[cowparsleyman]

Like amny of You I have a shed load of plugins, some claim to be the best thing since sliced audio, you try it and very often it's not as good as what you have already.

For example I bought the Lurssen Mastering Console from IK Multimedia a few years ago, thinking that it would help with mastering, it didn't so I wanted to know what on earth was happening when I twiddled those knobs.

This is where DDMF's Plugin Doctor reveals all, it's a stand alone app that you can load a plugin into and see what on earth is happening on a frequency graph when any knob, slider,switch etc. is moved, this is a revealing experience and one that made me stop using it, don't get me wrong it's a fine piece of software but what my ears heard was different to what the knobs were telling me.

You will be amazed as to what is happening to your sound before moving anything! some plugins dent, sculpt and colour. There's allsorts of technical features that I just don't understand, but I just ignore that, as I can remember there is a graph showing harmonics, so it will reveal very well what the the saturation and tap emu plugins are doing.

This is one reason why i swear by Waves CLA-2 compressor as a vocal comp as it's remarkably true.

If nothing else it's facinating to see.

Hope this helps some of you. of course there may be others that do the same thing, but I use this.

https://ddmf.eu/plugindoctor/

[Boydie]

Thanks @cowparsleyman

What an interesting tool!

I also completely agree about the Waves CLA-2 comp. i find it interesting that some people dismiss some of the WAVES stuff as “old” and more modern software is usually seen as “better” whereas in the hardware world people crave the vintage stuff built on “lesser” tech

I have always found this paradox interesting and have genuinely started favouring older software (which tends to have lighter system demands) over the “latest and greatest”

[cowparsleyman]

@Boydie - I agree, I'm quite put off by the majority of new Plugins, Waves are very good indeed, but many folk relate price to quality, which just isn't the case, there are a number of very good free plugins.

For what it's worth there are a few Waves plugins that I couldn't be without, Brauer Motion, Doppler, Smack Attack is a recent find, recommended by someone here.

The only slight Issue I have with Waves stuff is that they are quite CPU hungry, but I can norally live with it, some of the Abbey Road stuff is laden with eye candy graphics but does weigh it down.

The Plugin Doctor is really an eye opener, and an essential tool for me.

Paul - Take a look at the SSL X range on  Plugin Boutique - they are very good plugins, lightweight and should fill a gap in the plugin cupboard, the  x Phase and the x valve comp, along the x echo are really very good, and simple to use...and currently on offer < £20 ea. (I think the echo is slightly more).

btw Studio One is just very very useful, getting used to it now, do you export to Notion much?