Hey WB fam,

I've been thinking of posting this a long time. I want you guys to tell me what in your opinion are THE ULTIMATE ESSENTIAL sounds/plugins/fx's for making typical modern day beats. I kow there are like tons of discussions about this topic, but in here I would rather have you like share your thoughts on what programs etc. to use and ofcourse why these are so great. Like tell me what u regularly use to make your beats, from a to z, for example, I use Sylenth1 like in every single beat i make for it's nice synths and arp's, there are so many presets u can grab it's insane, and tweaking the sounds is a piece of cake in this particular vst. I also often use ReFX Vanguard a lot, simply because I have a ton of presets, i can always find an interesting sound in this vst. I also like Sampletank 2 xxl, it's a lil bit dated but still plenty of good stuff in there, I mostly use this vst for my 'real' instruments, like strings/orchestra sounds. Ofcourse sometimes reFX Nexus 2 comes in handy sometimes, but I try to avoid using to much of it's sounds since i've heard them on so many tracks out there, and it's lacking real tweaking abilities to make the sounds sound more like my style. Furthermore I use Hypersonic 2 mostly for it's (famous?!) miami brass stacked with some other sounds. This is the only 'modern' day brass I know, I would like to have some alternatives, don't be polite share your knowledge. 

Im still looking for some (more) dope drumkits, I use this one kick drum from a drum kit I found surfing the net, it's called the Luke tracks drum kit, supposedly he is an internet producer who puts out sound compilations every once in a while, some are real crappy but the kick# 2 works perfectly for me with a lil papi jay treatment  I also like this kit by the name of SIHD (Sounds in HD) plenty of nice drums, I mostly use this kit for snares and sometimes claps. Another dope must have for your collection is the Akai MPC drumkit, these contain the sounds from the hardware, I also rock the Maschine kit, they all contain high quality sounds since they are all coming straight outta the hardware. If you guys have some suggestions regarding drums post them please, I sometimes find it difficult to find clean, crisp ones so any help is appreciated. one can never have enough of quality drums! 

Now The FX's, currently I'm on a learning journey to master what fx's do and which are the best, i'm still a rookie on this so don't judge me. I am trying to figure out Izotope and Waves lately. I either just throwed izotope on the master fx slot and choose the hiphop preset or I would use the Waves L3 Ultramaximiser to make my stuff sound more full n rich sounding. Maybe I am using it completely in the wrong way and that's what this is for. I want to have some insight in how my beatmaking colleagues' workspace looks like and learn from it. I actually don't use that much FX's, some Stereo Shaper on the drums n percussion, sometimes on sounds too. Some reverb, delay and a Fruity Parametric EQ 2 on most channels with the 40hz-18khz cut preset n that's mostly it. So in a nutshell that's how I do my shit, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask em or tell me what to to differently.

Thanks in advance y'all,

Peace from Amsterdam, 

Papi Jay

P.S. Check out my 2nd sampled beat ever and also be sure to check out my latest beat which I have still to finish but has good potential!

Here's a few tips:

Progression Generator: http://www.guitarknowledgenet.com/progression_builder.php

I've been looking for a good brass for years but I have found other horns that I love... search DVS Saxophone and MilesTone - which actually models all the horns. EXTREMELY REALISTICALLY. Best when used with a wind controller.

You can scratch with the Fruity WaveShaper I found out recently but I'm not as good at using it as some people are.

I'll be sending you a PM very soon.

@EX01, what's the big difference with using a stock limiter? And I totally agree with your anti loudness war statement, but how do you make your mixes 'BANG', without heavily compressing it etc.?!

And by the way, anybody working in Logic in here? Anybody know some cool ass AU (not VST(i)) plugins?!

Thanks in advance...

Great topic,

For drums i use everything i come across and just sample it. (digital and analog) Sometimes i try some free drumkits i find here on wb or anywhere else. Sometimes i record drumlike sounds like me banging my head against the table trying to activate my creativity :-)

As for fx i mostly use fl studio's own. Apart from that i use the 'reggae style' delay and echo vst effects from 'interruptor. Wiiicked.   (http://www.interruptor.ch/vst_overview.shtml )

As for instruments.. Again mostly sampling alltough lately i'm very happy with this minimoog vst i found. Love to mess around with all the knobs.(http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=405 )

For the future i'd like to record more myself. I'm not a great musician so i'll just be looking for cool/weird sounds like percussion hits, old instruments, toy instruments, .. etc.

Peace.

K.

Just a couple questions. I do EQ my tracks, but you say I have to make sure every instrument plays in ITS RANGE, so can I conclude that I should cut off the parts with less dynamics and tonality in it for every track? And doing so kinda isolate all those frequencies until I have the whole spectrum covered? It does makes sense that it'll sound 'cleaner'. And last but not least, in Logic, when I put a limiter on a track and it has to reduce the volume a lot, I seem to get these weird artifacts on my sound. So how to properly use a limiter? Or am i just using a crappy one? (Logic's default limiter)