Another new year, another plugins journal. woo * waves yay little flag *
So, I have a lot of plugins now. Too many really. So I'd like to go over the ones I find the most useful and why. As well as complain about some that have become less than useful, because, why not. :/
First off my newest find https://puremagnetik.com/products/stages-dual-golden-ratio-delay
Pretty simple. I got bored of always using predictable time signatures on delays, so I decided to give this a try. It's a simple but cool plugin that doesn't cost much at all. I think I paid like 8 bucks? Something like that. Definitely worth a try, if you are the experimental type. I like that it's not an overly complicated UI.
Next up "good old" waves plugins. Yup, that's right I still use some of their old school plugins, OH WAIT, they don't load properly anymore. Seriously, I think EVERY incentive I had to use waves plugins is gone now. >.>; I'm done waiting what feels like an eternity for waves plugins to stop lagging my apple's load up. I don't know why it's happening and I don't care anymore. I'm done with waves lol
Next we have Baby Audio's smooth operator and spaced out plugins.
https://babyaud.io/smooth-operator-plugin
https://babyaud.io/spaced-out-plugin
Smooth operator is my goto for overly dynamic spiky sounds and instruments that refuse to play well in a mix. It's basically an exciter/multi-band compressor in one and it works surprisingly well. Very simply UI which is a must for people like me who do things at the speed of light. My only gripe is, there are times I wish it could JUST be a multi-pressor and not an exciter as well. Because sometimes it boosts too much background noise on certain recordings but that's not really a fault of the plugin. IMO it's worth the 99 bucks.
Spaced out is just plain an amazing sounding reverb with an optional delay. Again, simple but highly useful UI. HAS DUCKING FUNCTION OMG. Seriously, why all reverbs don't have a ducking functional at this point is beyond me. Great reverb. Comes with lots of presets. I use it all the time. Worth the 99
I also have their ba-1 https://babyaud.io/ba-1 which is an awesome little soft synth, that unfortunately gets very little use in my daw, because it doesn't follow logic pro's global tuning function. Not a problem for most but for me, it's a royal pain. I blame apple for that one though, because I have a bone to pick with apple. Priced at 50 bucks, I'd say it's a take it or leave it kinda thing. If you try the demo and love it, it's probably worth it. It does that old "vintage" wobbly thing quite well. Otherwise god knows there are a million "vintage" soft synths on the market now.
Personally I think baby audio is getting a bit gimmicky with some of their new celebrity collaboration plugins but the normal plugins I have are ace, so, no complaints here.
Next up, Apple's generic limiter. Just thought it would be funny to mention this. No clue why this thing works so well for me but screw it, it does. Makes me wonder why TF I paid for other super fancy limiters, when I ended up using the most basic crap generic limiter logic pro already had lol. It's no magic "can transparently limit anything to an extreme" type of deal but from my experience, I don't WANT a limiter like that. Really if I'm limiting more than a few db on the 2-bus, I've not mixed the track well enough anyway.
Next tokyo dawn's prism
https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-prism/
Free and highly useful analyzer. I use this to get a better idea of what a tune's spectral balance is. Unless you have access to a full on professional studio room, it's nearly impossible to tell what the spectrum balance is just by ear. So I just do the best I can and check the curves by eye. I have seen many expensive plugins that do what this plugin already does for free, so, why bother with other stuff? I already tried sonible's plugin for this kind of thing and wasn't impressed with what I got for having paid money.
I also have tokyo dawn's NOVA active EQ, though the free version is not reliable IMO. Could be me not using it right but it's unpredictable enough that I don't bother with it anymore. Which is a shame since having a good active EQ is super useful. Maybe I'll get their paid version some day and see if it's better.
Speaking of sonible though, next is sonible's "smart" compressor.
https://www.sonible.com/smartcomp2/
One of those expensive "fancy AI enhanced" plugins that's supposed to "revolutionize" your mixing experience. Maybe I'm just too impatient to use this thing properly but all I ever ended up using it for was a ducker on steroids. Now that IS a very cool thing to have, I wont lie. I just question weather that's worth 125 bucks. Could there not be a simpler/cheaper way to do this? I don't know. It's REALLY useful to have a ducker that can be frequency dependent, with an optional pre-filter on the detector input. I can literally aim this sucker at say, a lead vocal and it will punch holes in the supporting melody track ONLY where the lead vocals notes and sibilance actually are. Similarly I can use it to duck ONLY the bass end of tracks so they get out of the kick drum's way without pumping. REALLY useful for fixing track collisions without tearing my hair out. My only grip is, it is a little CPU heavy. I don't see that as a negative though. It just forces me to use it only when I really need it and rely more on normal EQ and simple ducking tricks in all other instances. I use logic's onboard compressor and EQ for that. The UI is a bit full but it manages to keep it all, well, manageable. Props to sonible for that. If that sounds like a plugin you need, go for it I guess.
I also have their smart limiter and I kinda feel dumb for it, as I don't seem to use it anymore. derp.
Next bertom denoiser
https://www.bertomaudio.com/denoiser-classic.html
Super inexpensive and highly effective multi-band gate plugin. I use it all the time to clean up my less than perfect recordings, that I totally didn't do in an attic closet, instead of a professional studio. . . . . ANYWAY. They have a pay what you want version and a pro version for like 30 bucks. Totally worth it. Great stupid simple UI and it does what it's supposed to do. Only thing to remember using it is, you have to find that sweet spot where you are cutting noise without destroying your high end transient attacks. Pretty standard practice though and very quick and easy to attain. Why didn't logic come with a plugin like this FFS?! lol
Next surge X soft synth
https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/
A very cool and if memory serves FREE soft synth. The reason I love this synth is because it has a very deep custom tuning function on board. It also has a decent sized library of presets. The on board effects sound pretty good too. My big gripe with this synth is the UI. It's not the worst but I find it a bit too complicated. Just looking at it makes me never really WANT to bother customizing any patches. The other issue I have, is for some reason there's a pitch slider on the UI that skews the tuning. If you aren't paying attention, you might be browsing patches and wonder why everything sounds out of tune all of a sudden. It's that stupid little slider. Set it back to 0 and everything works properly again. I can imagine that's driven some people nuts trying to figure out WTF is going on. I know it did for me for a bit. All that aside, if you are a synth nut who wants to dabble in alternative temperaments, surge X might be the thing you've been looking for. The coolest part is, you can export your tuning in file format for other applications. Oh and it's also got a great sounding vocoder function!
Melda production
There are 2 plugins of theirs I use often
https://www.meldaproduction.com/MSaturator
https://www.meldaproduction.com/MStereoSpread
Melda is one of those companies that kinda throws you into the deep end. They have more plugins than I can keep track of. Some of them are quite useful AND affordable. Their free saturator is great! Simple enough UI. Does exactly what I need it to and it was free. Their stereo spread plugin is also super useful. Simple UI. Does what I need it to. Sounds great. 80 bucks though? I must have gotten it at half price over a holiday or something. That sounds like a lot of money for a stereo widener plugin. I should probably also mention, I have their multi-band limiter. It's good. I actually like it better than sonible's, because it allows better control. With sonible I never know WTF the "AI" is actually doing. I will say though, some of melda's plugins were a complete flop for me. Their regular limiters/maximizers were a joke. I could just be a total moop but every time I tried them, they sounded like trash and did NOTHING to increase my iLUFs. If you have the patience to sift through all their demos, melda has some amazing plugins for sure. I just can't be bothered to try them all. Especially with how deep and complex some of them are.
Next up sixth sample dEElay
https://sixthsample.com/deelay/
Arguably the best free delay I've ever used. I could even go so far to say the best delay I've ever used. With the one caveat being, dEElay doesn't have numbers for most of the parameters, just knob positions. So, being super precise with a lot of your settings is impossible. Granted this doesn't stop me from using this delay. It's got a randomizer function, which is awesome. All the basics laid out very nicely in a simple UI. AND it's got an on board ducker! Which is sooooooooooooooo useful. I would definitely recommend you check this plugin out if you are a delay lover. They also have a paid version for like 30 euros.
Nani?!!
The one stop shop distortion plugin that run's on banana abuse and awkward moments. Many may call this a gimmick plugin but I respectfully disagree. If you ignore the bouncing bazoombas, you will find this is a really good distortion plugin. It has a great sound and super intuitive UI. I can get all the different types of distortion I want in one plugin. It also has an optional "squeamish friend filter". Just turn on the visualizer and boom, they leave the room. At only 20 bucks it's a great deal IMO. My only gripe is my version didn't come with a male visualizer, for even more hilarious awkward studio antics. That, and it's kinda CPU heavy, for some reason (it's probably the bazoombas).
next, D16. I have their tb-303 plugin
At 120 euros is this not a cheap plugin. I think I got it on sale. It is hands down the best 303 emulator I've used. It's got a great main UI. Simple where it needs to be and deep when you want it to be. My issue with this plugin is, the sequencer UI is a bit un-intuitive for me. Nothing too bad. I just think it could have been better considering the price tag. In all fairness though, the original 303 had a dreadful UI, so, there's that lol. This plugin sounds great and like most 3rd party plugins, could have been so much better if it was compatible with logic's global tuning function (which it is not). If you love the 303, this one might be the best.
I also have their bit crusher plugin but I find it a bit overkill for a lot of applications. It's CPU heavy and expensive. If you are REALLY into bit crushing, maybe it's worth it? I don't know.
Lastly we have kraftur by soundtheory
https://www.soundtheory.com/kraftur
My latest weapon in the loudness wars. It's completely replaced both my sonible smart limiter AND my Box Digital "little clipper". Kraftur is one of those gimmicky named all in one plugins that, frankly I am SUPER skeptical about these days. This one's been working pretty well so far though. The only issue I have with it is, I don't exactly know how much clipping distortion it's introducing into my end chain. I THOUGHT I heard just a little bit of it on the last tune I posted but it could be something else that's causing it. Either way, it's only subtle distortion and I'ma guess it crops up on tracks that already have distortion (adding distortion to distortion usually isn't great). The UI layout is excellent, though my gawd, WHY CAN'T I RESIZE IT?! Seriously! Why would ANY plugin EVER not have a re-sizable UI? Is it just because I'm forced to work in the purgatory that is an Apple DAW? Christ save me from this rotten fruit! lol. At any rate. It's a very simple tool that really kicks up the loudness on any mix. Between kraftur and some plain mixing diligence, it makes it quite easy to get most of my works to -12iLUFs without much if any limiting on the 2-bus. Though I remain, this is not something I think should be necessary in the musical arts, it has sadly become a requirement. Have I ever told you how much I HATE the loudness wars? lol. Kraftur. So far the best "make my mix louder without totally wrecking it" plugin I've tried. If you can resist over using it, at 99 bucks, I'd say it's worth the money.
Anyhoo, that's it for now I think.
Peace <:D