Finding Your Core Plugins For EDM Sound Design
Factory plugins in your DAW are essential for sound design, offering reliable, built-in tools that integrate seamlessly and allow you to create right away. They’re stable, efficient, and provide a solid foundation for exploration. However, third-party plugins bring unique features and advanced capabilities, pushing creative boundaries and helping producers craft distinctive, standout sounds. Using a combination of both keeps the workflow balanced between dependable basics and cutting-edge innovation.
Finding core plugins—like my list of 7 for RaveForge Audio—means choosing a few go-to tools that support focused, efficient sound design. By mastering these, I avoid distractions, stay creative, and get consistent, high-quality results, channeling energy into refining ideas instead of endlessly exploring new plugins. This focused setup keeps me on track, empowering me to bring each project to a polished final form.
Current 2.0 By Minimal Audio: Current 2.0 feels like the upgrade Serum users have been waiting for, offering high-end sound design without the complexity of synths like Phase Plant. With its streamlined interface, Current 2.0 lets you create impressive sounds fast, giving you an edge in production. Unique features like the wave shifter add rich textures, delivering a perfect balance of power and ease that keeps you focused on quality results. Minimal Audio also offers other amazing plugins in their suite like Swarm Reverb, Cluster Delay, and their Hybrid Filter, all amazing tools for layering up your sounds with effects. You can also get their plugin suite for just $15/month - this is NOT an ad, I just love this company so much and their plugins have been a huge contribution to my sessions.
Kick Ninja By The Him DSP: The Him DSP has revolutionized the kick plugin landscape by providing unparalleled control and depth in crafting kick sounds. With a comprehensive suite of features for precise tuning, layering, and modulation, it allows producers to shape kicks with exceptional punch, warmth, and body across various genres. Its intuitive controls and innovative processing make it a powerful tool for creating unique, studio-quality kicks without the hassle of extensive tweaking, making it a must-have for producers aiming to enhance their tracks. Works great for techno rumbles as well.
Kclip 3 By Kazrog: KClip 3 is an essential tool for achieving maximum loudness in my mixes, thanks to its powerful clipping capabilities. By applying precise clipping, KClip 3 lets me push my sounds hard into the limiter without causing excessive gain reduction, preserving the clarity and punch of each element. This plugin allows for detailed control over how clipping is applied, so I can achieve a clean, loud sound without distortion or sacrificing dynamics. With KClip 3, I can confidently push the mix to industry-standard loudness levels, knowing it will sound polished and impactful without compromising on quality.
Fab Filter Pro L 2: Speaking of Limiters! Pro-L 2 by FabFilter is the ultimate mastering-grade limiter, offering exceptional transparency and control that perfectly complements the clipping process for maximum loudness. With its intuitive interface and multiple limiting algorithms, Pro-L 2 lets you fine-tune dynamics with precision, preserving the punch and clarity of your sounds even at high loudness levels. Paired with a tool like KClip 3, Pro-L 2 seamlessly catches any peaks that clipping alone can’t manage, smoothing them out without sacrificing impact. Its advanced metering and true peak limiting provide full control over final output levels, making it easy to achieve a loud, polished mix while maintaining professional quality and depth.
Fab Filter ProQ3: While we're on the Fabfilter topic, I rely on Pro-Q 3 for all my EQ needs in sound design sessions because it provides unmatched precision and versatility. Whether I’m sculpting frequencies to carve out space in a mix or making subtle tonal adjustments, Pro-Q 3’s intuitive interface and powerful features make it easy to shape sounds exactly as I want. The dynamic EQ capabilities allow for surgical control over problem frequencies, while the spectrum analyzer gives a clear visual of the audio, making it easier to catch and adjust nuances. It’s my go-to for every EQ task, ensuring each sound in my sessions is perfectly balanced and polished.
Duck By Devious Machines: My go-to plugin for all volume automation needs, thanks to its lightweight design and reliable performance. It’s extremely CPU-friendly, allowing me to run multiple instances without bogging down my system, which is a huge advantage in large projects. Duck’s smooth handling of volume changes eliminates common issues like clicks and pops, making it ideal for precise, clean automation. Whether I’m creating subtle swells or sidechain-style dips, Duck provides easy, responsive control that lets me shape dynamics seamlessly. It’s a powerhouse tool that keeps my workflow efficient and my sounds polished.
Izotope Trash Lite (Free Version): If you are like me, you need a basic and simple distortion unit and it's lucky that household name, Izotope has a lite version of their Trash 2 reboot. I use the lite version of Trash 2 by iZotope whenever I need straightforward, effective distortion in my sound design. Despite being a scaled-back version, it offers a range of gritty, warm, and edgy distortions that add character without overwhelming the sound. Trash 2 Lite is easy to dial in, making it perfect for adding just the right amount of texture or grit to a track without overcomplicating the process. It’s become my go-to tool for adding simple but impactful distortion effects, allowing me to enhance sounds quickly while keeping control over the mix.
My top seven plugins are the backbone of every sound design session, providing the versatility and precision I need to stay focused on creating incredible sounds. By narrowing down my toolkit to a select few and mastering each one, I avoid the distraction of endless options and hone my skills with tools I trust.
This core set allows me to dive deep into the creative process, making deliberate, refined adjustments that drive my sound forward. Sticking to these plugins keeps my workflow streamlined, helping me reach the ultimate goal: producing high-quality, unique sounds that stand out.
Until Next Time!
-Rob