10 Plugins EVERY EDM Artist Should Own

MY GEAR:
DAW (Music making software): Logic Pro and Ableton Live
Studio monitors (speakers): Yamaha HS8's
Headphones: Audeze LCD X (open back)
Camera: Canon 80d
Computer: Mac Studio with M2 Ultra chip and 2 TB hardrive
Midi controller (keyboard): Komplete Kontrol 61
Interface: Scarlett Clarett 2 pre
Desk: a cheap one from ikea
Chair: also a cheap one from ikea

My favorite plugins that I use the most:
XFER Serum
Sylenth 1
Nexus 3
Kontakt
RC 20
Valhalla Shimmer
Valhalla Vintage Verb
Shaperbox 3
XFER OTT
Fab Filter Saturn 2
Fab Filter Pro C 2
Arturia Pigments
Baby Audio Comeback Kid
Output Thermal and Portal
LABS Soft Piano

Hardware that I use behind the scenes but not in videos:
Elektron Octatrack (my fav)
Elektron Digitakt
Korg Minilogue XD

[noahderr]

Wow! Only 3 minutes in and I've already been blown away by what I've been missing out on! Twice!
Thanks Alex!

[jamies]

Alex, you are one of the best EDM online tutors around as you are able to not only share the information and skills you have in a simple way but you have the ability to dumb things down! Well done and keep up the good work matey! All the way from New Zealand!

[prashantrishu]

My production goes up by 30%, my wallet :)

[temptemp]

Maximus is severly underrated(probably because of it's marketing as a limiter/'maximizer'). In reality though, it's a multiband upward/downward compressor. You can use it like OTT, but you have way more control. You can even do multiple upward+downward at the same time via one curve.



Eg: You can use it to shape kicks. Like, multiband shape the attack/release of the kick sound. So for example... you have a kick that you want to boost the high frequency of... BUT EQ leaves a high frequency tail, you only want the clicky attack.... You can upward compress that freq, everything above -10db... and downward compress everything below -10db.



If I have a kick with an unwanted high frequency 'release tail'. Maximus is the tool for it. Same if I want to shape the low end of that kick too.


I have both maximus and OTT. I find maximus more useful.

[KasraKlassics]

Shaperbox is really cool but I think a great free substitute would be the advanced setting of Alchemy
It looks super complicated but it may only take 2-3 more seconds than that plugin to do the same exact thing. And a lot more.

[rizma]

Props to you Alex Rome ❄️been watching u for time

[Gwyn]

Not sure if Vital was out when this video released, but that is hands down the number one VST I recommend to anyone serious about sound design. It's a free, very powerful wavetable synth. No bullshit to it, its free version is fully featured right out of the gate. Paid version just gets you more presets and wavetables, but you can already import your own wavetables anyway so you're really not losing out on anything.

[AstralBlitzLive]

Shaperbox 2 is out though. 😅 I use Shaperbox 2 on pretty much every single track. Great video overall.

[poprbl]

Awesome vlog, mate!! Also a great reminder of plugins I already have but *forgot* I had them 🙈

[LinguaSynergy]

Boy! i just found this channel about two days ago and my gosh, video upon video that i watch makes me feel like i am in a classroom. The explanation and clarity are just top notch. Thanks Alex for these lessons.

[xd_squid]

i stopped producing music for a while because it really wasnt working out, but these videos have kind of inspired me to keep going

[djdazza]

As always, another straight to the point and short tutorial, keep em coming.

[maxd]

Thanks for the recommendations! I really appreciate your videos :)

[GlaniastyD]

I didn't know Camel Crusher has so much potential, wow!

[JasonLawrenceJones]

I love your videos! They are very helpful! The way you break it down so that it's understandable is something not many people can do. Thanks for take the time to upload and share these videos.

[TMechMusic]

Can I suggest Elevate limiter as well? If you ever wanted a magic ‘make it as loud as possible’ button, this is IT!

[ryancallahan_]

dropped a sub, mad respect for u getting right into the video

[flickeringscreens]

Thanks. This is great. I will definitely be using Sitala a lot in the future, thanks for showing it.

[IanSolano]

We've all tried and used cracks but trust me when I say, the money you spend on buying the 'real' version is priceless if you plan on becoming a serious producer. At any time theses cracks can fail and you can lose a lot more than than the money in your wallet especially if you use a moody version of a DAW. By all means use the free versions to try them out so you don't waste money on VST's / plugins that you feel you won't use or need but please invest in this.
Why not team up with a friend and spread the cost as most, if not all, plugins allow them to be used on more than one device.

[christianstainazfischer]

I had no idea camelcrusher was free 😳. Thank you!