New user introduction

[dsteinschneider]

Hello,

My primary instrument is bass but I also play keys, guitar and drums for my demos. I've been using Reaper but never really cottoned to it. Someone on the vdrums forum who has always provided excellent advice commented that he recently switched to Mixbus and really liked how much it operates like an analog mixer. That appealed to me because my Reaper template is complicated which gets in the way of creativity.

While going through tutorials I used some tracks exported out of ProTools that we recorded at a studio. I have a mix of those tracks mastered by a pro to compare my efforts to. I did pretty a fairly good mix inside Mixbus 32C (no third party plugins).

One thing I'm wondering is if there are some third party plugins people tend to use. I'm thinking I should stick with the built in ones for now just to thoroughly get to know Mixbus and experience the "full fluidity" of how it operates.

One other observation. I have a 1080p 27" monitor. The Mixbus interface is a bit small and not as defined as I would like. I went upstairs to where we have a 4K TV connected to a PC and installed Mixbus. The graphic card is a Gigabyte 1030 GT. Wow - that looked amazing. I ordered that graphic card ($84) and a Vizio 43" 4K display ($219). I think the improved display will help streamline my recording and mixing.

Doug

[CurtZHP]

To quote a great Christmas movie: "Welcome to the party, pal!"

By all means, enjoy the included plugins. I've been very impressed with them. But, also, feel free to use whatever you like. Most of them play nice with Mixbus.
Most of my third party plugs are freebies, and I've never had an issue. My faves are Voxengo, Tokyo Dawn, and I recently sprung for Waves' Tune and SSL G-Channel. All work great.

[MakerDP]

Welcome aboard.

If you are never going to go beyond just making demos, then really the stock plugins are all you will ever actually "need."

If you ever need to - or just want to (remember this is supposed to be fun) - go "next level" then my advice is learn what you have and don't buy any other plugins until you have an actual identified need for it. It's very easy to get caught-up in the "more is better" mindset when it comes to plugins, when "more" usually just leads to analysis paralysis and committing to mixing decisions becomes much harder to do. You will also end up with a ton of plugins you paid good money for that you never use. For this reason, I am also anti multi-plugin bundles - stay away unless the bundle contains plugins you actually have a real need for and the bundle is the cheapest way to get those plugins.

However, when you are ready, the first place I would look is reverb then "colorful" compressors. Look at Valhalla and Klanghelm... fantastic plugins that don't break the bank. Then start looking at a Pultec emulation and learn how to use it. Eventually, you will want an 1176 and LA-2A style compressor. Those should be in every toolbox - but again, after you learn the basics.

[dsteinschneider]

@makerdp - good comments - what you describe as "analysis paralysis" is what was happening to me in Reaper. There are some good plugins that come with Reaper also and I've bought a few you recommend (Valhalla and Klanghelm) but I'm enjoying the simplicity of approaching Mixbus as thought it's a physical console.

[madmaxmiller]

One other observation. I have a 1080p 27" monitor. The Mixbus interface is a bit small and not as defined as I would like. I went upstairs to where we have a 4K TV connected to a PC and installed Mixbus. The graphic card is a Gigabyte 1030 GT. Wow - that looked amazing. I ordered that graphic card ($84) and a Vizio 43" 4K display ($219). I think the improved display will help streamline my recording and mixing.

That's the spirit. 4k/49" here. Never looked back.
MMM

[dsteinschneider]

4K display is in place and configured. Looks fantastic. So much easier to operate console with everything visible and legible.