Just curious to know how the fx plugins that come stock compare to 3rd party. The ones I'm mostly curious about are the things like EQ, Compression and anything dealing with mastering.  Are they pretty good?

All the CW plugins are outstanding. They compare very well with third party plugins.

So no need to go invest in something like IKMultimedia's toys?

You'll probably find yourself investing in others eventually. Not because the stock Sonar plugs are lacking - they're not, they're excellent - but because they don't cover every situation and flavor. It wouldn't be possible to cover all possibilities with stock plugins, because they'd have to bundle hundreds of them. For instance, the track & bus compressors that come with the ProChannel are perfectly adequate for everyday compression tasks, but you might find yourself investing in the PC2A Leveler as well, because it just sounds so much more musical for certain tasks. I do love the ProChannel EQ though, and haven't yet found a situation in which I found it lacking, EXCEPT the fact that for some reason you cannot have more than one instance of it in a ProChannel (why Cakewalk, why?). 

If you're like most of us then you'll be addicted to plugs and having a huge palette of them at your disposal. I love trying new plugs and there are thousands of freebies out there. I've got a stack of them that I know I'm only going to use once in a blue moon (wow and flutter, anyone?), but I hang onto them for those blue moon situations anyway. 

Some of the older Cakewalk/Sonitus plugs have a bit of a dated look about them, but they're still excellent. I can't think of one that I've thought was crap. I love the Softube saturation knob and the tube saturation too, I can't imagine not using them on a project. 

I do have third party plugins and I think its a matter of what you really need not so much what you may want. When I moved to Windows 8 I had the chance to look at what plugins I actually had and it was a very long list. What I actually used was a lot shorter. Plus the PC has taken the place of many.

The first thing was to get rid of as many 32 bit plugins I could. Than I did install the ones I did have a use for. As few 32 bit one as I could.

If IK has something you count on by all means its your DAW so you should add what you need. On the other hand I have maintained for a long time now on this forum that CW supplies all the plugins one would need and a few one may only use rarely.  

I think if you are just getting started it will serve you well to learn what the CW plugins can do. Then when you find you do really need one from a third party it will be a good investment. 

One plugin I recommend is the Voxengo Span which is free and very useful.

Everyone here will have a favorite plugin or plugins don't be to quick to jump on one simply because a member likes it.  

Thanks. Good to know that the stock plugins are great quality.  It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the optional toys you can get either for free or pay for. 

John


I do have third party plugins and I think its a matter of what you really need not so much what you may want. When I moved to Windows 8 I had the chance to look at what plugins I actually had and it was a very long list. What I actually used was a lot shorter. Plus the PC has taken the place of many.

The first thing was to get rid of as many 32 bit plugins I could. Than I did install the ones I did have a use for. As few 32 bit one as I could.

If IK has something you count on by all means its your DAW so you should add what you need. On the other hand I have maintained for a long time now on this forum that CW supplies all the plugins one would need and a few one may only use rarely.  

I think if you are just getting started it will serve you well to learn what the CW plugins can do. Then when you find you do really need one from a third party it will be a good investment. 

One plugin I recommend is the Voxengo Span which is free and very useful.

Everyone here will have a favorite plugin or plugins don't be to quick to jump on one simply because a member likes it.  

I didnt know you finally upgraded to windows 8.good for you john.  :)
sounds like you had to make some reasonable desicions in what to re-install for plugs.
i know you were a vista man for a long time.happy for you.
 
i will also be taking a look at voxengo span as well,sharke actually turned me on to a plug in last night
called;tone projects,basslane.
heard him taking about in another thread,its a free vst plug in as well.
its pretty amazing for a freezer.

Charlie you just prove this place has a long memory. 

I didn't hide that I was moving to Win 8. I figured that if X2 was going to be absent Vista support it was time to move on. I still have Vista on a removable HD just as I do with Win 8. I can go back and forth with a simple change of HD. 

I have not wanted to load up Vista because I really like Windows 8. I saw no reason to upgrade to Windows 7 but 8 proved a good upgrade for me. 

Back to plugins. Sorry for the off topic. 

chuckebaby

i will also be taking a look at voxengo span as well,sharke actually turned me on to a plug in last night
called;tone projects,basslane.
heard him taking about in another thread,its a free vst plug in as well.
its pretty amazing for a freezer.

Great isn't it. I use it on every track that has low frequencies. I'm not sure whether it's best to put it on every individual track with low end, or to just whack it on the master bus. I lean toward putting it on every track, the last thing in the chain. It really solves a lot of problems. Like tonight, I put down a Rhodes keyboard part which I wanted really wide in the stereo field. But I wanted to keep the left hand bass part centered in the mix. Basslane: bang. Perfect! It's also great for those epic stereo pads that have a wide frequency range. I'd often found myself hi-passing the lows out of them to stop them getting muddy in the mix, but with Basslane you can keep the low part of the pad perfectly centered and let the highs do whatever they want. Just wish there was a 64-bit version - mind, I've never had a problem with it so far, it plays very nice with Sonar. 

Lots of great advice here.
What are you looking for?

General mastering? Head to Ozone 5.
Pultec type EQ? Overtone makes a good one.
Channel Strip? DNR makes a decent one with the Mix Control Pro.

For freebie stuff, check out any of the Andress stuff