Gulfoss on Master Chain.
Basically Auto EQ's your whole mix multiple times per second.
It instantly makes your mix better

 

Wait, what? Do they do drums? I gotta look into this.

Edit-. huh, cool. Very GetGood sound.

 

Last edited: Sep 28, 2024

Synths: Vital (because it is FUN to program. The guy nailed the workflow for a vst synth - no other synth plugin is so damn fun to tweak if you are into sound design). Just wish it could sound like the softube synths lol

Soundwise: Softube synths (cpu killers, and the Modular workflow can make you have a heart attack), Roland cloud ones (cpu intensive), Spire (more modern sound), Arturia prophet V (sounds killer and is very cpu friendly!!!). Gforce Oddity 1 (still love the original).

FX: still searching for an amp sim that makes me enjoy playing just like with my zoom g3x. They do the job for recording, but do not inspire me to stop tweaking and simply play (not a metal guy here, more into edge of break up and fuzzes).

 

Last edited: Sep 28, 2024

i personally love my talent plug in and inspiration plug in the best one though is my EGO plug in makes everything i do sound amazing one nob to rule them all :p

 

PSP VintageWarmer2 - haven't used it in a long while but it definitely stands the test of time for the effect of weight and warmth in a plugin.

u-he Satin - also good at what it does, very good. Took me a while to get off of it for tape emulations

DMG EQuality - can use it on anything and get surgical when needed.

Eventide H3000 - Love this plug for efx, from delays to just out-rught crazy stuff

Arturia Minifilter V - used to be my favorite. Would still use it if I wasn't lazy on reinstalling it. Really creamy on any synth.

Eventide Omnipressor - another go-to before I learned the value of some third-party Nebula comps...but I'd imagine this could be used in many eras and hold its weight.

Acustica Audio El Rey 2 - the comp is just good man...opens up mixes, maintains integrity throughout most tweaks...current fav. If not this then Alex B's N64.

Acustica Audio Purple M - my all-time favorite middle band EQ, after hearing the real thing, THIS is the one that comes closest.

SPL Transient Designer - haven't found a better designer for my needs but I love what it does for drums, whether that smoothing or sharpening.

 

Last edited: Sep 28, 2024

I think to make thread more interesting,
people could post the genre they produce together with their plugins list.

 

Cranesong Phoenix 2

 

I'll proffer U-he Presswork as at A-List level. The utiliiization of feed-forward/back capabilities and then the blending of the two is bliss encapsulated. Then there's saturation, Mide/Side, phase rotation and of course workflow views. Who needs Pornhub when you can rub up against Presswork?

He'll, I'm not gay but I wouldn't throw Urs Heckmann outta bed".

Dave Pesando, 2022

(I dare you to not visualize this )

 

EQ: Sonnox Claro, Fabfilter Pro-Q3, Bettermaker Passive EQ, Knif Audio Soma
Compressor: Fabfilter Pro-C2, Pulsar Modular P11 Abyss
Bus Compressor: U-He Presswerk, Arturia Bus PEAK
Upward Compressor: Xfer Records OTT
Multiband Compressor: Fabfilter Pro-MB
Mastering Compressor: Shadow Hills, AMEK Mastering Compressor
Limiter: DMG Limitless, Fabfilter Pro-L, IK Multimedia Stealth Limiter
Mono-Maker: Sonalksis Stereo Tool
Air Band EQ: Maag EQ4, w/compressor Maag Magnum
Stereo Imager: Yum Spread, Polyverse Wider2, DJ Swivel Spread
Filter: UVI Shade, Arturia SEM
Reverb: Altiverb 7, Valhalla, Fabfilter Pro R2, D16 Group SpaceRek, Overloud Breverb 2
Delay: D16 Group Repeater, Roland Space Echo RE-201, D16 Group Tekturon
Saturation: Black Box Analog HG, Sound Toys Decapitator, Fabfilter Saturn2
Tape: U-he Satin, Kramer Tape, Baby Audio SuperVHS, Acustica Taupe
Distortion: izotope Trash 2, Minimal Audio Rift 2, DJ Swivel BDE
Gate: Sonible Smart Gate, Fabfilter Pro-G
De-Esser: Sonnox SupRessor, Fabfilter Pro-DS
Phase Correction: Voxengo PHA-979
Exciter: Ozone Exciter, Aphex Aural Exciter
Shaper: Cableguys ShaperBox 3
Enveloper: Cableguys/Nicky Romero Kickstart 2, Devious Machines Duck, Xfer Records LFO Tool
Transient Shaper: SPL Transient Designer+, ADPTR Sculpt,XLN DS10
Clipper: Kazrog Kclip 3, Sir Audio Standard Clip, Acustica Ash
Panning: Auburn Sounds Panagement, Sound Particles Energy Panner
Bit Reduction: D16 Group Decimort, TAL-DAC
Vocals: Nuro Xvox Pro, Antares Auto-Tune 11, Nuro Xpitch
Washouts and risers: Dada Life Endless Smile
Transition Multi-FX: Baby Audio Transit
Granular/Glitch FX: Arturia Fragments, Arturia Motions
Multiband: Bluecat Audio MB-7 Mixer, Devious Machines Multiband
Channel Strip: SSL 9000J, SSL 4000G, NoiseAsh Need 31102
Profiler: GuitarML Proteus, ChowDSP BYOD
Audio Repair: Accusonus ERA, iZotope RX
Visualization and metering: iZotope Insight 2, Voxengo Span+, VPS Scope, Sonible True Level/True Balance

 

synths : uvi falcon 3 , parawave rapid , vps avenger 2 they are literally beasts you can make anything you want with them
fxs : metatune ( the best autotune in the market in my opinion ) fgx2 (amazing mastering suite) and reason rack plugin especially the mk2 reverb and rotor

 

Freakshow Industries MISHBY

 

By being able to work with it on a repetitive basis. That's the only technically senseful definition. Everything else is gossip.

 

Drums:
XO by XLN Audio - favourite drum machine/sample organiser software. The sample matching algorithm is very good, better than Atlas 2 or the "similar sounds" option in Triaz. Well-engineered workflow.

Synths:
Objekt by Reason Studios - best physical modeling synth available on the market.

Friktion by Reason Studios (yet to get that one, but really enjoyed the trial) - best tweakable string engine.

Spectrasonics Products - when you select any preset, it always sounds great. The quality of sound design that went into it is unmatched.

OP-X - despite the archaic UI and a terrible workflow, no support for HiDPI, it still sounds really really good. What can I say? It sounds alive lol.

Effects:
XLN Audio RC-20 - an all-in-one colouring channel strip. Extremely well-engineered, great algorithms. An absolute staple.

Sonsig Rev-A - one of the best-sounding reverbs ITB.

Waves SoundShifter - one of the best realtime pitching algorithms. While it might not be as good as others, it has a very distinct sound to it.

Mixing & mastering:
Ozone (whatever version is out at the moment someone is reading this) - an all-in-one suite for mastering needs. Has modules similar to Soothe, Gullfoss and other interesting features. Great limiter algorithms.

Devious Machines Duck - best and most intuitive volume shaper on the market.

Pulsar MU - recent acquisition, the saturation this thing provides is so good. It might not work as a compressor for every genre, but when it works, it works very well.

Reason Channel Bus Compressor - underrated, but might be my favourite SSL-style bus comp. But relying on Reason for anything in current times...IDK. I like it, but I do wonder how Reason Studios are doing financially.

 

Last edited: Sep 28, 2024

remember. less is more

 

RC-20 - great way to add character to sounds

TDR Slick EQ Mastering - it's impossible to create a bad master with it

Peakeater - great free clipper for basic clipping tasks with useful visualization

Voosteq Material Comp - might look gimmickly, but it can enhance the sound in ways I haven't heard from any other ITB compressor

Serato Sampler - One of the few samplers, that can pitch without affecting the time and vice versa, great quality of sample interpolation, it also automatically adapts to the tempo of the song, great workflow for sample choppers and slicer

Eventide SP2016 - great for 80s algo reverb sound, much superior to any Lexicons

Honorable mentions: Variety of Sound Thrillseeker and Tessla Series (Windows only), Klanghelm DC8C (THE allround compressor)

 

for me, God Tier plugins must have long-term free support with backwards compatibility, and no annoying installation/licensing/protection shit,

TDR plugins
Klanghelm plugins
Valhalla DSP plugins
Auburn Sounds plugins
Fabfilter plugins

 

I use low-latency plugins during tracking/recording to shape the song. Later, during mixing, if needed, I use some higher latency plugins to make the sound sit better in the mix.

Here's my minimal setup:

Tracking/Mixing (low latency):
- Studio One plugins (against the rule, lol)
- Waves Platinum Bundle (e.g. Renaissance, H-delay, and many other goodies)
- Izotope Neutron (low-latency modules only like EQ)

Mixing (higher latency):
- Izotope Neutron
- Smart Comp
- JST Bus Glue

Mastering:
- Izotope Ozone

 

I have most essential plugins regarding the FX side, almost all UADs, almost all Softubes and all Soundtoys, all Valhalla , all Fabfilter among some others . I 100% agree to Kate , that less is more and additionaly most of the times it is more about the workflow , that is important and not so much the plugin , that you use . However for me as I am a Softube Hardware user , there is no better way at all to use UAD ,Softube and Fabfilter as they are fully integrated in the Hardware Console one . For Reverbs Valhalla is for sure the best sound you can get , espeally if you look at the price point of there plugins, on top of this you have a userinterface which is consistent over all kind of Reverbs and Delays , I appreciate the workflow kind of side again much more , than getting a slightly better sound with a different reverb plugin (if there is a better one).

In any case all the above plugins or whatever other plugin suit you might use , clean them up and delete what you do not or very very seldom use , it only distracts you from getting fast (very) good results and keeps you from making music .
That does not mean , that you should not keep your eyes open for new plugins or better to say solutions for certain problems to speed up working process or maybe also have some fun and Of course sometimes you stick with some plugins , as you are used to the workflow , though you could get much faster or better results with something new .

When you look at Protools (though it is not a plugin) as an example a lot of people are used to the workflow, but it doesn’t mean at all , that it is the best DAW nowadays at all , in fact it I lacking behind big time. In my case when I am trying out new plugins or other software , I am doing this on a test system to see if there is something I like regarding workflow or sound and compare it to what I do currently .To be honest most of the times I delete them again.

Another example to simplify could be Cenozoix Compressor to replace all or most of your compressor plugins, as you would have the same user interface , this would be a great benefit , unfortunately the sound is not 100% of what I personally like in comparison to the Softube or UAD compressors I have and do not forget , that I already have the same user interface for these plugins as a dedicated hardware (Softube Console one).
However it is very good in my opinion to reduce plugins which you have and to look out for solutions , which can combine different or all sounds.This will be a great benefit to your working process and in the the end to your results .

Is there a god tier plugin : I do not think so , but there are beneficial workflows , which of course lead to certain plugin choices …

 

Fabfilter Pro stuff
TAL Chorus/DAC/Sampler
d16 Decimort2/Phoscyon2
Spectrasonics Omnisphere2
Xfer Serum
Reveal Sound Spire
The Usual Suspects emulators
Roland Cloud XV-5080
Korg MonoPoly/ARP2600/Triton Extreme
Aly James Lab everything
Pulsar Primavera
ValhallaDSP Room/VintageVerb/Supermassive/Delay
Newfangled Saturate/Generate
Soundtoys Decapitator
Soundtheory Kraftur
Oeksound Soothe2
Eventide Blackhole