There is some very expensive and sophisticated hardware and software out there that these plug-ins cannot possible come close to in terms of quality.

In my limited experience though, what they can do though is give a helping hand with a mix. Also, and perhaps more importantly, by seeing how the controls are set when the various presets are selected, we can maybe start to learn a little more of the various processes that are going on and begin to understand more about mixing and the challenging subject of mastering.

We've attempted to show a preset on each screenshot, and wherever possible, we've snapped the VST in action, so you get to see all the pretty lights!

Click on the product name to go direct to the download page.



1. ANTRESS MODERN 'CHANNEL'



This has a limiter, compressor and equalizer, plus an Analog setting to warm up the sound. The presets are aimed more at individual instruments but with some tweaking the unit can be quite useful.



2. ANTRESS MODERN 'DEEP PURPLE'



This has a default flat setting, plus 7 [un-named] presets.



3. VOXENGO 'OVERTONE GEQ'



Very nice stereo EQ VST which can subtly widen and separate a mix by applying slightly different EQ settings at identical frequencies to the left and right channels. This has a few presets to get you going.



4. PUSHTEC '5 1A LEFTOVER LASAGNE'



Loads of presets, mainly for instruments but there are 12 specific mix options.



5. BOOSTY 'RESCUE'



Nice unit with an analog option, plus controls for 'punch' and 'width'. The presets are quite limited for mastering but there are some useful set ups to be had with a bit of experimentation.



6. SWEETBOY 'T-SLEDGE'



This is a fantastic piece of kit - there are loads of mastering and mixing presets and for my money, the best unit here.



7. TESSLA 'SE 1.1'



Nice saturation VST - I've just updated from my original but haven't had much of a play yet - if it's anything like the previous version, this is a nice bit of kit indeed.


8. TESSLA PRO



Updated version of the SE 1.1 - has a 'Pro' tag but it's still free!



9. TLS 'SATURATED DRIVER'



Emulated tube saturation with some very good presets - with a little experimentation, this is a very capable unit.



10. ELOGOXA 'X-CITA'



In my opinion, second only to the T-Sledge, this cracking little tool only has three controls - 'exiters' for low and high contours and an output level. It has a few presets, but it's so simple to experiment with, these act only as starting points. I've also tried this in conjunction with the T-Sledge for some very nice results - I found the X-Cita placed after the T-Sledge in the chain gave the best sounds.



11. C3 'MULTI BAND COMPRESSOR'



I haven't had this very long so I'll edit in a report when I've had chance to give it a bit of use - there do seem to be some decent mastering presets in there though.



12. BLOCKFISH



Great compressor with characteristics.



13. KJAERHUS CLASSIC SERIES


Classic Compressor pictured

Really good vintage style auto-filter, chorus, flanger, phaser, compressor, eq, delay, reverb and limiter



14. TAL-TUBE



Tube saturator with additional amplifier mode.



15. LMC-1



SSL's own free replication of the original listen mic compressor.



16. GVST GCOMP



RMS/Peak and soft knee compressor. Also check out GClip, a clipper with free soft knee setting.



17. ELECTRI-Q (Posihfopit)



Flexible graphic parametric EQ. Also don't forget to check the Electri-Q manual out about different filter types and how they work.



18. JB FEROX



Tape Saturation plugin. JB also has lots of other great plugins, amongst them a psychoacoustic compressor...



19. STARDUST



Channel/mastering processor.



20. BASSLANE



Tightens bass stereofield without affecting other freq's.



21. YOUWASHOCK



Multiband limiter based on four Maximus presets, pretty much the same as FL Studio Soundgooderizer.



22. WOW & FLUTTER



Speed imperfection emulator.



23. COLORTONE FREE



Analog signal path emulator.



24. NEBULA 3 FREE



Vintage gear emulator multi-fx containg compressors, eq's, saturation etc... CPU hog, but really great sound!



25. LinearPhaseGraphicEQ 2



Great mastering EQ VST - thanks to Daniel Rumley [rumleymusic] for the link.

Thanks for this Steve! I'll have to check some of these out.

I've been using the blue series as well as just the old cakewalk fx1 and 2 bundles and have been pretty happy with them. How much of a step up are these from the old directx stuff? Also, do the graphics work with the vst wrapper as well because with most of the effects I've tried you only get the basic slider type interface after it's been wrapped? Thanks!

It's not long since I got the Blue stuff Cyrus, is there a mastering/mixing plug in there?

The screenshots of the VST's were taken in use in my GT3, the interfaces you see are exactly what you get after the VST adapter has wrapped them.

Steve

I don't use blue for mastering but then again I don't think that waht I do qualifies as such. Right now I only run an eq then the FX2 tape sim with either med or light saturation at 30ips. I do any compression on individual tracks as needed, usually bass and sometimes vox. I'm in the middle of downloading all these programs so I have something to play with this weekend!!

ORIGINAL: SteveStrummerUK


It's not long since I got the Blue stuff Cyrus, is there a mastering/mixing plug in there?

The screenshots of the VST's were taken in use in my GT3, the interfaces you see are exactly what you get after the VST adapter has wrapped them.

Steve

I really like their Blue Stereo. I use it a lot! And sometimes I use the Blue EQ, but I don't use their compressor or limiter at all.

Actually Z, until you mentioned the High Pass filter in one of the Blue VST's in the other thread, I'd never heard of them.

For free stuff, it's a very impressive collection.

T.H.A.N.K.S. for the tip off mate.

I used to use that one too a bunch, when I was using my onboard soundcard, but I don't need it hardly at all anymore, but it still worked good. And yes, for free these things are really pretty cool.
No P.R.O.B.

Good links Steve. I like the TLS-Saturated Driver, that one (on the 'warmer' setting) usually finds it's way to the Master Bus on my stuff.

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213

Good links Steve. I like the TLS-Saturated Driver, that one (on the 'warmer' setting) usually finds it's way to the Master Bus on my stuff.

Hi James, I've had it a while but never really got to run it through its paces - I only did so for this article really and I find it very subtle, but very effective, if that makes sense!

BTW James, I followed up your advice on the Caroline guitar settings - I backed off the distortion stage on the rhythm guitars and ran them through the PSP Vintage Warmer [thanks Doc!!] on the 'Snare drum' setting of all things and it sounds much thicker and less 'fizzy'.

As soon as I've done an updated scratch track, I'll leave the link in my sig.