I produce mainly D&B, which is a genre that needs lots of processing, to make stuff sit well in the mix. In the course of a project, I tend to use TONS of plugins as a result, and no matter my CPU, I still have to battle against underruns.
I am always on the lookout for plugins that use minimal resources, plugins like Airwindows for example, but also plugins which I can trust not to do weird stuff (clicks, noise, desync, etc), many Airwindows plugins have some sort of quirk which makes them unusable for me.
Let's say your project is running at 99% CPU, and you still need to add one of each:
- EQ
- compression
- distortion
- reverb
- channel strip
A decent GUI is nice, but the main concern is good sound quality with minimal CPU load, and preferably no quirks that need workarounds.
Which would you pick and why?
Update to list some suggestions users have made:
Dead Duck Effects as suggested by SeBaer
McDSP as suggested by escalona
Plugin Alliance channel strips as suggested by Googly Smythe
Sender Spike as suggested by donkey tugger
Sashart as suggested by donkey tugger
FabFilter as suggested by DizzlerMusic
Airwindows as suggested by dan_flash
- EQ -> EQ / Air
- compression -> Pressure5 / VariMu
- distortion -> GrindAmp / Spiral2 / Drive
- reverb -> Verbity / MatrixVerb
- channel strip -> CStrip
Boz Audio Labs as suggested by jens
Reaplugs as suggested by k2006
Oril River Reverb as suggested by k2006
Oxford/Sonnox as suggested by nusound mind
Waves Ren-series as suggested by La Mato
Apulsoft EQ and Shaper as suggested by La Mato
ToneBoosters as suggested by La Mato
P42 climax as suggested by La Mato
Keep them coming guys!
), with a template that does a ton of routing to busses and sends. While there have been some improvements with regards to freezing/unfreezing, it's still quite a hassle to go back after a freeze to quickly change something. So please, can we stay on topic and discuss your favourite "goto" low CPU plugins?
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