VST: good deals and favorites

Well... not as good as I thought. But the sounds... The rythm tool... mmmmmm not for me. But again, the sounds, only this worth the price.
Now, I had enough troubles with Cubase, now my new DAW is Reaper.

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Hello everyone
Big news last mounth for free stuff. SINE by orchestra tools.
The sounds are very good.
https://www.orchestraltools.com/store/get-sine

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PositiveGrid users of BIAS AMP can log in their account and download a copy of BIAS FX LE for free :)

Until 20/02.

I've received the invitation yesterday.

Cheers,
Mirko.

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Thank you all for the tips on VSTS.

I just ditched Windows in favor of Mac. While using Windows, I had two favorites that are free...

Density MK3 - A saturation , bi amp that adds body to a track or instrument. Presets are awesome. Especially like the Non Linear amp preset to boost bass as well as boost the overall track and give it drive. https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/8-Compressor/357-Density-MKIII

Thrillseeker - A Optical compression , transparent harmonic enhancer that approaches like an eq and then boosts harmonic frequencies.Presets are awesome. Adds tingly clarity to a track or instrument. https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/8-Compressor/361-ThrillseekerLA

Both are free. I cant recommend enough. The presets rule.



Right now as I get my new super monster music production PC up and running- Im experimenting with plug ins and finding new ways of doing things , so still experimenting.

This is pay but I am very impressed with all the plug ins from Masterthemix.com especially BASSROOM although I have purchased all of them.
https://www.masteringthemix.com/

While using windows, my favs are :

Cockos RealEQ.

Love ALL Voxengo plug ins but
LF Max Punch is a bass essential.
Soniformer takes a track and eqs it sonically for depth and dimension.

Both are "pay" but if you do a search for Voxengo Soniformer key....you will find the registration key easily. Voxengo is aware of this and they have given both away for free before and dont seem to mind these two can be registered and used for free without paying. You basically get it from a Serialz key website but never ever ever download anything. I simply went to like "Serialkeyz.com " or something and it displayed it without download. I can probably find it again if anyone is interested.


Bark of Dog- Adds a really narrow pinpoint precision boost to bass sweet spot. Using a parametric eq "sweep" thru your tracks bass frequencies and find the frequncy that sounds the bestest. then use Bark of dog to boost the frequency . has presets but is a nifty handy little free vst.

Recently im checking out free M/S control plug ins. M stands for Middle . S stands for Sides.

So you can control the middle of a track and the far sides of the track in the stereo picture. Very handy if you get a mid rangy track that just doesnt have the mojo.

One of my favs in Molot Limiter which can limit middle and sides. Fortunatley I am still able to use it in OSX and its windows as well.Its one of the best free limiters ...period.Used at end of track.

https://www.tokyodawn.net/vladg-molot-compressor/

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Oh and forgot ...my favorite all around , general purpose compressor. really highly rated and absolutley free. Its multiband .looks plain jane but man o man....really brings out an instruments dynamics. Again ...absolutley free.
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/c3_multi_band_compressor_by_slim_slow_slider

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Thank you all
Also for getting started with orchetral sounds: two new commers : Nucleus from Audio Imperia (lite edition 99$) and Amadeus from Sonic scores.
https://www.audioimperia.com/collections/best-sellers/products/nucleus-lite-edition

https://sonicscores.com/amadeus/

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Depuis 1 an maintenant j'utilise REAPER comme DAW. Vraiment j'adore pour plusieurs raisons mais les vidéos tutoriels surtout. Ne viens pas avec des instruments VST cependant mais en suggère de bons gratuits.

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Hello wikiloopers, greetings again.

Maybe you can help me with this, I'm searching for a track Compressor and track EQ to round out my 3rd party plugin setup for production in DAW.

In particular, I'm interested in plugins with a good number of presets for odd and unusual instruments. Ukulele eq, various percussion like shaker and chimes, dulcimer, etc. Of course, an acoustic guitar eq can be tinkered with on a ukulele or dulcimer track until it clicks. But, I've not run across percussion EQ settings. Other examples: slide guitar, accordion, frame drum.

Anybody know a maker and tool with 'all the presets'?
A compressor with the same 'all the presets' would be handy too.

Thanks.

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Waves plugins are all $30.
Plug In Alliance has continuous sales for 2 plugins for $50. (4 plugins for $50 around holidays)

All of these I have used for 3-5 years already.All have very large preset menus. I can only recommend two EQs. Waves F6 or Fabfilter Pro EQ. I have lots of EQ plugins but will only recommend those two.

Beware:If somebody says they have a "Smart" EQ that uses "A.I." technology to auto EQ ....RUN! RUN AS FAST AS YOUR CAN!. Its "Snake Oil".


[img]https://media.wavescdn.com/images/products/plugins/max/c4-multiband-compressor.png?auto=format&fit=max&ixlib=imgixjs-3.6.1&w=1246[/img]

Waves C4 Multiband
If you want presets then this is the one and its highly rated, Waves C4 is also $30 and used professionally. It has easily 100 + presets. Use it all the time. Has "Horns", Acoustic", Claps"...etc....and a large variety of presets for misc percussion.
It is Multiband.
Use it on channels and busses.Mixes and Mastering. Of all compressor plug ins I own this has the most general all purpose presets.It can be an optical or Fet based compressor and can be a simple one band as well.

https://www.waves.com/plugins/c4-multiband-compressor


[img]https://files.plugin-alliance.com/system/html/elysia-alpha-compressor-01-b341f56e.jpg[/img]

Plug In Alliance Elysia
DO NOT LET THE PRICE TAG ON THIS NEXT ONE SCARE YOU....
The Elysia you can get along with one other plugin for $50 for any two plug ins.
All purpose and general preset menu.Covers percussion and misc things.

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/elysia_alpha_compressor.html

Here is link for buy two for $50:
https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products.html


[img]https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.6a29fbc9e6c757c0b21af98a213d8215?rik=sNY0EleNruFuVQ&riu=http%3a%2f%2fimg.audiofanzine.com%2fimages%2fu%2fproduct%2fnormal%2fwaves-f6-262489.jpg&ehk=%2fDARxvVfyewfSgcIn9qKWjtSN176u%2b2xLCLbujZm68o%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0[/img]

Waves F6 EQ
I now use Fab Filter for EQ but for $30 Waves F6 has large general presets. Used this EQ and it’s presets for the last three years and it is very close to Fab filter pro Eq @ $150.

https://www.waves.com/plugins/f6-floating-band-dynamic-eq

[img]https://media.wavescdn.com/images/products/plugins/max/scheps-omni-channel.png?auto=format&fit=max&ixlib=imgixjs-3.6.1&w=1246[/img]

SHEPS OMNI CHANNEL or any PlugIn Alliance E or G series Channel Strip
If you want to go the channel strip route (Channels strips are compression, EQ and saturation all in one )
Waves Sheps Omnichannel ($40) is phenomenal. HAS A HUGE preset menu.
Its a beast and does three functions all in one. The preset list is huge! THe reviews on it are always top notch. The benefit of a channel strip is that they emulate real studio mixing board strips and get you a very highly polished sound. Anything with Andrew Sheps name on it , is usually good. The software also gets the distinct sound of particular mixing consoles like a Neve or SSL that give that pro sound.

https://www.waves.com/plugins/scheps-omni-channel


[img]https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.dbf379833b7b426a76abfe2050340fd6?rik=0h7gkDwX6cCwFQ&riu=http%3a%2f%2fi2.hdslb.com%2fbfs%2farchive%2fa5a2c631d2d298a4f3431d30a5c45700a69ce5c1.jpg&ehk=%2bHZQ0FdieoNV5IdanadIq8mugWZHITrGu58c2sSjvCc%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0[/img]

Waves Abbey Road RS124 Compressor

This has about 40-50 presets. Its modelled after the Abbey Road compressor used to record the Beatles Abbey Road. It gave the album its smooth creaminess. It has a very distinct "color" to it great for bass and vocals. Abbey Road is a recording masterpiece and this is the compressor that got that shiny smoothness. The real compressor is still used to this day.

[youtube]oolpPmuK2I8[/youtube]


[img]https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.a0e9e67e7d768b32772c6dd65d10baf7?rik=kvmc5LrKz%2fFaCg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fcdn.playbuzz.com%2fcdn%2f33c7c24e-ca12-4e32-a9d9-a555d2b506dd%2fd5b705c8-30cc-45e8-a3de-753f9a5c6c14.jpg&ehk=2q6VPDktF%2feZgcipRyEDNV7WA2%2f8wkOK6Y7K4RIrt6M%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0[/img]

Waves G Series SSL Master Buss compressor
Plug In Alliance has the same compressor called the SSL Master Buss Compressor
The preset list is huge on both.
Works great on Wikiloops tracks and brings everything big, large and dynamic.
Mostly for the mixed tracks but has instrument presets. The SSL version is $250.Waves is identical for $30


If you are interested in any of these I can take a screen shot of the presets. All of these have a trial. All of these are currently used in pro studios. None of them are above $50.

You can do a two week trial of Universal Audio plugins which are some of the best out there. You can buy or pay per month or year. If you do the trial just remember to cancel before the two weeks but lots of great stuff that may help you further.
https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins.html

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Thanks for the feedback LittleWing. I will take a look at your recommendations.

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Thanks again for your help LittleWing. I purchased Scheps Omni channel and would recommend it as a channel strip. Not exactly an ‘instrument by instrument’ super storehouse (comes close), but presets are sorted by well-known engineers, and include plenty of common settings and 'what if' fix-r-uppers. It sounds very good. :W

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That is a good one. It also has an open slot for another plug in. Been using it alot myself recently.

For instruments that are miked in a room, use "Room 1,2,or 3. "like handclaps, triangles, bongos, digeroos etc... You might also find "Guitar" works on vocals. Theres no set rules to any of it. The ROOM settings are for any open miked instruments.So are anything OH. OH means "overhead" as in miked overhead.Room and OH are general purpose microphoned non vocal instruments always.

OH is tweaked for upper midrange high frequency things like triangles, cymbals, but also drum toms ,bongos , hand claps, snaps therefore also accordion as its an upper mid instrument and usually miked up close by a microphone.Therefore its going to be a "Room " or OH application.

Any presets that say "Mix" or "Buss" will be useful multiple mixed instruments like an imported Wikiloops track as a whole.
“Buss” also covers drum kits, vocals with wide
dynamic range etc…

Be forewarned if this is your first Waves plug in... you will hear alot of negative on Waves. Its simply because last month they tried to go to subscription only. Alot of Waves owners were very unhappy with them. They announced it then changed their minds after Waves customers became angry. It has nothing to do with the quality of the plug ins.

You have one year of updates. After a year , if you want to say go from Windows 10 to Windows 11 , you will probably have to spend $17 USD to get it to work. This is only a big deal if you have lots of Waves plugins. You only have to worry after one year , and if you have more then 3 or 4 plugins to renew.They cap it at $250 usd. I have over 100 of their plugins and if I change computer operating systems , it costs me $250 to get them all working on the new computer.Just be aware no updates after one year. That does not mean you have to update. Its only if you change to a different operating system and arent covered in the update plan.

Its a great plug in regardless and dont be afraid to learn from it how compressors, gates and pre amps effect the mix.



Some good plug ins from Waves that go good in that spare slot are :

Waves Saphira (Its a plugin that boosts harmonic overtones pleasing to the ear)
J37 tape or Kramer Tape (Any Tape machine plugin adds a really pro sounding boost and shine on anything. They sound great)
H series reverb(This has ALOT of presets even more then the Sheps has and great useful sounding reverbs. My favorite is "Sugarverb")
All three have as many presets as the Sheps.

PS... If you plan on recording bass, grab these SSL EQ settings off this video. Just pause the video and add them to the Omni channel EQ then save that as a user preset. These bass settings are great. Hes using the SSL Channel strip in the video but the settings will work in Omni Channel.

[youtube]zrWA9rglG24[/youtube]

Enjoy!

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Efx Refract
Free download from Arturia until Jan 4th....
Download link
https://bit.ly/48bwQov
Overview
https://youtu.be/rmYppH1_BbU?feature=shared

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