The reason I say intermediate is because I don’t like complicated VSTs - I’m a session musician not a sound engineer but I do want my work to sound great.
Any VSTs that have a simple interface or loads of presets? I’m looking for EQ/Compressor/Reverb and anything else I should be aware of that can improve the sound of recordings.
Thank you guys 
Waves has a bunch of the signature series type plugins that are designed to be plugin and play. I personally don’t love using those types of plugins, but if you are looking for fast, no-nonsense, then those can be a good place to start. Just watch for sales, because they have them all the time.
Although, usually non-complicated means narrow use as well (not a hard and fast rule). If you want a simple one or two knob compressor, you’ll want a different one for drums and a different one for vocals, etc. and it will require hunting around quite a bit to find the one that you feel fits best.
Hi Maru - Which DAW are you using? The reason I ask is that many DAWs come with fairly easy to use eq and compression, so it might be worth exploring those before shelling out for 3rd party plugins.
I’ll check out Waves!
I’m using Cubase AI Elements 8 (I don’t really need more as a session musician cause all I do is track lol)
If that’s the case, I’d definitely consider sticking with the stock plugins. There’s this idea floating around that stock plugins are no good, but that’s just not the case. I mean, they can be bad, but so can 3rd party.
Cubase stock EQ and compression are great… I use them all the time. It’s only the reverb I wasn’t too keen on but there are a HEAP of reverbs downloadable…
Dude, if you wanna know about plugins, you came to the right forum!
What instrument? I can throw some ideas your way, but it would help to know. There’s a number of great plugins that shine on some instruments, and suck on others.
Haha glad I made the right choice! I do tracks with mainly guitar, piano, rhodes, horns and strings.
Damn! Care to add a harp, some bagpipes, and an entire woodwind section to that? lol
Its hard to tell how much experience you may or may not have with some of this stuff, so I apologize in advance if I insult your intelligence with the basics.
Is your guitar mostly classical, mostly steel string acoustic, electric, or all 3? There are some others specific to that instrument that I’ll run by you if you let me know.
…Its rare that I recommend this Slate verb, but it may be really good for your application.
First of all, if you want presets, this guys is can do it. The bottom menu is exactly that. And its super simple. Take a sec and look thru it. The bottom “unit” column are models of well respected reverbs this plugin simulates. And everything to the right are sounds that would be found within a Lexicon 224, an EMT 250, an Eventide 3000, a Lexicon 480 etc… So the sub lists to the right are all presets so to speak. Unless your curiosity gets the better of you, you’re not obligated to learn single thing about those hardware units being emulated in order to use this plugin. Just click through the presets until you find something you like, then you’re good to go.
The top is divided into 3 categories (as you can see). To the left there’s a simple 3 band EQ with an on/off switch. The middle column adjusts some reverb parameters, but on this plugin, the middle part can mostly be left alone. You only need to turn the decay knob to lengthen and shorten the length of the reverb tail. The right section (Gain, Wet/Dry) is a volume knob, and a blend knob between the dry signal and the amount of reverb.
Here’s a plugin that gives you a LOT of tone for not a lot of effort. Many pro engineers like myself LOVE this thing because it adds thickness, warmth, grit, and energy to tracks, and its fairly unique in how it sounds. However, is versatile enough to be used on pianos, horn sections, drum sets, guitars, etc… Its a distortion plugin. Everyone distorts a clav and a rhodes…but why would you distort a pretty clean piano? Because a lot of the listeners perception of ‘large’ these days has to do with what we call saturation. The way this Devil Loc often gets used, is you dial some grit, back it all the way out, then slowly blend it back in to taste.
Here’s another highly useful and fool-proof plugin that can get your session tracks polished up quickly and easily. This one adds a subtle sense width and spaciness without being obtrusive or sounding canned. They key on all of these is how you use the wet/dry. (Because too much of any good thing eventually becomes bad). The ‘style’ button in the middle basically gives you three presets of widening effect, and you sort of just turn the other knobs until you like what you hear. Great for spreading out keyboards and horns. Also works wonders on acoustic and electric guitars.
Here’s another VERY easy to use, but highly professional tool. This one gives natural acoustic instruments a vibrant and lifelike charm, by exaggerating detail and making things clearer. This plugin is very popular with pro mix engineers. Simply move the two sliders in the middle up and down until what you hear sounds better than it did before. There’s no correct or incorrect way to set this thing. No one actually knows what it does. The company that made it has never disclosed what’s going on ‘under the hood’, and engineers have been guessing at it for years.
This last one is free, and its damn easy to use. Just turn the knob in the middle. 
…hope this helps. Let us know if you have any questions
Haha! 
Thanks so much!! I’ll be checking those out tonight. In terms of guitar it’s mainly electric but would be good to have something to sweeten up a steel string and nylon too.
I wouldn’t buy any, Every Daw has great plugins.I use Cubase 9 (i was silly and wasted so much cash that wasn’t necessary, i regret that) learn compression and eq with the plugins in the DAW then if you feel you need more go from there. Id also say that “IF” you start checking out other plugins maybe try a Slate subscription so you don’t end up down the rabbit hole of buying plugins and you can end the sub it if you don’t like them. And hell im not even a Slate fan boy! 
Do you have a spectrum analyser and LUFS meter? They are the plugins I use the most.
