Which VST companies offer good value?

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edx500
Posts: 50
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

23 Mar 2020

Hi guys
I don't really really own a lot of VSTs (currently just a few freebies) but as things have changed the last few years I'm a lot more interested in making a major purchase or two. I've been a Reason user for more than 10 years so I haven't used VSTs much.

What I'm noticing as I shop and see all this enticing stuff out there, is that there seems to be be a scammy underside where you are being offered these very expensive bundles and packages that seem to require subscriptions or yearly updates that are very expensive.

Two companies in particular are Waves and IK multimedia....They are beginning to look like "money-pits". I find myself considering spending hundreds of dollars on these packages thinking "WOW this looks like a wonderful deal!" but there's posts and remarks I read here and there that just give me pause.

I would like to actually OWN what I purchase and not have to pay for expensive updates and renewals nor worry about obsolescence for AT LEAST a few years!

FWIW I find a lot of the current Reason devices and REs to be of good quality and whatever I purchase going forward should be worth the money. I have a few dozen synths and soft ware instruments as well as a ton of effects and utilities already available, but VSTs seem like the future especially for live performance.

So which VST companies do you consider "straight shooters" and easy to deal with?

Steedus
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Posts: 1009
Joined: 31 Aug 2015
Location: Melbourne, AU

23 Mar 2020

Currently some of my favourite VSTs are coming from:

AudioThing
- Effects, a few drum/percussion type instruments
- Many devices have been updated from time to time for free
- no iLok
- uses login to activate license (once)
- uses license file for offline activation
- activate on up to 3 computers at a time

I've also had good experiences/quality devices from:
- WavesFactory
- Soundtoys
- Felt Instruments (Believes in 1 time purchase. Any update to the product will be free for owners.)
- Spitfire Audio
- Valhalla DSP
- Arturia

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hurricane
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23 Mar 2020

U-he, no doubt.

Some of the best synths in the industry and they are extremely generous when it comes to updates (some of us here got the entire Uhbik collection for owning some of their Uhbik REs, and then we were given a free update to Uhbik v2.0 which includes a new device, and I believe the Hive V2 update was only $20) and they use a simple serial number for their copy protection.

"Licenses for our products are issued to people, not machines. You can install, activate and use your u-he products on any computers you personally own and use without having to purchase extra licenses—as long as you are the one using them.

Also, we do not differentiate between macOS, Windows and Linux—one license covers everything."
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soroc sosta
Posts: 208
Joined: 28 Apr 2015

23 Mar 2020

Very slept on package! Great VSTi's as well, and on SALE! :o :shock: :thumbs_up:

https://www.jrrshop.com/air-musi-tech-c ... ction-plus

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Loque
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Joined: 28 Dec 2015

23 Mar 2020

Not sure what instruments or fx you are looking for, but Waves and IK Multimedia are on a very high position on my avoid list.

Best value for money is Artutia with the right timing and strategy.

Rob Papen might be good too, but i think everytime i touch one of their devices i find a bug. But support is pretty good.

Clearly Kilohearts is on top. Good stuff, good support, good quality, great ppl. You just need a good timing for a good deal.

There are some other good VSTs, free and paid. None of them are perfect. If you are eying something, ask the ppl for their experience.
Reason12, Win10

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Jackjackdaw
Posts: 1400
Joined: 12 Jan 2019

24 Mar 2020

Almost everything goes on sale at a huge discount various times throughout the year. Keep an eye on plugin boutique, don't crack etc, all the plugin vendors. Trial all the ones that look interesting then wait till what you want goes on sale.

danc
Posts: 1017
Joined: 14 Oct 2016

24 Mar 2020

edx500 wrote:
23 Mar 2020
Hi guys
I don't really really own a lot of VSTs (currently just a few freebies) but as things have changed the last few years I'm a lot more interested in making a major purchase or two. I've been a Reason user for more than 10 years so I haven't used VSTs much.

What I'm noticing as I shop and see all this enticing stuff out there, is that there seems to be be a scammy underside where you are being offered these very expensive bundles and packages that seem to require subscriptions or yearly updates that are very expensive.

Two companies in particular are Waves and IK multimedia....They are beginning to look like "money-pits". I find myself considering spending hundreds of dollars on these packages thinking "WOW this looks like a wonderful deal!" but there's posts and remarks I read here and there that just give me pause.

I would like to actually OWN what I purchase and not have to pay for expensive updates and renewals nor worry about obsolescence for AT LEAST a few years!

FWIW I find a lot of the current Reason devices and REs to be of good quality and whatever I purchase going forward should be worth the money. I have a few dozen synths and soft ware instruments as well as a ton of effects and utilities already available, but VSTs seem like the future especially for live performance.

So which VST companies do you consider "straight shooters" and easy to deal with?
Based on companies that I trust and have NOT had issues with.......

I would recommend getting a really good synth (e.g. Phaseplant, Serum, Massive X etc.) and a really good pool of sounds (e.g. UVI Vintage Vault 3, Kontakt etc.) and some really good FX (e.g. Fabfilter, and also '12 Arturia Effects').

Arturia, UVI, NI, Fabfilter often run offers and you'll definitely find them useful tools. Whereas... Xfer Serum hardly ever has offers.

I personally prefer UVI to Kontakt - but like everyone else commenting - it totally depends on what you want to achieve that will determine what you buy. I want synth sounds more than organic sounds.

Plus - Fabfilter are expensive... but you'll use their tools constantly because they are far superior than most other things out there (e.g. Q3).
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EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

24 Mar 2020

Valhalla, TAL, U-he, Cableguys, Tokyo Dawn, Kilohearts, Surreal Machines - all good eggs, all very fair about pricing.

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

24 Mar 2020

Waves plugins are great. I don’t know what everyone’s been smoking when they say they’re terrible. yes there’s an installer. it works just fine. once you have the plugins installed, you don’t really need to think about it anymore. you can choose to upgrade them down the line, if you want, but it’s optional. no big deal. not much different than Rack Extensions with paid upgrades. the plugins themselves are awesome—I have many of them, and they’re a good value, since most you can get for $30, depending on their constant “sales”.

for value, keep an eye out for Izotope. they have deals a couple of times a year, I think. I managed to get Neutron Elements, and upgrade it to the full version for a hundred bucks, through deals they had on pluginboutique, and their promotions. even full price, they’re very worthwhile.

if you play guitar, one company I’d suggest steering clear of is Positive Grid. the plugins sound great, and offer a ton of flexibility, but somehow they’ve managed to make their newer versions buggier and less stable than their first versions (at least for Bias FX 1 & 2).
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

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edx500
Posts: 50
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

24 Mar 2020

Thanks guys!

Good stuff here (even a couple Waves fans)... I have been checking out some of your
suggestions. They are very helpful. Keep it going!

Seems like this forum usually has some good info....I ended up watching some old James Bernard
videos on combinators last night.

Ed
Last edited by edx500 on 25 Mar 2020, edited 1 time in total.

nomis
Posts: 10
Joined: 18 Feb 2019

24 Mar 2020

U-he for me although I hated Diva at first as my PC was setup wrong plus the new update has made it far more useable for me. So much so I bought Zebra which is freakin awesome.
Spitfire Audio is world class for me too.
As Hurricane said earlier U-he is fantastic support and Spitfire are the same.

Arturia Pigments is also great too and I may be investing more with them I am trying to resist the DX7 as it will make me young again (Well I believe it so its not a lie!) ;)

Waves too and Synapse Audio

In fact there is a lot. I dont use free VST's much but if you wait for sales you can pick up things for half price etc on Black Fridays etc. Just remember to empty the credit card just before it takes a massive beating!

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Boombastix
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Location: Bay Area, CA

24 Mar 2020

I agree, the Waves installer since v10 works fine. Some people have old ones, v9 and earlier, so I believe their complaints are legit. I just hand pick the Waves that I like (usually at $29/ea), no bundles for me. Rbass, Ovox, H-reverb, WavesTune Live, just to mention a few.
IK Multimedia, the VST effects are super. Try to get in on the yearly group sales, you can get 11 for the price of 1.

When it comes to monter synths, each company only have one or two. It is really hard to mention one over another, so many good and different. Harmor stands out with good sound and unique features. Arturia is of course a great deal for so much, but it is very "old school analog" most of it. Good complement to a modern wavetable synth though. But for old school there are many free VST synths as well, like Dexed and U-he Tyrell.

NI Komplete has a lot, but has its price tag to consider, mostly known for acoustic sounds, but also great synthesizers, like Massive, Massive X, FM8.

Do not underestimate the value of the Reason Synth Rig, when that is on sale, you basically get more than you ever need synth wise.
10% off at Waves with link: https://www.waves.com/r/6gh2b0
Disclaimer - I get 10% as well.

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aeox
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Location: Oregon

24 Mar 2020

https://www.audiothing.net/ offers some decent stuff at a humble price IMO

groggy1
Posts: 466
Joined: 10 Jun 2015

25 Mar 2020

If you're looking for value, you could keep an eye on r/audioproductiondeals (reddit). The post sales every day.

But if I had to recommend some bang-for-the-buck, I'd say:
Plugin Alliance Brainworx - they usually have an 75% off sale for a single plugin every other day (usually $39 for a plugin that's normally $200+). Brainworx plugins are really good on Plugin Alliance.

FabFilter is a bit pricy, but can be you're last compressor/eq/etc. They're that good.

And finally Valhalla is $50 per reverb/effect, and top-notch. The gui isn't the prettiest, but they all sound great.


I think Arturia synths are good value if you like DX7, and old classical gear. For a reasonable price, you get a bunch of synths.

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dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

26 Mar 2020

I'm another one using Waves plugins quite happily. Their installation/registration process has been streamlined pretty well, and the whole update plan thing doesn't bother me too much. They're mostly excellent workhorse plugins, and they all go on sale for $29 eventually if you're willing to wait

Other favourites:

Audio Thing - Great analogue modeled filters, an excellent Roland Space Echo clone, a berserk experimental reverb and much more

iZotope - Makers of the best distortion plugin of them all (Trash2) - not cheap, but goes on sale pretty regularly. Everything from iZotope is quality, and they've been giving away some excellent freebies lately. Plus if you want good audio reconstruction/repair tools, their RX series is industry standard. Elements version is very good and it goes on sale all the time

Klanghelm - Not a wide variety of gear, but their compressors and saturation plugins are really, really good and amazing value. They also offer free stripped-down versions of some of their stuff

Melda Productions - Amazing suite of high quality free plugins, unfortunately if you're on a Mac they're no longer supporting OS Catalina

Soundtoys - Not cheap, but they do go on sale from time to time. My favourite plugin manufacturer, just check them out

Spitfire Audio - Excellent range of free instruments

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zoidkirb
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Location: Brisbane Australia
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26 Mar 2020

I'll possibly get some hate for saying this, but I'm a big fan of Melda. Their stuff is super high quality, goes on sale like clockwork, have every fx out there covered, and lifetime free updates. Their free pack is unbelievable value.
The gui's some people have a problem with as there is a lot of depth of parameters and some of the graphical elements aren't the most intuitive. But they look crisp and functional for me.
I couldn't live without mryhmizermb and mgranualizermb.

Popey
Competition Winner
Posts: 2062
Joined: 04 Jul 2018

26 Mar 2020

The only subscription I use is output arcade and for me it is good value as I use it every day. As for other vst there has been a lot of good suggestions in this thread already so all I would add is to get value be sure you love something before you buy it and always trial first. I have a number of plugins that in my opinion are not cheap for what they are (portal, soundtoys, fabfilter etc) but like them so much they always get used and this is were i see the value to me. The only thing that i don't like much with waves plugins is the fact you can only have one licence so if working away and using my laptop i have to take the licence off desktop to laptop each time and I always forget to do this. Waves actual plugs themselves seem ok but i only have a couple of them myself.

stuk71
Posts: 127
Joined: 15 Apr 2020
Location: Scotland

20 Oct 2020

dvdrtldg wrote:
26 Mar 2020
I'm another one using Waves plugins quite happily. Their installation/registration process has been streamlined pretty well, and the whole update plan thing doesn't bother me too much. They're mostly excellent workhorse plugins, and they all go on sale for $29 eventually if you're willing to wait

Other favourites:

Audio Thing - Great analogue modeled filters, an excellent Roland Space Echo clone, a berserk experimental reverb and much more

iZotope - Makers of the best distortion plugin of them all (Trash2) - not cheap, but goes on sale pretty regularly. Everything from iZotope is quality, and they've been giving away some excellent freebies lately. Plus if you want good audio reconstruction/repair tools, their RX series is industry standard. Elements version is very good and it goes on sale all the time

Klanghelm - Not a wide variety of gear, but their compressors and saturation plugins are really, really good and amazing value. They also offer free stripped-down versions of some of their stuff

Melda Productions - Amazing suite of high quality free plugins, unfortunately if you're on a Mac they're no longer supporting OS Catalina

Soundtoys - Not cheap, but they do go on sale from time to time. My favourite plugin manufacturer, just check them out

Spitfire Audio - Excellent range of free instruments
I have only just discovered the Melda suite (37 plugins). The quality is exceptional that I purchased it - £45, but if you sign up for the newsletter you get a £10 discount voucher - no bad for some very polished and usable plugins.

dvdrtldg, I am using Mac OS Catalina and the plugins all work flawlessly - maybe they've all been updated?

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arqui
Posts: 433
Joined: 22 Jan 2015

20 Oct 2020

hurricane wrote:
23 Mar 2020
U-he, no doubt.

Some of the best synths in the industry and they are extremely generous when it comes to updates (some of us here got the entire Uhbik collection for owning some of their Uhbik REs, and then we were given a free update to Uhbik v2.0 which includes a new device, and I believe the Hive V2 update was only $20) and they use a simple serial number for their copy protection.

"Licenses for our products are issued to people, not machines. You can install, activate and use your u-he products on any computers you personally own and use without having to purchase extra licenses—as long as you are the one using them.

Also, we do not differentiate between macOS, Windows and Linux—one license covers everything."
Hello;
sorry for my question.... Uhbik v2.0? where is that? I own all your RE and I received the VSTs as well, but the version I have is 1.3.1, where is that version you mention? what new device? I lost something!!! Thanks
      Reason 11 Suite, perpetual license :reason:

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

20 Oct 2020

one additional EQ option...if you need an excellent Swiss army knife EQ that’s a really good value, check out Toneboosters’ EQ4. so damn good, and only $50. from what I can tell, it does like 98% of what Fabfilter does, for less than a third of the price, and the extra 2% is stuff that most people would probably almost never use. it’s also got a great looking UI, and is super intuitive. they also push out updates pretty regularly—in the few months since I started using it, there have already been a couple of updates.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

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Ixus
Posts: 283
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

20 Oct 2020

I agree with above about Izotope, I bought Ozone 7 at a sale, cant remember price but it was a good deal, and this year I upgraded to 9 advanced for 99, so my total spending was around the same price for just a Standard version.
I missed grabbing neutron freebie but looking out if it returns.
I use Ozone on almost every project so I have easily got my moneys worth!

I use this forum and Elektronauts forum for looking for sales and freebies, and it's worth waiting for deals if you have the patience :)

PhillipOrdonez
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Location: Norway
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20 Oct 2020

Izotope anda soundtoys bundles for workhorse effects, plus other boutique companies like goodhertz, waves factory for more niche effects. And some waves effects for certain emulations, I wouldn't buy their bundles, just the few ones I need here and there and only on sale. And some stuff from brainworx

I think a healthy mix of brands and flavours delivers best results than only buying the ultra super ultimate whatever bundle from only one company at a very very high price... But the izotope and soundtoys bundles are worth having and they can be purchased for a reduced price during sales.

For instruments, honestly I don't use any in the box instruments outside of Reason's and Re, and those that came with maschine, so I don't know 🤷‍♂️

MattLeschuck
Posts: 125
Joined: 05 Oct 2018

20 Oct 2020

Toneboosters. I have yet to find an EQ as feature packed and visually friendly as it for the price. Nova GE is really good but its a bit of a CPU hog in comparison.

Kilohearts is another one. Simple but effective plugins. Them coupled with Snap heap gets good results very quick which i like. I consider them utility workhorse plugins.

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dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

20 Oct 2020

stuk71 wrote:
20 Oct 2020
dvdrtldg, I am using Mac OS Catalina and the plugins all work flawlessly - maybe they've all been updated?
I asked them about this on Facebook and they said their plugins *might* work OK on Mac OS but they're no longer officially supported. Which means any problems that arise in the future won't be fixed

I'm also on Catalina and yep they seem to work fine - but I'm not using them in any serious projects that I might want to revisit five years down the track

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