Plugin Deals and Discussion Thread

Vintage-T

Just got an email from Native Instruments, they have a plugin called Analog Dreams for free at the moment.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/play-series/analog-dreams/get-analog-dreams-for-free/

thecolourbox

The Evaluation licence for Torpedo Wall of Sound plug in appears to be free for life at present, not just for a limited period. You get two cabs and a few mic choices, presumably with the option to purchase more on top if you wish.

https://www.two-notes.com/wall-of-sound

Branshen

https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/5225

PhoenixVerb Stereo $9.99

PolarityMan

So looks like shadow hills mastering compressor and SPL Iron are on sale an PA this moht, with my loyaly voucher thats down to £45 and $15 respectively. Is either of them worth a punt? How do you (expecialy @octatonic ) evaluate a mastering compressor? Im thinking one of these maybe as a permanent addition to my amster bus for some top-down mixing.

Right now I tend to just jam on ozone at the end. 

octatonic

PolarityMan said:

So looks like shadow hills mastering compressor and SPL Iron are on sale an PA this moht, with my loyaly voucher thats down to £45 and $15 respectively. Is either of them worth a punt? How do you (expecialy @octatonic ) evaluate a mastering compressor? Im thinking one of these maybe as a permanent addition to my amster bus for some top-down mixing.

Right now I tend to just jam on ozone at the end. 

For me it is pretty easy- I don't do mastering.
I mix expecting that it will be handed over to a mastering engineer.
I usually target -3db to -6db for my mixes, and -14lufs to -16lufs for anything that its just spoken word.

Both those plugins are good but I would go for the SHMC, despite it being a bit more expensive.

Freebird

Free plugin..

PolarityMan

Saw there a free fluff 5150 sim

Freebird

Freebird said:k

Free plugin..

I'm liking it so far, it has a nice preamp that works well on virtual instruments. I think the device they sampled is a Pultec EQP-1A. Not bad for FREE! 

Branshen

Boz Pan Knob which has some really cool functions (keeps bass freqs mono) to help panned instruments sound more natural.

https://www.bozdigitallabs.com/product/pan-knob/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS4l80UEckc

Bezzer

Gotta say, if anything that sounded less natural to me.  Just sounded like a low EQ boost which I'd rather do manually if needed … I'd probably end up EQing it out in a mix.

I'd say if you want that sort of "crossover" don't pan hard left and right, pan 70% or so.

Just my opinion, obviously!  And it's only $15 so … YMMV etc

oaf

This one is free

http://www.alexhilton.net/A1AUDIO/index.php/a1stereocontrol

and pretty nice if you're looking for that sort of thing... also makes bass more mono. Not exactly the same thing, but y'know... free...!

robwright

Can anyone recommend a good (but cheap!) vocal reverb plugin? I’m using Studio One and the onboard reverb is pretty good but wondering how much better a ‘fancy’ reverb would be! 

Branshen

robwright said:

Can anyone recommend a good (but cheap!) vocal reverb plugin? I’m using Studio One and the onboard reverb is pretty good but wondering how much better a ‘fancy’ reverb would be! 

https://valhalladsp.com/

Valhalla's reverbs (vintage verb and room) are affordable and well regarded. You can download the demo to try before you buy.

Alternatively, some of the exponential audio reverbs are on sale on plugin boutique at the same price point. 

Cirrus

Yep, second Valhalla - especially Vintage. Fantastic on Vocals.

Funnily enough I don't really think loads of Valhalla Plate it feels a bit weightless, I prefer the digital plate algo in Vintage. BUT...

Waves Abbey Road Plates is an amazing plugin - absolutely incredible on vocals, it's great for sounding like a real clangy, slightly dirty and resonant plate reverb. And it's $8 less than Valhalla plate just now.

This has reminded me that I really want to get Valhalla Delay.

oaf

https://michaelwillis.github.io/dragonfly-reverb/

is free.

The Exponential Audio stuff is rather good. Reverberate 2 is good too. Valhalla others have mentioned.

guitarfishbay

Cirrus said:

Yep, second Valhalla - especially Vintage. Fantastic on Vocals.

Funnily enough I don't really think loads of Valhalla Plate it feels a bit weightless, I prefer the digital plate algo in Vintage. BUT...

Waves Abbey Road Plates is an amazing plugin - absolutely incredible on vocals, it's great for sounding like a real clangy, slightly dirty and resonant plate reverb. And it's $8 less than Valhalla plate just now.

This has reminded me that I really want to get Valhalla Delay.

Valhalla delay is amazing, except for the fact it doesn't give you any gain knobs, just a mix knob.  If you only ever use sends then it won't matter, but sometimes I put my plugins directly on channels and as such having gain controls would be very useful

guitarfishbay

robwright said:

Can anyone recommend a good (but cheap!) vocal reverb plugin? I’m using Studio One and the onboard reverb is pretty good but wondering how much better a ‘fancy’ reverb would be! 

Valhalla Vintage for something with nice character

Liquidsonics Seventh Heaven for something much cleaner, costs a bit more but very nice

Lately I've been using either of those for pretty much everything

octatonic

I've got a dozen or so reverb plugins.
I mostly use the Valhalla plugins.

Jonathanthomas83

Blackhole is my favourite reverb. I just can't get used to Valhalla Delay. I'm a big fan of Replica and the TC 2290 though, but I admit that I mostly use them for guitars.

octatonic

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Blackhole is my favourite reverb. I just can't get used to Valhalla Delay. I'm a big fan of Replica and the TC 2290 though, but I admit that I mostly use them for guitars.

Blackhole is great as an effective but I couldn't imagine using it on a main vocal, or a snare.
The Valhalla plugins cop the Lexicon algorithmic thing really well and that is a sound some people are really used to and like.