plugin manuals main purpose is to give a brief overview on the controls nothing wrong with that , but some developers really put effort into writing their manuals they give historical context , go in depth on the process of creating it and share tips and tricks and technical info on how to use it and when , the u-he manual for example is really good , valhalla dsp blogpost is also amazing , do you know any ?

 

Sonnox

 

I like manuals which gave tips & tricks like some the Brainworx ones... ;)

 

Last edited: Sep 18, 2021

also acustica audio manuals are literally work of art , honestly one of the most creative and interesting to read manuals ever

 

u-he manuals are really nice.
Kush manuals are generally short but fun to read.
I like Arturia always including some historical tidbit.
Also Mutable Instruments, although I don't have a eurorack, I use their stuff in VCV so I read them numerous times, always nice reads.

 

Ozone (4, 5, 9), Waves, FabFilter, ToneBoosters, DMG, Brainworx..

 

cosmosf saturn manual

i still have no idea wtf is going on , but i'll be damned if i dont use it often due to it being an impulse buy

 

I don't care about anything other interactivity with the manual, ease of use, clear to read and quick navigation with a search function. Everything else is just a nice bonus on top. Tips on the side is the best bonus.

 

There used to be a printed manual from Arturia, came in a box - in several languages. Cakewalk - z2ta +, also came in a box with a multilingual manual. Well today there is hardly any, for reasons of cost there are almost only downloads.


Source: http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com/2011/05/sequential-circuits-inc-prophet-5.html

 

Last edited: Sep 19, 2021

Freakshow Industries plugins. No written manuals but their videos are fun for all the family:

"Heap your condemnation upon this unborn god."

 

Last edited: Sep 19, 2021

softube manual is huge and really helpful

 

The bottom thumbnail is why you never do meth, kids. That's what spongebob looks like today.

 

I like Madrona Labs documentation style, very interesting to read

KaivoManual.pdf (madronalabs.com)

 

yep all Madrona Labs manuals are lovely

 

Although I am a Presonus Legit user and kind of fan boy, Presonus S1 manual sucks. A lot of hidden (with respect to the manual) functionalities are not even mentioned. When talked to the team, they said, "Very few users like you are into manual reading and we are a small company and we don't have a fulltime guy to document the manual properly". The manual can easily be as long as Ableton Live's if Presonus guys wrote the manual properly and thoroughly. I mean some funtions were removed in V3 but even on v5's manual it is written there just to confuse users.

 

Great answers in this thread, so I'll just add my bit

Honorable mention: Audio Damage
Dishonorable mention: Native Instruments

 

Arturia - CS-80-V

 

This is necessary to give historical content rather than using short text or summary. In this case, the user might be able to know everything about the materials. I also try to give a historical description of plugins. In this case, I don't hesitate to hire someone who is able to do thesis writing help online https://studyclerk.com/thesis-writing-help. The better thing is they provide the historical content until I am satisfied.

 

Even though he wrongly states CC as meaning continuous controller!

For Kontakt libs, Rhythmic Robot Audio writes amusing and interesting infos about the bit of retro kit he sampled and its history.
Quite in depth, too.

 

Last edited: Sep 30, 2021