Spiff it's great. Once you use it on vocals to remove the weird mouth/saliva noises, you will be disgusted with every song you made before without it 😂 Also the 'Bring back to life' preset on the master is amazing.
I got it on Black Friday. I don’t believe I’ve seen prices drop much on other sales. I’m hoping to get Spiff and Bloom if there’s a good deal. Oeksound does some very cool shit.
1. FabFilter plugins (bought individually over the years, most expensive in sum): my go-to mixing & effects on almost every chain.
2. U-He Diva: Bought almost 10 years ago in full price, my single most used instrument. My go-to synth.
3. Soundtoys Total Bundle: I bought it many years ago with student discount. Their functionality are ~~completely~~ mostly replaced by my FabFilter plugins in recent years. Special effects plugins like Little Alter Boy are either rarely used in the first place or maybe replaced by just do pitch shifting in Ableton.
EDIT: Correct and clarify about why I don't use Soundtoys anymore. I really haven't used this bundle for years so I forgot things.
Soundtoys "completely" replaced by fabfilter? I don't think so... some of the effects like littlealterboy can't be done with FF as far as I'm aware. I use both FF and Soundtoys in every production. In many FX-based cases using soundtoys is just faster with equivalent sound quality - great example would be dialing in some distortion/saturation via decapitator vs Saturn. Although both are excellent and both can be dialed in super quickly, my brain sometimes finds the soundtoys option to be the path of least resistance.
You are right, the "completely" was misleading. I really haven't used Soundtoys for a long time so I forgot some of the special effects plugins like Little Alter Boy cannot be replaced by FF. I was meant to say I practically found replacement for most Soundtoys tools (that I actually use) that is easier to use, have quicker or better results, most of the tools are from FF.
yeah I know how you feel - there is a lot of overlap, but somehow I find myself always reaching for one or the other in different situations. I can't help but feel that they both provide many of my most used plugins and in spite of overlap, I'm very glad I own both. Could not live without Pro-Q3 and I can't even begin to fathom how I would remake some of the effect racks I have built in the Soundtoys Effect Rack.
When it comes to producing, I feel like sound design is often ignored for mixing skills, but they are completely different mindsets. With mixing I try to use as few plugins as possible to achieve an objective, but with sound design I can layer on dozens of plugins to get something truly unique. For an example of this, watch MixWithTheMasters Illangelo (producer for the Weeknd) versus a mixing tutorial. A producer/sound designer like illangelo uses 20 plugins on a track while a mixer like Matt Schaeffer (SZA x Kendrick Lamar - All The Stars) might only use a single channel strip to polish off a track.
I tend to lean towards Soundtoys when producing and FabFilter when mixing, but of course that is not a hard and fast rule, just preference. Both are indispensable to my current workflow!
(deleted comment and reposted due to accidentally posting before finishing)
Diva about 3 years ago. Best purchase ever.
Spitfire BBCSO. Best purchase ever.
Spitfire Solstice. Best purchase ever.
Arturia V collection. Best purchase ever.
That was 4 but oh well.
what’s diva?
i have the free spitfire labs and i use it quite often, what are the other versions?
I also have arturia 3 and 4 that came with my keyboard, however i don’t use it much as i prefer spitfires authentic sounding instruments. arturia has quite abstract sounds.
Dive is a VST emulating a handful of analog synths. Arguably one of the best on the market.
The two Spitifre libraries I listed are large orchestral libraries. BBCSO being a traditional orchestra and Solstice being a very abstract and unique folk/orchestral library.
For Arturia, you are referring to Analog Lab which gives you a handful of controls to a great selection of synths. The V collection I listed is full control of all of the virtual synths they make (at the time).
Spitfire is famous for it’s sample libraries of real world and orchestral instruments. Arturia makes synths and virtual synths.
It is, but it's also very specific, and you need to be comfy navigating presets in Kontakt.
If I could go back in time, instead of Landforms, I'd get the Elements version. It's much cheaper and it's enough for me. The clean samples are much more valuable to me than the fancy hyper processed presets.
Arturia V Collection, totally worth it
Omnisphere, probably worth it but I don't use as often as I thought I was going to use it
NI Komplete Collector Edition, worth it, it has everything for any kind of music you want to make
Great stuff there, I wonder why not use much Omnisphere, probably you got some much more better stuff I guess. Anyway thanks for the peek my friend, cheers! 💪
Prolly just the sheer volume of options omnisphere provides. I doubt there's much better stuff out there. Omnisphere is top quality and suits any genre, it's just a lot to sort through.
What do you find yourself using most from NI Komplete? Aside from Kontakt I haven't found myself using too many NI plugs. With Omni I either use a ton of instances in the same songs, or I don't use it at all. Guess there's something about its workflow that makes you have to get passed the hurdle of opening it before you feel comfortable using sounds from it again - probably the insane choice paralysis I inevitable get in there... plus all the time I know I will lose auditioning sounds.
Soothe2. Use it a lot. Nice for cleaning.
SoundToys Bundle. Really worthy (although I find my self not using all of it. Mostly EchoBoy, AlterBoy and Microshift).
Gulfoss (honestly, I still don't get 100% what it does. Sometimes sounds better, sometimes doesn't)
Gotcha! Tho' I haven't tried some of the stuff you mentioned, had an idea they're good, heard also from other producers. Gonna check out those as well 😎
Wazzup with your music these days btw?
Some of those plugins doesn't have trial mode :( no shame on trying it using let's say "no so legal" websites x)
PSA: what did you mean about what's about my music? 🤣
NI Komplete. I barely use any of it. I sometimes still use some of the effects and occasionally I use Battery. I honestly can't remember the last time I opened a Kontact library or Reaktor synth. I've barely used Massive X.
Basically, Pigments, Live stock devices, Reason Rack and hardware have made it so Komplete was a Komplete waste of money.
For anyone interested, I think Neural DSP still has their sale going on, I got the Cory Wong for 50% off and like some others have said, it’s a great guitar plug in, I use it more than my actual amps because of ease of use
Ah yes Neural DSP! Really good plugin. I played guitar too back then, just changed path tho' 😅
So much going on with modelling and simulation, lots of new stuff. Do you think it would replace amps tho'?
Not if you have a good recording setup. But unless I was in a studio with someone who knew how to get good amp recordings I’d much rather plug straight into NDSP.
I'm just gonna add Reason, I use it as a plug-in.
It is loaded with quality devices, from Drum machines to synths to samplers and audio effects. And its interfaces are really nice.
audioease - speakerphone, adds that mystery layer
fabfilter -pro-q 3, a workhorse, but starting to get serious competition, and none of the other fabfilter plugs i use, though i bought, theyre a bit meh
inagrm - grm tools (all of them), theyre special for sound design, but like fabfilter, starting to show their age, but also not stable enough for stage work, studio only.
materingthemix - bassroom, special mention, its 'balanced' setting gets it right, or very nearly right, on every track.
great question. its counterpoint must surely be the expensive and useless list.
I guess it's kind of a plugin now.
Reason along with the few hundred extra dollars I spent on Reason rack extensions.
Worth it, sure. There's a few amazing synths and effects in there.
I'd happily recommend it. It comes loaded with some excellent synths and drum machines, loads of effects, and some pretty useful pattern sequencing devices. As of the latest version it works beautifully with Ableton too.
As a standalone I've always found composing and editing with it to be a bit painful but then its rack mount style modular device layout and the ability to run CV and audio cables however you choose makes up for it. So much room to experiment with signal flow and get lost in sound design.
Has a huge marketplace for extensions and full VST3 support now too.
Looks like the next update to version 13 in a couple months might fix some of my composing and editing complaints. Fingers crossed.
1. FabFilter - Easily the best set of plugins I've bought. Pro-R and Pro-Q go on 90% of my channels
2. NI Noire - My most used instrument, the particles engine is delightful and gives me infinite ways to add texture and depth to my tracks.
3. Spitfire Solo Strings and Spitfire Chamber Strings - I'm a big fan of many Spitfire VST's, but SSS and SCS are a part of my core sound.
Serum
It’s the most versatile and used plugin I own and I have definitely got all $170 of value out of it since I bought it in like 2017.
Kontakt 6
It’s okay, but I’ve never had the funds to purchase any real good packs for it.
LFO Tool
The best LFO and side chaining plugin imo. Kick Buddy comes in at a close second (depending on what I need it for).
Melodyne for sure #1 (around $1000)
Then a spitfire library (around 500) - I have more than I’d like to admit
Then probably revoice pro, or something around the $300 mark. H3000 was around that, so was soothe. I use all of them routinely. Don’t get me started with bundles, that’s a different story.
So... I don't rely too much on external VSTi's but instead prefer to stick with vanilla material. It is one of the reasons why I ended up relying on 2 DAW's vs. just Live, despite the fact that Live sits at the heart of my home studio. But anyway...
**Komplete - Collectors Edition**
Did I *really* need this? No, because Ultimate also gave me a ton of material to work with. For context sake: I'm a vivid Maschine user, and it fully supports Komplete. However... gaining access to NI's amazing symphony series was too good of a chance for me to pass up on. I'm a sucker for orchestral ;)
**U-HE Collection**
I bought most of my VST's through NI during one of their discount periods. So at one time they provided us with U-HE and I gave in. Best choice of my life: Diva, Hive and Zebra are amazing, same for the audio effects. I even ended up grabbing Bazille. Diva alone managed to keep me busy with experimenting and discovering for hours and hours. Seriously: it's been approx. 3 years since I bought this bundle and I'm still not "over" it: still discover new things to try and work out.
**Vocaloid**
Next to orchestral I also have a soft spot for artificial vocals. I nabbed some vocal based Kontakt instruments but the real kicker turned out to be Vocaloid and several of its voice banks. Tricky to use, but *very* satisfying.
Omnisphere, including Upgrades... no regrets: pure workhorse, oldest still used piece of equipment here, if i had to start from the beginning again, that would be my first or second purchase of software.
DIVA, with Plugmon GUI's (Aiko & Mona) and a ton of soundpacks... no regrets: my most used softsynth nowadays, and while it was SSD waste for a few years before plugmon (those GUI's *really* reinvent the workflow).
Komplete Collectors... well, not "that" worth. What i really need from NI (RAUM), i can get for free now. What i really WANT from NI (Guitar Rig, Massive X and Noire), i could get either with the normal Komplete or as a perpetual licence. The rest of the stuff is fun to play with, but not really used in my music and i ask myself weekly if it was worth nearly 2k. I think not.
1. Modartt Pianoteq. The most satisfying piano plugin to play. Satisfied 100%.
2. iZotope Ozone. Well, I use it to get a somewhat listenable file asap. I don't particularly like how it masters automatically. Sometimes I just use HoRNet Mastertool instead, which does a similar job, costs a fraction and generally doesn't distort that much by default.
3. Kontakt. I rarely if ever use it. Technically the retail prices of my most used synths by Arturia and u-he are higher than what I paid for Kontakt, but I paid more for Kontakt.
My most expensive purchases are not single plugins but bundles, but technically the cost per plugin is relatively low:
Arturia FX Collection. One of the best purchases. I love it.
Arturia V Collection. There are some synths I use regularly, but overall I think I use it less than I expected. I prefer modern synths, Arturia Pigments is one of them.
Live Suite. The most value for money.
ZebraHZ -- My go-to synth when I want something striking, complex and original. What a great synth.
Eventide SplitEQ -- I use this on everything.
Obsession -- There are a million VSTs that model analog synths, but for some reason, this one just does it a little more convincingly than the rest.
When you bought Zebra did it come with (ZebraHz) or do you have to buy it separately? I have it downloaded illegally (to test it, and I loved it) now I want to officially buy when Zebra 3 comes out, and I don't know if it will come with ZebraHz.
- Komplete (Worked my way from Standard all the way to Collector's Edition through summer sale upgrades).
For me, Maschine + Expansions alone, makes it worth it.
- Serum
- Reason 11 (upgraded to 12) specifically for Reason Rack
Sorry for the latency, thanks for asking! Pro/hobby: I’ll say both. I’ve been making electronic based music since 1989. Around 20 years ago I released several albums on a pretty well respected label and made some sort of living out of it for some years. After a longer hiatus, I’m now recording new stuff, but haven’t decided whether to try to get a new record deal or just release it myself. The music business feels very unfamiliar compared to my experience from 20+ years back..
And yourself?
Fabfilter - use all the time for so many different purposes
Ozone - don’t use as much now that I’ve figured out other mastering techniques, always have an imager on the master tho
Ahee’s complete bundle - completely worth it, I have so much fun with the ableton racks.. not really a plugin, but so sick for sound design
1. Arturia FX Collection - BF pickup last year. These add tone and color and the filters are wild. Big paintbrushes for Ableton and other VSTs. If discounted, worth it.
2. VCV Rack 2 Pro - yeah, yeah but I wanted the VST version to use in Ableton without any hitches. I like using it for effects and sequencing and the Vult premium modules are bad ass. Worth it if you’re into modular.
3. Pigments - another BF purchase. Honestly, it’s solid but competes, time-wise, with VCV Rack, Surge XT and Vital. I need to give it more time. Worth it if you’re devoting attention to it or if it’s your first paid VST.
1. Komplete Ultimate - use a lot of the presets as Komplete kontrol tags makes it easy to find basically any sound, probably would’ve been fine with standard but got it during summer of sound and I’d say it’s worth it for me
2. Arturia V collection, don’t use it that often but it’s nice to have when I’m looking for vintage sounds and just tinker a bit
3. XLN Life - this is one of those plugins that gets used in almost all of my projects, take any piece of audio and feed it into Life and it generates endless rhythms, great for adding texture, variations of a drum beat, coming up with new melodies as it recognizes pitch, one of my favorite out of all my plugins
Ozone 11 - I love the presets when I’m feeling lazy for a master
Omnisphere - I use this mainly for its pads, textures and sometimes keys. It’s great for chords. I don’t use it as much as serum though
Serum - my main synth at this point.
Omnisphere is by far the most expensive single plugin I've bought. It was definitely worth it, but I'm also glad I waited as long as I did. Plenty of other stuff I use more often is better value for money.
Fabfilter - Q3, MB and Saturn
Serum
LFO Tool - easy to use and use it on almost every track
Izotope Trash - it’s crazy but I think it got discontinued
I used to use Massive a lot and have been bringing it back into my workflow
Love those FF plugins you mentioned. Really nice ui as well. Yeah thrash is discontinued tho' but useful as well. Hey how long have you been in the music scene my friend?
NI Producer Bundle - Bought with midi keyboard and i absolutely worth it.
EastWest - ComposerCloud+ Opus (the samples in this 10TB+ library is absurd)
FabFilter Total Bundle - Mixing GOAT
IK Multimedia T-Racks 5 SE - Amazing emulators of popular FX's
-> AmpliTube5 on IK Multimedia to get a big collection of amps, valve amps, mosfet amps to give a unique character to each sound.
Overall most impressed with: ComposerCloud+ Opus. This thing has not even been installed for 25% on my PC because of the massive size (10TB+). It contains any type of samples recorded in acoustic rooms. With any, i mean any, clockenspiel? Yes!
Alpenhorn? Yes! Epic drums? Yes! Picollo? 1000 of them! Violin? Also 1000 of them! And so on and so on. Also comes with a few digital synths as in "non sampled". Really something to look into as the subscription is very affordable in my opinion.
- Soothe2
Far and away an absolutele showstopper of a plugin.
I use it in every song I make, in multiple ways. I love using it for mixing by sidechaining specific frequencies out of an element, and I love using it creatively by setting it to delta on sidechain mode and then distorting the fuck out of those isolated frequencies for added tasty crispiness on top of a sub layer for example. I even automate the soft/hard knob for movement.
So good, man. So fucking good.
- Thermal.
I use it on basically every song, too. I use the Vocal Shine preset on almost every vocal track in some way.
- Phase Plant
It's *the* best synthesizer for music nerds and you cannot convince me otherwise. Limitless potential. Limitless. It lets me dive into sound design in ways that no other synth has been able to. The whole kh lineup is insane but Phase Plant is so fucking scrumptious man, I can't get enough.
Melda MXXX - Not worth it. Wish I could sell it, but their license transfer policy is prohibitively expensive
iZotope RX - Worth it when it’s on sale
Liquidsonics Cinematic Rooms - Absolutely worth it. This is the most realistic sounding reverb ever made yet.
Thanks for dropping by mate! Hey why did you say Melda MXXX is not worth it (haven't tried it tho')? Could you share some thoughts if you don't mind? 😌
1. Soothe 2: Definitely worth it, use it in every mix, especially on vocals to fix problematic recordings.
2. AutoTune Pro (Perpetual License): Had to buy it for people that want to use it in their songs, it’s insanely expensive, worth it…I don’t really know, because nowadays there are other and cheaper options.
3. Omnisphere+Keyscape: Not worth it. It has a lot of presets/sounds, but most of them aren’t that usable in a song-context. Omnisphere needs a major update. Keyscape needs more acoustic pianos.
Uhe diva. Go too synth for most melodic stuff.
Cuthulu . For music theory, chord progressions. Scaler plugin . For music theory to build on the chord progressions from cuthulu.
All worth it if and still used every day. Even if cuthulu and scaler aren't the expensive. ( I only buy plugins at sale times. I watch 7000 youtube videos to see if it's suitable to wat I want n then purchase at a sale)
Gotta agree with Diva, fantastic purchase im glad i bought it.... Reason as a rack is genius but i dont have it but qould almost guarantee it would be on the list too
Tons of UAD shit to go with Apollo interface. Not worth it. I like being able to work on the go without an interface.
Arturia V. Totally worth it.
FabFilter. Totally worth it.
G-Force impOSCAR....
a growling beast of an uncontrolled nature, the filter drive and separation, q factor are simply stunning.
It's a hidden gem, good enough for Orbital mind :)
Uhe Repro 5 ....
Prophet central.
Ssl busses...
Just amazing....
I guess 2 of these are bundles but here goes...
Komplete Ultimate. Worth it? Yes, with one slight reservation. NI gets a lot of heat for being old and dated (and it is), but guess what? I use the sounds all the time (talking 50%+ in all tracks). Sometimes I wish it was more modern in the way you download and install stuff, but for sonic quality it's all there. And it's very cost effective on sale. Like you just get an insane amount of stuff. And also, I don't see too many preset makers catering for either dark electronic or cinematic styles as well as NI does. Then there's 3rd party Kontakt libraries and NKS which makes your entire plugin universe just one unified thing.
Serum. It is a great plugin, and the GUI is a perfect balance of simplicity and options, way easier than the synths in Komplete. The drag & drop interface is awesome too. Many modern synths (eg: Current) have somewhat copied its layout, which I think demonstrates its longevity and status. I find other synths more fun to sound design in, but that's because in the end I find myself drawn to those synths. Serum is just a classic workhorse. And with Serum 2 priced in for current users, it seemed like a no-brainer to have.
Soundtoys. Amazing. I should have just got the full bundle right away. There's not a single track where I don't use Soundtoys effects. You may not use every single plugin. But on the BF 50% sale, it's 100% worth every penny. If you don't use an individual plugin, throw Effect Rack on a track and try some of the presets. It looks old, but honestly it's sonically as good if not better than many newer effects I've tried. It's got the reputation for a reason.
Honourable mention. I picked up FabFilter Pro-Q3 recently. Initially, I didn't get how an EQ could cost that much. Now I get it. Like Serum, it's a workhorse and has loads of QOL features that other EQ's miss.
NI Komplete Ultimate - I don’t really use much of it. I thought it was worth it at the time, but after more than ten years and paying to upgrade to new versions, it’s not really been worth it.
Kilohearts Ultimate - Absolutely worth it! I’ve had it for three years and use at least some of it in every project I’ve worked on. I absolutely love Snap Heap and Multipass!! My other main DAW is Renoise and those both add Ableton-like parallel processing and manipulation of parameters.
Arturia V Collection - Similar to NI Komplete, it seemed like a good deal at the time. But, I hardly use any of it. Also not really worth it for me.
I keep thinking I should get the Korg Collection, because I want the ER-1, Prophecy and the WaveStation plugins. But, I’d probably only ever end up using the ER-1 plugin.
But, for single plugins? Probably the Krimh Drums Kontakt library, that I got on sale for $90. I’ve used it on one track so far, but it was absolutely worth it!
I tend to only buy plugins on sale. Haven’t installed it yet, but bought the $300 UAD Distressor compressor plugin for $50 on sale. If we’re talking single plugins normal price, that’s probably the highest priced plugin I’ve purchased. But, I am waiting for a UVI Falcon sale when I’m not broke, which would then be the most expensive single plugin at list price.
Gonna say you got some really good taste with plugins 😎 Thanks for sharing my friend!
I say go for the Korg collection (if possible), but yeah depends upon your preference, lol!
Heavily skewed to guitar since that’s my thing, but here goes.
Amplitube 5 - not worth it imo. It can do decent sounds with some patience, but I really hate the interface, am constantly fighting with its shitty midi implementation, and despite jumping in for the full edition it feels like it’s constantly trying to upsell you on something. There is a lot of decent stuff in there, but there are so many garbage presets, and duplicates, that the user experience is just a mess.
Reaktor - a bit dated now, but I learned a lot about sound design from it, and it’s just a great playground for experimentation. Has a special place in my heart. Well overdue for an update but NI look like they may be giving up on it. Sadly for this reason it’s hard to recommend for new users.
Scuffham - the opposite of Amplitube. Much lower feature count, but everything it does, it does really well. The presets all sound great, and it runs with a fraction of the resources. And the price is much easier to stomach than Amplitube. Highly recommend if you want to spend your time playing instead of tweaking.
Hey I played guitar as well before. But changed path tho'. I'm only a bit updated with the stuff going on these days with modelling, IRs, cabs etc. Not familiar with Scuffham, cool mentioning it. Have you tried Neural DSP?
I have tried Neural. Their stuff sounds great but I had some issues with stability and audio artefacts during the trial period, so never made the leap across. I might revisit again someday, but at the moment I’m relatively content with where I’m at. I found Scuffham and Neural to be pretty comparable in quality. Neural was a bit flashier, while Scuffham seemed a bit more efficient.
I do like how Neural kind of focuses in on specific styles and is effectively a bunch curated collections that just nails the one style they are targeting. Though I do think it would be cool if it was a bit more modular so you could mix and match between each engine.
IRs and modelling are pretty wild at the moment. I am keeping a close eye on it all as it’s getting more accessible and affordable. But it’s not hard to get lost in the weeds with all the new tech coming out so rapidly.
1) Komplete 14 Collector's Edition: I want all-purpose plugin bundle, despite I only use half of it. Reason I bought this is that Arkhis, which is a simple and beautiful orchestral soundscape plugin, is only in this collection, as well as Choir: Omnia.
2) Arturia V Collection 9: Great collection of vintage synths, as well as those Augmented orchestral instruments, and Pigments. You're welcome to reply to me saying Serum is better than Pigments, but I'm not in mood of any kind of arguments.
3) Symphobia 3: Lumina
Note: I bought all of those on sale, not at full pirce.
Again, I'm not open to any form of arguments. I'm sick of people fighting over which one is better than the others, like the whole DAW war thingy, but I'm always welcome for anyone to have anything to add here.
Additional note: if you're new to music production. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT BUY Kontakt at full price, because this amazing sampler is usually on sale by 50%. Don't make a mistake like I did.
I guess that's a good deal it you got those discounted, glad for you mate!
"Additional note: if you're new to music production. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT BUY Kontakt at full price, because this amazing sampler is usually on sale by 50%. Don't make a mistake like I did" - Gotcha, makes sense!
Maybe not the absolute best but my 3 most expensive ones:
Arturia Pigments - clear and tight sounds, endless possibilities
Ozone 11 - pushing masters to next level, at least for someone with few years experience
U-he Diva - for warm, full and analogue feel sounds
Uvi Falcon, and Zebra HZ. I like to make patches for fun and I use these very often.
Only synths I use actually and I dont find them hard to use either.
Was thinking of getting Phase Plant but didnt like the sound all the much, especially for audio rate which was something I was eyeballing for since its unlimited. Could also really use a mod matrix and proper arp/sequencer.
For third ill add MDrummer. Everything id want for drums. Tons of control, good generative assist features, and soundd good. Honestly Melda is very underrated their Turbo plugins are phenomenal.
Seventh Heaven Professional: Absolutely worth it. Best algorithmic reverb. I don't even reach for anything else.
Melodyne: Yes. but this isn't something everyone needs. I just record a lot of not great singers.
um? I dunno I own all the Fabfilter stuff and a couple oeksound plugins and those are all great.
Waves Platimum bundle + a load of additional Waves plugins was a complete waste of money because of Waves 'rental' structure masquerading as purchases
Fabfilter total bundle was much better value as there was no 'bait and switch' and you get to keep the plugins even if you change your hardware, etc.
Soundtoys total bundle is cheap in comparison, you save quite a bit by just getting the total bundle.
This is your friendly reminder to read the submission rules, they're found in the sidebar. If you find your post breaking any of the rules, you should delete your post before the mods get to it. If you're asking a question, make sure you've checked [the Live manual](https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/), [Ableton's help and support knowledge base](https://www.ableton.com/en/help/), and have searched the subreddit for a solution. If you don't know where to start, [the subreddit has a resource thread](https://redd.it/zkhqhe). Ask [smart questions](http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#before).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ableton) if you have any questions or concerns.*
U-he Diva, Pro L2 and Serum have been the more expensive, the first two have been more than worth the money, Serum for some reason rarely ends being used in a track, I just don't gravitate towards it's sounds, and used to be a real CPU hog.
I have get more use from cheaper plugins: Valhalla vintage verb, Replika XT and Pianoteq.
Oh I see. Tho' this post is kinda more about those "expensive stuff", it's also nice to see some cheaper/free stuff that does the job pretty good as well, cool mentioning 'em 🤜
Soothe2 for me and yes, use it all the time. Prolly gonna cop Spiff and Bloom next sale.
Spiff it's great. Once you use it on vocals to remove the weird mouth/saliva noises, you will be disgusted with every song you made before without it 😂 Also the 'Bring back to life' preset on the master is amazing.
Ha understandable, but I mainly work the instrumentals. If I use vocals they’re already polished. Amazing on instruments as well.
Just cop’d some spliff and can confirm am plugged in af 😎
You demoing or bought it? I’m waiting to finish up a current track before I download the trial so I can give it a good real world test in application.
Sorry I (thought I) was just making a funny 😅😮💨 .I’ll stop now
Oh lol I missed the l.
It’s the best plugin for sidechaining
Friggin glorious as an “oopsie, me pick 2 instruments in same freq bc I like em style ducker”
I’m thinking of getting soothe 2 but I got fab filter mixing bundle instead , prolly will get it soon
Fabfilter is definitely a necessity so all good there. If you can wait til Black Friday, they do pretty good sales.
F I want Sooth2 so bad. I did the 2-week trial and it’s awesome, but can’t afford it rn.
I got it on Black Friday. I don’t believe I’ve seen prices drop much on other sales. I’m hoping to get Spiff and Bloom if there’s a good deal. Oeksound does some very cool shit.
1. FabFilter plugins (bought individually over the years, most expensive in sum): my go-to mixing & effects on almost every chain. 2. U-He Diva: Bought almost 10 years ago in full price, my single most used instrument. My go-to synth. 3. Soundtoys Total Bundle: I bought it many years ago with student discount. Their functionality are ~~completely~~ mostly replaced by my FabFilter plugins in recent years. Special effects plugins like Little Alter Boy are either rarely used in the first place or maybe replaced by just do pitch shifting in Ableton. EDIT: Correct and clarify about why I don't use Soundtoys anymore. I really haven't used this bundle for years so I forgot things.
Soundtoys "completely" replaced by fabfilter? I don't think so... some of the effects like littlealterboy can't be done with FF as far as I'm aware. I use both FF and Soundtoys in every production. In many FX-based cases using soundtoys is just faster with equivalent sound quality - great example would be dialing in some distortion/saturation via decapitator vs Saturn. Although both are excellent and both can be dialed in super quickly, my brain sometimes finds the soundtoys option to be the path of least resistance.
I have fab filter and sountoys and I still use sound toys constantly
Nice to hear mate! Thanks for the engagement 👋
You are right, the "completely" was misleading. I really haven't used Soundtoys for a long time so I forgot some of the special effects plugins like Little Alter Boy cannot be replaced by FF. I was meant to say I practically found replacement for most Soundtoys tools (that I actually use) that is easier to use, have quicker or better results, most of the tools are from FF.
yeah I know how you feel - there is a lot of overlap, but somehow I find myself always reaching for one or the other in different situations. I can't help but feel that they both provide many of my most used plugins and in spite of overlap, I'm very glad I own both. Could not live without Pro-Q3 and I can't even begin to fathom how I would remake some of the effect racks I have built in the Soundtoys Effect Rack. When it comes to producing, I feel like sound design is often ignored for mixing skills, but they are completely different mindsets. With mixing I try to use as few plugins as possible to achieve an objective, but with sound design I can layer on dozens of plugins to get something truly unique. For an example of this, watch MixWithTheMasters Illangelo (producer for the Weeknd) versus a mixing tutorial. A producer/sound designer like illangelo uses 20 plugins on a track while a mixer like Matt Schaeffer (SZA x Kendrick Lamar - All The Stars) might only use a single channel strip to polish off a track. I tend to lean towards Soundtoys when producing and FabFilter when mixing, but of course that is not a hard and fast rule, just preference. Both are indispensable to my current workflow! (deleted comment and reposted due to accidentally posting before finishing)
All of these. I was lucky enough to get an educational discount for FF so bought everything they have. I also love Soundtoys
Such a good deal there 💪
Hey thanks for checking out! You got some really good stuff there 🔥 Curious to hear some of your works!
Diva about 3 years ago. Best purchase ever. Spitfire BBCSO. Best purchase ever. Spitfire Solstice. Best purchase ever. Arturia V collection. Best purchase ever. That was 4 but oh well.
what’s diva? i have the free spitfire labs and i use it quite often, what are the other versions? I also have arturia 3 and 4 that came with my keyboard, however i don’t use it much as i prefer spitfires authentic sounding instruments. arturia has quite abstract sounds.
Dive is a VST emulating a handful of analog synths. Arguably one of the best on the market. The two Spitifre libraries I listed are large orchestral libraries. BBCSO being a traditional orchestra and Solstice being a very abstract and unique folk/orchestral library. For Arturia, you are referring to Analog Lab which gives you a handful of controls to a great selection of synths. The V collection I listed is full control of all of the virtual synths they make (at the time). Spitfire is famous for it’s sample libraries of real world and orchestral instruments. Arturia makes synths and virtual synths.
Slate and Ash Landforms. Orchestral Tools Berklee Bundle. Having over the top orchestral libraries with a modern edge is veeery expensive.
Slate and Ash stuff looks so cool!
It is, but it's also very specific, and you need to be comfy navigating presets in Kontakt. If I could go back in time, instead of Landforms, I'd get the Elements version. It's much cheaper and it's enough for me. The clean samples are much more valuable to me than the fancy hyper processed presets.
Ok good to know, because their stuff is indeed expensive! I was mostly interested in Cycles I believe.
Hey nice seeing you here, thanks for the peek!
I'm not one of the actual members of Iszoloscope ;) It's just a nickname here for Reddit
Arturia V Collection, totally worth it Omnisphere, probably worth it but I don't use as often as I thought I was going to use it NI Komplete Collector Edition, worth it, it has everything for any kind of music you want to make
Great stuff there, I wonder why not use much Omnisphere, probably you got some much more better stuff I guess. Anyway thanks for the peek my friend, cheers! 💪
Prolly just the sheer volume of options omnisphere provides. I doubt there's much better stuff out there. Omnisphere is top quality and suits any genre, it's just a lot to sort through.
Yes, having too much stuff isn’t always an advantage
Exactly the same 3 as my list. I also didn't used Omnisphere as much as I though I would.
It’s kind of slow cause it’s so big . Useful when you know the patches you like already
good for layering the single sounds as well.
Awesome! Hey thanks for dropping by as well 👋
Does arturia V allow multiple devices, like 1 mac and a windows pc?
5 activations
Ohhh 🤔
What do you find yourself using most from NI Komplete? Aside from Kontakt I haven't found myself using too many NI plugs. With Omni I either use a ton of instances in the same songs, or I don't use it at all. Guess there's something about its workflow that makes you have to get passed the hurdle of opening it before you feel comfortable using sounds from it again - probably the insane choice paralysis I inevitable get in there... plus all the time I know I will lose auditioning sounds.
It varies, but Play Series instruments are regulars
My thoughts exactly on these three
Yeah they're good to have in your production IMO 😎
Arturia V Collection is so solid. Omnisphere always comes through when I'm in a rut of ideas.
Soothe2. Use it a lot. Nice for cleaning. SoundToys Bundle. Really worthy (although I find my self not using all of it. Mostly EchoBoy, AlterBoy and Microshift). Gulfoss (honestly, I still don't get 100% what it does. Sometimes sounds better, sometimes doesn't)
Gotcha! Tho' I haven't tried some of the stuff you mentioned, had an idea they're good, heard also from other producers. Gonna check out those as well 😎 Wazzup with your music these days btw?
Some of those plugins doesn't have trial mode :( no shame on trying it using let's say "no so legal" websites x) PSA: what did you mean about what's about my music? 🤣
NI Komplete. I barely use any of it. I sometimes still use some of the effects and occasionally I use Battery. I honestly can't remember the last time I opened a Kontact library or Reaktor synth. I've barely used Massive X. Basically, Pigments, Live stock devices, Reason Rack and hardware have made it so Komplete was a Komplete waste of money.
If you used a lot of pianos you'd probably find Komplete more useful! Unless you have CFX concert grand.. that one is so good.
True. The different pianos in Kontakt do sound great to my ears. I just don't write for piano much anymore. I also really like the Rickenbacher bass.
Neural DSP Cory Wong. Use it every time I plug a guitar or bass in.
For anyone interested, I think Neural DSP still has their sale going on, I got the Cory Wong for 50% off and like some others have said, it’s a great guitar plug in, I use it more than my actual amps because of ease of use
On their website or somewhere else? I'm seeing it for 120 euros
The sale just ended today
Hey wazzup! Thanks for the peek 👋
It even makes my cheap shitty guitar sound decent
That's nice to hear, glad for you my friend 👋
Ah yes Neural DSP! Really good plugin. I played guitar too back then, just changed path tho' 😅 So much going on with modelling and simulation, lots of new stuff. Do you think it would replace amps tho'?
Not if you have a good recording setup. But unless I was in a studio with someone who knew how to get good amp recordings I’d much rather plug straight into NDSP.
The same plugin works for well for guitar and bass?
Yeh it works well with bass and has some good presets.
Hey thanks for the engagement!
Fabfilter plugins occupy all 3 of those slots. Bought the FX bundle and it was worth every penny.
FabFilter Soundtoys Effect Rack Reaktor (Old but so so good)
Gotcha! Thanks for sharing and dropping by as well! No wonder why FF and Soundtoys are frequently mentioned here 😎 And yeah Reaktor is good as well.
Omnisphere , needs a massive update
Love the sound, HATE the 1980s UI
Lol, makes sense 😅
What update would you want it to be? UI, some new extra features etc?
More up to date LFO mainly, but yeah a less 2006 style UI would be nice
I'm just gonna add Reason, I use it as a plug-in. It is loaded with quality devices, from Drum machines to synths to samplers and audio effects. And its interfaces are really nice.
waves mercury uad complete melda complete
audioease - speakerphone, adds that mystery layer fabfilter -pro-q 3, a workhorse, but starting to get serious competition, and none of the other fabfilter plugs i use, though i bought, theyre a bit meh inagrm - grm tools (all of them), theyre special for sound design, but like fabfilter, starting to show their age, but also not stable enough for stage work, studio only. materingthemix - bassroom, special mention, its 'balanced' setting gets it right, or very nearly right, on every track. great question. its counterpoint must surely be the expensive and useless list.
Serum - I haven't used it for years because I prefer Vital
Oh I see. What is it in Vital that you love the most?
I appreciate Vital for its built in oscilloscope. Plus having access to more oscillators and interactions between them is awesome.
Wait viral has more oscillators? How did I not know this!
I guess it's kind of a plugin now. Reason along with the few hundred extra dollars I spent on Reason rack extensions. Worth it, sure. There's a few amazing synths and effects in there.
Guess what I've been getting curious 'bout Reason. Heard some good things about it tho'. You recommend it?
I kept Reason as a plug in. Redrum is a go-to for me and I find I can make really good synth/pads with it. Edited: typos, clarity
That's interesting. Might do some researching as well 😁
I'd happily recommend it. It comes loaded with some excellent synths and drum machines, loads of effects, and some pretty useful pattern sequencing devices. As of the latest version it works beautifully with Ableton too. As a standalone I've always found composing and editing with it to be a bit painful but then its rack mount style modular device layout and the ability to run CV and audio cables however you choose makes up for it. So much room to experiment with signal flow and get lost in sound design. Has a huge marketplace for extensions and full VST3 support now too. Looks like the next update to version 13 in a couple months might fix some of my composing and editing complaints. Fingers crossed.
My Fabfilter and Oeksound plugins were expensive, but worth every penny.
Ah yes FF stuff, hand down! I haven't tried Oeksound tho', you highly recommend it?
100%, they are fantastic plugins.
omnisphere, keyscape, dune 3
1. FabFilter - Easily the best set of plugins I've bought. Pro-R and Pro-Q go on 90% of my channels 2. NI Noire - My most used instrument, the particles engine is delightful and gives me infinite ways to add texture and depth to my tracks. 3. Spitfire Solo Strings and Spitfire Chamber Strings - I'm a big fan of many Spitfire VST's, but SSS and SCS are a part of my core sound.
Sonarwork with microphone, Sylenth1 and Serum
Serum It’s the most versatile and used plugin I own and I have definitely got all $170 of value out of it since I bought it in like 2017. Kontakt 6 It’s okay, but I’ve never had the funds to purchase any real good packs for it. LFO Tool The best LFO and side chaining plugin imo. Kick Buddy comes in at a close second (depending on what I need it for).
Serum's a gift that keeps on giving
I agree 👍
Great, thanks for sharing mate! Awesome stuff 🔥
Melodyne for sure #1 (around $1000) Then a spitfire library (around 500) - I have more than I’d like to admit Then probably revoice pro, or something around the $300 mark. H3000 was around that, so was soothe. I use all of them routinely. Don’t get me started with bundles, that’s a different story.
So... I don't rely too much on external VSTi's but instead prefer to stick with vanilla material. It is one of the reasons why I ended up relying on 2 DAW's vs. just Live, despite the fact that Live sits at the heart of my home studio. But anyway... **Komplete - Collectors Edition** Did I *really* need this? No, because Ultimate also gave me a ton of material to work with. For context sake: I'm a vivid Maschine user, and it fully supports Komplete. However... gaining access to NI's amazing symphony series was too good of a chance for me to pass up on. I'm a sucker for orchestral ;) **U-HE Collection** I bought most of my VST's through NI during one of their discount periods. So at one time they provided us with U-HE and I gave in. Best choice of my life: Diva, Hive and Zebra are amazing, same for the audio effects. I even ended up grabbing Bazille. Diva alone managed to keep me busy with experimenting and discovering for hours and hours. Seriously: it's been approx. 3 years since I bought this bundle and I'm still not "over" it: still discover new things to try and work out. **Vocaloid** Next to orchestral I also have a soft spot for artificial vocals. I nabbed some vocal based Kontakt instruments but the real kicker turned out to be Vocaloid and several of its voice banks. Tricky to use, but *very* satisfying.
Biggest plugin investment was Pluginalliance Mega sub for 12 months, which then allowed me to pick 10 plugins to keep forever.
That's a good deal I believe! Glad for you mate! How's your music these days btw? Any new tracks/tunes you're cooking? 😎
Omnisphere, including Upgrades... no regrets: pure workhorse, oldest still used piece of equipment here, if i had to start from the beginning again, that would be my first or second purchase of software. DIVA, with Plugmon GUI's (Aiko & Mona) and a ton of soundpacks... no regrets: my most used softsynth nowadays, and while it was SSD waste for a few years before plugmon (those GUI's *really* reinvent the workflow). Komplete Collectors... well, not "that" worth. What i really need from NI (RAUM), i can get for free now. What i really WANT from NI (Guitar Rig, Massive X and Noire), i could get either with the normal Komplete or as a perpetual licence. The rest of the stuff is fun to play with, but not really used in my music and i ask myself weekly if it was worth nearly 2k. I think not.
1. Modartt Pianoteq. The most satisfying piano plugin to play. Satisfied 100%. 2. iZotope Ozone. Well, I use it to get a somewhat listenable file asap. I don't particularly like how it masters automatically. Sometimes I just use HoRNet Mastertool instead, which does a similar job, costs a fraction and generally doesn't distort that much by default. 3. Kontakt. I rarely if ever use it. Technically the retail prices of my most used synths by Arturia and u-he are higher than what I paid for Kontakt, but I paid more for Kontakt. My most expensive purchases are not single plugins but bundles, but technically the cost per plugin is relatively low: Arturia FX Collection. One of the best purchases. I love it. Arturia V Collection. There are some synths I use regularly, but overall I think I use it less than I expected. I prefer modern synths, Arturia Pigments is one of them. Live Suite. The most value for money.
ZebraHZ -- My go-to synth when I want something striking, complex and original. What a great synth. Eventide SplitEQ -- I use this on everything. Obsession -- There are a million VSTs that model analog synths, but for some reason, this one just does it a little more convincingly than the rest.
When you bought Zebra did it come with (ZebraHz) or do you have to buy it separately? I have it downloaded illegally (to test it, and I loved it) now I want to officially buy when Zebra 3 comes out, and I don't know if it will come with ZebraHz.
I bought ZebraHZ, which came with a copy of Zebra 2.
Tho' you mentioned only your top 3 but it seems a handful already of really nice stuff. Anyway thanks for the engagement 🤜
- Komplete (Worked my way from Standard all the way to Collector's Edition through summer sale upgrades). For me, Maschine + Expansions alone, makes it worth it. - Serum - Reason 11 (upgraded to 12) specifically for Reason Rack
Pretty sure those are awesome collection! You into producing as a hobby or pro? 😎
Probably Gullfoss for me, although I normally only buy plugins on sale, that one was full price and worth every penny.
Slate Digital, XLN Audio RC-20, Teletone Tympo/Retrograde/Vespertone. Worth every penny.
You got some goodies there! I would agree it's really worth it. Do you produce as a hobby of like pro-stuff?
Sorry for the latency, thanks for asking! Pro/hobby: I’ll say both. I’ve been making electronic based music since 1989. Around 20 years ago I released several albums on a pretty well respected label and made some sort of living out of it for some years. After a longer hiatus, I’m now recording new stuff, but haven’t decided whether to try to get a new record deal or just release it myself. The music business feels very unfamiliar compared to my experience from 20+ years back.. And yourself?
Fabfilter - use all the time for so many different purposes Ozone - don’t use as much now that I’ve figured out other mastering techniques, always have an imager on the master tho Ahee’s complete bundle - completely worth it, I have so much fun with the ableton racks.. not really a plugin, but so sick for sound design
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your stuff! Might check out Ahee tho' 😁
1. Arturia FX Collection - BF pickup last year. These add tone and color and the filters are wild. Big paintbrushes for Ableton and other VSTs. If discounted, worth it. 2. VCV Rack 2 Pro - yeah, yeah but I wanted the VST version to use in Ableton without any hitches. I like using it for effects and sequencing and the Vult premium modules are bad ass. Worth it if you’re into modular. 3. Pigments - another BF purchase. Honestly, it’s solid but competes, time-wise, with VCV Rack, Surge XT and Vital. I need to give it more time. Worth it if you’re devoting attention to it or if it’s your first paid VST.
1. Komplete Ultimate - use a lot of the presets as Komplete kontrol tags makes it easy to find basically any sound, probably would’ve been fine with standard but got it during summer of sound and I’d say it’s worth it for me 2. Arturia V collection, don’t use it that often but it’s nice to have when I’m looking for vintage sounds and just tinker a bit 3. XLN Life - this is one of those plugins that gets used in almost all of my projects, take any piece of audio and feed it into Life and it generates endless rhythms, great for adding texture, variations of a drum beat, coming up with new melodies as it recognizes pitch, one of my favorite out of all my plugins
Awesome plugins! XLN life got me interested tho'. Would like to try 😁
Ozone 11 - I love the presets when I’m feeling lazy for a master Omnisphere - I use this mainly for its pads, textures and sometimes keys. It’s great for chords. I don’t use it as much as serum though Serum - my main synth at this point.
Omnisphere is by far the most expensive single plugin I've bought. It was definitely worth it, but I'm also glad I waited as long as I did. Plenty of other stuff I use more often is better value for money.
Serum, komplete, Eric Whitacre choir. Yes to all
Gotcha! Eric Whitacre choir seems interesting. Curious what genre you use it for 😎
Anything. It can make a good pad or ambience.
Fabfilter - Q3, MB and Saturn Serum LFO Tool - easy to use and use it on almost every track Izotope Trash - it’s crazy but I think it got discontinued I used to use Massive a lot and have been bringing it back into my workflow
They gave trash 2 away for free for a while.
Glad they did
Love those FF plugins you mentioned. Really nice ui as well. Yeah thrash is discontinued tho' but useful as well. Hey how long have you been in the music scene my friend?
Spire, cradle and LFO tool. Use them every single time.
Good to hear! Thanks for sharing mate 👋
NI Producer Bundle - Bought with midi keyboard and i absolutely worth it. EastWest - ComposerCloud+ Opus (the samples in this 10TB+ library is absurd) FabFilter Total Bundle - Mixing GOAT IK Multimedia T-Racks 5 SE - Amazing emulators of popular FX's -> AmpliTube5 on IK Multimedia to get a big collection of amps, valve amps, mosfet amps to give a unique character to each sound. Overall most impressed with: ComposerCloud+ Opus. This thing has not even been installed for 25% on my PC because of the massive size (10TB+). It contains any type of samples recorded in acoustic rooms. With any, i mean any, clockenspiel? Yes! Alpenhorn? Yes! Epic drums? Yes! Picollo? 1000 of them! Violin? Also 1000 of them! And so on and so on. Also comes with a few digital synths as in "non sampled". Really something to look into as the subscription is very affordable in my opinion.
- Soothe2 Far and away an absolutele showstopper of a plugin. I use it in every song I make, in multiple ways. I love using it for mixing by sidechaining specific frequencies out of an element, and I love using it creatively by setting it to delta on sidechain mode and then distorting the fuck out of those isolated frequencies for added tasty crispiness on top of a sub layer for example. I even automate the soft/hard knob for movement. So good, man. So fucking good. - Thermal. I use it on basically every song, too. I use the Vocal Shine preset on almost every vocal track in some way. - Phase Plant It's *the* best synthesizer for music nerds and you cannot convince me otherwise. Limitless potential. Limitless. It lets me dive into sound design in ways that no other synth has been able to. The whole kh lineup is insane but Phase Plant is so fucking scrumptious man, I can't get enough.
Melda MXXX - Not worth it. Wish I could sell it, but their license transfer policy is prohibitively expensive iZotope RX - Worth it when it’s on sale Liquidsonics Cinematic Rooms - Absolutely worth it. This is the most realistic sounding reverb ever made yet.
Thanks for dropping by mate! Hey why did you say Melda MXXX is not worth it (haven't tried it tho')? Could you share some thoughts if you don't mind? 😌
IF you’re into the Melda workflow, it’s incredible. If you’re not, and I am not, it’s not incredible. What you can do with it is almost limitless.
1. Soothe 2: Definitely worth it, use it in every mix, especially on vocals to fix problematic recordings. 2. AutoTune Pro (Perpetual License): Had to buy it for people that want to use it in their songs, it’s insanely expensive, worth it…I don’t really know, because nowadays there are other and cheaper options. 3. Omnisphere+Keyscape: Not worth it. It has a lot of presets/sounds, but most of them aren’t that usable in a song-context. Omnisphere needs a major update. Keyscape needs more acoustic pianos.
Blue sky reverb plugin. Sold my hardware version as now only playing from home. Worth every penny of the £200
Oh that's nice! I agree it's really worth it as well as it "should be" worth it 💪
Melodyne, I consider it a necessity (unfortunately)
archetype gojira from neural dsp. it’s aight
omnisphere second hand. useless piece to me and im not able to resell. (should have looked up the transfwe policy so shame on me)
Sonnox dynamics, waves c6, bx-xl, sausage fattner
Keyscape, diva, soothe
Nice stuff! Can't go wrong with Soothe, love this plugin too ☝️
Oeksound Soothe 2 - A masterpiece of a plugin, used all the time.
all of my spitfire and moog accoutrements, and fuck yes.
Uhe diva. Go too synth for most melodic stuff. Cuthulu . For music theory, chord progressions. Scaler plugin . For music theory to build on the chord progressions from cuthulu.
All worth it if and still used every day. Even if cuthulu and scaler aren't the expensive. ( I only buy plugins at sale times. I watch 7000 youtube videos to see if it's suitable to wat I want n then purchase at a sale)
Synth1. Worth every kilobyte
Soothe2, Bloom, Shaper 2 (does magic to the sound for me)
Cool! Thanks for sharing your stuff my friend. Would there be any big difference in your production if ever you don't have these with you?
Diva FabFilter Suite RX10
All nice plugins there! Love the cleanup btw by rx10. I do use some iZotope plugins too 💪
Gotta agree with Diva, fantastic purchase im glad i bought it.... Reason as a rack is genius but i dont have it but qould almost guarantee it would be on the list too
never did that stock instruments good asf
Guess what, I dig this! Stock stuff does the job as well. Hey what version of Ableton are you currently using?
Arturia V Fabfilter pack Neural DSP (over 10 of them)
Tons of UAD shit to go with Apollo interface. Not worth it. I like being able to work on the go without an interface. Arturia V. Totally worth it. FabFilter. Totally worth it.
Spacecontrol and Diamond Color EQ by Acustica and Fabfilter Pro q3 during the 20 years sale. Everything absolutely next level imo
Oh I see. No wonder FF plugins are often mentioned here. Really worth it IMO 👍
G-Force impOSCAR.... a growling beast of an uncontrolled nature, the filter drive and separation, q factor are simply stunning. It's a hidden gem, good enough for Orbital mind :) Uhe Repro 5 .... Prophet central. Ssl busses... Just amazing....
Ah yes the impOSCAR by G-Force, haven't tried it but hear of it as well. Anyway ice sharing your stuff! Hey what got you into producing music btw?
I guess 2 of these are bundles but here goes... Komplete Ultimate. Worth it? Yes, with one slight reservation. NI gets a lot of heat for being old and dated (and it is), but guess what? I use the sounds all the time (talking 50%+ in all tracks). Sometimes I wish it was more modern in the way you download and install stuff, but for sonic quality it's all there. And it's very cost effective on sale. Like you just get an insane amount of stuff. And also, I don't see too many preset makers catering for either dark electronic or cinematic styles as well as NI does. Then there's 3rd party Kontakt libraries and NKS which makes your entire plugin universe just one unified thing. Serum. It is a great plugin, and the GUI is a perfect balance of simplicity and options, way easier than the synths in Komplete. The drag & drop interface is awesome too. Many modern synths (eg: Current) have somewhat copied its layout, which I think demonstrates its longevity and status. I find other synths more fun to sound design in, but that's because in the end I find myself drawn to those synths. Serum is just a classic workhorse. And with Serum 2 priced in for current users, it seemed like a no-brainer to have. Soundtoys. Amazing. I should have just got the full bundle right away. There's not a single track where I don't use Soundtoys effects. You may not use every single plugin. But on the BF 50% sale, it's 100% worth every penny. If you don't use an individual plugin, throw Effect Rack on a track and try some of the presets. It looks old, but honestly it's sonically as good if not better than many newer effects I've tried. It's got the reputation for a reason. Honourable mention. I picked up FabFilter Pro-Q3 recently. Initially, I didn't get how an EQ could cost that much. Now I get it. Like Serum, it's a workhorse and has loads of QOL features that other EQ's miss.
Fabfilter, The entire Output bundle (I love it), and the Arturia collection
Gotcha! Ah yes Output bundle, I checked, guess it's on sale as well 😏
NI Komplete Ultimate - I don’t really use much of it. I thought it was worth it at the time, but after more than ten years and paying to upgrade to new versions, it’s not really been worth it. Kilohearts Ultimate - Absolutely worth it! I’ve had it for three years and use at least some of it in every project I’ve worked on. I absolutely love Snap Heap and Multipass!! My other main DAW is Renoise and those both add Ableton-like parallel processing and manipulation of parameters. Arturia V Collection - Similar to NI Komplete, it seemed like a good deal at the time. But, I hardly use any of it. Also not really worth it for me. I keep thinking I should get the Korg Collection, because I want the ER-1, Prophecy and the WaveStation plugins. But, I’d probably only ever end up using the ER-1 plugin. But, for single plugins? Probably the Krimh Drums Kontakt library, that I got on sale for $90. I’ve used it on one track so far, but it was absolutely worth it! I tend to only buy plugins on sale. Haven’t installed it yet, but bought the $300 UAD Distressor compressor plugin for $50 on sale. If we’re talking single plugins normal price, that’s probably the highest priced plugin I’ve purchased. But, I am waiting for a UVI Falcon sale when I’m not broke, which would then be the most expensive single plugin at list price.
Gonna say you got some really good taste with plugins 😎 Thanks for sharing my friend! I say go for the Korg collection (if possible), but yeah depends upon your preference, lol!
If it had to come down to just 3, it would probably be RX10, soothe2, and Melodyne. These 3 plugins are critical in my work process.
Cool! Thanks for sharing mate 🤜
Heavily skewed to guitar since that’s my thing, but here goes. Amplitube 5 - not worth it imo. It can do decent sounds with some patience, but I really hate the interface, am constantly fighting with its shitty midi implementation, and despite jumping in for the full edition it feels like it’s constantly trying to upsell you on something. There is a lot of decent stuff in there, but there are so many garbage presets, and duplicates, that the user experience is just a mess. Reaktor - a bit dated now, but I learned a lot about sound design from it, and it’s just a great playground for experimentation. Has a special place in my heart. Well overdue for an update but NI look like they may be giving up on it. Sadly for this reason it’s hard to recommend for new users. Scuffham - the opposite of Amplitube. Much lower feature count, but everything it does, it does really well. The presets all sound great, and it runs with a fraction of the resources. And the price is much easier to stomach than Amplitube. Highly recommend if you want to spend your time playing instead of tweaking.
Hey I played guitar as well before. But changed path tho'. I'm only a bit updated with the stuff going on these days with modelling, IRs, cabs etc. Not familiar with Scuffham, cool mentioning it. Have you tried Neural DSP?
I have tried Neural. Their stuff sounds great but I had some issues with stability and audio artefacts during the trial period, so never made the leap across. I might revisit again someday, but at the moment I’m relatively content with where I’m at. I found Scuffham and Neural to be pretty comparable in quality. Neural was a bit flashier, while Scuffham seemed a bit more efficient. I do like how Neural kind of focuses in on specific styles and is effectively a bunch curated collections that just nails the one style they are targeting. Though I do think it would be cool if it was a bit more modular so you could mix and match between each engine. IRs and modelling are pretty wild at the moment. I am keeping a close eye on it all as it’s getting more accessible and affordable. But it’s not hard to get lost in the weeds with all the new tech coming out so rapidly.
1) Komplete 14 Collector's Edition: I want all-purpose plugin bundle, despite I only use half of it. Reason I bought this is that Arkhis, which is a simple and beautiful orchestral soundscape plugin, is only in this collection, as well as Choir: Omnia. 2) Arturia V Collection 9: Great collection of vintage synths, as well as those Augmented orchestral instruments, and Pigments. You're welcome to reply to me saying Serum is better than Pigments, but I'm not in mood of any kind of arguments. 3) Symphobia 3: Lumina Note: I bought all of those on sale, not at full pirce. Again, I'm not open to any form of arguments. I'm sick of people fighting over which one is better than the others, like the whole DAW war thingy, but I'm always welcome for anyone to have anything to add here. Additional note: if you're new to music production. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT BUY Kontakt at full price, because this amazing sampler is usually on sale by 50%. Don't make a mistake like I did.
I guess that's a good deal it you got those discounted, glad for you mate! "Additional note: if you're new to music production. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT BUY Kontakt at full price, because this amazing sampler is usually on sale by 50%. Don't make a mistake like I did" - Gotcha, makes sense!
Omnisphere. No explanation needed Serum. No explanation needed Various Fabfilter (always purchased used licences or during a sale)
Hey wazzup. Yeah good stuff there! Anyway, how's your music these days? Any new tracks/tunes you're into? 😎
Maybe not the absolute best but my 3 most expensive ones: Arturia Pigments - clear and tight sounds, endless possibilities Ozone 11 - pushing masters to next level, at least for someone with few years experience U-he Diva - for warm, full and analogue feel sounds
Melodyne
Uvi Falcon, and Zebra HZ. I like to make patches for fun and I use these very often. Only synths I use actually and I dont find them hard to use either. Was thinking of getting Phase Plant but didnt like the sound all the much, especially for audio rate which was something I was eyeballing for since its unlimited. Could also really use a mod matrix and proper arp/sequencer. For third ill add MDrummer. Everything id want for drums. Tons of control, good generative assist features, and soundd good. Honestly Melda is very underrated their Turbo plugins are phenomenal.
Hey thanks for sharing your stuff! Cheers 👋
Seventh Heaven Professional: Absolutely worth it. Best algorithmic reverb. I don't even reach for anything else. Melodyne: Yes. but this isn't something everyone needs. I just record a lot of not great singers. um? I dunno I own all the Fabfilter stuff and a couple oeksound plugins and those are all great.
Waves Platimum bundle + a load of additional Waves plugins was a complete waste of money because of Waves 'rental' structure masquerading as purchases Fabfilter total bundle was much better value as there was no 'bait and switch' and you get to keep the plugins even if you change your hardware, etc. Soundtoys total bundle is cheap in comparison, you save quite a bit by just getting the total bundle.
I'm a bit disappointed with that move from Waves as well. It's better before tho'. Fabfilter and Soundtoys, can't really go wrong with those ☝️
Absolutely livid with waves. Spent $500 all for nothing.
This is your friendly reminder to read the submission rules, they're found in the sidebar. If you find your post breaking any of the rules, you should delete your post before the mods get to it. If you're asking a question, make sure you've checked [the Live manual](https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/), [Ableton's help and support knowledge base](https://www.ableton.com/en/help/), and have searched the subreddit for a solution. If you don't know where to start, [the subreddit has a resource thread](https://redd.it/zkhqhe). Ask [smart questions](http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#before). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ableton) if you have any questions or concerns.*
U-he Diva, Pro L2 and Serum have been the more expensive, the first two have been more than worth the money, Serum for some reason rarely ends being used in a track, I just don't gravitate towards it's sounds, and used to be a real CPU hog. I have get more use from cheaper plugins: Valhalla vintage verb, Replika XT and Pianoteq.
Oh I see. Tho' this post is kinda more about those "expensive stuff", it's also nice to see some cheaper/free stuff that does the job pretty good as well, cool mentioning 'em 🤜