Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
Plugins
Plugins To mark Plugin Week, here’s our pick of the most out-there sound design plugins you should grab now
Plugins Future owns
Plugins Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
excite audio plugin
Tech Excite Audio's Motion: Fractal plugin is a granular powerhouse for twisting, stretching and scattering sounds
Pluginweek logo
Plugins Plugin Week 2025: Exhibitor A-Z
Sonic Charge Synplant 2
Software & Apps "This really is the ultimate sound design tool": 6 of the most creative plugin synths for sound design
Plugins
Plugins Our go-to plugins for adding flavour to our sounds
plugins
Tech "It's a stupendously powerful tool": 10 of the best sampler plugins in 2025
  1. Tech
  2. Software & Apps
  3. Plugins

10 super-useful 'Swiss Army knife' VST/AU plugins

News
By Computer Music ( Computer Music ) published 20 October 2016

From creative multi-effects to mixing toolkits

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Multi-faceted processors

Multi-faceted processors

When you’ve got a specific production task to carry out, there’s a lot to be said for finding a plugin that’s devoted to that job, but this can take time and isn’t always the best option.

Sometimes, it’s better to kill several processing birds with one plugin stone, and the good news is that there are plenty of products out there that enable you to do precisely that.

Here are 10 plugins that put multiple processors under one roof, saving you time and enabling you to get good results fast.

Page 1 of 11
Page 1 of 11
Waves Butch Vig Vocals

Waves Butch Vig Vocals

A-list engineer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Garbage) has teamed up with Waves to give instant access to the EQ, dynamics, saturation, and focus functions he uses to shape his signature sound.

4 out of 5

Read Waves Butch Vig Vocals review

Page 2 of 11
Page 2 of 11
Waves JJP Drums

Waves JJP Drums

Jack Joseph Puig (U2, The Black Crows, No Doubt) is a Grammy-winning studio boffin. Here, Waves has recreated his favoured drum processing chain within one plugin, making it a snap to dial in punch, attitude and control.

4 out of 5

Read Waves JJP Artist Signature Collection review

Page 3 of 11
Page 3 of 11
Beatskillz That Thing

Beatskillz That Thing

Offering an analogue-style chorus, vintage-sounding filters, various soundscape generators and a bitcrusher for emulating classic drum machines, this multipurpose tool is unashamedly fast to use.

3 out of 5

Read Beatskillz That Thing review

Page 4 of 11
Page 4 of 11
iZotope Nectar 2

iZotope Nectar 2

Aimed at vocal production, Nectar 2 provides pitch correction and editing, breath removal, plate reverb, harmonic saturation, dynamics, equalization, gate, de-esser and more. It can even detect pitch and create harmonies.

4.5 out of 5

Read iZotope Nectar 2 review

Page 5 of 11
Page 5 of 11
Soundness Soundsoap 5

Soundness Soundsoap 5

Soundsoap combines several corrective utilities into a single, unified plugin. Broadband noise can be automatically detected and removed from any signal. Add click, crackle and hum removal and you’ve got cleaner mixes!

Find out more about Soundness Soundsoap 5

Page 6 of 11
Page 6 of 11
Waves Scheps Parallel Particles

Waves Scheps Parallel Particles

Another Waves plugin that combines and condenses processes into a mere four controls, offering Bite, Air, Sub and Thick parameters.

Find out more about Waves Scheps Parallel Particles

Page 7 of 11
Page 7 of 11
iZotope Ozone 7

iZotope Ozone 7

This ever-popular, all-in-one mastering suite provides maximizer, exciter, stereo imager, EQ and dynamics functions. The Advanced version also adds Vintage Compressor, Vintage Tape and Vintage EQ modules. A must-have!

5 out of 5

Read iZotope Ozone 7 review

Page 8 of 11
Page 8 of 11
Exponential Audio Excalibur

Exponential Audio Excalibur

Created by one of the original minds behind Lexicon, this rockin’ multi-effect features four ‘Voices’ that can each house one of 13 effects, including chorus, flanger, phaser, ring mod, shifter, reverb, filter, distortion and more.

4.5 out of 5

Read Exponential Audio Excalibur review

Page 9 of 11
Page 9 of 11
Dmitry Sches Tantra

Dmitry Sches Tantra

Need interesting and exciting rhythmic effects? Distortion, tremolo, filter, delay, lofi, flanger, glitch and reverb are all on tap here, with modulation provided by the highly customisable built-in 32-step sequencer and multi-step envelope generator.

Find out more about Dmitry Sches Tantra

Page 10 of 11
Page 10 of 11
iZotope Alloy 2

iZotope Alloy 2

Designed as an all-in-one mixing strip that can subtly enhance or totally tweak any and all tracks in your mix, you get an equaliser, transient shaper, exciter, dynamics (with upward and downward compression), de-esser, and limiter.

4.5 out of 5

Read iZotope Alloy 2 review

Page 11 of 11
Page 11 of 11
Computer Music
Computer Music
Social Links Navigation

Computer Music magazine is the world’s best selling publication dedicated solely to making great music with your Mac or PC computer. Each issue it brings its lucky readers the best in cutting-edge tutorials, need-to-know, expert software reviews and even all the tools you actually need to make great music today, courtesy of our legendary CM Plugin Suite.

Get over 70 FREE plugin instruments and effects… image
Get over 70 FREE plugin instruments and effects…
…with the latest issue of Computer Music magazine
More Info
Read more
Plugins
To mark Plugin Week, here’s our pick of the most out-there sound design plugins you should grab now
Plugins Future owns
Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
excite audio plugin
Excite Audio's Motion: Fractal plugin is a granular powerhouse for twisting, stretching and scattering sounds
Pluginweek logo
Plugin Week 2025: Exhibitor A-Z
Sonic Charge Synplant 2
"This really is the ultimate sound design tool": 6 of the most creative plugin synths for sound design
Plugins
Our go-to plugins for adding flavour to our sounds
Latest in Plugins
Forever89 Visco 2
Visco 2.0 turns Forever89's boundary-pushing drum machine into a polysynth – hands-on
Atlas DSP - Your Final Steps
Atlas DSP, Your Last Steps Review
Plugins
How to get famous sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
caelum audio
"If your singing sounds like a dying cat, this finally kills the cat": This hilariously bad mic modelling plugin is free for International Joke Day
Plugin Chains
How to emulate a classic analogue recording system entirely with plugins
Mixing Night Audio
Predicting the future evolution of plugin design
Latest in News
Coldplay couple
“Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy”: Coldplay’s ‘kiss cam’ causes trouble for tech CEO
Handwritten note saying 'And if you go forward...'
“Don’t. Toy. With. Us. We’re fragile”: Fleetwood Mac fans are all a-flutter about latest rumours
Massive Attack perform in concert at the Parco della Musica in Milan. Milan (Italy), June 18th, 2025
“We won’t stand by and allow other artists be threatened into silence”: Massive Attack announce grouping of pro-Palestinian artists
IK Multimedia Tonex One Brown Sound Anthology Limited Edition: these special run mini pedals offer the Tonex One in red, yellow and white, each presenting a specific era of EVH's classic tone.
“The anthology fully captures an artist’s tonal journey as he changed rock guitar forever”: Eddie Van Halen’s holy grail tone from a Tonex One mini pedal? IK Multimedia unveils the Brown Sound Anthology
Steve Miller of the Steve Miller Band performs live onstage at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 26, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana
"Heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes": Steve Miller cancels tour due to... the weather
Billy Joel
“Once you’ve seen this film, you’ll never hear Vienna the same way again," says Billy Joel doc director

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...