Legend4ry's essential workflow plugins (vst, some au/rtas)

[legend4ry]

Following the success of the sub bass thread I made (might I say it was a team effort, out to all you lot!) I thought i'd share another insight onto how I make music and maybe help a few of you!

I am very comfortable with my work flow once I get into the groove and the fundermental reason I think this is because of how I lay everything out, its simple and everything I need is right there so I don't have to do work-arounds. Maybe this will help some people who are having writers block (what ive just got out a heavy case of..) or just those who still haven't found their feet when it comes to work flow..

Feel free to share your own guides, templates and plugins.

Plugins:The who, what, where and why

Most of the plugins will be freeware due to the simple fact, if you're looking to spend money you "should" know what you're lookin' for, though I will add payware alternatives if I feel there is those what are so much better than the freeware its worth shellin' out for. Please note though, a lot of payware plugins are designed for established/hobbyist/professional producers and sound designers who put a lot of money into music thus, meaning that if you're just starting out they will have a lot of extra things you either won't understand or won't use not to mention a (probably) noticable CPU increase from most freeware I will be posting, so please trust me when I say to use freeware and don't go pirating software just cause theres a price tag on it.

Master channel strip.

Smexoscope:VST and AU (Freeware)



This plug in is FANTASTIC my favourite freeware plug in there is because it cuts out a good 10-20 minutes you needed to bounce your track and check peaks, which could take you out of the zone.

What does it do:
Smexoscope shows you the waveform of what channel strip it is on, it tells you the DB where you hover your mouse over (so you can find where the peak is) show you weird phasing, weird-bendy waveforms and other stuff what you can only visually see sometimes. It also have a "amp" section which shows you what the waveform will look like turned up! (anyone else who used to suffer from a sample having nice transients till a certain boost of volume and only noticing when you bounce will never have that problem again!)

The viewing is also dynamic so if you're compressing/eqing/using a maximizer or something you'll see how the changes are working visually as you go along!

How to use it:
So, since the plugin shows what is playing on the channel strip it is on I put 2 instances of this on my master, why 2 instances you ask? The plugin shows either left or right (changable by clicking left or right, depending what its set on) and since its such a light weight plugin and a quite small (Gui wise) plugin, its possible to look at both instances at the same time.

So to actually use it once you've loaded the plugin up load a sound and press play, its really as easy as that!


Inspector: VST, RTAS and AU (freeware)




What does it do?
Everyone could do with a spectrum analyser and a more detailed peak meter as I feel most daws I have tried have shite peak meters and some don't have a dedicated analyser, most are built into EQs. Well Inspector does both and very well, you can set where you want Caution and Warning to pop up (as in, set it to -6db and it will go into the red when it peaks above, great for mixing down to Mastering-ready levels) which is a nice touch and its spectrum analyser is quite great.

How to use it?
Place this on your master, set your peak warning levels, save the patch and then you're sorted! have it on screen when determine levels and checking for unwanted frequencies and weird peaks.

Alternatives
I haven't found anything else what does this as lightweight and as well as Inspector so heres a few individual plugins what do the same job I will let you read up on the alternatives yourself, as I feel like ive tried to 'sell' you what I use and how it can help you but if you want to look at other options, heres some links

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Peak Meters

X-ISM (Win and Os-X not sure if its an AU or not for mac) (Freeware)

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Spectrum Analysers

Manalyzer (Win and Os-X not sure if its an AU or not for mac) (Freeware)

Voxengo Span (both Os-x, Win and Win64 VST and AU) (Freeware)

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Payware

Blue Cats Analysis Bundle (Everything you can imagine is supported) (229 EUR / $299) - please note each plugin is purchasable individually so have a look at those prices if only one or do catches your eye.

schOPE(win32, 64 and os-x VST and AU) (25$) Thank you to JBE for showing me this one, I am interested by it .
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There is your master strip done and ready! Save it as a start-up template and it'll be ready to go the next time you start your daw.

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Drum Bus
Some people use them, some don't either way i'm just going to suggest a few plugins for drum bus usage, I am not going to explain how to use them as they're effects which you need to learn about on your own.



Rough Rider (win VST and os-x AU) (freeware)
I'm sure this is everyones favourite freeware compressor when it comes to adding colour, Rough Rider certainly has a great sound for getting some grittyness to your drum bus though it can make things sound "to" gelled together sometimes I find.

If you like Rough Rider is there a multiband version, which sadly comes with a price tag Rough Rider Pro


Buzcomp Free Bundle (Win only)
This is a quite old but very great freeware bundle, they're not very experimental and just do what it says on the tin.The Genecomp and Grancomp work well for drum buses and subtley gel everything together.

Buzzroom do, do a payware bundle which at 50$ I don't think is a totally bad purchase, having demo'd the bundle I can say you'd have to try it yourself as I feel it wouldn't suit everyones tastes. Click here to view

[messdup]

nice
thanks

[wub]

How would you rate Inspector vs. Voxengo Span (also freeware) in terms of waveform analysis?


(Span doesn't have the warning level function though to my knowledge)

[JBE]

I'm sure this has been said many times but it helps to create templates of sounds for different genres.

Basically I have certain samples/vsts that I like to use in just about every production of different genres. What I usually do is Take 3-4 kicks, at least 4-5 different hats, usually 2 closed, 2 open and 1 ride, then roughly 3-4 different snare/clap samples that I tend to go to quite often for that genre. You may end up changing them later on but it's a nice way to just jump right into laying down a beat when you get an idea.

For Dubstep, along with those beat samples, I will have an instance of 3xOSC already setup for sub-bass since that is what I use for my subs anyway. I will usually have 1 or 2 instances of albino with a mid-range bass patch as well as another 3xOSC with a simple pad patch so I can just grab it and start going on that. Changes will inevitably be made but again, it's nice to just have something right there to work on something. Since I use FL I also setup each one of those instruments/samples already linked to their own mixer channels, renamed to the corresponding sample/instrument as well as some basic equalizers like low and hi cutting since I tend to do that with pretty much everything. Save that to a template and now everytime I want to start a track I just click that template and I'm ready to start rather quickly.

If you're someone who likes to dabble in different genres it's nice to have these setup for each one you find yourself working on quite a bit. Once you have a pretty decent sized sample library sometimes it's a real pain in the ass sifting through your samples just to get some sounds to work with when starting a track. Especially if you're lazy like me and don't do much organizing. My sample folder consists of a bunch of folders simply named, "Kicks", "snares" and so on. Yea, I'm not very organized.

[legend4ry]

How would you rate Inspector vs. Voxengo Span (also freeware) in terms of waveform analysis?


(Span doesn't have the warning level function though to my knowledge)

From my knowledge of both, Voxengo Span IS more detailed spesh since the v2 upgrade and there are even more detailed options available out there as freeware (melda's Manaylser for example) but I also think that most people use an EQ with an analyser built in and if they don't then they should use inspector as a peaker meter and use an other analyser I kinda personally use Inspector as a "over view" to see where everythings sitting in the master. Anyways, I will be adding alternatives and finishing the main post once i've woken up a bit more.

[deadly_habit]

hah i was gonna write up a tutorial on using both those tools and a couple more on how to break down a sound to reproduce it in hopes of people learning on their own and experimenting and not coming here everytime they hear "a phat bassline" or learning sound design basics using their ears and visual cues in waveforms and shape

[wub]

How would you rate Inspector vs. Voxengo Span (also freeware) in terms of waveform analysis?


(Span doesn't have the warning level function though to my knowledge)

From my knowledge of both, Voxengo Span IS more detailed spesh since the v2 upgrade and there are even more detailed options available out there as freeware (melda's Manaylser for example) but I also think that most people use an EQ with an analyser built in and if they don't then they should use inspector as a peaker meter and use an other analyser I kinda personally use Inspector as a "over view" to see where everythings sitting in the master. Anyways, I will be adding alternatives and finishing the main post once i've woken up a bit more.

Assuming they're both relatively low CPU intensity VSTs, you could in theory use both on the Master and then turn them on/off as required.

[futures_untold]

Nice idea for a post!

For a list of freeware spectrum analyzers, check out http://www.note2.com/content/view/128/55 (Thank you Alphacat for posting this link)

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Another idea is to spend a session customising a default project file for your chosen software.

1> Create several tracks ready to be recorded upon (either midi or audio tracks)

2> Set up a standard drums track so you can simply start choosing samples instead of having to load up the track and plugins and do routing etc.

3> Set up several auxiliary send buses and preload your common effects onto them. This will allow you to focus on tweaking your sounds and help you to avoid of having to break your workflow to have to setup send buses.

4> Preload your master channel effects, leaving a few slots spare for more effects if necessary.

5> Set the tempo of the project to whatever tempo you work in most. Likewise, set the snapping grid to whatever you feel is most flexible for sketching out new ideas quickly in the sequencer.

6> Develop a colour code for your tracks and applythem to your the tracks in your template. E.g, colour the drum tracks light blue, the synth tracks purple, the audio tracks red and midi tracks grey... Obviously chose a colour theme that works for you visually.)

7> You may even wish to create empty midi blocks in a rough song structure. This is only a slight time saver as the sequencer items you need are already in place. You can get on with editing them rather than creating new ones.

8> Define your project folder structure in advance. this will help you archive and backup your material more easily if neccessary. A thread on organising samples can be found at http://www.dubstepforum.com/organising- ... 33144.html

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I'm sure there are more tips on creating a default project file, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Free and very customisable frequency analyser is Seven Phases Spectrum Analyzer.


Another freeone is FreqAnalyst by BlueCat Audio (Blue Cat Audio are mentioned above as payware)

Another fantastic one is Apulsoft apQualizr:

Its an eq with X4 oversampling and stackable EQ's as well as mid/side processing.
Coupled with a first class visualiser and you have a winner!

[wub]

A mate of mine (admittedly a hardcore producer) swears blind by having a group channel with SupaTrigga/Glitch/CrazyIvan/GlitchGirl etc all on it, routed into Edison.

He then sends out his drum loops through it periodically, bounces the ensuing chaos for a bit and chops back in - instant fills.

[JBE]

For analyzers I use schOPE.



It does cost 25 dollars but I really like it. Has everything I need right in 1 vst that is very low on cpu. Of course I got mine when they were running a sale so I only paid 10, maybe if it was 25 then I might not have bought it. I guess it depends if you feel something like this is worth it. There's also a Microschope version which doesn't offer all the features but only costs 10 dollars.

[legend4ry]

For analyzers I use schOPE.



It does cost 25 dollars but I really like it. Has everything I need right in 1 vst that is very low on cpu. Of course I got mine when they were running a sale so I only paid 10, maybe if it was 25 then I might not have bought it. I guess it depends if you feel something like this is worth it. There's also a Microschope version which doesn't offer all the features but only costs 10 dollars.

Oh wow! that looks great ! Adding it to alternatives.

[legend4ry]

Added some more stuff

[legend4ry]

Bump - cleaned up the thread a bit..

[WAR TORN]

just bumping this so I remember to read it when I get home

[futures_untold]

I've been really interested in a good frequency analyzer for Reason, but it's tricky since reason can't use vst's. i

I looked around Youtube and found this. It's a pretty clever little invention, and it doesn't color the sound like the vocoder method would.

Frequency analyser in Reason ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHR66806sNY

@Johnst: Nice find, thanks for sharing!

Patrick

[DZA]

FabFilter Pro-Q is a another one, shit is epic

[hideouz]

It's the only EQ I've used with inbuilt Spectrum Analyzer so I can't compare with any of the other ones in this thread but it does the job perfectly for me and I love it.

[therook]

Good thread bro! Post more!!!

[graish]

Smexoscope:VST and AU (Freeware)

gonna start using this, cheers for the tip

[grooki]

FabFilter Pro-Q is a another one, shit is epic

meow!