Plugin Doctor

[Phil O]

Just curious. Anyone here using Plugin Doctor? Thoughts? Tips? Opinions?

Phil

[FMiguelez]

It's awesome.

Be prepared to be disappointed in a lot of your favorite plugins. You will be able to see exactly what they do and all the crap they infuse into your signal, especially analog-emulation stuff.

It's a great way to really get to know your plugins in depth. It reveals the good and bad. With compressors, its a joy (or torture) to test (depending on how much distortion you discover they infuse). I bet you'll be surprised!
You get to see who the good programmers are and who the wannabes are. The author of the app is like totally cool and reachable.

I haven't used it in a while, but it is an eye opener. Totally worth it. I recommend you follow the thread about it in GS. You can see it in action there and follow everyone's tests and measurements for almost every plugin out there.

[Phil O]

Thanks FM. I think when I saw it it was about 25 bucks. Hey, it's easy to blow that on dinner. I think I'll check it out.

Phil

[bayswater]

Lots of fun. I got the demo. Amazing how many (and which) plugins do things that are quite unexpected. An example, a simple EQ with input and output level controls: changing the output level changes only the portion of the spectrum addressed by the frequency and Q controls for the lower part of the level range, but the entire spectrum for the rest of its range, and does this with an abrupt threshold. I've tried on several plugins and every time got at least one WTF result.

Interesting but not clear what to do with this. I suppose if you are not getting results from a plugin you expect, you could analyze it and maybe get a hint why. Perhaps a little better than ditching a plugin that doesn't sound right and trying another.

FM, what practical use have you made of this?

[mesayre]

This is a pretty neat tool.

I've messed with it a bit to see which purportedly 'analog' plugins are adding distortion/color, where in the spectrum and how much. No substitute for listening, of course, but certainly educational.

One thing I haven't been able to figure out, though, is just what "Hammerstein" analysis is doing. I can intuit it's looking at harmonic partials, but I haven't found documentation explaining what test it's running.

[bayswater]

One thing I haven't been able to figure out, though, is just what "Hammerstein" analysis is doing. I can intuit it's looking at harmonic partials, but I haven't found documentation explaining what test it's running.

The manual contains a link to an explanation.

[FMiguelez]

FM, what practical use have you made of this?

You mean, other than geeking out?

Mostly as a (preventive) diagnosis tool, if that makes sense. So I don't allow DP so see any plugins until I run them through it, so it forces me to gauge the quality and response of the plug's parameters.

Also, it's a great way to SEE how controls actually behave and react (in reality, as opposed to what the manual states). For instance, you can easily learn about your new compressor behaviour for all parameters and its main characteristics, see harmonic/non-harmonic distortion, see if there are any other nasty artifacts in the signal, check for bugs, etc.
Granted, you could use an oscilloscope for some of that, but PluginDoctor gives you much deeper analysis of those and other parameters.

Wanna have some quick fun?
Check what happens to your signal with any of Waves' Qx series EQs when you make the slope of a high pass filter as steep as possible... You'll be like... WTF is this? And where did it come from and why didn't I hear this before? (or did I?)

[mesayre]

The manual contains a link to an explanation.

I'd expect so. Unfortunately mine didn't come with a manual. The installed folder has only the app and an uninstaller.

How does one access that? Perhaps the demo doesn't include it?

[bayswater]

Also, it's a great way to SEE how controls actually behave and react (in reality, as opposed to what the manual states). For instance, you can easily learn about your new compressor behaviour for all parameters and its main characteristics, see harmonic/non-harmonic distortion, see if there are any other nasty artifacts in the signal, check for bugs, etc.

I suppose it would make sense to use during a trial to at least see where the limits of normal operation are for a plugin -- what control ranges to avoid. But even then, one person's nasty artifact is another's indispensable effect.

Wanna have some quick fun?
Check what happens to your signal with any of Waves' Qx series EQs when you make the slope of a high pass filter as steep as possible... You'll be like... WTF is this? And where did it come from and why didn't I hear this before? (or did I?)

I had the WTF experience with a lot of plugins using the trial version. And wondered why I hadn't heard it before. So if nothing else, it should improve listening skills.

[bayswater]

The manual contains a link to an explanation.

I'd expect so. Unfortunately mine didn't come with a manual. The installed folder has only the app and an uninstaller.

How does one access that? Perhaps the demo doesn't include it?

I only have the demo so far, and it did come with a manual as part of the download. I'm not somewhere I can access it right now. Maybe download again.

[bayswater]

With some time on my hands, I splurged for the paid version of Plugin Doctor, and spent most of the day with it. As per the hints above, it really does give some sense of what's going on with plugins, with hints why some have unexpected effects.

Compared to others, Waves plugins show themselves to be very predictable in Plugin Doctor. Everything is very clean and a control changes one thing. I guess that's why I keep going back to them when in doubt.

[Phil O]

I've been experimenting with Catalina and noticed that Plugin Doctor slows down to an unusable pace under this OS. Just a heads up.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil