Valhalla Supermassive is a favorite of mine; one of the best and very versatile. TAL Chorus is another one that I enjoy using a lot. Great video, very solid recommendations. Going to try some of these out.
Tal Phaser is also fun for sound design when you set the speed at 0 and automate, iirc their filter is quite infamous and featured in some of their synths as well
Thank you! This video is an absolute God-send! I'm still relatively new to mixing and trying to learn as I go. So, when I see all of these wonderful tutorials that use numerous pricey plugins, I end up at somewhat of a loss. _This,_ however, resolves that issue.
One of the best things about Waves' Faux Pas is finding your channel, great video, thanks! I'm quite new to all this and have had my first experience of VST-itis but now I can feel quite good that I don't really have to spend anymore, probably, for now, I'm quite happy with what I have and with all these suggestions even more so though I'm probably not going to be a serious pro anytime soon, but if it happens by accident then eh.....have a fun day! 😆
Welcome! You absolutely don't have to spend. Just you and a daw is all you need! It's all in the ear education. Practice active listening as often as you can and you'll get there with time.
I'm amazed at how many of these I already have (both Waves and Freeware) - my favorite of what you've listed is by far the Dragonfly suite of reverbs. Really flexible with unique characteristics.
Yeah they're great. I only use the hall, I had already solved my other reverb problems by the time I found them, but I was still needing a super long & smooth tail for atmosphere tracks, and hall is incredible for that. Nothing like a real hall haha, but gorgeous in its own way.
@@Bthelick agreed, nothing like a real hall, or like typical reverbs, which is kinda the charm. I'm actually using Dragonfly Early Reflections a lot recently. I call these types of plugins "character reverbs" because I use them when I want something unconventional. A couple of others I've found in that category - "Free Character Reverbs" - are Riviera and Cloud Seed.
Studio One user here... Top notch plugins included in the package. Apart a deesser, the reverbs, Eq, compressors, multi-fx are as good as any competition on the market. Specific plugins are my only add-ons.
@@nobodyspecialmusic Hey ! Version 6.1…. New very good deesser in Studio One. So nothing to laugh about anymore… 😏Things get better quite fast with Studio One….
On one hand you have Waves that are either subscription or update plan and their rrp is high (I know sales but talking rrp) on the other hand you have companies like audio assault and valhalla who's plugins rrp is cheap and yet they do major overhaul updates for no extra cost (the 2023 AA/SC IRs are great updates and the new VintageVerb Algo is delightful and worth the rrp by itself). I know who I like supporting... For SSL and NEVE eqs I'd go analog obsession, I believe for mac users theyve mostly all been updated to work.
Yup , unfortunately I've not heard any analog obsession plug I like the sound of yet. I always check back to see if he's improving but I think he's actually releasing too many plugins and spending more time on nice interfaces than good modelling. I love that it's all free and he's operating on a donation model (much like myself) but there's a long way to go on the modelling side imo.
To be fair, we nowadays live in a world where you DAWs stock plugins are usually more than sufficient and the rest can be found as a freebie. This goes for both VST's as VSTi's!
I'm in the process of getting videos together using viewers tracks as lessons on specific subjects, time is just a bit tight right now. but me 'reviewing' viewers tracks is a tricky one. I can't really comment on much, it all depends on the success criteria of the track, and why it exists in the first place. I can't just judge a track in a vacuum if that makes sense? Like what would you be hoping to get feedback on?
thanks so much. i use most of these already, but there were a few that are new to me for sure. and, based on your reviews of the ones i already use, your assessments are spot-on.
Bootsy for the win!!..........I go way back with his stuff. It was a red letter day when VOS started re-releasing them in 64bit 😉👍 Ferric is SO damn good......I find myself using less compression or lite limiting on the mix buss when the Ferric is there 😏
Yes, me too. Slate has a similar problem with licensing (give us the ability to buy them outright too!) but they do better because the quality and uniqueness of those plugins holds leverage all its own.
Yeah back when slate introduced the subscription idea I petitioned Steven to do it another way. I said it would only make sense if we got our years subscription back in the form of a perma licence each year, so it becomes more like a rent to buy. and he actually listened and did that for the first couple of years, but sadly not any more. At least they still offer perma licences , although I hate that they still use ilok, probably the most apt example of a protection racket.
well I drive a sweet little Cubase 12 Pro myself, so I don’t worry much about that! the steinberg plugins are amazing and so far no UAD can hold up to them ❤️
If You don't mind I would like to add couple of plugins to Your list. Limiter - LoudMax by Thomas Mundt EQ - Luftikus by by lkjb (yes i know its not exactly waves alternative but its good maageq alternative so just check it out) Pitch Correction - Graillon by Auburn Sounds R Bass alternatives (low end exciters) - Bark Of Dog by Boz Digital Labs
Bx sub filter or bark of the dog aren't an R-bass equivalent, it's just a high pass filter with a resonance bump, no harmonics involved. Handy in it's own right but you can achieve that just as well with any stock eq now. I'm not a fan of the pitch correction in Graillon it has more audible artifacts adn quality reduction than the Melda.
I have many of those and most work well. I had some issues using the Hilton vst as a limiter getting a lopsided master but it could be me. I like all the free offerings from Klanghelm, especially the compressors. Also say I really enjoy the kilohearts essentials bundle, Just started using Waves Factory "Flash" transient shaper, its a keeper for sure.. and thanks for all the links
Those packs of older stuff people put out have some good stuff but a lot of stuff one doesn't need. I don't like them but some good suggestions on other stuff. 👍🏿
As an extension: Literally anything TAL, Melda, and TDR are solid for freebies. Insanely good gems within them all. Great vid though, definitely a few of this will be making their way into my projects!!
I use the one from ignite amps , pteq-x . they've been modelling valves for many years and that one was the most convincing to my ears. The klive one seemed to saturate really early and was harsh up top. Probably cool if you want a deliberately driven / lo fi version but it didn't sound like a pultec to me.
Everything analog obsession comes out with is great pretty much. I didn't notice any issue with Kiives but I only use on drums and bass pretty much. Depends on style of music and what you use pultec eqs on imo. But only been messing with it for like a week now.
@Gipsy from the Future unfortunately I'm not a fan, I think that guy is making too many plugins and not paying enough attention to modelling. AO certainly aren't bad in any way but it sounds like wave shaping to me, the curves are fine but the non non-linear side has a long way to go imo, Also Rare suffers from high end cramping, certainly not a trait you want to see from anyone who claims to modelling analog. I remain unconvinced.
Thank you for making this video, Bthelick! I have a handful of Waves plugins I got during free giveaways over the years, but their protection racket put me off- your recommendations are solid all around, especially TAL, TDR, Valhalla and Variety of Sound. An additional delay I'd add is Sixth Sample's Deelay; it's a gem of a plugin 💎And I must say that I really appreciated you saying "hello guys AND gals" in your intro; hearing that made me feel seen. We need more gals in audio, production and DJing. Thank you 🥲
Yes deelay is a good one, very versatile. We absolutely need more gals in music production and that is exactly why I used it. 👊 I actually stopped saying it on the last couple of videos though after more than one person mentioned it sounded like a certain J. Savilles intro! 🤦♂️ and I don't want to be the one to confirm that via Google 😩. I need to think of another.
I don't know who you are. All I can say is your a gift from God! I'd also like to thank your parents for raising such an awesome human being that you are I've learned more in just watching two of your videos. Free videos! At that. Then I learned spending months & money for subscriptions that supposedly was going to teach me everything I need to know and even help me get signed to a record label The information that you give is the information we all need and want to know. Yet I would have to sit through hours of webinars & livestreams and then would have to try and piece it together myself With you it's all facts and straight to them. There's no beating around the bush or only giving half of the knowledge away and keeping the other half as a secret. You teach it how it is and how it should be taught and I want to thank you very much for that On top of all that you share your free plug ins with us! You are an awesome person and the world needs more people like you. Thanks again! Damn right I'm going to buy you a coffee! I'd like to buy you a coffee every day for the rest of my life if I could 🙏🙏🙏
Orilriver Reverb is even better than those you mentioned. I did the shootout some minths ago. Add Convoligy XT as a convolution engine and you are set!
Yes I was keeping it short. I used to use orilriver but I prefer the ones I mentioned these days. My channel is focused on dance music and river didn't fit many applications for me. It's a high quality reverb for sure though.
And convolgy is indeed the best free convolution verb, but Ableton has one built in so I use that these days. I didn't want to get into where to find his impulses and all that.
@@Bthelick Yeah, it's always best to keep the setup minimal. I just like the small included library in Convology XT so much, that I use it additionally to the Ableton Hybrid Reverb (which has it's own great library included ofc).
@@Bthelick Dragonfly, which I liked at first, turned out to sound a bit too artificial for my needs compared too Orilriver. I'm not into the overly artificial / synthetic sound.
@@esahm373 yes, that's probably no accident. My channel is focused on dance music, which is my living these days, and the effects I've found myself using definitely compliment that direction more. The example Tal 4's digital tail takes up far less space and suits modern dance productions than a more realistic room , much like how a lexicon plate fits electronic records better than a real room, If I was called upon to mix a band or acoustic material I would be using more convolution and river for sure
I deeply thank you for all this info and I'm entirely grateful, thanks also for making the downloads much easier by including the links 💯 I as of from now is a subscriber
@vilanofficial it's not possible! Or should I say it's not desired. No preset I could possibly make Will be optimal for your song because I haven't listened to the vocal OR the song!! Presets on processors like eqs and compressors are useless for that reason. There's too many variables in sound for any preset to fit. What if your vocal has lots of sibilance at 10k but my preset is at 6? What if the instruments in your track cover up the mid-range so the vocal would need to be boosted there in order for it to cut through the track but outside the track it sounds bad, or what if that is only needed in the chorus? How would a preset know? The only software capable of anything like that is the AI products by izoptope and sonible but even then I haven't heard good results yet. There's no substitute for using your ears!
Nice video, the thing about future compatibility is always a concern but that goes both ways for paid and free plugins. Anyways, it's awesome to have free options with such good quality
Well it's still far better be beholden to technology change in general, than someone's rental payment. As a Windows user we have the privilege of clinging on to .DLL files for a good ten years! When whatever replaces vst comes around I'm fine with the change, it'll be a while. Certainly much much longer than someone 'turning off' my plugins manually when I don't make this month's rental payment.
Good video and I share your opinion about all the thing we can do legaly with free pugins and those which are included in our daws, I use daily some of those you mentioned in your list. (valhalla supermassive or chow tape model, for instance)
Great work. You sound like a rather posh English DJ. Waves still has a couple of nice plugins (the RenVox is a sentimental favorite), but I moved on to more ‘drama free’ alternatives quite a while ago. This is a great list.
"posh" 🤣 thankyou I'll take the compliment! 👊 I'm practicing my best eloquence for UA-cam's auto captions sake, and for your ears ' sake as neither would understand me if I spoke in my natural northern drawl 😂😜
I love the TDR compressors (and bought the GE versions) but there is a drastic difference in CPU usage and they are not really a drop-in replacement to those shown. I wonder if some workalike patches can be found with good freeware like DC1A or FirComp
Amazing video, thanks for investing your time and present the results in this episode..... I will check these alternatives thoroughly...I wonder what your advise would be re the Greg Wells bundle which I very much like (GW piano centric, mix centrix, vocal centric)
Those are just combined fx tuned to taste, you can make your own hybrids using things like Ableton's rack system, but in practice just good ear education will mean you don't need to lean on specific plugins for specific instruments. I haven't for years. I do combine a lot of effects though to speed up workflow.
Some excellent suggestions here, I have most of them in my arsenal and am using some of them on a regular basis. Re. Waves I had a lot of issues with their FX and 'Central' over the years and thought about ditching the whole mess more than once but then I wouldn't want to miss some of their plugins like the outstanding TG12345 or even the Electric88 (Rhodes) ... oh well ...
well I think the scarbe rhodes for kontakt is a great EP, and though I can't think of a direct alternative to the Abbey Road console, I do think Slate are infinitely better at analog modelling than waves and their rack has plenty of console flavour options.
Air windows are great, and so is Chris!. I'm not a fan of analog obsession( yet) though. It's great that they're free of course but there is some ways to go sound wise.
i'd recommend the SN03 Tape Recorder by Sender Spike, i use it on every mix in the master channel followed by a soft clipper, a very nice plugin. i'd also recommend the VariMoon by Analog Obsession, good mastering compressor
I'm not aware of any successful mic emulsion for free. Mic emulation requires that the source is known and consistent , or measured. Slate would be my go to recommendation for engineers that I think perform well (specifically Fabrice Gabrielle). But that's not 'cheap'
I'm new to all of this, but I realised fairly quickly that my DAW already has great quality processing. However, once I had signed up for even a few paid or free plugins (sale prices only!!), jeez but it's a bombardment of marketing! It all seems very "fashion based" to me... I can't recall how many offers for "vintage tape sound" I've already had, and I don't even know what that is!! I thought we were all about saying goodbye to that 'nasty' unreliable cassette or vinyl LP. These companies seem to strain every sinew to sell me things that make music sound "vintage". Next month it'll be some other sound fad they'll be pushing. Thanks for the informed, knowledgeable videos! :)
Yes, it's not even just the vintage thing either. most of these companies come from a time when early digital sounded terrible, especially the daw's built in stuff, if it even had any, were pretty bad. CPUs back then struggled with just playing back multiple audio tracks never mind processing them. Waves and pro tools were amongst the first to offer viable digital computer based systems. But we are way way past any of that. The built in processing in any daw these days is plenty enough to make great sound. But companies are still marketing like that didn't happen a decade ago. I like tape sound etc but even at the top level in a great room on great speakers with trained ears it's a 2% difference and certainly not anything that makes a difference to streaming performance. But again the marketing departments still behave like that isn't the case. Ignore it all. Learn the tools you have until you master them first. It takes long enough!
Yeah I don't think they do a better job than what I mention here though. see my reply to Mr PIIN below here. AO has a long way to go before the modelling is there imo. The eqs cramp and the distortion algorithms still sound pretty digital to me. But then again so do wave's attempts sometimes. It's certainly not easy, but the plugins I mention in the video all outperform AO imo.
I just wanna say, that in the 9/10 cases, free plugins do that better. Great video! Full support & new sub ;) (no hate to waves) however free plugins just work. TDR/Melda/ValhallaDSP/
I have most of these! But I wish u had toned down the bg music considerably, instead of the auto-pumping feature u had - it was driving me into insanity while I was trying to focus on the content! 😖💀
Limiter No 6 is no longer supported and anyway it's the harshest sounding thing I ever had the displeasure of tormenting my music with. In any case, ToneBooster's Barricade is another legacy plugin that's now free from ToneBooster's [of course~!]
It's no where near the best I've heard for sure (that would be izoptope for me personally) but I can get far better results from 6 than the waves ones. Not in terms of stupid loudness figures in terms of musical results at good levels. I work in dance though, I imagine 6 is not kind to acoustic material etc.
@@Bthelick Now I am not sure. I thought it is, but I cannot find any proof for it on their github (or anywhere else). If DD are not stating directly it is an emulation - let's assume it is not. Anyway, thanks for the video, it is really usefull for me.
Not sure if it's just the last version or a skin. It's been a while but if I recall correctly there's an alternate skin file you can swap in that comes with the download
the original limiter is still free before TD tided it up www.tokyodawn.net/vladg-limiter-n6/ Thing is I don't really use limiters in my professional work, haven't done for a long time (see last video) so I'm not up to speed with any newer ones. If I'm short on time I use ozone max 8 and it's fine so I haven't auditioned any for a while. For filters I haven't looked for a while, Andrew Simper (of Cytomic fame) did the modeling of the Ableton ones, between those 4 types they are all I've needed for a long time they are great. there's still a place for the amazingly dirty fromage filter by ohm force of course! And BPB dirty filter plus, is also great but it is OTT also
happened to us all. Although to be fair to Waves, they were the first company to produce high quality effects back when computer digital audio was in it's infancy, much like pro tools, they have that legacy to lean on.
yeah I have, I test everyone he puts out. Unfortunately I haven't heard any I have liked yet. Nothing super 'bad' , just no where to close to VOS for non-linear processing to my ears. Modelling analog behaviour is hard, and he simply puts out too many plugins every month for them to be well modelled. in fact I would wager he spends more time on the UI than the audio code tbh because to my ears it sounds like the same distortion algorithms each time but with a different skin. This could be true as he said on the gearspace forums he was simply copying spice code and converting it to c++. Also the company has a bit of a strange history. Including the owner tried to sell the company a few years ago , including all the UI's and code.
I have two PCs both have Waves on it. I have not yet moved to the new computer so it remains off while I use my old PC. When I finally move to the new PC I will be starting with Melda Productions and then Plugin Alliance. I will not be staying with Waves they seem to be unstable with their decision-making. I don't want to be thinking will they won't they.
The best free amps I have heard are the ignite amps stuff, but it's a small range, and you still need a good cab emulation to go with them, which I still don't know a good free solution to.
F6 is the waves plug. TDR Nova is the equivalent I recommended. Span is voxengo's free metering plugin, I didn't mention it here but you can get from the voxengo website. All links are in the description.
the very great TDR Nova is even a bit "older" than Waves F6 - so one might get the impression, that Waves saw an interesting idea in the freeware world and made their own version. So, oviously it can also be the other way around,. DISCLAIMER: I have only tried Nova free, but NOT Waves F6 so far!!! anyway, Waves have another plug-in that looks at least "inspired by" the good old "VST Dynamics" from Cubase
The only Waves plugin that I think I can't live without is Infected Mushroom Pusher. I have some Infected Mushroom plugins but I don't think you can get Pusher without Waves. I would love to know if you have a suggestion for an alternative? I use it for Mastering mainly.
Sorry I'm the wrong guy to answer that one. I never have anything on the master buss and my releases go out like that. It's the completely opposite way of working so I just never use those kinds of plugins.
@@Bthelick fair enough! I always used to like an extra pair of ears to check my mix before release so always used to send them off for professional mastering. I did a module on mastering as part of my degree in music production, but most of it was about trying to 'fix' problems with the mix; but even when I master my own stuff I still like to export a 24 bit wav and then master it afterwards. Most of the time I'm just limiting to -8 dB LUFS and little else, (provided I get the mix right it doesn't need anything else) but Pusher does add a little bit of 'fairy dust' that I really like!
@@timjames6173 yeah I get ya. You might like plugins like sound theory Gulfoss or voxengo TEOTE in that case, they do a final dynamic curve tweak which people are using as final checks.
Here are some of my free secret weapons - Kiive Audio - Warmy & Xtressor Nuke for EQ and compression (honestly ridiculous that warmy is free, beautiful emulation of the real deal). Cloudseed for Reverb. Huge and Beautiful Free Clip by Venn Audio is sweet for some high quality loudness in a few flavours. Again for crunch and loudness, Burier Free by Kit Plugins is pretty standout. Rift Freedback Lite by Minimal Audio is also pretty sick for distorion (normally $29 and free right now). And then finally all the legacy kilohearts & audio damage stuff is free now, along with AD's amazing compressor Rough Rider.
There is an older plugin I'll have to look it up, but I don't consider rider an essential plugin at all. I work fast, I finish 3 - 6 tracks a week and I've not needed rider for at least 8 years now.
for anyone watching in the present , sixth sample have since released a genuinely good free autotune called Spoton. Recommended above Melda's.
Excellent video. Thank you. Best line: "Waves were ahead of the curve with their "update program". I often likened it to a protection racket"
Valhalla Supermassive is a favorite of mine; one of the best and very versatile.
TAL Chorus is another one that I enjoy using a lot.
Great video, very solid recommendations. Going to try some of these out.
Agree re: TAL Chorus. Amazing and simple.
Tal Phaser is also fun for sound design when you set the speed at 0 and automate, iirc their filter is quite infamous and featured in some of their synths as well
Tal chorus DX is one of the best emulations of the old Roland Juno chorus. Very distinct.
TAL-Chorus is a perfect Juno emulation, doesn't get much better
I also love Orilriver (excelent reverb), Loudmax = waves L1, and Frontier (D16) comp/limitador. Bertom vocal compressor = waves R-vox
Right on - the Ferric TDS is deceptively awesome - I've used in electric guitar submixes, acoustic tracks, and even snare drum.
Thank you! This video is an absolute God-send! I'm still relatively new to mixing and trying to learn as I go. So, when I see all of these wonderful tutorials that use numerous pricey plugins, I end up at somewhat of a loss. _This,_ however, resolves that issue.
One of the best things about Waves' Faux Pas is finding your channel, great video, thanks! I'm quite new to all this and have had my first experience of VST-itis but now I can feel quite good that I don't really have to spend anymore, probably, for now, I'm quite happy with what I have and with all these suggestions even more so though I'm probably not going to be a serious pro anytime soon, but if it happens by accident then eh.....have a fun day! 😆
Welcome! You absolutely don't have to spend. Just you and a daw is all you need! It's all in the ear education. Practice active listening as often as you can and you'll get there with time.
MeldaProduction has a free bundle with 37 high quality plugins!
Waves have so shot themselves in the foot. The back lash is huge. TDR stuff is great.
I'm amazed at how many of these I already have (both Waves and Freeware) - my favorite of what you've listed is by far the Dragonfly suite of reverbs. Really flexible with unique characteristics.
Yeah they're great. I only use the hall, I had already solved my other reverb problems by the time I found them, but I was still needing a super long & smooth tail for atmosphere tracks, and hall is incredible for that. Nothing like a real hall haha, but gorgeous in its own way.
@@Bthelick agreed, nothing like a real hall, or like typical reverbs, which is kinda the charm. I'm actually using Dragonfly Early Reflections a lot recently. I call these types of plugins "character reverbs" because I use them when I want something unconventional. A couple of others I've found in that category - "Free Character Reverbs" - are Riviera and Cloud Seed.
Wow - you really opened up my eyes! Most of the plug-ins presented I have stored on my drives for ages, but barely use them. This will change! 😉👍
Excellent video! Some of us who've been doing this a while forget that not everyone knows these amazing tools.
nasty DLA might be the best delay plugin I've heard
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉yeahhh...
It is easily my favorite delay plugin including all of my pay-ware plugs.
Best delay indeed. That thing is alive
I thought it was my secret plugin..😅
The Melda Free bundle is a rabbit hole on its own. It's a great suite of plugins.
Studio One user here... Top notch plugins
included in the package. Apart a deesser, the
reverbs, Eq, compressors, multi-fx are as good as any competition on the market.
Specific plugins are my only add-ons.
I use Nova to de-ess.
Studio One deesser (within compressor) isn't THAT bad lol
@@nobodyspecialmusic Hey ! Version 6.1…. New very good deesser in Studio One.
So nothing to laugh about anymore… 😏Things get better quite fast with Studio One….
@@robertl.6919 I gotta get 6 lol
@@nobodyspecialmusic Good one. 👏👍🏼
Izotope also has a great free stereo widener. Also, analog obsession is a great alternative for emulation plugins.
Is it mono safe?
@Bthelick yep. Sound just like the original mono file when mixed down to mono. The stereo widener is mono safe as well.
@@jeremylarue4503 good to know thanks for the clarification
Yeah I was going to add this. The free version of Izotope Imager is amazing!
On one hand you have Waves that are either subscription or update plan and their rrp is high (I know sales but talking rrp) on the other hand you have companies like audio assault and valhalla who's plugins rrp is cheap and yet they do major overhaul updates for no extra cost (the 2023 AA/SC IRs are great updates and the new VintageVerb Algo is delightful and worth the rrp by itself). I know who I like supporting...
For SSL and NEVE eqs I'd go analog obsession, I believe for mac users theyve mostly all been updated to work.
Yup , unfortunately I've not heard any analog obsession plug I like the sound of yet. I always check back to see if he's improving but I think he's actually releasing too many plugins and spending more time on nice interfaces than good modelling. I love that it's all free and he's operating on a donation model (much like myself) but there's a long way to go on the modelling side imo.
To be fair, we nowadays live in a world where you DAWs stock plugins are usually more than sufficient and the rest can be found as a freebie. This goes for both VST's as VSTi's!
So glad I found this channel! Have you considered doing a series where you review viewers tracks?
I'm in the process of getting videos together using viewers tracks as lessons on specific subjects, time is just a bit tight right now.
but me 'reviewing' viewers tracks is a tricky one. I can't really comment on much, it all depends on the success criteria of the track, and why it exists in the first place. I can't just judge a track in a vacuum if that makes sense?
Like what would you be hoping to get feedback on?
@@Bthelick good point, I guess the mix and master, maybe creativity? Also your personal opinion on whether you like it.
@@jackcyster2782 yeah, like I say it's all gonna depend? What is it for? Who is it for? What does success look like for you?
@@Bthelick success for me would be making something that is unique and sounds good.
@@Bthelick and it’s for whoever wants to listen to it, usually I just share my music with my friends as I feel I am still learning.
Great video, man. Great to see the pros giving up a bit of knowledge for the community. Much appreciated
thanks so much. i use most of these already, but there were a few that are new to me for sure. and, based on your reviews of the ones i already use, your assessments are spot-on.
Bootsy for the win!!..........I go way back with his stuff. It was a red letter day when VOS started re-releasing them in 64bit 😉👍
Ferric is SO damn good......I find myself using less compression or lite limiting on the mix buss when the Ferric is there 😏
Yes, me too. Slate has a similar problem with licensing (give us the ability to buy them outright too!) but they do better because the quality and uniqueness of those plugins holds leverage all its own.
Yeah back when slate introduced the subscription idea I petitioned Steven to do it another way. I said it would only make sense if we got our years subscription back in the form of a perma licence each year, so it becomes more like a rent to buy. and he actually listened and did that for the first couple of years, but sadly not any more. At least they still offer perma licences , although I hate that they still use ilok, probably the most apt example of a protection racket.
Great video, great layout.
The 'protection racket' is exactly why I never wasted my time with Waves.
well I drive a sweet little Cubase 12 Pro myself, so I don’t worry much about that!
the steinberg plugins are amazing and so far no UAD can hold up to them ❤️
If You don't mind I would like to add couple of plugins to Your list.
Limiter - LoudMax by Thomas Mundt
EQ - Luftikus by by lkjb (yes i know its not exactly waves alternative but its good maageq alternative so just check it out)
Pitch Correction - Graillon by Auburn Sounds
R Bass alternatives (low end exciters) - Bark Of Dog by Boz Digital Labs
Yeah the loud Max limiter is great. Very transparent compared to L2.
Bx sub filter or bark of the dog aren't an R-bass equivalent, it's just a high pass filter with a resonance bump, no harmonics involved. Handy in it's own right but you can achieve that just as well with any stock eq now.
I'm not a fan of the pitch correction in Graillon it has more audible artifacts adn quality reduction than the Melda.
@@Bthelick My bad 😀
Brilliant! Thank You!
This is a brilliant list of alternatives!!! Just found this channel! Well done!!!
Awesome vid. I pretty much did the same thing years ago with my plugins
I have many of those and most work well. I had some issues using the Hilton vst as a limiter getting a lopsided master but it could be me. I like all the free offerings from Klanghelm, especially the compressors. Also say I really enjoy the kilohearts essentials bundle, Just started using Waves Factory "Flash" transient shaper, its a keeper for sure..
and thanks for all the links
Hilton A1? Thats not a limiter, but stereo / width control!
Those packs of older stuff people put out have some good stuff but a lot of stuff one doesn't need. I don't like them but some good suggestions on other stuff. 👍🏿
Really you deserve all the appreciation thank you✨
analog obsession makes ones of best free vst stuff
They're getting better recently for sure. But I've not liked most of his output unfortunately.
As an extension: Literally anything TAL, Melda, and TDR are solid for freebies. Insanely good gems within them all. Great vid though, definitely a few of this will be making their way into my projects!!
Don't know if you mentioned pul tec but the free one from Kiive audio is great!
I use the one from ignite amps , pteq-x . they've been modelling valves for many years and that one was the most convincing to my ears.
The klive one seemed to saturate really early and was harsh up top. Probably cool if you want a deliberately driven / lo fi version but it didn't sound like a pultec to me.
@@Bthelick i've used the Ignite amps one for years, but recently the Analog Obsession version kinnda blew me away.
Analog Obsessed Rare, maybe a better pick, but it all depends with your taste.
I urge y'all to try it out.
Everything analog obsession comes out with is great pretty much. I didn't notice any issue with Kiives but I only use on drums and bass pretty much. Depends on style of music and what you use pultec eqs on imo. But only been messing with it for like a week now.
@Gipsy from the Future unfortunately I'm not a fan, I think that guy is making too many plugins and not paying enough attention to modelling. AO certainly aren't bad in any way but it sounds like wave shaping to me, the curves are fine but the non non-linear side has a long way to go imo, Also Rare suffers from high end cramping, certainly not a trait you want to see from anyone who claims to modelling analog. I remain unconvinced.
Thank you for making this video, Bthelick! I have a handful of Waves plugins I got during free giveaways over the years, but their protection racket put me off- your recommendations are solid all around, especially TAL, TDR, Valhalla and Variety of Sound. An additional delay I'd add is Sixth Sample's Deelay; it's a gem of a plugin 💎And I must say that I really appreciated you saying "hello guys AND gals" in your intro; hearing that made me feel seen. We need more gals in audio, production and DJing. Thank you 🥲
Yes deelay is a good one, very versatile.
We absolutely need more gals in music production and that is exactly why I used it. 👊
I actually stopped saying it on the last couple of videos though after more than one person mentioned it sounded like a certain J. Savilles intro! 🤦♂️ and I don't want to be the one to confirm that via Google 😩.
I need to think of another.
@@Bthelick 🙌
For pitch correction/auto tune you can use 'Alcohol' by 'Off License' !!! 🥰
I don't know who you are. All I can say is your a gift from God!
I'd also like to thank your parents for raising such an awesome human being that you are
I've learned more in just watching two of your videos. Free videos! At that. Then I learned spending months & money for subscriptions that supposedly was going to teach me everything I need to know and even help me get signed to a record label
The information that you give is the information we all need and want to know. Yet I would have to sit through hours of webinars & livestreams and then would have to try and piece it together myself
With you it's all facts and straight to them. There's no beating around the bush or only giving half of the knowledge away and keeping the other half as a secret. You teach it how it is and how it should be taught and I want to thank you very much for that
On top of all that you share your free plug ins with us!
You are an awesome person and the world needs more people like you. Thanks again!
Damn right I'm going to buy you a coffee! I'd like to buy you a coffee every day for the rest of my life if I could 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you so much for the kind words .
Don't get me started on record labels though! Self release if you can. 👊
jebus I said "fantastic" a lot in this vid didn't I 🤣🤣
So did I when I was watching it!
But it was indeed fantastic 🤣❤
Truly fantastic tho
Orilriver Reverb is even better than those you mentioned. I did the shootout some minths ago. Add Convoligy XT as a convolution engine and you are set!
Yes I was keeping it short. I used to use orilriver but I prefer the ones I mentioned these days. My channel is focused on dance music and river didn't fit many applications for me. It's a high quality reverb for sure though.
And convolgy is indeed the best free convolution verb, but Ableton has one built in so I use that these days. I didn't want to get into where to find his impulses and all that.
@@Bthelick Yeah, it's always best to keep the setup minimal. I just like the small included library in Convology XT so much, that I use it additionally to the Ableton Hybrid Reverb (which has it's own great library included ofc).
@@Bthelick Dragonfly, which I liked at first, turned out to sound a bit too artificial for my needs compared too Orilriver. I'm not into the overly artificial / synthetic sound.
@@esahm373 yes, that's probably no accident. My channel is focused on dance music, which is my living these days, and the effects I've found myself using definitely compliment that direction more. The example Tal 4's digital tail takes up far less space and suits modern dance productions than a more realistic room , much like how a lexicon plate fits electronic records better than a real room,
If I was called upon to mix a band or acoustic material I would be using more convolution and river for sure
I deeply thank you for all this info and I'm entirely grateful, thanks also for making the downloads much easier by including the links 💯 I as of from now is a subscriber
is it possible you can make some vocal presets video on these plugins, and if you have already can you pin it in the comments
@vilanofficial it's not possible! Or should I say it's not desired.
No preset I could possibly make Will be optimal for your song because I haven't listened to the vocal OR the song!!
Presets on processors like eqs and compressors are useless for that reason.
There's too many variables in sound for any preset to fit. What if your vocal has lots of sibilance at 10k but my preset is at 6? What if the instruments in your track cover up the mid-range so the vocal would need to be boosted there in order for it to cut through the track but outside the track it sounds bad, or what if that is only needed in the chorus? How would a preset know?
The only software capable of anything like that is the AI products by izoptope and sonible but even then I haven't heard good results yet.
There's no substitute for using your ears!
Nice video, the thing about future compatibility is always a concern but that goes both ways for paid and free plugins. Anyways, it's awesome to have free options with such good quality
Well it's still far better be beholden to technology change in general, than someone's rental payment. As a Windows user we have the privilege of clinging on to .DLL files for a good ten years! When whatever replaces vst comes around I'm fine with the change, it'll be a while. Certainly much much longer than someone 'turning off' my plugins manually when I don't make this month's rental payment.
great vids mannn!!! 100K subs soon. keep it up.
I guess WAVES is happy with your video !!! 👌( no answer needed)
Stillwell Audio has some great free plug-ins
Weren't they the ones with the rocket ? That Dan Worral found code errors in?
Good video and I share your opinion about all the thing we can do legaly with free pugins and those which are included in our daws, I use daily some of those you mentioned in your list.
(valhalla supermassive or chow tape model, for instance)
Great work. You sound like a rather posh English DJ. Waves still has a couple of nice plugins (the RenVox is a sentimental favorite), but I moved on to more ‘drama free’ alternatives quite a while ago. This is a great list.
"posh" 🤣 thankyou I'll take the compliment! 👊
I'm practicing my best eloquence for UA-cam's auto captions sake, and for your ears ' sake as neither would understand me if I spoke in my natural northern drawl 😂😜
I love the TDR compressors (and bought the GE versions) but there is a drastic difference in CPU usage and they are not really a drop-in replacement to those shown.
I wonder if some workalike patches can be found with good freeware like DC1A or FirComp
Amazing video, thanks for investing your time and present the results in this episode..... I will check these alternatives thoroughly...I wonder what your advise would be re the Greg Wells bundle which I very much like (GW piano centric, mix centrix, vocal centric)
Those are just combined fx tuned to taste, you can make your own hybrids using things like Ableton's rack system, but in practice just good ear education will mean you don't need to lean on specific plugins for specific instruments. I haven't for years. I do combine a lot of effects though to speed up workflow.
Some excellent suggestions here, I have most of them in my arsenal and am using some of them on a regular basis.
Re. Waves I had a lot of issues with their FX and 'Central' over the years and thought about ditching the whole mess more than once but then I wouldn't want to miss some of their plugins like the outstanding TG12345 or even the Electric88 (Rhodes) ... oh well ...
well I think the scarbe rhodes for kontakt is a great EP, and though I can't think of a direct alternative to the Abbey Road console, I do think Slate are infinitely better at analog modelling than waves and their rack has plenty of console flavour options.
Excellent recommendations - will certainly check them out 👍
Thanks for this informative video... Also please don't forget analog obsession and air windows they are amazing as well...
Air windows are great, and so is Chris!.
I'm not a fan of analog obsession( yet) though. It's great that they're free of course but there is some ways to go sound wise.
i'd recommend the SN03 Tape Recorder by Sender Spike, i use it on every mix in the master channel followed by a soft clipper, a very nice plugin. i'd also recommend the VariMoon by Analog Obsession, good mastering compressor
Thanks. I've used them, not a fan of either brand personally, but as long as it's getting you results that's all that matters. Thanks for the input 👊
Ozone Imager 2 is a great width plugin as well
Great video, thanks so much! Earned a sub
Mic emulation?
For example....LAVA
Alternative?
Good video!!!
I'm not aware of any successful mic emulsion for free.
Mic emulation requires that the source is known and consistent , or measured.
Slate would be my go to recommendation for engineers that I think perform well (specifically Fabrice Gabrielle).
But that's not 'cheap'
Amazing video. Love that mjuc jr thank you!
I'm new to all of this, but I realised fairly quickly that my DAW already has great quality processing. However, once I had signed up for even a few paid or free plugins (sale prices only!!), jeez but it's a bombardment of marketing! It all seems very "fashion based" to me... I can't recall how many offers for "vintage tape sound" I've already had, and I don't even know what that is!!
I thought we were all about saying goodbye to that 'nasty' unreliable cassette or vinyl LP. These companies seem to strain every sinew to sell me things that make music sound "vintage".
Next month it'll be some other sound fad they'll be pushing.
Thanks for the informed, knowledgeable videos! :)
Yes, it's not even just the vintage thing either. most of these companies come from a time when early digital sounded terrible, especially the daw's built in stuff, if it even had any, were pretty bad. CPUs back then struggled with just playing back multiple audio tracks never mind processing them.
Waves and pro tools were amongst the first to offer viable digital computer based systems.
But we are way way past any of that.
The built in processing in any daw these days is plenty enough to make great sound.
But companies are still marketing like that didn't happen a decade ago.
I like tape sound etc but even at the top level in a great room on great speakers with trained ears it's a 2% difference and certainly not anything that makes a difference to streaming performance.
But again the marketing departments still behave like that isn't the case.
Ignore it all. Learn the tools you have until you master them first. It takes long enough!
@@Bthelick Thank you. And yes, I shall learn first, spend later, and with great help from your content, thanks once again :)
Also Stereo Tool V3 is pretty useful in some cases
Analog Obsession do some great plug ins.
Yeah I don't think they do a better job than what I mention here though. see my reply to Mr PIIN below here. AO has a long way to go before the modelling is there imo. The eqs cramp and the distortion algorithms still sound pretty digital to me. But then again so do wave's attempts sometimes. It's certainly not easy, but the plugins I mention in the video all outperform AO imo.
Great vid
I just wanna say, that in the 9/10 cases, free plugins do that better. Great video! Full support & new sub ;)
(no hate to waves) however free plugins just work. TDR/Melda/ValhallaDSP/
I have most of these! But I wish u had toned down the bg music considerably, instead of the auto-pumping feature u had - it was driving me into insanity while I was trying to focus on the content! 😖💀
Noted, cheers. I don't normally make these types of vids, I usually do tutorials with live demonstration so just on auto pilot sorry.
@@Bthelick Yeah, I hope u remember next time 😛 Thanx for the vid thou!
Wow, you got some gems 💎 i never heard of, but I will check out
Thanks man
thank you
thank you!!!
you the goat
New sub here. Awesome video. What's the background track? Real solid sounding tune.
it will be released soon I don't have a name for it yet!
Thanks man!
Limiter No 6 is no longer supported and anyway it's the harshest sounding thing I ever had the displeasure of tormenting my music with. In any case, ToneBooster's Barricade is another legacy plugin that's now free from ToneBooster's [of course~!]
I’ve made a lot of money with the Limiter 6 I disagree buddy.
It's no where near the best I've heard for sure (that would be izoptope for me personally) but I can get far better results from 6 than the waves ones. Not in terms of stupid loudness figures in terms of musical results at good levels. I work in dance though, I imagine 6 is not kind to acoustic material etc.
Cheers!
Thanks for sharing!;)
You may know already but Wider 2 was released recently 👍
Yes cheers, I grabbed it! 👊 (I still prefer the sound of voxengo's though)
Analog obsession has free stuff
I know, I test every one, but I just don't like the sound.
haha "i paid for mine line was golden"
The amount of Broke guys I knew that had the platinum bundle!
For SSL emulation try also DD channel.
Dead duck isn't an emulation is it? I thought it just looked similar. Last I checked it wasn't actually matching any of the sound / behaviour
@@Bthelick Now I am not sure. I thought it is, but I cannot find any proof for it on their github (or anywhere else).
If DD are not stating directly it is an emulation - let's assume it is not.
Anyway, thanks for the video, it is really usefull for me.
Good Stuff 👍🏾 Thanks
I've never seen that TDR Limiter 6.
The one I have here look like a WWII airplane panel.
Not sure if it's just the last version or a skin. It's been a while but if I recall correctly there's an alternate skin file you can swap in that comes with the download
Thanks for the tips. I noticed Tokyo Limiter 6 is paid for now. Any other great free options for limiters? What about analogue style filters?
the original limiter is still free before TD tided it up
www.tokyodawn.net/vladg-limiter-n6/
Thing is I don't really use limiters in my professional work, haven't done for a long time (see last video) so I'm not up to speed with any newer ones.
If I'm short on time I use ozone max 8 and it's fine so I haven't auditioned any for a while.
For filters I haven't looked for a while, Andrew Simper (of Cytomic fame) did the modeling of the Ableton ones, between those 4 types they are all I've needed for a long time they are great.
there's still a place for the amazingly dirty fromage filter by ohm force of course!
And BPB dirty filter plus, is also great but it is OTT also
@@Bthelick Awesome thanks!
I have a bunch of wave plugins that I don't use. I bought them way back as a beginner when I thought plugins were the secret sauce.
happened to us all. Although to be fair to Waves, they were the first company to produce high quality effects back when computer digital audio was in it's infancy, much like pro tools, they have that legacy to lean on.
thank you
You're welcome 👊
Hey Bthelick, have you looked into any of the analogue obsession stuff? Some good free alternatives there for many plugins.
yeah I have, I test everyone he puts out.
Unfortunately I haven't heard any I have liked yet. Nothing super 'bad' , just no where to close to VOS for non-linear processing to my ears. Modelling analog behaviour is hard, and he simply puts out too many plugins every month for them to be well modelled. in fact I would wager he spends more time on the UI than the audio code tbh because to my ears it sounds like the same distortion algorithms each time but with a different skin.
This could be true as he said on the gearspace forums he was simply copying spice code and converting it to c++.
Also the company has a bit of a strange history. Including the owner tried to sell the company a few years ago , including all the UI's and code.
@@Bthelick Thanks for the response and the information, and also just want to say love your videos, best on the site.
Thank you Sir....👍😎
You'll never make Dan Worrall money by hawking free plugins old matey.
I have two PCs both have Waves on it. I have not yet moved to the new computer so it remains off while I use my old PC. When I finally move to the new PC I will be starting with Melda Productions and then Plugin Alliance. I will not be staying with Waves they seem to be unstable with their decision-making. I don't want to be thinking will they won't they.
Do you think we can also get a Top 10 for paid alternatives to Waves, too, please?
I could do, but I can tell you right now it's basically gonna be izotope, fabfilter and slate (perma licences of course) .
Great video, don't suppose you know of some free alternatives to Shreddage and Guitar Rig?
Not free, but I've always preferred line 6's technology to those 2. Their helix plugin / foot pedal is right up there with even fractal imo.
The best free amps I have heard are the ignite amps stuff, but it's a small range, and you still need a good cab emulation to go with them, which I still don't know a good free solution to.
@@Bthelick Cheers I'll take a look
Trying to get free F6 eq and Span master but cant find. Excellent info btw
F6 is the waves plug. TDR Nova is the equivalent I recommended.
Span is voxengo's free metering plugin, I didn't mention it here but you can get from the voxengo website. All links are in the description.
Thank you for the video :) What is the DAW in the background?
This is Ableton. Bear in mind my lessons are daw agnostic. You can do any of what I teach in any daw.
@Bthelick Okay :) I'm not familiar with Ableton, so I didn't recognize it. I'm currently using Presonus Studio One 5 and Traktion Waveform Pro.
the very great TDR Nova is even a bit "older" than Waves F6 - so one might get the impression, that Waves saw an interesting idea in the freeware world and made their own version. So, oviously it can also be the other way around,.
DISCLAIMER: I have only tried Nova free, but NOT Waves F6 so far!!!
anyway, Waves have another plug-in that looks at least "inspired by" the good old "VST Dynamics" from Cubase
u sound like that British food who travel soviet places..thoughts from toronto...
I would add the free Valhalla plugins to that list, e.g. Supermassive
It's in there
Como no me voy a suscribir??? Sos Crack
Mylo years ago wrote his debut album using only open source.
Open source plugins?
@@don2nd650 Audacity I believe.
The only Waves plugin that I think I can't live without is Infected Mushroom Pusher. I have some Infected Mushroom plugins but I don't think you can get Pusher without Waves. I would love to know if you have a suggestion for an alternative? I use it for Mastering mainly.
Sorry I'm the wrong guy to answer that one. I never have anything on the master buss and my releases go out like that. It's the completely opposite way of working so I just never use those kinds of plugins.
@@Bthelick fair enough! I always used to like an extra pair of ears to check my mix before release so always used to send them off for professional mastering. I did a module on mastering as part of my degree in music production, but most of it was about trying to 'fix' problems with the mix; but even when I master my own stuff I still like to export a 24 bit wav and then master it afterwards. Most of the time I'm just limiting to -8 dB LUFS and little else, (provided I get the mix right it doesn't need anything else) but Pusher does add a little bit of 'fairy dust' that I really like!
@@timjames6173 yeah I get ya. You might like plugins like sound theory Gulfoss or voxengo TEOTE in that case, they do a final dynamic curve tweak which people are using as final checks.
Here are some of my free secret weapons -
Kiive Audio - Warmy & Xtressor Nuke for EQ and compression (honestly ridiculous that warmy is free, beautiful emulation of the real deal).
Cloudseed for Reverb. Huge and Beautiful
Free Clip by Venn Audio is sweet for some high quality loudness in a few flavours.
Again for crunch and loudness, Burier Free by Kit Plugins is pretty standout.
Rift Freedback Lite by Minimal Audio is also pretty sick for distorion (normally $29 and free right now).
And then finally all the legacy kilohearts & audio damage stuff is free now, along with AD's amazing compressor Rough Rider.
DEELAY!
Analog Obsession
I'm not a fan personally. Pretty graphics though!
Thank you kindly, ...Do you know anything for vocal rider?
That one might be irreplaceable.
"Outlaw Lite" by "W. A. Production" is the closest, that I have found and it´s pretty close IMHO - their other free plug-ins are nice, too
There is an older plugin I'll have to look it up, but I don't consider rider an essential plugin at all. I work fast, I finish 3 - 6 tracks a week and I've not needed rider for at least 8 years now.
In FL studio patcher plugin there is a vocal rider.
U can create your own vocal rider with a compressor, idk how to explain it to u tho