What are your favorite plugins for 2017 so far?

Recording, Mixing and Producing Plugins
#41

I am very similar to brutus but completely different I’m sure, but I have been using Jamstix for a couple years now. I use it in all my songs unless collabing with someone who does their own drums.

And I am not a drummer. If I were a great drummer, or had an ear for specific things I expect to hear in the drums, I could certainly customize Jamstix much more realistically. Instead, I set the basics, make minimal change ups, and just let it play whatever its drummer brain wants to most of the time. But one day I might learn how to use its features much more fully.

Bottom line, I highly recommend it, but I strongly suggest getting all the extra features and drum kits. I like the big BonzoPak drums, a Zeppelin modelled drums/drummers/styles/songs deal, I use it in this song I just recorded yesterday.
http://indierecordingdepot.com/uploads/default/original/2X/5/57a9c63243733e6caf8577e1c82e907ab8d6c6c6.mp3http://indierecordingdepot.com/uploads/default/original/2X/5/57a9c63243733e6caf8577e1c82e907ab8d6c6c6.mp3

But my other favorite plugins are also featured in this song- Virtual Guitarist VG-IRON and VG-AMBER. I also have VG-SPARKLE, and I’ll probably get VG-SILK soon. I have a guitar but cannot play well at all. These instruments are pretty easy to use to create interesting guitar-like tracks. They are fun for me and I find I can be pretty creative musically with them.

The other VSTi is out of business Camel Alchemy (now only in GarageBand to some degree) for the synths. I consider it a go to instrument to layer some not so widely heard complex sounds.

The side effect of using the virtual drummer and virtual guitarists is I get busy fast, probably overplaying as a tendency rather than being tastefully restrained. This song is the perfect example of that. I like it, but it is busy rock.

#42

Even Better Still

I’m not sure why the upload didn’t work before. This is a link to Google Docs.

#43

I just bought VG-SILK this afternoon, installed it, and created this 2:40 song within an hour.

Practicing Retiring

I realize I’m not utilizing all the cool features here, but this might give everyone an idea of the VSTi.

I took the basic track, duplicated it, used a different guitar pattern and added a lot effect on that one, and it brightens up the guitar in a very subtle way.

There are other virtual guitars, and I know they are very cool, but I like how the VG sound and work.

#44

Jamstix looks very interesting to me as well. I did the demo/trial and although I was impressed, I’m going to wait until version 4 comes out because the new features listed on the website that it is supposed to have will be huge improvements. These will address the things about it that I find to be a hindrance and require a lot less of a change to how I work than 3 does. One main thing is that it claims to be able to use third-party drum patterns an samples, of which I have a ton, but in the demo version it was not very good at doing that. I’ve invested a fair amount into what I have now (AD2 plus many add on packs, plus a bunch of third party stuff from Platinum Grooves and Groove Monkee) and don’t want to pull that trigger unless I know for sure I can still use all that material…