KVR Audio

dark water · Post by **dark water** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:16 pm

Greetings,

Admittedly ''beauty'' is in the eye of the beholder, but I thought it might be useful to see what ''ugly duckling'' tools other people rely on in their studios to get jobs done.

For my hissy hardware synths, I find the Drawmer DF320 gate/expander/noise filter highly useful in allowing me to subtly decrease noise in between played notes (and particularly if I add a hardware distortion pedal to the audio chain).

And for general music studio duties, the free plug-ins Sonalksis FreeG and SSL's X-Ism are invaluable to me for manipulating gain levels and for avoiding digital distortion respectively.

Which unheralded but highly effective tools do you use for your productions?

Cheers,
DW

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:18 pm

+1 for X-ISM

and

wait for it

Ableton Utility

e@rs · Post by **e@rs** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 1:03 pm

Can't say I find my Fireface UC too sexy, but it would be the last thing to let go.

All those Soundtoys black plugins. And Omnipressor too.

shroom81 · Post by **shroom81** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 1:49 pm

Brainworx Control v2
Soinmus Satson
Voxengo Span

Nielzie · Post by **Nielzie** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:05 pm

Cockos ReaPlugs
rs-met plugins

Not the lookers, but they do get the job done very efficiently and well.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:07 pm

Come to think of it... i don't think i even use something "unsexy". Looks like i also choose by eye, not just by ear.

Frankly though, i do believe that a quality product also should have a quality GUI. Nothing worse than something which sounds like the sweetest thing on earth, and looks like Windows 95. IMO. I don't think it's really sorcery to develop a good, and good looking GUI, which invites you to use, and fiddle with the software.

I think the "worst" thing i have in that regard is Limiter No. 6. It's not too bad though.

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:34 pm

Ableton LIVE 9 reference manual or my studio chair

peace

Rappo Clappo · Post by **Rappo Clappo** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:38 pm

Vladg's stuff.

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:55 pm

Hardware:

CV.OCD -- a little MIDI to CV converter that runs off of guitar pedal power, costs less than any other, yet does more than most. If it was slightly more perfect (say, 6 CVs and 10 gates/triggers instead of 4 and 12) I would never need a second one, but I probably will eventually.

Happy Nerding 3x MIA -- Eurorack module that can be a combination of mixers, attenuators, offsets, inverters. Cheap, compact, well designed. Simple and boring, but powerful.

Software:

Unfiltered Audio G8 -- okay, it's actually almost sexy, which is quite an accomplishment for a gate.

I've been using this a ton since going mostly hardware.

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:00 pm

Another vote for Drawmer, but my fav is my MC2.1 (monitor/headphone controller)

nineofkings · Post by **nineofkings** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:51 pm

Cheap, boomy earbuds to zero in on muddy lower mids

SODDI · Post by **SODDI** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 9:52 pm

A graph paper pad so I can take notes, times, make calculations and draw how I want things to go. And a black ballpoint (I hate blue ones.) It's what passes for a mouse pad.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 10:51 pm

A tiny little mono grotbox combo for checking levels when mixing ...

festeringheap · Post by **festeringheap** » Tue Apr 11, 2017 11:15 pm

Bowl of picks and several packs of guitar strings.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:21 am

Behringer cable tester

Bidule

What are your favourite unsexy but essential studio tools (hardware or software) ?