dec 17, 2014)

Thanks for the responses.

One of the things driving this conversation is indeed that Melda goes on sale 40% off starting 12/22 and Fab Filter is on sale now for 25% off, both sales are including bundles.

Flux bundles are already on sale as well.

Will the boxing day sales be better than that historically??


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## Peter Alexander (Dec 17, 2014)

This is our first year with them so I can't tell you about boxing day compared to last year.


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## TakeABow (Dec 17, 2014)

I put Fabfilter plugins to use on pretty much every project. Pro-Q (and now Pro-Q2) is a really nice, transparent EQ that is pretty CPU friendly. Pro-L is my go-go limiter, I really enjoy Pro-MB.


I used to use Alloy and Ozone and Waves a lot, and now I hardly touch them. I'm pretty much using exclusively Fabfilter and Slate these days.


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## Hannes_F (Dec 17, 2014)

macteacher,

thanks for inviting me to this thread. Some thoughts:

- I know the situation of desire to buy / pressure from sales periods as everybody here. It is good that you withstood that as long as you were not sure what is really good for you. Kudos for that.

- In order to know what is good for you you need to get into a situation where you can quickly and definetely decide. For that you (as we all) need two things: Own projects that you can test plugins with, and proper listening conditions.

In order to explain that a little further: If you can not hear the difference of what plugin X does vs. what plugin Y does it is all a shot in the dark. Others might tell you what they prefer but since you can't hear the difference you will hardly be able to use the one better than the other. So the first thing you need are proper listening conditions. If I would start again I personally would save every dime for the Neumann KH120 that I have now before buying _any _plugin. Before I had monitors that were not bad (and actually even more expensive) and even my room was treated very well but still the monitors were not suited for my room because of a backside port and I had big time struggles in order to produce mixes that translate to the outside world. No plugin is of use in such a situation.

The second thing one needs are actual projects for testing, own and proper source material. For example I can not really advise on compressors because the music that I do hardly needs any. So for me they are so similar that I have a hard time distinguishing the one from the other. There was a time when you absolutely needed to have PSP OldTimer, then you absolutely needed The Glue, then came DC8C2, now it is Kotelnikov ... these are but few of those that I bought because of recommendations from people in this forum that I highly value but honestly I can't really say what the difference is.

However with EQs I have an instantaneous perception that many products degrade the overall sonical quality of my recordings while others do not. This is not a question of long tests, I hear that in the split of a second.

So ... it depends on your style of music. Strongly.

If you have these things - good listening conditions and projects that reflect your style - then you can hear what fits for you with the demo versions in very short time. If you can't then most probably these two factors are lacking.

This is probably not what you wanted to hear  but I feel that any other advice I could give would make it even more difficult to decide.

I should add that I hope this does not come over as patronizing or anything. I write this as the essence of thousands of EUR that I myself spent too early and basically wasted.

Hope that helps, Hannes

PS.: With my moderator hat on I move this into Post pro and Mixing discussion. It is true, we have too many threads in Sample Talk that should be at other places but we try to order this a little.

PSS: Let me add that from a learning point of view the Melda Plugins did teach me most because in many cases you _see _very nicely what is happening. Only with Melda I finally understood what a compressor does (go figure).

I personally need: SPAT, VSS2, Melda MDynamicEQ (I have MAutoDynamicEQ but don't use the Auto section), SplineEQ, bx_refinement, AmberEQ, VUMTSolo, Melda MCompare, LX480, Galbanum B2, Nebula 660 comp (ha - finally a compressor that does something for me!), several Nebula libraries like EQs, tapes, tubes and EMT 140, Exponential Audio R2 and Phoenix, Melda MultiBandHarmonizer, Waves SoundShifter, Waves REDD. But that all is only good for my strings and might be totally different if I were into drums. 

I like Ircam Flux Epure a lot but it did not play nice with SPAT last time I tested, so I don't use it. But that is sad.

I tested Fabfilter but I am wasted when it comes to EQs - either I prefer totally clean ones like SplineEQ/Epure/PlParEQ or Nebula/Acqua for character. So ... if everybody says that then fabfilter might be your best choice but I could never decide to buy them.


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## Vastman (Dec 17, 2014)

I just went through this dilemma and after many hours of trying all of them (except Flux), including iZotope's bundle, ended up with FabFilter as the quality is unsurpassed and the GUI is exquisite. The visual depictions are just such a big help in understanding what is going on... You can download them and try them for a month... and I think once you do you'll see what I mean. They are a pleasure to use whereas many of the others just left me scratching my head...


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## macteacher (Dec 17, 2014)

Thanks for the detailed response Hannes!

I do appreciate your response very much.

I have a pretty good monitoring system at the moment, thanks for attending to that point.

One of the issues is that I do a wide range of projects and styles presently.

Orchestral, jazz, hip hop, big band, eclectic, pop, rock, and other styles etc.

I do have plenty of source material.

But because of the variety it's not a clear cut decision.

Ears obviously come first and I agree with the thought that if you know how to use tools that the choices between them may be negligible.

That's why I was asking about folks experiences and yours, especially with your comment on using Melda's plugins expanded your understanding as well as the power of Ircam.

I'd love to hear other's thoughts as well as any cautionary commentary that I'm barking up the wrong tree if necessary!

Thx.


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## Hannes_F (Dec 17, 2014)

macteacher, I've edited my first post a bit.


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## macteacher (Dec 17, 2014)

Thx Vast, agreed on the GUI. The Fabfilter Pro plugins are awesome, especially on the GUI.

I find myself most drawn to the Pro bundle though the creative bundle is interesting.

Just to share a bit more, I find the expanse of the Melda set impressive and the range of useful plugins huge.

The upcoming 40% off the total bundle, (was 50% around black friday for one day), is very tempting because the total bundle includes any updates or new plugins free of charge with whatever they come up with.

Also the documentation on Fabfilter and Melda is excellent both by the companies and users.

While Flux is a bit lacking in the documentation department, the tools are extremely powerful and limited only by your understanding of the technical aspects of what you're trying to do from what I've seen so far. They are also very transparent, though can be demanding on system resources at times.

Any other input is appreciated!!


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## paulmatthew (Dec 17, 2014)

well you already know my take on Fabfilter products, but there are many great plugins from Melda too. I use the Mtransient and Mmultianalyzer which are both very useful if you don't have these types of tools. Don't forget you can download the Mfreeeffects bundle for free and upgrade for next to nothing for full features. Their Wobbler and Vocoder are pretty popular with the electronic production crowd as well as their multiband series. 

Another place to check for bundles is Plugin Alliance which offer Brainworx , SPL and Elysia plugins . They are generally for more specific tasks , but I've been happy with 
them so far. Good quality and some fairly easy to use. I'm still kicking myself for not getting Brainworx Dynamic EQ when it was on sale.

For everyday plugin use , you may want to stick with the Fabfilter Pro bundle , Melda Productions or Izotope Ozone 6( mastering ) or Alloy 2 (channel strip) or piece together plug ins of your choice from multiple developers but in the end you will get the best bang for your buck in a bundle setting. FYI You can currently pickup the Izotope Ozone 6 and Alloy 2 bundle for about $260 at some online retailers . 

You can demo most of these for yourself and give them a try. Pick the one/ones that feels comfortable to you and your workflow. Only you know what you will like , we're just offering up advice but ultimately you are the one that has to decide which plugins are best for you.


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## macteacher (Dec 17, 2014)

Thx Paul. also very helpful!


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## Vastman (Dec 18, 2014)

There's been ongoing lively discussions about melda/fab/others on the cakewalk forums and a number of melda advocates (just do a Google search; I'm mobile at the moment). I will probably pick up a couple Melda if I survive Xmas UIST/projectSAM OE bundle sale lust, in particular their multi spectral dynamics vst which is unique... Bitflipper had done great reviews of their product over at Cake... However I did feel there were a lot of redundancy in the bundles and in trying them both out found FF more intuitive and visual

I have both FF Creative and Mastering bundles. Don't use much beyond Timeless2 in the Creative but since getting the Mastering bundle I use those plugs all the time. Am also trying to swing their de-esser during their loyalty discount plus additional holiday discount as it is pretty revolutionary and exquisite...never thought I'd be looking at it but as I do lots of vocals I'm finding out how smashing it is


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## macteacher (Dec 18, 2014)

Thanks for the cakewalk trail! That was a wealth of information!

Interesting about the overlap. I did notice that as well, but I'm not sure how much of an issue it is for me.


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## drumman (Dec 18, 2014)

Hannes, your entire post above is very wise, IMO. I agree that if you can't hear the difference between x and y, then what difference does it make? You can train your ear to some extent to hear differences, but when that is all said and done, if you still can't tell, then forget it.

I read with great interest the opinions of others, then integrate that with my own needs (ok, wants) and ears.

And a big monster sale doesn't hurt, either! Everything seems to sound better on sale.


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## KEnK (Dec 18, 2014)

Of I love the FF plugs too
But lately I'm using DMG Equilibrium as my go to eq.
I love the various eq curves you can choose.
For compressors I prefer "character" more than clean-
I love the interface of the FF comp/lim 
but have only been making friends w/ it lately

I've just started using Melda plugs-
Very impressed!
They have some unique tools
the spectaldynamics and the dynamic eqs are pretty amazing
There are going to be getting a lot of use from this point on.

k


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## macteacher (Dec 19, 2014)

Good advice as well Drumman!

Thx KEnk as well!

Monster sales are the greatest temptations indeed, but ultimately they will come around again, IMHO.

I'm buying for the year which is why I give lots of thought, do demos and welcome opinions. 

The rest of the year I'm focused on doing the work and making a living, and then buy for write offs based on what I made and what I feel will make me more productive and be better at what I do.

Even if it's a tool that isn't employed forever, if it leads to greater understanding that's priceless.

I also believe in dedicating enough time to completely wrap my mind around a tool, especially a toolset which is why I want to go with one bundle.

Thanks for the input everyone!

Open to more!


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