User Testimonials
Been using these for about 6 years and I wanted to express how much I appreciate them. HarmoniEQ is such an asset to adding color. In the tradition of the Pultec EQP-1 I often bring frequencies down with the stock Reaper EQ and bring them back up with HarmoniEQ, adding color when I don't even need an EQ adjustment. It's been especially effortless to change an electric guitar's tone when I feel like, "I wish he'd played a tele here instead of that SG." Even after I picked up Warm Audio WA-412 for overall coloration, HarmoniEQ is still invaluable for shaping coloration so I'm less in need of spending thousands on different analog devices to achieve the specific profile I'm after.
I have some feature suggestions, first would be to add a non-colored EQ for pulling down frequencies so the Pultec trick is fully integrated, and also I think it could benefit from higher oversampling factors since the difference between 4x and 8x is plainly audible to me, would love to see 12x, 16x, 24x, and even 32x since CPU is pretty abundant these days. Even folks who are light on CPU can adjust the mix at lower oversampling, then set up a render queue with the oversampling cranked, and have the DAW process it slowly overnight while they sleep.
I still use the old version of SPAN because I'm set in my ways, but also those average and peak RMS readings are such great measures to ensure my mixes are the same general volume.
The bass saturation feature in LF Max Punch gets so much use, even on vocals to give them a "closer" feel to them, on overheads and ambient mics to get more room impact on the lows, places I never would have thought to use them. Brilliant tool!
Elephant is the only remotely pumpy limiter I'll use. I like my mixes to be highly realistic, which means I can't stand LA1176's, but sometimes a bit of pump sets the right tone without sounding desperate. Elephant nails that every time.
Here's some pearls for folks who don't appreciate how awesome a phase adjustment tool PHA-979 is. Any recording that's live or live off the floor with ambient mics, you can use PHA-979 to phase-align direct mics to the ambient mics by adjusting the phase so the lower frequencies combine the most (might actually be nice to have a mono version just for this). Then put a PHA-979 on an aux bus with L/R set to -90/+90, to generate a side channel. Mute the ambient mics and send all your direct mics through that side channel bus and feather it up until you can barely notice the widening effect. Now unmute the ambient mics, and you can't tell where they end and the direct mics begin. It's the glue between the two without the muddying of early reflection reverb. I haven't found any other plug-in that accomplishes that nearly as well as PHA-979, and it's not nearly enough anti-phase to ruin the mix when summed mono.
Voxengo plugs do more than just a good job, they really make the job more enjoyable.
Using Boogex plugin in Ableton Live with some additional fx like focusrite compressors in front and EQ + Comp. at the end of the chain, overdrive, dynamic tube in front and saturator and chorus (all ableton) behind Boogex, I found "my" sound now. Using the Live-crossfader availible in Boogex in the chain view (got to find a MIDI-joystick for it) i have many variations of my sound fading between the two amps and the amp delay. I set the drive in Boogex at about 10 to 11 o`clock, resulting in a very dynamic, finger-controlled overdrive that sounds like the best amps ever built in a single tool! I have used Amplitube 3 and Hendrix edition for over ten years. Boogex compares so good to that, I dont pay for updates no more. I am playing a 45 years old Ibanez with Gibson PAF and Dirty Finger.
By the way, Voxengo provides the only free plugin that works with Macbook Pro 2019 Catalina. From the Studio Nord Bremen I downloaded all the IR-files, they sound great!
Thanks very much VOXENGO!
I've found TEOTE to be a very interesting and useful tool which allows me to quickly pinpoint issues within my mixes. The configuration parameters are essential to me as it allows fine tuning my sound rather than relying on a generic profile or preset sound.
In my experience, I've found it most useful to place on the master bus after the external compressor and have it reduce problematic regions (limiting how much gain can be applied to 2-3 dB) before going into a transparent software limiter.
Voxengo have the gold standard of user interfaces in my opinion - clean, straightforward, no-nonsense.
I've just bought CTRIV Reverb 2.
Absolutely excellent sound! - very lush and very spacious and just what I was looking for, highly recommended - I've not heard anything quite like it.
It could do with a pre-delay control, and maybe a width control, but you can achieve that by using this with other plugins on a bus - maybe that's coming in CTRIV reverb 3? :D