I happen to think the sound quality of FF IS better. Markedly so. That said, what I like about them most is their "all in one" approach to their plugs. Whether it's ProQ, ProL, ProC, Timeless...most all of them...the tools are there, in one plug, to accomplish about anything you need to do.

PS: I'm such an idiot I don't know to copy and paste a link with my iPad...if you go to www.waves.com there's a link on the front page to Tony's tutorials...you'll see the one about MB compression on vocals.

clintmartin
How many of the FF plugins were you able to get? I have four. Q,C,L and Saturn. I'm starting to like Pro-L more now that I've had time to adjust it to my liking. I do believe the gui and metering are what sets FF apart. Not sound quality. 

I've not actually made purchases yet. I'm running Pro-MB in demo mode ATM. FF gives you a fully-functional demo for 30 days - no noise bursts, dropouts or crippled features. I wish everybody did that.
 
Pro-L gets a lot of use here, but not always as the final limiter. For perhaps 60% of my projects, I'm still quite happy with what Ozone does with almost zero effort. Put it in Transparent mode, set the threshold and you're done. Ozone's no longer the darling of the online community it once was, but IMO it's still one of the greatest plugins of all time. Where Pro-L gets used most is on drum and vocal busses, either for peak-catching or for fattening.
 
As for what I'll end up spending my gift on, it'll definitely be Timeless and Pro-MB. If FF comes through with the promised educational discount I'll be able to add another one, so I've been demoing and reading up on all of them. And discovering some unexpected possibilities in the process.
  
As Mike says, most FF plugins are nothing special, sound-wise (the obvious exception being Saturn). They're just clean, easy to use, light on the CPU, with ergonomic UIs and informative visual feedback, and offer every feature you expect to find. Nothin' special, really. 
 

Maybe they should change their name to "Average Ol Filters N Such";-)

I got their educational deal, you get 50 percent off! Very cool. Still learning the finer points of the more complicated ones.

Funny comment about the Waves DeEsser by the way, I have the same experience in the sense that with the Waves one it's easier for me to get rid of heavy sibilance, BUT with enough tweaking and lots of trial and error the FF one gets me the same amount with less track destruction.

Bit,
 
Thanks for your thoughts on the FF multi compressor. Predictable like I knew you would be giving us a detailed analysis.
 
I got 14 tracks of 1979 living mono Teac 4 track reel-to-reel sound on sounds, back when I was inspired and could play.
 
Used Audition to try and take out the noise and some harmonic generator to put back in some muffled hi's.
 
Pro-MB might work to correct some of the problems.
 
Thanks for your good advice.
 
John
 
 

"PS: I'm such an idiot I don't know to copy and paste a link with my iPad...if you go to www.waves.com there's a link on the front page to Tony's tutorials...you'll see the one about MB compression on vocals."

The iPad is pretty new to me as well, Ol'Pal. I love viewing and responding to threads while using the iPad, but I haven't figured out how to get it to do a lot of the things I normally do on a computer. Simple things like BOLD text, smileys, insert a picture and quotes.

Interesting discussion guys. I have been following this one from the sidelines.

JohnKenn
I got 14 tracks of 1979 living mono Teac 4 track reel-to-reel sound on sounds, back when I was inspired and could play.
 
Used Audition to try and take out the noise and some harmonic generator to put back in some muffled hi's.
 
Pro-MB might work to correct some of the problems.

Audition has worked great for me in the past for taking out tape hiss.
 
Pro-MB might indeed be able to refurbish some muffled tracks via its expansion feature. At least, that's what I've heard. It's on my to-do list for things to test.
 
I can't believe I'm saying this, but Waves' Trans-X might also be able to bring back some transients, especially on any drum tracks that have lost their edge sitting in a closet since 1979.
 
Come to think of it, I have some 3343 tapes in the cupboard, too. Unfortunately, I long ago gave away the machine.

I certainly wasn't knocking FF's sound quality. I actually find it pretty hard to use anything else, but that's because of the incredible way they are laid out. Pro-MB is over my head. I would screw things up worse than I already do with a multiband. Sometimes it's just fun to use another tool. I like Klanghelms DC8C a lot for example. Anyway just wanted to clear that up if I was misunderstood.

Clint, if you can figure out DC8C you can master Pro-MB.
 
It's actually somewhat simplified compared to most full-featured compressors. For example, you don't put in specific attack and release times, you just give it a general suggestion and the plugin does the rest. 

****...
 
One day off and about to check out FF compressor to restore some 4 track tapes..
 
Downstairs leak between the floors, exploded water pipes. Nothing puts the breaks on artistic persuits like survival catastrophes in the real world.
 
..........