LMAO, this tier list is completely obsolete, Slate Digital has gone full subscription, that makes them fall down to C tier at best, and SoundToys is iLoked. And did he say that Plugin Alliance is $50 a month ??? This is absolutely ludicrous. Is this guy paid ?
@@lolilollolilol7773 what are you smoking man? Slate is top tier now with SSL combined for 15 bucks a month. I see all these posts of people paying as much as almost a year subscription worth for 2 plugins… which who knows for how long they’ll use it. I regret endlessly for buying like 95% of my purchases plugins. Slate is all you need in life.
Spot On! Learnt using waves, big respect for them...but I hate waiting 45 minutes just to load their plugins. Plugin Alliance and Slate get it all done, and respect my time lol. Thanks, worth it!
45 minutes what are you using ? I had a session opened yesterday with with around 15 different waves plugins but probably upwards of 40 or more in total and they open within 2 minutes
How much shit are you using lol. Maybe try using less plugins and being more efficient with your plugins. You probably load way too much. Either that, or your PC needs a better processor or more memory.
I use some waves plugins but I love izotope. Nectar and neutron allows me to start mixes really fast and get 90% of the work done for me. Ozone 9 advanced is the absolute bomb. But as with everything, it's what works for you.
Missed some great indie vendors like Valhalla for reverbs, Klanghelm for compressors and saturation, and others like Togu Audio Line, Cherry Audio, Tokyo Dawn, Cableguys, CraveDSP, and u-he.
I feel like fabfilter is the s+ tier, yes initially it costs much but there is never a regret. They are rock solid, with great support and well tested updates. Pay once and get updates for free. Installer that can install all of them at once and amazingly free licensing system.
I use Plugin alliance, Slate and Wave the most. Own a good amount of UAD plugins but man im tired of having to carry a damn hardware with me in order to use them so i've been moving away from them over time.
why does this channel not have more views/subs? Man the UAD joke, the reaper/studio one user joke, the steve slate joke, I GENUINELY LAUGHED MY ASS OFFF HAHAHAHHAA YOU'RE GOLDEN!!!
@@TheRealAudioProfessor i agree with slate digital all access being the best. Did the math with waves uad stuff, PA stuff is goodd too but I have found the best combo which I am using for my daily mixing needs. I purchased the PA plugins which are an absolute hack (won't mention, there are just a few and they have NO alternatives) when they are in offer, for example bought 300$ plugin with 40$ and use the all access pass instead of the PA bundle as the slate stufff is better for the plugins they have in common or that have similar usage. Take that 1200$ UAD Satellite with 300$ plugins each.
Good analysis and I had lots of fun with your humor. I left Waves around 2016 because of their crazy pricing, and their too big to move forward attitude. I had exactly the same experience with them as you’ve detailed here. And I agree with your picks. I now use Slate, Fabfilter and Soundtoys mostly. Slate’s virtual tape machine is incredible, and the virtual bus compressors too. The neve EQ is awesome. I could go on and on about Slate. I use VBC and VTM on every song. They cover so much ground. With the VMR, You can quickly throw a preset on a track to match your vision, then tweak a few knobs to dial it in. It’s a quick process and the sound quality is exceptional. I sold all of my outboard gear and now track with plugins sent to the takes. I’m using the Black Lion Rev 2x2 and my recordings sound so much better than they used to. Fabrice G has given us the golden years of plugins.
Yeah I’m not sure what hassle he was talking about. Also, professional studios should have at least one clone of their hard drive in case their boot disc crashes. It’s super easy to restore right back to before the crash with licenses in tact.
🤠 I haven't done much comparisons but my goto are: MeldaProduction for creative FX. You get updates for life, resizable gui & multiband processing. For mixing/mastering I use iZotope as I was intrigued by AI features & waveform analysis. Gullfoss is great for reducing muddiness. Reverbs I use Liquidsonics for orchestral stuff, smart:reverb for pop, MeldaProduction for rock.
For classic gear emulation, the UAD plugs are in their own league. For example, the AMS-RMX and Lexicon 224 & 480 use the exact code of the original unites.
@@adirsab too each his own. I worked in the biggest major label studios in LA for 30 years, using the original analog gear. UA’s proprietary approach best nails it. With the previous example of the AMS RMX…. One of the earliest digital reverbs… they emulate the analog input/output… but what they do NOT emulate is the reverb algorithm. It’s not an emulation…. It’s the actual algorithms of the original RMX units. Other companies are just doing various forms of convolution…. Not even close to the same thing.
The copy protection schemes are a risk to the user. In that regard, of the companies mentioned in the video, iLok-based protection lands at the very bottom of the pile, as the user is burdened with the greatest risk. At the other end is Fabfilter where you copy/paste a text key that is easy to backup.Plugin Alliance lands in the middle, as three authorizations is better than just one which is what iLok users usually get. Waves gives you one additional activation per year, which to me rates higher than PA. Izotope has two methods. Their Exponential Audio plugins are iLok-only. All other are disk-based(including usb drives) or iLok and they‘re pretty lenient on the number of authorizations, so far. I have several iLok-burdened products. Stratus, Sound Toys, Protools, McDsp, Eventide. But since the keys can break, and Pace has had nuclear-level f*ckups in the past, I try to avoid them as a less predictable risk factor now. I tend to rely on Fabfilter, Valhalla, Klanghelm, Harrison, Voxengo and free options such as Analog Obsession(support his Patreon). As a 20 year dialogue mixer, I don‘t like having risk factors like copy protection schemes hang over my head. All that stuff has been cracked anyway, so I no longer see the point in taking that risk as a paying customer.
Absolutely agree. As well, subscription based companies suck (Slate Digital for example). Go for smaller companies. Their software will always work as long as you keep your licence file safe (I have them in my Google emails, I'm confident this will never disappear), and if they are still around after 20 years, they will even send you a new one if you happen to lose it.
I love my UAD plugins, they’re the best, like ever!! In all seriousness, I love the unison amp sims. I don’t have to deal with latency no matter what’s going on with the daw or computer. The only UAD mixing plugins I have are what came with the Heritage edition. They’re too expensive when there’s so much more affordable options that sound great.
S-Mcdsp/fab filter/waves/izotope A-plugin alliance/ soundtoys/ slate B-UAD/psp This is purely based off how I like them I didn’t include pricing or Ilok just purely how I feel while using, don’t have any uad yet so that’s in B just because I at least know their decent.
I’m looking to simplify my mixing process. I want to choose one company to rock with… I dont want to use “blah” for eq. “blah” for compression. “blah” for saturation. I just ONE
Lmaaooo you know what this track needs? More enigma! 😂😂😂 subbed because of that and your take on waves plugins. I recently just switched to slate solely due to waves piss poor waveshell version updates & old projects not loading them. Great video 🔥
Good ranking. I have UAD working on a PC but it’s no walk in the park. To me that’s their biggest issue..getting seamless performance with Windows. I like Plugin Alliance but there are some performance, stuttering and dropout issues I’ve been having, particularly on the Amek 9099, Maag eq, and the Black Box distortion. Seems like it started when I got the UAD…hmm
Thanks for the heads up ! I am a PC guy, and PCs tend to be allergic to Pro Tools, and other Imperial Remnants from the Old Galactic Empire . . . UAD did strike me as being part of that old Yacht Club where you need an Apollo Interface, a Mac, and some sound cards just to run their software . . . The simple fact that there is a Company called "Pro Tools PC", dedicated to building expensive Custom PCs that will reliably run Pro Tools . . . Hmmn . . . I will passed on the UAD, and stick with PA and Slate.
Where do you rank Acustica Audio (my favorite), Kush Audio, Denise Audio, PSP Audio (that infinity strip is the truth), IK Multimedia, Toontrack, Valhalla, Arturia, Softube Antares, Wave Factory, Leapwing, Sonnox, Tone Empire, Analog Obsession, and Sound Theory (Gulfoss is a necessity)? And yes..... I've spent over $30,000 on plugins and plan to buy more
The five I would agree on adding, because of popularity, are: PSP Audio because of their Vintage Warmer, Valhalla because of their widely used Delay, Softtube because of their awesome compressors + reverbs and Sonnox as an old friend most people know (never used them). Acustica Audio is upcoming. I don't know about their quality.
Acustica audio and plugins with AI have no magic for me. I do not consider AA upcoming, they release and relase and release for years, but the issues remain (high latency and cpu , no resizable gui, bad compression and saturation, questionable pre-amps etc). I know two devs who obviousely do not care about their custumer's opinion and complaints and I read posts/replies from the devs, that won't make me buy their products: Plugin Alliance and Acustica Audio. Arrogance is not attractive to me. But that's just me.
Nice vid! I am currently in a holiday buy for Plugin Alliance. Also use stuff from Solid State Logic and Empirical Labs. You definitely get what you pay for but with patience it can be a lot less!
@@TheRealAudioProfessor - I don't really touch a lot of synth stuff, I know on Arturia's hardware side they're into that (yeah sw too). I am referring to my experience with their plugin pre's, compressors, reverbs, delays, etc (flange/chorus) and yeah even their filters from time to time which are fantastic imo
Just a quick note, the copy protection from iZotope is iLok hardware only if you choose not to deal with their software center’s licensing (which I think is limited to 2 or 3 computers). Despite this, I think you’ve rated them fairly. If you do another one of these videos (which yeah, would probably not be for a while unless you’ve already spent the money or demo’d the plugins), I’d like to see how you rate some of these companies: Arturia’s effects, Valhalla, TDR, Acustica, Softube, IK, Melda, Fuse Audio Labs, Goodhertz, Nugen Audio.
These Days I find myself using slate digital as my base, unfiltered audio bundle from plugin Alliance, and studio rack from waves. I definitely agree that Waves has a lot filler But their studio rack plugin is amazing.
Loved your tier list and your delivery, I agree almost 100%. Slate bundle replace most of my other plugins when I switched little less than a year ago, and I've been really happy with what they offer. Fabfilter together with Slate are my desert island plugins for sure.
You can connect the Izotope licenses to the computer only, but else I find the list spot on. There are some changes as spark from UAD, but it's not yet for everyone.
I removed all Waves from studio. Plugin Alliance is solid af. Softube. Melda. Denise. D16 Group. Kirchoff EQ. Fabfilter less nowadays. Arturia there is loads. But as a one stop. Plugin Alliance. IZotope are good but really CPU heavy..
DMG too. TrackLimit is my goto limiter, though Limitless is fantastic too. Newfangled are also great, Elevate & the affordable Saturate. Devious Machines too, with great creative plugins like Infiltrator 2. Valhalla are really good, and great value for money. As are Tokyo Dawn Labs. On a budget, I could probably get by just fine with $150 in Valhalla plugins & $80 on TDR production bundle plus maybe $100 on an few affordable plugins for colour, saturation & clipping (HG-2 or VSM, Newfangled Saturate or Kazrog K-Clip 3, Softube Dirty Tape or Sketch Cassette II). Add Reaper for $60, maybe DMG Tracklimit for similar and a $450 software budget gets you very far. Especially now there's great free instrument plugins like Helm, Vital Dexed, Decent Sampler and also free effects like Valhalla SuperMassive.
*So I'm not saying Waves has the best plugins (they don't) - but I have NEVER had a problem with licensing* I've upgraded computer 4x...2 times while on Windows and 2 times after switching to Mac. I have all of my music projects on an external harddrive...and I license all my Waves plugins to that harddrive. So whenever I access my DAW files...Waves will be ready to go since its on the same harddrive. Never had a problem with licensing.
Thank you for your analysis, I was looking for this specifically, it's greatly appreciated. I currently am subscribing and have bought 4 of your name brand reviews and I'm looking to see which one's I should keep. This helps a lot.
No project without Waves. Waves developed "legends" years ago and they are still being used like RBass, CLA comps, RVox, MV2, Super Tap delay, H Delay, Vitamin and many more. I do not like and use Plugin Alliance, Slate Digital and Acustica Audio at all. I also do not like AI plugins. There is a huge choice of plugins today. My fav plugins are Waves, Softube, IK Multimedia, DDMF, Klanghelm, TDR, Soundtoys and some more If Arturia had faster plugin loading and a lower cpu usage, it would get some more use. To pick one strange gui by Waves to bash them, well, they have the by far best guis imo and only a few might be for the younger generation or whomever, but they have more than 100 plugins!!! Plugin Alliance amazing quality??? Lol Why haven't you presented PA's sloppy SSL or Bettermaker guis or Slate's for me unattractive huge Mix Rack or Meldaproduction guis?! I had a one year PA subscription and would rarely use a PA plugin, because I always found some better plugin to do the job and am glad I could re-sell all plugins. iLok is nice? I am sure many a man would disagree lol To make a video about the best plugin companies without including so many other companies, it's like talking about best car manufacturers without mentioning Mercedes. Desert island plugins: Waves Horizon bundle gives me all I need. That's just my experience and opinion.
Thanks so much for the video man! Really helpful and hilarious. Was looking into the slate bundle but needed an unbiased opinion of it. If he steals my girl at least I'll have more time to use my new compressors
Slate is not my desert island plugins, because if the desert island would be really desert one, there would not be internet connection, so no plugin would work. 😃Fab Filter for the most work. Analog Obsession for adding color. Sonible for their user-friendly interface. Izotope for their AI capability. SSL Bus Comp, for ... just being SSL Bus compressor 😃
I agree with some of what you’re saying but putting Universal Audio in the middle just because you don’t own their hardware is kind of stupid and unfair. They really do make some of the best plugins and now slowly becoming Mac-native. Plugin Alliance mix and Master bundle is second to none and they are by far the best plugin company today, but Slate is the absolute worst subscription I’ve ever tried out and opted out after a couple of months. I don’t care how much of a crush you have on him, and that subscription is a mess. Very problematic copy protection as well. Waves are easily the most overrated plugin company over the past three decades.
good evaluation! for me UAD is key for their low latency features and plugins, specially useful for guitar, bass, vocal tracking. but for mixing you are likely right that Slate or others have similar futureset and great emulation. i have the izotope bundle, and as you said, Ozone seems the be the best, but i never got into Neutron and others as my DAW tools are faster and less CPU intensive (ableton in my case). i am really eager to get FabFilter,,…. and, i couldnt live without my soundtoys (combination of ease of use and great sound). thx for the vid!
Thanks for the comment. I really did like the sound quality of UAD, but it was too cumbersome to deal with. iZotope is cool, but really overpriced, imo. But FabFilter's EQ is amazing. With with dynamic EQ, Linear Phase EQ, and matching. Definitely check it out. I'm an Ableton Certified Trainer, and I'm quite happy with the quality of their effects, for the most part.
Newfangled Audio is another company that deserves serious attention. Even Tome Projects, a relatively young company, is killing it with their Kelvin Tone Shaper and now even a souped up SSL Six channelstrip style plugin and an Overstayer with automatic gain compensation that costs 1/10 the price of Softube’s version. The days of one or two plugin companies rolling the roost are very much over.
Interesting and professional comparison, one point I want to add: IZOTOPE offers not only iLok authorization, but to the computer harddrive, too. And you are allowed to install it on multiple computers at the same (after only buying one license), minimum 4 at a time
A lot of good plugins. Love izotope and waves. Mcdsp has really nice plug ins as well (SA2). I do films, editing and I score just films so I use a lot of different plugins. Including enigma lol
Waves apparently put profits over software functionality and customer use flexibility. Barely used any of the plugins in the gold bundle, felt a little underwhelming with dusty looking UI's. Now trying to install on my laptop, and you've gotta pay them 100$ per year for some update program, and then manually swap a license to and from my workstation and laptop?!?!? Sorry, its 2022, 3 device limit is like basic operation. Looks super greedy and tight wad. Not sure who is running the business model team over there. Figure something else out. Basically only was using HComp and a couple others anyway. iZotope looks better, going to try those
I was surprised to see no mention of the "deactivation" limit for plugin alliance - 7 deactivations that don't reset. It's really making me question continuing down the PA road.
This is the first video I watched of yours today, and all I have to say is.... brother from another mother, we must have gotten separated at birth. Dam sounded like me talking on these plugins. Well done and spot on!
Imagine a world where every TH-cam tutorial was this focused, accurate and straight to the point? What a cool world would that be.
Thank you!
LMAO, this tier list is completely obsolete, Slate Digital has gone full subscription, that makes them fall down to C tier at best, and SoundToys is iLoked.
And did he say that Plugin Alliance is $50 a month ??? This is absolutely ludicrous. Is this guy paid ?
@@lolilollolilol7773 what are you smoking man? Slate is top tier now with SSL combined for 15 bucks a month. I see all these posts of people paying as much as almost a year subscription worth for 2 plugins… which who knows for how long they’ll use it.
I regret endlessly for buying like 95% of my purchases plugins. Slate is all you need in life.
Spot On! Learnt using waves, big respect for them...but I hate waiting 45 minutes just to load their plugins. Plugin Alliance and Slate get it all done, and respect my time lol. Thanks, worth it!
45 minutes what are you using ? I had a session opened yesterday with with around 15 different waves plugins but probably upwards of 40 or more in total and they open within 2 minutes
How much shit are you using lol. Maybe try using less plugins and being more efficient with your plugins. You probably load way too much. Either that, or your PC needs a better processor or more memory.
@Todzuum Exactly.
You have the best tutorials and recomendations, true profesossor!
I love the comical puns in between explaining the ins and outs. 💯🤩
I use some waves plugins but I love izotope. Nectar and neutron allows me to start mixes really fast and get 90% of the work done for me. Ozone 9 advanced is the absolute bomb. But as with everything, it's what works for you.
absolutely !
LOL. You nailed that Steven Slate analogy. I was dying with laughter
Missed some great indie vendors like Valhalla for reverbs, Klanghelm for compressors and saturation, and others like Togu Audio Line, Cherry Audio, Tokyo Dawn, Cableguys, CraveDSP, and u-he.
Interesting, I'd love to see an update of this video considering UAD now offers Spark, and Plugin Alliance have new convenient subscription options.
Saved me time in deciding my subscriptions, looking forward to your extended list and any further insights; subscribed.
I feel like fabfilter is the s+ tier, yes initially it costs much but there is never a regret. They are rock solid, with great support and well tested updates. Pay once and get updates for free. Installer that can install all of them at once and amazingly free licensing system.
i came here for music knowledge and left with music knowledge and laughed my ass off LMAO. ur great man keep up the good work!
Softube and Eventide...they definitely need to be added to this list.
and analogue obsession
He mentions Softube at the end
I use Plugin alliance, Slate and Wave the most. Own a good amount of UAD plugins but man im tired of having to carry a damn hardware with me in order to use them so i've been moving away from them over time.
one word m1
@@aviatedviewssound4798 oh I'm ready to get one. iMac M1 16 gigs, 1TB ssd with Logic. It will cost me 1600.00
@@aviatedviewssound4798 M1 isn’t a word. It’s a letter and a number.
@@tuneunleashed true lol, then one word and number.
why does this channel not have more views/subs? Man the UAD joke, the reaper/studio one user joke, the steve slate joke, I GENUINELY LAUGHED MY ASS OFFF HAHAHAHHAA YOU'RE GOLDEN!!!
Thanks so much! I keep trying to get my numbers up.
@@TheRealAudioProfessor i agree with slate digital all access being the best. Did the math with waves uad stuff, PA stuff is goodd too but I have found the best combo which I am using for my daily mixing needs. I purchased the PA plugins which are an absolute hack (won't mention, there are just a few and they have NO alternatives) when they are in offer, for example bought 300$ plugin with 40$ and use the all access pass instead of the PA bundle as the slate stufff is better for the plugins they have in common or that have similar usage. Take that 1200$ UAD Satellite with 300$ plugins each.
Tbh the Logic joke with the sarcastic cough was great as well🤣
Uad plugin ever best forever i used all company plugin after i buy uad plugin I'm fully happy with this and others also sound Great ever
Fabfilter is S for the fact that you can add saturation in order to try to replicate something from Slate or pa.
Good analysis and I had lots of fun with your humor. I left Waves around 2016 because of their crazy pricing, and their too big to move forward attitude. I had exactly the same experience with them as you’ve detailed here. And I agree with your picks. I now use Slate, Fabfilter and Soundtoys mostly. Slate’s virtual tape machine is incredible, and the virtual bus compressors too. The neve EQ is awesome. I could go on and on about Slate. I use VBC and VTM on every song. They cover so much ground. With the VMR, You can quickly throw a preset on a track to match your vision, then tweak a few knobs to dial it in. It’s a quick process and the sound quality is exceptional. I sold all of my outboard gear and now track with plugins sent to the takes. I’m using the Black Lion Rev 2x2 and my recordings sound so much better than they used to. Fabrice G has given us the golden years of plugins.
Waves is simple to install. I like their GUI's, and their prices are affordable now. I like Waves, Plugin Alliance and T-Racks.
Yeah I’m not sure what hassle he was talking about. Also, professional studios should have at least one clone of their hard drive in case their boot disc crashes. It’s super easy to restore right back to before the crash with licenses in tact.
You like Waves GUI's??? 😆
Naw.. really??
Track is trash
To everyone who may read this I hope y'all make it, let's keep grinding 🙏🏽
🤠 I haven't done much comparisons but my goto are: MeldaProduction for creative FX. You get updates for life, resizable gui & multiband processing. For mixing/mastering I use iZotope as I was intrigued by AI features & waveform analysis. Gullfoss is great for reducing muddiness. Reverbs I use Liquidsonics for orchestral stuff, smart:reverb for pop, MeldaProduction for rock.
For classic gear emulation, the UAD plugs are in their own league. For example, the AMS-RMX and Lexicon 224 & 480 use the exact code of the original unites.
acustica audio
@@adirsab too each his own. I worked in the biggest major label studios in LA for 30 years, using the original analog gear. UA’s proprietary approach best nails it. With the previous example of the AMS RMX…. One of the earliest digital reverbs… they emulate the analog input/output… but what they do NOT emulate is the reverb algorithm. It’s not an emulation…. It’s the actual algorithms of the original RMX units. Other companies are just doing various forms of convolution…. Not even close to the same thing.
Just wanna offer some positivity based on your comments in the video. I appreciate your time. Blessings to you and yours ✌️
The copy protection schemes are a risk to the user. In that regard, of the companies mentioned in the video, iLok-based protection lands at the very bottom of the pile, as the user is burdened with the greatest risk. At the other end is Fabfilter where you copy/paste a text key that is easy to backup.Plugin Alliance lands in the middle, as three authorizations is better than just one which is what iLok users usually get. Waves gives you one additional activation per year, which to me rates higher than PA. Izotope has two methods. Their Exponential Audio plugins are iLok-only. All other are disk-based(including usb drives) or iLok and they‘re pretty lenient on the number of authorizations, so far.
I have several iLok-burdened products. Stratus, Sound Toys, Protools, McDsp, Eventide. But since the keys can break, and Pace has had nuclear-level f*ckups in the past, I try to avoid them as a less predictable risk factor now. I tend to rely on Fabfilter, Valhalla, Klanghelm, Harrison, Voxengo and free options such as Analog Obsession(support his Patreon). As a 20 year dialogue mixer, I don‘t like having risk factors like copy protection schemes hang over my head. All that stuff has been cracked anyway, so I no longer see the point in taking that risk as a paying customer.
Absolutely agree. As well, subscription based companies suck (Slate Digital for example).
Go for smaller companies. Their software will always work as long as you keep your licence file safe (I have them in my Google emails, I'm confident this will never disappear), and if they are still around after 20 years, they will even send you a new one if you happen to lose it.
I love my UAD plugins, they’re the best, like ever!!
In all seriousness, I love the unison amp sims. I don’t have to deal with latency no matter what’s going on with the daw or computer. The only UAD mixing plugins I have are what came with the Heritage edition. They’re too expensive when there’s so much more affordable options that sound great.
They have the 11 piece bundle for $49!
Tokyo Dawn Labs... Inspiring! 😎
S-Mcdsp/fab filter/waves/izotope
A-plugin alliance/ soundtoys/ slate
B-UAD/psp
This is purely based off how I like them I didn’t include pricing or Ilok just purely how I feel while using, don’t have any uad yet so that’s in B just because I at least know their decent.
Please do T-racks next time. Thanks bud. I love Plugin Alliance
Great Review, thanks your tier list makes sense for me
I would mention Oeksound plugins as well. Can't live without them
Thanks, I’ll definitely have to check them out
X2 for oeksound
I’m looking to simplify my mixing process. I want to choose one company to rock with… I dont want to use “blah” for eq. “blah” for compression. “blah” for saturation.
I just ONE
Lmaaooo you know what this track needs? More enigma! 😂😂😂 subbed because of that and your take on waves plugins. I recently just switched to slate solely due to waves piss poor waveshell version updates & old projects not loading them. Great video 🔥
0:17 - Classic! Thanks for the video!
Good ranking. I have UAD working on a PC but it’s no walk in the park. To me that’s their biggest issue..getting seamless performance with Windows.
I like Plugin Alliance but there are some performance, stuttering and dropout issues I’ve been having, particularly on the Amek 9099, Maag eq, and the Black Box distortion. Seems like it started when I got the UAD…hmm
Thanks for the heads up !
I am a PC guy, and PCs tend to be allergic to Pro Tools, and other Imperial Remnants from the Old Galactic Empire . . . UAD did strike me as being part of that old Yacht Club where you need an Apollo Interface, a Mac, and some sound cards just to run their software . . . The simple fact that there is a Company called "Pro Tools PC", dedicated to building expensive Custom PCs that will reliably run Pro Tools . . . Hmmn . . . I will passed on the UAD, and stick with PA and Slate.
Pretty fair and accurate assessment of all of these plugins. But damn dude….sounds like you been hittin that talk chalk
Where do you rank Acustica Audio (my favorite), Kush Audio, Denise Audio, PSP Audio (that infinity strip is the truth), IK Multimedia, Toontrack, Valhalla, Arturia, Softube Antares, Wave Factory, Leapwing, Sonnox, Tone Empire, Analog Obsession, and Sound Theory (Gulfoss is a necessity)? And yes..... I've spent over $30,000 on plugins and plan to buy more
The five I would agree on adding, because of popularity, are: PSP Audio because of their Vintage Warmer, Valhalla because of their widely used Delay, Softtube because of their awesome compressors + reverbs and Sonnox as an old friend most people know (never used them). Acustica Audio is upcoming. I don't know about their quality.
I’d also love to see how TDR and Fuse Audio Labs measure up to the rest of the competition
Acustica audio and plugins with AI have no magic for me. I do not consider AA upcoming, they release and relase and release for years, but the issues remain (high latency and cpu , no resizable gui, bad compression and saturation, questionable pre-amps etc). I know two devs who obviousely do not care about their custumer's opinion and complaints and I read posts/replies from the devs, that won't make me buy their products: Plugin Alliance and Acustica Audio. Arrogance is not attractive to me. But that's just me.
I am with you.
Acustica Audio For me I would need Peta Drives there so large they eat up my SSD space so they went bye bye
Softube???
Nice vid! I am currently in a holiday buy for Plugin Alliance. Also use stuff from Solid State Logic and Empirical Labs. You definitely get what you pay for but with patience it can be a lot less!
Good call. It’s a chunk of money for sure, but no regrets for me.
Damn I was wanting to see what you ranked Arturia. Very impressed with them. Definite S tier for me. And I am also very impressed with XLN.
They’re great. I have their big bundle and Pigments, as well. I was mostly focusing on audio mixing plugins here. I may do a video on synth bundles.
@@TheRealAudioProfessor - I don't really touch a lot of synth stuff, I know on Arturia's hardware side they're into that (yeah sw too). I am referring to my experience with their plugin pre's, compressors, reverbs, delays, etc (flange/chorus) and yeah even their filters from time to time which are fantastic imo
SoundToys, Fabfilter, and UA make up 90% of my workflow. Special shout-out to oeksound’s soothe!
Thanks so much. As a newbie again after 30 tears, this was very helpful. Because nothing has changed in 30 years, right?
Bruh that slate joke was everything. lolz
As a REAPER user, I lol'd at your REAPER comment. Did you know I use REAPER? ;-) Subscribed.
Thanks that was a really helpful review. Now I'm aware there's more out there than just waves. Oh and I believe you're a professor!
Waves Bundle is my go to.
What do you think of Acustica Audio?
Just a quick note, the copy protection from iZotope is iLok hardware only if you choose not to deal with their software center’s licensing (which I think is limited to 2 or 3 computers). Despite this, I think you’ve rated them fairly.
If you do another one of these videos (which yeah, would probably not be for a while unless you’ve already spent the money or demo’d the plugins), I’d like to see how you rate some of these companies: Arturia’s effects, Valhalla, TDR, Acustica, Softube, IK, Melda, Fuse Audio Labs, Goodhertz, Nugen Audio.
What about Kush?
These Days I find myself using slate digital as my base, unfiltered audio bundle from plugin Alliance, and studio rack from waves. I definitely agree that Waves has a lot filler But their studio rack plugin is amazing.
Loved your tier list and your delivery, I agree almost 100%. Slate bundle replace most of my other plugins when I switched little less than a year ago, and I've been really happy with what they offer. Fabfilter together with Slate are my desert island plugins for sure.
You can connect the Izotope licenses to the computer only, but else I find the list spot on. There are some changes as spark from UAD, but it's not yet for everyone.
I don't use ableton but I subscribed because this guy is STRAIGHT to the point.
UAD are amazing and rock solid. But plug-in manufacturers have all come a long way.
PA is definitely S tier. And I just got their AI mastering tool. It really works well! I’m gonna struggle not to subscribe to that mastering service.
I removed all Waves from studio. Plugin Alliance is solid af. Softube. Melda. Denise. D16 Group. Kirchoff EQ. Fabfilter less nowadays. Arturia there is loads. But as a one stop. Plugin Alliance. IZotope are good but really CPU heavy..
DMG too. TrackLimit is my goto limiter, though Limitless is fantastic too. Newfangled are also great, Elevate & the affordable Saturate. Devious Machines too, with great creative plugins like Infiltrator 2. Valhalla are really good, and great value for money. As are Tokyo Dawn Labs. On a budget, I could probably get by just fine with $150 in Valhalla plugins & $80 on TDR production bundle plus maybe $100 on an few affordable plugins for colour, saturation & clipping (HG-2 or VSM, Newfangled Saturate or Kazrog K-Clip 3, Softube Dirty Tape or Sketch Cassette II). Add Reaper for $60, maybe DMG Tracklimit for similar and a $450 software budget gets you very far. Especially now there's great free instrument plugins like Helm, Vital Dexed, Decent Sampler and also free effects like Valhalla SuperMassive.
You're blunt. Straight to the point & trasnparent. Subscribed!
Thanks su much for the kind words!
*So I'm not saying Waves has the best plugins (they don't) - but I have NEVER had a problem with licensing* I've upgraded computer 4x...2 times while on Windows and 2 times after switching to Mac. I have all of my music projects on an external harddrive...and I license all my Waves plugins to that harddrive. So whenever I access my DAW files...Waves will be ready to go since its on the same harddrive. Never had a problem with licensing.
I used FF, UAD, and PA a lot - till I found the SSL range. Not cheap, but O M G.
Are these the Solid State Logic plugins? May I ask, How are you finding them; do you still stand by your original comment?
@@KitKalvert Yes, Solid State Logic. I use them a lot. My absolute favorite nowadays: the Weiss suite from Softube.
Spot on. Totally agree
Thank you for your analysis, I was looking for this specifically, it's greatly appreciated. I currently am subscribing and have bought 4 of your name brand reviews and I'm looking to see which one's I should keep. This helps a lot.
Im that one friend that won’t shut up about UAD plug ins 😅
Thanks for that summary, Spot on IMO!
I wonder if uad goes up a grade since it's now going native with a ton already on native. And if you own the uad version you get native of it free
Well you just earned a sub! Great video!
Fabfilter, oeksound, a handful of T-racks (room verbs, and stealth limiter.. ozone.
“I’d be using Logic” I laughed out loud. I do love and use LP but you’re not wrong at all 😂😂😂
Plug in the have you tried T. Racks 5
No project without Waves.
Waves developed "legends" years ago and they are still being used like RBass, CLA comps, RVox, MV2, Super Tap delay, H Delay, Vitamin and many more.
I do not like and use Plugin Alliance, Slate Digital and Acustica Audio at all. I also do not like AI plugins. There is a huge choice of plugins today.
My fav plugins are Waves, Softube, IK Multimedia, DDMF, Klanghelm, TDR, Soundtoys and some more
If Arturia had faster plugin loading and a lower cpu usage, it would get some more use.
To pick one strange gui by Waves to bash them, well, they have the by far best guis imo and only a few might be for the younger generation or whomever, but they have more than 100 plugins!!!
Plugin Alliance amazing quality??? Lol
Why haven't you presented PA's sloppy SSL or Bettermaker guis or Slate's for me unattractive huge Mix Rack or Meldaproduction guis?!
I had a one year PA subscription and would rarely use a PA plugin, because I always found some better plugin to do the job and am glad I could re-sell all plugins.
iLok is nice? I am sure many a man would disagree lol
To make a video about the best plugin companies without including so many other companies, it's like talking about best car manufacturers without mentioning Mercedes.
Desert island plugins: Waves Horizon bundle gives me all I need.
That's just my experience and opinion.
Totally in agreement! Thanks Professor...
Excellent analysis, does anyone else feel distracted by the hands or is it just me?
kilohearts is also S tier, all their stuff is amazing
Where's Acustica?
What's your take on Native Instruments Komplete and the like?
thank u brother. great vid!
What's hilarious is that I just watched a big time producer on TH-cam talk about how awesome Enigma is how frequently they use it.
Nice! At least somebody’s getting some use out of it
I love my slate plug-ins most but I use them with some waves and some UAD
Thanks so much for the video man! Really helpful and hilarious. Was looking into the slate bundle but needed an unbiased opinion of it. If he steals my girl at least I'll have more time to use my new compressors
Thanks so much! Glad I could be entertaining and informative.
I’m wondering if ua is worth it for the price
Slate is not my desert island plugins, because if the desert island would be really desert one, there would not be internet connection, so no plugin would work.
😃Fab Filter for the most work. Analog Obsession for adding color. Sonible for their user-friendly interface. Izotope for their AI capability. SSL Bus Comp, for ... just being SSL Bus compressor 😃
I cant agree with you any less, you got a new subscriber Teacher
I agree with some of what you’re saying but putting Universal Audio in the middle just because you don’t own their hardware is kind of stupid and unfair. They really do make some of the best plugins and now slowly becoming Mac-native. Plugin Alliance mix and Master bundle is second to none and they are by far the best plugin company today, but Slate is the absolute worst subscription I’ve ever tried out and opted out after a couple of months. I don’t care how much of a crush you have on him, and that subscription is a mess. Very problematic copy protection as well. Waves are easily the most overrated plugin company over the past three decades.
All but i really love KUSH AUDIO and SSL NATIVE
good evaluation! for me UAD is key for their low latency features and plugins, specially useful for guitar, bass, vocal tracking. but for mixing you are likely right that Slate or others have similar futureset and great emulation. i have the izotope bundle, and as you said, Ozone seems the be the best, but i never got into Neutron and others as my DAW tools are faster and less CPU intensive (ableton in my case). i am really eager to get FabFilter,,…. and, i couldnt live without my soundtoys (combination of ease of use and great sound). thx for the vid!
Thanks for the comment. I really did like the sound quality of UAD, but it was too cumbersome to deal with. iZotope is cool, but really overpriced, imo. But FabFilter's EQ is amazing. With with dynamic EQ, Linear Phase EQ, and matching. Definitely check it out. I'm an Ableton Certified Trainer, and I'm quite happy with the quality of their effects, for the most part.
@@TheRealAudioProfessor yes. Me 2. I keep coming back to stock plugins for ease of use.
Ableton Live Intro is the best $85 you can spend...Period.
What about Melda productions or Ik Multimedia?
Newfangled Audio is another company that deserves serious attention. Even Tome Projects, a relatively young company, is killing it with their Kelvin Tone Shaper and now even a souped up SSL Six channelstrip style plugin and an Overstayer with automatic gain compensation that costs 1/10 the price of Softube’s version. The days of one or two plugin companies rolling the roost are very much over.
Arturia?
Interesting and professional comparison, one point I want to add: IZOTOPE offers not only iLok authorization, but to the computer harddrive, too. And you are allowed to install it on multiple computers at the same (after only buying one license), minimum 4 at a time
Thanks, that is correct. Wish I could go back and change it. At the time I was still using a combination of ilok iZ plugins and through the new app.
Plugin Alliance for Life!!
A lot of good plugins. Love izotope and waves. Mcdsp has really nice plug ins as well (SA2). I do films, editing and I score just films so I use a lot of different plugins. Including enigma lol
Thank you sir! ✌️
Thanks so much! It's an honor you stopped by!
Waves apparently put profits over software functionality and customer use flexibility. Barely used any of the plugins in the gold bundle, felt a little underwhelming with dusty looking UI's. Now trying to install on my laptop, and you've gotta pay them 100$ per year for some update program, and then manually swap a license to and from my workstation and laptop?!?!? Sorry, its 2022, 3 device limit is like basic operation. Looks super greedy and tight wad. Not sure who is running the business model team over there. Figure something else out. Basically only was using HComp and a couple others anyway.
iZotope looks better, going to try those
Izotope is amazing, you'll def be happy with results
I think you nailed it!
Fabfilter, Brainworx, Oeksound, Eventide (SplitEQ especially) and Valhalla.
Really helpful, thanks!
Entire vid was spot on
I was surprised to see no mention of the "deactivation" limit for plugin alliance - 7 deactivations that don't reset. It's really making me question continuing down the PA road.
Why not rate Kush audio?
Universal Audio
So informative thank you !
Not all who are professors lack mullets
This is the first video I watched of yours today, and all I have to say is.... brother from another mother, we must have gotten separated at birth. Dam sounded like me talking on these plugins. Well done and spot on!
Awesome, thanks. You clearly have good taste with your audio choices.
Sonible needs a spot in there!