#101

Iā€™d be curious to know how you use Decapitator, echoboy I can get (although to me, valhalla delay really means Iā€™m likely to not use it so much anymoreā€¦) but Decapitator Iā€™ve heard countless ā€œI put it everywhereā€ reports, but I canā€™t heart what it does thatā€™s so much better / special than other distortions. If you could share tips Iā€™d love to hear about it!

#102

Been playing around a bit with AlterEgo and itā€™s great! Very playable.

2 Likes
#103

I enjoy the variety of saturation types that it offers. Beyond that, I donā€™t know; thereā€™s just something about it that works for me. Not always, though. Sometimes itā€™s a bit much.

I do love Valhalla Delay (and everything Sean does, for that matter). Great to have both in my opinion!

#104

Decapitator is amazing. When I was doing more acoustic instrument recording Iā€™d use it all the time. Itā€™s wonderful for drums. Adds some nice analog style harmonic distortion! Highly highly highly recommend!

1 Like
#105

I actually HAVE IT! One of the only distortion plugin I bought (I have a lot in pedal form / and plugins I got in bundles etc.) But everytime I use it, I find it too much, or that what it does is just very basic, or that I can do better with an harmonic exciter, but I think I might just miss the ā€œobvious use casesā€ and apply it on the wrong things / at the wrong time.

#106

Try using trying on busses! I treat it as almost a channel strip to glue stuff together. It shines on drum bus and guitar buss.

2 Likes
#107

This text-to-speech plugin seems interesting.

1 Like
#108

I recently re-installed NI Razor after several years of not using it. I was unaware of the updated version from 2014 so Iā€™m learning the new features but it still sounds really good.
Still the most intuitive interface for additive synthesis Iā€™ve seen.

1 Like
#109

Itā€™s one of my favorite Reaktor synths, itā€™s got a noticeable sound, and itā€™s easy to get creative with it. One of NIā€™s best UI as well.

1 Like
#110

What other Reaktor synths are worthwhile? Razor is the only one I have.

#111

In addition to Blocks I use TRK-01 and Kontour quite a lot. TRK-01 is simple, but I really like the kicks I can get out of it. Nice to sometimes change out a bit from Battery or other sample based stuff, and handy if all I need is a quick Kick and maybe some basslines. I canā€™t say I understand Kontour too well, but I like the textural sounds I can pull out of it. I find the interface pretty inspiring and intriguing too. Mikro Prism which happens to be free I used quite a lot when I was more into Maschine and it came bundled with it, but I havenā€™t really gotten into the full version.

1 Like
#112

The ones I use : Monark, because it sounds wonderful and itā€™s simple enough, not overfeatured, and I get analoguish sounds I like easily. And an understated one I think (but I understand why) is Form. You have to accept that a lot is down to the weird algorythm that analyzes your sample when you feed it into the synth, but then, all the controls youā€™ve got on the resulting sound are super cool and creative and it rewards experiment very nicely I think. I agree Kontour is nice but itā€™s not the most inspiring interface for me.

Also for Drums, Polyplex can be a good inspiration if youā€™re looking to move away from purely sample or synthesis centric devices.

4 Likes
#113

Form is amazing. Itā€™s my favorite Reaktor synth. It uses PSOLA synthesis (which is apparently a particular form of granular synthesis) to repitch/resynthesize samples, and it gives you all kinds of control over formants, FM modulation, etc. You can get some totally wild sounds out of it.

3 Likes
#114

After using Izotopeā€™s RX7 De-click module to clean up some clicky poppy stuff on what was otherwise a wonderful few takes, I felt the need to mention it here. I mangle on norns, Infinite Jets, and Tensor a lot, and all of those platforms can introduce clicks and pops from time to time. A gentle pass of RX-7 does wonders.

4 Likes
#115

Outputing ā€˜clicks onlyā€™ from RX is also a useful source of glitches and interesting triggers (of course, depending on the source audio)

7 Likes
#116

As others mentioned, Form is amazing. Itā€™s one of the most rewarding sample-based vst tools Iā€™ve used.

Prism is really good, think of it as a polyphonic MI Elements.

In the factory library I like Gaugear, Junatik, and Grainstates/Travelizer.

For free instruments, GRIP is a must-have granular tool, a modern classic.

Basically everything on the boscomac page, but highlights include Air Piano (ambient piano), Snowflake (generative pretty sounds), Artefact (glitchy madness), and Floodverb (beautiful verb with infinite mode). Iā€™ve kicked money their way in the past because Iā€™ve used so many of these tools.

Other excellent community synths include the 8-voice Sirius-8 and the Buchla inspired West//.

9 Likes
#117

Interested in a recommendation for a compressor similar to the Antress Modern LA2ME, Mac compatible.

It used to be one of my favorite compressors for ducking. I found a link to the old file, but discovered that it doesnā€™t work on Mac.

#118

I just bought the m4l Euclidean sequencer the other day, 10 euros. Quite nice

6 Likes
#119

After some time away from vst instruments, I sat down with Serum last night and it really does sound so good. It is a favourite plugin, worth buying.

3 Likes
#120

Valhalla reverbs are so good.
Iā€™ve been quite happy with Abletonā€™s stock reverb, but when I heard Valhalla it just doesnā€™t work for me anymore. I love to plug my tiny Bastl Kastle in it and it just sounds like 3000$ pad machine haha.

4 Likes