Rack FX or plugins?

[getuhgrip]

Just got a presonus fire studio project up and running. Tinkering with reaper, but not terribly excited about the included effects.

Any thoughts about the viability of hardware fx (tc helicon, etc) vs plugins?

 

[Kingofpain678]

Just got a presonus fire studio project up and running. Tinkering with reaper, but not terribly excited about the included effects.

Any thoughts about the viability of hardware fx (tc helicon, etc) vs plugins?

Well think about it this way,

You're recording a guitar track, you got a bitchin tone. You decide you want some delay on your track so you throw your outboard FX processor in the signal chain and set some delay. Awesome. You record you're part and you do a perfect take so you throw the track in the mix and it turns out you don't want the delay, well, now the track has a permanent delay on it and so now you have to record another take.

with plugins all you gotta do is a record and take and you can add, subtract, increase, and reduce all you want at any time during tracking or mixing.


Summary: outboard gear is permanent, VST's are not.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

Just got a presonus fire studio project up and running. Tinkering with reaper, but not terribly excited about the included effects.

Any thoughts about the viability of hardware fx (tc helicon, etc) vs plugins?

Get better plugs.



I've been down this road too. When I first made my move to the darkside and sold my Adats and Soundcraft, I kept my racks of outboard gear for years. I just couldn't part with them. But, as I encountered better plugins, I began to stop using this reverb, or that harmonizer, or that delay until I got to where I just wasn't using anything at all. I finally sold it all off, but kept a couple of compressors.
The moral? Once you find good plugins, forever will it dominate your destiny young padawan.

 

[getuhgrip]

Okay...any recommendations for cheap or free plugins? Free is good, and I really like the free ones where they send a rebate check!

 

[aimpark]

sorry, neither cheap, nor free...but what I can recommend for you to get is a UAD card and get some UA plugins, they are really great...also waves do have good plugs, right now they have a special on buying a bundle and getting one for free, but only on a specific one....check it out...