Best Overall Mixing/Effects Bundle?

[OrionXYX]

I was taking a look at Fabfilter's pro bundle, and even iZotope's Music Production Suite 5. Primarily focused on the Fabfilter pro bundle. Is there any other great deals for a good bundle of Mixing/Effects Plugins. Around the $500 range?

[plexuss]

It really depends on what you are looking for. I am one of those people who accumulates many plugins so I have direct experience with a lot of these products. But, my needs won't necessarily be your needs. With "YMMV" in mind, the ones that comes to mind are:

IK TRacks Max: diverse range of tools, decent sounding, analogue and digital represented, resizable UI. Decent updating and support.

Melda bundles: I am not a fan of melda because of the UX and UI. However, if you gel with the design their various bundles are good. Generally their products are good sounding. No analogue representation however (no emulations that incorporate non-linearities like analogue distortions). Good updating and support.

Nomad Factory Integral Studio Pack III: all kinds of cool sounding vibe-y analogue emulations and other tools. Doesn't seem to be updated too often.

Voxengo: These are also really nice tools and a mix of digital and analogue-y emulations. Very updated with good support.

I stopped using iZotope Ozone at V7 or 8. Reason: too sterile/uninteresting sounding. Nice tools but I tend to use a mix of different products from different companies. Since going that route I haven't found a driving need for iZotope.

FabFilter's stuff is very nice no doubt. But its high quality DIGITAL. I like to use analogue and analogue-like emulations too. So I dont use FabFilter exclusively either.

My advice would be to get a good bundle with some nice true analogue emulations and also FabFilter Pro Q3, C2 and L2 to supplement the analogue stuff. YMMV and what do I know...

[Aiynzahev]

Fabfilter Saturn 2 & Volcano 3 are very much focused on emulating analog components. Pro-C2 also offers a number of compressor modes that are more or less analog emulations, and Pro-C3 is a good of an EQ as you'll get, it's just that it doesn't add harmonics and doesn't have curves from famous analog EQ's.

If you do go with Fabfilter, you'll have everything you need to do anything, but you won't have a "hardware" like workflow or specialty EQ's etc. Those can usually be found cheap elsewhere though, if needed at all.

If I were starting again I'd just get the Fabfilter bundle and never even demo anything else.

[OrionXYX]

Thank you so much for the reply. So you are saying that getting a Fabfilter bundle to help with the overall mix, and then get some sort of analog plugin(s) that would help add some flavor/texture would be a good idea? What genre of music do you usually mix, and what is your personal favorite sort of mixing plugin/hardware that you use? Thanks again.

[OrionXYX]

Could I ask pretty much the same question to you too? What's your favorite analog EQ that you use. Thanks.

[Aiynzahev]

EQ is one of those things I'm still exploring, which is pretty crazy since I've been using them for over a decade now. Mostly I've just relied on the stock EQ in Ableton for precise cuts, and then whatever is the flavor of the week in my plugin collection for particular effect, sweetening or color or whatever. Thing is with EQ, any digital EQ can pretty much recreate any "analog" EQ, it's just about learning and understanding how EQ works, and in my opinion what particular EQ you use doesn't matter as much as the quality of the source sound and the overall META of your mix. A lot of people use "generic" digital EQ to good effect because they know what they are doing on a macro scale

I guess if you want the best of both world though check out Kirchhoff EQ: https://www.threebodytech.com/en/products/kirchhoffeq

Like I said, I really would just recommend the FabFilter bundle of EQ, Compressor, Limiter, Saturn, maybe Volcano, timeless and Pro-R.

The tools aren't even the problem when it comes to mixing, we all indulge in fun plugins but I think most people know you can get a great mix with stock plugins (and many producers do) what DAW are you using and what style of music?

[OrionXYX]

I mainly do a lot of rock and grunge music. And I use Ableton

[vitocorleone123]

Why a bundle rather than finding the each of the best tools for you? Yeah, that takes some time and effort. But the end result is going to be far better.

Fabfilter has some great plugins, but also several that are just.... old and outdated, surpassed by many others. They'll get the job done, but you're also paying more than they're worth (comparatively), even in a bundle.

If you still decide to go with FF, wait until the holidays toward the end of the year if you can and save a bundle on a bundle. Or maybe that's the individual plugin sale? Summer is one and BF is another and I forget which is which.

I was excited years ago and bought the FF mix and master bundle. Now I really only use ProQ3 from it on a regular basis, which means I ended up wasting money in the end, not saving it.

[El°HYM]

Since most of the usual suspects already have been mentioned.

Let me add the Toneboosters - Bundle.
https://www.toneboosters.com

[ixchel]

The Plugin Alliance subscription for $9.99 per month is pretty impressive. And you get to keep 3 plugins per year. But everything you get for that price can't be beat. Granted it is a subscription, but they have sales constantly and easy to buy the plugins you want to keep as you go. You would probably still want certain plugins in addition like Fab Filter Q3, some reverb plugins, etc., but if starting from scratch and for overall savings it's not a bad way to go.

[ixchel]

I should also add that the FF bundle is great. And another one I would recommend for bang for the buck would be Soundtoys. Eventide Anthology also excellent too, but not quite as tool based.

[Erik_Lucas]

Voxengo all day.

[DCrown]

For mixing, mastering and experimenting
WAVES Horizon. Could not be without this bundle.

[sonidomolino]

imho (based on trying most of what's out there, and depending on what sort of music ur working on)

> Arturia FX Collection 3 ($399) is a great bang-for-the buck with a good blend of high quality emulations + originals
> Overloud Gems are also a nice high quality collection, but more on the emulation side
> +1 for FF as a great collection of high quality basics
> A PA subs is a low cost way to explore a large number of options.
> Melda offers a free bundle which is a great way to decide if they work for you. WRT their UIs, once you get it, it works for every plugin if ur into efficiency. That being said, they've recently upgraded the UIs to offer more "traditional/conventional/normal" look as well.
...
Voxengo/Nomad appear to be a bit "long in the tooth" but should be more than equal to if not better than whatever comes with your DAW.
IK,Waves are blacklisted here due to their "policies".

[ramseysounds]

@sonodomolino

IK and Waves are blacklisted where?