The Top 20 Plugins for Musicians and Songwriters
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4

6. Digidesign Producer Factory Pro Bundle

If you bought a Digidesign 002 audio interface, you should already have this bundle; if you have an Mbox or M-Audio interface, it’s one to seriously consider buying. Producer Factory Pro consists of 12 plugins: the Moogerfooger Analog Delay, JoeMeek Meequalizer VC-5, JoeMeek SC-2 Photo Optical Compressor, Cosmonaut Voice, Digidesign Maxim, Bomb Factory BF-3A Classic Compressor, Digidesign D-Fi , Tel-Ray Variable Delay, SansAmp PSA-1, Moogerfooger Ring Modulator, Voce Spin, and Voce Chorus/Vibrato. It’s a great little Swiss army knife of creative effects. Retail price: $399.



Digi Producer Factory

7. Waves Native Power Pack

This bundle of seven proven Waves plugins includes the L1 Ultramaximizer, TrueVerb, De-Esser, SuperTap 2-tap, Q10 Equalizer, C1 Parametric Compander, and S1 Stereo Imager. The L1 is an amazing dynamic limiter for individual tracks or the entire mix bus. TrueVerb is a really nice, easy-to-use reverb. The de-esser and the EQ and stereo imager are exceptional as well. For serious mixes, this is a great bundle to consider. Retail price: $500.

Waves Power Pack

8. Audio Ease Altiverb V5

This is a high-dollar plugin for most musicians, but if you think about what you would pay for a hardware reverb unit, it’s actually a great deal. Altiverb is one of the most advanced reverb plugins available. It features an amazing collection of editable presets and very versatile parameter controls, while maintaining the important ease-of-use factor. The reverb patches, derived from analyses of actual acoustic spaces, range from the Sydney Opera House to the inside of a fire truck. This is my favorite reverb. Retail price: $595.

AudioEase Altiverb

9. Trillium Labs (dist. by Digidesign) TL Space Native Edition

This is a more affordable reverb than Altiverb with fewer frills and a bit less creative flexibility, but it’s a great all-around reverb unit. TL Space has a straightforward user interface and some great reverb sounds sampled from real acoustic spaces. Retail price: $495.

Trillium Labs TL Space

10. Prosoniq Orange Vocoder

I’ve owned this plugin for years. It’s something you don’t use every day, but it’s a great creative choice for some pop and techno tracks. It’s easy to figure out and sounds like the real thing. (See the O’Reilly vocoder tutorial.) Retail price: $245.

Prosoniq Orange Vocoder

BONUS: McDSP Classic Pack

McDSP makes some amazing products with exceptional sound quality. The interfaces are simple and elegant. This bundle features four diverse EQ and compression plugins: Analog Channel, Compressor Bank, Filter Bank, and the MC2000. This is a powerful arsenal to have on hand when it’s time to mix. Retail Price: $795.

McDSP MC2000

What to Buy?

Even though street prices are lower than the retail prices listed above, most of us can’t afford to purchase all of these plugins. So what do you do? I always buy what I am going to use the most. As a piano player, I could not live without Ivory, but with that said, Mach Five has a great Bösendorfer piano, and you get many more instruments plus the ability to add more samples in a huge variety of formats. So although you wouldn’t have the choice of pianos, the additional orchestration options might make up for it.

If I had to pick three plugins from each list that would give me the most bang for my buck, they would be:

Gina’s Top Three Bang-for-the-Buck Virtual Instruments

  1. Spectrasonics Stylus RMX
  2. Spectrasonics Atmosphere
  3. MOTU Mach Five

Gina Top Three Bang-for-the-Buck Effect Plugins

  1. Sound Toys Native Effects Bundle
  2. Native Instruments Guitar Rig
  3. Waves Power Pack Bundle

In choosing what to buy, you really have to weigh what’s most important to you. Is it your main instrument or your palette of instruments? For effects, do you use more natural-sounding effects like the Waves bundles or do you like more diverse collections like the Sound Toys bundle?

Check out the plugin developer websites and download the demos or play their demo sounds online. But do me a favor: don’t pirate software. These companies are working hard to create these inspiring plugins and should be paid for their product. Each one of these plugins has played a huge role in my own inspiration and creativity. I hope they inspire you as well.

Plugin Music Examples

1. Breathing Effects

This is a quick a cappella vocal I sang. One mix is dry (any pitch mistakes were made on purpose). The other was processed with Antares Auto-Tune, Waves TrueVerb, Sound Toys Echo Boy, and Prosoniq Orange Vocoder.

2. The Plugin Piece

This is a very short piece I threw together for this article to illustrate a piece of music that uses only plugins—no live instruments or vocals. It features USB Charlie and Xtreme FX; Spectrasonics Stylus RMX, Atmosphere, and Trilogy; Synthogy Ivory; and Sound Toys Echo Boy, Phase Mistress, and Crystallizer. The screenshot shows how the plugins were arranged.

Pro Tools Plugging
(Click to enlarge.)

3. "No Rules" Demo

This is the demo version of a song called “No Rules” for a project I’m writing and producing with German producer Oliver Adolph. The drums are all Stylus RMX. Bass is Trilogy. I used Auto-Tune and VocAlign on the vocals. I’m playing Native Instruments Elektrik Piano and Synthogy Ivory. For effects I’m using Echo Boy, Waves L1 Compressor, McDSP Filter Bank and Compressor Bank, and Audio Ease Altiverb. The only live sounds in the song are the vocals and guitars, although guitarist Kim Carroll played through Native Instruments Guitar Rig plugin.

Gina Fant-Saez is the CEO of eSession.com, the owner of Blue World Music, and the author of Pro Tools for Musicians & Songwriters (Peachpit, 2006).

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