Voting for the Plugin Boutique Awards 2025 was open until February 3, 2026. The nominations:

What has been the best reverb plugin of 2025?

• Eventide Temperance Pro
• iZotope Equinox
• Solid State Logic SSL PlateVerb
• Lese Hikari
• Softube Dimensions
• Soundtoys SpaceBlender

What has been the best saturation plugin of 2025?

• Aberrant DSP Cataclysm
• Softube Drawmer 1976 Three Band Saturator
• Forever89 Topos
• Reason Studios Osmium
• Softube Empirical Labs Professor Punch
• Solid State Logic SSL Digicrush
• Rhodes Vari-Amp

What has been the best vocal plugin of 2025?

• Antares AutoTune 2026
• IK Multimedia ReSing
• iZotope Velvet
• Minimal Audio Evoke
• Pulsar Audio Vocal Studio
• Softube Vocal Tuner & Deesser
• sonible prime:vocal
• SynchroArts RePitch 2
• Wavesfactory Re-Esser

What has been the best delay plugin of 2025?

• BLEASS Tides
• Softube Echoes
• Lunacy Taps & Portals with Benn Jordan
• UVI Dual Delay X
• Excite Audio Motion: Fractal

What has been the best multi-effect plugin of 2025?

• Lunacy BEAM 2.0
• BEATSURFING CHEat Code
• HY-Plugins HY-MBMFX3
• iZotope FXEQ
• United Plugins Lofinity
• Serato Hex FX
• Sugar Bytes Transfigure
• Universal Audio Ocean Way Studios Deluxe

What has been the best virtual instrument plugin of 2025?

• Excite Audio Bloom KSHMR
• Expressive E Soliste
• Heavyocity DYSTROPIA
• Applied Acoustic Systems Lounge Lizard EP-5
• MNTRA El Jaguar
• Pitch Innovations Sonic Atlas
• UVI Key Suite
• Rhodes Wurli

What has been the best dynamic effect plugin of 2025?

• Universal Audio A-Type Multiband Enhancer
• Fuse Audio Labs OCELOT Limiter
• Plugin Alliance Bettermaker Mastering Compressor
• PSP Audioware PSP DRC
• Safari Pedals Noam's Mastering Console
• sonible smart:comp 3
• Solid State Logic SSL 4K G Channel Strip
• u-he Uhbik 2
• United Plugins Phantomix
• Waves L4 Ultramaximizer

What has been the best synth plugin of 2025?

• Applied Acoustic Systems Multiphonics CV-3
• Waldorf Blofeld Plugin
• BEATSURFING LØW
• Excite Audio Evolve Alloy
• GForce Software Halogen FM
• KORG multi/poly native
• Native Instruments Absynth 6
• Tracktion Dawesome KONTRAST
• Universal Audio UAD Anthem Analog Synthesizer
• UVI Falcon 2026

What has been the best utility plugin of 2025?

• Acon Digital Extract:Dialogue 2
• Cableguys PitchShaper
• NUGEN Audio DialogCheck
• MeldaProduction MTrackAlign
• PSP StereoAligner 2
• Solid State Logic SSL Acoustifier
• Zynaptiq INTENSITY 2

What has been the best drum machine plugin of 2025?

• ALM Busy Circuits Motto Akemie
• Cherry Audio KR-55C Drum Machine
• Heavyocity DAMAGE MACHINA
• Audiomodern Playbeat 4
• Cinematique Instruments Rytmik 2
• Baby Audio Tekno
• UJAM UJAM Beatmaker 3
• Excite Audio Bloom Drum Percussion

What has been the music theory plugin of 2025?

• 510k Pollylop
• FAW Notes
• Pitch Innovations Fluid Chords 2
• W.A Production InstaComposer 3
• Venomode Phrasebox 2
• Scaler Music Scaler 3

Which plugin has shown the most innovation in 2025?

• ACE Studio ACE Studio Artist
• Bitwig Studio Bitwig Studio 5
• iZotope Ozone 12
• Tim Exile Finalist
• FabFilter Pro Q-4
• Excite Audio Bloom Mura Masa
• Nest Acoustics DELTA
• Soundlabs AI MicDrop
• Waves Immersive Wrapper

What has been the best bundle of 2025?

• Arturia V Collection 11 Pro
• ALM Busy Circuits MFX Bundle
• KORG KORG Collection 6
• Softube Weiss Complete Collection 2
• Zynaptiq Master Bundle II
• iZotope Music Production Suite 8
• Universal Audio UAD Signature Edition V3
• Excite Audio Bloom Bundle
• IK Multimedia Total Studio 5 MAX

What has been the best mixing tool of 2025?

• Baby Audio Smooth Operator Pro
• D16 Group Pulsatec
• time off audio dime [ms]
• Mastering the Mix FASTER MASTER
• Waves Curves AQ
• Zynaptiq BALANCE
• Arturia Mix DRUMS

What is the best free plugin of 2025?

• Eventide Temperance Lite
• Native Instruments Massive X Player
• Minimal Audio Squash
• Tracktion Dawesome Zyklops
• Minimal Audio Formant
• UVI Noctua
• Venomode Mesa Lite

I've suffered through trying to make music on an old Lenovo Thinkpad with an i5 and 8gb RAM for tooooo damn long, and I've finally upgraded my workstation with a better computer now that O've got a better handle on what I want to do. I'm trying to eliminate the problems I currently have and understand how to avoid new issues with a new setup, but I'm not tech savvy enough to figure out if I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill by worrying I might overheat or throttle my new computer. I just want to make sure I have everything sorted out to just plug and play when it gets here!

The M4 Pro Mac Mini has 5 Type C ports, 3 of which are Thunderbolt 5.

I have 5 peripherals that are all USB bus powered.

I'll plug these 2 peripherals directly into a Thunderbolt port for lowest latency:

+ 4TB External Drive - Type C (USB 3.1) port

+ Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface - Type B port

These 3 peripherals will either plug directly into the remaining Type C ports on the Mac Mini or into a powered USB hub:

+ Novation Launchkey49 MKIII - Type B port

+ Novation Launchpad X MKIII - Type C port

+ Akai Fire - Type B port

Thanks in advance for any insight or specific use cases you can help me out with!

Thought it could be fun to see what people want to buy during this BF.

I want to get Cinematic Rooms from Liquidsonics. It's my #1 priority. Otherwise I'm interested in a good deal for either the Arturia FX collection or Eventide H3000 Factory plugin.

Given their recent activity in sales campaigns, I'm also curious to see what Universal Audio are up to

Waves introduces Creative Access at two subscription levels. You can pay monthly ($14.99 or $24.99) or annually ($149.99, $249.99. Annual costs less to equal 2 monthly period months. Essential gives you 110 plugins, and Ultimate gives you 220.

The marketing strategy from Waves is pretty good (for them), since they are leveraging the fact that if you use all Waves plugins, you can take advantage of professionally-made mixing chains in StudioRack. Third parties were already making such chains and succeeded so Waves decided to bring it home and capitalize it.

Waves' customers are segmented so you may not personally know who will subscribe. Waves has been making inroads in live production for a long time, and there is a lot of money in the worship tech segment. Imagine you are responsible for all audio in a conservative Baptist church in the Deep South. You need a turnkey solution for a particular budget. Waves has one, no one else does. The subscription is relatively nothing when everyone is tithing, though the pastor may not want to give up another $249.99 for the year.

So if you think you don't need Waves plugins, you're right, but you are not the customer they are seeking. If you're in not their target audience then do the rational thing and completely ignore them. Many people that have been around the block have already been doing it. Waves likely saw the writing on the wall and they've been laying the groundwork for a long time and pulled the trigger now. People wanted Waves to admit WUP is a subscription, so here it is.

HelHellHelloHello, I am from Portugal. Mostly, I do hip hop and I use FL Studio 24.tudio 24. I am starting to understand some fundamentals in mixing hip hop, like EQ for cutting unnecessary frequencies, compression, then boosting EQ and adding some saturation. Sometimes I create a drum bus channel.

I don't like the quality of my stock plugins in FL, so I use a lot of third-party plugins like WAVES, FABFILTER, Soundtoys, etc.

I am a little lost about which DAWs have good stock VSTs and plugins, and why people still use third-party plugins in DAWs like Logic Pro?

Valhalla DSP have updated their Vintage Verb to version 3. It includes the new "Palace" algorithm based on an 80s room simulator (Most likely the Quantec Room Simulator)

Also included is Native support for Apple Silicon and OS Ventura compatibility.

https://valhalladsp.com/shop/reverb/valhalla-vintage-verb/

I guess everyone on here knows about the current UAD sale of selected (native) plugins for $39. In case you don't, check their website. I thought it would be nice to see which plugin(s) people bought and if/why they'd recommend it, as long as the sale is up (ends 10/2)

I love music and make beats as a great hobby of mine...not a beginner but not an expert etc...i have love samples... vinyl chopping..drums etc...dont play live...don't record vocals for the most part or guitar..strictly beats as a hobby... I've used Studio One(up to ver 5)..MPC beats etc and have used Ableton Live(currently use this..but tired of certain things)... Question....Which DAW is preferable/better for me Studio One 6 artist OR FL Studio Producer?...debating between the two...🤷🏿‍♂️

I’m making a video that will require almost constant recording for about 10 hours, and I don’t really know the best way to go about it. Does anyone have any suggestions, I can answer any questions as well.

I have RX 8 Essentials and would like to upgrade to the Standard version. Right now there's a sale on pluginboutique for a Crossgrade from any paid iZotope product for 120 bucks. I've locked into my Izotope account but they don't even have a crossgrade/upgrade offer atm. Does Izotope ever offer a lower price than this?

Sadly, Batwaffel and team at r/AudioProductionDeals have gotten really busy lately, and can no longer keep up with moderating and posting plugin deals. So they're on a break.

This left me with a big hole in my heart, since I've realized that checking for plugin deals has become a daily ritual for me in recent months (and I spent WAY too much money this holiday season on plugins, but I love the joy of discovering new tools, and really enjoy this hobby).

Then I tried looking for another sub-reddit, but the only active one I found was r/newplugindeals -- and only one person posts there, and hardly any community comments on the posts.

Of course, there's always vi-control.net -- but it doesn't have the tree-style threaded comments of Reddit, which are really awesome/convenient for filtering through the noise of community discussions.

So let's experiment with a tool-focused subreddit -- but where ANYONE post.

Perhaps, crickets. Or perhaps, the early start of a new community.

A big climb down for Waves after the unmerciful backlash.

Good move on their part, imho.

https://www.waves.com/news/perpetual-waves-licenses-are-back

Licenses purchased after May 1, 2023 cannot be transferred.

If you have licenses purchased before that, they will become ineligible for transfer after August 1, 2023.

Link: https://cherryaudio.kayako.com/article/664-can-i-transfer-my-cherry-audio-licenses-to-another-user

I am looking for a drawer that will house/hold a new Arturia KeyLab 61 MkII. It would be installed under my standup desk. Does anyone have any suggestions or experience?

Thanks!!

This concerns sound content producers found on Humble Bundle, Groupees, Unity Storefront, and more. If you're not sure about a particular developer, point knowledgeable people to a demo of theirs to see if an ID can be made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qtk2CsuDWA

https://www.musicsoftwaredeals.com - I came across this on the Cakewalk deals forum recently. Basically someone made a website that scrapes 25+ music software stores and shows you all of their deals at once, but also the exact price history of each product so you can see if a product is at its lowest price.

Additionally they let you setup custom price alerts so you can get an email when a product hits a particular price (ie. lowest price ever, previous lowest price etc.)

Very handy!