What are your "must-have" Plugin Alliance plugins now that they are $29 ?

[dark water]

As for myself, I'm probably going to pick up the Ampeg B15N.
Sadly (for me) the two actual plugins I really want aren't included in this sale (yet??).

looks good mate, is this it?

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... svtvr.html

That's a really good amp - and brainworx/PluginAlliance/Ampeg seem to be consistently very good with their guitar and particularly their bass amps.
However, the specific model that I was thinking of is this one:

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... _b15n.html

I rate the bass amps on the PluginAlliance website very highly (and I have about 3 of them so far). The bass amps seem to not get so much attention compared to say the compressors or console emulations, but many musicians on KVR threads and GearSlutz threads seem to agree about their quality.
Tbh, it's just a matter of picking your favourite tone / colour

[chrisstiles]

What's the difference between the 3 SSL consoles (J, E and G) apart from price?

They're modelled on different SSL consoles so have slight differences in the sound. When they were giving vouchers away at xmas I demo'ed all of them and the focusrite sc console; yeah, they're different, especially in the mid range but not enough that I personally could really call, don't consider myself to have golden ears. I read some reviews that mentioned the comps character but struggled to appreciate the differences. The exception was the FocusriteSC, that seemed to have a notably 'clearer', flatter sound which suited me better, not as 'rocky', worked better on my ambient/electronic stuff. Shallow I know but the GUI was better too, bigger and not as aliased, didn't have to squint at the numbers.

My 2 second thought on this is that the SSL ones are likely to be more accurate given than Plugin Alliance had to re-do them with agreement from SSL (these are also the ones I've heard praised by audio engineers for their audio like character).

[Spring Goose]

What's the difference between the 3 SSL consoles (J, E and G) apart from price?

They're modelled on different SSL consoles so have slight differences in the sound. When they were giving vouchers away at xmas I demo'ed all of them and the focusrite sc console; yeah, they're different, especially in the mid range but not enough that I personally could really call, don't consider myself to have golden ears. I read some reviews that mentioned the comps character but struggled to appreciate the differences. The exception was the FocusriteSC, that seemed to have a notably 'clearer', flatter sound which suited me better, not as 'rocky', worked better on my ambient/electronic stuff. Shallow I know but the GUI was better too, bigger and not as aliased, didn't have to squint at the numbers.

My 2 second thought on this is that the SSL ones are likely to be more accurate given than Plugin Alliance had to re-do them with agreement from SSL (these are also the ones I've heard praised by audio engineers for their audio like character).

do you mean analog like character?

[chk071]

Good opportunity for the peeps who missed the last sale to grab Knifonium...

[chrisstiles]

do you mean analog like character?

Yeah, that's the one. I ran into autocorrect.

[Spring Goose]

Another one worth considering is the DSM V3, which isn't specifically a multiband compressor but it does some amazing trickery within the same ballpark.

Hey, can you tell me: i've got the demo. Most of my songs don't have a full vocal. I have a song which i really like the production of but it has a full vocal. This song isn't suitable to use the DSM V3 with, is that right? I'll need to find a "reference" song which doesn't have a full vocal, is that right?

[Spring Goose]

do you mean analog like character?

Yeah, that's the one. I ran into autocorrect.

OK i've quoted you for the out of context thread, cos it's pretty funny what you said.

[dark water]

Another one worth considering is the DSM V3, which isn't specifically a multiband compressor but it does some amazing trickery within the same ballpark.

Hey, can you tell me: i've got the demo. Most of my songs don't have a full vocal. I have a song which i really like the production of but it has a full vocal. This song isn't suitable to use the DSM V3 with, is that right? I'll need to find a "reference" song which doesn't have a full vocal, is that right?

Pretty much, but this review by musictech (particularly the paragraph about 'curve capture') will say it quicker and more clearly than I can

https://www.musictech.net/reviews/plug- ... sp-dsm-v3/

[Spring Goose]

Another one worth considering is the DSM V3, which isn't specifically a multiband compressor but it does some amazing trickery within the same ballpark.

Hey, can you tell me: i've got the demo. Most of my songs don't have a full vocal. I have a song which i really like the production of but it has a full vocal. This song isn't suitable to use the DSM V3 with, is that right? I'll need to find a "reference" song which doesn't have a full vocal, is that right?

Pretty much, but this review by musictech (particularly the paragraph about 'curve capture') will say it quicker and more clearly than I can

https://www.musictech.net/reviews/plug- ... sp-dsm-v3/

Once again, thankyou very much!

[Autobot]

Is SpecOps a worthy addition for sound-designers? My demo expired a while ago and I it seems there is no way to demo it again (not so smart move from PA imho).

I really like the UA stuff (have all beside BassMint and Lion) no problem with the GUI etc. but I remember a lot of latency and some bugs? Are the bugs still there? I can live with latency during sound-design but if the software is buggy, well that's a no, no.

[chrisstiles]

Is SpecOps a worthy addition for sound-designers? My demo expired a while ago and I it seems there is no way to demo it again (not so smart move from PA imho).

I got it with a voucher (probably wouldn't have paid discounted price for it). You can do a lot with it, but kind of need to be in an experimental mode to make the most out of it. Here's stuff by another forum member:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlgjEfct1FE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz4cXVJ3jn4

[Burillo]

Is SpecOps a worthy addition for sound-designers? My demo expired a while ago and I it seems there is no way to demo it again (not so smart move from PA imho).

PA regularly does demo resets, and worst case you can contact support and they'll reset it for you. they did it for me on occasion.

[Autobot]

Is SpecOps a worthy addition for sound-designers? My demo expired a while ago and I it seems there is no way to demo it again (not so smart move from PA imho).

I got it with a voucher (probably wouldn't have paid discounted price for it). You can do a lot with it, but kind of need to be in an experimental mode to make the most out of it. Here's stuff by another forum member:

Thanks. I'm quite often in "an experimental mode" Well, even without a voucher I think $29 / €24 a quite good price.

[chrisstiles]

Is SpecOps a worthy addition for sound-designers? My demo expired a while ago and I it seems there is no way to demo it again (not so smart move from PA imho).

I got it with a voucher (probably wouldn't have paid discounted price for it). You can do a lot with it, but kind of need to be in an experimental mode to make the most out of it. Here's stuff by another forum member:

Thanks. I'm quite often in "an experimental mode" Well, even without a voucher I think $29 / €24 a quite good price.

Yeah, sadly it's a bit higher due to VAT here, but I got it in the mega sale in September for $12. I think it's a reasonable plugin - just the kind you probably need to put a fair amount of effort to work out the mapping between "tweak this knob" and "achieve this effect". There's some cross over between Sandman Pro, Byome and this one, though those first two also have less experimental modes, but yeah as a means of sparking creativity it's a reasonable buy.

[GaryG]

I think it's a reasonable plugin - just the kind you probably need to put a fair amount of effort to work out the mapping between "tweak this knob" and "achieve this effect". There's some cross over between Sandman Pro, Byome and this one, though those first two also have less experimental modes, but yeah as a means of sparking creativity it's a reasonable buy.

I'd agree with this, I rarely go to it to achieve a certain effect as you would a delay for example, but occasionally add it to something and go through tweaking the presets. Struck gold a few times. Bit dubious about the mastering presets, whether they'd ever be used for their intended purpose or not. But for sound design/experimentation I'd definitely recommended at this price.

I do find this a problem with PA, this is quite a bargain but I'm aware they also do the sales with free vouchers (like last Easter, Xmas...) so always the possibility it could be even cheaper shortly. Hell, you could have got Sandman Pro and Fault for free last Xmas...