What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar?

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Anubis)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:37:36 GMT

My secret weapon... the KTGranulator. Throw it on an aux buss and send (for example) a smooth Rhodes progression and hear it breathe. Start with the chord modulations (min., maj., aug.) and tweak to your liking. Caution- use sparingly as this thing thrives on CPU cycles.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Paul Russell)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:56:18 GMT

Bionic Delay. sounds great when it starts feeding back.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Lanceindastudio)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:05:27 GMT

love minimogueVA

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (guitarmikeh)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:12:41 GMT

uhhhhhhh.............. delay lama

kidding.... its fun / funny thats all

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (glazfolk)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:32:42 GMT

Also you should check out the freeware VST versions of the ReaPlug Suite. They're good. For example:

The compressor includes wet/dry mix and RMS faders
The EQ and multiband comp both allow you to use as many or as few bands as you want.
ReaFir is amongst other things an incredibly powerful but easy to use noise cleaner-upper " /> ... and then among other things a linear phase EQ
The Delay plug-in allows as many taps as you want ...

... and ... joy of joy ...

The noise gate includes an hysteresis control. " />

http://www.cockos.com/reaper/reaplugs/index.php

P.S. Please before anybody jumps on me (as happened after a post in a similar thread) I am NOT spruiking REAPER here, just pointing out a suite of excellent freeware VST plug-ins that work with any VST enabled PC host (including of course Sonar) and happen to come from the same stable as REAPER.

(edited for typos)

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (rm5700@optonline.net)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:09:52 GMT

I don't use much in the way of "free" stuff, but the Kjaerhaus Classic plugins series is great, and this reverb (link below) plus SIR get my vote in the free reverb department:

http://www.anwida.com/product.asp?pid=7

Also, the Genesis synth was free at one point, then it was on a CM disk.
Sounds great, but not sure if it still available though. " />

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (j boy)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:54:13 GMT

cliffsp8

A simple one but very useful is FreeG. It's 'only' a gain control but can be inserted between plug-ins and can be automated.

+1 for FreeG. Gets my vote for most-valuable freebie. Don't overlook its value in metering, too. It can be insterted at various points in signal chain quite conveniently. Drag and drop a single instance around as needed...

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (ChristopherM)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:49:18 GMT

Ichiro Toda-san's Synth 1 is not exactly new, but I continue to find it very characterful. And speaking of characterful, Urs Heckmann's Triple Cheese is beyond compare (although like Guinness you probably love it or hate it). Voxengo SPAN (linked elsewhere in this thread) is way more intelligible than the analyser that comes standard in Sonar and way better than the Blue Cat equivalent also. SPAN is the only plug-in that is installed by my Normal template.

Afterthought - anything that comes with presets by the late Tim Conrardy is worth a listen, in my view. He was a programming genius.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (ChristopherM)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:38:23 GMT

if i can't try em... i don't buy em.

Errr ... you can try them all and you don't have to buy any of them. They are not always free, however " />

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Jose7822)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:29:19 GMT

Fret Wizz

But most free plugins are 32 bit and since I've gone totally 64 bit I've stopped using 32 plug-ins,
in SONAR, altogether.

I've done the same. The exception is Camel Crusher, and only because it's that good (sound quality and stability wise).

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (smoochy)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:25:31 GMT

if i can't try em... i don't buy em.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (smoochy)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:23:05 GMT

i agree with bitflipper... i'm like an expensive hooker... nothing gets in my box without a complete test....lol

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Fret Wizz)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:34:30 GMT

bitflipper

A1, as you happily download gobs of free plugins, bear in mind that a great many - perhaps a majority -
free VSTs are of poor quality, unstable or horribly inefficient. 99% of all SONAR crashes I have experienced
over the years have been caused by free plugins. I don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, just be forewarned.

Yeah .. I've used a few of those .. the Kjaerhus Classic Series in particular were very good imho.
But most free plugins are 32 bit and since I've gone totally 64 bit I've stopped using 32 plug-ins,
in SONAR, altogether.

Kjaerhus Classic Chorus
Jaroen Breebaart Smash Pro (not free, but extremely cheap)
Luxonix SFX-1310
Voxengo SPAN (a must-have)
SIR Convolution Reverb (only if you don't have Perfect Space)

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (musicroom)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:38:23 GMT

Audiomax

bitflipper

A1, as you happily download gobs of free plugins, bear in mind that a great many - perhaps a majority - free VSTs are of poor quality, unstable or horribly inefficient. 99% of all SONAR crashes I have experienced over the years have been caused by free plugins. I don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, just be forewarned.

Here are a few quality freebies:
Kjaerhus Classic Chorus
Jaroen Breebaart Smash Pro (not free, but extremely cheap)
Luxonix SFX-1310
Voxengo SPAN (a must-have)
SIR Convolution Reverb (only if you don't have Perfect Space)

+1. Bitflipper's comments sum it up. There's only a handful of freeware plugins that can be used with confidence. The Classic Chorus and Voxengo Boogex are two. Many sound great but when it comes to a complex mix they are either too inefficient or unstable.

Cheers,
Max.

Voxengo Boogex

I have gotten some really nice bass recordings using the Boogex. It takes a little tweaking - but basically rolling off the high and low ends with a decent ampex cabinet sample and you are good to go...

Really like the Classic Chorus (Kjaerhus) and Span is always on standby. Someone posted earlier about the plugs that are included with Sonar - and I want to second that. We really have little need for new eq's, reverbs, compressors, etc. with all that cakewalk provides. I have deleted many freebies in the last year. Example - Bionic delay caused me to Sonar shutdown/reboot one too many times.

One gripe mixed with praise is in regard to cakewalk's DX / fx series plugs. They need to port them over to VST versions. You would not need very many additional plugs as we move into the future with those in the kit. Currently we can use the fx_series plugs in 64bit. It is a waste in my opinion. The fxdelay, fxchorus and fxreverb are very good indeed.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (mudgel)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:19:50 GMT

The earlier (say upto the 36 plugins of the versions 3.27 pack) of the Modern Plugins were so so but this new range that are all 64 bit are a much more polished rendition of some old hardware favorites.

I'm only trying them out so far but they are proving remarkably stable and low CPU hit.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (John)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:17:27 GMT

I didn't mention Antress because although they are good they aren't as good as bootsy's plugs, and once again I am pretty sure they are built in SE which is why the high cpu hit.

I fully agree. I don't think they are good enough that one should be willing to put up with their bad behavior.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (slartabartfast)

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:32:32 GMT

b rock

Many freebies are orphaned projects by amateurs and students who've moved on to other things.
Payware versions of orphaned projects by professionals who've moved on to other things are called "new features in Sonar X.X".

" /> , " />, and " />

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Audiomax)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:07:44 GMT

I didn't mention Antress because although they are good they aren't as good as bootsy's plugs, and once again I am pretty sure they are built in SE which is why the high cpu hit.

The other thing that left a bad taste in my mouth with these plugs is that I tried the 32 bit in x64 and they completely stuffed up my machine.

If they have ported to 64 I'll eventually give them another try (1 at a time) but I'll be backing up for sure.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (mudgel)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:35:53 GMT

I"m surprised not to have heard anyone recommend Antress Modern Plugins - They are now at version 4.75 and most if not all have been ported to 64 bit.

A collection of hardware emulations from a variety of compressors, pre-amps etc etc.
http://antress.er-webs.com/

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Bob Oister)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:17:46 GMT

+1 for the Flux "Stereo Tool" that John mentioned above. Also, you might find this long thread in the software forum very helpful and informative, some good reviews there. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1391345

Bob

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Kev999)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:27:03 GMT

Sandford PhaserCM
http://www.lesliesanford.com/SanfordPhaserCM.shtml

So many different parameters, allowing a large variety of phasing effects.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (b rock)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:13:46 GMT

Many freebies are orphaned projects by amateurs and students who've moved on to other things.

Payware versions of orphaned projects by professionals who've moved on to other things are called "new features in Sonar X.X".

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Audiomax)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:06:58 GMT

bitflipper

A1, as you happily download gobs of free plugins, bear in mind that a great many - perhaps a majority - free VSTs are of poor quality, unstable or horribly inefficient. 99% of all SONAR crashes I have experienced over the years have been caused by free plugins. I don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, just be forewarned.

Here are a few quality freebies:
Kjaerhus Classic Chorus
Jaroen Breebaart Smash Pro (not free, but extremely cheap)
Luxonix SFX-1310
Voxengo SPAN (a must-have)
SIR Convolution Reverb (only if you don't have Perfect Space)

+1. Bitflipper's comments sum it up. There's only a handful of freeware plugins that can be used with confidence. The Classic Chorus and Voxengo Boogex are two. Many sound great but when it comes to a complex mix they are either too inefficient or unstable.

Cheers,
Max.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (bitflipper)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:17:19 GMT

just because you "pay" for something doesn't guarantee it works fine either

That's true, but it does mean someone is obligated to try and make it work. Many freebies are orphaned projects by amateurs and students who've moved on to other things.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (A1MixMan)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:53:00 GMT

Thanks guys! Keep them coming.

Yeah, I know that alot of the "free" stuff may not be of the highest quality, but then again, just because you "pay" for something doesn't guarantee it works fine either. I know there are tons of free ones out there, I was just curious what some of you are using, I'm sure that helps weed out most of the garbage.

Looking forward to trying lots of these.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (John)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:02:06 GMT

I will also add the Fish Fillets from digital fish phones are darn good. Here

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (cliffsp8)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:50:39 GMT

A simple one but very useful is FreeG. It's 'only' a gain control but can be inserted between plug-ins and can be automated. Think of it as giving you two stages of level automation - great if you don't want to use offset mode on all tracks.

I use it on the master bus in almost all projects when tracking to drop the level of the song relative to the singers own voice in the cans. (set it up for -15dB say, then enable for tracking, disable for playback)

Sonalksis FreeG

Another vote for Voxengo SPAN - used on at least 50% of projects.

But *please* - use the included plugs especially the sonitus ones! They really are good quality. Getting to know how and when to use them will give you much more control than flitting from one freebie to another.

Good hunting - and don't forget to remove the ones you don't use when you've tried them. It's so easy to accumulate a litter of VSTs.

Cliff

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (...wicked)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:27:47 GMT

The best? That's a good question.

Crystal for sure is up there.
If the question was "most used" I'd say SPAN.

Glitch also gets a lot of fiddle time in my house.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (slartabartfast)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:51:08 GMT

Add to the cost of free plugs the time you will need to spend to learn how and when to use them. So many plugins, so little time.

Re:What's the best free plug in you use with Sonar? (Glyn Barnes)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:11:59 GMT

bitflipper

99% of all SONAR crashes I have experienced over the years have been caused by free plugins. I don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm, just be forewarned.

Yep - I got my first ever motorboating crash yesterday for Native Instruments Kore player " />

Seriously though this is good advice, some free plugings can be very unsable.