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Yo, yo, skill bro, today I'm going to rank all the plugins I've ever used.
Phil Foreign ranks his ultimate VST plugins for sample making, categorizing them from goated to ass based on usage and sound quality.
Key Takeaways
- Focus on mastering one high-quality plugin with extensions rather than buying many plugins.
- Analog Lab, Contact, Opus, and similar plugins are essential for sample making.
- Some stock plugins like FL Keys and Citrus are generally not recommended due to poor sound quality.
- Plugins like Heat Up 3 and Keyscape are underrated but highly useful for melodies and bass.
- Omnisphere remains a legendary and versatile plugin despite some less useful presets.
Summary
- Phil Foreign ranks all the VST plugins he has used into a tier list: Goated, A, B, Mid, and Ass.
- Goated plugins include Analog Lab, Contact, Opus, and others highly recommended for producers.
- A tier features underrated or excellent plugins like Heat Up 3, Keyscape, and Omnisphere.
- B tier contains solid, usable plugins such as Massive X, Arcade, Flex, Electra X, Pigments, and Expand.
- Mid tier includes plugins with limited use or average quality like Absinth 5 and Vocal Runs.
- Ass tier is reserved for plugins with poor sound quality or limited appeal, including FL Keys and Citrus.
- Phil emphasizes not overspending on many plugins but mastering one and its extensions.
- He highlights the importance of sound design and extensions for plugins like Contact and Opus.
- Phil shares personal opinions on usability, sound quality, and price considerations.
- The video is aimed at producers looking for guidance on which VST plugins to invest in for sample making.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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And put them into a simple tier list.
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So yeah, let's get right into it.
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The build up is pretty simple.
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We have the goated plugins, if you don't have these plugins, I highly recommend you get them or at least try them.
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We have the A tier where I put all the amazing plugins, but they're not quite goated.
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But highly recommended as well.
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We have the B tier, these are solid plugins I often use, but not anything exceptional.
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Then we have the mid, self-explanatory.
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And then we have the ass plugins.
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Let's start off with Absinth 5.
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I think that's a mid plugin.
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I haven't really used it too much, but there are quite a few unique sounds you can use, but a lot of trash sounds as well.
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So I put it into mid.
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Next up, we have Analog Lab, and Analog Lab has to be a goated plugin.
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Just with all the synth you can buy for it, with all the packs you can buy, and just the ease of how other producers can make packs that you can download or buy online.
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It's just a great, great, amazing plugin.
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Nothing more to be said there.
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Next, contact.
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Has to be goated as well.
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I use it pretty much in every single loop.
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Of course, you have to spend some money on the extensions and contact by itself doesn't do a whole lot.
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But if you have the money or if you can get your hands on those expansions, have to get it.
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Next up, we have Massive X.
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I haven't really used it too much to be honest.
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I'm going to put it a B tier.
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Have some interesting sounds in there.
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I just got that from buying contact, I think.
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I don't even remember where I got that from.
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But it's a solid plugin, you can use it.
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And yeah, just a B tier.
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Nothing more to say.
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Next, we have FL Keys.
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It's one of the stock plugins, and that shit is ass, bro.
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Like, that's the worst sounding piano I've ever heard in my whole life.
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And the only real use case I have for it is for drill pianos where you want it to kind of sound cheap or sound trash even.
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So that's a real use case.
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But besides that, fucking trash.
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Next up, Arcade.
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I don't have a subscription with Arcade at the moment.
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But I think that's a B tier.
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There are a lot of great vocal sounds you can use for pain melodies, but also a lot of ethnic phrases and stuff like that.
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So can definitely be great for your creativity.
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And if you haven't tried it, get it for a few months and give it a try.
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Next up, we have Citrus.
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Which is ass as well.
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This is a FL stock plugin as well.
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I've only used Citrus when I didn't have any other plugins.
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So that's when I kind of started.
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Maybe I have to make a beat with it again.
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If you want to see that, let me know in the comments below.
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Maybe I have to give it another try, but with the skill set I had in the beginning.
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And just the sounds in there.
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Not good, bro, not good to be honest.
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Next up, we have Flex.
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This is not a free plugin from FL.
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I'd I'd rank that as a B tier, honestly.
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Simple reason is it has a lot of sounds.
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And if you haven't like downloaded them, just get your hands on it, try it, especially if you don't have any expensive or paid plugins.
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Flex is a great way to start, they have strings, pianos, synths, pads, pretty much everything you can imagine, but just not the most fire sounds.
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But you can definitely make some hits with Flex.
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Next up, Electra X.
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Put that a B tier as well.
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I personally don't like it the most.
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But if you get your hands on some cool extensions from other producers, some cool packs, can be fire, can be fire for real.
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But I don't use it that much.
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So for me, it's a B tier.
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Simple that.
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I don't have nothing to say about it.
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Next up, Heat Up 3.
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I'll put that one in A tier.
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For me, it's a kind of underrated plugin because I've talked to some other producers and they all told me they either don't have it or they don't like it.
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But I think Heat Up 3 is a very underrated plugin.
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Especially I use it for pretty much every single melody.
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Um, I like the cowbell.
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Or the bass.
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But they have a lot of great sounds in there as well.
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They have pretty much everything as well.
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Let's compare it to a expand kind of.
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For me, it's definitely an A tier because I use the bass in there for pretty much every single sample.
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Next up, Keyscape.
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Put that an A tier as well.
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Just the pianos in there sound amazing.
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And all the different variants you have.
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It's just hard to beat.
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Rather expensive as well.
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So I'll put it in an A tier.
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I think it's worth the money.
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But it shouldn't be a priority for you to get if you're not making pain stuff only.
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Of course, if you're making like pain melodies all the time and you don't have Keyscape.
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You're missing out, bro.
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Next up, we have Pigments.
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This is part of Analog Lab as well.
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I'd give it a B tier.
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If you're wondering how I made all my one-shot kits and many of the accents in all my kits, most of them I designed in Pigments.
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It's just great for sound designing.
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If you want to start designing your own sound, making your own one-shot kits, I can recommend Pigment.
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Watch some tutorials.
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You can do everything in there.
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Next up, Opus.
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And this has to be a goated tier as well.
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I just recently discovered it.
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And it's similar to contact, you'll have to get your hands on some extension packs.
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But with the East West extensions, you can pretty much get them for a subscription for like $7 a month and you'll get so many fire orchestral and ethnic sounds.
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You wouldn't believe.
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Opus pretty much is just the ethnic orchestral sounds.
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And that's what I use a lot.
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So for me, that's a goated plugin.
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If you haven't tried that, you're honestly missing out, bro.
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Next up, we have Vocal Runs.
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To be honest, that's kind of mid.
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There are a few use cases.
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If you make soul music, some of those runs might be more applicable.
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But I initially bought it for pain stuff.
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And they have a few pain loops in there, but most of them have a little bit too much soul in them.
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So not perfect for pain.
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But I think it's rather cheap.
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I don't know how much I paid, I think it's like under $100 for sure.
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So if you make soul samples, get your hands on Vocal Runs.
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Omnisphere.
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Omnisphere has to be an A tier as well for me.
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It's just a legendary, I think the most legendary plugin out there.
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This was the first plugin I've ever bought like five years ago.
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And I still use it to this day.
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So.
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The only thing that doesn't make it a goated plugin is there are a lot of trash sounds.
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And sometimes it's annoying to go through all the trash sounds to find something fire.
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Other than that, pretty much 10 out of 10.
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Last up, we have Expand.
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And.
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Uh, where do I put this?
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I'm either thinking B or mid.
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But no, it's too good for mid.
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I put a B tier.
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First of all, it's pretty cheap and it has everything.
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And I know a lot of successful producers who use Expand a lot for their melodies.
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A lot of platinum hits have come from Expand for sure, for sure.
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But to round this off, bro, what I can recommend for you is that you don't spend thousands, tens of thousands of dollars like I have to acquire all these plugins and all these banks.
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Just buy one and learn everything in there and maybe get some extensions for it.
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That's probably the best route to save the most money and not spend like an idiot like me.
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But if you have the money.
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I guess, why not, right?
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See you in the next one, brother.
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Peace.
Topics:VST pluginssample makingplugin tier listmusic productionPhil ForeignAnalog LabContactOpusHeat Up 3Omnisphere
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