Sonnox

Easy setup. No problems getting mine to work in Cubase 5. Sonnox stuff is at a pretty high level of function. They aren't selling toys. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE My friend recommended this plugin. I had been asking if he knew of a good dedicated and light EQ. I was previously using a Waves plug for EQ and didn't like it much. Sounded dead to me. The Oxford EQ first of all, is very light on CPU. I won't debate that. I almost can't tell it's on. And just from looking at I can tell it's not going to destroy my track's quality. So for that it gets points. I like transparency. However, this is a very intimidating EQ. First of all, there's nothing analog about this plugin. It doesn't "respond" or sound analog at all. It actually sounds really hi-fi. And the controls aren't like anything I've ever seen on an analog compressor. They're pretty involved, and from the get go I was a little lost to be honest. The manual didn't help much. I spent a few hours trying to get the hang of it and just couldn't. Maybe I'm used to certain EQ styles but this one wasn't for me. I'm going back to Waves or maybe URS. OVERALL OPINION I will say I can't knock the sound quality. When I got it dialed in, it sounded good. But the controls ended up giving me a headache. I haven't tried other Sonnox plugs but I want to soon. I'm curious what else they have even though this one wasn't really my style. If you want to try something different or want something fresh...maybe a challenge, then this is a cool vst. Obviously the quality is there. Sonnox just has a weird take on things. I still recommend.

This is a plug-in made by Sonnox called the Oxford Inflator. It works much like a limiter but it has a very different quality from most limiters. I haven't had any compatibility issues with my DIGI 003 to Macbook Pro PT LE setup. It took me a few moments to install, nothing more. The functions of it (which are admittedly limited, pardon the pun) are pretty easily accessible. The manual wasn't really necessary for me as I had already read most of the information online before I purchased it, but overall, I'd say it's pretty informative if you have no idea what you're doing with this plug-in. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I've never had a software compatibility issue with this type of plug-in before this, and this was no different. It worked fine from the minute I installed it. It's a quick, fast-performance plug-in. It's never crashed or slowed down the system like some of my other favorite plug-ins do. I've never really used it on multiple single tracks, more of a full mix-type thing or a track here and there, so I don't know how much it slows down the more you use it within a session. I would assume that it is like most other plug-ins in that it would slow down once you have it open on 9 tracks or so but it honestly doesn't really seem to matter that much as it's not designed to be used on every track anyway. OVERALL OPINION I must say that this is one of the cooler effects that I have used in my time. It's great because it adds a warmth to a track that is difficult to describe. What can sound dull and lifeless starts to sound really full, rich, and inviting after using this plug-in. It's sort of like a tube compressor in that respect but without all the soul-crushing dynamic squashing that can occur if you try to push it too hard. It sounds great on vocals, acoustic instruments, pianos, and almost anything where presence and warmth is required, and loudness is needed but not necessarily possible without limiting. Overall this is a good plug-in. The price listed is for the plug-in itself but it comes cheaper if purchased within a bundle, which I recommend as Sonnox makes some really good plug-ins.

Sonnox's Oxford SuprEsser is an advanced de-esser plug-in that goes way beyond the control available with your standard de-esser. However, it has both a basic and advanced mode, making it easy to do quick jobs and also giving you options when you might need them. I wasn't involved at all with the installation of the plug-in, as I don't own it and have only used it in a professional studio where it was already installed and ready for use. The interface of the plug-in has a wide array of parameters and a graph to show you where you are at within the frequency spectrum. It contains sections for dynamics, listen, filters, and both input and output monitoring and leveling. Since this isn't your typical de-esser plug-in, having the manual around is a good idea in general, especially if you're looking to learn all the features available with the SuprEsser. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I have run the Sonnox Oxford SuprEsser plug-in in a Pro Tools HD context, so I didn't have any problems at all running it. I don't think that I've ever had a need to run more than two of these plug-ins simultaneously anyway, and if you're going to need that I would recommend printing your tracks anyway. I can't really say how well this would run on your LE based system, as it just depends on your configuration. OVERALL OPINION To date, the Sonnox Oxford SuprEsser is the most in depth de-esser I've seen. I don't have it in my home system, although I wish I did as it can do more and sounds better than the de-essers I have right now. While perhaps not the most pressing plug-in need, having a great de-esser can really pay off, especially one like this where you can get really specific with what you're doing. While certainly more expensive than just about any other plug-in out there like this, it also can do a whole lot more. If you're someone who is looking for an advanced de-esser, look no further than Sonnox's Oxford SuprEsser.

The Sonnox Oxford Limiter is a software plug-in to be used inside a DAW. It can be downloaded off the Sonnox website for installation, and authorized using an iLok. The purpose of a limiter is to control the loudness of a signal without causing the signal to clip. The Oxford Limiter can be used to achieve this goal, and also contains a fair amount of flexibility compared to other limiters. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The measure of a limiter is how loud it can make a signal before it starts to sound significantly worse. Digital limiting has been around for a while, and have seen many improvements over the years. The Oxford Limiter sounds better to me than other older limiters like the Waves L1 and Maxim. There are many different parts of mixing where limiters are useful. The most obvious place is for the mix bus to achieve CD level amplitude. My current preference for mix bus limiting is the Slate Digital FG-X plug-in over the Oxford Limiter. However, I also like to subtly use a limiter on vocals and on my drum bus. I find the FG-X limiter to be a little bit overkill in these situations, so I usually use the Oxford Limiter. I pretty much use this plug-in for all 'auxiliary' limiting situations, rather than on the mix bus. OVERALL OPINION The Oxford Limiter has been popular for a long time. It contains several controls such as 'attack', 'release', and 'knee' that are typically seen on compressors and not 'stand-alone' limiters. This offers some unique flexibility compared to the competitor plug-ins. The 'Enhance' feature is also unique. Supposedly, it can be used to preserve that transients in a signal that can be destroyed during digital limiting. This can be helpful if you are using the plug-in on your mix bus. Dithering is important part of mix-down/mastering. Any limiter used for this part of mixing should include a dithering section. The Oxford Limiter has an extensive dithering section, and was designed to be a true mastering limiter.

The Sonnox Oxford TransMod is a software plug-in to be used inside a DAW. It can be downloaded off the Sonnox website for installation, and authorized using an iLok. The purpose of this effect is to change the shape of a transient in a signal. It can be used to make the initial 'attack' of a sound to be louder or quieter. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The Oxford TransMod is very flexible. The 'ratio' control is the basic way to increase or decrease the attack of the signal. The 'overshoot', 'threshold', 'rise-time', etc. control the timing of the effect. The 'Overdrive' is a unique control to add some saturation to the attack of a signal, adding extra snap or 'weight' to a transient. I find that transient shapers are most useful for drums, and don't really use them on other instruments. If you find that your drum tracks don't really 'punch' in your mix, then you should consider the TransMod. Typically I like to add a subtle increase in the 'attack' of drums by using this effect on a drum bus. Sometimes I will use it on an individual kick drum track to decrease the sustain. Sometimes I will use it on a snare track to increase the sustain. A little can really go a long way. OVERALL OPINION There are many different 'transient shapers/designers' available (SPL, Native Instruments, etc). The Oxford TransMod has much more flexibility by making the length of time of the transient something that can be controlled. Most other effects of this type offer simple 'attack' and 'sustain' knobs without the ability to control the timing. The TransMod is intuitively useful for increasing the 'attack' of a signal, but can also increase the 'sustain' of a signal if you decrease the attack volume and bring up the volume of the signal. I don't really like this method because when I usually want to bring out the sustain of a signal (like the ringing of a snare drum), I don't usually want to decrease the attack. Therefore, when I want to shape the 'sustain', I usually use one of the other aforementioned plug-ins instead.

The Sonnox Oxford Inflator is a software plug-in to be used inside a DAW. It can be downloaded off the Sonnox website for installation, and authorized using an iLok. This plug-in can be purchased independently or as part of several bundles from Sonnox. I purchased the Sonnox Enhance bundle and received the Inflator. The controls of this plug-in are as basic as any plug-in. If you can't figure it out in the first 30 seconds of trying the plug-in out, you can watch videos that show you what to do. In reality, all you have to do it move the 'Effect' slider up until your music sounds better. No further explanation needed. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE It is hard to precisely describe what this plug-in does. The effect is very dramatic, and very pleasing to the ears. Some people say that it adds a 'magic' to their audio. I simply think it makes audio sound better. My understanding is that the 'effect' increases the presence of harmonics in the signal. To me, it makes audio sound closer or 'in-your-face'. There must be some psychoacoustic phenomenon that this is based on. Whatever it is, its great. OVERALL OPINION This plug-in is simple - it makes your tracks sound better. Use it on individual instruments or on a mix bus and it will make a difference. This may be the only plug-in I have ever used that always sounds good. For most plug-ins, I might insert them on a track and decide whether or not it sounds better. The Oxford Inflator never fails. I rarely use the 'Effect' at 100%, usually I settle somewhere between 50% - 75%. I usually leave the 'Curve' setting at 0.0, unless a track is really dull and I want to add some high-frequency emphasis. I use this plug-in on every session I mix, and I would hate to try to mix without it. I consider this particular plug-in to be my favorite from Sonnox because it is very unique. There are many companies that have 'limiters', 'compressors', 'transient designers', 'reverbs', etc. The Inflator is one-of-a-kind. The Inflator is also very useful for increases the 'perceived' loudness of a music track during mastering while still maintaining the peak amplitude. This is one thing that can help make your demo tracks sound closer to professional.

This was a pretty expensive reverb plug-in for me to get, but I'm glad I did. it wasn't hard to install once I got it. It was totally compatible with my Pro Tools 8 LE system (though it was 7 at the time that I installed it). The setup was pretty basic, and though it has a lot of parameters, it isn't that hard to get started using. It'll take a few minutes to get a feel for what everything does but after that it's a breeze. I haven't really needed to read the manual as I'm better at learning hands-on, but it is informative and will give good descriptions of all the settings and functions. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I've yet to have a problem running this software, it works fine for me. I have a macbook pro with 4 gb of RAM, and I don't often have problems with plug-ins (with a few notable exceptions). The plug-in has a lot of adjustable sections. You can adjust the amount of input and output with some really specific controls such as volume, separation, and low pass filters. There's also separate controls for the early part of the reverb and the tail, as well as an EQ. Each section has a wide variety of parameters, giving you the potential for intricately detailed reverb. OVERALL OPINION This reverb is a far cry from the basic, limited plug-ins that come free with Pro Tools. It's definitely one of the better plug-ins I've found at getting natural, realistic sounding reverb. It's equally adept at getting some insane gated reverb, or heavy cavernous reverb. The best part about it is that you can achieve these results without muddying up the rest of the mix, which is really the only thing usually stopping me from going all out with the reverb. Plug-ins like this are the main reason analog-only purists like some of the engineers I've worked for and studied under are slowly making the switch to using some digital plug-ins.

Sonnox Oxford Essential Native is a bundle of plug-ins that I am currently running in Pro Tools LE. The bundle comes with four different plug-ins including EQ, dynamics, reverb, and superesser (which is a desser). Each of these plug-ins has a top notch tone quality and a user friendly interface that is not only easy to use but also versatile. My favorite of the bunch is probably the EQ, but all of the plug-ins are definitely helpful and great to have around. I run the plug-ins on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM that runs with a Digi 002R audio interface. I've never had any problems running any of these plug-ins within this configuration and as long as you have a system that can run basic plug-ins, I don't think you'll have much of a problem running these either. While you can buy all of these plug-ins on their own, you really do get a huge discount if you buy them all within this bundle. All four of the plug-ins in this bundle are absolutely top notch as these are some of the best plug-ins out there in my opinion. The EQ is super clean and has enough bands that you can use it on just about anything. The dynamics plug-in can be used as a compressor, limiter, gate, or expander and the reverb is also extremely versatile. I believe that even if you just had this plug-in bundle to work with, that you would be able to get some good mixes as these can really carry you a long way. This is definitely a great bargain and is one of the best plug-in bundles out there in my opinion. The Sonnox Oxford Essential Native bundle is the perfect bundle for home studio owners.

The Sonnox Oxford Dynamic LE plug-in is a general dynamics plug-in as it has options for a compressor, limiter, and a gate. It didn't take me much trouble to install the plug-in and since doing so I haven't had any problems with it at all. The interface is pretty cool looking and only takes a few minutes to figure out what is going on even though there are a decent amount of features. The plug-in has parameters for threshold, ratio, attack, hold, release, and make up. It also has a button for dither and a soft knee limiter and parameters for that. In addition to the basic compressor parameters, it also has options for a gate, an expander, a limiter, and a warmth button. It is great to have so many options within one plug-in and even though there is a decent amount going on, if you have any experience with dynamic processors, you should be able to figure this one out without a manual. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Thus far, I haven't ever had any problems running a bunch of Sonnox Oxford Dynamic LEs at a time. I am running the plug-in on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM and within this configuration it runs quite well. I run the plug-in in Pro Tools LE 7.4 that runs off of a Digi 002R audio interface. I can't complain at all as I am able to run as many of these at a time as I would like, but this really depends on what type of system you are running it with. This being said, as long as you have a pretty good system and a good sequencer, I can't imagine that you would have too much trouble running a lot of these in a single session. OVERALL OPINION I've only had the Sonnox Oxford Dynamic LE for about six months but it has been a very welcome addition to my set up as it gives me another dynamic processor to mess around with. It works great on just about any application as it has a really clean sound quality. However, I tend to use it mostly for acoustic guitar and for other lighter instruments that I want to compress as for whatever reason it seems to work best for this use. The price doesn't make the Sonnox Oxford Dynamic LE the best deal in town, but it isn't overly expensive. Whether you are a home studo owner or a professional, the Sonnox Oxford Dyanmic LE is worth looking into.