Can you get a high quality set of plugins for £500?

[johnny h]

It really depends on what kind of music you are making. If you need quality distortion, then you need to look at the soundtoys. Reverb is essential to a lot of music. For electronic music, static convolution doesn't really cut it, as you need the movement in there to keep the sound interesting - the Lexicon is perfect for this. Also chorus and delay ... But then if you are doing band recordings the nature of what you need from the compressors, gates etc is totally different.

[Scramble]

>AudioDamage and see what is there that ticks your box. They have a neat little harmonizer plugin that I fiddle with and almost like enough to ditch an SPX90 and H3000 for.

Which one?

[Mixedup]

How does one know whether a certain free-ware plug-in will start causing problems that weren't there before?

You virus check anything you bring into your DAW system. Then you install one plug-in at a time and try them. See what they do to your CPU meters etc. You should be doing this for pretty much all software you install, audio or otherwise. The only time I've had an issue with a dodgy plug-in preventing a DAW from actually opening was with Reaper, where it just hung on opening. I think that issue has been resolved now. As long as you manage to successfully open your project, then you're able to test the plug-in.

[The Elf]

What about all the words printed about "avoid dodgy plug-ins to avoid DAW problems", where people blame them for the DAW starting to act weird? Undoing those kind of DAW problems sounds like hell on earth from what I've read.

I can't see why it should be such a big deal. The best advice I'd give is to take an incremental backup immediately before you install ANYTHING. If you have a problem, and uninstalling the offending item doesn't cure the problem, then you re-instate the image copy.

I've never had, or been involved with, an insurmountable problem caused by a plug-in.

[mjfe2]

Yes, but will you get a good reverb in there? No. A good chorus? No. A mediocre delay, an ok EQ, good limiter and a fairly standard compressor.

In general the built in stuff is ok, apart from for reverb. The cheapest good reverb is the Acustica Audio Nebula, which also has great EQs and tape and console emulations. The lexicon reverb is just amazing.

I disagree -- no-one's mentioned 2CAudio's Aether! They had a discounted price last time I checked and offer student pricing too. The marketing and web design is a bit cluttered but the plugin itself sounds fantastic and is more versatile than say Sonnox or SSL Duende's reverbs. At its highest settings, I'd say Aether rivals Lexicon, but you'll have to compare them for yourself.

[Dave B]

Scramble - it's called Discord - currently up to v3 iirc. It just does pitch shift and delay but that's fine for me as I have the 'stable chorus' thing going on and I can do some mad 80s noises if I want it. My SPX's psu is kaput and my H3000 needs re-flashing, so that little plugin is doing an ok job.

[hugol]

What's out there in this day age, I like the look of Waves Diamond bundle but it's a bit steep (they do offer a shedload of plugins though).

Don't bother with Waves. So many options to choose from - you really don't need to spend much - here are some great vendors:

PSP AudioWare
Fab Filter
Valhalla DSP
Toneboosters
U-he

[Guest]

Cheers for all the responses.

I'm thinking of getting Cubase 7, however would there be anything else on top of their bundled plugins worth getting?

Would the Cubase Reverb match something like Aether for example, is there anything out there like Waves RBass as well.

Also the PSP Vintage Warmer has been highly rated for a number of years - has it dated now or is it still a must have.

Any thoughts on T-Racks as well.

EDIT : I hear great things about Valhalla reverbs as well
Thanks again

[johnny h]

Cheers for all the responses.

I'm thinking of getting Cubase 7, however would there be anything else on top of their bundled plugins worth getting?

Would the Cubase Reverb match something like Aether for example, is there anything out there like Waves RBass as well.

Also the PSP Vintage Warmer has been highly rated for a number of years - has it dated now or is it still a must have.

Any thoughts on T-Racks as well.

EDIT : I hear great things about Valhalla reverbs as well
Thanks again

PSP Vintage Warmer has only one good feature - the 'bypass' function. Same with Waves RBass. Aether is a lot better than Cubase reverb. T-Racks has some decent compressors. I would recommend Ozone as a mastering plugin over t-racks.

[Mixedup]

There are some really rather nice plug-ins in Cubase 7 - a decent 1176 and LA2A emulation, and pretty good tape emulation too. The basic compressor is not bad and the delays perfectly good, unless you're after a particular sort of thing (Space Echo etc). The Studio EQ is fine, though I'd want to add some more 'vibey' analogue style EQs.

You'll be lacking a good transient Shaper (the Envelope plug-in does half the job, but you really could use something better if you use them a lot - SPL's works fine). I'd miss my SSL buss comp emulations if I didn't have them - Cytomic's is the best IMO. Maybe add a decent de-esser (SPL or Eiosis...). You could definitely use a better limiter (DDMF's is good for £cheap; Sonnox, Melda, PSP, UA and others do decent ones... but you might be better just getting Ozone...

The IRs with Cubase's Reverence are decent. You could probably do to add a decent algorithmic reverb, though, such as Aether, Lexicon etc, or a plate model, such as UAD's one.

There are no decent restoration/noise removal facilities in Cubase. Izotope RX or some such is a must if you want to be able to do that sort of thing...

The point being that if you get C7, you really owe it to yourself to try what comes bundled first. I reckon you'll find yourself wanting to add five or six choice plug-ins. And then just add what you want/need on an ad hoc basis.

Just my two penneth...

[The Elf]

Mixedup has pretty much summed it up, but I'd add that the transient shaper in C7 is actually very good indeed IMO - in fact it's as good as any I've used.

Vintage Warmer and T-Racks? Nah!!

[QuietintheDark]

My main requirements are the following standard ones:

Limiter
Compressor
EQ
Reverb
Delay
Chorus

What's out there in this day age, I like the look of Waves Diamond bundle but it's a bit steep (they do offer a shedload of plugins though).

Thanks!

You've already gotten good advice above. I'm just putting my two cents on some of my favorites and why.

I'm going to agree strongly with some of those above noting the great quality of the Reaper plugins. For pristine functions, i.e. without extra coloration filtering etc., there is nothing shabby about their compressors, limiters, EQ, delays, etc. They are also very low CPU.

So for basic EQ duties, ReaEQ is my go to. a great free dirty EQ alternative just came out http://www.kvraudio.com/product/soneq_by_sonimus

Limiter. There are more expensive limiters which I've demoed and I have some old hardware from back in the day that I used to love, but there is not a lot of gain in quality for the higher price above Toneboosters Barricade. At $15, that's nothing for how much I like this.
If you want other features, of course, that is a factor.

Compressors. I use too many compressors. Reaper's compressors are good, but I also like some dirtier, hardwarey sounding ones. The Variety of Sound's free compressors offer a lot quality modelling, but fewer controls over the sound. I'd also look at PSP http://www.pspaudioware.com/

Reverb. One of the toughest things to find for really cheap. Valhalla DSP's reverbs are pretty amazing. I tend to use those for natural sounding verbs. For crazy verb I use http://www.meldaproduction.com/plugins/product.php?id=MMultiBandConvolution
only $44

If I were starting from stratch. I'd spend the most of the 500 on reverbs.

For delay and chorus love melda and valhalla (ubermod does both)

[Guest]

Once again thanks for all the great advice - so it's like Cubase 7 + Reverb, Delays, Limiter, and Chorus possibly.

So what's up with the PSP Warmer - is it completely overrated?

P.s what is a Transient Shaper?

[The Elf]

Vintage Warmer is very overrated IMO, but it's all about what you want to hear, so try a demo.

A transient designer is a processor that lets you sharpen or soften the attack of a sound - it will enable you to increase the 'crack' of a snare, or smooth off the 'pop' of a tambourine.

[Mixedup]

Sorry... totally missed the new transient designer in C7. So much stuff there to plough through! As Elf says, it's for manipulating the amplitude envelope of a sound, but the key thing is that instead of having a basic threshold control as, for example, a gate might have, it uses a more complex process to detect the transient, so even quiet sounds get 'shaped' by the processor. Really useful for drums...

For delays, I strongly recommend Sound Toys EchoBoy, or getting the PSP42 and 84 (or whatever the latest version equivalent is). Also, get hold of the freeware WatKat delay (Copicat emulation). For your limiter, Sonnox Limiter (as opposed to Inflator) or Ozone, or possibly Melda. DDMF if you're on a budget.

Definitely try the latest Tokyo Dawn compressor (it's free as a beta, and excellent on the stereo buss, but too thirsty on processing power to use for much more than that or mastering).

The PSP42 and 84 can do some of your modulation/widening stuff too. For reverb... it really depends what sort of sound you're after. You might be as well looking for free IRs of some reverb units and loading them into REVerence before you go splashing the cash on other stuff. You'll be surprised just how good these will sound.

For warmth... you have most of the tools you need in Cubase, though some of the UA plug-ins used very subtly might be worth a punt. Ditto the Kush UBK-1. But these sort of things start to add up if you're after quality! The Liquid Mix does an admirable job of this, as does Nebula — adding the basic character of an analogue unit; you can then perform the actual EQ/gain reduction with your regular plug-ins!

[sc1460]

I'd say plug-ins are like fashion. It's almost impossible to say whether one persons opinion is better than anothers, or that because 9/10 people on this forum rate Splungebumder v2 thats what you should get. What I like about plugins is the joy of being able to try them for myself without worrying at all about anyone elses opinion.

Sometimes a band will go , do you have the Lexicon reverb because we've READ that they are the best - and I ask what have you heard is the best -and they play me a record and like there is hardly any reverb on it aaagh, so I put on the Lexicon reverb to keep them happy.

Can you tell the difference in a pop mix between Lexicon and valhalla rooms on vocals or instruments? I can't through cheap earphones on a mobile. Maybe others can.

I started with UAD's Solo for £300 and those tools are class.

I have PSP Warmer and just got the latest Soundtoys Radiator demo ....hmmm only at extreme setting can i really tell the difference in a mix. PSP is not over-rated but Soundtoys are good products and they are in fashion I'll probably buy Radiator.

Do you need a "warmer" plugin - I'd say it should be in your toolkit. But not before 2-3 good compressors and defo some good EQs the Pultec EQs are a must, even before you adjust them they fatten the mix make it sound less dinky.

No DAW EQ can easily do what a UAD, Amplitube or Waves Pultec emulation can in my opinion.

My last plug-in advice would be a SSL emulation buss compressor, again NI, Waves, Cytomic do cheaper ones and you can experiment with those.

Have fun.

Once again thanks for all the great advice - so it's like Cubase 7 + Reverb, Delays, Limiter, and Chorus possibly.

So what's up with the PSP Warmer - is it completely overrated?

P.s what is a Transient Shaper?

[Guest]

Warmth plugins are something I've not considered so I'll look into that as well, any recommendations.

Who does a reasonably priced Pulteq EQ?

[johnny h]

I'd say plug-ins are like fashion. It's almost impossible to say whether one persons opinion is better than anothers, or that because 9/10 people on this forum rate Splungebumder v2 thats what you should get. What I like about plugins is the joy of being able to try them for myself without worrying at all about anyone elses opinion.

Sometimes a band will go , do you have the Lexicon reverb because we've READ that they are the best - and I ask what have you heard is the best -and they play me a record and like there is hardly any reverb on it aaagh, so I put on the Lexicon reverb to keep them happy.

Can you tell the difference in a pop mix between Lexicon and valhalla rooms on vocals or instruments? I can't through cheap earphones on a mobile.

The Lexicon is great. Do you only make mixes for cheap earphones?

[Gone To Lunch]

Warmth plugins are something I've not considered so I'll look into that as well, any recommendations.

Who does a reasonably priced Pulteq EQ?

I got one quite cheaply with a 2nd-hand UAD1 card

[Zukan]

500 squids will get you all you need. All the plugins I use, and that includes for my books and for my students, don't even total that amount. The only luxury products I use are Softube's plugins and I think they are worth every penny.

I have yet to come across a compressor that does anything creative bar what its meant to do even if it has bells n' whistles extras. There are countless decent comps out there and some are free. I don't buy into the minimum phase designs and emulators YET!

EQ is a different ball game. If it's Linear you want then there are some excellent plugins out there that cost very little. If it's minimum phase you want then it gets a little trickier bu there are some very good affordable ones out there that won't breka the bank.

Reverb is the one area that I have issues with. I use IRs simply because I don't rate any of the other reverb plugins bar Tsar 1 and maybe RP Verb (however, that is very specific to dance and not production) for silky colour and Aether for its shaping stages (and it has quite a few of these I can tell you). Having said that the new Lexicons are not bad alebit a bit metallic for my tastes.

For multi effect I prefer the modular approach of Reaktor as I can create my own ensembles and have whatever I want in the chain. But there are some half decent multi effect plugins out there and the can=binet emulators are the fad nowadays although I can only think of two manufacturers that I would even bother to use. I think IRs are still superior here.

Everything else that is more akin to a utility can be found in your DAW and even some of the generic, standard tools like EQ and compression are well handled by most DAWs.