Hi,
This thread is about plug-ins (or any other sound processor) you tried without expecting anything useful and that eventually were exactly what you needed.

I guess another thread could be "plug-ins you had great expectations about but were just meh" :D


I had three 'wow moments' last year :

- Pulsar Audio Primavera spring reverb emulation. ( https://pulsar.audio/primavera/ )
I never was interested in spring reverbs. I had one in a guitar amp and almost never used it. Heard a Fender twin and found it cool, but I was more impressed by how the Gretsch guitar + Fender amp combo sounded than specifically by the reverb. I demoed some emulation plug-ins, like Audiopunks and others, and found them cool in tests but totally useless to me in a real mix context. I tried the Primavera with zero expectations, just because I could and had nothing better to do. Not only I found it very good sounding and versatile, but soon after I tried it in a mix and was stunned! It brought the black Metal rythm guitars I was struggling with to unexpected heights! Of course, springverb works for BM guitars, which after all often sound like distorted Surf-Rock. But it was also great on some synths (not only BM synths, but progressive /psychedelic / ambient ones too), with applications going further than just reverb. It's almost an instrument.

- Pulsar Audio Echorec ( https://pulsar.audio/echorec/ ).
I didnt even demo it when it became available as I was already happy with ReaDelay (for standard delay) and the free Valhalla FreqEcho (for psychedelic effects). I tried it just because Primavera was so great. And I was (again) stunned by what I could do with it. It was like my old analog echo guitar pedal, but with far more possibilities.

- D16 Group Decimort 2. ( https://d16.pl/decimort2 )
I had demoed it out of boredom and wasnt that impressed. Well, it's a bit crusher with resampling/filtering options and, well, it bitcrushes with filtering. As I'm mixing Rock and (extreme) Metal, I had no real use for a bit crusher and no interest in souding like a mid-80s sampler. Then I had to mix an Industrial Metal album and thought that some bitcrushing, glitch generators and so on could add something. So I retried Decimort in a real mix and it was just what I needed. In fact, I distorted the guitars with it with great results. It turned barely acceptable synth VSTis into beasts. Weirdly, I found that it made them sound more 'analog'.
It has applications going further than just 'sounding like old digital gear'.

Did you have similar experiences?

 

I've installed, tested, and listened to a lot of plugins in my life. I call it the plugin jungle. There are companies that, in my opinion, do their job very well: FabFilter, Waves, Voxengo, Nomad Factory, Sonalksis, and Brainworx.

They're almost all scalable, meaning they can be resized, in VST3 and VST2 formats, look good, and do what they were designed for.

I generally expect everything to work; if a plugin doesn't do what it's supposed to, I delete it and remember it. I haven't tested any plugins for a few years now. I have everything I need. Today's plugins are high-end, and I'm no longer waiting for something new. In short, I'm happy with the way things are.

 

I couldn't agree more with this statement - I've myself not bought a new plugin since 2020 or 2021 (I've only updated or upgraded). I've also "retired" many plugins.

I stopped buying/testing after I caught myself trying to buy plugins I already owned, but had forgotten about (perhaps not even tried - don't judge too harshly: those were the pandemic days).

The only thing I would add, is that some companies have been taking hybrid approaches to the solutions or products they offer (e.g., ApulSoft; Boz; Eventide; PSP; Sonible; Three-Body Technology; and of course UAD), and those approaches more often than not facilitate professional workflows.

We're also seeing the lines between outboard and plugin, or hardware and software being blurred or bridged now (Bettermaker, Cranborne Audio, McDSP and WesAudio come to mind, but also Neve and Eventide), leading those of us yet to embrace it slowly but surely towards a hybrid studio workflow.

To answer the original OP's question though, I reckon those are the plugins we can't or won't be able to live without: those which integrate to tightly and seamlessly with outboard gear (a la SSL360 or better) that going back to software or hardware only will feel like a step back into the 20th century.

 

That's what I thought too but I'm happy that curiosity made me discover new useful tools.

 

Vital. At first I thought "just another boring EDM / Dubstep oriented synth" (just not my styles), but after making my own patches for it... it was a workflow dream come true. I could never get into programing vst synths very much (most of them use too much skeuomorphism that just does not translate well to programing with a mouse or a touchpad, and also some limitations like "why an lfo with just basic shapes in 2020s? WHY????"). Vital solved this: it is simply fun to program, functional and not limited. Apart from it, I also enjoy making sounds in Minimoog emulations: limited, yes, but fun and classic for bass and leads.

 

Agree 100% with Echorec

 

Love Primavera, gonna check out EchoRec now I guess!

 

NI Raum. As a longtime Native user I'm used to their effects to be ridiculously over the top and effect-y. Raum can be, but it can do a lot of subtle colouring and function as a normal reverb too. I was not expecting that.

Also stick an external feedback loop into it and there's something odd and synthetic to be had.

 

TDR Arbiter: thought I would get the same results as any other de-esser, but after doing the trial it felt like nothing I have used before. Absolutely unbelievable results for any frequency taming applications.

Ujam UFX Reverb/Delay/Filter: I used to not take ujam seriously, they seemed like a company that was just releasing gimmicky plugins. These days, if I need an algo reverb/delay, their plugin is the first one I reach for. I have a lot of great reverbs and delays, but the results I get from it are super quick and sound great, plus all the effects on the right side make it very unique.

Kazrog MHB Green: I'm still shitting on the interface of that thing, but damn, it sounds great. The tube saturation there is unlike everything I have tried before, it breathes life instantly on anything dark and sterile. I always have it in parallel in vocals, it became my secret weapon.

SPL Machine Head: this thing is just free goodness to almost any track. Sounds great with a little or a lot, and doesn't use any CPU whatsoever. I have it on almost everything.

TBTech DV TransformerX: doesn't sound like much on its own, but try putting one after any compressor and see what happens. It instantly makes the compressor sound alive like analog, incredible stuff and very light on the CPU.

I still have more but I think that's enough, if someone want a few more I can post it later.

 

Not many. Most I can substitute with something else and not matter in the greater scheme of things.

But here's one anyway. Psychic Modulation Pulsecode. I got sick of Sonic Charge out-timebombing the releasers trying to do Microtonic, and so I was looking for a substitute for it. It's kind of like a lo-fi version of it. It's a great little drum machine that almost no-one ever mentions on here.

 

Same here. I'm very ssssibilant and Arbiter has shushed my sssslithery-ness. It helps with popopplosives too!

 

Waves Maserati GRP. It's my go-to secret sauce on a mix, and pretty much the only Waves plugin I use any more, apart from Kramer Pie here and there.

 

VCV rack, didn't expect it to be so polished & as good as its ended up being.

 

Pulsecode is nice, but... as far as I can remember, it does not allow you to load your own samples (this is what put me off when I tried it).

 

Exactly what I came to post when I saw the title. I'm a big fan of TDR plugs, but the idea of Arbiter didn't wow me. Then I tried it out. Now it's in every session multiple times.