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5 Plug Ins You Can't Live Without

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Started 9 months ago by closetohuman
Latest reply from Eric Christian
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closetohuman

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I just posted a blog entry listing my top 5 software plug ins.

http://allbeautydestroyed.blogspot.com/

Those are mine. What are yours?

Posted 9 months ago #
YADE

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1.) ABL Bassline 2....if I am not in the mood to program my 303.....

2.) Sonicbytes Gat'r.... very nice to make static sounds more living...

3.) Novation V-Station...if I already used the K-Station :-)

4.) CamelSpace : to add some wobble to it....

5.) Protools Elastic Properties (if counted as Plugin)....to make sample beat accurate and pitch correct...

Posted 9 months ago #
dogmeat

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1) Alchemy
2) Absynth
3) FM8
4) MaxMSP/pd (ok, not a plugin, yet AWESOME!)
5) Space Designer (Logic)

Posted 9 months ago #
soillodge

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Very much agree with Massive and Buffer Override. Really nice plugs.

I have three workhorse FX units I always use, a delay, a reverb, and a analog processing simulator. They are always set as send or group FX inserts when I open Cubase.

TC Native Reverb
Valhalla Frequency Echo
PSP Vintage Warmer

The only softsynth I find necessary is Reaktor, kind of a cheat because it is capable of so much. But really I only use Junatik and Analog Sound School. I can layer and create pretty much any synth sound I want with just those two opened in Reaktor.

I still prefer hardware and I always keep things about 50/50.

I also use the OHM Force FX quite a bit, but not as a go-to, more in the process of sound designing and experimenting. Especially hemotOHM and predatOHM.

`michael

Posted 9 months ago #
M4RC

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Massive
µTonic
Ohmicide
Logic's Compressor
Sylenth 1

I'd list my Virus TI but I don't think she counts ;)

Posted 9 months ago #
metaball

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i live ok without plugins.
i've got a L1 emulator i use a lot.
Komplete has a few things i use on occasion.
the B3 emulator is holding me over til i can score a Hammond XK3.
FM8 & Absynth are good for a quick pad.
that's about it.
i'd prolly feel differently if i was mixing something ITB at the moment.

Posted 9 months ago #
MechanicalVein

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Very cool, I'll have to give the Buffer Override a shot.
:-)

Posted 9 months ago #
mholloway

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1. Korg Legacy Collection -- contains my fav and most used synths, most notably the Mono/Poly above all else
2. Arts Acoustic Reverb - I've bought others (like Aether...) and wonder why I bothered. this one is all I need.
3. Guitar Rig -- a godsend for live shows, so I don't have to lug an amp around. so easy to take for granted these days
4. Rob Papen Predator -- shows up everywhere in my music. fun to program, neat and organized & capable of many sounds..
5. Voxengo Varisaturator -- always adds that subtle extra punch / grit whenever a channel needs it. use it alll the time.

-M

Posted 9 months ago #
comaduster

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+1 for Arts Acoustic Reverb! That's my favorite verb by far! Super fast to use, and amazing sound quality.

Tough for me to pick 5, I like tons of software. I use ableton's stuff a ton... but here goes.

in no order of importance.

1. U-he Zebra / Zebrify. An absolute favorite of mine. Great for most things, love the filters. Amazing as a modular effect unit.

2. NI Absynth 5. Digital awesomeness. Love this for any sounds the require movement. Basses to pads to soundscapes to FM percussion loops. Awesome as an effect unit as well.

3. FXpansion DCAM (mainly stobe). Amazing sound quality when run in oversampled modes. Replaces most analog lust for me. The modulation system in these synths is unmatched as far as I'm concerned. I've never been able to make sounds as animated and responsive so fast with any other synths, hard or soft. Love using the filters on these for other sources.

4. Arts Acoustic Reverb. As mentioned above. Always used.

5. Sonnox Inflator. This goes on almost everything for me to varying degrees. I actually use it as a clipping limiter as well. It's one of the 'make better' faders.

Posted 9 months ago #
Tumor

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Ableton live Analog, Autofilter, compressor & Saturation and operator
i barely use anything outside of ablton except some funny stuff :D

Posted 9 months ago #
Mathieu

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- FabFilter Twin: not the best sound ever, but super quick to setup
- uTonic: simple and direct
- UltraBeast: always does what I need that uTonic doesn't
- FabFilter Q: the fourth one in my list is still all about convenience
- AudioDamage Eon: Likely not the best reverb, but for some reasons I cannot explain I like using this one on all my tracks

I also guessed that the Virus TI does not count here. Its plugin UI is rather nice to use.

Posted 9 months ago #
awesomecakes

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NI Massive - I find myself using this more and more all the time

Line 6 Pod Farm - Got this for free with an interface and was really surprised at how good it was, best amp sim I've heard, and I've tried everything (except axe-fx)

Waves CLA-76 - Quite decent 1176 emulation, I use this all the time on basses, snares, toms, etc.

Ohmicide - It would be un-industrial to not use it

Pro Tools Vaccum - Never used it until recently, but straight away loved this synth, you can get some really good sounds out of it quite easily

Posted 9 months ago #
vx cheerleader 69

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Timeworks reverb
Timeworks delay
opcode filter
hyperprism vocoder
Anwida soft DX tremolo

These are the 5 plugs I use the most. Old stuff, but works the way I need.

Posted 9 months ago #
Modulate

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Stillwell Rocket compressor - Makes everything bigger/better/fuller
Stillwell CMX - Great for making something wider/thicker/detuned
Fabfilter EQ - Sounds great and fantastic GUI
ePhonic Retrodelay - It sits really nicely in the mix...this is all over the Soman remix I did
NI Battery - Nothing amazing about this, it's just quick and easy to use

I'd say those 5 get used more than any others. Tend to use the Virus TI a lot for synth sounds these days.

Posted 9 months ago #
Tsarik

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WILL PROBABLY PISS YOU OFF.

Cytomic The Glue - all comp duties

Valhalla DSP FreqEcho - freq shift/delay with as many uses as you can dream up.

SPL Analog Code PassEQ - all EQ duties

NI Battery3 - sampler

Cockos ReaGate - default gate plugin in reaper.

not technically a plugin but i've been using SoundForge since long before i ever thought of owning a synthesizer... Soundforge is still my main sample editor and worth metioning because its really powerful and fast

Posted 9 months ago #
Tsarik

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WILL PROBABLY PISS YOU OFF.

downloaded the demo of absynth5 and ran through a bunch of presets

the only thing that stuck out to me was a bowed cello preset that already had aftertouch mapped

most of the presets just disappointed.

i know the case with many synths is that you just need to program them yourself... i have to believe that this is the case since i really like comaduster's sounds

but there is something about absynth.. i mean.. many of the presets that came on my uwave XT would never be used... but all seemed more sonically powerful.. and it isn't just a volume thing.. some of absynth's presets were way louder than the others

i don't buy into all the analog hype.. so i don't think absynth is crap... but there definitely wasn't any immediate "wow" like i've had with all other synthesizers.. including the sh-201

if i didn't lack the rack space i would just grab a tx81z for more digital fun.. 1 class left.. then i'll look into moving... looking forward to having more space so i can have a proper setup with a good work flow

Posted 9 months ago #
distortedmemory

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Spectrasonics Omnisphere
NI Massive
NI Maschine (although technically I COULD get by with Battery)
NI Kontakt 4
Spectrasonics Ommnisphere

really i think the most accurate way I could make that list is if omnisphere was listed 5 times. It is the most useful piece of software I have ever used, and I really don't think I could work without it now.

Posted 9 months ago #
Rogue Process

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Here goes... AT THE MOMENT:

iZotope PhatMatik Pro - Best break-slicer evar. Simple. No bullshit. Just a piss-easy slicer :)

Native Instruments Battery 3 - Does everything I need a one-shot sampler to do. Unlike a lot of people I really enjoy Battery 3's workflow.

Camel Audio Alchemy - Really deep and powerful synth. Lush pads, phat leads and crazy textures.

VOPM - Lovely little open-source/freeware Yamaha OPL-2 emulation, can import Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive sounds!!

Waves H-Delay - I don't know why I like this delay so much, it just sounds fracking gorgeous.

Posted 9 months ago #
comaduster

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@Tsarik: Thanks for the compliment!
Absynth is definitely one of the least immediate synths out there. It's taken me quite a few years to really hit the sweet spot with it. I actually haven't heard an absynth preset that wasn't made by me out of my speakers in years :)
It offers a lot of really unique and esoteric things that I like a lot. With all of that said, it's definitely one of the most rewarding synths I've ever used. Not very 'fun' to program, since the sound design aspect of it isn't really based around performace. But for chizzling away at the details of sound, it's nearly unmatched. Using it a ton on Mass Effect 3 sound design, and in my own music.

A quick list (ok maybe not super quick) of some of the things that I really like about it are:
-adding the 25000 Galbanum waves is amazing. Not only can they be used in oscs, but they can also be used as LFOs, Ringmod and Frequency Shifter carrier waves, waveshaper waves (more flavours of distortion here than I'll ever need) and as additional LFOs inside the envelopes.
-Love the Cloud and Aether effects (granualar coolness) and the Supercomb filter (allows waveshaping, freq shifting and ring mod within the feedback path!)
-My single favorite feature: Control Driven Envelopes. Basically you can asign a multipoint envelope (or several) to any parameter in the synth, and instead of using Time to move through the envelope, you use a controller (midi or macro). So you can get some highly animated sounds. Similar to mod mapping in other synths (alchemy does it well), but I like this implementation a lot.
-Super high degree of numerical control! Sometimes down to 0.0001 for parameter changes. Great for animation and subtle tonal shifts.

Posted 9 months ago #
Tsarik

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WILL PROBABLY PISS YOU OFF.

on paper i'm totally sold. going to download the manual and try to program something in it myself. i'd love to buy a new synth.. but everytime i contemplate it i see this big orange beast (microwave xt) that i love playing and programming... but it is so often untouched because i always gravitate to one of my analog mono synths... so i'm hesitant to buy a new synth because 1 i don't want to not use it often and 2 i don't want to ignore things I already own

these software synthesizers are so damned enticing though.. they've got so many more programming options. i sit and play with my synths everyday, rarely recording.. just programming.

i wonder... are there any D/A converters that aren't manufactured to be super pricise.. something that may inject some more oomph to the sound

Posted 9 months ago #