I've been making beats in PT HD with no outboard gear besides some analogue keyboards and digital ones. Right now I own the Waves Diamond Bundle, the Sony Oxford 6-pack, Impact, Revibe, and TLSpace, NI Komplete 2,. I have about $5-7K to spend on uprading my studio.
But, before I get too plug-in happy, I think I should get a good outboard pre/di and compressor first. I don't do much recording of vocals so it is more important to me to outboard gear that will be versatile in my music production. I want a pre and a compressor that sounds good with synths, drums, bass, guitar, vocals, etc. (I like the ViPre alot what do you guys think?) I want a high quality stereo pre that includes a DI if there are any good ones. It would be nice if I could use just the di or the pre, or both. I've been looking at Great River, API, SUMMIT, Aurora Audio, Tab Funk, Empirical Labs, Crane Song. I know there are many great manufacturers out there so turn me on to them if you have some good info. I'm not looking for an ad/da sollution to go along with the pre because I'm happy with my 96 i/o for now.
I love plug-ins and want to buy more bundles: (URS, DUY, Drawmer, Elemental Audio, Eventide, G Force, IK Multimedia, Izotope, Line 6, Massenburg EQ, McDSP, Metric Halo, Nomad Factory, Ohm Force, Princeton Digital, Serato, Prosoniq, Soundtoys, Soundfuel, Spectrasonics, Synaptricity, Wave Arts, Wayout Ware, Wizoo, Trillium Labs all look nice). Does anyone have any good things to say about specific plugs or bundles from companies listed
I'm leaning towards the URS Emerald bundle (for its all around warmth, presense, and versatility), and the Eventide bundle for making some of the 'out-there' effects I'm missing and because I've always loved their outboard ultra-harmonizer.
So what should I do? Split the money I want to spend and go half on plugs and half on outboard gear? Or just get all outboard gear? I appreciate all of the knowledgable people on here...