My big problem with the Acustica stuff I've used is it all aliases really bad. Even running at 96k there's clearly no anti alias filters or oversampling at all. And aliasing is obviously not something hardware does. And I can't hear or see in Plugin doctor any big difference in the way it behaves compared to "traditional" dsp. Therefore in my mind, dsp plugins with good ant aliasing are closer to hardware than Acustica is. Also the sluggish-ness of the plugins is annoying. And I'm running an oc'd 3700x with 32g of ram on an nvme drive. I'd be willing to overlook that and the aliasing if I could observe some big difference in the way it processes sound, but I can't. To me loading up the Tim P U76 sounds about as different from one 1176 emulation to the next. Reading their info about how the technology works sounds very interesting and I really want to like Acustica but I just cant.

 

If you have Aquarius installed along with Aqua plug-ins you've bought, or gotten for free, and you try to install the "k'ed" Nebula, your Acustica account will be banned and you will lose access to all of the legit Acustica plug-ins you have.

Some people don't care though, because the third-party Nebula libs that are available on the sister site is for the most part better than Acustica's own plug-ins. You can also buy unprotected libs from Tim P and others for way less than what the Aqua plug-ins cost.

I would suggest uninstalling all your Aqua plug-ins, Aquarius and delete every file related to them (even the system 32 files) before installing the Nebula version from the sister site. If you don't think it's worth it after trying it out, you can uninstall and delete every file related to Nebula and then install Aquarius again.

 

I agree. You can sort of use oversampling with Nebula if you run 96k libraries in a 48k project (that's pretty much what internal oversampling is). Nebula uses even more CPU doing it like this than it would if you just ran the project at 96k as well, because Nebula has to handle the sample rate conversion.

I still think that Acustica/Nebula is the best at representing real hardware in a software form, but that doesn't have mean it's the best tool for mixing/mastering. Most people (me included) are just chasing the tone we have in our heads, and it doesn't matter what we use to get there, only the outcome matters.

 

Thanks for clearing that up @Arabian_jesus

Okay, different question though, isn't it really bad to run higher sample rate versions of Nebula libraries than your project's sample rate?

Like, doesn't the 'IR' respond differently?
For example, if your project is 44.1, and you use an 88.2 library, a HPF that was supposed to be at 100Hz would be at 200Hz- the frequency shift is moved as a biproduct of running the wrong sample rate library.

At least, that's how I've come to understand it. Please explain if I'm wrong.

 

Also, do we know what third party libraries for Nebula are protected and not? I'm running Tim P and some AlexB ones, but have been considering buying more (like AITB) than are available for DL on the sister site.

 

I once dived in the Nebula technology and it's quite different from any other so I'm not sure how oversampling would work, besides skyrocketing even more CPU, that is.

Nebula does "kind of oversample" the input signal several times multiplying it with itself to be able to apply its volterra kernels (non linear IRs). It goes like:
1. Pass = 1 (harmonic 1, regular IR)
2. Apply kernel number "pass" to input signal and sum the result to the output
3. multiply original input by itself to reach next pass (harmonic)
4. Increment pass by 1
5. Go to 2

Don't remember well the details and sure I made some errors, but it's close. Quite amazing but different.

 

Last edited: Oct 25, 2021

Yes it is a digital tool but you may want to study up on dynamic convolution technology, algo tech models hardware while convolution samples hardware.

 

I know it is clever.
But it is not MAGIC, and it is NOT analog.

 

I went and bought the official N4 when it was on sale but haven't ended up using it much - partly through a lack of understanding and it not mapping to my control surface, but also as a result of not getting many of the third party libraries on the sister site to work properly. I've tried to ask questions, but the only rea place is their official facebook group, where talking about anything like the sister site is a banable offence! Anyone know of an unofficial forum (other than this one) to get advice on all this?

 

When was that and how much was it, if I may ask?

Something wrong with this one?

 

I'm quite sure a big portion of Acustica Audio haters come from the fact that it's not cracked.

Price is not an excuse anymore. I get something from them every now and then since they do plenty of 70% off discounts (specially on Black Friday). Add the loyalty discount and you might end up paying something like 30€.

I've built quite a collection that way.

 

But it is.

 

Absolutely not - just didn't want to sound dumb - should I start a new thread with my posts/queries?

 

If you can't find an already existing thread with this topic, yes, sure.

And no worries, we all sound dumb every now and then.

 

https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/566552-nebula-must-have-496.html

 

https://audiosex.pro/threads/slate-acustica-uad-test.50319/

 

Thanks for that! I'll have a long read through that, but might start a new post here too!

 

or because some cant get a channel to sound good with little or no processing

 

This is a vote in which I cannot participate. The answer I would give is missing. I think Nebula is great, but it's not a game changer. I wouldn't want to do a whole mix with Nebula. Not because of the system requirements, but because it's slow and buggy. There are a few nice TimP and other programs that I like to use, but in moderate doses. It's like hot sauce in a dish. Sometimes I like it mild, sometimes burning hot. But I never pour the whole bottle of sauce over my dish.

 

If you want to use cracjed n4 alongside paid acquas just temporarily remove n4 vst to desktop before using aquarius, then close it and move n4 again to the vst folder.

The dude was exploding cause he never thought someone would use his beloved 499€ N4 without the included factory libraries (yes that is where the license is) so if you use with any 3th party devs such as AlexB, TimP, Cupwise, etc no auth is needed for N4. Keep in mind there are few libs from AITB that need auth, but you can always buy them.