Chevy
Now looking for a great reverb, free if possible, don't like the Sonitus one, or the BlueVerb, seem to color the sound. Any suggestions? 

 
Epicverb works well in 64 bit Sonar, and it's free
 

Try Ambience. It's also free. Some like it. Some don't but I've found it useful for certain applications.

After plowing through this thread, and all the plug ins that I've bought (stop me please LOL),
I think that learning to use what you have is always the most economical path. I quote this one often, though I don't live by it! LOL... "it's not what you have, it's what you do with what you have". Batsbrew is a perfect example!
 
I bought T-Racks on a big sale, then credits when they were on sale and then spent them all on all the T-Racks plugs during group buys. So, I guess I do think in terms of economy, but did I really know what all I could do with all the other various included plugs I've collected from my Sonar versions/upgrades over the past 15 years? I'm sure I don't need anywhere near as many (not even close to 800! LOL)as I have, but I am enjoying comparing my Cake ones to my PSP, IK and Sony/Sound Forge(8), etc.
 
iZotope posted this a few minutes ago
https://www.izotope.com/en/community/blog/tips-tutorials/2014/06/multiband-compression-basics-izotope-mastering-tips/?&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=MailChimp&utm_campaign=2015-07+Ozone+6+Bump#2
 
and I'm surprised that no one mentioned Rob Chiarelli  $24 a piece and even cheaper at JRRShop.
http://www.finalmix.biz/Final_Mix_Software/Home.html
 
But thanks to all who posted all the freebies.
 
When I started installing stuff on my new desktop, I didn't do any 32 bit versions and now I'm thinking I might as well, or are there good reasons not to?
 
Michael

pentimentosound
...
When I started installing stuff on my new desktop, I didn't do any 32 bit versions and now I'm thinking I might as well, or are there good reasons not to?
...

First, I'd wait for Win10 to drop in a couple of weeks, before I started testing new apps.
 
Second, and I'll probably get cwap for this, but...I really don't want to get dependent on an app/plug that hasn't been updated in years or is no longer supported, as many of the older 32-bit free plugins are. Nor do I want to get to like a freebie, only to find out that to get all of its capability I need to buy the pro version, or whatever. I'm not out to spend money for fun (that's what casinos are for), but I have no use for "free" plugins. Nobody works for free. We've all got to pay bills. So, if something is "free", what am I NOT getting OR what ELSE am I getting?
 
No, my preference is to pay for what I use. I specifically avoid "free". Low cost? All for that. But free? Not for me.
 
But that's just me...and I've been wrong plenty of times.
 
EDIT: I wasn't going to post again in this thread. Oh, well.

TheMaartian
EDIT: I wasn't going to post again in this thread. Oh, well.

Useful information is always appreciated.
 
I think the earlier flap was your basic "internet-text-only-no-realtime-follow-up-possible" issue.

If you're looking for reverb I'd recommend Valhalla Vintage Verb. It sounds great, it's uses very little CPU, it's versatile and it's only $50. Although there are other reverbs that sound different I don't think there are any that sound better until you get into the $2000+ hardware reverbs.

The other thing I'd recommend spending your money on is MCompare. It's by Melda productions and it lets you easily compare your track to commercial tracks. Just load some of your favorite songs in and then flip back and forth between your mix and these songs. This lets you see how your mix balance, reverb, compression, etc sounds vs pro mixes. It's not a sexy plugin, but it's useful and you can use it on every song you do.

Pragi
I think for the start you have already a nice arsenal of good plugs:
The PC La2a is a beast -
The PC Eq is good working-
VC 64 -great for vocs
PX 64 - great for drums ......aso asf
if you need more "colours" you also have the nomad BT stuff.

 
The OP is using X3 Studio. I don't believe it includes all of the things you've listed here.
 

I own a very nice guitar. When I bought it I spent everything I had to buy it--more than a half year's earnings after taxes. At my peak earning capacity I could have bought it for what I earned in two days. Was it cheap or expensive? Does it sound great? Definitely. Does it sound great when I play it? Absolutely not. I simply never mastered the skill to play it well. 
 
There are people who make a very good living mixing and mastering other people's music. Do they have great equipment and software? Almost always. Does it cost more than you can afford to spend? Almost certainly. Could you do as well with their studio? Do they have naturally better hearing than you? Probably not. Do they have more talent? Maybe. Have they spent thousands of hours of dedicated development of their skills? Yes, most of them have. If you want to download a robot that will make your music sound like it has been handled by someone who has those kinds of skills--well good luck. If you are going to be doing anything with your own music, the limiting factor is not going to be the quality of the plugin unless you have spent the thousands of hours it takes to master the skills to use them. People who are telling you to learn to use what you already have before you try to buy your way into perfection are not trying to put you down. They are trying to save you the kind of wasted effort and blind alleys you say you are trying to avoid. When you can clearly hear the difference between what various people are telling you is the best plugin, instead of depending on their judgement, you can begin to make use of those differences intelligently. 
 
As a newbie, I follow only two basic principles.
1. You can never have too much reverb.
2. It's all rock and roll to me.
 
If I live another 10 years, I'll think about getting Ozone.

Bristol_Jonesey
Just as an aside, if you do have spare money burning a hole in your pocket, look at other aspects of your studio before spending on plugins which might, or might not be what you want.
 
Look at your mic locker, room treatment, monitors etc.
 
Upgrading in these areas will make an immediate and significant difference to your music.

Whew......  good point... lots to consider !  I also remembered/realized, while reading all this good info, was that most decent studios (even modest ones) will likely have a decent tube preamp before the cpu interface. Is there a bit of magic added with a hardware tube preamp that seems to be missing and can't be simulated otherwise? A friend had set up a studio years ago, and I recall him putting in some nice looking Universal Audio preamps in there... (not that anything like that is within my piggy bank).

Chevy
 
I also remembered/realized, while reading all this good info, was that most decent studios (even modest ones) will likely have a decent tube preamp before the cpu interface.

 
They may do, or they may not. Some of the most highly regarded consoles and press are solid state.
 

Chevy
Is there a bit of magic added with a hardware tube preamp that seems to be missing and can't be simulated otherwise?

 
Sort of. Valves (or tubes to use the US term) have qualities that are valued, but more in the guitar amp field than mic pres. Their most liked quality is their ability to distort in a way humans seem to like. Emulating valve behaviour is something that software and hardware companies have been trying to do for years. Personally I think that emulations that don't have too much saturation going on and are based on circuits that are designed for low (by valve levels) distortion and saturation can be pretty good, but guitar amp emulations generally lose out to the real thing or even analogue solid state emulators such as the Sansamp range. Others will disagree with me :-)
 
If you want a little valve magic on a low budget there are the Art tube press and the Behringer equivalents. They actually don't sound to bad, but the Behringers in particular are fitted with a very cheap and pretty horrible example of a valve. Switching it to a better quality one can make quite an improvement. That's the thing about valves, just because two have 12AX7 (or ECC83 if you're European) written on them and are supposedly the same thing doesn't mean they'll sound or react to input quite the same. Selecting and comparing valves is a can of worms in its own right.
 
Again though, the kind of difference a valve preamp makes over a decent solid state one in a typical interface doesn't leap out at you, it's a subtle difference. And if the interface the pre is connected to isn't very good then.... And the mic also needs to be good, otherwise all you're doing is very nice amplification of a not very nice microphone... And you need good monitors and experience to understand what its doing....
 
If I were you I'd sort out a couple of decent compressors (the Sonnitus you already have is one), a limiter and a reverb (Breverb which you have already is good), learn to use them then start looking at where to go next..