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How many FabFilter apps do you actually use?
I'm tempted by the Pro bundle as I've always wanted it, and now I really want R2, but I'm wondering how many of the other apps I will actually use.
I currently roll with TB for EQ and normally just go with Logic's limiter and compressors, mainly out of laziness, but they're really quite good as well as easy. However I also want to get better at dialing in compression and sidechaining, as well as up my EQ game. I know FabFilter is the cream of the crop and this would hopefully give me an excuse to learn more and improve my skills.
I already have the Creative bundle and use them all in just about every project. Twin 3 is an amazing synth, I absolutely love Timeless, Saturn is very powerful, and Volcano is always fun.
I'm just wondering how much people actually use all the others? (G, MB, and DS). Right now I feel like I will probably only use 4 of the 7, but maybe I just need to up my game even more?
Comments
Well….
Below is nothing against Fabfilter apps, they are awesome. I want them too, but I find them too pricey for my needs. Get them, by all means if you have the money to spend, new apps are always fun. But don’t fall in a trap here.
You won’t get any “better” at mixing and mastering by getting new stuff. If this is your goal, work with what you have and you’re comfortable with like TB EQ and/or the excellent stock plugins inside LP and make more mixes. Many more mixes. THAT will make you better. Nothing else.
/DMfan🇸🇪
If you’re tight for money, the Toneboosters apps are also very nice and desktop/“professional” quality. I don’t have the FF apps yet (just the creative bundle for me also), so take this with a grain of salt. Just figured I’d point it out. The TB apps are my go to and they’re relentless excellent. The DDMF apps would probably round out the top 3 “best” on iOS.
I think it just really depends whether you need them or not.
Sounds like you would probably be able to learn to use them fairly easily. Do u work with vocals tho, for example, or noisy recordings? If not you might not need a de-esser or noise gate or whatever. I would imagine there are a huge number of iOS users who bought the fabfilter mixing and mastering apps but aren't using them at all, or are using them in a very limited way, where other cheaper apps could just as easily be used. Would make an interesting poll actually!
Exactly. This is actually the main reason I haven’t gotten them. I’m sure I would use the EQ and Compressors but I already use TB so much that it’s hard for me to justify the price when I’m already covered and not unhappy with what I have.
The creative bundle otoh, is fantastic and very worth the price for me.
The usage of the rest of the creative plugins, Timeless 3, Volcano 3, and Twin 3, is the same as any other FX and instruments I have.
The only problem with FF plugins is that they are iPad exclusive, and for desktop, you need to pay five times more than the price on iOS.
iPhones are now incredibly powerful. I've been using the device a lot more lately. I can definitely see that there are no FF filters. I will require some guidance from @jwmmakerofmusic. 🫣
I have em all and barely use aside from Saturn, Twin 3, Timeless, and PRO Q3. I reach for maxima before pro L2, and the gate only when tracking guitars. I’d probably use PRo C more but always reach for bleass compressor cuz it’s quicker
I use Pro L2 on the master bus for every single mix, for me it's absolutely essential.
Pro Q3 is my go-to EQ, it has the best UI, it can do dynamic EQ, and sidechaining (you can even sidechain dynamically, great for ducking certain frequencies so they don't clash, such as kick and bass, or vocals and guitars).
Pro G is surprisingly useful, not just for gating but also for ducking and expanding.
Pro MB is also very useful, especially on tricky instruments such as acoustic guitars or on drum loops.
Pro-R is an excellent algorithmic reverb, one of the best.
Religiously, Q, C, L2, are daily use. MB is once in a while but that's because I'm not mixing very often these days, and multi band compressing is arguably more of a problem solver than it is creative sound sculpting at least in my habits. And same then DS only when I have new vocals to mix. They're easily my favourites out of everything. 20 years ago Waves would have been the choice, A dozen plus years ago I discovered Sonalksis https://www.soundonsound.com/news/sonalksis-set-suite-success, which later led to following Dave's DMG Audio plugins https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/dmg-audio-equilibrium, for me it's a tie between DMG Audio and Fabfilter as the best of modern era transparent "surgical" daily tools, though I prefer the user interface of FabFilter out of the two, and nowadays with FF being on iOS, it's a no-brainer.
I have a few of the Toneboosters. I haven't done anything empirical like a double blind test so I can't say I know there's any strong differences, and as I mostly don't use them then my opinion is not well enough informed. Some users swear TB is even better. I don't know. f you're happy with TB or until anyone does a side by side empirical experiment, maybe/probably(almost certainly?) you don't need FF? I think probably if sound is your professional livelihood or that's the intention, you would spend time with both, and if not or in the meantime, I think either is great. What a time to be alive!
Pro L2, pro C2, pro Q3 are used extensively on any single projects, whatever the DAW.
Pro MB more occasionally for surgical purpose, but it can help solve problems in no time if you learn how to use it properly.
ProDS is also used very often on vocals track especially when I didn't record properly (which still happens too often 😅). It can do winner on harsh cymbals too !
I mainly use pro G on vocals when I am too lazy to do automation but I should dive in it more seriously for other purposes as I guess it can be used in very creative ways.
IMO, Pro-R is one the best reverb on iOS and now I definitely have to get proR2 cause it is a killer without any doubt.
After switching to LP4i I thought I wouldn't use FF that much cause Logic stock plugins are great, but I quickly went back to FF for the ease of use and the great and UI.
Wonderful tools that you won't regret having in your arsenal and keep on using for years to come should you have the money.
Lol! Toneboosters plugins work on an iPhone, and most of their plugins are similar to FF. When I used to use the iPad exclusively, I'd still prefer TB to FF, but that's just my personal preference.
If you have any specific questions, you can reach out to me in messages.
With Logic eq I can find better frequencies then I combo it with ffq3 to dial it in on each track and the ff limiter on the master. Also just got twin 3. Liking what I see there. Nothing else draws my attention after that. Logic has all I need after that.
Tools are only as good as the user it. That’s the old saying. It’s true.
Any time I need compression, EQ, or limiting while working on my iPad, the Fabfilter apps are the first ones I reach for. Nothing against other tools we have available, I’ve just been using them on desktop for many years so know them well and trust their quality.
I use Pro C2 on literally everything, sometimes several instances of the app running per track
Pro L2 for every master track. Also sometimes when I’m listening to music in general 😆
Pro G has been indispensable for me. I use a lot of hot signals with guitar and it’s absolutely critical in those, and sometimes I also use it on my reverb/effects send tracks to reign them in or get them sounding more alive. Also the sidechaining on this thing is so insanely good, I can’t even explain how flexible this is for weird crazy stuff or for just getting the different tracks to feel more natural together
Pro Q 3 is almost perfect, I don’t even know what else to say about it
Saturn and Volcano are amazing and useful for so much utility and creative weird stuff, I use both for so much different reasons
Pro R is amazing but it uses a lot of DSP on my iPad Pro 2017 compared to other reverbs but it’s absolutely crucial on dry tracks
Timeless 3 is so good and I actually don’t use it nearly as much as I would like to for creative delays because it’s almost ‘too good’, it can take a while to dial in exactly what I want because there’s just soooo much
Twin 3 I only recently picked up, having the fabfilters UI on a synth engine is amazing
Multiband compressor is also great but I don’t use it as much because it does give me some DSP issues every now and then
I never use de-esser- literally never ever.
I think it was almost free for me in a bundle after I bought a lot of their apps already
I have three of them but hardly use them at all. Strange but true I suppose. I think they are just a bit too subtle or something. I find that by the time I find the sound I want on one of them I could have done it much quicker on another app and not only that have got closer to the sound I was looking for. I wouldn’t buy them again if I didn’t have them.
When has that ever stopped anyone around here from buying something?
ProQ3. Timeless is tempting. But if I need precision EQing ProQ3 is King. For compression and other mastering plugins ToneBoosters is plenty "pro" enough.
if you don't already use gates, limiters, compressors etc then you probably don't need these ones
the EQ and Saturn are both great options if you want to take advantage of the sale and don't know where to start
Well, as I said in the OP, I do use them, just mostly in a lazy way atm, and I already own Saturn (and the rest of the creative bundle which I love dearly).
My my main curiosity was how much everyone else uses the entirety of the pro bundle, so I really do appreciate all the replies and input.
At least 5 of them most of the time and I reach for more if I’m mixing more traditional forms of music (ie more acoustic real world stuff). If I was doing a lot on the iPhone I would probably go to Toneboosters more as I could transfer the projects between phone and pad easily and I think that the Toneboosters stuff is great in it’s own right.
I use Pro Q3 for just about all EQ needs. Almost as an automatic reflex. It’s very versatile and I have a template set up so that I have proportional Q available to me on a few bands straight out of the box. I was looking to see if I could create something like an actual desk channel feel. I only just learnt that I could do this after I asked myself the question if it was possible. Pro R gets used alongside Logic’s Sound Designer reverb for most of my reverb duties and Saturn and Timeless are frequent choices as well….I do use Logic’s compressors a lot as I find them pretty easy to dial in what I need, but L2 is placed on the master as a protector and sometimes on an individual channel when required. ProDS does come in handy for frequency dependent compression although a lot of this can be done in Q3 as well. I don’t use MB that much, but I should investigate it’s possibilities a bit more and the Pro G is my go to gate when it’s needed. I was thinking recently that the MIDI implementation might be kind of handy with a controller if I want to dial things in with an encoder, but so far it’s just been quicker to grab things on the screen.
I bought nearly all of their offerings for iOS and none for desktop and now I don’t use any of them thanks to Logic Pro. I start projects occasionally on iPad Pro, but far less often than I used to.
I finally got Saturn , is the only one i find unique enough to justify
If there was only one Fabfilter app I wish could be ported to iPhone, it'd be Saturn. I use FAC Bandit in place of Saturn on my iPhone. I wonder if BYOD has multiband splitting. 🤔
You could start a new thread for the “Producing on the iPhone” guide. What I need to find yet is the most appropriate DAW, at least better than Drambo. 😅
I regularly use Saturn2,Timeless3, Pro-L2, Q3, MB, C2, Volcano3, and sometimes Pro-G.
Pro R less as much, but will definitely use the R2 a lot more when I finally cave in and get it at some point, as it's a big improvement
I don’t own a single FabFilter Plugin. I am a budget minded individual. If I can get similar results for less money… that is what I use. I don't think FabFilter brings anything to the table to justify the price on their plugins.
In order of most used...
Pro-Q3
Pro-L2
Pro-C2
Timeless
Pro-MB
I bought them on iOS and being so visual they really help me to appreciate and understand the concepts within that I just had to buy them on desktop.
I have all of them except for the latest one and at this point I use Twin 3 the most since Logic Pro for IPad came out, if I’m using AUM then I’ll use Pro Q, Timeless, Saturn and Volcano. At some point if I get the desktop versions I’ll probably use them more in Lp4 IPad