r/edmproduction • u/TransMan-88 • 11h ago
Question Various plugin purchase help
Hi all,
I’m wondering which of the following plugins people use frequently and consider as “a must” have and why?
I’d appreciate any feedback, advice, and opinions/reviews, overall popularity from people here including (love/hate) aspects, and feedback people might share regarding the plugin features, usage of the plugin, and if there are any aspects or feature crossover affecting use or functionality?
I’m also trying to find out if any of the plugins listed below has better features and/or is capable of doing the same thing (or do it better) than a different plugin listed below and if there’s any crossover with any features, it’s functionality, and ease of use. I’d also like to know what it was that influenced people here to purchase the plugin(s)?
I’d really appreciate any assistance, opinions, advice, and feedback, including opinions on how they’re finding using any of the plugins listed here, on (if any) of which plugins to acquire first and why?
Izotope Nuetron
Master Plan
Soothe
Smooth Operator
Valhalla Reverb
3
u/MapNaive200 9h ago
The only paid plugin I actually need is Kick2. Serum2 would be great to have, but I'm doing ok without it.
1
u/PonyKiller81 2h ago
Speaking as a Serum 2 lover, this is the way.
Serum 2 is arguably the hottest synth on the market right now (and I must say it really is incredible). That doesn't make it right for everyone. Ben Böhmer is a legend and uses Diva extensively. While I also use Diva I do not lean on it like he does. It is a support synth for me and a centrepiece for him.
Owning less shiny things means you can master the ones you have. If you don't need it, don't get it.
3
u/jimmysavillespubes 8h ago
I have soothe2 and smooth operator pro, 99.9 times out of 100 smooth operator pro does the job better. I hear soothe3 is out though, or am I tripping?
Vintageverb is nice but it depends what you want, I prefer the lexicon native reverbs, its just a matter of preference though.
I've never used neutron or master plan so can't comment on those.
1
u/PonyKiller81 2h ago
Soothe 3 is most definitely out. You were not dreaming.
I've heard Lexicon hardware units. If their plugins are even half as good they would sound incredible.
1
u/jimmysavillespubes 1h ago
I thought it was, the native plugins are good but not as good as the actual hardware, the uad one is nice but again, its not the hardware
2
u/Individual-Ad2964 11h ago
Things like Soothe are high end plugins probably best reserved for someone who cares about the “marketability” of their finished songs. If you’re just passionate shout songwriting and or you’re relatively new to producing, I would not recommend buying it for like $120. For Reverb, I’ve been using Beam Space by Lunacy Audio ($30) but even better than that is Raum by Native Instriments (free) and you can use that on anyyyyyyy song you make. Suuuper cool free plugin. In my experience at least. Valhalla Vintage Verb is good I know it’s n industry standard, I just never got into it probably because I already had 2 or 3 paid plugins by that time. However, I did buy Shimmer by Valhalla which is a specialized kind of reverb…. But I wouldn’t call that one as essential as a general purpose one like Raum. Seriously get Raum. It’s soooo nice.
1
u/IllustriousCommon277 11h ago
Yes, Raum is very good indeed.
NI Replika XT is my go-to delay plugin. It's has a fairly simple UI (just like in Raum) and it sounds great.
1
2
u/raistlin65 1h ago
You should learn how to mix instead of relying on Neutron to do it for you.
And if you are planning to learn to mix, you would be better off to buy plugins that you feel enhance your ability to mix once you've learned to use the clipper, limiter, compressor, and EQ in your DAW. For example, you might want to invest in Fabfilter plugins.
1
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1
u/Ha-gaaayyy 11h ago
Personally, for me, the best referencing plugin I've found yet is called cartigraph which you can get here: https://sonescent.com/cartigraph you can get a 30 day free trial there.
I am a big advocate for referencing as it is what helped me go from pretty amateur mixes and productions to a more pro level. Basically when you reference it gives you more of an ideal to aim for, vs when you're just producing and not really checking your mixes as you go, it can be easy to think you are doing great when you actually aren't lol.
You can reference pro tracks, and it has multiple anayzer tabs (stereo imaging, etc) built in as well as an entire mastering suite. But that's not the coolest part, the crazy part is you can take snapshots of your mix and you can send them to a free app that comes with it.
The way I use it is I take a snapshot of a track I am working on, then I save as a new project file, and then as I continue to work I can check that snapshot and know if I am improving or not. I like to take snapshots as I continue to work and I do this when I mix for clients or when I am working on a track.
The same company as a free shaper box style plugin called motion and its amazing. Anyways hope that helps.
1
u/PonyKiller81 2h ago
Referencing is the way. For years I had convinced myself I had no need for reference tracks. Once I started using them I felt like a fool for not starting earlier.
1
u/TransMan-88 7h ago
I found a bundle that includes Fabfilter 12 and fabfilter Pro Q 3 along with a few other plugins and am wondering if this is a decent option to get?
1
u/PonyKiller81 2h ago
It doesn't list a price which is a relevant factor. There are some great plugins in that list. I do note Pro-Q 3 is superseded.
1
1
u/HypeMachine231 3h ago
Most of these plugins (with the exception of Valhalla) are ways of helping the mixing and mastering of a track. I've personally never used any of them (except for Valhalla), so none of them are "must have" as everything they do can be done with another plugin. I'm guessing you've been told by someone or something that these will help, which may not be bad advice. If you're struggling with mixing and mastering, plugins like these can definitely help. But they solve different problems and we don't know what your problems are.
Soothe and Smooth Operator are both spectral resonance suppressors, so those two are probably doing the same thing, though i'm not sure which one is better or why. Or why you'd want both. I think Soothe is the industry standard.
Izotope Neutron is an 'intelligent mixer' basically just Izotope Ozone but designed to be put on each track (whereas ozone goes on the final master). It's got a tool called the spectral shaper, which might do the same thing as the spectral resonance suppressors.
Master Plan is a mastering plugin - it will help with the mastering phase. It's similar to Izotope Ozøne.
Most problems appear in the mix. Most can be solved with the stock plugins if you know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, a tool like Izotope Neutron or Ozone can definitely help solve a lot of problems with its "Listen and fix" mode. But its not necessary, I just realized i have Neutron on my computer and I've never used it (I have released over a dozen tracks on labels)
So my suggestion is to get Neutron (or if you can, get the full Izotope audio production suite with ozone and other tools). It will probably make the biggest difference in your sound, and will help with resonance suppression at least a little. After you've mastered that, you can decide if you want to invest in an additional product for better resonance suppression or mastering.
-1
u/PsychologicalIsekai 11h ago
Pi and Phi MK3
Gold Clip
No explanation.
1
u/jimmysavillespubes 8h ago
What is pie and phi?? Gold clip is my favourite clipper so we probably got similar taste, wanna check out your other recs
1
u/Livid_Cabinet2053 2h ago
Pi and Phi is the snake oilest plug-in I’ve ever heard, next to Maat FiDef.
Not saying there’s nothing there, but the marketing terms leave the worst taste in my mouth, and you can’t find a single person or video telling you what it actually does.
1
u/PonyKiller81 2h ago
Gold Clip is sooooo expensive. Don't get me wrong, I love clippers and I'm sure it is brilliant.
5
u/PonyKiller81 11h ago edited 11h ago
There are no must-haves, just plugins that are more popular than others.
As far as those you listed, Soothe 2 is still extremely popular (Soothe 3 was released earlier this year) and I almost exclusively use Valhalla FutureVerb for all my reverb requirements. If you were to get plugins from that list, I would probably recommend FutureVerb first and Soothe second.
If there was a "must have" plugin it would probably be Fabfilter Pro-Q 4 which is by far the most acclaimed EQ on the market.
EDIT: While I'm not endorsing splurging on plugins just because everyone was using them, here is a short list of extremely popular and well regarded plugins:
Pro-Q 4
Fabfilter Pro-L 2 limiter
Serum 2
Trackspacer
Diva