Audio Apps/Plugins

I am a HUGE fan of Schwa (who is John Schwartz, one of the REAPER developers...cool).  His plugs are a bit different.  There is the CMX, which works as a doubler for vocals or anything really (nice)...don't believe me, check out this song, as I used it on the 1st acoustic heard.  The Dyno is an envelope driven compressor, which is very helpful with percussion or any difficult clip.  Oligarc is a whole palate of analog FX, which includes a filer, drive, chorus, and phaser.  Sculpto is similar ...
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Now these plugs are not free, but only cost around $39 each, and they are free to evaluate (and there is no limit on the eval period).  My favorites are 1973, Vibe EQ, Event Horizon, and the very cool Bad Buss Mojo.  Give these a try, as they are very easy to use, warm, and free to try.  Oh, two other things, they are 64 bit precision within (NICE) and there are x64 versions available for those who have made that computer/OS jump to 64 bit.

Stillwell's site

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You have got to be a rookie if you haven't heard of Sinus's plugins, well at least FreeVerb Too, which is based on Jazar's original freeverb code.  For some reason Sinus really made FreeVerb come alive.  I have tried his compressors and they are nice, but the FreeVerb is VERY versatile and warm.  If you're looking for a simple, warm, and versatile reverb (not convolution) than this is your FREE ticket.

Sinus's site

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Now Liquid SOnics has another free plug and a bunch of pay plugs, but I'm reviewing the Reverberate LE.  The plug is VERY easy to use.  It's a convolution reverb that is VERY easy on the CPU/RAM.  Even REAPER's own ReaVerb uses more CPU/RAM than this (sorry Cockos).  This is a good one.  (don't forget you'll need impulses to use this).

LiquidSonics site

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I love Voxengo for two reasons, warmth and ease of use, okay three...they are also very pretty.  These are their free plugins, as they have some pay plugs as well.  Some of these have recently been updated.  Some great plugs to check out.  I love the Tube Amp.

Voxengo (free) site

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This plugins are awesome.  They are very CPU and RAM light, which is great on older machines.  They have an OS interface (basically it uses Windows or Mac's look a bit).  Some criticize them for being not the prettiest, but they are very easy to use while still giving you control over almost everything.  They can be both surgical and warm.  (If you have REAPER you won't need these, unless you want them for another app).

ReaPlugs site

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These plugins have very specific uses, unlike EQ and Compression, which are used pretty commonly.  I honsestly only use one of their plugs- X-Cita.  X-Cita is a aural exciter/sonic maximizer plugin, which is excellent for mastering.

Elogoxa site

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Some great (really) great plugins are being made over at TAL's site.  I love the ease of use and the sound quality is both retro and clean.  I personally am not huge into MIDI, unless it's percussion related, but the VSTi plugs seemed quite nice sounding as well.  These plugins are all free, but really deserve some cash.

TAL site

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