Which do you prefer: Racks or effects plugins?

  • Thread starter Thread starter FattMusiek
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Re: Re Racks or plugins

the Waves C1 compressor (native) cost $200. I haven't used a plugin that works better.

so lets compare it to $400 or less hardware compressors since we can assume that the hardware components justify the extra 200 bucks:
alesis 3630
dbx 1066
ashly clx-52
drawmer mx-30
fmr audio rnc

how does the Waves C1 compare?
 
2-166's- ok, but no adaptabillity. $XXX
1-166xl adaptable, nice variable release gate, fair sound.$xxx
1-160xt good sound, not very adaptable $xxx
1-Valley 610 unique sound, fairly adaptable $xxx
1-Yama 2020 adaptable, funky sound, shit gate $xxx
2-RNC's clean, versatile, no problem. $xxx
For mixing, I gererally don't miss any of them. But then, except for a few, were only talking about a few thousand dollars worth of
unspectacular analog right?
Wayne
 
pipeline, sweetnubs, and others...

you may want to download the demos of the Sony Oxford EQ and Dynamics plug-ins, which may make you change your mind about just how good a plug-in compressor (or EQ) can be.

Admittedly, at $795 apiece they may not be in every home recordist's budget, but on the other hand, $795 is a lot less than what you would spend on a REALLY good hardware compressor or EQ. Even the Distressor is a lot more than that, and that's about as cheap of a "high quality" compressor as you can find.

I, for one, was amazed at the results using the Oxford stuff on mixes i was working on... I have all the Waves stuff, which has some very nice and useful plug-ins, - but in my opinion, there is no comparison to the Sony plugs.
 
there is not a decent compressor out there plug in wise that actully runs the right ratios as a hardwear unit. You want a decent 4:1 on bass be prepared to crank 7 or even 8:1 to find the same feel as a hardwear unit plug in compression sucks! I know cause ive tried them all every plug in known to man in compression ive had a true demo of or ive had the chance to use it and id take a rnc any day of the week and just use it and bounce to seperate tracks even if it took me all day
 
pipeline acoustic mirrior is cheating lol thats not a reverb unit its an acoustic space unit in a box that freakin blows anything ive ever heard away as far as acoustic space simulator is concerned. I'd take the acoustic mirror and run it side by side a lexicon any day of the week i think the mirror would win as far as realism. Its an all in one unit imagine making impuses of anything imangable tube mic sounds preamp sounds guitar cabs that thing is worth its weight in gold imho to bad i lost it when i went to the 001 :(
 
If I had my way everything would be in outboard racks. Plugins are cheaper but just don't give the control you have over great outboard gear.
 
I like the control factor I have with an EQ plugin.

I wouldn't say it's as musical-sounding, but I can make an extremely narrow boost at 80 hz to bring out the kick drum, for example, and I get a very narrow boost precicely at 80 hz.

Not always necessary, but cool to have available in your bag of tricks when the occasion does arrive.
 
Pipeline and other Acoustic Mirror users:

I'm unfamiliar with this product. Is that also the name of the company that makes it?

Has anyone had the chance to use (what I think) is probably one of the best hardware room simulators: the Quantec Room Simulator? If so, how does Acoustic Mirror compare?
 
Acoustic Mirror is made by Sonic Foundry, I believe, and is bundled with Sound Forge. Don't know if it's also sold as a standalone.

Personally I never quite liked it, but I will defer to the other gentlemen, as it could simply have been the result of a dumb operator at the controls. It's also a pretty good resource hog if I recall.
 
It's one of those deals that uses a test tone / impulse file that you mic up in a given room and it basically analyzes the accoustic response and comes up with a surprizingly realistic model.

If you don't like how it sounds, then chances are whoever did the impulse file didn't do a very good job, or you just don't like that particular space. Another dipshit-like maneuver is to set the adjustable "quality" of the model too low (it should be set on 5 to get the best sound -- anything less sounds like ass, although it's easier on the processor).

Somewhere along the line, someone came to the brilliant realization that you could also run the test tone/file directly through an outboard effect (oh, like let's say a TC Electric, Eventide, etc.) and basically mimic the characteristics of that outboard reverb . . . thus re-creating what amounts to be very close copies of the original algorythms.

The main limitation is that it only works on linear - type effects. So forget about flanges, choruses, and things of that nature. You can forget about guitar amps, too.

Pretty clever.
 
early on I became an accoustic mirror NUT. People made a lot of requests for impulses of gear I had at the time, so our fates are kinda intertwined a bit. This was when the AES_24_x impulses came out. Later on Beamsonic came along and modeled EVERYDAMNTHING, so noone asked me anymore, and I went on to make drumagog drum samples. Until ( cue twighlight zone music ) SIR came out and everyone went koo koo again.

For us SF vegas users, accoustic mirror worked as a plug just fine but SIR ( http://www.knufinke.de/sir/ ) lets anyone use it in any DX/VST host. And its FREE!

A very kindly guy decided to host the impulses for everyone, so we all went nuts making new ones. Now you can find them at Noisevault

http://noisevault.com

some of the smaller impulses taken from mic pres and eq's, while STRICTLY linear in nature, can be used as some pretty nice EQ's. Try my Jenses Transformer impulses for example
 
pipelineaudio said:

For us SF vegas users, accoustic mirror worked as a plug just fine but SIR ( http://www.knufinke.de/sir/ ) lets anyone use it in any DX/VST host. And its FREE!
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Do you need a VST to DX adapter program to use in DX applications? Appears to be VST only to me.
 
ooops, sorry, yeah youll need an adaptor, there are a few free ones, but my favorite one, Fxspansion, has been sold to cakewalk, and so far cake hasnt mailed anyone any updates :(
 
TexRoadkill said:
Good luck selling those plugins on Ebay in 5-10yrs ;)
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How much you give me for a pair of 166's I paid about $400 a pop for?:D
I know. If I'd spent, say $4K for some Great gear in the first place, (A) they'd still be worth something and (B) I wouldn't have got to the point where I don't like them all that much.

< MISTERQCUE So what have we concluded............... >

UltraFunk and Timeworks kills cheap analog, but if you have 10 or twelave chanels of Distressors, LA2A's and such, your're gona get bored real fast?
:D :D
(But I can't say, I'm not We, They, or Somebody...)
Wayne
 
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