What old Direct X plugins do you miss?

[HOOK]

I've been using Cakewalk since it came on floppy and still said Twelve Tone Systems on the label.  I had to drive from Kansas to Oklahoma to even find a music store that sold it and had it running on a machine.  Some time, many years later, they released Soundstage reverb.  I sure do miss that one.  It had a very specific trick that I used on vocals.  I've never really been able to recreate that specific thing.  I get close.  But I don't think I ever get it the same.

For those that don't know this one, you could change the size and shape of the room and place a performer in certain places with room mics in certain places....all adjustable with a GUI where you could just grab the performer or mic with your mouse pointer and very quickly drag them around - resulting in reverb settings changes that would roughly mimic what would happen in that room that you set up. Was really cool.  My recollection is that this was just about the time that convolution reverbs were getting popular.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/cakewalk-fx3-soundstage

Do you miss old plugins you can no longer use?  Which ones?

[Xoo]

From Project5:

An excellent "FSU" plug-in.

And the DSPfx plugins which came with a very(?) early version of SONAR.  And the Project5 reverbs (not amazing, but easy and good enough sometimes).  I wish BitBridge had dealt with DirectX effects too.

[Will.]

38 minutes ago, HOOK said:

For those that don't know this one, you could change the size and shape of the room and place a performer in certain places with room mics in certain places.

This is actually really easy to create these days and you even get a better effect. ☺

[Jim Fogle]

@HOOK, does the Sonitus fx Surround effect work similar?  It ships with Cakewalk.

Soundstage was a nice plugin.  I used it a lot when I was first learning about audio production.  I found the visual helped me get background vocals and instrumentation panning and levels like I wanted them.

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by Jim Fogle

[HOOK]

I like the Sonitus reverb a lot too, but I find it buggy on long reverbs.  And I'm fond of Breverb as well.  I'm just saying...there was one thing in particular about that old reverb that I miss.  That ONE sound it made.  It wasn't about the visual.

 

[sjoens]

StudioVerb2

[User 905133]

https://archive.org/details/virtual-sound-canvas-vsti-vsc-mp-1-1.6

https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013096/Using-Virtual-Sound-Canvas-DXi

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by User 905133

[abacab]

13 hours ago, HOOK said:

For those that don't know this one, you could change the size and shape of the room and place a performer in certain places with room mics in certain places....all adjustable with a GUI where you could just grab the performer or mic with your mouse pointer and very quickly drag them around - resulting in reverb settings changes that would roughly mimic what would happen in that room that you set up. Was really cool. 

I had the Cakewalk FX3 back in the day, but my computer struggled with it at the time. Great concept though!

[Starship Krupa]

On 10/18/2022 at 5:09 AM, HOOK said:

....you could change the size and shape of the room and place a performer in certain places with room mics in certain places....all adjustable with a GUI where you could just grab the performer or mic with your mouse pointer and very quickly drag them around - resulting in reverb settings changes that would roughly mimic what would happen in that room that you set up.

Meldaproduction MReverb has similar features; of course, it probably doesn't have your ONE sound. You can demo it, though, and if you wait for it to come around in their Eternal Madness rotating sale (or one of their likely upcoming 50% off everything sales), its price drops to $19.

(and if you've never bought anything from Meldaproduction, use my referral code, MELDA1923165 to knock 20% off your first purchase, sign up for their newsletter for a $10 credit, and you'll end up getting it for $5)

[Alan Tubbs]

Sonitus compressor.  The graphs and knees show you just what is going on with the volumes.

[Will.]

@HOOK Perhaps this would satisfy your needs as an alternative to Soundstage. 

Panagement Reverb (LINK)

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Will.

[abacab]

27 minutes ago, Will. said:

@HOOK Perhaps this would satisfy you needs as an alternative to Soundstage. 

Panagement Reverb (LINK)

 

That's a good one! Have had the freebie for a while.

[Will.]

14 minutes ago, abacab said:

That's a good one! Have had the freebie for a while.

It's actually crazy that they provide a free one. 

I too have it. for just little over a year. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Will.

[abacab]

14 minutes ago, Will. said:

It's actually crazy that they provide a free one. 

I too have it. for just little over a year. 

I played around with Panagement 2 using the free Spitfire BBCSO Discover library. With the 5 string sections (Violins 1, Violins 2, Violas, Celli, & Basses  setup in 5 tracks.

Panned them into their proper orchestra seating positions using a Panagement 2 insert on each track. Minimal CPU hit for the 5 Panagement inserts.

Not bad! Adds the stereo spread nicely.

[abacab]

Played around a bit more with the horns, piccolo, and flutes that are seated behind the strings to check out the front to rear distance. I'm not an orchestrator so it's hard for me to tell when they are all played together, but when tracks are soloed the instruments sound closer or farther depending on where they are placed in Panagement.

Overall I would say it adds to the realism of the space. So far I have just used the plugin UI to place the instruments, and have left the other settings at default. Need to dig a bit deeper.

Edit: It's definitely doing something right! I just disabled the Panagement inserts and now all I get is a big wall of sound coming from everywhere on the stereo master bus!

Yikes! I definitely prefer the way it sounds with everything spread out!

Edited October 20, 2022 by abacab

[Will.]

57 minutes ago, abacab said:

Played around a bit more with the horns, piccolo, and flutes that are seated behind the strings to check out the front to rear distance. I'm not an orchestrator so it's hard for me to tell when they are all played together, but when tracks are soloed the instruments sound closer or farther depending on where they are placed in Panagement.

Overall I would say it adds to the realism of the space. So far I have just used the plugin UI to place the instruments, and have left the other settings at default. Need to dig a bit deeper.

Edit: It's definitely doing something right! I just disabled the Panagement inserts and now all I get is a big wall of sound coming from everywhere on the stereo master bus!

Yikes! I definitely prefer the way it sounds with everything spread out!

🤣I was expecting to get this reaction - NO LIE! 🤣

All you need to do is to put your creative hat on. With the spread you have gotten there . . . place a L and R instrument that's panned hard on the sides and put them in pre-send, then mix the send level in with the rest. 

I love it on bgvs. 

Try their other free products as well - Especially LENS. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Will.