Ok What Plugins Are You Using?

[Aearth]

Looks like I'm on the move looking for good pluggers as they seem to be improving. Not that I'm over outboard....no way, just can't afford anymore.
At the moment I'm really digging the UAD card...1176, LA2A comps and Pultec (lite), they're very impressive. Should I go for the Neve pluggins?
So what's good, ordinary or to die for?


Nick

[Jonathan Kristian]

PSP Vintage Warmer... Just seems to make everything sound bigger and fatter... or maybe its just making everything louder...
I use it on the drum buss as the main compressor or bring it up on another aux for some parallel compression,
I also use it on bass and vocals... its great on vocals if you push it hard for a really gritty dirty sound, can get a bit harsh though sometimes...

Also the Massey stuff is great for the price... especially the limiter and the tape saturation...

[davemc]

Still like my Sony stuff. Massey stuff is good as well.
The URS stuff is pretty good. Not big on GUI plugins that look like something although do not sound like it. The Neve plugins I A/B'd with real Neves were missing the magic. (call me a snob although there are a lot of kids I talk to who say they use 1176's all the time. Although they run Bomb Factory 1176's)

If I get going with mixing again might look at the SSL DSP box.

Are you RTAS/VST/AU or ????

[Aearth]

[quote="davemc"]Still like my Sony stuff. Massey stuff is good as well.
The URS stuff is pretty good. Not big on GUI plugins that look like something although do not sound like it. The Neve plugins I A/B'd with real Neves were missing the magic. (call me a snob although there are a lot of kids I talk to who say they use 1176's all the time. Although they run Bomb Factory 1176's)

If I get going with mixing again might look at the SSL DSP box.

Are you RTAS/VST/AU or ????[/quote]

PT HD3.
Like to try the Duende but I think there maybe some issues with PT....I'm not sure but when they sought that out I'm in.

Nic

[Peter Knight]

I'm using the Waves SSL plugs and I'm reasonably happy with them. The filters don't really work that well compared to even a cheap analog eq, but otherwise they seem pretty good. I just need a new machine so I can run one on every channel!

[davemc]

Yeah seems some users have no problem with Duende and others are in hell with it. I would see if you can get one on trail.
With other plugins download and try for yourself. As said I really like the Sony stuff for years

[Chris H]

I mostly use the plugins that come with Logic Sometimes Guitar Amp for re amping .not always guitar, it can be great on a bus and feeding some snare to. The eq for notching andSpace designer handy for quite a bit. The SSL desk mic plug is a ripper fpr smashing room mics and on harmonica and paraleled for a bit of grit in the bass

[David W]

For me I have 2 UAD-1 cards and Use the compressors ,1176le,Fairchild and LA2.

Phoinex
URS Neve
Echo Boy
Soundblender

Probably the only ones worth mentioning IMO.

Oh yeh and I'm ALWAYS using:

Autotune
Vocalign
Sound Replacer
Beat Detective

So I guess they're even more important for me.

[Chinagraf]

Hey Nick, do check out the Neve UAD stuff, the 1073 is pretty damn sweet but it uses a shitload of processing power, something like half a card's worth. I wasn't lovin the 33609 plug so much but hey I prefer 2254's in the real world. Have you got the latest version of the software, because you get 14 day demos of them all in it. The UAD Dimension D is a damn good emulation also. If not download it at the UA site. I've got the Waves SSL bundle as well and as much as I dislike waves' general policies towards users I do like the channel eq plugin. It has something that just works on guitars and snares.

[Peter Knight]

Chinagraf, how are you using the E Channel on guitars? I tried it on a mix the other day and really struggled, just went back to my analog eq in the end. I agree that it works pretty good on snare though.

[heathen]

When I first started using plugs I just used too many different ones on different channels, I was not impressed with my mixes, sounded all over the place. I found my fave channel strips and just set up the channel strips on every track and was much more impressed. I've been using the waves ssl channel and its pretty damn good, sort of convincing ssl sound, has a great noisegate too, best on drums and instruments, pretty shite on vox but not too bad, very easy on the cpu, though the bus comp pretty much sux (compared to a Smart C2 say) but is usable.

I love PSP plugs, psp neon LP eq is very nice though a massive hog in linear phase mode, psp mastercomp is pretty impressive though a cpu hog, Eliosound Air eq is very sweet and very usable.
Most people who have a uad1 seem very impressed though I've never tried them. Will probably get 1 though as they are on ebay regularly.

I still hate most plugin compression so having a good arsenal of outbourd comps is still the way for me. Good plugin eq's seem decent to me,though I still find the Avalon gets plenty of use.

Ahhhh also there is this new 1 called Nebula2 from a company called Acusticaudio http://www.acusticaudio.com , it is based on a new type of technology called "vectoral voltera kerneling technology,VVKT", do I know what this means, "hell no" but check out the link, all the info is there.
Its not perfect yet and is still just a demo but in the future i reckon this plug will be very very usefull. Only VST though so bummer about that 1 Nick, alot of mac users are wanting this 1 but it will be a long time coming i think.

When buying plugs I recommend test them extensively as there are so many crap ones, you may buy but end up never using or enjoying all but a few, this has been my experience.

I'll mainly just use say 32 channels of the Waves SSL channel for Drums and instruments and PSP Neon for any surgical notching or clean sounding broad shaping. Still though mainly use the Avalon eq and Buzz SOC on vox with maybe a touch of PSP Neon eq on mixdown. 99% of my compression use is outboard. So I don't reckon you'll sell your comps in a hurry Nick.

[Henry]

The Nebula2 plugins are gonna change everything I reckon. Most realistic plugins I ever heard. The gui is terrible though, but once you got it sorted the emulations are extremely real and natural, analog sounding. And it's just the demo's!!

[heathen]

Nebula is gonna be a pretty powerfull tool, but even on my dual core 4400 I can only run a few instances of it before everything bogs down, though yeah it does sound quite convincing, future releases should be really interesting.

I like the way the company has allowed anyone to try out the beta version as an unlimited demo, thats pretty cool, it will also be reasonably cheap.

It still won't replace my analog gear though.

[Henry]

In Samplitude, you just bring up the plug, get the sound you want, save a snapshot of the mix with the tap of one key prior to a track freeze. If you need to adjust it you can go back to that point, save as a new wave, then jump back to where you were and import the wav for another go.

I tend to final mix with no plugs on the tracks basically normalled, maybe something on the 2 bus. With Sam the process is so incredibly fast. I only use Protools when I need to tab to transient stuff or beat detective, Protools sounds veiled compared to Sam imo then export the wavs.

[Aearth]

I'm thinking I might get a HD Accel card as most big/better plugins need it as far as my setup is concerned. Waves SSL is looking look so far, I've heard it and I'm most impressed. Duende would be cool but think there could be issues in Digi HD. [size=18]MORE MONEY[/size]


Nic

[jkhuri44]

anyone have experience with McDSP plugins?? the G dynamics, G EQ and G Console...to be precise... (for Tools only....i think)

???

[Barney Loveland]

Can't comment on the above ones, but at work I use the filter bank eq's and they sound great. Easy to use and sound better to my ears than some other plugs. The comp also gets used a but too.

[Kris]

TC Powercore at the moment. I couldn't sell it so I decided to use it. I actually really like it, it also come with a bunch of software synths too.

Next thing to try out is the Duende, for sure. If it gets close to the real thing then I will be a happy camper.

[Luke Garfield]

Using the TC Powercore Compact atm. 24/7C is a tidy comp for bass. Saturation EQ is good for bus eqing. Character is a interesting plugin used in moderation.

Like the digital fishphones compressor and de-esser. Free and got some character.

Use most of Logic's plugs and like them. Stereo spread is fun in moderation. Pitch shifter, bussing and then panning left and right can creates some interesting stereo effects with a mono source. Like the linear EQ as a stereo bus/psuedo mastering EQ. Oh and the tape delay is flippin sweet, esp. with some automation!