Voxengo Crunchessor
I have had a 'bedroom studio' for the last few years and when it came time to look for mixing and mastering tools outside of Logic's own I did a lot of research into the different brands on the market. Voxengo's was a name consistently associated with high praise. Having bought numerous plug-ins from you I attest to the robustness, usability, elegance and effectiveness of the Voxengo tools and the audible improvements they made to my music. The price, when looking at that of the competition, seems pretty cheap.
I use Crunchessor (powerful all-purpose compressor), Drumformer (great results) and Voxformer, Varisaturator, GlissEQ and HarmoniEQ and the smaller ones, like StereoTouch (so good), Warmifier (very subtle when used correctly) and LF Max Punch (instantly rewarding). When I master I always use CurveEQ (brilliant design), Soniformer and Elephant.
As an amateur, it's hard for me to appreciate just how good these plug-ins are, because I've not tried a lot of the comparable tools from other companies, but as Voxengo always does the job in the way I want, I've no desire to look for any replacements. When I used Elephant, I knew I wouldn't need another limiter; it doesn't add any colour to the mix and it's incredibly powerful. The entire mix is simply elevated, louder, with no apparent negatives. The only one I have no idea how to use is Soniformer, but the presets are really solid, so I don't feel the need to investigate further.
The saturation, EQ and compressors in Voxformer helped me fully realise what my voice could be. I had no idea my vocals could sound so full and warm until I used it, and now my singing has matured to match that sound so well that I don't even need to dump loads of effects anymore, just any quick preset on the Voxformer and there you go: thicker, sunnier, glowing.
I'm so stoked I came across this site, and I will definitely get the Polysquasher in the sale this summer.
Rowland Wells, LondonAfter a phase of trying other plugins, mostly analog emulations, by other makers, I once again have to commend Voxengo for the quality of their plugins.
If you want a compressor that can tame the peaks of a vocal while giving it a polished sheen, I highly recommend Deft Compressor.
For giving warmth to vocals? Or a bass compressor that (in my opinion) works much better than most LA2A emulations? Use Crunchessor. I use the 2A preset to keep the levels of bass tracks consistent without sounding squeezed (something I often hear from LA2A plugins).
Deft Compressor going into Crunchessor is my preferred version of "1176 to LA2A", that is, a fast attack compressor going into a smoother attack compressor.
I still highly prefer CRTIV Tape Bus compared to other tape plugins I have if I want to keep an open high-end sound to the track. It's really good at keeping the punch and transients on the master bus while improving the crest factor (push the record gain).
I have to say that Warmifier is great since unlike other saturation plugins, it's not easy to overdo the amount of saturation. It's super subtle, and these days I find that using too much saturation has a blurring effect on tracks.
Sobor is just unbelievably good. You have to try it.
Voxengo is just really good DSP - high quality digital - without the mask or crutch of trying to emulate old, classic analog gear. There are a handful of small devs like that, and just like Voxengo I highly suggest you try them out.
tonstwoHey,
I've been using your plugins for quite a while now.
Also right now, actually.
Time to say THANKS for some GREAT TOOLS! These are my main tools on the digital side.
Also I would like to state, that I really like your pricing. With some other plugins, I feel that I really pay a lot for a big name or whatever and I don't really enjoy that. For Voxengo Plugins, every dollar I gave - I gave it to you with pleasure! :)
Cheers from Berlin,
Klaus