Simplistic plugins that get the job done

[rod_zero]

Well I use Live so for me those have simplicity+quality in spades (except the reverb, that one sucks XD)

[Debutante]

WOW... no one mentioned GVST?? http://www.gvst.co.uk/downloads.htm
...and Airwindows - can't be simpler

[.jon]

the ones included with the DAW of your choice.

Particularly if it's Reaper. People keep complaining about the simplistic GUIs and controls. I love 'em.

Steve

Meh, there's too much love for those, for the most part, they're not really all that. Some of them are ok.

They sound very clean and work very well, i just find them really annoying to use personally, if they could be themed and relaid out they would be really useful to me.

They don't sound clean or even work well. The shitty UI makes them more cumbersome to use than real plugins, so it's a double whammy of shittyness. Guess it just shows that plugin design is an actual skill, and succeeding requires talent on top of that skill.

[slipstick]

the ones included with the DAW of your choice.

Particularly if it's Reaper. People keep complaining about the simplistic GUIs and controls. I love 'em.

Steve

Meh, there's too much love for those, for the most part, they're not really all that. Some of them are ok.

They sound very clean and work very well, i just find them really annoying to use personally, if they could be themed and relaid out they would be really useful to me.

They don't sound clean or even work well. The shitty UI makes them more cumbersome to use than real plugins, so it's a double whammy of shittyness. Guess it just shows that plugin design is an actual skill, and succeeding requires talent on top of that skill.

Actually most do sound at least as good as many expensive plugins and are easy to use (though maybe it takes some skill or understanding). They're certainly not as pretty if that's what you value in music software.

I guess it just shows that plugin reviewing is an actual skill and requires talent (and ears) too.

Steve

[do_androids_dream]

You should get the One KNob plugins from waves then

Yes. I use One Knob Saturation all the time.

You mean OK Driver?

[nineofkings]

I just don't agree that they always work well, or for that matter, even sound "very clean." The reverbs are particularly weak. I'm not all that impressed with the compressor. The EQ is fine except that U/I is important there IMHO and the Reaper U/I game just isn't very strong.

As far as simple plugins that get the job done I think that LoudMax is decent and it's free. Sie-Q from soundtoys is also great and fairly basic. A lot of people like the Waves Renn compressors.

ReaVerbate is bad. But ReaVerb, once you check the "ZL" (zero latency) box and load some quality IRs, is one of the most efficient convolution verbs out there. The key to using the compressor is using the RMS time slider and turning on oversampling for bright or complex material. I advise revisiting cause I think they fit the OP pretty well.

Airwindows as mentioned also

[thecontrolcentre]

External Instrument plugin in Live.

[GaryG]

I guess it just shows that plugin reviewing is an actual skill and requires talent (and ears) too.

Oof, Pwned.

I agree though mostly, they all sound more than fine to my ears apart from the algorithmic reverb, that's pretty awful imho. Use the comp and EQ daily.

[evilantal]

LSR Audio SK series
http://www.lsraudio.com/singleknob.html

[kevvvvv]

Izotope's Neutron does all the eq and comp automatically for you.

Click a button and it auto analyses your track and generates the appropriate channel strip response.

It doesn't get easier.

And you can still tweak it as desired.

[.jon]

Actually most do sound at least as good as many expensive plugins and are easy to use (though maybe it takes some skill or understanding). They're certainly not as pretty if that's what you value in music software.

I guess it just shows that plugin reviewing is an actual skill and requires talent (and ears) too.

Steve

They don't, I don't even know where you got that idea. Cumbersome does not mean they are difficult, just worse to use. "Pretty" isn't a consideration in UI design, I'm talking about usability.

[egbert101]

<delete>

[GrabtharsHammer]

My definition of "simplistic" doesn't necessary mean that the plugin only has a single knob. Of course there are some parameters that need to be there... a compressor/dynamics plugin without at least a parameter for attack is not really that usable. And I never liked products like Neutron that analyze my tracks and squeeze them in some sort of formula.

But there is a lot of stuff out there (although it could be more) that manages to keep the right balance between "too dumbed down" (like the one knob and auto match plugs) and bloated, overly complicated GUIs. Those plugins support the user by offering only a reasonable amount of parameters without completely incapacitating him by taking everything out of his hands.

PSPs 2445 reverb and Soundtoy's Jr/Little plugins that I mentioned in my first post are the best example for keeping a perfect balance - they still offer knobs for parameters that are essential without overstraining the user with endless tweaking possibilities.

What about Kilohearts's plugins? Has anyone tested them yet?

[ghettosynth]

I just don't agree that they always work well, or for that matter, even sound "very clean." The reverbs are particularly weak. I'm not all that impressed with the compressor. The EQ is fine except that U/I is important there IMHO and the Reaper U/I game just isn't very strong.

As far as simple plugins that get the job done I think that LoudMax is decent and it's free. Sie-Q from soundtoys is also great and fairly basic. A lot of people like the Waves Renn compressors.

ReaVerbate is bad. But ReaVerb, once you check the "ZL" (zero latency) box and load some quality IRs, is one of the most efficient convolution verbs out there. The key to using the compressor is using the RMS time slider and turning on oversampling for bright or complex material. I advise revisiting cause I think they fit the OP pretty well.

IR plugins are largely about the IRs, for the most part, I hardly think that they matter until you get to stuff that is actually good, like Reverberate 2 or Altiverb. Efficiency just doesn't enter into the equation for me for the most part. But even the IR verb hardly just "gets the job done." It comes with shit IRs so you have to download them, then there is no easy menu of them. NI's small convolution reverb in Guitar Rig is a good example of an IR verb that "just gets the job done."

The compressor is the best of the bunch, but, I'm still not impressed with it and I can think of no reason to go to it over almost anything else. That said, I'm no stranger to oversampling, but, the fact that you have to do special tricks to get the best out of it, IMO, rules it out for the OP was asking about.

In any case, my post was just about the Reaper plugins in general. Keep in mind that even though I'm switching back to Cubase, Reaper is still my most used DAW, I use it every single day. I think that most of the plugins are mediocre at best.

The one Reaper plugin that I choose over all similar plugins and use all the time, weekly in fact, is ReaNinjam.

[GrabtharsHammer]

I am suprised that no one mentioned Valhalla plugins yet.

It seems to be a natural law here, that sooner or later every thread will get hijacked by Reaper or Valhalla users. Reaper users already confirmed that rule, still waiting for someone to scream "Valhallaaaa!", though...

Thinking about it... Valhalla Plate really is a pleasantly simplistic plugin, too.