Introducing My Most Used Plugins from Plugin Alliance

Hello everyone! I’m Yuki Kito, a guitar instructor.
Prices have been rising rapidly lately, haven’t they? As of July 2023, there’s no sign of the yen stabilizing, and I’m worried that my favorite effects and gear are just going to keep getting more expensive! What am I supposed to do? It’s really frustrating.

Today, I’m going to introduce four plugins from Plugin Alliance that I absolutely love and use all the time!
I’ve talked about Plugin Alliance before in relation to amp simulators, but they offer a wide range of plugins, not just amps like Fuchs and Friedman, but also compressors, equalizers, and more.

Recommended Plugin 1:

Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor Class Ay

First up is the Shadow Hills Compressor! What I love most about this plugin is its look. It has that mechanical, almost Darth Vader-like aesthetic, which really satisfies that urge to own it. And the many knobs make it look even cooler!

To be honest, I haven’t used every single knob and function on this plugin, but I find that picking a preset and tweaking the gain or threshold at the end helps me get a sound I really like quite easily.

Personally, I love using it on drum buses, as it makes my rather flat programmed drums sound lively. You can also adjust the Stereo Width knob to add width, so if you insert it on the stereo output, it lives up to its name as a ‘Mastering Compressor’ by delivering a really impressive sound.

Recommended Plugin 2:

Purple Audio MC77

Next is the MC77 by Purple Audio. This plugin is also sold as hardware under the same name, and as the name suggests, I think it’s a type of 1176 compressor.

Basically, you adjust the input to determine the amount going into the compressor, and then fine-tune it with the ratio, attack, release, etc., so the operation is similar to other 1176-style compressors.

What’s great about the MC77? There are two things I’d highlight. First, it seems to compress more aggressively than the 1176. The purpose may be slightly different from the 1176, but as an audio amateur, I often use it simply because it makes things sound cool.

Second, the Parallel Mix knob lets you control the blend of the compressed and uncompressed signals. Normally, you’d throw a compressor on a bus and adjust the percentage there, but with the MC77, you can insert it directly on a track, set extreme compression settings, and then use the Parallel Mix to achieve parallel compression. It’s not a huge hassle to set it up via a bus, but it’s really convenient to have everything handled in one plugin interface.

Recommended Plugin 3:

Black Box Analog Design HG-2

Next up is the HG-2 by Black Box. There are tons of saturation plugins out there, and this one uses vacuum tubes, as you can see. You can control the balance between Pentode (5-stage) and Triode (3-stage) tubes, adjust the high-frequency output with the AIR control, and determine how much saturation you want using the Saturation knob.

I don’t have a lot of saturation plugins—just this HG-2 and SSL’s Fusion Vintage Drive—but the HG-2 seems more suited for drums. That said, with so many presets available, I’m sure there are settings for guitars, bass, synths, and more.

Recommended Plugin 4:

Brainworx bx_2098 EQ

Finally, we have the bx_2098 EQ, developed by BRAINWORX, the same company behind the amp simulators from Plugin Alliance.

You select the frequency band with the green knob, then adjust the Q and gain/cut with the white knob. There’s a saying with EQs: “boost with analog, cut with digital.” The 2098 EQ boosts sound well even with just a 2–3dB increase, making it really easy to use.

When it comes to famous EQs, you might think of something like the EQP-1A, which lets you boost fixed frequencies like 5k or 8k. But with the 2098, you can specify any frequency from low to high, which makes it a much more versatile tool.

So, that’s my introduction to the Plugin Alliance plugins I use all the time! I hope this helps you in your plugin selection. See you next time!

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