go
here and register for a free package that includes all of the fx below. here's
a link to the thread.
Compressors/Limiters:
* Blockfish - a very simple color compressor with saturation. can be fairly clean, to super distorted. basic operation, one knob for compression amount, and one knob for speed which i believe covers attack and release. also the output is limited, so it won't clip on the way out. sounds good on lots of stuff, i like it on snare drum and vocals. also has the "complex" feature, which basically makes for some more XTREME compression. sounds cool.
* Kjaerhus Classic Compressor - a pretty standard comp, capable of some super-slammed sounds. relatively clean, has a full set of controls.
* Density /
Density mkII - a colorful compressor/master limiter that sounds good on the main bus, or on a drum bus. can range from subtle compression, to some very in-your-face pumpy sort of sounds. really helps to glue a drum mix when used properly. also has a mix knob for wet/dry signal so it can do parallel compression.
* DVC LITE - this is a great clean comp. sounds good on damn near anything that needs compression. works nice on kick/snare too, without over-coloring the signal. has a basic set of controls with auto-gain-makeup.
* George Yohng's W1 Limiter - a pretty decent master limiter. run a couple of them in series to help bring up the overall volume of a mix. nice sounding clone of the Waves L1 limiter i believe.
* Mdsp Compressor - a nice color compressor. has a basic set of controls, auto-makeup, and a "drive" control for a little more saturation. sounds good on bass and guitars.
* Nasty VSD - this is a "virtual summing device", but it basically works like a master limiter/clipper. good for pushing a few extra db out of your master track. can add some color if you push it hard. can help glue a mix, use sparingly.
* TLS Saturated Driver - this is a driver sort of compressor/clipper. to me, it sounds really good on bass, to give it a more dense and saturated sound.
*
SSL LMC-1 - a super-colorful compressor. has limited use due to its extreme coloration, but it kicks ass on certain things. use it on a room mic track with extreme amounts of compression to get that crazy 80's sort of smashed drum sound. helps bring out sustain in cymbals (use it in parallel with the dry overhead track). also sounds cool on backing vox as it kinda acts like a HPF/LPF and helps to separate it from the main vox track. fun to experiment with.
Equalizers:
*
BootEQmkII - a pretty cool "parametric" color EQ. has Hi/HiMid/Mid/Low controls with variable frequencies, and also a "driver" section with tube/vintage switches and another low freq control knob. pretty versatile EQ and sounds good on anything.
* Kjaerhus Classic EQ - a 7-band, 2-channel graphic EQ. the frequency bands are quite useful, and it sounds awesome. good for a slight high-end boost on snare, or taming muddiness on bass.
* Nyquist EQ5 - now this thing is AWESOME. the interface is probably different from any EQ you've ever tried, as it has no numbers on it. it basically has 5 different colored bands, with variable bandwidth. hard to describe it without being able to see it, but it starts off as 3 squares on a horizontal line. the middle square represents the freqency and gain, and the outer squares can be pulled apart to increase/decrease bandwidth. it really helps you to use your ears, and makes it easy to sweep frequencies and find trouble spots on certain tracks. you gotta try it out to get it, but man its my most-used EQ. very clean and efficient, gets the job done on any sound source. it has a built-in compensation feature (you'll see what i mean when you use it), but i made a patch to disable it if you want. works great with Voxengo SPAN (analyzer), as SPAN will help you find buildup in trouble frequencies, and Nyquist uses the same frequency "map" so you can target that area and cut it as necessary. #1 free plugin fo sho.
* PushTec - another useful EQ. it has an interesting layout, with boost & cut (push & pull) controls and selectable frequencies. sound is pretty transparent. i don't really use it anymore since i bought
VibeEQ, but i used to use it a fair amount.
Chorus/Delay/Reverb:
* Kjaerhus Classic Chorus - a pretty nice chorus. i like using it to get a "doubled" effect on vocals sometimes. or even using it in "spread" mode with a longer delay time as sort of a subtle vocal widener/fattener.
* Chorus CH-2 - this is a pretty cool chorus with multiple voices, pan controls and delay controls for each voice. has an cool interface too, making it easy to use and highly tweakable for some cool FX.
* Kjaerhus Classic Delay - this is the pimp-daddy of all delays IMO. i use this instead of reverb 90% of the time. you can get so many sounds out of it, its just ridiculous. has Tape/Analog/Digital delay modes, can sync to project BPM, has pan control and "ping-pong" mode to bounce the delay from side to side. also has Low and Hi cut frequencies. a great sounding delay plug, i use this shit ALL THE TIME.
* epicVerb - works great as a bus reverb. just create a new track in Reaper, and add this to it, set the blend to all the way wet, and send any tracks that need reverb to
the epicVerb track. has a few different reverb types, length and predelay controls, and also an EQ with HPF/LPF.
* GlaceVerb - another great sounding reverb. comes with lots of presets, but usually requires a lot of tweaking like Gerg said. can sound kind of "metallic" unless you mess around with it a bit to find the right sound. again, works great as a bus reverb when you set the mixture to 100% wet. i believe i made a tutorial in the Reaper section that explains how to set up bus FX in reaper.
* Mdsp DuckVerb - a reverb with a neato compression feature. this one works better as a track FX rather than on a bus. not as pretty sounding as some other verbs, but the compression feature makes for some interesting FX on certain tracks. fun to mess around with.
i've also included Voxengo SPAN which is a very useful frequency analyzer. i usually strap this on the master track to help with identifying problematic frequencies and muddiness. some say you should just follow your ears and that using analyzers like this is sucky and gay, but i think its a helpful tool and after using it for a while, will help you correlate what you hear to certain frequency ranges and can help train your ears.
