What Do You Use to Test Your Plugins?

[danevaz]

Hi All,

What are you using to test your plugins?

In no particular order I've tried "SPL HawkEye", RME DigiCheck, and Voxengo Span.

Recently got suckered into a (too) long "Aliasing" thread on Gearspace and have become more curious about what's going on under the hood.

And yeah, I know the old standbys - "use your ears" and "if it sounds good it is good" etc. I get that, but am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the many plugin options these days, and am trying to narrow things down.

Thanks,
Danny

[Ben Jenssen]

Q: What are you using to test your plugins?
A: My ears.

Sorry, but this is not Gearspace, and I think I have most of the guys/gals on the DUC with me on this.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Q: What are you using to test your plugins?
A: My ears.

Sorry, but this is not Gearspace, and I think I have most of the guys/gals on the DUC with me on this.

Yep, I stand with Ben In 17 years of buying plugins, my ears are the only thing used to test plugins. Now I have bought a great many plugins that I no longer use for various reasons. Most were impulse buys that I found were not worth it in the long run, so when I sold out of my Nashville commercial studio, I chose not to buy again. Some examples:
UAD-they sound dandy, but cost too much and have too much latency(without Apollo).
Sparkverb-Great sound and unique UI, but ultimately not irreplaceable.
AutoTune-Melodyne works better for me and Slate's new MetaTune works well for subtle polish that doesn't call for Melodyne's level of control.
Plug and Mix-No gripe about the plugins, but the authorization drove me nuts.
Cytomic's The Glue-great plugin but again, authorization issue pissed me off too many times.

Being overwhelmed is a huge reason to stop buying any plugins until you build some experience, so you buy what YOU know you need, vs what other people tell you you need

[smurfyou]

Agree with Ben. Never "tested" a plugin except for functionality and usability.

[Darryl Ramm]

Null tested plugins to prove a point, that's it.

[chrisdee]

I use Voxengo Span for cleaning up lowend and sometimes high end frequencies from sources that needs cleaning.

I must admit that on vocals and some instruments those odd lowend frequencies are hard to notice just by my partly broken old ears.

So i find that visualizing helps me target those specfic frequencies that i dont notice just by ear. Just by ear i tend to hpf either a bit to high or not enough. But thats just me.

[Stephen Bond]

I've used Waves Q-Clone many times to see what plugins are imparting frequency wise. Obviously, it is designed for EQ but I have used it for saturators, compressors, mic modelling plugins, you name it.

Sure, you can use your ears but sometimes you want visual confirmation of what you are hearing. The popularity of Pro-Q 3 is maybe largely based upon that fact.

Stephen