Do You Use Channel Strip Plugins?

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Do You Use Channel Strip Plugins?

No
37
55%
Yes
30
45%
 
Total votes: 67
boosto23
Posts: 24
Joined: 28 Mar 2019

10 Jul 2019

I replied 'yes', but in a qualified sense.

I do use channel strip plugins, but rarely as channel strips. I've become familiar with the SSL in Reason to where it fits all my channel strip needs. I'll occasionally thrown in a channel strip plugin for the unique feature it has, say a kind of saturation emulation or a compression type that I can only get via that plugin.

I am more than happy with the SSL in Reason. I prefer the fact that it's clean, as saturation (if truly desired) can be added in the rack.

User avatar
gdm41
Posts: 89
Joined: 19 May 2016

28 Jul 2019

I recently stumbled over the scheps omnichannel, which is great.
Start lending-> http://www.kiva.org

two shoes
Posts: 254
Joined: 13 Jul 2018

29 Jul 2019

i only read the first page of the thread so apologies if i restate anything that's been said already. for some reason over the years i've gotten in the habit of using channel strip plugins mostly on acoustic and vocal sources. for a long time the softube tube tech plugins were my go-to processing for that type of stuff - sometimes just as a starting point but in many cases nothing else was needed. to answer the op's original question, i think the advantage that channel strips can have over individual plugins is that the individual elements of the channel are designed to play well together. some of my favorite plugins simply don't work well in tandem with some of my other favorite plugins and some of the best combinations are saved as presets that have essentially become channel strips that i prefer for different types of material. some of the newer channel strips, the Scheps omni channel is a good example, have gotten so complex and flexible that they kind of lost one of the main advantages of a good channel strip for me which is the streamlined workflow. in many cases a good channel strip that you have lot's of experience with allows you to get to where you're trying to go more quickly and directly than trying out different combinations of invdividual plugins, but if that channel strip has three eqs, four comps, two gates, and two limiters that i can rearrange the order of then it's pushing the boundaries of what i think of as a channel strip. it's not that it has to be an emulation of a traditional console channel strip (although some really good ones are) - the softube tube tech stuff i mentioned earlier is emulating rack gear but i still think of it as a "channel strip" - more that having multiple choices for each component of a channel, as well as routing flexibility in some cases, is a different thing than a specific set of processors in a specific order that are designed to function in complementary fashion and work well across a wide variety of program material. the new series of classic console channel strips that brainworx is making are some of the best channel strip plugins i've used to date - maybe the reason channel strips tend to work best with acoustic or vocal sources, at least for me, is that they are a paradigm (and in many cases a particular design) that was concieved in a world where making music usually meant recording someone or a group of people playing instruments or singing. i've said this in another thread, but i'd love to see Props partner with brainworx/SSL on a mk2 update for the SSL mixer in Reason - being able to switch between their SSL E or G series channels on a per-channel bassis in the Reason SSL mixer would be a dream come true.

two shoes
Posts: 254
Joined: 13 Jul 2018

29 Jul 2019

i wrote all that and forgot to mention that i quite like the existing channel strip built into the SSL mixer in Reason - it's actually what first hooked me about Reason when i gave it another shot after learning they'd added VSTs. i think the comp in the master bus is a bit long in the tooth and i'd like to see a couple of options for filter slopes and a switch for shelving added to the HP/LP filters.

User avatar
Djstarski
Posts: 364
Joined: 20 Jan 2015

29 Jul 2019

two shoes wrote:
29 Jul 2019
i only read the first page of the thread so apologies if i restate anything that's been said already. for some reason over the years i've gotten in the habit of using channel strip plugins mostly on acoustic and vocal sources. for a long time the softube tube tech plugins were my go-to processing for that type of stuff - sometimes just as a starting point but in many cases nothing else was needed. to answer the op's original question, i think the advantage that channel strips can have over individual plugins is that the individual elements of the channel are designed to play well together. some of my favorite plugins simply don't work well in tandem with some of my other favorite plugins and some of the best combinations are saved as presets that have essentially become channel strips that i prefer for different types of material. some of the newer channel strips, the Scheps omni channel is a good example, have gotten so complex and flexible that they kind of lost one of the main advantages of a good channel strip for me which is the streamlined workflow. in many cases a good channel strip that you have lot's of experience with allows you to get to where you're trying to go more quickly and directly than trying out different combinations of invdividual plugins, but if that channel strip has three eqs, four comps, two gates, and two limiters that i can rearrange the order of then it's pushing the boundaries of what i think of as a channel strip. it's not that it has to be an emulation of a traditional console channel strip (although some really good ones are) - the softube tube tech stuff i mentioned earlier is emulating rack gear but i still think of it as a "channel strip" - more that having multiple choices for each component of a channel, as well as routing flexibility in some cases, is a different thing than a specific set of processors in a specific order that are designed to function in complementary fashion and work well across a wide variety of program material. the new series of classic console channel strips that brainworx is making are some of the best channel strip plugins i've used to date - maybe the reason channel strips tend to work best with acoustic or vocal sources, at least for me, is that they are a paradigm (and in many cases a particular design) that was concieved in a world where making music usually meant recording someone or a group of people playing instruments or singing. i've said this in another thread, but i'd love to see Props partner with brainworx/SSL on a mk2 update for the SSL mixer in Reason - being able to switch between their SSL E or G series channels on a per-channel bassis in the Reason SSL mixer would be a dream come true.
I also have the omni channel. And what I like about it most is that you have a choice. For example if one compressor does not do the job , You can try another like in a real life scenario. You can also click , You can try another like in a real life scenario. You can just try using your favourite parts of the plug-in and disregard the rest. Just pick your favourite saturation setting .your favourite filter slope .use one Deesser, one compressor , one type of EQ and never use the rest.

Breach The Sky
Posts: 212
Joined: 14 Jul 2015
Location: Sweden

29 Jul 2019

Personally, I find them unnecessary (and more then often overpriced). I prefer to have several dedicated EQ's, compressors, and coloration plugins etc, so I can mix and match freely.

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