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

[andymcbain]

Soothe does spectral sidechain like Trackspacer or SmartComp. It suppress not just resonances on sidechained signal, but the whole spectrum of incoming signal. And, it does it in live, like Trackspacer, but with more control and options. There is “Sidechain” button, try it and see how it works Actually, Soothe is the best spectral compressor on the market now in my humble opinion.

Why would I do this? Well… To free up space in one instrument for another (unmask frequencies/remove freq conflicts)… I can mix full song just with Soothe and proper gain staging. As a result, this song will sound totally fine. With one plugin…

I purchased Soothe for one thing: live spectral sidechain compression (aka Trackspacer). Oeksound doesn't mention that feature, but you can mix the whole track using only Soothe. It's the wealthiest spectral compressor on the market

SmartComp does that too, but it needs time to analyze and think about what to compress and how.

if you dont mind could you elaborate a bit why you would do this? I believe i've seen a video of it. basically that way you are supressing the resonances that soothe would attenuate on another track instead, does that work well for making space for stuff?

Ahh, wow okay! That makes a lot more sense. I'll check it out more, I remember trying out the sidechain but not really knowing what to use it for

I started using Soothe 2 in place of Trackspacer as it used a bit less CPU. Haven't done a direct A/B test but I'm more than happy with the job that Soothe is doing. I'm usually just feeding a vocal into the sidechain and doing a tiny bit of ducking on a conflicting midrange part, or feeding a kick in to do a lot more ducking on a bass. Always paying attention to the attack / release times and the smoothing control.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I just picked up Izotope's NeoVerb. Sounds excellent and is incredibly easy to use! I actually like it more than Nimbus or R4, which it's based on, but it's much faster to get great sounding results with Neoverb. I was not expecting to be as pleasantly surprised as I was with it. This will get used A LOT!

The other one I really dig that came out somewhat recently is Arturia's Fragments. I've never been a big fan of granular stuff, but this one clicked with me in a big way. Love it.

[e@rs]

Just demoed Pyros, based on the recommendations here (thanx!). Mind blown.
(Wish I tried The Abuser years ago...)

[T-MO_Music]

I just got PhaseMistress by Soundtoys, it's quite expensive if you buy it standalone outside of their sale periods but it's my favorite phaser plugin I have ever used. I didn't use phasers very often in my music because they often create a bit of a resonant sound but PhaseMistress has this really smooth quality to it. Microshift (chorus) is also great but not as versatile.

And I agree that Soothe is really great, it's much better than it's competitors like Gullfoss imo. If I want to tone down the high end of a sound I tend to do it with soothe aswell because even dynamic EQ's can't compete since they're not dynamic in their hz value, only in the db value.

I'm upgrading my audio interface soon and am considering the Apollo Twin X Duo HE. I'd love to hear some opinions on their software bundle as I couldn't find demo version for them.

[panspOrmia]

Just demoed Pyros, based on the recommendations here (thanx!). Mind blown.
(Wish I tried The Abuser years ago...)

Yeah, The Abuser is great (I still use it!). Props to Audiority for the free upgrade to Pyros!
(It pairs really well with XenoVerb!).

[e@rs]

Also demoing Tube Modulator. I got a ton of choruses, tremolos, panners and wow/flutter-ers, but with this one is so damn easy to get something delicious super fast. I'm really tempted.

[GNXT]

+1 for Pyros it can be used in mixing and sound design with a big success, great set of options/controls and flavours. Kelvin, Pyros and Rift is my desert island distortion plugins, with decapitator following me everywhere I go, so it doesn't count, I'm not responsible for it's actions.

Pyros is the Power Tool store in your area it got's everything you need, from household, and house maintenance to construction, Kelvin is the posh store with any kind of colour, many options and shades, Rift well is Rift.

Another beautiful discovery was Tai Chi, which is my Reverb's folder bully, it tries to push away everyone in there. It claims big chorusy, dynamic and unreal spaces, but deep inside can be really soft and sensitive once it opens up to you, being flexible and can be subtle,real and blend in any situation. It loves hugging percs and hanging out, partying with synths, vocals is it's fetish.

[DuVallay]

UAD 1176 - has always impressed me and still does till this day. software emulation (in 3 different versions, based on 3 different revisions) of a real deal, that has literally no difference from the original hardware piece. i'm not talking about UREI classics though, rather modern day 1176E units.

[zfy]

I'm in the honeymoon phase with ECHO B2 by GSi, new Echorec emulation released a few days ago. If this was released in pedal form guitarists would be all over it.

[panspOrmia]

I'm in the honeymoon phase with ECHO B2 by GSi, new Echorec emulation released a few days ago. If this was released in pedal form guitarists would be all over it.

Gonna DL it now and give her a whirl. Thx for mentioning it!

FWIW: I hear ya! I too am in a honeymoon phase.. but with the Pulsar ECHOREC (based on the Binson Echorec 2), which I somehow snagged for $20 some time ago. Sounds bloody amazing and a pure joy to mess with!

[ixchel]

+1 on Soothe 2. Saves a ton of time especially when EQíng harsh vocals.

I've really been impressed with most of the Arturia stuff lately.

Also been diggin' Spectre from WavesFactory. Cool, easy to use saturator

And finally El Rey from Acustica. Such a cool compressor for color and vibe.

[whassup]

Omnichannel, compressor in FET mode does what I want more than often on tracks and groups.
I made a blind shoot out of "analog" plugins for rounding off transients and making sounds more pleasant, easier to mix, etc. Funny enough, the saturation from Omnichannel's Pre section stayed on top against a dozen other plugins I own like several tape plugins (Waves, etc) and Saturn.
I so understand the other threads title: I can't use ugly plugins. Yeah, using them is one thing. Hearing things is a different one. I like good looking, ergonomically well thought out GUIs with great worflow. Not so easy to go beyond poor GUIs for sound only.

TrackComp 2, mostly in G Mode as master comp, 2:1, threshold set to aim for 2-3dB reduction, attack and release to fit the track. Sounds great most of the time.

Deelay is a great surprise. Finally (haha!) a delay plugin with FEW controls while doing a lot that is useful and good sounding to me.

Infiltrator is so cool sounding powerful. It can do so many things really well as single FX that it get's way more uses than as "only" a multi FX with cool rhythmic and moving resets. Many good presets btw.
Will get an overhaul to version 2 which will be released on 20.09.22 and will be a free update to owners! Very nice move.

[Krakatau]

trackspacer

[Monkberry]

Been trying the demo of The God Particle from Cradle. It's meant for the 2 bus and recommended to mix into as opposed to an after solution. I've tried it with replacing my Newfangled Audio Elevate bundle on already mixed material and in a few cases I prefer The God Particle. There's not much to do with tweaking parameters and I love to tinker but if it works, I can't argue. I'm gonna grab it when the 5 day demo expires.

[kraster]

The sixth sample stuff is excellent. F(l)atter and SSF are both great sounding really well designed plugins.