What do you feel are essential aftermarket plugins to have?

[TonalEuphoria]

I'm pretty fond of the Izotope Music Production Suite I bought a few years back, but I know you guys have some you feel are incredible and essential. What are they?

 

[Calebz]

For writing and recording demos at home, ezmix it's ridiculously handy. Amp/cab sims for guitar and bass and handful of decent vocal chain effects and quick fake mastering at the end of the process. It's biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness. Every setting is is managed with two knobs and a volume/gain control.

The tones aren't superawesome and the compression and eq are often a bit hamfisted, but when I'm writing or working a basic arrangement it's nice not to spend any time not screwing around with gear and stuff with a million settings.

 

[pulsonicsound]

The sound toys Delays (Echoboy etc) are KILLER, tbh pretty much anything they make( Tremolator, Crystalizer, Decapitator etc) is great and really handy for guitars,

if only they made a hardware version of the Echoboy...

 

[Maxbrothman]

Reaper and or Cubase.
Helix Native (buy Stomp hardware from Line6 and get a discount).
Ozone 9
Neural DSP plugins
G tune
Two Notes Captor X and software.
Focusrite software.

 

[Eric'45]

I like to use the Softube Amp Sims. Yes, they are Marshall- licensed products, but I like how well the Marshall Sounds we all love are reproduced. Let's not start a discussion about the point of Amp sims and how they will never sound like an Amp in the room or whatever. I GET THAT. I own real, powerful Tube Amp heads and I know how it feels to crank a non- MV Marshall through a Big Cab. Amp sims will never be there 100%, since some things like harmonic feedback and the interaction between Pickups and Speakers can't be reproduced well. But for what they are, and for the hours late at night, when I can't crank my real Amps, the Softube Marshalls do a pretty decent job.

 

[SmokeyDopey]

FabFilter bundle is excellent, but expensive. If I had to choose just 1 of them it would be pro Q 3. The match EQ function is insane.

Saturn is very cool too, you can separate in bands and distort each band separately to minimize intermodulation distortion. Their limiter is also awesome.

A free alternative to the pro q 3 is TDR Nova. It's not even close, but it has some similar functions.

Other than that I've been testing reaper's stock plugins and they're really good

 

[TonalEuphoria]

One thing I think every guitarist should have is EZ Drummer or Superior Drummer. Or some other good drum program, but Toontrack's drummer plugins/stand alones are some of the best there are that I've found. A drummer at any moment. Easy to program and use for practice, writing and recording. No dealing with drummer drama and scheduling. Mic setup and all the hassle. Just there when you want it. How you want it.

Toontrack

Sounds and software for songwriters and music producers.

www.toontrack.com

https://www.youtube.com/@toontrack

 

[Eric'45]

Or, speaking of Drum Plugins, I work with Xln Audio Addictive Drums.
Any of the mentioned Plugins work fine, and all have their pros and cons.
I work with addictive Drums because I got it through the Focusrite plugin collective.

What I forgot previously, are the really nice Guitar Effects by Nembrini Audio. They even have some freebies like a virtual RAT, Tubescreamer and other Guitar Effects.

 

[TonalEuphoria]

Or, speaking of Drum Plugins, I work with Xln Audio Addictive Drums.
Any of the mentioned Plugins work fine, and all have their pros and cons.
I work with addictive Drums because I got it through the Focusrite plugin collective.

What I forgot previously, are the really nice Guitar Effects by Nembrini Audio. They even have some freebies like a virtual RAT, Tubescreamer and other Guitar Effects.

That's an interesting drum program. It doesn't look like it lets you put together drum arrangements in it's stand alone program that you can then transfer over to your DAW after you perfected them over time. I don't like the idea of just slapping together parts right there and then in my DAW when I'm recording a song. I write my drum arrangement ahead of time and practice with them to get as tight as possible with them besides and use them for regular practice.

 

[playloud]

I bought into the UAD ecosystem years ago, so I'm biased toward their basic emulations (1176, LA-2A, Pultecs, API 2500, Studer A800 etc.) through years of familiarity. Now that they've gone native, I feel justified in that decision.

In terms of drums, I think Logic Drummer is underrated. I used it all the time to "write" parts (I use a guitar scratch track for timing cues/general groove), and then replace the Logic samples with Steven Slate Drums 5.

Another indispensable plugin is a decent loudness meter (with offline/non-realtime LUFS measurement). I use Youlean.

 

[Eric'45]

That's an interesting drum program. It doesn't look like it lets you put together drum arrangements in it's stand alone program that you can then transfer over to your DAW after you perfected them over time. I don't like the idea of just slapping together parts right there and then in my DAW when I'm recording a song. I write my drum arrangement ahead of time and practice with them to get as tight as possible with them besides and use them for regular practice.

It can do everything that EZDrummer and the others can do, too. There are lots of pre- made songs inside the program, but I have never had much use for those, either. There are lots of basic Patterns as well as fills, and you can insert them into your project like individual midifiles. They can be edited easily inside the program- for example if you got a pattern with the Hihat playing 1/8ths, you can select between different articulations, or if you want that part to be played on the ride cymbal. Of course, Addictive drums can play every Midi- file, you can map it to the basic GM Kit, or to various Electronic Drum kits. I program my songs inside Hydrogen, and let them play with AD. But even working with Addictive Drums only, there's not much that can't be done.

 

[aikiguy]

I’ve been recording for a while and have spent money on Waves and T-Racks plug-ins, but to be honest, I’m using Cubase Pro 11, and lately I’ve just been using the native plugins, and have been getting excellent results. The only 3rd party plug-in that I use now is Waves R-Bass, and sometimes the EQP-1a.

I think that most DAWs have great plugins, I get tired of having to update and such, so I’m happy using what’s already available in Cubase.

IMHO…..

 

[Ronquest]

In terms of drums, I think Logic Drummer is underrated.

Absolutely! I know it's not just a plugin, but I don't used my EZ Drummer 2-3 anymore after using Logic Drummer. I haven't found another drum program that can get me grooving faster than Logic's. Picking out midi grooves never gets me going, just hunting for something till I give up.

-Ozone
-Scheps Omni Channel by Waves
-Reaper's TUNER