Soundtoys discussion

I use it on every production, the delay, decapitator grimes the bass bus compressor, sometimes the plate reverb, for transition fx. They dont look good, but they sound good. Also microshift on drums , to make them sound a little bit differnt for each hit. Crystalizer is also good. The others i dont use that often, but - well - i just started to glue everything with fx - so they might have their use case.

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For me, I came to the game late after I already had pretty mature tracking and mastering chains. I didn’t think Soundtoys would have a lot to offer that I didn’t already have covered. But that was the me who had not yet experienced PhaseMistress. There’s always room for a superb phaser and PhaseMistress is the superbest.

Also SuperPlate. I’m not short on reverbs, but it finds zones that are hard for me to get to using anything else. Love it.

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I will give the phaser a shot :slight_smile:

Been using Soundtoys for quite a while, and they are absolutely fantastic for that magical ā€œbit of somethingā€. Crystallizer, PhaseMistress and EchoBoy get used on almost everything I make.
Also the effect rack is super convenient for setting up some processing in a single plugin instance, and worth it by itself even without the standalone versions.

5.5 is a very minor upgrade for me, but being able to resize (almost) everything is quite nice.

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I bought them for my kid’s birthday and now my wife won’t speak to me.

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I purchased the upgrade but haven’t installed it yet. $19

Longtime user, but not always my go-to anymore.

I use Arturia’s Tube Cutlure over Decapitator, but Decapitator has its own character, so it’s not a better than/lesser than issue. I’m also doing more in Live with native plugins, so I’ll reach for Roar more often than either of those, even for subtle stuff.

I still love PrimalTap, Alterboy, MicroShift, Superplate, Devil-Loc, Radiator, Little Radiator and I think it’s all still useful.

For Effects Rack, I like to run through the presets If I get stuck, but I otherwise don’t really use it.

If I didn’t own it, I’d still want to get the bundle.

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Soundtoys and Valhalla are by far my favorite plugin companies. I use PhaseMistress, FilterFreak and EchoBoy on almost everything, plus a bit of the other ones in the bundle. It’s important to get under the hood and program them per track to get the best results. Overall sound quality is amazing.

In fact besides the stock Ableton plugins, the only other ITB fx I use are Blackhole and Lunacy’s Beam.

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Longtime user. Decapitator winds up on so many tracks. It’s super versatile for color and character. Little Plate is always on a return track, and is my main reverb for creating a space in the song. I’ll use other verbs for specific effects and sound design. Echoboy is usually in use somewhere. Depending on the production, Devil Loc Deluxe is killer on drums.

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Step up the big leagues

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I’m moving most of my stuff otb since the whole ā€˜you’lll own nothing and like it’ mantra is sweeping through.

But, there’s only 4 vst companies i buy from: SoundToys, D16, Fabfilter, and izotope.

Edit: totally forgot about Valhalla, so 5 plugins

I use decap a lot, but my primary is devil loc and devil loc deluxe. It gives me the mid-range crunch i want for a 90s imperfect feel. Black Lion is now releasing hardware units for 499$ where they teamed up with Shure to rebuild it.

I use echoboy quite a bit and of course decap, usually on triode or the neve modes. Microshift for some width and i keep it tight. I prefer D16’s fazortan over phase mistress

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…no discussion needed…soundtoys, created by former eventide developers, are one of those rare timeless plugin tools…prestine soundquality in common use all over the places, from the average bedroomproduction to the last existing hi end studios for rent…

what fabfilter is for all sorts of dynamics and eq’ing, soundtoys is for all sorts of delay and sound makeups…

nothing really new, but that solid and classic, they still can demand higher pricetags for good reasons…

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Agree them and Valhalla and Fabfilter. Dont need anything else for fx and studio mixing.

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Yeah I have mixed feeling on iLok. I do feel a bit funny about it but equally I’ve literally never had an issue with it. Maybe I will and I’ll eventually swear off it, but for now and for the most part I’ve not had any failures of any note.

Anyway, Soundtoys!

I’ve heard a few YouTubers say they’re a bit old now, which is kind of interesting. I sort of feel certain software is like hardware in that it’s just good and continues to be good. I feel that sort of incremental comparison is probably not handy. Soundtoys is in there with the likes of uhe for me in that they have these handy tools that sound good as soon as you switch them on.

I don’t use the whole suite extensively, but return often to enough of it to make it a no brainer. Decapitator and Microshift are my go-tos, but the star of the show for me is Effect Rack. Running through presets to get in a zone or add a bit of ā€œsomethingā€ basically always works.

Resizing was long overdue so paying $19 for that is fine for me - I assume it did take some work. Plus while they gave away SpaceBlender there is no such thing as a free lunch. With the resize, playing with something like Tremolator in the editor just got a whole heap easier.

Overall, still a great package for the money.

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Can you resize the effect rack now?

No, that one isn’t resizeable. I’m guessing there’s a reason for that but they didn’t mention it.

ā€œI’ve heard a few YouTubers say they’re a bit old nowā€

When your craft revolves around volume of videos, using anything will get tiring over time. Content creation in general is about maximizing output and exploiting anything and everything you can for clicks. There are very few yt’ers who genuinely do it to help people

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…meanwhile, as also mentioned by @Robleighton22 , valhalla is the perfect example for new, also already timeless concepts, where u don’t need to pay high prices…many new great alternatives out there, even for free…

only bad thing u could mention about soundtoys is, they started, when copyprotection was still a thing u had to consider, if ur running a software company that depends on many developers and various other employees to make ur business work…once ilok was a nightmare…but even those days are long gone…nowadays, u’ll find heaps of small software companies that just get the job done perfectly, while the involved stuff are just a few, working from home, keeping costs at most efficient costs…

u could not argue that way, when soundtoys was founded by former eventide emplyees, back then…

and that next new shit after next new shit cycles are getting really out of hand lately…there was a time, where users were not expected to be only dear customers but also frequent beta testers…

Am I missing something here???!!!

I’m on v5.4 and Soundtoys are wanting $49 from me to upgrade to v5.5… but, I see ZERO in 5.5 that I don’t already have… what’s going on?? And, to annoy me more, every time I open a ST plugin there’s a big yellow banner telling me to upgrade. Uh??:

It’s an update that brings Spadeblender into Effect Rack, and makes the GUIs of the individual plugins resizeable. A few people have had $19 in their accounts during the current sale.

On another forum, at least at the time, apparently there was no reason to pay extra money.

I already paid, but supposedly you can download and install all the 5.5 upgrade content without spending a dime.

Have you followed instructions for installing the upgrade? I’m sincerely asking because as I already paid, I can’t check and I don’t know if that’s true.