Five plug-ins I abuse - part 1
I thought it might be interesting for some to hear which plug-ins I like so much that they become dominant in my sessions. So here’s five of them…
Digidesign Smack!
My compressor of choice de jour. I was late to jump on the Smack! train, but I’ve wanted it since it was released. I really like it, and it’s my standard compressor today. The obvious application is drums and percussion, but I use it everywhere. Sometimes it’s perhaps a little ‘too much’, which actually makes me like it even more. I almost always have the distortion on and set to even.
Digidesign / Bomb Factory Sansamp
This bastard is old, and it’s not the best distortion unit to my ears, but it gets the job done quick and easy. I use it on guitar (amped or not), bass (DI:ed), drums and vocals. I actually think something like Ohm Force Ohmicide is better, but at the moment Sansamp gets more work.
VirSyn VTAPE Saturator
In my review of VTAPE I raised the question if VTAPE Saturator in the long run would take over the master from McDSP, DUY and Digidesign. I can with confidence say that it did. Since that review VTAPE is the only tape emulator I’ve used on the master. I don’t use it on anything else if I’m not going for a very obvious lo-fi effect.
Digidesign Hybrid
I can’t believe I didn’t give this synth a better chance and more hardcore tryout before. It’s probably my favorite sounding software synth of all time. There’s just something about it that immediately makes it sound really punchy, and the sounds it can generate just strikes the right nerves in me. Since I “found it”, it’s pretty much been the basis of all my synth sounds. A solid 10/10… If I had rated plug-ins that way here.
McDSP Analog Channel
This is one old bastard by now but it’s still really awesome. AC2 have had to step aside a bit over time for DUY DaD Tape and VirSyn VTAPE Saturator, but it’s still capable of great sounds. AC1 is sitting comfortable as the first insert on my master in most sessions.
I recently got ahold of Smack as well, and I agree, it’s good at doing “too much”.
Topping the list of my five most abused plug-ins would be the Massey CT4. It has become my go-to for lots of stuff: kick, bass, strings, accordion, busses (submixes and/or master, used slow and gently for the latter). It gets used on vocals too, though I’ll often couple it with something more agressive for that, and just let the CT4 do some smoooth gain riding.
By Leigh ~ April 18, 2008 kl 1:29 pm
Yeah, Massey CT4 is a truly excellent compressor, and the best bang for the buck compressor I can think of (surprise, surprise
)
By stiff ~ April 18, 2008 kl 1:47 pm
Most abused plugins for me is
Analog Channel
Tapehead
They are often used to emulate the i/o of reverb..
By Moko ~ April 18, 2008 kl 4:16 pm
Moko, Analog Channel and Tapehead are dangerous plug-ins to use, they’re both very addictive!
By stiff ~ April 21, 2008 kl 2:36 am