What (effect) plug-ins have really impressed you lately?

[Tobi MM]

NI Bite - got it by accident (Komplete Ultimate), installed it by accident, used it by accident on a rhodes track and never went back. It's a fantastic booster/saturator, and with sample and bit-reduction, it's also a joy to use it on initially pad, but now lead sounds.

Ironically it's threatened in function and usage by Spectre from wavesfactory, which i demoed mistaking it for a very good looking EQ Plugin...



oh, and, what a criminally underrated freebie TAL Filter 2 is...

[WatchTheGuitar]

what a criminally underrated freebie TAL Filter 2 is...

talking of nice and useful freebie filter plugins…

https://youtu.be/nNux2v3RJhU

https://audiomodern.com/shop/plugins/filterstep/

[Andreya_Autumn]

This thread was more fun to read than I thought it would be! I have a few moments from the last year that come to mind myself...

While demoing Liquidsonics Lustrous Plates, I made one preset for each plate model it offers, with the EQ and damping in each preset dialed in to make them all sound as similar as possible.
Why would I do that? Because EQing out the distracting time and frequency response difference between them made it easier to hear all the other differences! The subtleties really are where this one shines the most. The way the dispersion hits, the modulation, the early-late transitions... some of the voicings are more similar than others for sure, but with some the difference was striking, and after listening to those differences for a while I was way more inspired than I've been demoing anything in years!

Another surprising one for me was Sonic Charge Echobode. I had previously written this off, thinking "Meh, Valhalla has a free version". But I actually tried it out this spring and immediately realized its value. For the frequency shifter echoes themselves the differences may not be that great (though Echobode does let you tweak the sound a lot more). But more importantly Echobode can make the coolest phaser sounds I've ever heard! Stacking it's phase modulation with subtle frequency shifting, at very fast delay times and some feedback = Very nice weav-y wobbles. It's become a staple around here.

And as I mentioned in another thread here the other day, I've longed for a real replacement to LiveCut for years. And am very happy to now have ChrisGlitch in my toolkit.

Someone else mentioned Gullfoss and I can only second that one. It's apparently not everyone's cup of tea but it's *just right* for me. Hard to go without nowadays.

I also really really didn't think I would love Volcano 3 as much as I do. But I do! That shit goes everywhere in my mixes now, and gets used for so many things I didn't think it would. Banger of a plugin!

[GusGranite]

Picking up Softube's Tape Echoes for $15 this weekend has been a treat. What a rub-a-dubby delay. Most excellent.

[PsychicVST]

I really dig both the Excite Audio plugins and I hardly ever see any mention of them; Lifeline Console and Lifeline Expanse. Both incredible lofi/vibe multifx similar to a RC20.

[Aiynzahev]

Picking up Softube's Tape Echoes for $15 this weekend has been a treat. What a rub-a-dubby delay. Most excellent.

Where is it $15?

[SoftSynthLover99]

Tone Projects Kelvin also impressed me in a way few other plugins have in recent memory. It’s really one of the best saturation/character/tone shaping plugins I’ve ever used. Highly recommend it.

The TOMO labs Lisa EQ plugin is also another one that really surprised me, very flexible great sounding EQ. Def worth checking out!

[The Noodlist]

Picking up Softube's Tape Echoes for $15 this weekend has been a treat. What a rub-a-dubby delay. Most excellent.

Where is it $15? 

You'll need Dirty Tape in your account and need to be logged in and use code TAPEECHOESFOR15
https://www.softube.com/tape-echoes
Through 13 August
Source.

[DCrown]

PA has almost never impressed me yet, but I like Tantra 2 for special effects (pretty high on cpu, though) and also Lisa was not bad, but I just can't stand the gui, that's why I would never use it.
I like Baby Audio Crystaline reverb, because it's different from all other reverbs I have.
I have been demoing quite a lot of plugins recently. After demoing Unisum I liked TDR Kotelnikov even more (my all time fav).
What really blew me away was Reaper's new oversampling feature for every plugin, it makes some plugins even better, especially some Waves plugins.

[ATS]

I realized recently that the free Valhalla plugins are better than many paid ones.

[ATS]

Gullfoss was a bit of a game-changer for me... you just slap it on the master and it makes your music sound a little bit better... and only a little bit, but it's impossible to go without it now.

Does this go on sale? I just looked it up and it's $200

[panspOrmia]

Permut8 (Sonic Charge)
Supatrigga and Livecut (SmartElectronix)
S-Layer (Twisted Tools)
Buffer Override (DestroyFX)
Ruina (free!) and Desmodus (Noise Engineering)
LFO Tool (Xfer)
ChrisGlitch (Bom Shanka Machines)
BackMask (Freakshow Industries)
DIN (Din is Noise)
N2O (PSP Audioware)
Digitalis (Aberrant DSP)
GRM Tools (INA-GRM)
Shade (UVI)

.. and pretty well anything from:

H.G. Fortune
arcDev Noise Industries
K. Brown
GlitchMachines
Unfiltered Audio
Jack Dark
Inear Display
Akihiko Matsumoto
etc..

[DCrown]

Gullfoss was a bit of a game-changer for me... you just slap it on the master and it makes your music sound a little bit better... and only a little bit, but it's impossible to go without it now.

Does this go on sale? I just looked it up and it's $200

I suppose price will even raise, that's the Scandinavian way haha Afair price for Gullfoss and also Soothe once was lower.

[davestretch]

Gullfoss was a bit of a game-changer for me... you just slap it on the master and it makes your music sound a little bit better... and only a little bit, but it's impossible to go without it now.

Does this go on sale? I just looked it up and it's $200

I got it for £92 in Black Friday sale last year - approx $120

[an-electric-heart]

Gullfoss was a bit of a game-changer for me... you just slap it on the master and it makes your music sound a little bit better... and only a little bit, but it's impossible to go without it now.

Does this go on sale? I just looked it up and it's $200

I got it for £92 in Black Friday sale last year - approx $120

Off the top of my head, I think it sometimes goes on sale with pretty big discounts (50% off maybe), but I recall there maybe being a deal where you can't re-sell if you buy it when it's on sale.