vst instruments & effects

[Opivy]

Well, I've been Messing with Halion lately - (which until now I've only used for an exact instrument I was looking for. say, cello - double bass - flute and what not) but just started exploring all the other sounds on there

and I have to say there are some awesome sounds on there! I just blew through an hour listening to all of them,

But first off, I'm wondering if there are any advantages to using the effects that are in the plugin itself (the presets already have reverb and sometimes chorus and other things added) or to bypass the effects in the plugin and then add them as inserts.

Seems like a dumb question, but I get very curious about the alternate ways of doing things.

--Also, some of these sounds seem to be really far back - for example, if I record an acoustic guitar part, and want to play a little lead over it with one of the weird synth sounds - they seem to be behind the guitar (even when turning the volume up)

Is this just the way the sound is? Or is it something that can be fixed during mixing.

 

[grimtraveller]

When I first started using VSTis I was so excited at the prospect of finally having any instrument I desired at my disposal that I tended to ignore much of what I've since come to regard as sacrosanct. For example I just used to plug in and play and with something like a violin, doing fast turns would yield a sound that was more violin than anything I'd come across in 25 years........but on closer listening to many of the recordings I did circa '05-'08, you can see that excitement overtook critical listening and while I'd experiment with the built in effects, I wouldn't with the most important part, in my opinion - the tweak ! Hence, some songs of mine have bits that sound, well, a little fake.
I now apply the same 'r-r-rule' to VSTis that I do when I record real live instrumentation - unless there's a really good reason or unless I want a particular effect that will stay forever, I record dry. Depending on what instrument it is {actual or VSTi}, I may apply light effect afterwards. But the most important and time consuming aspect of using VSTis for me is tweaking, using the parameters to get said instrument to sound precisely like said instrument. In Sampletank 2, there are 20 effects and you can use up to 5 simultaneously. Rarely will I use any. And with something like Swarsystems, it's the tweak that makes the difference between a sitar sounding like a sitar and not like a 60s trebly over tremelo'd guitar !
The other thing that's important is that when mixing those VSTis, not to have them too out front. Maybe it's because I'm a rather lame mixer, but maximum impact necesitates a not too bright and upfront VSTi. I remember that with Garritan Personal orchestra {the first VSTi I ever bought}, even when the reverb was turned fully counterclockwise, the reverb was still there and I didn't know how to kill it.

 

[kcearl]

your standalone effects will likely be better quality and have more paremeters to automate...and thats the key to getting a good synth sound 90% of the time, automation imo