SOT: FabFilter

[mr_es335]

Good day,

It is not too often these days wherein you discover a company that is not only "out for profit" - but whom appears to be also "out for customer service"!

Guess who? FabFilter!!

I have been testing out their FabFilter Pro-R and FabFilter Pro-Q 3 plug-ins and thus far...no issues whatsoever!

Some things that I have discovered about FabFilter over the past few days:

1. A very practical and user-friendly Web-site
2. Their "shop" is within their domain - so, no 3rd party "order fulfillment" facilities
3. Provides some great "learning" resources - with content that is actually very well written and relatively easy to understand
4. The actually have a "forum" - and which appears to be very active
5. Their Web-site content is appears current and up-to-date
6. No JUCE development - as far as I am able to ascertain
* If this IS true - this is great news!!

Now, for the other "more practical side" of things...
* Disclaimer: Remember...a neophyte here!!
1. Both products appear" to be "light" on CPU usage - so, very efficient
2. Very user-friendly GUI's
3. A seemingly user-friendly Spectrum analyzer display
* Since I have not really worked with such a display before, this "analysis" might be a bit "to-soon-to-say" at this point.
* The "nodes-pop-up" display provides the ability to:
a) Delete the node
b) Disable the node
c) Alter the shape
4. A great-and-very-practical Preset Management System - 10 out of 10!!
* Can enable any of the existing presets as the "default" preset -
* The ability to change the default preset store - this option is "Great!"
* The ability to restore "factory presets"
* If you happen to delete the default preset store, a new preset store is created on re-launch of the plug-in
* A right-click [invoke] option for "save" or "save as" preset
5. A useful selection of presets
6. The ability to 1) "increase", 2) "scale" or 3) maximize [full-screen display] the UI
7. An "interesting "Help" system
8. Well written documentation

All-in-all...and for whatever it is worth, I have found FabFilter "products" to be excellent - though potentially a bit expensive [$273.26 CDN] for the reverb.

So, how many others are employing this plug-in? Any advice/news/tips to share?

Thanks for your time.

[Dave Labrecque]

I've never tried their stuff, myself; but they're pretty highly regarded. I think the Fabfilter EQ in particular gets a lot of praise.

[mr_es335]

Good day,

I had asked the folks at FabFilter if I could quote them with regards to my comment on JUCE, "6. No JUCE development - as far as I am able to ascertain..."...and the is what they stated, "Sure, you can share the comment that we do not use JUCE, no problem at all."

Following is their response, "In regards to Juce, you are correct that we are not using it at all. Our plug-ins are programmed and designed from the ground up by ourselves. No third party frameworks that we rely on."

Great news indeed!

PS1: It is absolutely amazing how many "developers??" are employing JUCE these days! Scarey! Buyer beware I guess...and please, do your homework!

PS2: [No, not the connection protocol!!] I also find it amazing how many software developers "indirectly" tend to refer to Bob's software as "a non-modern DAW". How is this so? Because, a typical response from these developers is that I really should upgrade to a more "modern" DAW!! The audacity! To make such a broad and totally-unfounded statement is outrageous!
* As a computer support person, I would never denigrate someone because of the [PC] software they are using. Wait a moment...when chatting with someone who owns a MAC, I generally say, "And, by-the-way, you cannot be healed of that!" Most never understand what it is specifically that I am referring to here!" [Heee...Heee!!!]

[Todd R]

I use ProQ3, Pro-DS and Pro-L for every job and have been since 2012 (hence many years on Pro-Q2)...ff EQ is simply the best I know of...I've tried to apply some ffQ settings in the SS mixer EQ at times and can't get anywhere near the precision of ffQ in SS native

the amount of VO "work" I do, need ff plugs!

[mr_es335]

Good day,

Well, the day has finally come!!

I am now in the position of being able to finally "cut the cord" on Valhalla!

Previously I had spent considerable time and money on 3rd party presets and tutoring - on getting just the right sound out of the Valhalla Room and VintageVerb plug-ins.

As of the past few days, I have been able to finally replicate the reverb presets from each the two Valhalla plug-ins employing just the FabFilter Pro-R 2 reverb plug-in. During this time, I have been able to literally put this plug-in "through the paces"...so-to-speak, all with no issues whatsoever!! No issues at all with scenes, no slipped buffers...nothing!

Whether this point is important or not, but I simply do not want to have any issues during a live performance - knowing that, in as much as-is-possible, that the system I am deploying will do the job that that system was designed/intended to do.
* Interestingly, over the past few years that I have documenting the particular issues that I have been experiencing, none of the issues involved the RML Labs software! All of the issues pertained directly to the plug-ins that I was employing at that time!

This has NOT been the situation with the FabFilter plug-ins however. The same can be said with regards to the S-Gear plug-in as well. All is "ship shape and Bristol fashion"...as the saying goes!

In closing, anyone that is considering a plug-in...be it a reverb, an EQ, or a compressor...can do no better that the offerings from FabFilter!

I hope this information will be of some practicable use to all RML Labs folks!!

[Peter O]

PS2: [No, not the connection protocol!!] I also find it amazing how many software developers "indirectly" tend to refer to Bob's software as "a non-modern DAW". How is this so?

Maybe because SAC doesn't support VST3?
It's getting more and more unlikely that new plugins will be released as VST2 because Steinberg has done all they can to stop developers releasing VST2 versions of their plugins.
New companies can not get a VST2 licence from Steinberg so plugins from new companies will only be VST3 (and/or other formats not supported by SAC).