I'm willing to try out Sound Forge Audio Studio 14/15, however, I can't find reliable free VST plugins. I installed the trial version with ReaPlugs, but the program crashes when I try using the plugins.
I'm using Windows 11 22H2 x64, and these versions are the only ones I can get legally through Steam. I especially need the noise reduction plugin.
Exactly what type plug-ins are you looking for.. (EQ, comp/limiter, reverb, delay, restoration, ect.)? Experienced folks have their go-to favorites (free and otherwise) and can recommend plug-in they like (sound and UI).
SF-16 and 17 had a serious display issue with 32 bit third-party VST-2 plug-ins, Most display okay now in SF-18. The VST-3 plugs I have used and tested seem to work in SFP-18.
Sound Forge Pro includes the legacy Noise Reduction pack (aka, NR-2.0) and iZ's RX Elements. Sound Forge Pro Suite includes Steinberg's SpectraLayers Pro which IMHO is worth the upgrade price alone.
btw, welcome to the Magix Sound Forge users community @alexavil.
@rraud, I'm specifically looking for noise reduction and restoration plugins. Unfortunately, my payment options are very limited because of the region lock, so I'm looking for free plugins.
(Steam doesn't have the region lock - I own a copy of Vegas Movie Studio 17 Platinum)
iZotope always has some great deals around the holidays, unfortunately that is months away. You can look of free plug-ins in
plugins4free.com/effects/
and
kvraudio.com/plugins/best-free-plugins
There are other places to look as well.. search
@alexavil First off all, the older Sound Forge versions (before version 16) have an older VST integration and in my experience these versions run with less problems than version 16 or 17.
Next, on archive.org you can find a backup of the ERA plugin bundle. It's a suite of plugins for real-time audio cleaning and enhancing. It was paid back in the day, but Facebook bought the developer to get the patents (probably for their metaverse stuff), and then the downloads were made available for free until the website was shut down. It's probably the best stuff you can get for free. Of course, it's not a perfect solution to all audio problems.
https://archive.org/details/era-bundle-v-6.2.00-voice-changer-v-1.3.10
https://archive.org/download/era-bundle-v-6.2.00-voice-changer-v-1.3.10
older Sound Forge versions (before version 16) have an older VST integration and in my experience these versions run with less problems than version 16 or 17.
I concur with @SP. I have been using SFP-15 most of the time but am using SFP-18 more since testing beta version.
The Audio Assistant does not have many user options and 'unknown' plugs can cause problems . Apply the plug-in(s) directly or in a chain.
There are also two modes for the plug-in chainer; Apply directly in Fx Favorites (destructive) or integrated in the timeline (non-destructive). 'Save as' to render.