best plugins for reaper mac version

[sunken0887]

I recently just downloaded reaper, although i'd like to use the plugins that came with reaper, doesn't look like i can since they are EXE. files, seems like i'll have to download plugins from a third party type source, i was looking at blue cat plugins, but i don't know how good they are anyone know what the best plugins for reaper Mac are and where i can find them? and how would i go about installing them into reaper?

[AnyOtherCity]

You can use the plugins that come with Reaper on a Mac. If you've downloaded .exe files then you must have downloaded the wrong installer. You should find when you install and open reaper that they are all there in the FX list.

You can use any third-party plug-ins that are VST or AU for Mac (be careful they are not VAT for Windows).

To install them put them in MacHD/Library/Audio/Plug-ins folder (I recommend putting a shortcut on your finder sidebar).

[TimOBrien]

^What he said.

When you install Reaper the standard plugins are automatically installed, you don't have to install a separate package (and yes that .exe on is probably the plugs that Cockos put out as freebies for anyone else using other sequencers and that is a Windows file.)

You can find a bunch of osx plugins by going to kvraudio.com and going to their plugin finder.
You can specify osx and free in the search.

Note you ALSO have to watch that you dont download old PowerPC plugins as they do not work on modern macs. There are still quite a few out there.

[sunken0887]

hmm looks like i was mistaken, the plug ins are not .exe files on my mac, they are document files,

but strange..when i go to select the plug ins in reaper, i get clear filter options(appears to do nothing when i click it) and a standard ok and a cancel button, when i highlight the desired effect or what not, it looks like the ok button is gray and unselectable, any reason why this would be?

...well never mind turns out my plug ins are accessible as of this moment, wonder why they weren't before..strange

[mike373]

Sunken0887,

WAVES plugins are "the shit". They are a little on the costly side.....but worth every penny. They have done tons of research and have some of the best algorithms in the business, and it shows. Sound amazing, some of the best compressors too.

Mike

[braindub]

hi,
I would suggest to check out FabFilter plugs.
Great plugs and nice video tutorials.

[vdubreeze]

You can do much, much good stuff with the supplied plugins, which are surprisingly broad in scope for bundled plugins in such an inexpensive DAW. You should explore these first. Then you could go to http://www.kvraudio.com which has an excellent database of free and/or very cheap plugins, many totally useful. (kvr also lists the commercial, more expensive ones).

If after all that you still feel you want some commercial plugins that won't make much of a dent in your wallet, I can't recommend the Tonebusters bundle highly enough.

http://www.toneboosters.com

Great stuff.

[AnyOtherCity]

Indeed. I used Reaper for a few years on Windows and accrued hundreds of free plugins. When I switched to Mac, I didn't replace them and didn't miss them - because of Reaper's own plug ins. They may look plain, but in every case I find they do the job and usually have the perfect complement of metering and parameters.
Now I waste less time looking for plugins and trying out free ones. In the future if I want to go to the next level I'll buy something like Waves or whatever, but I can't justify that expense at the moment and the Reaper plugs always allow me to do what I need to do.

[skmando]

http://www.stillwellaudio.com/plugins/

[Andy_bt]

Originally Posted by vdubreeze

You can do much, much good stuff with the supplied plugins, which are surprisingly broad in scope for bundled plugins in such an inexpensive DAW. You should explore these first. Then you could go to http://www.kvraudio.com which has an excellent database of free and/or very cheap plugins, many totally useful. (kvr also lists the commercial, more expensive ones).

Originally Posted by AnyOtherCity

Indeed. I used Reaper for a few years on Windows and accrued hundreds of free plugins. When I switched to Mac, I didn't replace them and didn't miss them - because of Reaper's own plug ins. They may look plain, but in every case I find they do the job and usually have the perfect complement of metering and parameters.

I totally agree stock plugins often get 90% of the job done, IMO a lot of third parts plugins including a bunch from Waves are nothing else than fancy GUI (with bolts, tubes and vent grids... hmm?) with standard algorithms (and don't get me started with Waves crappy static noise in analog mode! hehe) .
Third parties can be cool if they make your workflow faster (nice channel strip layout, efficient 2 knobs compressor, pleasing added harmonics, etc...) or if you need some very specific features (M/S, metering, dynamic EQ, specific reverb/FX...) but I'd rather try the stock/free ones and see what I can get out of these before spending my hard earned money.
For example, with the right settings a clean versatile EQ like DDMF IIEQ can get you surprisingly close to 90% of the expensive emulations out there.
That's my take, YMMV
A.

PS: and something like Klanghelm's DC8C coud cover most of your compression needs with top quality sound

[ned]

+1 on the Stillwell plugins. You can demo the commercial ones from their website or you can use JS versions that come with reaper already. Other than gui, I don't know the exact difference between the different versions. Probably oversampling and the ability to use them with other host applications.

Voxengo has a bunch of useful free plugins. Worth a look for sure.
http://www.voxengo.com/group/free-vst-plugins/

The OP mentioned Blue Cat Audio. They also have a free bundle that has some useful plugins... spectrum analyser, eq with mid/side processing, channel gain with mid/side processing, and some modulation effects.
http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products...ry_0_Freeware/

Melda Production also offers a free plugin bundle. Haven't used them myself, but it looks similar to Blue Cat's offering (a bit more extensive). Some of the analysis tools look really good.
http://www.meldaproduction.com/plugi...eEffectsBundle

Flux audio's stereo tool is definitely worth a look also...
http://www.fluxhome.com/products/freewares/stereotool
and their bitter sweet transient processor...
http://www.fluxhome.com/products/fre...bittersweet-v3

All of the above mentioned come in both AU and VST versions (mac and windows).