The Best Audio Plugin Subscriptions for Mixers? The Good, the Bad, and the Monthly

February 23rd, 2017 by Jacob Roach

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Slate Digital’s Everything Bundle was one of the earlier audio plugin subscription services. They are now joined by names including Eventide, Softube, Kush and more.

One of the latest trends in the world of audio effects is software and plugin subscription. This relatively new business model (at least for the pro audio market) can offer an insane amount of value at a surprisingly low monthly cost.

Following in the footsteps of Adobe’s CreativeCloud and popular consumer-facing companies like Amazon and Netflix, audio developers including Slate Digital and Softube were quick to jump in and offer plugin bundles that aim to put more tools in the hands of audioworkers than ever before at a low initial price.

With more audio companies swiftly adopting this model, plugin subscriptions may soon morph from new trend to common practice. And although they provide deals that deliver tremendous practical right now, they also have the potential to become hazardous to one’s bank account over time.

Today, we’ll look at five of the most prominent audio plugin subscriptions on the market to find out where they excel, what their limitations are, and what kind of value you can expect from each of them in the years to come.

The Good

Let’s start on a positive note: Audio software subscriptions can just make sense for both their users and the companies offering them.

In a world that is often one-sided, this model presents a true win-win situation: Subscriptions allow audio engineers to acquire software that would otherwise be out of their means, immediately opening up a wide world of tools that help them do their jobs more effectively, right now.

Well, duh. The real question is: What’s the catch?

The exciting truth is that there isn’t one, necessarily. The way some of these subscription bundles are priced, you could subscribe for up to a decade before buying would be cheaper than leasing. (And that doesn’t even factor in the cost of eventually upgrading any plugins you might purchase outright over the years.)

A subscription model also opens up a new subset of the market to an audio developer, allowing them to acquire customers that would have otherwise passed on their products. Offering subscriptions allows plugin makers to choose to play the long game rather than asking for a lump sum upfront, which should be pretty exciting news.

This way, developers build stronger relationships with their customers over sustained periods of time, and users are able to easily, legally and ethically gather software that would otherwise cost them thousands of dollars to buy outright.

The Bad

However, just because a situation is “win-win” doesn’t mean that there are no tradeoffs. One issue is that collecting audio subscriptions can give users—especially beginning users— option paralysis.

If I had access to all the tools that I have now back when I first started, I know I would be a far inferior engineer than the one I am today. These subscriptions can end up selling dreams to beginners, unintentionally inhibiting their progress as they look to trying out new tools, rather than developing new skills, in order to overcome their challenges.

There are downsides for more experienced engineers as well: The dreaded recall could spell disaster for someone who has cancelled their subscription. With more software out there at your disposal, it can very easy to throw up something new only to cancel your subscription later on and lose access to the plugin.

Fortunately, most companies allow you to pick up your subscriptions for one month at a time to help remedy these issues (though sometimes at a marginally higher monthly rate than an annual subscription). Regardless, the annoyance remains, and realistically, many professional users may end up hanging on to annual subscriptions they rarely use just avoid that situation.

The Monthly

Now that we know the pros and cons of plugin subscriptions, let’s run over some of the most popular options on the market today:

Slate Digital Everything Bundle

Slate Digital’s Everything Bundle offers a diverse set of workhorse saturators, compressors and EQs inspired by vintage classics, and more.

Slate Digital was one of the earliest—if not the first—to come out of the gate with plugin subscriptions for audio engineers.

Unsurprisingly, Slate has refined this platform to a point where the subscription offers an amazing (and constantly-growing) set of plugins for only $14.99 a month.

Currently, the Everything Bundle includes five EQs, eight compressors, three saturation plugins, two preamp emulations, a mastering channel, an amp sim, and a world-class delay and reverb. All together, that is 24 plugins for $14.99 a month. That’s pretty crazy.

The value here is probably among the best out there: To purchase all of the plugins currently in the bundle, it would run you $1,771. Stack that against $14.99 a month, and it would take you nearly 10 years to to pay out that much for the plugins—and that’s not including the new plugins that are being added throughout the process.

What’s even better is that Slate Digital’s plugins sound absolutely amazing. If you have ever used one of these trusty tools, that should come at no surprise. Plugins like the Virtual Tape Machines and the newly released Verbsuite Classics are staples on every single mix I do.

However, I find myself gravitating more towards the saturation type plugins than anything else in the bundle. The compressors included seem to be the weakest link here to me. While Slate has done a fantastic job emulating classics like an 1176 or the famous SSL Bus Compressor, I often find myself moving more towards offerings like the CLA-76 or the Waves version of the SSL bus compressor. The upcoming FG-Stress (an emulation of a Distressor) does bring a bit of additional promise to the compressor side of things, however.

On the EQ end, the Slate bundle is a little lackluster for my tastes. The emulations of the Neve and SSL EQs sound good, but are not so characteristic of the classic channels to my ear. Often, I find myself just driving the Neve EQ (the FG-N) for saturation instead of actually using it to EQ. Your preferences may vary.

The exception to this would be the Custom Series EQ which has different shapes depending on whether you are boosting or cutting. Throwing two of these badboys next to each other and cutting then boosting in the same area can deliver results reminiscent of a Pultec.

Ultimately, Slate has managed to provide a great workhorse bundle with their subscription-based Everything Bundle, with typical workhorse tools.

The compressors and EQs included are good, but the rest of the bundle is even better. In particular, if you’re looking to color your mix with some of the best Native saturation processing out there, than the Everything Bundle is a no brainer.

If you haven’t had the fortune of trying out these effects, I would suggest you go and a month out right now.

Softube Volume 1 Subscription Bundle

Softube’s Volume 1 bundle specializes in more esoteric and unique hardware emulations.

Softube currently offers their Volume 1 Bundle of plugins for $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year.

All together, the bundle holds 16 plugins, equaling out to over $2,000 in value. The bundle includes just about everything under the sun, from EQs to compressors, to amp sims.

For me, the Trident A-Range and FET Compressor were the strongest plugins in the bundle, both offering color and vibe that was unmatched by any other bundle I’ve tried.

It was quite evident that Softube has really nailed the nonlinearities within each of the plugins, and they come close to competing with the quality of the best hardware DSP systems in a native package. Thankfully, some of the more CPU intensive plugins are also supported by UAD, which a plus for those with UAD DSP systems.

Despite the tremendous diversity of its offerings, I still felt a little restricted while using this bundle. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by the everyday practicality of Slate, but I just didn’t find myself returning to the bundle as much as I do to some of my old favorites.

While all the plugins sound amazing, they are often so niche-oriented that the full bundle lacks some of the workhorse versatility of the Slate bundle. I often found myself reaching for this bundle only when I was chasing a particular sound, not when I was just trying to simply EQ or compress.

To its credit, providing ordinary effects for ordinary sounds doesn’t seem to be the point of this bundle, though. Softube has traded a range of EQs and compressors in favor of more unique plugins like Heartbeat (an amazing drum machine), Fix Flanger (a realistic tape flanging effect), and the Drawmer S73 (a mastering grade multi-band compressor).

In addition to offering the roughly $2,000 worth of plugins included as a subscription bundle for $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, Softube also offers this bundle as an outright purchase for just $499, and that seems to be the better value to me in the long run.

These are some fantastic plugins, even if they may not see the light of day in every single mix. Either way, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t check out the bundle for at least a month.

Even if buying here turns out to be the better value for you (you could buy the whole bundle outright for the same cost as 2.5 years of subscribing) starting with a brief month-to-month subscription seems like a great way to “try before you buy”.

Eventide Ensemble Subscription Bundle

Eventide’s Ensemble bundle excels in delivering next-gen effects and unique tones that are hard to find elsewhere.

Eventide is one of the most recognizable names in audio, so my interest was piqued when I heard they were taking a swing at the subscription model.

I had tried a couple of their plugins years ago, and they were decent at the time, but their latest offerings seem to be their best yet. They currently offer their Ensemble bundle for $29.99/month or $299.99/year, featuring over $1,800 worth of plugins.

Unsurprisingly, the “FX” plugins are the best of the bunch. While Eventide does include more general-use plugins like the E-Channel and the Ultra Channel, these plugins fall a bit below their other offerings here.

But where this bundle wins, it wins big. The most stand-out plugins here are Blackhole, Quadavox, and Octavox. Blackhole is one of the most amazing reverbs I have ever used. It ranges from subtle vocal plates, all the way to pad-like atmospheres. Whenever I need to do something in the realm of sound design with reverb, there is nothing quite like Blackhole.

Quadavox and Octavox (two of the newest plugins here) offer the famous Eventide Harmonizer sound in an intuitive and aesthetically-pleasing interface. Both plugins feel like H3000s on steroids. While they aren’t perfect solutions for generating false harmonies, they are some of the best out there, and well worth the price of the bundle alone.

If you’re shopping for some decent EQs and compressors, this is not the place to look. The EQs can feel a bit harsh compared to some of the better vintage emulations, and for me, the compressors often come off sounding either too light or way too hard, and both bring the appeal of the full bundle down somewhat. Still, the limitations here are mostly offset by the unique character and great value of their more forward-looking effects.

At $299/year it would take almost 5 years of subscribing to equal the cost of laying out the $1,450 for Eventide’s Anthology X Bundle ($1,000), plus the Blackhole ($200) and TVerb ($250) plugins that are not included in that package.

Though this isn’t a bundle I’d recommend for those who are just getting started, it does have a ton of tools to create unique-sounding effects for your productions. There isn’t anything out that sounds quite like Eventide. Check out a month for yourself to see what you can create.

Kush Audio: OG Complete Suite

Kush Audio delivers some very unusual and memorable effects to add accents to your plugin library at a very affordable monthly rate.

Kush Audio is one of the more recent companies to jump on the subscription train, and I’m sure glad they have. Their OG Kush Complete Suite offers seven plugins (equaling over $850 in value) for only $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

While the advertised dollar value isn’t as high as some as the others on the list, they are easily worth double the asking price. Kush’s plugins are some of the most unique and best-sounding I have ever heard, and it’s rare that I mix or master without using at least one plugin from this bundle.

Trying out the bundle, I immediately gravitated towards the EQs included. The Electra EQ was amazing for dialing in the top end on snare drums, and the Clariphonic EQ was ideal for adding just the perfect touch of high end polish to an entire mix. However, I found myself going back to the Hammer EQ the most. Based on the hardware unit by A-Designs, the Hammer is a beautiful 3-band equalizer that just never seems to sound bad. This plugin can be pushed to extreme limits and still maintain a very musical characteristic.

Once again, this bundle does not offer the everyday versatility of the Slate bundle. Most of the plugins are focused on character and vibe, and less on utility functions. That’s not a bad thing, but much like Softube’s Volume 1, I didn’t find myself reaching for the Kush plugins to accomplish simple tasks.

Kush says that every new plugin released will be added to the bundle at no extra charge (much like Slate) and that more “High End Brands by Kush” will be added in the future. If you know anything about Sly–Fi Digital, then this should be exciting news.

For $9.99, it’s really hard not to try out these plugins. Thankfully, Kush even offers demos on each of these virtual devices so you can try them out before buying in. Regardless, I would still go pick up at least a month. You won’t be disappointed.

McDSP All Access Subscription

McDSP’s All Access subscription offers one of the better values in renting vs. buying, and comes with a full suite of unique and effective plugins.

McDSP has been offering up plug-In subscriptions since November 2015 with their “All Access Plan”.

Their model runs $29/month or $295/year for all the plugins in Native format (or $49/month $495/year for HD systems).

In total, the bundle is worth a whopping $2,295 based on the already-discounted price of the native Everything Pack.

At this price point, the McDSP All Access Subscription offers one of the best values for money out of all the bundles here. Like with Slate’s subscription offering, it would take nearly a decade of leasing before buying becomes the better value.

The quality of sound is just as good as the quality of the deal. McDSP plugins are the secret weapon of countless top mix engineers, and this bundle shows why: They just sound amazing. Every plugin here stands out, honestly, but the two that I kept gravitating towards was the classic Analog Channel and the 4040 Retro Limiter.

While the age of the Analog Channel would suggest that there are better options on the market, I can’t seem to find anything that sounds as good. There are countless tape simulators out, but Analog Channel just always seems to work no matter what the source. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The 4040 Retro Limiter follows this timeless sound as well. The plugin operates like Waves L1, but seems to control tracks much better. While the L1 often sound pumpy if not dialed in correctly, the 4040 flattens out the signal, while still maintaining transients and not getting too overbearing.

While the sound is timeless, the installation is not. I was excited to install all my McDSP plugins, but was met with 45 minutes of work going through every single installer. Especially for subscription model, it would make sense for McDSP to include an all-in-one installer so I would go through the process quickly and get back to mixing.

Regardless of the this hurtle, McDSP offers some of the best plugins on the market and I would suggest you try out a month for yourself.

EastWest Composer Cloud

EastWest’s Composer Cloud offers a huge library of high-quality orchestral sounds and more.

Heading away from plugins for a moment and moving toward sample libraries, EastWest has also begun offering a subscription service—one of the first of its kind.

The EastWest Composer Cloud offers over $12,500 (yes, you read that right) worth of software for $29.99 a month. I would love to list all of the instruments in the bundle, but you would likely be subscribed by the time I could get through half of them.

EastWest has some of the most detailed orchestral sample libraries on the market, and are the only company (to my knowledge) currently offering subscriptions for this type of material.

Clearly, the value is incredible, but the sound is even better. The libraries—particularly the orchestral libraries—breathe in a beautiful way and sound totally convincing. In terms of quality, these libraries fall just a few ticks below offerings like LA Scoring Strings or the amazing range of Spitfire libraries in my order of preferences. Still, the difference is negligible for most uses.

The only catch is that outside of the orchestral and ethnic libraries, I didn’t find much use for the rest of the software package. The other libraries don’t sound bad, but they just didn’t achieve what I was looking for much of the time—a common issue when working with libraries like this.

The strongest point of the Composer Cloud on the sample side is the Symphonic Orchestra. Other offerings like Ghostwriter and The Dark Side provide more unusual tones outside of orchestral samples, but fall short of being recommended buys on their own merit. The samples in these bundles came up sounding cheesy and dull for my tastes, in stark contrast to the life breathed into some of the better organic sample sets in the bundle.

The best of the bundles here more than make up for these minor shortcomings, however. Add those to the amazing convolution reverb “Space”, which Mark ‘Spike’ Stent calls, “…the best reverb plug-in on the market,” and it’s clear that EastWest has done an amazing job and offered an incredible amount of content for the money. I would suggest reading through the whole list of instruments and trying out a month at least.

Summing it Up

Like it or not, plugin subscriptions seem to be the way the market is headed for digital audio effects.

While there some potential downsides to this format, I think there is more than enough on the positive side of the scale for these kinds of offerings to shift the market in a good direction.

Personally, I can’t wait for more companies to come along for the plugin subscription ride. If this means loyal customers continuously supporting inventive companies, and more plugins for all of us at a lower cost of entry, then each of us—and the whole industry—wins.

Jacob Roach is a writer, producer, and engineer from St. Louis, Missouri.