recommended plug ins for LE?

[CME]

Originally Posted by xtratorque

BTW for monitoring I'm using a pair of Bose Companion 2 speakers. I have a pair of Yamaha HS50m hooked up to my synth and that I'll also use for monitoring. I tend to listen to the demo in lots of different places, like my car stereo, home CD player, Ipod, etc.

First thought here is don't use the Bose for your main monitors. They are anything but flat. Flattering maybe, but the Yamaha would be a much better choice. Get it sounding good through the Yamaha's then try through the Bose. And if unless you do some treatment you'll be fighting the room a lot. However where there's a will there's a way.

Back on topic. The stock plugs are really nice. Especially the EQ. It really does work well and is very transparent. I personally have thought the plugs included Music Production Toolkit make it a tremendous value. Smack! and TL Space alone are almost worth the asking price. Not sure if you'd need the other features it adds though. Something to think about anyways. I'll def second all the McDSP votes. ML4000 is my favorite though. I use it on the Drum Buss for some huge drums. I also through it on the Master Fader for some quick Mastering sometimes. WaveArts also makes some really cool stuff. And personally I think the Renaissance bundle from Waves is really useful. However read up on the WUP, which has gotten better, and make sure you know what you're getting into.

FWIW you can find a lot of these on the bay for very reasonable prices. Just know that if you're buying from an individual there could be an iLok transfer fee.

[xtratorque]

Again thanks a lot for the responses. I'll be using the Yamahas for monitoring, I've noticed that the Bose tend to be on the bassy side.

[Noviisi]

This has been a very useful conversation for me. That's why I made this summary about the recommendations so far.

Could somebody describe the caracter of these plugins? And maybe an example where to use?

EQ:
EQ 3
AIR Kill EQ
McDSP: 4020 Retro?, FilterBank?
Softube: Trident A-Range
Sonalksis: SV
Waves: API, Kramer HLS, PuiqTec, REQ, SSL, VEQ
Massey: VT3
BombFactory: Pultec EQP-1A, ?
Sonnox: Oxford?
DMG EQuality
IK Multimedia: T-Racks 3: Vintage Equalizer

Compressor:
Compressor/Limiter Dyn 3
BombFactory: BF76, others?
Waves: API-2500, CLA, H-Comp, Kramer PIE, PuigChild, RCompressor, SSL, VComp
Softube: Tube-Tech CL 1B
McDSP: Analog Channel, CompressorBank, MC2000
Sonalksis: SV
Massey: CT4, L2007
SMACK!
Sonnox: Oxford?
IK Multimedia: T-Racks 3: Vintage Tube Compressor/Limited 670

Reverb:
AIR Reverb
AIR Non-Linear Reverb
D-Verb
Waves: TrueVerb
IK Multimedia: CSR Classic Studio Reverbs
112db's Redline
TL space
Sonnox: Oxford?
DUY's Z Room

Delay:
?
?
?

Tube emulation:
Antares WARM
Nomad Factory ValveDriver

Other:
Line 6 Podfarm (???)
URS Console Strip Pro
WaveArts