If you missed the earlier parts of this new series then to reiterate. 

In this series I'm going to share the plug-ins I JUST LOVE. Some of them are going to be popular, some not so. Some plug-ins do amazingly complex things whilst other very simple things. These are the plug-ins that you will almost always found sat on my mix somewhere because when I'm mixing I think  'I know what is going to help that' or in some cases rescue it!

I'm going to choose a different type of plug-in for each post and I hope you will also suggest a similar plug-in that you use for the same job. What I hope we achieve with this series is sharing of our favourite plug-ins.

I'm not expecting you to agree with my choices, or to go out and buy every plug-in I talk about. You may want to try them, but like me you may already have a plug-in that's a faithful friend to you, if that's the case then keep on using it.

As I say what I hope the articles and the comments do is point all of us to some real gems that we may never have tried. Enjoy!

Spectrasonics Stylus RMX

Stylus RMX is a groove-based virtual instrument plug-in for Mac and Windows. Stylus RMX is the first product to offer the combined power of Groove Control™ with Spectrasonics Advanced Groove Engine (S.A.G.E.™) technology giving users dramatic new control over groove production and performance. Spectrasonics’ in-house development team created the new instrument from the ground up, with dozens of new features including the ground-breaking Chaos Designer™, a completely redesigned multi-page user interface, a new core library of sounds, all with a focus on realtime groove creation and performance.

Why I Love Stylus RMX

It's over a decade since this plug-in VI came out and even now it's the first thing I reach for when wanting to creating grooves and backbeats. Yes there are a lot of newer, faster, bigger, more trendy offerings, both in terms of plug-ins and hardware but when it comes to building grooves fast then Stylus RMX takes some beating.

Much of this is down to the included content created by sound-creation guru Eric Persing and it goes to prove that content is king. It's highly likely that any track I've produced or mixed in the last decade has Stylus RMX on it somewhere. I'm sometimes sent tracks to mix and they lack a pulse or a beat to keep them moving, in which case I'll insert Stylus and within minutes I have a groove that is locking the whole mix together. It is rare I send it back to the client for approval and they ask me to remove it again.

I have virtually every beat creation tool on the market but Stylus RMX is the first one I reach for every time. As with all Spectrasonics instruments it just goes to show that if you make them right in the first place then you don't have to keep releasing updates.

Stylus RMX is a true modern classic.