All this looks very interesting from a mix engineer or producer point of view; but for a musician a plugin should have just a few knobs (resembling real gear possibly) and that`s it...

To me that looks like nuclear physics... I just want to play, not having to fiddle with logarithmic tables like controls, routing puzzles, or what not, just to achieve a good distortion or a chorus for my Rhodes or Guitars.

I guess it is not meant for traditional musicians ?!?

I hope in the future they will make it much simpler and user friendly

 

not really meant for musicians i guess, if you take the time to learn it, it will amaze you but if you just want to play and dial in a certain sound i guess not, its quick to me but its just another tool you must learn to utilize properly. it is meant for those that want analog sound in the box. Sampling the gear takes a tremendous amount of time on the 3rd parties time(look up one of henry olongas post on google, he sort of explains how he samples gear) .
the acqaus versions are basically the more friendlier versions of nebula libraries.
thhe acqua take samples using the nebula process and make them more user friendly at a price. but your just basically getting an nebula library in a plugin, the eqs work a little different because of the process of sampling the individual bands. i will say alexb's massive passive eq sounds better on the high end compared to acusticas because of how the eqs bands interact on the plugin compared to the single instance of nebula.

the owner of acustica is notorious on gearslutz for i guess being rude but you can talk to him on there
gearslutz:zaphod
also for all my steve slate haters, look up alexb vs fabrice on google. fabrice is the guy who makes steven slates plugins and also aireq
screw it here you go ya filthy savages
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/545944-nebula-vs-slate-vcc-console-emu.html

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2016

I love the sound that Nebula libraries impart on my sounds. Elements seem to fit together better in a mix after rendering with Nebula preamp/console/tape emulations....
I use Alex B's Vintage Synth Filters to warm up digital synths....Works really well..

Definitely worth taking the time to understand and apply to your own sounds.

 

I stand corrected in my spelling, yes you are correct it is spelled Volterra, and it is a type of dynamic convolution technology based on Vito Volterra's math.

FWIW, great job looking it up & no there is no drill Sargent work going on, just want to make sure the newbies reading this are not lead astray by your misinformed posts.

As to why Nebula takes a lot of CPU, it is to process the large samples (kernels), and while there is some coding involved in the plugin, it is NOT considered an algorithmic plugin and actually is very, very optimized coding by the "italian mafia plugin crew". So optimized that no other plugin designer has been able to surpass their level of work, except themselves.

 

Yes, there is a learning curve as it is a different type of technology, and no it is not for everyone. Just use what allows you be at your creative peak.

They have no plans to simplify the plugin, they actually prefer users who have the desire and patience & intelligence to use this type of advanced technology, I'm being serious, they've stated it for years. The refuse to dumb it down one bit and are very vocal about it. G and I go round and round on Gearslutz about this, all in the name of positive progression, as I believe this is the best sounding plugin technology made today.

As always, to each their own.

 

I have a question. After reading the description of the Core8 technology on their site, they only refer to it when speaking about Acqua plugins. Do the Core7/8 tech improve the CPU performance when using older libraries as well? I have an old AZ Nebula version and wouldn't mind to upgrade to a legit one if that greatly reduces CPU impact.
I'm running an i7 2600 here, so it falls a couple of generations behind the new i7 gens (which are the ones optimized according to this thread).

I think it's problem is not the complexness, but the interface. It's just absolutely unintuitive and a pain to set up the programs. The learning curve would be much less steep if the plugin was easier to handle (not less complex), as newbies wouldn't be so discouraged. If you don't touch anything and just run stock programs, it's not THAT terrible as haters make it to be (but you know you ain't getting the best of it).

I guess they finally learned that, considering the army of Acqua plugins they've released. They sound awesome but they're very pricey compared to regular libraries. You can't have it all, I guess

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2016

The Nebula 3 Server has the latest Core 8 and it is a lean mean plugin machine. It has been optimized for the last 2 i7 generations with staggering improvements in plugin performance.

Yes, that is why they they released the Acqua plugs.... but Acqua is really Nebula 4 with pretty skins. Nebula 4 will add multi library loading and possible pretty skins too. I have argued with G about the Acqua pricing, I've even directly asked him to change the company Manifest, as I believe they have violated it, but he basically tells me to fock off, lol. Search Manifest on Gearslutz if you want to read about it. I personally think Acustica has had Nebula 4 about ready for 1.5 years but have been holding it back to rake in the cash from their Acqua's.

I've directly compared Magenta 2 & 3, AITB Mammoth and Alex B's MMeQ, all of which are Manley Massive Passive libraries, and Alex B's MMeQ sounds the best and is closest sounding to the real hardware, which I have used many times. Alex B's MMeQ cost 1/5th of Magenta, so yeah you can have it all soon enough. FWIW, look into Nerv Agent to build a full fledge Nebula plugin as it will host many instances with a customizable interface. Several of us are doing it now and it is like a Nebula 3 Acqua on the cheap.

FWIW, they just posted a picture of Nebula 4 on the Acustica site today. It's getting close to finally dropping.

 

Nyrv Nebula setups.


Both are Nebula 3 with multi libraries loaded.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2016

Nebula 4

 

If the newest version has only been optimized for the latest two i7 generations then I'm out of luck (i7 2600 is 2nd gen and they are currently at the 6th)

About Nebula 4, I think everything you said makes total sense. They know Nebula is best known for 3rd party libraries, not their own so they may be holding it back to cash in. I guess they'll just have to release it eventually since they've been talking about it for ages.

Oh, and THANK YOU about the NYRV Agent (not nerv, took me a while to find it lol). It looks awesome and I'm definetely checking it out. :D

EDIT: I just saw your other posts. I must say I'm very dissapointed with Nebula 4. It looks exactly THE SAME (looks like a custom skin). I guess it's true they don't give a damn about making it more user-friendly. Perhaps forcing customers to rely on Acqua plugs instead? It would again make sense.

The NYRV Agent however looks outstanding. I'll check it out in depth when I have time from working. Again, THANKS.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2016

Thanks for the spelling correction, honestly my brain moves way faster than my fingers and I misspell many a name, lol.
As for Nebula 4, Acustica will have to sell me on it, I'm not an easy sell, because after using Agent with Nebula 3, my tools are set.

As for thanks, I'm just here to pay forward all the help others gave me over the years, just glad it can help somebody out, one way or another.

 

@WillTheWeirdo Thanks a lot for the detailed info, most welcome. While i was posting my first reply earlier on, i thought many times of getting into detail, but definitely you did it better than anyone could imho, including me of course. Imho some people should appreciate the valuable information they are given for free (as i said in another post too) and read+think+understand (in that order heheh) before posting ...
Again thank you

 

Thank you for the very kind words, sharing solid information is a responsibility to me, these young-ins deserve nothing less. Most will never use most of the equipment I have, nor will the see the inside of many of the studio's I have as the times change. I want to provide a little experience, mixed with wisdom, then splashed with opinion in my posts. I'm always about to each their own, I always say to trust your own ears and test it for yourself, because that's what I do and have done.

I've been lurking here for several years but the Nebula conversation inspired me to post as I see so many misconceptions written about it. I just wanted to help the OP with as much information as possible before he spends his hard earned money. I came up through the indi route with tech N9ne, out of KC. I wasted so many years and sooooo much money, as back then interning at a studio or doing it yourself was the way to learn. Myself and Icy Roc, Tech's original producer, learned on our own, but we shared what we learned with each other. Sharing is a special thing.

Today, here, Gearslutz or on youtube can teach you years worth of "what not to do's", but it also gives many a voice that should probably still just be learning. They say the blind lead the blind, but my eyesight is pretty good, so we'll see how it goes, lol.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2016

Then, loading full-fledged channel strips with mic kernels,a preamp, EQs (one instance per band), a compressor and some tape impulse will be a huge load on an underpowered computer. If it won't choke, at least it will be slow to load, right? If you do this for a number of channels, it's gonna be overkill.

I have an i5 Mac Mini from 2014. It's not close to ideal, but like I said before, being able to process recorded tracks to sweeten them for mixing, rendering new files, mixing with regular algorhythmic plug-ins, and then summing to a two-bus nebula strip could be a layman's workflow to improved sound quality, just as if I were buying an outboard summing box or a fancy outboard pre. From what I read, quality is gonna be the closest that in-the-box mixing will get you. Fair enough for me. I'm sold to the idea.

BTW, @WillTheWeirdo. The help you've given us is invaluable. No one has ever explained the concept to me so well before. I was eyeing this for a while. It gets so much praise (and bad mojo too, but that's the way the Web is).

Thank you everyone involved.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2016

Q: Will Nebula3 Pro and Nebula3 Server libraries work in Nebula4.
R: They are already running.

Q: What happens with libraries that are not skinned.
R: Nebula load them in EDIT mode.

So it seems that this will be Nebula 4 in edit mode, without a skin, with a skin it will look like an Acqua.

 

You'll most likely want to render or freeze your Nebula tracks to free up CPU resources. Maybe keep live Nebula's for busses and master.

I'm glad my explanation has helped you understand nebula better, truly understanding a tools strengths and limitations is invaluable in determining weather it is right for you and your workflow.

 

do the free all you can eat henry o presets work in nebula3 or do you need nebula pro?

 

They should work in any Nebula 3 full version, just not the Nebula 3 free.

 

Hi all! This turned out to be a very interesting topic. Thanks for everyone who took their time to explain into further detail what Nebula 3 does. I did some research to listen to Nebula programs demos but there's virtually nothing on YouTube. I'd like to ask if you could post short clips with before/after (dry/wet) examples with some Nebula programs applied, specially those ones that plug-ins can't emulate. Or please point me to site(s) where I could listen to this. Thanks in advance!

 

They should work in any Nebula 3 full version, just not the Nebula 3 free.

Im not sure they will as the files for nebula 3 are vectors n2v and programs n2p
the downloads are in kps?