I’m looking for ways to finish my music faster. I’m very confident that I want to keep working with hardware. However, one aspect where I’ve noticed hardware is slowing me down severely is effects. I’ve started to make more characterful effects less integral to my songwriting and sound design process and only add them after I already have a good foundation.
I have Ableton Live 11 Suite and am looking for effects plugins especially to replace the more experimental effects from Microcosm. I’m also looking for interesting delays like what Chase Bliss is doing with Thermae, Reverse Mode C or delay functions in Mood/Habit/Blooper. There’s also a great analog delay emulation on Specular Tempus - as that’s a digital pedal, there sure is a good plugin. Also thankful for other suggestions for effects that have a bit of that “more like an instrument” character of boutique pedals.
I’ve got the bases for a good core delay, reverb and chorus covered within my Digis. However, if there are good plugins that are like a “best of” variety of these effects that you can pick from, I’m also open for that. Thinking of something like the reverb and delay collections on Specular Tempus or Empress Reverb and Echosystem. They offer the bread and butter stuff but also some more out there things. I love the giant reverb walls you can make with some of Specular Tempus’ algos, but am not a fan of shimmer. I’m also not a big fan of Strymon’s Big Sky plugin and think it’s too expensive, but that’s the kind of thing I’m looking for here. I already have Valhalla Plate Reverb.
I wouldn’t know where to start. As a big Digitone fan, I’m interested in Fors plugins like Bokeh, is that a good start?
Absolutely. As a guitar player, I love the idea of this portable DAW with great sounding effects and recording capabilities.
I think PitchLoop is the most interesting delay in Live, right next to Vector Delay. Its LFO, random and segment functions are extremely fun to use. I feel like whatever I put through it becomes an interesting, Knobs-esque track.
Plus the Vector series and the Spectral duo, dig in! Even some of the more standard fx modulated in interesting ways, for this I’d recommend the (free?) Manifest Audio Mod Squad MIDI devices. Suddenly you’ll be sending sample & hold modulation to a source over a defined volume threshold and other madness.
I also like Other Desert Cities from Audio Damage, a very experimental delay.
For immediacy, especially if you map it to a midi controller, Koala FX from Elf Audio is hard to beat. You buy the app and Ableton will automatically recognize the AUv3
check the Inspired By Nature pack, it has Vector Delay and other cool instruments
PitchLoop89 is really awesome
check aslo the Valhalla free ones, they are not like the Plate you have: Supermassive, SpaceModulator and FreqEcho - all high quality, easy to control effects, there’s lots you can do with these
I agree. But I feel like the knob touching aspect is less important for effects than it is for synths, at least for me. While I still don’t like staring at a screen, the upsides could be worth it for me. If the plugin solution works, I can then see how I can map MIDI controls to effects so I can get rid of looking at the screen.
Some plugins do similar things - people have mentioned a few above, but after spending months trying out options and trying to build effects racks and Bitwig grid, I came to the conclusion that there’s nothing that does exactly what Mood II does so I got myself one.
And having gotten my hands on the pedal, I’m even more of that view - it’s not so much even about the individual effects that are included but how they’re packaged together and interact with each other. But like I say there’s definitely stuff to get you in that territory, but how Mood works as an instrument - because that’s really what it is - is quite specific, this becomes clear when you have it in front of you and start tweaking.
Which probably isn’t that helpful, but it seems like the Puremagnetik plugins are in this same ballpark and I don’t think have been mentioned so far.
They’ve been on my list to try for ages, always been impressed with the demos.
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