Stock Plugins | Are they any good?

[kitekrazy]

4 hours ago, bitflipper said:

I have fewer plugins today than I had ten years ago, and I could lose half the ones I still have and not miss them. 

The only category that continues to grow, albeit much more more slowly than in the past: sample libraries. But it's been years since the last time an acquisition truly inspired me to be creative. 

I'm less persuaded to buy them because they are bloated and then you have to figure in having the disk space.

[Sheens]

On 7/2/2022 at 5:17 PM, bitflipper said:

Well-said, Paul.  Ever seen the video of Dave Grohl playing a pink Hello Kitty drum kit? Anyone who claims you can't make a great record with only stock tools just doesn't know what they're doing. Every time I hear the phrase "musical compressor" I just want to gag.

I don't know what I'm doing with only stock and 3rd party tools, believe me...even with that analog /transparant/open/musical/warm sounding compressors EQ's with punchy, tight bass and silky smooth highs and lots of depth and clarity, (great pedal platforms and no stranger to clean up on the volume control, and giving you anything from a typical classic 70's crunch up to a modern fat metal distortion, you can use it on a track but it works great on a bus too and is perfect for the masterbus as well. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Sheens

[Tim Smith]

16 hours ago, Paul Young said:

 It's very plain and requires enhancements.  I'm hoping to see the project files.  Most of your 3 Osc synths like Spire and Sylenth  make nice string sounds. I've seen some trance tutorials where they make a few adjustments from the init patch.

They have contest in the FL forum using certain plugins.

The sounds they managed to supposedly get out of that are almost too good to believe. I would be slightly skeptical as well. If it's a contest, yeah I would be after the program files to be sure. I am not familiar with this synth, but is does seem a stretch unless there are a load of outboard samples in it. 

[bitflipper]

7 hours ago, Sheens said:

...punchy, tight bass and silky smooth highs and lots of depth and clarity...

Woo hoo! Sign me up. But I also want fat and crunchy, and, um, wide.

Extra points if it's endorsed by a famous engineer who "helped" to design it and couldn't have been nominated for a Grammy without it.

[kitekrazy]

5 hours ago, Tim Smith said:

The sounds they managed to supposedly get out of that are almost too good to believe. I would be slightly skeptical as well. If it's a contest, yeah I would be after the program files to be sure. I am not familiar with this synth, but is does seem a stretch unless there are a load of outboard samples in it. 

It's a simple synth with no effects. 

The flagship synth is Sytrus then Harmor.

I have everything for FL Studio.  I finally messed with all their synths and realized if this was 15 years ago I wonder if it would've tamed GAS.

[Quick Math]

I think stock plugins are good enough to make great music as long as you know what you are doing. But without knowing the right sound, it's hard to actually use them.

After buying a lot of plugins for years, I started to understand what the good sound is.

All these analog emulations are so helpful because I can learn the characters of the sound.

Some may say stick to DAW plugins and learn and practice mixing rather than buying expensive gears but I personally think knowing the sound and characters of greatest plugins certainly was valuable to me...and that's my excuse for GAS.

After spending years on these, now finally I can make music with just free plugins and stock plugins...!