Ivy Lab’s five favourite plugins

The Glue by Cytomic

146 > 9/10 > $99

“This SSL G Series compressor emulator is by far our most used plugin. It’s super transparent, accommodating a wide range of input sources (though struggling with big sub), and fits in perfectly to our bus-heavy workflow.” cytomic.com/glue

Logic EXS-24

£free with Logic

“This may lack the flair of more modern softsamplers, but its interface is simple and the ‘convert to sampler instrument’ function when dealing with audio on your timeline means conversion of regions into MIDI instruments is a click away.” apple.com

Fabfilter Pro-MB

200 > 9/10 > £149

“We began using this mostly for frequency conscious side chaining purposes, but it’s also a visually engaging multiband. In a niche dominated by fairly ugly digittweaking alternatives, the Pro-MB has a beautifully laid out GUI.” fabfilter.com

iZotope Trash 2 187 > 9/10 > $99

“We don’t understand most of the parameters in Trash 2. But we do understand that for the right kind of input signal, Trash 2 is capable of kicking out great results from gentle saturation to circuit-bent anarchy.” izotope.com

Waves API 550 $249

“For use on buses. Using something clinical and transparent (like a channel EQ) we dial out tops with a low-pole subtractive shelf; and then using the comparatively colourful 550a, we reintroduce diminished frequencies with an inverse shelf to the one featuring upstream.” waves.com