First Plugin Purchases!!

[ksandvik]

If Mac, get Logic.

[Mental]

Windows!

[davey boy]

I think Izotope alloy 2 is a no brainer as its on sale now for $149 and does many things very well. Even though it's a channel strip thing you don't have to use all it's tools. Plus, it's 64 bit. You can try the demo and judge for yourself. There are sooooo many good plug ins out there it's almost better to learn using your Daw's built in plugins. Reaper has some great stuff that does the job very well. The eq has a nice frequency analyzer that comes in handy. Have fun and good luck.

[Mental]

Thanks davey! I'm trying it out now!

[ASarian]

I would buy the Waves Silver package, I think it gets to like 250$ when it's on sale and it has around 15 plugins

Congrats on your dream by the way, i'm working on the same thing as you did!

[Andy_bt]

Originally Posted by davey boy

There are sooooo many god plug ins out there it's almost better to learn using your Daw's built in plugins. Reaper has some great stuff that does the job very well. The eq has a nice frequency analyzer that comes in handy. Have fun and good luck.

I don't know Reaper but I agree with Davey stock plugs are usually very usable.
Why not try to use only these until you're stuck with a problem, then go and demo some third party alternative to see if it does the job better?
I can see many different issues rising, each leading to different suggestions:
- the stock offering could lack some tools you need (a multi-band comp, an FX, some drum triggering, M/S stuff, etc...)
- you may not like some plugs layout/workflow and prefer something that allows you to work faster
- some stock plugs could not get you to a particular sound you're after, saturation, distortion, pumping...
That's the reasons, depending on your workflow and the style of music you're mixing, I don't think there are 4 "magic" plugs to get (there are strong contenders in each category though but you can easily find some info about these on GS).
A.

[Melvin III]

Waves has a special going on its $60 or $65

[tunekicker]

Check out Voxengo. With your budget you could get some great plugs from them. I would second iZotope Alloy unless you are focusing mostly on vocals- the iZotope Nectar might be better. The nice thing with iZotope is they come in DirectX, VST, and RTAS, so you can run natively in just about any DAW.

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[gingataff]

check out stillwell, ddmf and valhalla.

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[optofonik]

The Reaper plugs seem to get good reviews as does the VOS stuff. Save your money for now and if you're itching for some more plugs to try get some quality plugs that are free or won't break the bank. The following are generally considered some of the best along those lines.

Toneboosters
TrackEssentials

Sir Elliot
Global Download Section | Sir Elliot

Kjaerhus Audio
http://acoustica1.cachefly.net/other...-Installer.exe

Melda Production
MeldaProduction Free audio plug-ins, effects, virtual instruments

MDA
mda-vst.com

An archive of related posts from another site
KVR: Freeware VSTeffects roundup

[mattqualls]

For reverb, get Valhalla Room... its $50 and it seriously sounds INCREDIBLE.

as far as compression goes, I use the UBK-1 because of how flexible it is.

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by Melvin III

Waves has a special going on its $60 or $65

??????????? Waves SILVER at that price?
Not showing on their site, mate.

[stinkyfingers]

Reaper has some good "basic" plug-ins like EQ and compressor...(the compressor is one of the cleanest i've tested, too...)
...but for some more "specialized" effects i recommend Voxengo...and the "summer sale" is still going on...
limiter = Elephant, EQ = GlissEQ, Compressor = Polysquasher or Deft
Elephant and Polysquasher both have "graphical" gain reduction graphs and GlissEQ has (imo) the best analyzer/GUI of any EQ...
if you are doing a lot of vocals something like Voxformer might be good to try...but this maybe a "do-it-all" and you no want...

[dickiefunk]

I would consider Valhalla Room for reverb and check out the free Molot and Limiter 6 from Vladg.

After that, there are some really nice and cheap plugins from Stillwell such as VibeEq, The Rocket and Bombardier.
112db have some beautiful sounding plugins as does Voxengo and IK Multimedia that aren't too expensive.

[Call_me_Switters]

If you dig in kvr.com you can find great free plugins sometimes better than lots of paid.
Take a look there and pay only for things you couldn't find for free or for higher quality.
For example the Poullen guitar amp sims are really sweet and usable .And they are free!

[CassidyGT]

Kjearhus classic collection are free and can be found anywhere. They are a solid set of mix essentials.

+1 for Toneboosters - cheap and great

Valhalla is excellent.

Waves Silver is very good. Pro stuff and reasonable.

[TurboJets]

Originally Posted by gingataff

check out stillwell, ddmf and valhalla.

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+1,000 on the Stillwell plugs.

Reverb plugs always seem to disappoint me and I usually find my native Sonar reverb to be smoother and more usable than most of the ones you pay for.

The Nasty series stuff is cool, especially Nasty VCS for a vocal channel strip. I love that one FWIW.

I also have spent money on Voxengo plugs and never regretted it (elephant is amazing IMO). Side by side comparisons I've done between Voxengo and Izotope led me to choose Voxengo. Having said that though, I don't think you'd be disappointed with any of the Izotope packages.

[Aiyn Zahav]

In my experience free plug-ins are not usually great quality, and often have their own problems. (work flow, stability, sound). Reapers tools are good but the gui is bad and as good as they are you will still need other things for other things.

Having said that, there are a few companies out there that make seriously excellent freebies.


For free effects:
Variety of Sound (Density Mkiii & Thrillseeker in particular)
Voxengo (They have a large selection of free and excellent plug-ins)
and for freewave reverb KarmaFX
Toneboosters
Elysia have a free EQ-like plug-in that is so useful, it's like a tilt shift.

Some of these are so good that they will always find a place no matter what other professional tools you have.

For paid effects:

I recommend buying decent tools but starting a little cheap if you can until you know what your looking for better:

IK multimedia is offering their T-racks standard at $29.99 right now. An incredible deal if you ask me and it lasts till sept 15th.
You'll get a very good compressor, EQ, clipper and MB limiter (I think). You will be set up very well with this.

Toneboosters Barricade is perhaps the best limiter you will ever get for it's price. Reelbus is very good too.

Stillwell are good too but I've only demoed. For reverb I also recommend Valhalla Room. It is so versatile and sounds so good for $50 there is not much competition until you start to pay 4 times that.

While you are starting out I recommend you keep an eye on the certain shops that do no brainer deals, like Audio-Midi, or companies that have huge sales like IK multimedia lately.

Every now and again you will pick up an absolute gem for next to nothing. I bought IK 670 compressor for $20. What a fantastic deal.
Sami

[RiF]

Waves Musician Bundle 2 for versatile eq/comp/delay + ValhallaRoom for reverb + IK T-Racks Yellow while on Promo for color.

[Mister Fox]

Originally Posted by Mental

1.) I'm on Windows. I'm finally starting to get the hang of REAPER. That is my DAW.

Windows is a great platform for ton of free and low budget commercial stuff that won't be available on Mac. Mentioned already was KVRaudio - a great starting point for all your plugin needs.

Originally Posted by Mental

2.) I'd like to spend around 250-300 on a few quality pieces that encompass most of the mixing environment (i.e. Compressor, EQ, Reverb, Limiter.)

If you want to spend money, then go for ToneBoosters, Klanghelm, Voxengo, Valhalla, LiquidSonics and MeldaProduction. ToneBoosters and MeldaProduction might offer you the best for your money in terms of tools compared to used up finances.

Else, I can recommend the freeware realm:
Variety of Sound (the full pack)
MeldaProduction (the Free Pack, upgrade to Pro is 30EUR, with more tools added once in a while)
some Voxengo stuff (if needed)
Togu Audio Line (even if legacy by now, but great delays)

And this is only for essential mixing plugins. There's even more for special FX and guitar stuff.

I'm not too fond of Antress however.

Originally Posted by Mental

3.) I'm not willing to get any additional hardware.

There is no need.

Originally Posted by Mental

4.) I'm almost always just recording vocals except for the occasional accompaniment. That being said. I don't want a "Do-it-all" vocal chain

Also, no need.

Originally Posted by Mental

5.) I'm also trying to learn and master the nuances of every tool so if the plugins controls are pretty universal or if it just a good learning platform that is a plus.

If you know these basics of a compressor/EQ/Gate/Limiter/delay in and out, you can use everything what's available on the market. Reaper offers a great starting point. Porting that knowledge over to other tools is simple.

Originally Posted by Mental

7.) I'd prefer to avoid bundles since I'm only looking for "The Big 4" kinds of plugs

Start to forget that real quick, there are no "the big 4" as ultimate solution. But if you want to limit yourself, the usual suspects (Variety of Sound, TAL, MeldaProduction) were already mentioned and get you far right from the start.

Else, an Gate/EQ/Compressor/Limiter all in one solution might be a suitable channel strip. And for a small budget, I can recommend teamDNR MixControl Pro - v2 is in the pipe. Or grab one from Waves/SolidState Logic (example: SSL4000 channel strip) and/or Nomad Factory.

Originally Posted by Mental

8.) I'd prefer a graphical Compressor, EQ, and Limiter if possible. But if there's better plugins I will try to learn how to use them

Just learn how to use the input/output/gain reduction meter, use your ears, dig out the thread on GS regarding mixing ITB (and gain staging). Visually supported tools do help in terms of dialing in something quick, but you'll miss out on the learning factor unless you go for DMGAudo and FabFilter (which is out of your pricerange if you want to go for the big bundles).

Originally Posted by Mental

Sorry for the long post but I'm trying to preemptively answer questions.
If you have any advice on some plugins that meet my needs please bring them up!! Thanks

Again, a good starting point is what was mentioned already. You have to test that stuff for yourself in whether or not it is working for you. Just keep in mind, if you want to go Cross-Platform at some point, SynthMaker shell (Variety of Sound) or SynthEdit shell (Antress) related stuff won't get you far currently.


Don't listen to people that say "host internal stuff is crap". Learn what's possible with your host first, then apply it to 3rd party tools. Reaper offers a ton of good and usable tools (I still use the ReaPlugs in Cubase from time to time), like it's the case with every other host as well. Everything else is just bonus and either offer a simpler editing, or a different intuitive solution.


For example:
I use the Nomad British EQ for one main purpose: simplicity. Not necessarily for it's emulation qualities. This particular EQ is frequency locked, not full parametric or with an enhanced FFT to see what's going on. I prefer that EQ if I want to dial in some quick tones and not listen to every nouance of a signal with an unlimited band freeform EQ, or remember which EQ range is ideal for a specific signal. I mean, no wonder - the NEVE 1081 (on which this is based on) was a thought through design with was used for countless records. But is it limiting to modern EQ creations? No.

It just get's the job done either way. And I feel comfortable using it.



Save the money, you'll have enough to do with the free content. And group buys/deals are available every quarter of the year.

[Mental]

Wow thank you everyone for the astounding amount of feedback! I'm looking at everything that has been brought up. Thank you very much!!

[LinearScott]

If you're looking for a great all around eq/compressor plugin that you can use on pretty much every track, I would suggest the McDSP Channel G Compact. I use it as a foundation plugin on almost track in my mixes.

[narcoman]

yup - McDSP gets used on every project I work.

[Mental]

+1 to the people who suggested Valhalla room. It sounds fantastic!!

[omtayslick]

Originally Posted by Mental

+1 to the people who suggested Valhalla room. It sounds fantastic!!

I'll second that!

[jordanvoth]

Stillwell make some really nice stuff.

Cytomic makes a bus comp that I've never heard but have heard great things about.

Waves SSL channel is hard to beat for an overall workhorse.

I still use stock delay in cubase.

Reverb I like the free poor plate vst and there the convolution verb in cubase.

For a character comp Blockfish is free.

[Jimbo]

Save a fat ton of money, and go with Stillwell (Reaper discount), Cytomic, SonEQ, AirWindows and other low-to-free priced plugs. Note that some of the Stillwell plugs come with Reaper (w/o the fancy gui) -- pay for the gui if you wish.

I wish Reaper came with Logic's compressor

Screw high $$$ plugs. Rock the low-end, baby!

[narcoman]

Stillwell is a great option!

[GJ999x]

Hmm... Check out the waves offers on api and ssl this month. Cheapish limiters... Hmmm... Cant remember the name maybe passey but there are one or two cheap ones that get a lot of love.

Waves gold pak worth a look as well. My 2c

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