I've been using Reaper of late cause it's cheap and they aren't jerks.
But g'damn do the plugins suck. I was all but ready to switch to Studio One, but I hear their stock plugs are kind of rubbish too.
So I'm thinking I'll double down on the Reap and buy some plugs.
SO:
Any good VST kits out there that are a pretty affordable and cover a wide range?
I'm looking specifically for effects, don't need instruments.
I guess what I'm looking for falls into two main categories:
- The staples (compressor, reverb, etc.)
- Inspirational tools. Things that might transform a sound or change the direction of a song
Vague enough?
Or maybe just tell me what you like.
Keep an eye on sites like Plugin Discounts where you'll see different deals on a regular basis. Also keep an eye out for Waves sales, as they randomly will have some heavily discounted plugins for a day or two. That being said...
Valhalla DSP: a bunch of nice reverbs and a couple crazy delays. Freq Echo is free.
D-16: Decimort and Devastor are both fun, and Frontier is a free and simple compressor / limiter
Soundtoys: not cheap, but patience can get you a good deal.
Waves: they have some models of tons of vintage gear that sound perfectly fine and can be found for $25. People love to hate them the same way people hate Boss.
I think all of them can be downloaded as trials, so see what you like.
Sup. Waves are having their 25th ani sale atm.
I highly recommend the Abbey rd Plates, API2500, CLA2, DBX 160, C6 and the "Puigtech" Pultech clones. I use these all the time as bread and butter plugins. Check it: https://www.waves.com/
Soundtoys are my fav creative plugs. Decapitator, DevilLoc Deluxe and Primal Tap especially work for me. Primal tap is a fucking lexicon primetime copy but with 8000Ms of delay time. Great for asynchronous weird lofi digital delay loops. Awesome as fuck.
Now, i know you said no instruments, but duuuude, i gotta recommend Madronna Labs Aalto. 4 voice buchla style VST. Fucking awesome.
I also use the D16 decimort and Frontier as mentioned above. Awesome as fuck.
So, stock plugins don't suck as much as people usually complain about. They're just bland, sterile, not magic utilities. They're just functional. That's another conversation though.
Waves is good. They never quite sound like the real thing, but they're close. They are also always on sale. Turn off the analog options on all the recreations. That noise will overwhelm if you leave it on on to many plugins.
UAD is amazing if you can afford it or have a powerful enough system. They are resource hungry.
Plugin Alliance makes my favorite stuff. Less resource hungry. From the highly precise and surgical to dirty faithful analog recreations. Their unfiltered audio line is great and semi modular.. Unlimited lfos, quantized randomization, envelope followers, or step sequencer on any parameter on your pitch shifter, delays, pitch shifters, etc. In like 3 clicks.
Movement by output is fantastic, but resource hungry. Throw it on anything and you have instant rhythmic fx
A favorite of mine that I don't see mentioned enough: Sonic Charge Permut8. Definitely fits the bill for inspirational tools that can totally change a sound/song.
Argotlunar is a really cool granular delay/pitch-shifting thingy that's totally free, I use it loads. The soundhack free bundle is great too, even though some of them have a time limit on how long you can use them for before you have to pay for the full version,
DRodriguez wrote:So, stock plugins don't suck as much as people usually complain about. They're just bland, sterile, not magic utilities. They're just functional. That's another conversation though.
Waves is good. They never quite sound like the real thing, but they're close. They are also always on sale. Turn off the analog options on all the recreations. That noise will overwhelm if you leave it on on to many plugins.
UAD is amazing if you can afford it or have a powerful enough system. They are resource hungry.
Plugin Alliance makes my favorite stuff. Less resource hungry. From the highly precise and surgical to dirty faithful analog recreations. Their unfiltered audio line is great and semi modular.. Unlimited lfos, quantized randomization, envelope followers, or step sequencer on any parameter on your pitch shifter, delays, pitch shifters, etc. In like 3 clicks.
Movement by output is fantastic, but resource hungry. Throw it on anything and you have instant rhythmic fx
Yo totally agree on the stock plugins thing, I use Ableton and whenever I want things like basic compression, saturation and EQ I use their stock stuff because they do exactly what is advertised, no more, no less.
Also, waves are especially awesome if you don't have a reference point for any of the real things but want dramatic effect haha. Of all the waves stuff the only real versions I've used are LA-2s and 2500s but I don't move in professional recording circles a whole heap.
And thanks for the memory jog on the unfiltered audio stuff. I keep forgetting to look at that properly
spacelordmother wrote:A favorite of mine that I don't see mentioned enough: Sonic Charge Permut8. Definitely fits the bill for inspirational tools that can totally change a sound/song.
Oh yeah, waves are like drinking papaya juice. You think that what papaya taste's like. Tastes like what you've heard papaya tastes like. You've just never had papaya so you can't know if it's true. Still damn tasty though.
Solid stuff though and can definitely get close to the real stuff while running incredibly efficiently. I have a real SSL at work, and I still frequently use the SSL waves plugins
And never pay for a plugin you can't demo. Plugin videos are even more unrealistic than pedal demos. Everything is tailored to make the plugins sound great.
DRodriguez wrote:Oh yeah, waves are like drinking papaya juice. You think that what papaya taste's like. Tastes like what you've heard papaya tastes like. You've just never had papaya so you can't know if it's true. Still damn tasty though.
Solid stuff though and can definitely get close to the real stuff while running incredibly efficiently. I have a real SSL at work, and I still frequently use the SSL waves plugins
And never pay for a plugin you can't demo. Plugin videos are even more unrealistic than pedal demos. Everything is tailored to make the plugins sound great.
Haha perfect analogy if I didn't sell fruit for a living
And yeah I totally noticed the other day, but I reckon I have 30 products registered on my iLok account with another 100 odd expired demo licenses and stuff just chilling in there.
I generally only use plugins for 1.) mixing/mastering or 2.) messing sounds up. For the first category, if you are okay with the whole iLok thing, Slate plugins are really nice. They also have some really useful free plugins too like Revival (harmonic enhancer) and Monster (compressor). I like their stuff more for subtle adjustments, saturation, etc. It helps a ton. FG-X is great for mastering, incredibly useful and simple. Izotope just released a new free Imager (does stereo imaging) plugin too, which can be helpful and is way better than anything that your DAW will give you out of the box. Softube's 'Saturation Knob' is great for saturating things.
For messing stuff up, Izotope has some cool stuff too. Izotope Vinyl is cool to run through delays or use in unconventional ways while mangling audio. It used to be free too, don't know if it still is or not. Freakshow industries has a lot of cool stuff like their reverse delay 'Backmask'. Also amp sims are great for messing things up too. I love Amplitude 3, mainly the Fender and Orange packs. You can really get some chaos to happen when messing around with those in a chain with reverbs and other stuff. I use Logic though, so most of the plugins included are pretty great when used right (like DRod was saying), especially the compressors and reverbs. I don't really have a use for it, but Glitch machines has some pretty goofy plugins too for free like 'fracture' and such. There is tons of free stuff out their if you don't want to pay money, and their is tons of great stuff if you are willing to pay money too. Like i said though, generally my uses of plugins are more for mixing and mastering. I generate sounds outside of the computer and send them into one by a mic usually. .
Last edited by ibarakishi on Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Things like those Waves analogies are really what I need to hear.
I just have no reference point.
Even stock being more functional than what people seem to think.
askashrub, i don't know how familiar you are with your DAW inside and out, but i think that in my opinion it is really helpful for the long run if you really work to become familiar with what you 'can' and 'cannot' do first with your DAW thoroughly and find as many free plugins that interest you to mess around with for fun in the beginning. I think this is especially true when you work primarily with outside sound sources. Because a lot of problems you may encounter that you want to resolve are not going to be fixed best inside the computer. A lot of them are easier to fix with better gear for recording your source material, trying out different mic placement, understanding what does and doesn't work for a mix, etc.
But if you are wanting to work with only computer generated sounds, then having some really solid plugin libraries will obviously help you with that.
If you have to spend money on plugins after knowing and having a good handle of your DAW, and are not making most of your sounds in the box, then i think that money would be better spent on plugins focused on the mixing side of things first and putting that money towards things that will take an already great sound and make it sound even better. Having the best possible outcome for the sound going into your computer before the plugins is kind of the golden ticket with this type of working. And it is way more rewarding for the final product i think (if you care about a final product/ outcome). But If you are working mostly in the box, or just care about experimenting and the process itself, i would say put your money towards a sample library first / plugins that will allow you to work creatively that you think will work solid for you and focus on the mixing side of things later with money while just using what is given to you in your DAW for that at the beginning. You can get really are with what you have and what is out there for free, and understanding what you have first will only enhance what you can do with the things you invest in down the road.
A lot of what you can work with for plugins too is going to depend on how large your files are and how many plugins you plan on running. This becomes really clear really quickly what your limits are and what your computer can handle too like people have already stated above.
I like the Kush plugins a lot... I've enjoyed the hell out of the UBK-1, seems to make nearly all drums sound awesome, not to mention all kinds of other things. Seemingly idiot proof (because I can use it). The new Novatron plugin looks fucking awesome. Just offering theirs up because you can buy one and use it on quite a lot of stuff...
I got a ton of Waves plugins because I bought an Apogee interface... they're great and I think there are quite a few avenues to get them for cheap (i.e. bundles) now that UAD has kinda destroyed their previous ubiquity. UAD are amazing too, but not cheap due to the required hardware.
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