Hey gang,

So I'm possibly going to buy an older version of Ozone (v5) and wondered if anyone here has any input on how much different it is from the current iteration (v7). Ive read great things about Ozone 5 and I hear some people prefer it over subsequent versions. Is there anything specific you like/dont like or find that it is much better to do in Ozone 5 than in later versions?

I'm also looking into Alloy but cant see much of a difference between the two, or at least nothing that Ozone cant do already. Would it be beneficial to use both or would just having either one suffice?

 

From a performance standpoint for me (i5 2500k OC'd to 4.4GHz 16 gb ram) ozone 7 is an absolute cpu killer, you would have to bounce out mostly everything to have any semblence of real time mixing/mastering. Ozone 5 however runs a hell of a lot smoother, (unless you run IRC III on the limiter). One of the differences is that ozone 7 has a completely re-routable plugin chain, so you can customize a bit more than you normally would on how the signal chain runs. ozone 7 also has IRC IV which is prolly overkill but i guess it depends on your needs. ozone 7's standalone UI also supports the drag in track, but my workflow doesnt really incoorporate that. also Pretty much everything else is the same imo. There might be a few ease of use options and UI improvements but those are the major differences.

Alloy 2 is amazing on drums, its insane how much you can get the drums popping, would definitely recommend. It has literally everything you need, especially the two stage comp, vintage pre EQ curves, multiband transient shaper and exciter. The limiter in alloy isnt the best however.

 

Ozone is for MASTERING and and Alloy is for TRACKING, so you'll find feature differences btw the 2, cuz the're meant for different tasks. Like, you wouldn't de-ess on a master, but you would on a track.

Ozone 5 has reverb & a smaller GUI, which I prefer. OZ7 ditches the reverb for some hipster (apparently) cpu-killing vintage EQ/DRC, and DynEQ (which is of little use to me)

 

Yep Ozone 5 is lighter on the CPU, and I think there was a reverb unit in it, which isn't in Ozone 7. They have added the vintage stuff in Ozone 7 and I don't think the dynamic eqs were in Ozone 5 (I'm not sure about that), and the maximizer has more modes (also at the cost of cpu) but some can go without those features so for them Ozone 5 might be the way to go.
Alloy is a different beast, more for tracking indeed. Take the filter for example, I love those but no digital mode with those, in mastering that might be a problem. But it has tools for producing and mixing. A nice transient processor, a de-esser. One thing that I prefer in alloy over ozone 7 is the exiter. In alloy it's multiband like in Ozone, but unlike Ozone in Alloy you can mix the different type of saturation you use on each band...In ozone 7 exiter you have one additional band (three band in Alloy, four in Ozone) but you have to stick with the one type of saturation you pick for all the bands you use.

 

I own Alloy 2 (manual) and Ozone 7 Advanced (features / specs).

The first one has been created for mixing purpose but everyone is free to use it for easy track finalization. It has 2 compressor (to use in parallel or serial mode), EQ, Limiter, Exciter, Transient and De-Esser. Think about it like an advanced channel strip.

Ozone 7 Standard/Advanced is something more exciting. It is not for mixing purpose. It is for mastering but, I bet, alot of people (~90%) use it to finalize a single track and/or enhance its "quality".

Ozone 5 is like... the unicorn. It seems it lets you enter inside a magic world where everything is possible (like using the best reverb ever). If you chose this one be sure it is legal... so you could upgrade to a higher version (black friday is near...).

 

Last edited: Aug 20, 2016

Well... first of all, Alloy is not a mastering thing. It's a great all-in-one for your buses or individual tracks (the multiband transient shaper is KILLER on drums), but for mastering you need something subtler.

Ozone 7 is badass. I'm not talking about the GUI, there's a ton of important things lots of people overlook. There's auto release for the compressor. There is a mono button to check for your compatibility in mono. There is a option that makes everything same volume so you can turn the plugin in and out and actually compare if you're not screwing up the mix. There's a codec preview so you can hear how Soundcloud will destroy your mix with 128kbps MP3 encoding *before* you upload.

The Vintage EQ gives you a great-sounding emulation of Pultec EQ:



Which looks simple but is really powerful - you have boost and cut knobs and the magic happens when you turn both up, because you get this - works wonders for making kicks heavy without getting them muddy. For highs you can boost them and then gently cut at 10k/20k to avoid the whistling sound of too much EQ


There's also tape emulation (which I don't use much, but sometimes it's nice for a little grit on drums or vocals). From what I see, 5 didn't have auto split feature (which listens to the music you have and auto-splits bands based on the track). There's the dynamic EQ, which can work like a de-esser, de-mudder, or anything you want - how about a 250Hz bump every snare hit that goes away when the tail comes in? The new vintage compressor has auto makeup gain as well as highpass filter to avoid pumping from the low end.

The decision is yours, I'd say it's worth it.

 

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Ozone 7 for mastering as standalone is brilliant. I love it.
Alloy for you drums Bus is great.

 

I prefer Ozone 7.It has great tools which help on the mastering process, but i would definitely avoid doing a serious master depending only on Ozone.Alloy is not for mastering but you usually wanna use some of its features on tasks like drums (transient shaping,a bit of compression,eq) along with some other plugins too (cause less cpu hungry alloy will allow you to fill up your chain)

 

In case few peeps have realised but with regards to the warez released vertions of ozone 7 "meaning v7.00 and 7.01" Ive noticed the following odd occurances with v7.01 "comparativley speaking with v7.00"
With the latest release for some reason the use of the whole module seems to generate a ludicrous amount of resource use,
To the degree in which its unusable on slower pcs.
But if you go for the older original v 7.00 theres no cpu issues..
Say your using v 7.01 and select the cd master preset "The cpu hit would be over65% of my availiable cpu
But run the very same cd master preset "or any of them for that matter" using v 7.00 and im at a comfortable 25%...
Not sure why ,or if its just me thats noticed the differences between the latest 2 releases...
Hence my uninstalling and reinstalling the original v7.00 and i no longer worry bout a cpu hit and im on a humble i5 3.2ghz...

 

Maybe you're using it too much, I'm having no issues with v7.01 on my i7 2.3GHz - didn't check actual percentage but it never interrupted my workflow (no stuttering, no dropouts)

 

I understand what your saying but no thats not the case....
Maybe its due to something ive set up my end ,but i simply mean running one instance of oz7.01 on its own and selecting any masteing presets and my cpu gauge rises to over 70% in many cases..
Btw this doesnt happen when using the singular modules..
Also this isnt a problem with 7.00
I can use multiple instances of the entire oz module and my cpu is still only round the 35% mark...
So cant be im using it too much as just one instance does this,and thats including turning of the meters etc to save resources...
Must be something ive set up my end,baffles me what it could be though coz its just v7.01 this happens with and both vertions ive set up identically..........

 

I haven't used Ozone v5 but I just got 7. It's a monster plugin suite, with individual plugs for its components. People say it's a cpu killer... my cpu is a behemoth so I haven't really noticed.

As others have said here, Alloy is more for use on a per-track basis, and yes it's great on the drum bus. For the record, Alloy is $100 at PluginBoutique right now. Occasionally PB puts iZotope plugs up for $50. In the last few months they've had Trash 2, BreakTweaker, Stutter Edit, and I believe Alloy up for $50 at different times. If you can pick up two of their Plug-ins on sale you can upgrade to the Music Production Bundle (Ozone 7 Advanced, Alloy, Trash, Insight, Nectar Suite) for $250 which is a hell of a deal. I got Trash 2 for $50 and Alloy for $50 at PluginBoutique and then upgraded to the bundle for 250. A steal considering Ozone 7 Advanced alone is $500.

You might be able to wait until they have another Izotope sale and snag up another plug-in, then get the bundle, all for less than the cost of O7

 

Ah, thats good to know. I bought trash2, breaktweaker, stutteredit and iris2 when they were on sale but it looks like I need to purchase another plugin from them to be eligible for the upgrade. Might wait it out to see if things change around the holidays.

 

Ive had these damn things stting in my plugin folders for ages... though Ive deleted a shit-ton... I always manage to keep the Izotope stuff.

I started using alloy LIKE CRAZY lately though!!
I love the multiband transient shaper... and multiband exciter.

I am using that shit on absolutely everysingle Dark Techno track I work on. Usuually, I have the the kick and the subby reverb stuff all together in a bus. and I can really get in there with alloy and finetune "pieces-parts."

Same goes for TRASH EVEN!!! started using that., Totally tooks this chunky short lower-mid synth stab sound (to alternate along with my Kick/Sub Rumble) and alloy REALLY helped me take that dull boring sound and make it how I envisioned it being.


My issue with Izotope stuff has always been that the gui's were just too fucking big... I got sick of em quick.

Now Im using ALLOY ALL THE TIME... Trash gets in there too though... as I get closer to mastering my stuff, I will start to mess with Ozone I guess.

Kllanghelm SDRR, ALloy snd Trash I use like crazy... but not as much as Cableguys VOl Shaper :D