Our Top Audio Plugins - 2025 - Studio A08 go to plugs
To cap off 2025 we're setting out the audio plugins we have used in the studio the most this year. It's been an exciting 2025 and for our productions we've used many outstanding audio effects and instrument VSTs. Here is our top five which we've used on almost every production this year. In no particular order:
1 - Fab Filter Pro Q 4: by far the best dynamic EQ on the market it handles every aspect of eq'ing you would need. All the expected tools are there but in addition you can set phase relationships, you can see an instance view of all the Pro Q 4s you have running in one screen, you can even add a little harmonic distortion to the EQ points. The collisions area is our personal favourite however which lets you see visually where those frequencies are overlapping for your side chain. Perfect.
https://www.fabfilter.com/products/pro-q-4-equalizer-plug-in
2 - Serum (1 or 2): Xfer Records released Serum in 2014 and it essentially cornered the market when it came to synthesis sound design. Its update in 2025, Serum 2 gave it a massive overhaul. The number of updates was enormous and that it was given away for free to Serum owners was unexpected and welcomed. This move only cemented its status as the go to synthesiser for electronic music. Oscillators, Noise generators, multi LFO & Envelope settings, onboard FX, Mono and poly synthesis, adjustable glide, custom macro settings. It literally can make any sound and we dont see a reason why you would choose another synth if you're making core electronic music.
3 - PAZ Analyser - Waves spectrum and stereo analyser looks like it was made in the 90s (it was) but it still works a dream when you're trying to work out whether you have phase issues in your mix and how wide (or not) it is. We have this plugin on our master channel in every production for the simple but exacting view it provides on stereo width and phase. We really cannot find another that makes it as easy to work out if you have stereo phase issues in the mix. Worth every penny.
4 - Phoscyon 2 - If you dont know D16 group then you should check them out as they have built some of the best classic drum machine emulators in history. Classic machines like the 808, 909 and 303 get D16s modern take. In this reimagined 303 named Phoscyon, D16 take the classic acid sounds of the 303 and puts them on steroids with additional features to adjust the tone, distortion, add FX, and adjust the accents to the perfectly emulated acid bass sounds. The number of preset patterns it comes with is mind boggling too. Once you get this you'll find it hard not to insert a bit of acid in every track.
5 - Span - Voxengo - Our top free plugin is none other than Voxengo Span. It's a frequency analyser but we use it for stereo monitoring. Its precise, its clear, it has multiple settings for channel routing, you can view in stereo, surround sound or Mid-Side (our default view), it has a hold function and the zoom is incredible for checking where frequencies are really causing issues. It also has a correlation meter....and it's free. Download it asap. You wont regret it.
https://www.voxengo.com/product/span/
Honourable mentions:
ADPTR - MetricAB - an all in one audio analysis powerhouse for referencing. Frequency, Stereo, Correlation, Loudness, Dynamics - all presented in a readable and understandable format. It's ££ but completely worth it. We use this on everything.
https://adptraudio.com/product/metric-ab/
Sub Lab XL - a sub bass generator that literally will make any 808, sub, bass sound you want. Clean, crisp and punchy the Sub Lab had a huge update this year into its new version Sub Lab XL. The addition of glide and stacked FX controls enables you to put even more power into your sub. We're still working through the update even after it was released a few months ago. Excellent.