Plugins of choice : Mastering, Channel strip, Voice, Instrument, Analyzers and Esoteric.

[tea for two]

Which are your plugins of choice?
Preehaps you would post your personal choices.

You don't need to post them all at once, you could post as and when you use them.

There's been diverse SoS magazine articles, SoS forum threads on plugins. Probably in the hundreds.
Probably thousands of SoS forum posts on plugins.

Just to pull together in one thread as a kind of resource which might be of some use to some one.

::

I shall start it orff.

I purchased these plugins on sale as special offers:

Aphex Vintage Exciter, BassRider, CLA76 (1176 emulation), Chris Lord Alge Bass Drums Guitars, L3 Ultramaximizer, PuigChild 670 (Fairchild emulation), SPL Vitaliser mk2-T, SSL Native Buss Compressor.

I aim to, without these purchased plugins,
get the arrangement, instrumentation, sound editing, gain staging, recording, eqing, filtering, mixing as I would like.
Using mostly just my ears.
I have multiple albums I haven't used a single of the above purchased plugins.

Even though I mostly used my ears for all my albums, I sometimes look at
Voxengo Span analyzer free version.
https://www.voxengo.com/product/span/

Just of late last few days I've used Youlean loudness meter free version.
https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/

I'm interested in free plugins that do what ££$$ plugins do.
https://plugins4free.com/
I'm into esoteric plugins as PaulXStretch.
https://sonosaurus.com/paulxstretch/
Also plugins with memorable names. I still recall with mirth Delay Lama.
http://www.audionerdz.nl/index2.htm

There are such plugins rated here on SoS forum :
MetricAB $199 which has previously been on sale.
https://www.adptraudio.com/metric-ab
Perception AB £105
https://www.meterplugs.com/perception-ab
Nugen Audio Visualizer £139
https://nugenaudio.com/visualizer/

There are as we are aware plugins from :
https://hofa-plugins.de/en/plugins/
https://www.izotope.com/en/products.html
https://www.masseyplugins.com/plugins
https://www.masteringthemix.com/pages/p ... -producers
https://www.soundtoys.com/product/

Sales offers :
https://www.sosmusictools.com/
https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/de ... t-discount
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/?gclid= ... gLoBfD_BwE

So many out there.

So if you would post your personal plugin choices you have are using.

::

I also use bundled plugins Logic X, these are :
Pultec emulation Vintage EQ, Channel EQ, Filters high low band;
Gain;
Apm Cab sims they may or may not not be up to scratch yet for me it's easiest use least faff;
UREI/Universal Audio 1176 Rev E “Blackface” , Focusrite Red 3A, SSL G, DBX 160, UREI 1176 Rev H “Silverface”, Teletronix LA-2A Logic emulations, Logics own Platinum Digital. Switching easily between these 7 Logic emulations with just a single mouse click makes them my go to instead of the ones I purchased.

[RichardT]

I really don’t use many effect plugins so it’s easy for me to list them!

EQ: TBT Kirchhoff (much cleaner than Fabfilter Pro Q3)
Compressor: Fabfilter Pro C2
Limiter: Fabfilter Pro L2
Transients: NI Transient Master
Saturation / Distortion: Steinberg Quadrafuzz
Gate: Fabfilter Pro G
Stereo: Steinberg Imager
Reverb: Fabfilter Pro Q3
Delay: Steinberg ping pong and multi tap delays

When it comes to instruments I’m signed up to NI, Arturia, Roland, Xfer and a few others.

[R_A]

Mine:

DMGaudio TrackControl; Exponential Audio Nimbus; Softube TLA-100A & Transient Shaper; Sonnox Inflator; Soundtoys Soundtoys 5; SSL Native X-EQ 2 & Bus Compressor 2; Waves Doubler, F6, L2, R-Vox & Vocal Rider; Voxengo Boogex & SPAN

Plus a few odds and sods that are bundled in REAPER

I'd like a good basic compressor plugin. I've been meaning to demo Waves C1 and few others.

[MarkOne]

I rely heavily on the Softube Console 1 with the bundled SSL 4000E for pretty much everything. Also like using the Softube Saturation Knob and Dirty Tape on synths and bass

I also have the Slate Digital stuff and I keep going to Infinite EQ, and I do find the Virtual Mix rack covers most bases. The Virtual Tape Machine and Red compressor are usually on my mix bus

I have a handful of Waves things, and Bass Rider and R-Bass get quite a lot of use OVOX and Harmony end up on a lot of vocal stuff.

I've become very attached to the Native Instruments RAUM and Replika for more 'effects' like verb and delay.

Liquidsonics plates are a thing of sonic beauty

But I often go back to the Logic stock plugins particularly the compressor and EQ, because they just work. Actually I'd be reasonably happy to mix exclusively with the stock plugins if I had to.

[Drew Stephenson]

Channel Strip
I have the Plugin Alliance Console N on every channel. On my 8-bus channels this is joined by Acustica's CoffeePun. Those two are wired up to my Qube Mobi One so I have hardware control of all those functions.
Which is nice.

Other plugins that get regular use:
Reverb:
Soundtoys Little Plate.
Apogee Clearmountain's Spaces.
I used to use Inspired Acoustic's Inspirata Lite but it caused too many crashes. Which is a shame as it sounds lovely (Reaper isn't a supported system to be fair).

EQ:
TDR Nova for all dynamic EQ duties.
ReaEQ.

Compression:
ReaComp
SoundToys Decapitator.
SoundToys Devil Loc.
Klanghelm DC1A3

Tools:
Waves Sibilance.
GVST GClip.
Helgoboss' ReaLearn.
Izotope RX Elements.
JamOrigin Midi Guitar 2.
Melda MLoudness Analyser.
Plugin Alliance BX Solo.
Sonarworks Reference 3.
SoundTheory Gullfoss.
Izotope Ozone Elements.
Various Reaper tools for Pitch, Midi, tuning and delay.

Other FX:
Acustica Taupe (tape emulation).
Audio Things Things Texture (granular reverb thing).
Creative Intent Temper (grit and attitude (I seem to have a lot of these!).
Melda MAutopan.
SoundToys Little Radiator.
SoundToys Echoboy.
Waves Smack Attack.

Instruments:
Spitfire BBC Orchestra (the free one).
Spitfire Labs (also free and covers a phenomenal range of sounds).
SoniVox Eighty Eight.
ToonTrack EZKeys.
Expressive E Imagine.
Native Instruments Abbey Road Vintage Drums.
Manda Audio Power Drummer.
Boz Digital Boot / Clap / Snap trio.
Diginoiz SubDivine.
Melda MVintage Rotary.

I've got other things (more compressors obviously!) like guitar amp sims and a few more weirdness / grit / warmth generators but the ones above are the things that get the most outings.

On the buy list:
Currently got my eye on Pathfinder Violin, but otherwise I lack for nothing!

Oh yes, and of the above, according to the law of plugin pricing, I think TDR Nova GE is the only thing I paid full price for.

[sonics]

Hi. My name's sonics and I'm a pluginaholic.

Seriously though, I have way too many tools to list them all here. I don't use that many on each project, but I do like have the option to change things up a bit. That can help give me a fresh perspective, allow me to discover a new sound, and stop me doing the same thing on every session.

Sorry if that's not very helpful.

EDIT:
I had a think about it and decided to add just a few that have been really important for me in the last few years that come to mind right now.
Channel strips by Brainworx.
EQ by Waves, Brainworx, TDR etc.
Dynamic EQ by Waves, TDR, Baby Audio etc.
Specialist EQ by sonible.
Reverb by Exponential Audio and LiquidSonics.
De-noise tools by various.
Metering by Waves, SPL etc.
Comparison software like MetricAB, iZotope.
EQ correction by ToneBoosters and IK Multimedia.

...and dozens more.

[tea for two]

Hi. My name's sonics and I'm a pluginaholic.

Seriously though, I have way too many tools to list them all here.
Sorry if that's not very helpful.

EDIT:
I had a think about it and decided to add just a few that have been really important for me in the last few years that come to mind right now.

This is funny
I'm glad you listed those plugins really important to you in the last few years.

As this thread is meant to be a resource for any body interested in plugins as to what to audition / choose from the thousands out there.

[Arpangel]

Valhalla VintageVerb, Valhalla Delay, and SuperMassive, that’s it.

[amanise]

Most often used plugins:
Arturia BL-20 Flanger
Softube Transient Shaper
Softube Dirty Tape
Voxengo Overtone GEQ
Voxengo SPAN
A real Marshall JTM45 for guitar tone
Boss GT-001 guitar effects
Native Instruments Phasis
Tokyo Dawn Labs TDR Kotelnikov (amazing compressor)
Tokyo Dawn Labs TDR Nova (great EQ)
All the iZoptope elements clean up stuff.

Instruments:
MK Merlittzer
4Front Rhode x64 (everything starts here)
lazysnake (mostly the 'drops' voice)
TruePianos
Most of the things provided in ACID Pro 10

[Bob Bickerton]

Like many of us, there’s a shed load of plug-ins in the computer somewhere, but I often find myself using just a handful, so here goes:

Compression:

UAD: LA2A, LA3A, Fairchild 670
SSL: LMC+

EQ:
UAD: Pultec
SSL: X-EQ 2

Standard FX:
UAD: Lexicon 224
Liquid Sonics: Bricasti M7 emulation

Occasional (more weird) FX:
Eventide: Blackhole
Soundtoys: Echoboy, Filterfreak, Panman, Cristallizer
Logic: Delay Designer

Instruments:
Spitfire: BBC Symphony (Professional), Olafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions, Epic Choir, Epic Strings, Intimate Grand Piano, Intimate Strings, Cinematic Pads, Legendary Low Strings, British Drama Tool Kit (Standard and Brass and Reeds).

Toolbox:
Melodyne (Tuning)
Logic: Gain
IZotope: Spectral De-Noise

Mastering:
SSL: Native Buss Compressor, Fusion Violet EQ, Fusion HF Compressor, Fusion Stereo Imager, X-Limit
TC Electronic: Clarity M metering

Bob

[Luke W]

Another example of having more than I use here... The list of things that I use frequently is actually pretty minimal.

EQ:
FabFilter Pro-Q 3 is probably the only thing that appears on nearly everything I do.

Dynamics:
FabFilter Pro-C 2
FabFilter Pro-L 2
FabFilter Pro-MB
UAD Fairchild 660/670
UAD 1176 (the legacy versions)

Reverb:
FabFilter Pro-R

Distortion:
SansAmp PSA-1
Brainworx bx_saturator V2

Tools:
Brainworx bx_solo - I don't really use it now that I have a monitor controller, but I thought it'd be worth a mention as it's very useful for quick left/right soloing and mono/sides signal checks. It's also free, which is nice! It has a stereo width control too, although I can't say I ever used it.

Looking at the list, I think it's safe to say that the FabFilter Pro Bundle has ended up being the most useful of my plug-in decisions.

[proinducer]

Compressors: Fabfilter Pro C2, wave SSL, Softube FET
EQ: Ableton EQs, FabFilter Pro-Q3

[house-eey]

Bought many duplicated plugins but realized it wasn't necessary anymore and I stick with the simple ones nowadays.

EQ: Sonnox Oxford EQ mostly, and Claro sometimes.
Comp: Sonnox Oxford Dynamics

And, I like Reason Rack Plugin which includes a bunch of useful stock effectors. (I don't use Reason as a main DAW at this time by the way.)

[Telemaxis]

SOUNDS
Arturia Pigments
Cherry Audio - most of their soft synths
NI Komplete - Kontakt and various synths
Positive Grid Bias FX2
Guitar RIG

EQ
Fabfilter Pro Q3
Cockos ReaEQ

COMPRESSION
Waves - LA2A, CLA76, RCompressor

DELAY
Fabfiler Timeless, NI Replika

REVERB
Waves H-Reverb
NI Reflektor

[tea for two]

Abbey Road TG Mastering plugin is on sale at the moment approx £$€23-27.
There's 21 named Mastering engineers in the Presets each with multiple settings : Preset settings for different instruments, different styles of museek, different outcomes.

There's also Controls for Input, Tone, Compression/Limiting, Filter/EQ, and Output/Stereo Spread.

I thought I should get a Mastering plugin to hear what it might do. I put Abbey Road TG on one of my EDM pieces went thru some Presets. I would suggest either using the Presets as a ball park thereafter fine tuning with the Controls or starting with the Controls bypassing the Presets.

I kept my EDM piece as it was as I liked the sound of my mix so I took oorrff Abbey Road TG. Yet I'm sure I will find use for Abbey Road TG down the road.

[forumuser832518]

For voice I the slate VMR is still great for quick and easy tweaks, especially while tracking if I want the singer to vibe off compression and eq and dirt etc without introducing too much latency.

For mixing there’s usually a de-esser, usually waves/izotopoe/UAD precision depending on the singer and vocal chain

I love the brainworx ssl channels also but most of the heavy lifting in terms of colour and character would be standards like the UAD LA2A, 1176As etc, but love pawnshop , Kazrog etc as well

Ps this is my first post… “first time caller, long time listener” (even longer time SOS magazine reader )

Joe

[tea for two]

Some recent threads on plugins, plugin suggestions.

EQ.
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=89795

Vari-Mu.
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=89221

Remove digital delay effect.
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=89240

Techniques for recovering poor audio from video recording.
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=89928

Plug-ins for pitch correction of classical music recordings.
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=88585

Plugin to shorten drum sustain (on mac).
https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=89980

[alexis]

And if you're looking for another addiction, this will soothe your jitters too: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/oeksound-soothe-2

[tea for two]

https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... hp?t=90474
Saturation plugins.

https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... p?p=871353
Transient Shaper plugins.

https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... p?p=852739
Plugin/software that isolates instruments in a song.

https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... p?p=721897
What's your go-to stereo widening plugin.

https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... p?p=523845
Mastering in the Box - recommended plugins, best practices.

[The Paul meister]

I've come across a couple of plug ins recently.

First I saw Sonsig ACE in a KVR Audio email: https://relabdevelopment.com/ace/?utm_s ... ign=launch

I haven't tried the demo but it looks cool judging by the description. At the moment it's on offer for $79 instead of $99.

Also Bass Rift by United Plugins: https://unitedplugins.com/BassRift/

The demo is fully functioning for 15 days.

Going for 15 Euro until the 6 June, then it'll be 79 Euro. I've bought this one - I haven't used it extensively yet, but the delay fx are good, eg Phase Chorus and Flange. These sound good with normal guitar as well as bass.

[The Elf]

Is it only me that's finding more and more than bundled and free plug-ins do 80% of the job nowadays? There's some astonishing stuff out there.

[IAA]

Agree. I’m using logic and the new mastering plugin allowed me to retire my izotope neutron. The logic plug in is easier to use and sounds slightly better. Obviously IMHO.

Funnily enough I have been using IK multimedia Tascam Porta One plug in. Huge fun, no idea if it sounds like my old ports one did but sure looks the same!

What great times to create music.

Ian

[Zukan]

Is it only me that's finding more and more than bundled and free plug-ins do 80% of the job nowadays? There's some astonishing stuff out there.

Agreed, and in that department Cubase has improved markedly.

[BWC]

Is it only me that's finding more and more than bundled and free plug-ins do 80% of the job nowadays? There's some astonishing stuff out there.

Agreed, and in that department Cubase has improved markedly.

You can probably assume that most (all?) of us Reaper users also agree.

[tea for two]

Fo sho.

This ere thread mostly for those 20% not bundled in our DAWs shivers our timbers makes us do a happy jig lol rescued us from a tight spot.

::

Delay Lama still makes me chortle because of its name and graphics.
http://www.audionerdz.nl/index2.htm

::

Multiple albums I haven't inserted a single plugin. Only Gain.

Other albums
Logic's Api Neve Pultec eq emulations my go to.
Logic's Universal Audio 1176 Rev E “Blackface”, Focusrite Red 3A, SSL G, DBX 160, UREI 1176 Rev H “Silverface”, Teletronix LA-2A emulations my go to.
Logic's Apm Cab sims.

Bass Rider, CLA, Puigchild 670 my most used from those few I purrchased.