Simplistic plugins that get the job done

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Winstontaneous wrote:
valhallasound wrote: Unfortunately, not all plugins lend themselves to this level of simplicity. Sometimes you need to have a fair number of parameters. A 5 knob flanger is fun, but a 5 knob virtual analog synth would be frustratingly limited.

I've found that creating a simple plugin isn't just a GUI decision. For me, it has to happen at the algorithm level. A simple plugin needs to be designed from the ground up to be simple. My more recent dev work has been frustrating, as I'm trying to create something simple, while still having more advanced options.

Sean Costello
Curious about not having any visual signal meters/lights in your plugins, is that for aesthetic, CPU/efficiency, or "use your damn ears" reasons?
A mix of the 1st and 3rd.

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Gain plugin for automation while leaving the mixer "unlocked" for fine adustments. Also useful for encoding/decoding mid-side and can be used to drive the input of certain processors.

It's simple, no thrills, but gets the job done.

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Doesn't most of Airwindows plugins fall into this category?
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V0RT3X wrote:You should get the One KNob plugins from waves then
Oh yeah!! I'd forgotten entirely about these.

Or similar in concept, but much more powerful is that Greg Wells Signature Series. They are much more complex than they look, though. A lot of work went into it to turn it into a one knob process.

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DeHarsh by Terry West

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Sonalksis FreeG (Selectable PanLaws + Gain)
Hire it for free..
https://www.sonalksis.com/freeg.html
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Sonnox Limiter and Inflator, SoundToys Decapitator... the list can be really long.

Of course some tools can't be simplistic, they need to feature a lot of controls/options (and I enjoy that when extra control is needed)... But I really like when the set of controls is so well thought that I immediately know what to tweak to get this or that result and I can get it really fast without having to look through so many controls.
A great example of this approach is Decapitator with his "style" buttons.
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simon.a.billington wrote:
V0RT3X wrote:You should get the One KNob plugins from waves then
Oh yeah!! I'd forgotten entirely about these.

Or similar in concept, but much more powerful is that Greg Wells Signature Series. They are much more complex than they look, though. A lot of work went into it to turn it into a one knob process.
Having done my fair share of piss taking out of these plugins in the past.. I finally tried them and ended up buying tonecentric straight away :ud: :clown: - wasn't quite so impressed with mixcentric although I will probably pick it up when it's on a favourable sale. Piano plugin was fun but very niche and expensive for what it is. The vocal one is the weakest - I can get better results with pretty much any other Waves compressor.
Last edited by do_androids_dream on Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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After all this years of use....Ferric TDS. Simple tape/ La2a-ish compression that almost never sounds wrong.

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do_androids_dream wrote:
simon.a.billington wrote:
V0RT3X wrote:You should get the One KNob plugins from waves then
Oh yeah!! I'd forgotten entirely about these.

Or similar in concept, but much more powerful is that Greg Wells Signature Series. They are much more complex than they look, though. A lot of work went into it to turn it into a one knob process.
Having done my fair share of piss taking out of these plugins in the past.. I finally tried them and ended up buying tonecentric straight away :ud: :clown: - wasn't quite so impressed with mixcentric although I will probably pick it up when it's on a favourable sale. Piano plugin was fun but very niche and expensive for what it is. The vocal one is the weakest - I can get better results with pretty much any other Waves compressor.
A lot does depend on your style and approach. These plugins may not mix well with other processes we have going on in the chain. Or maybe it's not just suitable for the genre or our taste.

They are deceptively simple though and get the job done for many. Often these "quick" solutions are great to turn to if you are running really short on time or are lost on ideas.

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simon.a.billington wrote: A lot does depend on your style and approach. These plugins may not mix well with other processes we have going on in the chain. Or maybe it's not just suitable for the genre or our taste.

They are deceptively simple though and get the job done for many. Often these "quick" solutions are great to turn to if you are running really short on time or are lost on ideas.
Does anyone get lost for ideas with so much stuff around these days?

Fork a chain and try something different real quick. I mean it's real hard to run out of ideas when you know what your plugs do...

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Armagibbon wrote:
simon.a.billington wrote: A lot does depend on your style and approach. These plugins may not mix well with other processes we have going on in the chain. Or maybe it's not just suitable for the genre or our taste.

They are deceptively simple though and get the job done for many. Often these "quick" solutions are great to turn to if you are running really short on time or are lost on ideas.
Does anyone get lost for ideas with so much stuff around these days?

Fork a chain and try something different real quick. I mean it's real hard to run out of ideas when you know what your plugs do...
TBH I don't know if people are short on ideas but everyone is short on time.

Sometimes you can draw blanks or come across "grey area" type sounds, not sure whether to make them a feature or set them back in the mix, not sure whether to gritty it up, or keep it clean and pristine, not sure whether reverb is the way forward or perhaps keep it less smeary with a delay.

So many ideas and so many tools can also leave the less experienced not knowing where to start.

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simon.a.billington wrote:
Armagibbon wrote:
simon.a.billington wrote: A lot does depend on your style and approach. These plugins may not mix well with other processes we have going on in the chain. Or maybe it's not just suitable for the genre or our taste.

They are deceptively simple though and get the job done for many. Often these "quick" solutions are great to turn to if you are running really short on time or are lost on ideas.
Does anyone get lost for ideas with so much stuff around these days?

Fork a chain and try something different real quick. I mean it's real hard to run out of ideas when you know what your plugs do...
TBH I don't know if people are short on ideas but everyone is short on time.

Sometimes you can draw blanks or come across "grey area" type sounds, not sure whether to make them a feature or set them back in the mix, not sure whether to gritty it up, or keep it clean and pristine, not sure whether reverb is the way forward or perhaps keep it less smeary with a delay.

So many ideas and so many tools can also leave the less experienced not knowing where to start.
That's fair, but I still gotta wonder why someone who knows they lack that kind of fundamental experience would put themselves under the gun like that. That's just asking for all kinds of undue stress.

I mean if I had to personally draft up the blueprint to my new house before the end of the month with some confidence it'd be up to code, I'd chew my eyeballs out. I can draw walls and doors on paper, but I'm no architect, dammit!

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Armagibbon wrote:I mean if I had to personally draft up the blueprint to my new house before the end of the month with some confidence it'd be up to code, I'd chew my eyeballs out. I can draw walls and doors on paper, but I'm no architect, dammit!
Yes, and that's why I wrote that of course professional users want and need more tweaking options. And again, it wasn't my intention to put the focus on one-knob plugins here. Why all this black-and-white thinking? There is a lot of good stuff between one-knob and hundreds-of-knobs plugins out there, and I just wanted some opinions on plugins that offer a very basic number of parameters - that can be understood and handled by hobby users - while still providing the most important parameters needed for that particular effect.

Personally, I don't like that one-knob stuff at all. I want to understand what a plugin is doing. But most developers of one-knob plugs don't share that information. It's just "louder", "brighter", "more of everything" etc....

But I guess you can't really compare playing/recording music as a hobby with architecture?!

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Armagibbon wrote: That's fair, but I still gotta wonder why someone who knows they lack that kind of fundamental experience would put themselves under the gun like that. That's just asking for all kinds of undue stress.

I mean if I had to personally draft up the blueprint to my new house before the end of the month with some confidence it'd be up to code, I'd chew my eyeballs out. I can draw walls and doors on paper, but I'm no architect, dammit!
Well some people lack organisational skills and planning, even the pros. I knew a graphic artist who was really good at his craft, but he was so disorganised, yet still in high demand.

More specifically though there always is those last minute jobs. Clients who decide to drop something knew in or change things up in the last minute. Or there are the last minute rush jobs.

Clients can be badly organised too, or maybe they are a link in a chain and the word from above comes at the 11th hour.

There are those that don't understand how long the process takes. The reason that something going for 5 minutes should take you no longer than an hour or two to knock out. They think they are being generous with that time frame.

For whatever reason, no matter how organised we are we live in a less than perfect world where $hit happens. Adapt or die basically.

There are always reasons far beyond our own foresight or comprehension.

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