RE: Cream 2

- apparently the 48khz and 88khz sample rates are missing from the current release.
- The files for the all inclusive sample rates (44, 48, 88, 96khz) are available but they total almost 1GB in size.

I take it R2R needs to hit these with their magic wands to remove the bloat or are they good to go as they are?

 

Last edited: Jun 14, 2024

AFAIK Cream 2 is only supposed to have 44.1 and 96Khz samples (says so in the manual), don't know if they ever updated that.

 

who like me when this post comes back in the feed thinks "cool witches released purple finally"?

 

Well after dumping the all sample rate inclusive content into !COMMON files (just replace or ignore all the matching stuff as they are the same content) of the current R2R release it all seems to be working at all sample rates without major screw ups. Did a size comparison of some of the R2R release files with the replacement files and the 44 & 96K content are exactly the same sizes as the all inclusive content. So no worries I guess.

There are some issues however;
anomalous behaviors @ all sample rates Cream 2 EQ
Magic 100 hz adjustment knob disappears on setting B-A
Filter 100 hz adjustment knob disappears on setting L-B and filter face plate changes color
Filter right adjustment knob disappears on setting H-B and filter face plate changes color
Presence face plate changes color on setting P-B
Treble face plate changes color on setting P-B

anomalous behaviors @ all sample rates Cream 2 PRE
Black center selector switch hangs after selecting tube/tube2/C - have to reload plugin to regain selection settings

anomalous behaviors @ all sample rates Cream 2
Magic 100 hz adjustment knob disappears on setting B-A
Filter 100 hz adjustment knob disappears on setting L-B and filter face plate changes color
Filter right adjustment knob disappears on setting H-B and filter face plate changes color
Presence face plate changes color on setting P-B
Treble face plate changes color on setting P-B

 

Last edited: Jun 14, 2024

Damn brother, i'm so happy with Cream that i even forgot about Purple and Pensado Eq. Cream got that 5% i miss with most of the plugins when comes to lows (low mids and sub) and makes the midrange so gentle and polished...

I mean, i already loved Waves EMI TG plugins (Mastering chain, NLS, 12345, RS124), but this is next level. I still think waves is solid AF but this is magic.

 

I obv use many waves plugins, but very rarely "the color ones", mostly the tecnical lets say R-vox, Axx, TrueVerb and so on

didnt test cream will do soon I guess on my "all bass buss" where I have actually a couple of chains:
1 UAD LA2A comp/ UAD Avalon EQ
2 Chandler Limiter/ UAD Avalon EQ
3 AA Coffe channel strip (with comp in limiter mode and its EQ)

I think that Cream can be another flavor there, then will try somewhere else also

EDIT: waves color plugins I use the NLS (JJ trick) and the REDD console emu sometimes on my stereo buss 3 times out of 10 (the other 7 times I have your AA amethyst trick)

 

Last edited: Jun 14, 2024

If I'm not getting the plugin wrong, that's the way it's meant to work. It's supposed to emulate two different units (the green one and the silver one) and the magic section is just some weird kind-of-presets created by some Nebula guy. The B-A setting for instance is just a huge low bump which (allegedly) offered the old Abbey Road EMI units.

 

Most of the things listed here are ment to be that way (dissapearing knobs and faceplate colour changes). The hanging pre selector is definetively a bug, but iirc it's also on the legit version.

 

Really. hmm. fair enuff then.. All sample rates (44,48,88,96) seem to be working with the addition of the extra COMMON files. However the full compliment of COMMON files puts the total overall plugin weight at way over 1 Gb... For one single plugin.

 

I believe those files needed to be R2R'd first before it can be used. The security and encryption bloat are at least 3/4 of the total 1GB.

 

They DO work at all sample rates as is. They apparently have been decrypted at least, but not de-bloated. No telling if R2R will bother with it, but if they do maybe they might fix that selector switch issue as well.

 

Last edited: Jun 14, 2024

yeah hopefully R2R will do it since the files are there, maybe others can start contributing that way for other plugins as well. Low chance but worth a try I guess.

I do own Cream 2 before and all those selector switches behave like you mentioned by design if I remember correctly... but that was like 2-3 years ago, my memory has tricked me before so not absolutely certain about it.

 

Eli and Stevie are right, the behavior of the switches in Cream are by design. Nothing wrong there.

The only thing that is concerning to me is this:

 

I'm curious, what is this Amethyst trick? Can't say i'm familiar

 

The 2500 Bus Preamp from Amethyst does something nice to the stereo image, I think it was @Riddim Machine that brought it up long ago.

 

A good thread (last posts) about WHY Acqua sound worse than Nebula 4 :
https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/566552-nebula-must-have-616.html

Mainly because AA reduced kernel length (reducing size compared to Nebula and CPU...ence the performance boost).
The only way to get the quality back : opening Acqua programs into Nebula 4 in Guru mode and pushing the limit.

It is a confirmation from power users : Acqua sound is inferior to Nebula

 

just curious
how do you compare nebula and aqua? I really dont know Nebula and how it works

You can load the SAME EXACT "plugin picture IR whatever it is" into Nebula and they dont null?

 

So why is it that acustica ditched nebula for aqua? I'm betting it's because the aqua stuff is more cost effective per unit to put out than the Nebula counterparts. The legit aqua stuff is certainly not more efficient given the size and lameness of the copy protection garbage infused into it. The nebula plugins that I have seen don't appear to be so afflicted.

 

this is not entirely true. Acqua as a whole are not necessarily inferior to Nebula. that particular user acts like what he says is bound by law, its not. There is a sacrifice both ways. As both Tim P, and Cupwise have pointed out, as well as other users.

 

It’s not a question of worse or better, it’s a question of accuracy and perspective.

If your goal is to replicate hardware, then you should use 3rd party libs for Nebula and/or tweak the Acquas. If you need a cleaner, faster more efficient workflow, then you should use the new Acquas with algorithmic (Hyper) tech.

And that goes for preamps and EQs mostly. You can’t really tweak compressors/gates because of response time and metering.