KVR Audio

killmaster · Post by **killmaster** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 10:08 pm

I really think it's worth noting when something attains the "gem" level. For me this usually means meets a high level of competency and/or uniqueness and is also musically useful and something undeniably transcendant (so to speak). A real "whole is better than the sum of it's parts". There are probably too many of these to remember them all in one go and of course it kinda has to be subjective to a degree, but some that have attained that status for me:

Desktop:
Sonic Charge Permut 8
SPC Plugins ArcSyn
Rhizomatic Plasmonic
Dillon Bastan's Max4Live devices
EverythingTurns Reaktor instruments
Blinksonic Reaktor Instruments
Homegrown Sounds Kontakt instruments
Reaktor Cloudlab - Trevor Gallivan
FM8
Bazille
Reason Complex-1
Wolfgang Palm Wavemapper 2
NI Skanner XT
Forester (Max) - Leafcutter John
XLN XO
VCV Rack 2
Vital
there are some Twisted Tools gems
and some Glitchmachine gems

IOS:
Igor Vasiliev's Spacefields
Borderlands
ID700
Samplr
Spacecraft
TC-11

Would love to hear from others on this. I do think it could prove to be a valuable thread!

dark water · Post by **dark water** » Tue Apr 12, 2022 10:12 pm

Too many to mention for me.

However, in addition to some of those you've mentioned above, nearly all instruments by Hollow Sun (RIP) and Synth Magic are golden imo.

Fraggle · Post by **Fraggle** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 2:06 am

Serum
Collision - Corpus (Ableton)

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 5:58 am

Oh boy! Another list thread!

Here's my complete list of Gems:

Gem Comp76
Gem EQ495
Gem TAPEDESK
Gem EQ84
Gem Dopamine
Gem Sculptube
Gem EQ550
Gem Comp G
Gem ECHOSON
Gem Comp670
Gem OTD-2
Gem Comp LA
Gem Voice
Gem Modula
Gem EQP

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 6:41 am

Not all that many for me, really. Everything I use is worthy, but most of them don't really stand out in any way. The ones that do are:

Olga - for something that initially seemed so specific, I find it incredibly versatile.

Union - nothing sounds bigger and nastier. Nothing.

JP6K - this gets in because it does a creditable job as a Wasp replacement for us.

GR8 - for a freebie, this thing is amazing. Every time I use it, it makes what I'm working on better.

TRK-01 Bass - another freebie, this one is deceptively useful and I love the workflow/interface.

MonoFury - this is donationware but I think it's worth paying $20-$30 for. Great sound and really easy to work with.

There's nothing in my effects folder that I'd rate but that's probably because the effects in Orion were generally better, so having to resort to VSTs feels like slumming it. And also because I hardly use any effects these days.

killmaster · Post by **killmaster** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 12:05 pm

BONES wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 6:41 am Not all that many for me, really. Everything I use is worthy, but most of them don't really stand out in any way. The ones that do are:

Olga - for something that initially seemed so specific, I find it incredibly versatile.

Union - nothing sounds bigger and nastier. Nothing.

JP6K - this gets in because it does a creditable job as a Wasp replacement for us.

GR8 - for a freebie, this thing is amazing. Every time I use it, it makes what I'm working on better.

There's nothing in my effects folder that I'd rate but that's probably because the effects in Orion were generally better, so having to resort to VSTs feels like slumming it. And also because I hardly use any effects these days.

Thanks for this! Checking these out and was hoping you'd reply.

GR8 does sound amazing and is straight forward. Maybe I'll get to using this one.
Have had Union but not used it but going to give it another shot.

Olga sounds amazing and I do love the interface. I find I do better when there are not words I understand for the labels

. But how do you access or save presets?

JP6K is windows only so no go for me...

DJDJ · Post by **DJDJ** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:13 pm

Some more gems in my humble estimation:

Instruments
Plasmonic
XO (agreed with OP on these)
DSP56300 emu (fairly obvious, but still...)
Sonic Academy Kick 2
Plogue Chipspeech
NI Razor

Effects & Utility plugins
Acustica Nebula 4 (particularly the Cupwise and Tim P libraries + Azzimov skins)
Output Portal
Output Thermal
Trackspacer
Audiodamage Other Desert Cities
Polyverse manipulator
Unfiltered Audio SpecOps
Plogue Chipcrusher
Fabfilter Pro-R
Polyverse Comet
IK Tapes collection
iZotope Tonal Balance Control
Logic Step Sequencer
NI Molekular

For me, each of these was a personal WOW! This is a game changer moment for me

killmaster · Post by **killmaster** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:53 pm

DJDJ wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:13 pm Some more gems in my humble estimation:

Instruments
Plasmonic
XO (agreed with OP on these)
DSP56300 emu (fairly obvious, but still...)
Sonic Academy Kick 2
Plogue Chipspeech
NI Razor

Effects & Utility plugins
Acustica Nebula 4 (particularly the Cupwise and Tim P libraries + Azzimov skins)
Output Portal
Output Thermal
Trackspacer
Audiodamage Other Desert Cities
Polyverse manipulator
Unfiltered Audio SpecOps
Plogue Chipcrusher
Fabfilter Pro-R
Polyverse Comet
IK Tapes collection
iZotope Tonal Balance Control
Logic Step Sequencer
NI Molekular

For me, each of these was a personal WOW! This is a game changer moment for me

These are great ones and I totally agree about Plasmonic. I mean to include that. And Molekular and Razor as well. Portal too!

HAL76 · Post by **HAL76** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:37 pm

Plogue OPS7 is a gem, as well as Acustica Ultramarine.

MSpectraldynamics - and I didn´t even really think of it until I got the full license instead of LE that I bought on an dumping-sale.

Maybe BC Patchwork.
The rest is just classy. But ok - the underestimated MChorusMB maybe. It really surprised me since it can sound completely different than all the 20 others.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Apr 13, 2022 11:33 pm

killmaster wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 12:05 pmOlga sounds amazing and I do love the interface. I find I do better when there are not words I understand for the labels . But how do you access or save presets?

I save my Olga presets into Studio One. It's not ideal but it works well enough.

worldfever · Post by **worldfever** » Fri May 06, 2022 8:12 pm

great thread, right up my alley. i wish twisted tools still made new stuff

Dencheg · Post by **Dencheg** » Fri May 06, 2022 9:04 pm

It's a good thread.
I won't list u-he, Synapse, TAL, NI and some others who are a gem, but well known.
(Yes, NI as a gem, cause I stay on Komplete 11 on purpose, occasionally getting new stuff. Ok, I'll list the new stuff)

Gems, which are a bit less known (or known, but possessing less momentum than the former)

Plasmonic
Viper by Adam Szabo
REFLEX-PRO-X by stw-audio - that's an amazing delay factory
ArcSyn - hope it will get more love by the dev (word on the street he's making something cool)
Dagger - please Beepstreet guy, may be you can update it or something for the sake of those who legally got it, as it's a great sounding (roaring) monosynth. Rumor has it he won't ever get back to the desktop
Noire and Straylight by NI are gems

Caliburn by Kuassa and F-59 by Fuse Audio are gems.
Recent models done by Audiority are gems.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat May 07, 2022 12:42 am

I left one thing off my list that absolutely should be on it - TRK-01 Bass. It's really different and exactly the same all at once. I really like the GUI and workflow and it sounds fantastic. It's one synth I really don't think I use enough. I'm going to edit the original list to fix this unacceptable oversight.

jjpscott01 · Post by **jjpscott01** » Sat May 07, 2022 2:03 am

VI's Gems would include:

Complex-1 by Reason Studios
Antidote by Synapse Audio
Sektor by Initial Audio
Algoritm by Reason Studios
VirtualCZ by Plugin Boutique
Glass Viper by Quick Quack

As far as effects, these are staples:

Spline EQ by Photosounder
TCS-68 by Fuse Audio Labs
Scream 4 Distortion by Reason Studios
Gain Reduction by JST
Magnetic II by Nomad Factory
Kaya by Fly-Fi
Sweetone by Sonimus
MV2 by Waves

Tj Shredder · Post by **Tj Shredder** » Sat May 07, 2022 5:22 am

All Madrona Labs, all Unfiltered Audio

Instrument and Effects true gems?