Best Basic Effects

[Fred Bevins]

Since it seems like effects are often the great corruptors of songs, I'd like to hear everyones opinion as to the stability of commonly used effects, namely:

Best Delay:

Best Reverb:

Best Filter:

Best Compressor:

Best Gate:

Best Distortion:

Favorite personal effect:

[z_tetha]

i'll answer the personal favourites, perfomance may differ on your machine. This machine is winXP, sp 1 , sblive windows drivers. AMD athlon Buzz resolution used 44100 hz

Delays :
HD combo, good but basic.
FSM panzer delay ( try a peerctrl binding left and right delay lengths with minute alterations in the X, Y ratio .. resulting in just one parameter controling left and right differently )
Fuzzpilz unwieldy delay, although buggy on phase parameters .. it makes the most amazing delays. i dont recommend using it in songs, its handy for sampling the output ...

Filters .. many to choose from, their perfomance might differ depending on your samplerate
Zephod colour series, all very stable. and tweakable
ld0d FMfilter, not buggy limited usefullness, but what i does it does well.
Geoffreys NoteFilter, stable as a horse but strains 1800XP athlon
HD 2p-SpecFilter ( two pole ) if you havent played with it , what are you waiting for .
Joachims Planetary array , Mars, Mercury , Neptune, Pluto, Venus
stable and very unique .

Reverb
it depends on what you want from a reverber
HD halyverb, used it for many years ,stable ! (but dont automate the delay's .. the effects of such foolery are undefined, usually noiseburst after a while ) but versatile little machine
freeverb ( underated, use it for subtle effects )
funkyverb (same )
- note : its easy to go crazy on the reverb, resulting in the drowning of some audio spectrum . i find overuse damages the stereo image

[wayfinder]

Here are the machines I use most often, and why

Delay:
FSM Panzerdelay: Stable, transparent, versatile, sounds good.

Reverb:
Larssha Funkyverb: Basically, the same holds true for this as for Panzerdelay: Stable, easy to use, sounds good.

Best Filter:
Jeskola Filter (Stereo): Quick and simple, and I rarely need more functionality for most applications.
FSM Philthy: Sweet sounds, an LFO, what's not to love? If only I could figure out how to use the Thev Factor

Compressor:
Joachims Compressor (not the Zephod Remix): I know what the sliders do and it works just fine. I guess there's probably some stuff I miss out on, but I like the sound of this machine.

(Rhythm)-Gate:
Well, I hardly use these, but if I do, I use the 11 RhythmGate. I know I probably shouldn't since 11s machines are supposedly buggy, but is there any other usable rhythm gate for buzz?

Distortion:
Joachim Mars 2: In one word: Sweet.
Ryg's Analog Distort (Stereo): my previous favourite. It's so simple, but it sounds so good.

Other stuff I often use includes Rymix Stereobox, FSM Phatman and Oomek Exciter.

[nool]

Alright i'll have a go on this one

Best Delay:
Haldreamer's Combo
Fuzzpilz UDelay - backwards delays
FSM Panzerdelay - very useful for multitrack delay effs - add tracks in its patterns for more bands
and one i should probably check out is whitenoise harmonic delay (stereo)

Best Reverb:
i use most of the reverbs interchangeably
Sonic
Funkyverb
Raverb(stereo) - for big huge gusts
Halyverb (the most versatile but can go cpu bonkers rarely)

Best Filter:
Joachim Mercury, turn the lfo off, does what i want quickly

Best Compressor:
BgTech Comp for bass
Joachim Multi for drums
but really no set rules
Fuzzpilz Oppressor also seems to be interesting, but its rather new so i need more time to figure it out

Best Gate:
LD Gate, dont use it too much, maybe on hats

Best Distortion:
Firesledge Pampurfe - does alot more than just 'distortion'
Joachim Mars 2.0 - demios
Cyanphase ViDist

Favorite personal effects:
Joachim Venus - a cpu hog, but it has a nice multieffect setup, dirty chorus
Rymix Stereobox - Great for reducing stereowidth and balancing things in general
Firesledge Parametric Eq - duh, but i use it all the time, so i thought i'd list
FSM Phatman - simple, good sound
Oomek Exciter - breathe life into boring stuff
Cyanphase AutoDC
Cyanphase Mono

[wayfinder]

[Hamst3r]

Stability? Hmm...Dunno really...

Best Delay: HD c0mb0 delay.

Best Reverb: LarsHa FunkyVerb.

Best Filter: FSM Philthy and Bigyo 2-Pole.

Best Compressor: BGtech CompGate.

Best Gate: BGtech CompGate or LD Gate.

Best Distortion: Ryg's AnalogDistortion or Firesledge Pampurfe.

Favorite personal effect: Jeskola Karhu.

:)
_________________
- Hamst3r
THA | Hamst3r.com | Myspace | Twitter | Podcast | Forum

[quartz76]

Here are the effects I use often

Delay:
Fuzzpilz Unweildy Delay: great for sexy delay effect.. it has that progressive house delay down packed
HD Combo Delay: I use this for simpler delay effect... really cool on trance leads

Reverb:
Larssha Funkyverb: Nice reverb... I use this especially on drums, perc, and basslines... whenever reverb is needed
HD Halyverb: I normally use this for leads and pads... very nice spacey sounding reverb.
Jeskola Freeverb: really simple reverb that emulates room sound very well

Best Filter:
Jeskola Filter 2 (Stereo): Very simple... easy to use... never have a problem with it (cept for the fact it rolls the bass off to like 100hz... so I use this to filter non bassy sounds... like leads, high hats, pads
FSM Philthy: Cool for easy filter automation... add to any stale pads and they become very hot, spacey pads.
Bigyo Filter: Easy to use... very functional... frequency accurate filter.. probably my favorite of them all... minus the bug it has where it doesn't wanna filter sometimes (that could be fixed by reloading your song again)

Compressor:
BG Compressor: very functional.... really nice sound
Joachim's Limiter: great rock solid limiter... I'd prefer a buzzlimiter with tube distortion emulation (could be something to add to the wishlist)
Joachim's Jupiter2: very classy multiband compressor with limiter inside... very useful mastering tool

(Rhythm)-Gate:
I can't say I really like the rhythm gates in buzz. I prefer to simply program volume changes myself if I ever need to do a rhythm gate.

Distortion:
Firesledge Pampurfe: an all-in-one distortion kit. It's even great for mastering... set it to Tube... set the gain and compensation to where it should be... and there you have it... a nice warm, analog, vintage sounding mix... I've been able to fool audioguys that I did my production in hardware by doing that... the other distortion sounds it comes with are mint!!

Other stuff I often use includes Elenzil Modulator, HD Chord, Firesledge ParamEQ and Oomek Exciter.

[relativeq]

Best Delay: FSM Panzerdelay

Best Reverb: Rymix AcoustiBox (if he ever fucking releases it, but trust me, it's dope), otherwise Sonic Verb

Best Filter: FSM Philthy and Automaton 2-Pole

Best Compressor: BGtech Compressor

Best Gate: BGtech CompGate or LD Gate.

Best Distortion: Ryg's AnalogDistortion Geonik Saturator.

Favorite personal effect: 2ndProcess Numbird.

[relativeq]

I'm gonna extend this into VSTs, because I use a lot of them...

Best Reverb: Smartelectronix Ambience

Best Compressor/Limiter/Gate: Voxengo Elephant Limiter

Best EQ: Voxengo GlissEQ

Best Distortion: Antares Tube

Best Filter: I never really use VST filters, but Quad Fromage ain't bad.

Favorite Personal Effect: Smartelectronix Flitchsplifter

[wayfinder]

On related note, I have yet to find a usable and stable way to do proper sidechaining in buzz. HD Dinamix Pro 2 has the most awesome usability, but it's buggly fuggly, and thus not an option in a real project. The BG sidechainer sometimes works - sometimes it doesn't. It often stops producing any sound at all when I load a song. It also gave me a couple of noisebursts. Automaton MK II the same, I got a couple of songs where it would just stop making any sound.

And on the VST front? TC Native Compressor DeEsser is totally unreliable, unfortunately.


HELP"!!

[relativeq]

I've never had a problem with the TC Native Compressor... What's your problem?

[wayfinder]

Well, say I use it to compress the my bass, and the bass drum is the sidechain channel. Now when I add the machines it all works fine and dandy, but when I close and re-open buzz and load the song, it will not play the bass at all. Sometimes, if I show a lot of patience, the bass will eventually fade in and it will work again. My guess is that the sidechain thingie itself produces a noiseburst and outputs full volume all the time, thereby squashing the bass all the time. After a couple of minutes, the burst ebbs off and it does its normal thing again...

The workaround I am currently using is a peerEnv controlling a Joachim Comp. It works, but not as well as I'd wish.

[relativeq]

clever.

[galacticboy]

I've never had a problem with the Automaton mkII sidechaining...but that is one of the things that make Buzz unique: no two installations are exactly the same

Delay: Panzerdelay, though if I'm feeling really minimal I'll pull out the Jeskola Delay or ninjadelay.

Reverb: Sonic Verb or Lars FunkyVerb.

Filter: For basic filtering, I'll usually use the Whitenoise Filtron and HiFiltron, though since reading this post I've checked out the Mercury Filter and really like it.

Compressor: Automaton mkII Compressor has always worked for me. The BGTech compressors and limiters have a nice sound and good presets, though they very occassionally will stop working and require a restart. I also don't like the slight delay they put on the signal, making it impossible to run a branch off the signal chain anywhere before the BGTech without getting phasing problems.

Best Gate: Geoniks Gate. Never had a problem with it.

Distortion: Pampurfe is usually my first stop on finding distortion

Best personal effect: Changes daily Lately it seems to be the rIDMA or Whitenoise Stutter, or Joachims Neptune. I also like the Whitenoise Stereorecord, for extracting loops and samples from anywhere in the signal chain and not having to edit them in a wave editor before using them. Oh, and the do-nothing.

[o9]

Best Delay: Jeskola Ninja Delay

Best Reverb: Jeskola Reverb 2

Best Filter: Savage's Skweeler

Best Compressor: Zu Tube Head

Best Gate: White Noiz Gate

Best Distortion: Zu Tube Head

Favorite personal effect: Cheapo Amp

[relativeq]

o9, that is the most amazingly lo-fi 0ldsk00l list imaginable...

[elekt]

11-MidiCCout

(feelin' conceptual today)

[elekt]

[Disasteradio]

Best Delay: Jeskola Delay. no nonsense.

Best Reverb: LarsHa FunkyVerb. ditto.

Best Filter: asedev aXpfilter04. ditto ditto.

Best Compressor: Bg Compressor - nice presence, and I usually only compress vocals or drums - which i like quite slammy.

Best Gate: Whitenoise Gate (I barely use gates, except when I'm going Phil Collins on drum reverb)

Best Distortion: Geonik Saturator

Favorite personal effect: Ld stereo ssh / asedev a2pfilter04.
_________________
NEW_ATOM / DISASTERADIO http://disasteradio.org || http://myspace.com/disasteradio

[wayfinder]

[JoaCHIP]

Best Delay: FSM PanzerDelay for simplicity or Unwieldly Delay for features.

Best Reverb: None of the native Buzz reverbs are very good IMO, which is why i actually have 1 VST effect in my Buzz setup: Magnus Ambience!

Best Gate: i don't know actually.

Why is there not a "Best EQ" part? An equalizer is really one of the "basic things" in your audio setup. And here i'm quite sure: It's either FireSledge ParamEQ or Bigyo. The rest is not even close.

Best Filter, compressor and distortion: Well i'm using my own stuff here, because i know how they work.

[intoxicat]

hi - personally I think Joachims Mars Filter 2 is the most usable distortion effect I have ever tried. Can deal with anything from subtle stuff to total destruction. 5 different kinds as well means no 'tryin gout different machines' (which is notoriously a pain in buzz). I have always managed to find something that sounds good with it.
But as far as distortion goes I quite like smartelectronix tubescreamer as well...

tox

[wayfinder]

[o9]

my fvorite "newschool" effects are:

best delay: rIDMa las haska or whatever his name is... i have several patches like this machine that i made for samples using a program called FX2. basically, when this machine came out i backed them up to CD and never looked back. this machine is the best delay ever built.

best filter: well... there is some debat because... basically there are alot of new filters that i can concider to be really heavy. i havent really investigated this to the fullest. im thinking that the fuzzpill's food might be the best fft filter, but... im also thinking that there might be something that is even better like the mandella or something.

best reverb: hands down the fUNkeyverb. the only contenders are the hally verb adn the soniqverb... both of which you can get good sounds from but... the funkeyverb with the diffusion all the wy up is unbeatable there is one competator... but that one is a special thing because it is such a multi effect... the StereoBox Pro is actually a really good reverb... i think.

best compressor... ok well... the Zu tube head. tape setting all the way down. (sorry jochim

best gate: use the BDTsys Peer env or something.

best distortion: well... the Pampurfe, and the Zu tupe head but... basically as far as new school and "distortion" goes... well. you know i have to give it to the StereoBoxPro because that thing with the CTRL-R patch is just about the best distortion there is.

favorite "newschool" machine: BDTsys "peerstate" hands down best thing in buzz these days. making alot of nonsense into straight up booty music

cheers

[djlaser]

Best BUZZ effects:

Delay: Jeskola Cross Delay (Mono)

Reverb: Jeskola Raverb (Mono), Jeskola Freeverb

Filter: FSM Philthy, Jeskola Filter (Stereo)

Distortion: WhiteNoise StereoDist (not best quality but great design)

Favorite: Jeskola EQ3XP
_________________
http://www.djlaser.com

[mute]

[intoxicat]

personally I prefer compression to be 'dirty'... hehe... but jComp 3 is my chosen one from the buzz arsenal.. JoaCHIP mentioned once he might make a side-chain version... until then i dont bother with sidechaining...

reverbs - i tend to use Sonic - usable presets and decent sound... considering my reverbs often go through some effects it doesnt matter to much what i use...

another often overlooked effect is Tic -Tac aBuffer which I tend to use a lot (sometimes on reverbs). Might have to go in the 'best personal effect' category' though...

I couldnt buzz withough Firesledge ParamEQ.... or Jeskola Delay (Stereo)

Filterwise I tend to use Zephod Green or yellow for the vocal filter... i like vocal filters...

[Hoester]

Best Delay:
I still most like Jeskolas Ninja Delay. It's just a classic combining a filter with the delay and combined with other effects you can achieve nearly every sound you want.

Best Reverb:
LarsHa Funkyverb - no doubt. Allows best control about the parameters, uses not too much CPU power and just sounds the best of all native Buzz reverbs. The only minus: clicks when you try to cahnge the reverb duration when active (on the other hand this is valid for all native Buzz reverbs, right?)

Best Filter:
Hmm. Hard to say. I guess I most often use Geoniks 2pFilter. Great for very low bass sounds and just easy to use. Also great (but not a resonance filter): FireSledge ParaEQ.

Best Compressor:
Definately BG Comp. Most exact compression, no clicks, good attack time.

Best Gate:
I basically don't use gates in a digital concept as Buzz. The only application where I need gates is when using I samples of my guitar. I would suggest to use BG's gate.

Best Distortion:
FireSledge Pampurfe. Just a great distortion. Ok, it don't really sounds like a tube amp, but anyhow there are a lot of good distortion models in it and they give a very warm sound compared to other native Buzz distos.

Favorite personal effect:
When I had to decide for only one favorite effect, I would vote for Rymix FlaserBox. Together with delay and reverb I got some of the weirdest sounds out of it I ever heard.

Respect to all the devs for their great work!!!
Hoester

[Ronny Pries]

Both, Larsha Funkyverb and HD Halyverb already jumped into bad denormalisation states on my mobile P4. If you're new to Buzz and use a P4 machine, be careful.

[nool]

[shango]

Best Delay: Ninja. simple to use, good sound, non corrupt, good

Best Reverb: guess, yessss sssonic reverb. One strange thing happened while I used mixing plugins (happened with LD and mixo). The signal in the chain with the reverb died.

Best Filter: uuuh oooh hhmm. that is hard. automaton 2 pole?

Best Compressor: BG Rulez

Best Gate: see above

Best Distortion: devons analog cruncher, my guitar loves it with asio and 303 waveforms love it also.

Favorite personal effect: hard to say, fsm tuna man maybe
_________________
)))INFRASQUAD(((

Obey Buzz! Pray to Buzz! On your knees, you are in the buzzchurch!

http://www.reverbnation.com/shangospirit

[Paul Eye]

Best Delay: FSM PanzerDelay for the basic shiznat, Ld Pipedelay for more complex stuff (nonetheless, it is a cpu hog...)

Best Reverb: LarsHa Funkyverb. I rarely use any others.

Best Filter: FSM Philthy is a good allround one with a bunch of tasty filters, FSM WahMan Pro 2 works better for some material.

Best Compressor: Joachim's Multi 1, Fuzzpilz Oppressor seems good too, but I haven't got into it much yet.

Best Gate: hmm....I don't use gates too much...

Best Distortion: hmm...I don't use distortions too much either...

Favorite personal effect: Polac VST , Rymix FlaserBox, FSM ScrapMan/SprayMan, FSM PhatMan, FireSledge ParamEQ (essential), Joachim's Neptune, 11-RhythmGate, FSM TunaMan

[paniq]

IT'S SHOWOFF TIME!

most of the time i go for very simple fx, but i have long effect queues.

Best Delay: i use the jeskola cross delay or the stereo wrapped mono delay most of the time, with an automated balance in front of it. i really dont see what the fuzz is about all the other delays

Best Reverb: larsha's funkyverb. is good enough most of the time. i've been using halyverb as well several times, but its hard getting that one not to sound like a resonant delay line.

Best Filter: that one bigyo 2p filter. since it has been fixed its doing everything i expect from a filter that i want to animate. i use firesledge parameq for all eq'ing stuff, because that one seems to work in a predictable, earfriendly way (i like to add peaks and subtract negative peaks from then which creates those spacey sounds in noise... its also great for automation.)

Best Compressor: automaton compressor 2. its not publically released, and i dont know where i got it from. its basically the same as the compressor, but allows very short attack times. i use it for drums and vocals.

Best Gate: now what do i need that for?

Best Distortion: rygs analog distort, because ryg made it. no, its really a nice dist. just works. does clip and atan, and the clipping range is adjustable. together with pre- and post-eq that one is a gem.

Favorite personal effect: rymix flaser and rout vibrato. for the flaser, i use the phaser section a lot because it modifying the frequency field in such nice ways, and the vibrato is great for sinodial sounds and basslines.

yes, i work with those machines more scalpel-styled, using each machine to create predictable results. most of the time i know exactly what kind of sound i want.

through the hymn compo #2, wayfinder showed me two new nice machines, the cafenoise and that one sample buffer effect. i think i'll use those a few times in the future

oh, best machine ever: cheapo amp

[usr]

yes, once you get used to it the champ is even better than the donothing!
_________________
.nl chefs go blok blok blok

[mute]

[theEXIT]

indeed bitchez ilya is on the scene...

might be a shock to some, but this is what i use on all of my shit, really... and i seek no futher anything, due to the fact that when it comes to effects 'simple' and 'seamless' usually imply 'best sounding' for me...

Best Delay: Jeskola NiNjA Delay/X-Delay (with stereo wrappers)
Simple to the point of absurdity, and yet provide the best controls for everything, without fancyness. Delay is best programmed in MTrk by hand, especially when seeking triplets, quantuplets, or whatever the hell else, yet if you want to beef up a synthline or provide a hint of depth to a little rhythm or a pad, nothing beats those simple ass machines.

Best Reverb: Sonic Verb, although mostly I've been using VST reverb. When it comes to verb, however, it's all about different colors, and to be quite honest nothing beats the "Wave Hammer" or whatever of Sound Forge, that is, if you have lush impulse files. For a hint of reverb I find SonicVerb to be the most seamless and the least offensive.

Best Filter: Hands fucking DOWN it's all about Joachims when it comes to a chain of Mercury and fuckin' Temperature. Honestly, there is simply nothing that's easier and simpler, and with results that are as nice. Whatever to your fancy shit, those two are simply the best i've ever used, and automated they will definitely own your shit to the max.

Best Compressor: I find all Buzz compressors to be beaten to shit by LinMB or even C1 (Waves plugins). So, the best compressor would be Polac VST Effect loader.

Best Gate: Automate your amp and do it all by hand, I shit you not, it's better than most gates, if you're swift with the quickness...

Best Distortion: CyanPhase Turbion Meta is all I use apart from Warp VST and Antares Tube VST... The non-linear sound of distortion is perfect. For everything else, guys... Guitar pedals are a must... hit up some garage sales and run your shit through analog distortion. a FUCKING MUST.

Favorite personal effect: Temperature and EQ7. Those two are the only two effects that would both give sound character and will also make your mixing to be much easier. Temperature, however, has a highpass that will kill that nasty subbass bullshit that you might have on the hats or whatever, or it might make a sample from a record sound even dustier and dirtier than usual.

Stay black.

[paniq]

careful with the fixed EQ's (especially the automaton ones). most of them cut off the high end range, taking out much treble brilliance. firesledges param-eq is much better.

[Inductive]

First off, thexeit, not wavehammer, your thinking of acustic mirror, and its great for reverb and whatever else it was made for, but try taking like an entire section of a song and using it with say, a backwards crash sample as an impulse... neat things happen with it. One of my all time favorite effects is convolution... anyway...

Best Delay:
ninja delay is what i use most realy. and panzer. As far as simple delays go.

Best Reverb:
funkyverb is pretty much my most used verb. Easy to overuse, love it. halyverb (sp?) is also awesome. I try to use a few diffrent reverbs at a time all set realy low. I may use too much reverb in general on pads and things, but i dont care.

Best Filter:
asedev a2pFilter04 (Stereo) is my favorite filter in any software I've ever used. The HP is my favorite HP filter like ever. Dont as me why it just is. Color filters are awesome, I use red alot, and blue is my jam on pads. Only thing is they all seem to need heavy amplication afterwards. No biggie.

Best Compressor:
My most used is jComp, screw anyone that disses me for it. hehe. Compression is so stupid, its not like more then 1% of us realy know how to use multiband compression properly anyway. But, in almost every track I have at least one pair of Automation Compressor mk II's (compII's) for sideband compression buisness. Its just the easiest way for me to do that kind of thing. I'll like take the drums, LP filter them so it is only the bassy kick part, that is the CompII_01's level. It send no sound out so its just attached to master afterwards. Then I stick CompII_02 in front of pads or something set to audio, play with CompII_02, be happy with it.

Best Gate:
LD Gate, everything else doesn't seem to function like a gate I can use or something. Speaking of dynamics (...) I'l like to say Joachims Limiter v3 (jLimit) is one of my favorite machines. I'd much rather clip at a limiter then at the master. I almost always stick one before master and set it to -1db or so, play with release...


Best Distortion:
Geonik's Saturator (Stereo Wrappered)... hands down
_________________
-= Inductive

http://buzzmusic.wipe-records.org/index.php?id=12&action=details&userid=143