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

[martinjuenke]

At this point in time, I can’t think of a single “must have” PA plugin.

I have dozens (most acquired for free or cheap), yet only have maybe 3 or 4 installed - and I don’t often use them.

From the effects the only 'must haves' for me are the Unfiltered ones, which are in a class their own and I don't really think of them as 'PA plugins', just they host and sells them. Most of the synths are worth it though.

Exactly

[goldenanalog]

At this point in time, I can’t think of a single “must have” PA plugin.

I have dozens (most acquired for free or cheap), yet only have maybe 3 or 4 installed - and I don’t often use them.

I think a lot of people are here now, when I built my new laptop I didn't bother with any of the guitar effects or random eqs etc which many people have accumulated with the megasales/vouchers of the last few years etc.

I think it's a shame if this has had a devaluing effect as there are certainly some gems there. I'm more into synths and creative effects so feel plugs like bx_oberhausen, thorn and especially the UA effects are totally worth the ~$30 you can get them for. Personally I reckon Sandman Pro should be seen in the same light as ReplicaXT, EchoBoy, VDelay etc as a creative delay but as it was effectively given away, it's seen as a cheap giveaway...

I agree that some of PA’s ip is genuinely good; but to me it’s a positive step that the pricing on their content has come down to where it is now: most of us can afford virtually anything that they currently sell.

Those who blanketly dismiss all of PA’s content imo are missing out. Yes: some of their plugins etc are ancient/nothing special - but that’s not true for their entire catalog! They have well over a hundred items - with some that are recent additions. TMT could be seen as a gimmick: I disagree; but to each their own.

I went ahead and put my email on their mailing list for the collab stuff they’re coming out with (NI izotope) starting today - launches are often the best time to see interesting well-priced stuff

[vitocorleone123]

At this point in time, I can’t think of a single “must have” PA plugin.

I have dozens (most acquired for free or cheap), yet only have maybe 3 or 4 installed - and I don’t often use them.

I think a lot of people are here now, when I built my new laptop I didn't bother with any of the guitar effects or random eqs etc which many people have accumulated with the megasales/vouchers of the last few years etc.

I think it's a shame if this has had a devaluing effect as there are certainly some gems there. I'm more into synths and creative effects so feel plugs like bx_oberhausen, thorn and especially the UA effects are totally worth the ~$30 you can get them for. Personally I reckon Sandman Pro should be seen in the same light as ReplicaXT, EchoBoy, VDelay etc as a creative delay but as it was effectively given away, it's seen as a cheap giveaway...

I agree that some of PA’s ip is genuinely good; but to me it’s a positive step that the pricing on their content has come down to where it is now: most of us can afford virtually anything that they currently sell.

Those who blanketly dismiss all of PA’s content imo are missing out. Yes: some of their plugins etc are ancient/nothing special - but that’s not true for their entire catalog! They have well over a hundred items - with some that are recent additions. TMT could be seen as a gimmick: I disagree; but to each their own.

I went ahead and put my email on their mailing list for the collab stuff they’re coming out with (NI izotope) starting today - launches are often the best time to see interesting well-priced stuff

Definitely demo them.

I don’t blanket dismiss them. I just almost always find other plugins are better for me. I have a bunch of licenses I’ll never use, had sold many before the most recent changes from PA, and continue to demo any that seem unique and useful.

[thecontrolcentre]

All the Unfiltered Audio stuff is worth having imho. I also like the Neold & Lindell Audio plugs. Been using the TE100 & bx_XL quite a lot. The sale prices at the moment are pretty great ... at $17.75 each it's almost impossible to use your loyalty vouchers.

[jamcat]

But Lindell Audio can't seem get their shit together on Apple Silicon, which is unsettling. Only 2 plugins have been compiled for M1 so far, which is worse than even IK Multimedia's dismal record.

[DJMaytag]

Finally got around to getting bx_opto, and it seems to be a solid combo of sound quality to CPU usage. Acme Opticom is probably the best sounding opto comp I have, but it’s pretty heavy on CPU cycles.

Other than that, I don’t think I’ve bought much of anything from PA since they came out with the Mega Subscription bundle. Part of it is that I own SO damn much of their offerings up until that point, that I don’t feel the need to add anything more. I bought a ton of their stuff in 2020, and Magnum-K was last purchase from them until yesterday.

[Meester Smeeeth]

But Lindell Audio can't seem get their shit together on Apple Silicon, which is unsettling. Only 2 plugins have been compiled for M1 so far, which is worse than even IK Multimedia's dismal record.

For IKM it’s just really T-Racks which isn’t yet AS native. MixBox, Amplitube, Sampletank, Sampletron, Syntronik, MODO Bass, MODO Drum are all M1 native. Not the fastest rollout but not exactly‘dismal’ IME. At least T-Racks still works.

Much worse are NI and Izotope. Some smaller devs like Kush and Black Rooster are 0% native. None of my D16 apps (I mostly have the drum machines) even work on Big Sur/Monterey let alone being native. And they won’t get free updates. All of the IKM m1 native updates were free so far.

It’s also annoying when new stuff like lifeline expanse is released and is not AS native. Which is also true for the new T-Racks vocal strip thingy TBF.

So yeah. IKM are dismal at a lot of things but at least they’ve actually been releasing free AS native updates…

‘Dismal’ definitely describes NI’s efforts.

[jamcat]

Well, IK has 8 native M1 plugins, out of 65+ plugins.

Everyone you listed have far fewer plugins in need of porting.

[Meester Smeeeth]

Well, IK has 8 native M1 plugins, out of 65+ plugins.

Everyone you listed have far fewer plugins in need of porting.

But they’ll all be upgraded as one. T-Racks is one installer. They won’t be updating T-Racks piecemeal.

AmpliTube has as many or even more add pjs than T-Racks and was updated as one big product and all the amps and pedals etc you owned came with it. If you count T-Racks as 65 products you can’t really count AmpliTube, for example, as one even though all the add ins are hosted within the AmpliTube shell,

MODO drum and MODo bass are the same now too… one overall app with multiple add ons.

I get your point but as far as IKM and the product manager app is concerned T-Racks is effectively one product. which annoys people as you have to install every T-Racks processor even if you just own one. The way the T-Racks framework is written it allows IKM to spit out individual plugins that don’t just run in the T-Racks shell anymore but they’re effectively the same as an AmpliTube add on.

[PTV]

The only plugins I ever bought from PA are from Unfiltered Audio. I already have more than enough compressors & EQs...

[lotus2035]

I've had Unfiltered Audio's compressor ZIP in my folder for a few months, just got around to trying it out properly this week. It went right into my top 5.
You can really push it without the sound breaking up.

I have a few others from Unfiltered Audio, they are all top notch, I want to collect everything by them.

[TBlake]

I've had Unfiltered Audio's compressor ZIP in my folder for a few months, just got around to trying it out properly this week. It went right into my top 5.
You can really push it without the sound breaking up.

I have a few others from Unfiltered Audio, they are all top notch, I want to collect everything by them.

Zip is an overlook gem.

[MJACau]

For me Unfiltered Tails, it's so powerful

[chrisstiles]

I've had Unfiltered Audio's compressor ZIP in my folder for a few months, just got around to trying it out properly this week. It went right into my top 5.
You can really push it without the sound breaking up.

I have a few others from Unfiltered Audio, they are all top notch, I want to collect everything by them.

Zip is an overlook gem.

Although I wish they hadn't got rid of their old - very powerful - modulation system for their newer effects (Silo etc)