Fabfilter question

[bpence310]

Just curious about the Fabfilter plugins. I am wanting to get the Fabfilter Pro-Q3, but I was wondering if all the other plugins are worth it, or if the EQ is really the best thing they have?

[plexuss]

All the other FF products are worth it if you think they are worth it. I think they are (mostly) worth it (I have them all). Your best bet is to demo them and determine for yourself. But IMHO they are all top tier audio products.

[Ploki]

i have everything except One, Simplon and Micro.

I use twin3 a lot, but not as much as u-he synths, but i use the fabfilter FX all the time, they're by far my most used mix plugins.

[ralfrobert]

All the other FF products are worth it if you think they are worth it. I think they are (mostly) worth it (I have them all). Your best bet is to demo them and determine for yourself. But IMHO they are all top tier audio products.

+1

They are really good in my opinion. Use them in some projects during the demo period and take your pick. It's a good idea to wait for a sale, get a referral code and check the bundles if you like more than one plugin.

[bpence310]

Good to know. I just purchased a bundle with Pro G, Pro DS, Pro MB, Pro C2, Pro R, Saturn 2, Volcano 2 + Upgrade Licenses to Pro R2, Volcano 3 from a guy selling it here. I figured for $300 for all of that it was a pretty good deal (at least I hope so).
Doesn't have Pro-Q3, unfortunately, but I am trialing that at the moment. It does look pretty nice and will most likely buy it soon, as well.

[gelly-vapor]

I had all fabfilter in the past , the only one i have kept is fabfilter one , i loved a lot twin 1 , twin2 was ok . Q3 is great but there is alternative , try hornet dynamic eq you could be surprised...
I think fabfilter is wrong with the new 'GUI' ..

[Andreya_Autumn]

Good to know. I just purchased a bundle with Pro G, Pro DS, Pro MB, Pro C2, Pro R, Saturn 2, Volcano 2 + Upgrade Licenses to Pro R2, Volcano 3 from a guy selling it here. I figured for $300 for all of that it was a pretty good deal (at least I hope so).
Doesn't have Pro-Q3, unfortunately, but I am trialing that at the moment. It does look pretty nice and will most likely buy it soon, as well.

If you have all those already, you'll get a decent price for Pro-Q3 in the fabfilter shop. that's how their pricing scheme works. And yeah, that's a great deal!

[Caine123]

dont understand why you wouldnt take it or what is against fabfilter atm. i didnt A/B them with other eqs etc. but fabfilter plugins are very intuitive, never crashed on me etc. i also have DMG Audio stuff and i just find them more unintuitive, maybe they got more filtertypes etc. but i dont hear much difference, especially in a mix. i didnt want to bring in DMG Audio but their resell policy is crap.

[whassup]

Pro Q3 is really good. I got Kirchhoff EQ for more dynamic features and rarely use Q3 since.
Saturn2 is a gold mine! Using it more and more. I wonder if there are other plugins with an easy workflow interface that goes beyond what Saturn does.
The interface and workflow are what make Fabfilter plugins so good. Besides of sounding good.

[MirkoVanHauten]

FF is one of the devs I'd blindly insta-buy from. Superb sound, wonderful UI/UX, fair pricing, and very well tested. I'm not a fan of their basic plugins (one, simplon, micro), but use their other plugins regularly (which include bigger versions of the basics). Don't buy into copycat companies, get the originals.

[vitocorleone123]

No, I don’t think they’re all worth having. But none are bad - several are old and/or have been outdone by others.

I still use ProQ3 - nothing has replaced it for me, and I’ve tried lots of new EQs. NovaGE is a complimentary EQ (parallel EQ and can dial in dynamics if needed). I disliked using Kirchhoff, for example, and MDW6 is stuck in the 1990s for UX. Etc.

Twin3 is my favorite virtual synth. Better to me than all the u-he synths (still love Hive 2).

ProC2 is a useful low CPU ducker, but I always turn to other compressors now for actual compression.

ProMB is great but I almost never use multiband compression.

ProL2 is great but I track more than mix or master, so replaced it with TrackLimit on the bus and El Juan on tracks.

Saturn2 is one of their best, up with ProQ3. It’s great for everything except heavy distortion. Pair it with Blue Cats Destructor and you’re done.

Volcano3 is super useful but it’s a lot of money if you only use it as a fairly basic filter as I tend to. There’s completion for more usable filters but not more flexible (eg Shaperbox3).

ProG isn’t as effective as StandardGate though it’s prettier and easy to use.

ProR2 sounds too metallic to me (I’m overly sensitive to that characteristic in reverbs so am veeerrrry selective and only get those that don’t - oddly, the Klanghelm spring reverb sounds better to me with the metallic stuff turned down).

ProDS I never got as I do t use vocals, but suspect something like DSEQ and several other tools I have do as good of a job or better.

Simplon, micro, etc I’ve never bothered trying as they’re old and outdated.

[Ploki]

ProC2 is a useful low CPU ducker, but I always turn to other compressors now for actual compression.

ProG isn’t as effective as StandardGate though it’s prettier and easy to use.

ProR2 sounds too metallic to me (I’m overly sensitive to that characteristic in reverbs so am veeerrrry selective and only get those that don’t - oddly, the Klanghelm spring reverb sounds better to me with the metallic stuff turned down).

ProDS I never got as I do t use vocals, but suspect something like DSEQ and several other tools I have do as good of a job or better.

ProC2 has unique sidechain tracking ability, it's my go to dynamic control compressor and ducker.

ProG has 4 algos. Those algos in fabfilter matter They rewire the thing and it behaves differently.
Reverbs are taste, what i find good about ProR2 is it's ability to fit in the mix with ease.

ProDS is smart when set to "single vocal broadband mode". It has stuff under the hood that's not visible to the end user. In Broadband single vocal mode, threshold acts more like a ratio because no matter how you set the threshold, ProDS will ONLY detect sibilances and nothing else. Even if you set threshold to -60dB and open the filters completely, it will only trigger on sibilances. And that's how i use it 99% of the time
DSEQ would be a poor replacement.

The beauty (and curse) of fabfilter plugins is that there's much more hiding beneath the surface than it would appear

[bpence310]

Wow! Thanks for all the information! I'm still pretty new to all the software stuff. I used to do live mixing and theater stuff but that was 25+ years ago. Just got into the software stuff around a year ago and am still learning (and trying to remember) how all this goes. So many choices that it seems to lead to decision paralysis quite frequently. I'm looking forward to receiving my bundle transfer when FF opens in a few hours and will check to see if I have a good price for Pro-Q3 once those are done. Thanks again!

[jens]

I have Saturn 2 and Timeless and Volcano 3 but basically have yet to ever use them. On paper they're fantastic, in reality however I instead prefer great sounding & easy to use stuff.

(Meaning: it's in theory great if one plugin can do this and that and also that and yet even more stuff, but for me personally I prefer to use one plugin that just does this but does it really well and then another that does that and exactly how I like/want it and then another that does that and another couple of plugins that each does one bit of the other stuff

Example: Saturn has yet to EVER be mentioned just once in a thread where people recommed their favourite guitar-amp plugins. Likewise I never see it mentioned when it comes to tape-emulation - yadda yadda yadda.

Why would I use Saturn as an amp-sim because it also does tape-emulation? What's the actual advantage of the versatility if I can instead simply use two completely different plugins for each task each of them excels in respectively?)

[Jac459]

I have Saturn 2 and Timeless and Volcano 3 but basically have yet to ever use them. On paper they're fantastic, in reality however I instead prefer great sounding & easy to use stuff.

(Meaning: it's in theory great if one plugin can do this and that and also that and yet even more stuff, but for me personally I prefer to use one plugin that just does this but does it really well and then another that does that and exactly how I like/want it and then another that does that and another couple of plugins that each does one bit of the other stuff

Example: Saturn has yet to EVER be mentioned just once in a thread where people recommed their favourite guitar-amp plugins. Likewise I never see it mentioned when it comes to tape-emulation - yadda yadda yadda.

Why would I use Saturn as an amp-sim because it also does tape-emulation? What's the actual advantage of the versatility if I can instead simply use two completely different plugins for each task each of them excels in respectively?)

Well it is funny you mention Saturn because it is typically saturation and distortion made easy for me.
I love the control and the visual and you can be very subtle to model the sound exactly the way you want. I use all the time regardless of the many saturations I have.

I like thermal also for more bold statements.

For guitar I just go to guitar rig 7.... Easy.