Eventide Anthology XII vs Soundtoys 5

Eventide Anthology XII is a bundle of 32 plug-ins for audio mixing and mastering. It combines vintage hardware emulations with newer processors, including EQs, compressors, delays, reverbs, pitch changers, modulation effects, and distortion. The collection also covers dynamics, chorus, phaser, flanger, channel strip, and multi-effects, and supports external sidechain. Eventide highlights its patented Transient/Tonal splitting technology. Anthology XII adds 10 plug-ins to the prior Anthology bundle: three reverbs, three modulation effects, two pitch shifters, a distortion, and an EQ. Formats are AAX, AU, VST2, and VST3, with AU on macOS. It runs on Windows 10 or later, x64, or macOS 10.14 or later on Intel or Apple Silicon. An iLok account is required, but a physical dongle is not. Eventide says the plug-ins should work with compatible DAWs and lists Pro Tools, Ableton, Logic Pro, Cubase, FL Studio, and Reaper. Anthology XII costs $999, paid once; a 14-day trial is available, and there is no free plan.

Soundtoys 5 is a paid bundle of 23 professional audio effects for reverberation, saturation, compression, distortion, echo, delay, vocal processing, modulation, and related work. Effect Rack lets users arrange custom chains and operate the rack as one plug-in. Version 5.5 adds SpaceBlender to Effect Rack, 67 presets, and resizable interfaces for individual plug-ins. The bundle supports 64-bit AAX Native, AAX AudioSuite, VST 2, VST 3, and Audio Units formats, with sample rates from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz. Listed hosts include Pro Tools, Live, Cubase, Nuendo, Logic, Studio One, Reaper, and Bitwig. It runs on macOS 10.15 or later and Windows 10 or later; ARM-based Windows machines are not compatible. Soundtoys offers a free 30-day trial, activated with a code once. The listed bundle price is $599 as a one-time purchase, with two activations and an internet connection required at activation. Soundtoys describes the tools for professional mix engineers, musicians, and sound designers.