To be a legend you need to have a reputation. We’re used to the idea that the reputation of certain studio gear precedes it. It’s so well known and so respected that you notice it in a different way to ‘other gear’. Pultec EQs, SSL bus compressors, Lexicon reverbs. You get the idea.

Considering audio plugins have been around for more than two decades are there any which have the same reputation and recognition as hardware does? Plugin classic gear? We think so, though you might disagree with our list of contenders…

Brainworx Black Box HG2

Like many plugins, this is based on a hardware unit but the plugin is far better known than the hardware. I’m pretty confident that a lot of people who have this plugin aren’t aware of the hardware, particularly since it was given away for free along with a slew of other, previously premium plugin alliance plugins.

Even before this giveaway this was a wildly popular plugin, it offers both a modelled triode and pentode stage with an interesting topology between the two giving lots of options for tonal colour and saturation.

It’s borderline heresy to say I’ve never taken to this plugin myself but the results are undeniably pleasing, I’ve always found it a bit of a faff to use though! I’ve always found it at its best used as a subtle tone box, a role in which it shines.

Sonnox Inflator

Possibly something of a one trick pony but it’s a good trick. Inflator is one of these plugins which manages to make things sound more ‘everything’, and it does it without winding up the level. It only has a handful of controls and to be honest I usually only use one of them. Wind up the ‘Effect’ slider and try to resist the temptation to max it out. It can be used on the master but I find it best used on subgroups allowing different amounts on different groups of instruments. Good results quickly, it made the list on our Betterizers roundup - what more could you ask for?

Sound Radix Auto Align Post

Continuing the theme of getting good results with minimal effort, when Auto Align Post launched in 2018 it presented a solution to a problem which previously had been difficult to work around and virtually impossible to fix perfectly. The phasing caused by having two mics on a source which move relative to each other, most commonly encountered when a lavalier mic and a boom mic are used at the same time on an actor, caused a great deal of interest in the world of post production. This plugin fixes this issue with the minimum of fuss while saving busy editors hours of laborious work. It’s little surprise that Auto Align Post has attracted the reputation it has in its relatively short existence.

Universal Audio 1176 Collection

1176 Plugins are the butt of so many snarky, eye-rolling comments online because there are just so many of them. The 1176 hardware is so successful, so well known and so imitated that the issue being complained about is invariably the, completely fair, observation that the last thing we need is another 1176 plugin. With a FET style compressor plugin included as part of the stock plugins in the most popular DAWs, free versions, scrupulously accurate ‘authentic’ versions and 1176 inspired plugins which take the sound but offer new facilities or change the control set, you have to concede that there is a good point being made here!

However if you’re looking for the authentic 1176 experience then why wouldn’t you go to Universal Audio, the company behind the original hardware? It used to be the case that you had to have an Apollo or other DSP hardware to run the UAD 1176 but the most current version, the UA 1176 collection, is also available on UAD’s Spark platform giving native access to a selection of UAD plugins including the 1176.

If you’re not a regular 1176 user you might be under the impression that it’s all about wild drum compression but it’s more flexible than you might realise. If you only have one 1176 plugin in your life you might as well have this one.

Soundtoys Decapitator

It’s a response to just how clean DAW recording is that saturation/analogue colour type processing is such a popular category of plugin. There’s a huge amount of choice but one which stands head and shoulders above most in this area is Soundtoys’ Decapitator. In spite of the rather violent language used in its control set (Decapitate, Punish) it’s a very flexible tool which offers plenty of variety of tape, transistor and tube saturation based.

Why does Decapitator attract such positive attention in a category which, to be honest, is already errr.. saturated? The big, friendly UI with VU and skirted Pultec style knobs helps instil an expectation of an analogue-like experience but that would count for nothing if it didn’t deliver in the sound. Thankfully it has that analoguey ‘something’ which so many saturators lack. 

Waves RVox

The Waves Rennaisance suite have been around since forever! I remember these in the early 2000s and they weren’t new then. They have been updated and re-skinned but the products remain remarkably unchanged. RVox is one of those plugins which deserves its popularity because it does one thing extremely well with the minimum of fuss. The approach of a gain reduction control and a makeup gain control reminds me of that other fool-proof vocal compressor the LA2A. Of course this isn’t quite the same, the gain control of the LA2A is very different to the one found here but the interface of a big friendly gain reduction meter and a way to dial in compression without access to attack, release or ratio feels quite LA2A.

Does it work? Absolutely! And when you use it you wonder why it can all feel so complicated using other compressors.

Liquidsonics Cinematic Rooms

The first conversations I had with mixers working in Dolby Atmos were often about the workarounds which needed to be used to bring your existing familiar tools with you to this new format. One of the most memorable was a conversation about using multiple reverbs in clever configurations to allow satisfying reverb in Atmos. The product which changed that was Cinematic Rooms. I’m not sure that it was the first immersive reverb but it was the one I hear about almost to the exception of others for this working in Dolby Atmos.

Easy to use, sublime sounding and totally convincing when used to create specific, distinctive sounds, Cinematic Rooms is deservedly right up there in the minds of post mixers. However in spite of what its name might imply, it’s an exceptional stereo reverb, a point neatly illustrated by a friend who runs a busy commercial studio who on my suggestion tried Cinematic Rooms. His response on hearing it was words to the effect of ’It better not be expensive because that’s staying’.

McDSP Filterbank

Making its debut in 1998 it is perfectly possible today for the EQ plugin the engineer is using to be older than the engineer. The familiar green of Filterbank is actually three plugins. E606 offers 2 bands of parametric midrange with high and low pass filters and super-flexible shelving filters with micro-control of the shape of the shelves. P606 is six bands of parametric filters with bands 1-3 individually switchable to low shelves and 4-6 to high shelves and finally the Production Expert favourite F202 which offers high and low pass resonant filters. Each has its own unique features and all are about the shape of the filter, no analog mojo here. They are still around, cosmetically different but functionally the same because they work so well. I’d expect them to still be here in another 24 years, though on our Apple QuantumBooks, rather than being any EQ you want they will probably be every EQ you could want simultaneously!

FabFilter Pro Q3

I’ve said before that the ubiquity of stock plugins gives them an unassailable advantage when it comes to deciding which EQ you’ll find using in sessions out in the world. Everyone who has DAW X has DAW X’s stock EQ so if the stock does the job why go elsewhere?

The only plugin I can think of which comes close to being a mandatory third party plugin is FabFilter’s peerless Pro Q-3. It does very nearly everything. Any filter shape you could want and quite a few you won’t ever use. How many bands does it have? How many do you need? It’s got them on tap. Mid Side? Yep. Need a dynamic EQ? Not a problem. Match EQ? Of course. I could go on but basically unless you need a character/vibe EQ or pitch tracking EQ Pro Q-3 does it and probably does it better.

Antares Auto Tune

This had to be in this list. If we’re taking about ‘reputation’ that probably covers negative as well as positive reputations and given that Auto Tune is probably the only audio plugin which someone outside of audio production would recognise the name of, that definitely counts as reputation!

With its origins in the very early days of DAW use, Auto Tune achieved something no other plugin ever has. It changed music. In pop music there is a watershed surrounding its release and subsequent abuse. From ‘Believe’ onwards vocals would never be the same again. If you’re not a fan of Auto Tune it’s not really helpful to blame the product for the way people use it. That makes as much sense as blaming a piano for a tune you don’t enjoy. When it comes to reputation Auto Tune has to be the plugin at the top of the tree.

What would be on your list? Have we missed something? Share your thoughts in the comments.