List of easy commercial & Freeware plugins to use for people who don't want tons of complex options.

[BertKoor]

So i was talking to a friend who said he wanted to get into making music production, but he was intimidated by the amount of complex stuff.
[...]
DAW Programs
Propellerheads Reason (C)
Apple Logic *Mac Only* (C)

You could have stopped right there. That list alone is very intimidating for absolute beginners. Still too much options & choices.
Start simple: one DAW and its included effects. Only progress to lesson two when lesson one has sunk in!

I can remember looking at even the simplest compressor in garageband, and feeling like it was time to throw in the towel.

Novices should not be bothered with compressors (yet: that's in abt lesson ten.) If you don't have a clue what to listen for, you don't hear what effect turning the knobs has. Very frustrating. Bring in the dynamics effects only after the newbie realises there is a problem that needs to be fixed.

[davidka]

Thanks for this list, I like how it's organized!

[CC4]

I like the complex stuff myself, but for the Free category I would have to recommend anything by Betabugs Audio. They pretty much operate with the philosophy of having as few as knobs as possible in their plugins.

[Rabid]

I get what are trying to do. It's definitely a different approach. However another angle might be to stick with just one developer's plugs to start off with. ...

I agree with this. Also, while some of the plugs you listed only have a few knobs the ability to use them takes expertise. For instance, a compressor in the wrong hands can turn a mix into mud. A MiniMoog modeled VSTi with 5 times the knobs can be easy to use and understand.

Edit - Looks like someone already mentioned the danger of compressors in a newbie's hands.

[robogone]

Trying to put myself in the place of a beginner right now, my first thought is that it's a long and confusing list.

Why not start with just a DAW, a synth and a drum machine and let them get going with that? Once they have that down introduce other things slowly as they find a need for them.

[debra1rlo]

dub turbo

/thread

[robogone]

dub turbo

/thread

Wubwub wobbles FTW!!!!!!11111!!!!!

[seismic1]

Trying to put myself in the place of a beginner right now, my first thought is that it's a long and confusing list.

Why not start with just a DAW, a synth and a drum machine and let them get going with that? Once they have that down introduce other things slowly as they find a need for them.

EnergyXT2.6 - simple workflow, built in synth, drum sampler, cheap. If I can use it, anyone can I think there is a free version on the CM cover disk.

[V0RT3X]

Id add dub turbo, but I would not like to encourage that business..

[lingyai]

A free, very simple, quite decent little compressor is Blockfish

http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.p ... &subItem=5

Tonebooster's limiter is another good-value, easy to use plug

While I only use parametric EQs, a newbie might feel more comfortable with a graphic eq -- most people have seen these, whereas to the unitiated, a paremtric eq might be blinding them with science. Good, free choices include the one in the Kjaerhus Classic bundle (hosted on the Acoustica Mixcraft site, last I checked) or a few produced by Sir Elliot.

CamelSpace does in fact offer a ton of options -- I'd take it off the list.

As a couple of others have said, I would suggest perhaps recommending that he start off with just a small suite of good, basic (non-exotic) plugs from the same vendor. Toneboosters or Kjaerhus again come to mind, especially if money's an issue. You can get good results, and learn a lot, from just these.

If on the other hand he doesn't really want to learn much (not everyone's a geek like us) but would just like some passable-to-good results, fast (depending on his ears) EZMix might be worth considering. He actually won't learn much at all, but what the heck.

As for DAWS -- the latest versions of Acid Music Studio and Acoustica's Mixcraft are IMO relatively easy to learn for a newb yet reasonably powerful. Plus he can have fun very quickly using loops. First time I tried Acid (yuk yuk) I was like a little kid.