FabFilter: One of the most widely respected plugin brands

FabFilter are a brand that pride themselves in their outside-the-box approach to music production. Their plugins are designed with every tiny detail considered; they use unique audio processing algorithms and go through rigorous, repetitive testing and tuning to ensure they’re perfect to be used in music studios worldwide. The result? Exceptionally powerful, feature-heavy plugins – and they’re remarkably easy to use. In fact, many reviews of FabFilter observe their user-friendly interface.

Beyond their serious attention to detail, FabFilter also spend significant time ensuring the interface is quick and smooth to navigate. Each plugin presents the features you need when you need them – so no time is wasted digging around. 

This is a brand that ticks all the boxes: innovative development and design; feature-rich plugins; and easy-to-use interfaces. Although the initial price might be high, you get a lot for your money and can feel safe in the knowledge that these are highly respected plugins used by professionals around the globe.

Pro-Q 4

Pro-Q 4 is a 24-band EQ plugin, designed for any audio application. Packed with flexibility and functionality, Pro-Q 4 is suited to any form of audio production, from mixing to mastering.

Features

Pro-Q 4 isn’t your standard stock EQ plugin you find free in any DAW. Designed for demanding audio engineers, it boasts top-quality linear phase operation, natural phase modes, Spectral Dynamics control, dynamic EQ bands, surround support, solo feature, auto-gain, customisable spectrum analyser, EQ matching, and more. The list goes on.

It’s also incredibly easy to use and navigate. The plugin allows you to draw your own EQ curves and it will automatically snap the positions into place for you. There’s also the Instance List feature, which shows you all instances of the plugin, across all channels, in one window.

A must-have for any producer, EQ is quite often the first plugin you reach for in any mix. So, why not let it do everything you need it to in one of the most pleasing interfaces we’ve ever seen?

Designed to quickly find your sound, the large interactive display lets you create bands where you want them without limitation.

“I’m not sure if there is such a thing as a desert island EQ plugin, but… FabFilter’s Pro‑Q would be that tool. It sounds good, it’s amazingly flexible, and best of all, its graphical interface makes it a joy to use” – Sam Inglis, Sound On Sound, April 2019.

How does it sound?

Not designed to be like hardware emulations, Pro-Q 4 imparts no characteristic or tone to your source. Instead, it’s a pristine and precise EQ that can function as both a mixing and mastering tool.

Subtle mastering shaping is easy with broad tilt slopes at 6dB/oct. Surgical mixing EQ of noisy snare rings or other harmonic distractions can be achieved with narrow Qs and brick-wall filter options that sit somewhere above 72dB/oct.

Why is FabFilter Pro-Q 4 so good?

My personal favourite, the functionality is above anything else I’ve tried. It’s a very clean EQ which won’t impart a sound or character like analog-modelled EQs, making it ideal for any application.

Dynamic EQ capabilities set this EQ apart from anything else. Particularly useful when working with full mixes, it allows you to quickly identify pumping areas in the low-end and remove them when the mix becomes overbearing without using dynamics processing. It also lets you pull out whistling frequencies around 4k dynamically. The Pro-Q 4 is a desert island EQ.

Pro-R

FabFilter Pro-R is a high-end reverb plugin with natural sound, non-technical controls, and innovations like the unique Decay Rate EQ that shape the reverb’s character.

A true standout when it comes to reverb plugins, Pro R encapsulates the FabFilter ethos of delivering immaculate-sounding plugins in an intuitive format to help enhance creativity without getting bogged down by parameters or settings.

Features

Doing away with complex terminology that only serves to confuse, Pro-R uses musical terms such as Brightness, Character, and Distance to let you dial in a reverb sound quickly.

Another departure from the norm, Pro-R uses a stepless ‘Space’ control which fades between the textures of different carefully-tuned reverb models. This automatically generates a matching decay time for a highly-natural result.

“Rather than provide a separate early reflections section with its own set of controls, FabFilter has come up with a single parameter that simultaneously adjusts both the balance of early reflections against reverb decay… in a perfectly intuitive way.” – Sam Inglis, Sound On Sound, March 2017.

Heralded as an industry-first, Pro-R employs a Decay Rate EQ curve to freely adjust the frequency-based decay over time.

Parametric bands are also used instead of a traditional crossover system to shape the decay time characteristics – this is a key ingredient to the sound of your reverb.

How does it sound?

Carefully designed to fit into any mix, there’s no way you can make Pro-R sound bad. Seamlessly blending to any source tone, Pro-R remains musical and pleasing as it adds depth and space to your source.

At its core, Pro-R is an algorithmic reverb, which means it’s not designed to perfectly emulate real-world spaces.

“I think it’s fair to say that this is a product dedicated to producing musically useful sounds, rather than convincing recreations of real spaces.” – Sam Inglis, Sound On Sound, March 2017. This may seem like a negative but it’s a positive!

Pro-R lets you focus on finding musically harmonious sounds quickly, keeping you in the creative workflow without endless parameter tweaks to create a convincing real-world space.

Why is FabFilter Pro-R so good?

It’s extremely intuitive and boasts a highly pleasing sound. No matter how you set the dials, it sounds good and is useful for something in a mix.

Pro-R does away with convoluted, technical musical terms and simplifies them in a streamlined set of controls which have been perfectly tuned in.

EQ’ing your reverb is a well-known “secret of the pros” and the Decay Rate EQ enhances this tenfold, allowing you to tailor the frequency decay response to the sound source and your mix without external plugins.

Pro-L 2

FabFilter Pro-L 2 is a feature-packed true peak limiter plugin, with multiple advanced limiting algorithms and extensive level and loudness metering.

Features

Containing extensive loudness metering, Pro-L 2 supports EBU R128, ITU-R BS.1770-4, and ATSC A/85 standards. Monitored on a real-time display, you have all the information you need to achieve the best results.

It’s not just monitoring where FabFilter has focused their attention on Pro-L 2. It comprises eight advanced limiting algorithms, each imparting a different character and response. Professional dithering and noise-shaping, intelligent channel-linking, surround-sound support, unity gain, and audition modes are all included for the most comprehensive feature-set on any limiter currently available.

Of course, as with any FabFilter plugin, these standards can be viewed in the streamlined, interactive, and bold interface. This includes the ‘advanced’ panel, which can be minimised to hide any parameters you don’t need for your production.

How does it sound?

The beauty of Pro-L 2 is that it can sound how you want it to. FabFilter has taken great care, including eight different algorithms, each of which is suitable for practically any genre, style, or session that comes into your studio.

Need an aggressive mode to pin the level of a driving rock vocal performance? No problem, ‘Aggressive’ mode is there! Need a seamless limiter for a consistent bass guitar sound without unwanted distortion or artefacts? The ‘Transparent’ mode has you covered.

Why is FabFilter Pro-L 2 so good?

What makes L-2 stand out is the range of different characteristics available. Where other limiters will just offer one algorithm for loudness which may or may not work, there’s no genre, instrument, or style that Pro-L 2 can’t cooperate with.

As with most FabFilter products, Pro-L 2 has a range of extremely useful presets which make use of all eight different algorithms in a very musical way.

Limiting can often be the last part of your production and you may not want to spend a great deal of time tuning it in for your material. The presets offer a great way to get the right settings, all that’s left is to tune the level to get the gain reduction you need.

Pro-C 2

FabFilter Pro-C 2 is a professional compressor plugin with versatile side chain and routing options, high-quality sound, and an innovative interface.

Features

Among the typical controls you’d expect to find on a compressor (threshold, ratio, attack, and release), Pro-C 2 offers much more than your traditional hardware emulation. Eight different program-dependent modes deliver a variety of compression characteristics, emulating everything from hardware outboard equipment, summing mixers, and proprietary digital modes.

What you might not find on a lot of compression plugins is the ‘Knee’ control. With Pro-C 2, the Knee slider lets you produce a smoother sound with a softer setting or a harder sound at higher settings.

It doesn’t end there. there’s also advanced side-chain functionality with internal and external inputs and three-band EQ for frequency-dependent compression side-chain compression.

Of course, this is all packaged inside the signature FabFilter interface, with insightful metering and real-time displays.

As described by Music Tech in their review, “As always, FabFilter has managed to wrap an incredibly powerful tool into an easy-to-use and intuitive user interface, which makes getting great sounds simple.” – Music Tech, 2016.

How does it sound?

Whilst you may be fooled into thinking Pro-C 2 is a transparent, digital compressor, it can hold its own against your favourite analog compressor. In fact, it’s perfectly capable of imparting classic analog character using the Pumping or Mastering mode.

The eight different onboard compression styles make this an extremely versatile compressor.

“Another great addition is the inclusion of four additional compression styles. Each brings something different to the table, with tailored attack and release curves.” – Dave Hidek, Tape Op, 2016.

Having multiple modes isn’t exclusive to Pro-C 2, and whilst it hammers home the value for money, one of the most important and underappreciated aspects of this plugin is the advanced side-chain capabilities.

The side chain filtering offers an additional parametric midrange band (similar to a Pro-Q band) over the previous high and low filters. It also provides a huge amount of versatility.

These advanced side-chain filters let you home in on harsh frequencies and the ones driving your compressor.

Why is FabFilter Pro-C 2 so good?

The shining feature of Pro-C 2 is by far the advanced side-chain features. Enabling you to do things that other compressors can’t do without external plugins, Pro-C 2 packages it all together in one plugin without ever overcomplicating the user interface design. The side-chain possibilities coupled with the versatile range of eight modes will firmly cement Pro-C 2 in every one of your future sessions.

Pro-MB

FabFilter Pro-MB is a six-band multiband compressor/expander plugin, that combines exceptional sound quality with great interface workflow.

Multiband compression and expansion are powerful tools, but they’re notoriously difficult to set up and control. Enter, FabFilter Pro-MB: making multiband dynamics processing intuitive yet powerful.

Features

A new approach to multi-band compression, Pro-MB sets the standard for modern multi-band processor design. Instead of crossovers, Pro-MB lets you manually split the frequency however you need.

While the bands can be made independent of each other, Pro-MB does allow you to snap them together to create a traditional crossover system.

Because of this versatility in how each band is set up, Sound On Sound has found other uses for Pro-MB: “…you can also use it as a dynamic equaliser, focused only on frequency-specific problems such as vocal sibilance or acoustic guitar soundhole resonances.” (Sound On Sound, 2013). 

Entirely customisable, each band features a full suite of compressor parameters, from threshold, ratio, attack, and release to range, knee, and both compress and expand modes.

How does it sound?

Sonically, Pro-MB is flawless. Whilst other multi-band compressors separate the entire frequency spectrum into pre-made crossovers which automatically impart phase and sonic changes to the audio, Pro-MB’s Dynamic Phase Filtering ensures this doesn’t happen.

Because of this, Pro-MB is perfectly suitable for any kind of dynamics processing and not limited to just mastering. And audibly, you’ll never even know it’s there! This has brought praise amongst the audio community.

Chameleon-like then, Pro-MB ensures that any part of the audio spectrum that isn’t being compressed will not affect the tone of that band as no crossover is in place. When compression is in place, you can manipulate the tonality with fantastic transparency.

Why is FabFilter Pro-MB so good?

Pro-MB is my first go-to for any multi-band dynamics processing requirements. It’s arguably one of my most used plugins on any session as it’s so versatile and sounds so good.

A key proponent which you don’t see too often on a multi-band dynamics processor is the ‘Expand’ mode. In my opinion, this makes Pro-MB supremely useful and different to anything else.

It competes with all other multi-band dynamics processors in every traditional sense, but the Expand mode does things that you can’t do with just a gate or compressor. In essence, this is upward compression, meaning you can dynamically lift the air and treble of a bass guitar to maintain consistent high-end and cut through a mix without getting buried.

Pro-DS

FabFilter Pro-DS is a highly intelligent and transparent de-essing plugin, perfect for processing single vocal tracks as well as entire mixes.

Features

Boasting a highly-accurate detection algorithm, Pro-DS features both Wide Band and Linear-Phase split band processing modes, optional look-ahead of up to 15ms, mid-side processing, and up to four times oversampling.

Packaging everything you could need for accurate de-essing, Pro-DS is an essential tool for any audio engineer.

Single Vocal and Allround modes offer single and multichannel operation across different instruments or groups in a mix and also include both Wide Band and Split Band modes.

The intelligent detection algorithm can be refined using the Audition frequency sliders, telling Pro-DS which range to listen to in order to find the offending vocal disruption.

Any detection and removal are displayed on the scrolling graphic waveform, highlighting the parts of the audio file which are being affected. This gives you a clear visual representation of the lines or words that are being processed.

How does it sound?

Much like Pro-G, Pro-DS doesn’t contain its own sound but lets you get creative with your sound design. It’s an essential tool for any application of audio work, allowing you to do more than traditional sibilance removal.

The “Allround” mode turns Pro-DS into a tool for high-frequency limiting, ideal for taming the highest frequencies of drum cymbals or limiting the volume of drum cymbals in a room microphone recording.

Why is FabFilter Pro-DS so good?

Traditionally, de-essing would be done manually using a frequency-dependent sidechain compressor and lots of heavy automation. This has its drawbacks. It’s extremely time-consuming and difficult to get right without your singer sounding like they have a lisp, and can colour the character and dynamics of the vocal performance.

Pro-DS allows you to remove up to 10dB of sibilance without interfering with the core tone of the source. This makes it incredibly transparent and suitable not only for vocals but for any high-frequency source, including drum cymbals or lead synthesizers.

Pro-G

FabFilter Pro-G is a highly flexible gate/expander plugin with advanced side chain options and precise metering.

Features

Comprising the full gamut of parameters you’d expect from a gate plugin, Pro-G includes threshold, ratio, range, attack, release, hold, knee, mode selection, and a flexible look-ahead up to 10ms.

Six different modes are on offer, tuned to different requirements in a mix and include upward expansion, ducking, guitar-specific, classic, and more.

Additionally, an advanced section can be accessed which contains the sidechain possibilities with frequency-dependent detection and flexible routing options. Routing between mono, stereo, or mid/side processing is available with customisable channel linking.

Designed to give crystal-clear visual feedback, Pro-G includes a real-time analyser, showing the threshold under which audio will be gated against the waveform.

What does it sound like?

Pro-G doesn’t necessarily have a sound, as you’d hope, with it being a gate, but it does allow you to get creative with your sound design. Mid/Side modes enable tricks to expand the side channels in your track to make transients wider. They can also be used with MIDI signals to open a gate on certain notes in classic ‘trance gate’ effects.

Why is FabFilter Pro-G so good?

Pro-G goes above and beyond what a traditional noise gate is capable of. The five unique algorithms make this gate a jack-of-all-trades and master of all. Most impressively, and what I find myself using most often in fact, is the ‘Upward’ mode, essentially an expander.

This mode is a really handy solution for when you want to bring the volume of a snare up in a room microphone and add more explosive sustain to your sound without affecting the volume of the rest of the transient information.

Not only is it ridiculously comprehensive with a wide range of controls but it’s also extremely easy to set up for common gating scenarios. The included factory presets are efficient in this sense, allowing you to find the right setting with only a few tweaks needed to get it right for your material.

Saturn 2

FabFilter Saturn 2 is a multiband distortion, saturation, and amp modelling plugin, with lots of modulation options.

Features

Built on the foundation of multi-band processing, Saturn 2 uses up to six bands of processing with each band featuring independent controls over every parameter.

28 unique distortion modes are on-board, encompassing everything from the subtle tube and tape saturation drive to guitar amplifier emulation and bit-crushing, offering a complete range of distortion characters in one plugin.

Each band features much more than just a distortion type. They include a four-band graphic EQ, single-knob dynamics controller, level control, and customisable slopes, from 6 to 48dB/oct.

As well as boasting a huge range of parameters to custom-tune your saturation and distortion tone, Saturn 2 includes a near-endless level of modulation.

It’s these modulation possibilities that put Saturn 2 in such high regard and “throw open a Pandora’s box of creativity” as described by Dave Gale in his Music Tech review (2020).

What does it sound like?

There are not a lot of sounds that you can’t make with Saturn 2. It’s got everything you need to make a limitless range of distorted and modulated tones. Perfectly capable to sit on every single track in a mix, the multi-band design means you can apply a band-specific kind of distortion.

“As saturation plugins go, Saturn 2 is far more capable than its run-of-the-mill effects competitors.” – Dave Gale, Music Tech, 2020.

We couldn’t agree more.

You can add distortion to the mid-range of an electric guitar or apply an amplifier simulation across the full spectrum. Particularly, the tape modes offer excellent ways to add the signature high-end smoothing and low-end punch to an entire mix.

Multi-band distortion is only the tip of the iceberg of what Saturn can do. Per band, there’s a streamlined dynamics controller to use as a multi-band compressor and a four-band EQ, allowing you to go into precise detail on the response of each frequency band.

The star of Saturn 2 has to be the modulation abilities. Its drag-and-drop modulation matrix opens up possibilities to morph different parameters with external sources for a completely unique sound design.

Why is FabFilter Saturn 2 so good?

Not only is this probably the most versatile distortion plugin, but it could also well be the most versatile plugin available full-stop.

All 28 distortion types will be useful for something in your track, and none of them will leave you wanting anything extra – reason enough for this plugin to be so revered. And thanks to the internal modulation capabilities, you have something that no other multi-band distortion can compete with.

“Some would be difficult or impossible to achieve with other plug‑ins, and it’s hard to think of another distortion processor that can produce quite such a wide range of sounds.” – Sam Inglis, Sound On Sound, 2020. 

Timeless 3

FabFilter Timeless 3 is a versatile, vintage-sounding tape delay which will fully satisfy your everyday delay needs. And with its unique effects, filters, tap patterns, and unlimited modulation options, you can just as easily turn it into the ultimate sound-mangling machine!

Features

Timeless 3 can’t be thought of as a traditional delay and, for this reason, the features and parameters are not conventional.

Built around a multi-tap design with post-delay filtering, routable feedback loops, drive, Lo-Fi, dynamics, pitch-shifting, and a 50-slot modulation matrix, you can experiment with truly unique delay effects.

Updated for a new generation, Timeless 3 builds upon the sonic quality of previous iterations and improves the interface design.

Both the delay trails, taps, and filtering are displayed on a real-time feedback display, highlighting the volume, panning, division, length of your tapped delay repeats, and the EQ curve of your post-delay filtering.

Ingenious in design and fun to use, the graphic displays can be adjusted manually by clicking and dragging the parameters.

How does it sound?

A playground for innovative sound design possibilities, Timeless 3 lets you take the humble delay effect and transform static tracks into animated, rhythmic sounds to keep your listeners guessing.

New tonal shaping additions to the plugin including the drive, Lo-Fi, Diffuse, and Dynamics controls let you create distinctive delays for vocals, drums, guitars, and more.

The pitch effect can musically alter your delay repeats up to one octave above or below the dry signal and can be placed inside or outside of the feedback loop.

This means your delays will either maintain the pitch-shifted notes consistently with every repeat or will continuously rise or fall with every revolution around the feedback loop.

The feedback loop can be routed back into itself, causing chaotic and unpredictable loops which fall outside of the tempo grid. This is ideal for electronic music production where non-quantised loops can add rhythm to the synced beat.

Why is FabFilter Timeless 3 so good?

There’s not one thing that sets Timeless 3 apart. Rather, it’s the culmination of many different things and offers an experience that’s unlike any other delay plugin. Combining tapped delay possibilities, post-delay filtering, stereo crossover feedback loops, and pitch shifting, it allows you to create musically engaging and rhythmic delays.

Whether you’re looking to send a static sound into a unique space or for a harmonically exciting pitch-shifted delay, Timeless 3 is for you.

Volcano 3

FabFilter Volcano 3 is a filter effect plugin with smooth, vintage-sounding filters and endless modulation possibilities.

Features

Extremely versatile, Volcano 3 features four of the best analog-modelled filters you will likely find on a digital plugin, each with multiple styles, saturation modes, and filter shapes, including non-linear bells and shelves.

It wouldn’t be a FabFilter plugin without adding a plethora of goodies to complete the plugin experience. Volcano 3 is no different, with all the XLFOs, envelope generators, envelope followers, and MIDI sources you’ll ever need, there’s endless modulation potential to experiment with your sound design.

New to Volcano 3 over previous iterations, all of these modulation options can simply be dragged and dropped to any source and destination in the plugin!

“Though the filters sound superb, both singly and in combination, the alchemical might of the Volcano 3 lies in the motion that can be applied to the cutoff frequency, drive, pan offset, delay or Q. The module list is small yet perfectly formed”. – Robbie Stamp, Music Tech, 2021.

It’s not just the filters and modulation that make Volcano 3 versatile, it also comes with multiple routing options, from series to parallel and combinations of both simultaneously. Rather than have each filter feed into the next, Volcano 3 lets you separate what each filter is doing to allow more control for your sound design.

How does it sound?

This is the home for electronic music producers. Filtering and synthesizers go hand-in-hand and Volcano has always been the most creative filter available for electronic music production, with a raft of modulation options and different styles of filters available. It’s perfect for adding movement to sawtooth leads or thumping low-end resonance on a sine wave bass line with an aggressive low-pass filter.

Why is FabFilter Volcano 3 so good?

Volcano 3 hasn’t changed much in functionality compared to previous versions but does boast a new, sleek interface which makes exploring the creative side of electronic music production faster and more fun. The floating slot panel for the modulation coupled with click-and-drag functionality gives you access to endless sound design capabilities.

It’s almost impossible to describe the full potential of Volcano 3 without writing an entire article on its own. How many other plugins let you create convincing drum sounds by filtering white noise with MIDI-triggered envelopes?

Twin 3

FabFilter Twin 3 is a powerful synthesizer plugin with the best possible sound quality and an ultra-flexible drag-and-drop modulation system.

Features

Built around a slick interface with per-section presets, Twin 3’s features are laid out in an intuitive way, working from left to right.

Computer Music (2009) notes the simplicity of the interface and that it’s easy to get to grips with the controls, rewarding users when they begin exploring the sonic potential.

Employing four oscillators, 11 filter types, and an entire delay section, Twin 3 is the most comprehensive synth in the FabFilter lineup.

Navigating through the sounds can be tricky for non-experienced synth sound designers, so Twin 3 includes a newly developed range of factory presets to dive into any style of sound at a whim.

How does it sound?

Four onboard oscillators are only the tip of the iceberg for what you can achieve with Twin 3. It’s a very modern synthesizer which doesn’t play on a nostalgia trip of vintage analog synths but embraces what can be achieved with digital subtractive synthesis. It can be made to sound chaotic and gritty for dark trap textures or euphoric for acid house-inspired melodies and lead lines.

Combining the filters and modulation parameters, Twin 3 can be extremely flexible in its tone. And it offers enough analog-inspired tone to give you a full, meaty sound before adding other processors.

Why is FabFilter Twin 3 so good?

It’s a synthesizer for people with experience in creating sounds from the ground up and for those that like to explore.

” It’s fun to program and play thanks to its superb sound and comprehensive modulation system”. – Computer Music (2009).

Twin 3 doesn’t offer an immediate response like other synthesizers do, rather, it rewards you for letting your creativity run loose.

As with all FabFilter plugins, it harnesses a ‘what you see is what you get’ interface, where opening up the modulation parameters offers endless modulation options, with all the XLFOs, XY controllers, envelope generators, envelope followers, and MIDI sources you’ll ever need.

One

FabFilter One is a basic synthesizer plugin with just one oscillator, perfectly fine-tuned controls, and the best possible sound and filter quality.

Features

Built around an architecture of a single oscillator, One is a high-quality, aliasing-free oscillator which features sawtooth, triangle, and square waves with pulse width modulation possibilities.

A smooth and analog-modelled filter offers modulation possibilities with the onboard envelope generator and LFO. Morph between triangle and square waveforms or anything in between with host tempo syncing for rhythmic movement in your tracks. The envelope generator features the typical ADSR knobs but has been refined and perfectly tuned. It also includes a Hold control for more variation in your shaping.

Streamlined and ready for live performances, One is a CPU-friendly instrument with smart MIDI learn, smooth transitions, and fully automatable parameters!

How does it sound?

Whilst the synthesizer oscillator itself is very apt and serves the purpose well, the star of the show is undoubtedly the filter. The single-slope resonant low-pass filter is extremely powerful and harnesses the sonic characteristics of classic analog synth filters.

When driven to the maximum, FabFilter One responds with a complex tonal structure unlike digital filters of the past. The grit and tonality are reminiscent of MS-style synthesizer filters and are heralded by artists such as Celldweller, who noted, “I was a little surprised because the filter actually lived up to the hype – they were warm, rich and squealed like a stuck pig if I wanted them to.”

Why is FabFilter One so good?

Whilst not packing as much versatility as other FabFilter products, the simplicity of One is the standout feature here. There are no hidden menus, parameter stacks, difficult-to-navigate layouts, or anything else that takes you away from the creativity – something you expect with modern synths.

One puts everything on one screen and gently takes you through the layout from left to right and top to bottom with each parameter perfectly tuned to get a huge amount of mileage from each setting.

Simplon

FabFilter Simplon is a simplified version of FabFilter Volcano 3, with two independent multimode filters providing low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass responses with 12/24/48 dB/octave slopes. The filters can be used in serial or parallel mode.

Features

Designed from the ground up, Simplon’s filters offer three different characteristics with multiple slopes each, totalling 27 unique filter types.

With only two filters available on offer, FabFilter has included only the necessary parameters.

Outside of the necessary filter controls which alter the response, Simplon includes interactive MIDI learn, vertical, and circular dragging possibilities, extensive help hints, SEE optimization, and much more.

How does it sound?

Designed to be as smooth and fat as the best analog filters available, Simplon sounds raw but never digital, even at full resonance.

Why is FabFilter Simplon so good?

If you need the sonic quality of Volcano 3 without the enhanced feature-set, in a smaller, CPU-friendly plugin, Simplon is the only alternative. Taken directly from Volcano, you can expect Simplon to deliver the same fat and smooth filter sound without ever sounding too digital. Even though it’s more streamlined, the sound is definitely not sacrificed!

There are still 27 different filter options on display, offering a huge range of tonal variations to suit any filtering application. Accessing each sound is incredibly simple – ideal when you’re looking for an inspired sound that’s instantly gratifying without the endless tweaking of parameters.

Micro

FabFilter Micro is the ultimate lightweight filter plugin with a single high-quality filter, including envelope follower modulation.

Features

Presumably where the company derived their name, this was the first actual ‘Fab Filter’ released. Setting a new standard for digital filters, Micro only features a low and high-pass filter and an envelope follower to modulate the cut-off frequency.

Of course, you also get all the usual FabFilter goodies: perfectly tuned knobs, MIDI Learn, Smart Parameter Interpolation for smooth parameter transitions, extensive help with interactive help hints, AltiVec and SSE optimization, and much more!

How does it sound?

Redefining what a digital filter was capable of back in 2005, Micro is smooth and creamy but can easily get pushed into raw distortion and self-oscillation by utilising the input and output gain controls.

With this simple array of controls, Micro is capable of classic filtering tasks such as a creative effect but can also be used to inject aggressive resonance into virtually any sound in your mix.

Why is FabFilter Micro so good?

The simplicity and ease of use make Micro the only choice when you need a quick way to get the classic sound of analog filters. Coupled with the light CPU usage, Micro delivers exactly as you’d expect with no frills or complicated parameters to navigate.

FAQs

Who uses FabFilter?

Many professional producers and mixing and mastering engineers use FabFilter; including Michael Graves, Weval, Julia Borelli, and Joe West. There’s a vast, eclectic mix of names on the brand’s roster, from singer-songwriters and pianists to DJs, film music composers, and electronic music producers.

What type of reverb is FabFilter Pro-R?

The FabFilter Pro-R uses algorithmic reverb, a very flexible type of reverb that allows you to configure and personalise parameters in great detail.

Are FabFilter plugins the best?

FabFilter plugins are among some of the greatest on the market – and if you’re experienced in music and sound production, you might regard them as the best. If you’re new to production, however, you might find the feature set somewhat overwhelming, so the best plugins for you could be those that are a little simpler.

Final thoughts

Now that you know all there is to know about FabFilter plugins, it should be clear to see that they are absolutely worth the investment!

If you’re starting your music production journey, why not start on the right foot? Every FabFilter plugin has an easy-to-use, well-designed interface which provides a streamlined workflow. They focus on the task you’re performing at that specific moment, exposing the features you need, when you need them. This makes FabFilter the perfect introduction to music production for beginners.

But they’re not just for beginners, of course. FabFilter is unquestionably worth the upgrade, even if you’re an experienced producer with a selection of trusted plugins. Above everything else, FabFilter boasts premium-quality sound and truly innovative features. It’s the sound that counts after all!

Standing out from other plugin manufacturers, FabFilter thinks outside the box. Straying away from the saturated market of hardware emulations, they provide you with innovative, user-friendly tools which challenge convention. Incredibly detailed and beautiful sound is paired with a contemporary interface design to deliver some of the most desirable plugins available.

From Dave Pensado, Joe Barresi, and Jason Graves to Tom Lord-Alge and Tony Maserati, FabFilter has something for every kind of producer imaginable. Whether you produce electronic music and you’re searching for the most versatile filter analog-modelled filter or a pop producer who requires transparent multi-band compression for a consistent and pumping mix, you’ll find what you’re looking for.