Which 3rd-party plugins should I get for Apple Silicon/M1/M2?

[Dark Goob]

Which 3rd-party plugins should I get for Apple Silicon/M1/M2?

I got an M1 with DP11 and Logic Pro but I really don't care much for MOTU's or Apple's default plugins. Last time I bought plugins was years and years ago, and the main ones I loved were NomadFactory and T-Racks CS but I want to kind of start from scratch and get the best-in-slot for dynamics/mastering, noise gating, analog warmth, delay/reverb, and presence/depth/stereo imaging.

I am recording and mixing down 16 tracks: 6 drum mics, 1 vocal, 1x2 vocal fx, 1 bass, and 3x2 synths. It is synth rock with a punk/grunge edge. I get everything sounding as close as I can to proper using a Soundcraft Delta 200 with deluxe strips, then the post-EQ goes into DP11 via my 896 HD and 828 mk II with Black Lion mods and word clock.

Let me know your recommendations for (ideally M1-native) desert island plugins if you had to mix and master something like this. Also what is your luck running older x86 plugins via Rosetta? Nightmare or works fine? Thanks!

[mikehalloran]

Also what is your luck running older x86 plugins via Rosetta? Nightmare or works fine?

Not that simple and there are many threads on this. Search Rosetta to find some of the recent ones.

Other than that, there's too much out there that is AS Native and more companies are announcing compatibility daily. With Ventura dropping yesterday, You should stay tuned. This list was out of date before it was released yesterday but you can follow the links in it or go to the companies' web sites. This will take you hours but you will learn a lot so have fun with it. Scroll down to find the
macOS 13 Ventura Software and Hardware Compatibility List

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ar ... ity-guide/

[James Steele]

That's a very open ended question which will invite a lot of opinions. I'm sure some can jump in with suggestions. I would suggest going on YouTube and searching terms like "best plugins" "best compressor plugins" etc and you will be find lots of videos about various plugins out there. There are, as you can imagine, almost infinite choices.

I'd also mention that many of the stock plugins aren't bad, and it's easy to get sucked into feeling the need to buy lots and lots of third party plug-ins. That's something I fell prey to. I did see an interesting video with Chris Lord Alge in which he said in essence that sometimes it's better to have fewer plugs, but treally LEARN them and know what they can do, than have tons and not have much familiarity with them. Of course that's neither here nor there, I guess.

Like I said, I would do some research with YouTube. There are many, many videos of plug-in reviews out there and lot of "Favorite Plug ins for _____" type videos.

I think one thing you'll find pleasantly surprising since you last purchased third party plug-ins is *on average* the prices have declined greatly. You can pretty much get anything Waves for 29.99. It's rare now to pay over $100 for an effects plug-in unless it is truly exceptional and in demand... or part of a ecosystem like the UAD-2 plugs which remain ridiculously expensive. I recently bought a UAD-2 TB3 Satellite OCTO. Crazy, perhaps, but I love the 480L plug of theirs and I'm hoping that as people move away from DSP hardware, they will start dropping their prices. I remember when Waves held a firm line on their plug-in prices, then finally had to start competing and now, as I said, you can get nearly anything of theirs for $29.99. Yes... you have to deal with WUP... but not so bad.

Also checkout Plugin Alliance.... you can do a search for them. They frequently have sales and their plugins are very reasonably priced and good bang for the buck. There's also a topic here in the board about Plug-In Sales where board members post links to deals they find online.

Well... that's just sort of to get things rolling and I'm sure I overlooked some stuff. I'm hesitant to be specific. Oh, and I didn't really cover the M1-native aspect of it. It's sort of buyer beware. MOST developers either have AS-native (Apple Silicon) versions out or coming soon. When buying any plug I've become VERY keen on reading the tech specs and searching for "runs natively on M1" or "Apple Silicon native" or other such phrase before purchasing. Or at LEAST a clear statement from the developer that a native version is coming. Be careful when you see the word "compatible" being used. Many times they will say "M1 compatible" and they really mean that it's still Intel code, but runs with Rosetta 2.

Oh... and for one tiny specific example, I would suggest avoiding ALL the Lexicon "Native" bundles and plugs if you're concerned about them being M1 native. Lexicon has been blowing them out with sales here and there and they have studiously avoided making ANY statement as to whether they would be M1-native in the future. I have some of them and the do seem to work now, but a few have problems. The MPX plugs caused major problems for me in DP and I had to stop using it. Like major spiking and processor overloading.

Oh well... good luck.

[mikehalloran]

To what James posted, "Native" does not mean AS (Apple Silicon)Native unless it actually says that. The Lexicon PCM NATIVE REVERB PLUGINS BUNDLE is such an example of one that is not AS Native (yet? ever?).

There are so many places to spend your money and a bit of research will help you spend it wisely.

[James Steele]

To what James posted, "Native" does not mean AS (Apple Silicon)Native unless it actually says that. The Lexicon PCM NATIVE REVERB PLUGINS BUNDLE is such an example of one that is not AS Native (yet? ever?).

Yeah... I hated to call out Lexicon by name here, but it's really irked me how they've been pushing their plugins via social media and various sales when they already have some issues. Nary a mention ANYWHERE about Apple Silicon native support. No statement from the company anywhere on their website that I can find. I know that Lexicon is very diverse now and it could be that they just don't care much about the plugins market which I'm sure doesn't represent that much to them.

I've actually commented publicly on their Facebook ads and *politely* asked if they intended to make their plugins Apple Silicon native and never received any response. Others have started asking and Lexicon appears to avoid giving any answer. It's really a shame... I really liked their plugs and I'd be happy to upgrade for AS native support, but I'm to the point where if a company can't make a CLEAR and UNAMBIGUOUS statement that a plug-in is going to have AS native support in the future, I will not give them my money. The only exception might be if the plug-in is priced SO cheaply that it's still worth it on the assumption that it's going to be an End Of LIfe plug that I may only get a year or so's use out of.

Some of these plugs that are not AS native and cause problems in DP11, I've been able to continue to use by employing Blue Cat Audio's PatchWork plug-in as a shell. For example, BOZ Digital El Clapo will work inside of the latest PatchWork while DP is running in AS native mode. Also, to my amazement, I can fully use the defunct Sonoma Wireworks DrumCore 4 inside of PatchWork and everything works.

Sometimes I do this more as a challenge and technical proof of concept as I enjoy squeezing extended life out of old plug ins. Honestly, it would be quite fun to be able to make my Liquid Mix work again, but since 32-bit support went away with Catalina and later, that's hopeless. I really wish companies (like Focusrite in the LiquidMix example) would do the user community a favor, and rather than orphan old gear, either give or sell the the source code (at a price that would make it worth it) to small independent developers so they could update old apps and plug-ins. Sure, the sales might not bring in enough revenue for a big corporation, but for an independent programmer working on it as a side project, it could represent some decent extra income.

Oh well... I can dream. So much cool gear from the past that has been orphaned.

[mikehalloran]

BOZ Digital El Clapo

I love that library and hope it goes AS Native before I do.

[James Steele]

BOZ Digital El Clapo

I love that library and hope it goes AS Native before I do.

I don't hold out much hope. But running it using Blue Cat Audio PatchWork as a shell allows it to work without having to globally "dumb down" DP11 by forcing it to run in Rosetta 2.

[James Steele]

BOZ Digital El Clapo

I love that library and hope it goes AS Native before I do.

I don't hold out much hope. But running it using Blue Cat Audio PatchWork as a shell allows it to work without having to globally "dumb down" DP11 by forcing it to run in Rosetta 2.

https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/P ... PatchWork/

PatchWork is actually much more powerful and does a lot more than being a simple shell to wrong problematic effects or VIs inside DP, but that's what I've been using it for mostly. It will also do nifty things like allow you to run VST and AU plugs in Pro Tools since it has an AAX version as well.