A Professional Guide to Audio Plug-ins and Virtual Instruments

A Professional Guide to Audio Plug-ins and Virtual Instruments

by Mike Collins
Released August 2012
Publisher(s): Focal Press
ISBN: 9781136117411

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Book description

If you are an audio professional needing a complete reference to the complex world of plug-ins and virtual instruments, look no further. Mike Collins, author of Pro Tools for Music Production, has meticulously surveyed the scene, showing what's available and how they integrate into the various host platforms. The book explains the differences between TDM, RTS, MAS and VST plug-ins, how they can be used with different MIDI + Audio programs and shows the range of options available. It also explains virtual instruments and how these can be used as either plug-ins or stand alone products. A must for every recording studio.


The book combines explanations, overviews and key concepts with practical considerations and hands-on examples. The reader will gain a broad understanding of the options available, how they work and the possibilities for integration with systems as well as the end result. The book also includes a section on how to write your own plug-ins and a suggested standard plug-ins portfolio for those wanting to get started quickly.

Table of contents

  1. Front Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. About the author
  7. Acknowledgements
  8. Introduction
  9. 1 Overview
    1. Pro Tools plug-in types
      1. TDM
      2. Pro Tools HD TDM systems
      3. AudioSuite
      4. RTAS
      5. HTDM
    2. MOTU Audio System (MAS) plug-ins for Digital Performer
    3. VST plug-ins
    4. Logic Audio plug-ins
    5. Windows plug-ins
    6. Managing plug-ins
    7. Freeing up your DSP resources
    8. In summary
  10. 2 Optional Digidesign Plug-ins
    1. Reverb One
    2. D-Verb
    3. DPP-1
    4. DINR
      1. Broadband Noise Reduction
        1. In action
      2. Hum Removal
      3. Summary
    5. Maxim
    6. Bruno/Reso
    7. Sound Replacer
    8. D-FI
      1. Lo-Fi
      2. Sci-Fi
      3. Recti-Fi
      4. Vari-Fi
    9. D-FX
      1. D-FX Chorus
      2. D-FX Flanger
      3. D-FX Multi-Tap Delay
      4. D-FX Ping-Pong Delay
      5. D-FX D-Verb
    10. Chapter summary
  11. 3 Digidesign-distributed Plug-ins
    1. Focusrite D2
      1. The D2 plug-in vs the Red 2 hardware
    2. Focusrite D3
    3. Line 6 Amp Farm
    4. Line 6 Echo Farm
    5. Aphex Aural Exciter
    6. Aphex Big Bottom
    7. Orange Vocoder
    8. Lexicon LexiVerb
    9. Drawmer Dynamics for TDM
      1. The Expander module
      2. The Gate module
      3. The Key controls
      4. The Noise Gate
      5. The Compressor
      6. Summary
    10. Chapter summary
  12. 4 Digidesign Virtual Instruments
    1. Access Virus
    2. Soft SampleCell
      1. Setting up SoftSampleCell
      2. Samples, Instruments and Banks
      3. Assigning audio outputs
      4. Setting up the MIDI
      5. Instrument menu
      6. Sample Map window
      7. Loop window
      8. SampleCell Modulators window
      9. Matrix Modulation window
      10. Trackers window
      11. Envelope window
      12. Miscellaneous Parameters window
      13. Using Soft SampleCell with ProTools
    3. Koblo Studio9000
    4. Chapter summary
  13. 5 Third-party Plug-ins
    1. Sony Oxford OXF-R3 EQ
      1. Sony Oxford GML 8200 option
    2. Native Instruments Spektral Delay
    3. DUY
      1. DUY Max TDM
      2. DUY Shape TDM
      3. DUY Wide TDM
      4. DUY DaD Valve TDM
      5. DUY DaD Tape TDM
      6. DUY ReDSPider
      7. DUY DSPider; DUY SynthSpider
    4. Metric Halo
      1. Channel Strip
      2. SpectraFoo TDM
    5. Wave Mechanics
      1. UltraTools
        1. Pure Pitch
        2. Pitch Doctor
        3. Sound Blender
        4. Pitch Blender
        5. Time Blender
      2. Speed
        1. Simple control panel
        2. Calculator control panel
        3. Graphical control panel
        4. In action
        5. In conclusion
    6. Serato Pitch ’n Time 2
      1. The Tempo section
      2. The Length section
      3. The Pitch section
      4. Preferences panel
      5. The “Bottom Line”
    7. GRM Tools
      1. Volume 1: Doppler, Comb Filter, EQ, Shuffling
        1. Comb Filter
        2. Equalizer
        3. Doppler
        4. Shuffling
      2. Volume 2: Band Pass, Delay 24, Freezing, Pitch Accum
        1. Band Pass
        2. Delay 24
        3. Freezing
        4. Pitch Accum
    8. Apogee MasterTools
    9. Cool Stuff Labs Generator X
    10. McDSP
      1. FilterBank
        1. Band-stop and band-pass filters
        2. Shelving equalization
        3. Parametric equalization
        4. Low and high pass filters
      2. Compressor Bank
        1. CB1, CB2, CB3
      3. MC2000
        1. AC1 Analog Channel Emulation
        2. AC2 Analog Tape Emulation
    11. Antares
      1. Infinity Looping Tools
      2. MDT Multiband Dynamics Tool
      3. JVP Jupiter Voice Processor
      4. Antares Auto-Tune
        1. Auto-Tune 1.0
        2. Auto-Tune 3
      5. Antares Microphone Modeler
    12. Arboretum
      1. Hyperprism
        1. Hyperprism 2.5
        2. Hyperprism-TDM
        3. Hyperprism Plug-in Pack 2.5
        4. Hyperprism-MMP
        5. Hyperprism-DAS
        6. Hyperprism-VST
      2. Hyperprism VST effects
      3. Realizer Pro
      4. Ray Gun
      5. Harmony
        1. Harmony tutorial
      6. Ionizer
        1. Ionizer tutorial
        2. Compatibility
      7. Chapter summary
  14. 6 Waves
    1. Waves plug-ins
      1. Waves Gold bundle
      2. The Renaissance collection
      3. Native Masters bundle
      4. Native Restoration tools
    2. Chapter summary
  15. 7 Steinberg and Third-party VST Plug-ins
    1. GRM Tools
      1. GRM Tools Volume 1
        1. BandPass
        2. PitchAccum
        3. Comb Filters
        4. Shuffling
      2. GRM Tools Volume 2
        1. Delays
        2. Freeze
        3. Doppler
        4. Reson
    2. Prosoniq
      1. VoxCiter
      2. Ambisone
      3. Dynasone
      4. Roomulator
      5. • π warp
      6. Orange Vocoder
    3. Steinberg SPL De-Esser
    4. Steinberg VoiceMachine
    5. Hughes & Kettner Warp
    6. TL Audio EQ
    7. Waldorf D-Pole
    8. Steinberg Spectral Design Q-Metric EQ
    9. Steinberg Spectral Design Magneto
    10. Steinberg Mastering Edition
    11. Chapter summary
  16. 8 MAS Plug-ins
    1. Audio Ease Altiverb
    2. Audio Ease Rocket Science Bundle
      1. Orbit - Psycho Acoustic Flight Path Simulator
      2. Follo - Energy Driven Band Booster
      3. Roger - Multiple Gender Vowel Bank
    3. Audio Ease Nautilus Bundle
      1. Deep Phase Nine - 24-notch Syncable True Deep Phaser
      2. Periscope - 32-band Zoomable Phase-correct Equalizer and Spectroscope
      3. RiverRun - Real-time Granular Synthesizer
    4. Audio Ease VST Wrapper
    5. DUY EverPack
      1. Z-Room
    6. Chapter summary
  17. 9 Virtual Instruments
    1. Emagic EVP88 Vintage Piano
    2. Steinberg”s “The Grand”
    3. Steinberg Model E
    4. Steinberg LM-4 drum-machine
    5. TC|Works Mercury-1
    6. TC|Works Spark Modular
    7. Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V
    8. Waldorf Attack 1.0
    9. Native Instruments Battery
    10. Native Instruments Pro-52
    11. Native Instruments B4
    12. Native Instruments Absynth
      1. Absynth with Pro Tools
      2. Absynth as a VST Instrument in Cubase
    13. Native Instruments FM7
    14. Native Instruments Reaktor
    15. Native Instruments Dynamo
    16. BitHeadz Retro AS-1 version 2.1
      1. The verdict
    17. Chapter summary
  18. 10 Software Samplers Steinberg
    1. Steinberg HALion
    2. Emagic Xtreme Sampler EXS24
    3. Emagic System Bridge (ESB) and Xtreme Sampler 24 (EXS24) TDM plug-ins
    4. IK Multimedia SampleTank XL
    5. BitHeadz Unity DS-1 version 2.1
      1. The verdict
    6. Chapter summary
  19. 11 BitHeadz
    1. Unity Session 3.0
    2. Setting up Unity
    3. Chapter summary
  20. 12 Propellerhead
    1. ReBirth RB-338
      1. The “focus”
      2. Remote MIDI control
      3. Sync with other sequencers
      4. Using ReBirth with ReWire
    2. ReCycle
      1. Overview
      2. Using ReCycle
      3. Using ReCycle REX files in Cubase
      4. How to make drum loops fit the tempo of your Pro Tools session
      5. What else can you do with ReCycle?
    3. Reason
      1. Reason Songs
      2. Reason patches and factory sounds
      3. The rack
      4. MIDI input
      5. External control
      6. Remote control
      7. Direct MIDI control
      8. Audio output
      9. Routings
      10. Mixer and effects
      11. Subtractor - the analogue synthesizer
      12. Malstrom - the “graintable” synthesizer
      13. NN19 - the sampler
      14. NN-XT - the sample player
      15. Dr Rex - the ReCycle loop player
      16. Redrum - the drum-machine
      17. Matrix - the pattern sequencer
      18. How pattern devices integrate with the main sequencer
      19. ReBirth Input Machine
      20. The internal MIDI sequencer
      21. The transport panel
      22. Playing Reason from another sequencer
      23. Triggering Reason patterns or sequences from an external sequencer
      24. Input and output
      25. Summary
    4. Chapter summary
  21. 13 Miscellaneous
    1. Emagic Sound Diver
    2. Celemony Melodyne
    3. BitHeadz Phrazer
    4. Audio Genetics Alkali
    5. Prosoniq TimeFactory
    6. IK Multimedia T-RackS mastering software
    7. IK Multimedia AmpliTube
    8. Synchro Arts VocALign
      1. VocALign project
      2. TimeMod
      3. VocALign AS
    9. Antares Kantos
    10. Cycling ’74 Pluggo
      1. Cycling ’74 Plug-in Manager
    11. Chapter summary
  22. 14 DSP Cards
    1. Universal Audio UAD-1 DSP card
      1. Pultec EQP-1A Equalizer
      2. UAD 1176LN Limiting Amplifier
      3. Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifier
      4. UAD CS-1 Channel Strip
      5. UAD EX-1 Equalizer Compressor
      6. UAD DM-1 Delay Modulator
      7. UAD RS-1 Reflection Engine
      8. RealVerb Pro
      9. Powered Plug-ins “Nigel”
        1. Preflex
        2. Gate Compressor
        3. UAD Nigel Phasor
        4. Nigel Mod Filter
        5. Nigel Trem/Fade
        6. Nigel Trem/Fade, Mod Delay and Echo
      10. UAD Delay Compensation
    2. TC|Works PowerCore
      1. PowerCore latency issues
      2. TC|Tools
        1. TC|Voice Tools
          1. TC|VoiceStrip user interface
      3. TC Vintage CL
      4. TC|MasterX3
        1. TC PowerCore 01 Synthesizer
        2. TC Compensator plug-in
    3. Chapter summary
  23. 15 “Roll Your Own” Plug-ins
    1. Cycling ’74 Max/MSP Pluggo
    2. Native Instruments Reaktor
    3. DUY DSPider TDM
      1. DSPider Reader Mode
      2. DSPider Advanced Mode
    4. DUY SynthSpider
      1. SynthSpider Reader
      2. SynthSpider Advanced
    5. Chapter summary
  24. 16 Key Issues
    1. Pick of the plugs
  25. Appendix
  26. Index

Product information

  • Title: A Professional Guide to Audio Plug-ins and Virtual Instruments
  • Author(s): Mike Collins
  • Release date: August 2012
  • Publisher(s): Focal Press
  • ISBN: 9781136117411