In 2020 Free Plug-Ins Surpass Paid Ones?

[mixedbyali]

I mix records every day and I just wanted know everyone's opinions on this topic.

I'm finding myself using free plug-ins more than paid plug-ins.

I find it's remarkable that you can basically mix a commercial record with only free plug-ins and it will sound just as good or more often better than someone using commercial plug-ins.

I used to use the UAD, Waves and PA stuff in the studio, but now I find I can get the same results faster and more efficiently using the following:

TDR: Slick EQ, Nova, Kotelnikov

Airwindows: ButterComp2, BussColors4, Pressure4, EQ, Baxandall, Capacitor2, Console6, Tape6, Distortion, Interstage, VariMu, Logical 4, ADClip7

Voxengo Span

RS-W2395C (I'm not a fan of his paid plug-ins as they seem to model obscure hardware that nobody has heard of but this EQ is great).

Luftikus (I prefer this to MAAG)

PTEq-X (this sounds better than the Waves equivalent)


Logic Vintage Console EQ, Vintage Tube, Vintage API
Logic VCA, FET, Classic VCA and Vintage FET compressors
Logic Adaptive Limiter
(I know Logic is not free, but I only bought Logic to use as a host, arranger and sequencer so any included plug-ins are a bonus to me)

The only paid stuff I regularly use now are the Acustica Neve plug-ins, but that is only because I'm used to the sound of Neve EQs and compressors, I could easily use Logic's Vintage Console instead which is 95% of the way there.

[zvenx]

To each their own.
That has not been my experience. (Not that they aren't a few good freebies out there.)
Although at the end of the day it is your own craft, creativity and skill as a mixer that will matter the most.
rsp

[Passing Bye]

They maybe don't surpass paid ones, but they are good enough, I was Logic user too and I never felt the need to go bonkers with 3rd party plugins either, even today I have few 3rd party ones just because I don't use Bitwig's stock plugins for the most part, but in the same time I got into all those Windows freebies from VOS and etc.

Logic in this current state is amazing stock plugins vise, advise anyone to restrain from 3rd party plugins until they really get to know what they have and than just fill the void they feel they have.

Airwindows ain't free tho.

[fese]

Whether a plugin costs something or not is rather irrelevant to me. The question for me is: does it offer something useful to me and do I like the workflow/UI. Especially the last point is more and more important nowadays as pretty much any current plugin sounds reasonably good and won’t kill my mixes (that’s still my responsibility...)

[excuse me please]

Free list sounds very familiar, hehe I only miss Limiter №6 and OilRiver.
Did not know Airwindows. Thank you for the suggestion. But when it comes to brass, I won't use freebees.

[imrae]

Well, I use the paid TDR stuff over the freebies so can't agree with the letter of this question. Prefer the Waves to PTEq-X but not much in it and a matter of taste.

But yes, the free TDR stuff is excellent and better than many paid plugins. SPAN is on my monitoring chain, Luftikus is on my A-team.

Been wondering about the SPAN upgrade...

[heavymetalmixer]

Besides the ones in the first post:

The three Klanghelm free plugins, Spaceship Delay, OrilRiver, Valhalla Supermassive and FreqEcho, Convology XT, both versions of Dragonfly Reverb, Venn Audio FreeClip, Loudmax, CHOWDSP Analog Tape Model (AKA Chow Tape), Caelum Audio Tape Cassette 2, Voxengo TubeAmp (it's actually a saturation plugin, not an amp sim), Klevgrand FreeAmp, Baby Audio Magic Switch, Metric Halo Thump, and Waves Factory SK10 and SnareBuzz, and Airwindows NotJustAnotherDither and PurestGain.

There's also the NaLex, Ignite Amp, Mercuriall, TSE and Vadim Taranov free amps for guitars and bass.

[robotmonkey]

Don't think this is true.

Often though the difference between paid and free plugins has been none-existent in past couple of years.

[foosnark]

I don't count plugins that came with a DAW as "free," but as a feature of the DAW.

Given that, at this point there are only 4 free plugins I use on the regular (Valhalla Supermassive, Voxengo SPAN and Correlometer, and Youlean Loudness Meter).

There are a couple of others I use occasionally just for variety but could easily go without, and a few others that get rare use.

Everything else is paid for, albeit mostly on the cheaper side.

[lnikj]

Not sure you've understood the purpose of KVR OP

[excuse me please]

Anyway the Airwindows plug are free FYI

[clipnotic]

I mix records every day and I just wanted know everyone's opinions on this topic.

I'm finding myself using free plug-ins more than paid plug-ins.

I find it's remarkable that you can basically mix a commercial record with only free plug-ins and it will sound just as good or more often better than someone using commercial plug-ins.

I used to use the UAD, Waves and PA stuff in the studio, but now I find I can get the same results faster and more efficiently using the following:

TDR: Slick EQ, Nova, Kotelnikov

Airwindows: ButterComp2, BussColors4, Pressure4, EQ, Baxandall, Capacitor2, Console6, Tape6, Distortion, Interstage, VariMu, Logical 4, ADClip7

Voxengo Span

RS-W2395C (I'm not a fan of his paid plug-ins as they seem to model obscure hardware that nobody has heard of but this EQ is great).

Luftikus (I prefer this to MAAG)

PTEq-X (this sounds better than the Waves equivalent)


Logic Vintage Console EQ, Vintage Tube, Vintage API
Logic VCA, FET, Classic VCA and Vintage FET compressors
Logic Adaptive Limiter
(I know Logic is not free, but I only bought Logic to use as a host, arranger and sequencer so any included plug-ins are a bonus to me)

The only paid stuff I regularly use now are the Acustica Neve plug-ins, but that is only because I'm used to the sound of Neve EQs and compressors, I could easily use Logic's Vintage Console instead which is 95% of the way there.

I also make music every day since many years and I often tried free plugins and a few are good, but meanwhile I mostly use paid ones, especially synths. The only free synth I'm still using is Surge, but it's now free, I bought it for 149 Euro many years ago. The same with Sonar, I bought Sonar 8 for 400 Euro and now it's free. I also use some free MIDI plugins. For FX, mix and mastering I use the VSTs from my Main DAW and Pro-L2. But yes, nobody need plugins from Waves!

[vurt]

dunno if id go 100% with the op, but i would say that if you were in a position financially where you couldnt afford much beyond the computer...
there is so much great free stuff available, that you need not feel left behind.
there is so much that can be achieved for free, or even very inexpensive, good times for all

[Tappistry]

Free list sounds very familiar, hehe I only miss Limiter №6 and OilRiver.
Did not know Airwindows. Thank you for the suggestion. But when it comes to brass, I won't use freebees.

What's to "miss" about Limiter 6? It's still out there for download iirc.

[Teksonik]

There are actually two questions here.

With sufficient talent and skill can you mix commercial quality songs with freeware ? Yes

On the whole is freeware superior to paid plugins ? Generally not but of course there are some free plugins that are better than some paid plugins....