best plugins to have on the master output?

[benjamingordon]

hi.

i have a compressor (psp vintage warmer), beat repeat, gate and fade to grey delay on my master track.

i have taken the compressor off as it created latency from my mic input.

can anyone suggest any good dynamic fx (and settings) that should be used when running many tracks of varied dynamic content in a live situation?

thanks!

[domkane]

For Productions - Nothing. Your master should be empty.

For DJ sets - I'd stick to the W1 or a limiter, and have any FX on busses

[benjamingordon]

is W1 a waves plugin?

a limiter just distorts for me if i push it slightly..

i had to take off the vintage warmer as it made the audio input latent.

will the W1 do the same?

[domkane]

W1 is a freeware version of the Waves C1. Vintage Warmer sucks. A limiter shouldn't distort, if it does, then all your levels are way too high.

[benjamingordon]

gonna get my levels down and try that W1... thanks dom!

[simonlb]

For DJ sets - I'd stick to the W1 or a limiter, and have any FX on busses

Why the limiter? I don't see much point in limiting/compressing music that's already mastered.

[domkane]

Just to limit peaks from using things like the EQ etc that have a Q point.

[illsub1]

The GLUE!! Focus on your composition flow and not the mixing... It's a godsend for me because my brain can be fully creative and not worry about the mix while I'm writing.

[!STiTCH!]

The BBE Sonic Maximizer VST is quite nice. I have a friend who has really been my mentor for live sound with an amazing hardware set up that includes the hardware version of the BBE Sonic Maximizer. We ran tests back to back using both software and hardware and could find no difference. That puppy is my secret weapon for maintaining my bass/high balance when playing live. I do NOT use it quite as often when producing however.

[benjamingordon]

BBE... does it create any latency?

i have live audio looping set up and the reason i cant use the vintage warmer is because it creates a little too much latency for live looping...

[!STiTCH!]

I have never experienced any latency using BBE software. Then again, it may depend on how you set up Live for live play. I use a bastardized version of BentoSans smartmixing setup, with FX on my Decks A & B, and PSP Vintage Warmer & BBE on my master.

[benjamingordon]

yea well the psp vintage warmer was creating latency from my audio in... even at 256 buffer it was latent... now, without it on the master there is no latency at 512!...

i have an inkling that the BBE is going to do the same...

[flippo]

phazer

[MPGK]

yea well the psp vintage warmer was creating latency from my audio in... even at 256 buffer it was latent... now, without it on the master there is no latency at 512!...

i have an inkling that the BBE is going to do the same...

Plug-ins have an extra buffer which leads to the latency you describe, you can set its size in the preferences.

[Guff Tong]

For DJ sets - I'd stick to the W1 or a limiter, and have any FX on busses

Why the limiter? I don't see much point in limiting/compressing music that's already mastered.

If you playing out a limiter is handy to save house PA from rogue volume spikes - most club systems would prolly have a limiter anyway but if it all blows up you can like point at the limiter on your master out and pass the buck to the sound engineer.

NB: If you blow a house PA up without using a limiter on your master track, make sure you know where it is should you need to drop it in quickly....