From what I can tell Nebula is a program for people who can't afford UAD or even nice preamps. Being so short on actual tone, Nebula brings a lot to the table for these people and they get very excited about it. But people with access to nice tools almost never use Nebula/Acqua.

 

Any side by side example? I only own Acqua Cooltec EQP1 after comparing UAD and Waves. It certainly stands out especially in lower mids and low harmonics. My friend has Acqua Trinity which really opens up the mix like panoramic image. I am interested in UAD but didn't find any comparison.

 

Acustica audio plugins (Nebula and Acquas) are using Dynamic VOLTERA Convolution and no one can make it on entire market, just acustica-audio.
This tech is by far the best emulation of analog gear, especially pre-amps, tapes and EQ´s.
They are improving a lot on the Dynamic side. The last release PINK is achieving a real good analog compressor behavior.
You can try it for free here:
http://www.acustica-audio.com/index...tegory_id=74&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=189

 

Actually, it is more akin to bringing analogue sound and functionality into the plugin form. In every place you would use a modeled/fake plugin to replicate an analogue EQ, Compressor, Reverb, Saturation, & Console, you just use Nebula which sound 99.8% like hardware. Actual analogue harmonics included, not a modeled guess.
For those, like me, that have gear or access to gear, Nebula is the bridge to a long held issue, how to use the computer for editing and recall but still retain analogue gear sound and functionality.

So let's say I'm at Zac's, about to mix a record on their 4G plus.
My song is 80 tracks total.
In my mix that I tracked through Neve, API, & SSL gear, on the mix I want to use 10 API EQ's, 8 API comps, 4 GML 8200 EQ's, 6 Mercury 66 comps, 12 channels of Lexicon 480 or 960 verb, 8 channels of H3000, 4 Chandler Geranium comps on top of 30 channels of SSL EQ's. Problem is while I have the SSL I only have 4 API EQ's, 2 API compressors, 2 Mercury 66's, 2 channels of H3000, 8 channels of 480 or 960, 1 Chandler Geranium and 1 GML 8200...... no problem, Nebula to the rescue and totally re-callable.

So the next week now we move next door to Stankonia's A room, while John is out, lol, and we pull up the same mix, all the Nebula's pull up but nothing else. Time to re-mix the record, another 2K spent for the mix.

So now I'm sitting at home on my i7 5820K, I pull up the same mix, all the Nebula's pull up again. I then mix the record in the box using almost all Acqua or Nebula plugins, I test the mix on 4 different consoles, find out the 88RS works best, email the mix. The artist wants changes, I pull up the mix and in seconds make changes.

While I understand the apprehension in embracing Nebula technology, it really is the future, as it is the bridge between the analogue and digital worlds.

Don't trust me, go to Acuctica Audio's web site and demo Pink. It is an API channel strip. Read the manual, it is a different approach to a channel strip, with 3 different API preamps, 2 EQ's and the first fantastic compressor in a plug in. 3 knees, feedback or forward, low pass sidechain detection. It can grab, stay soft or anything in between. After you use Pink, you'll understand why some of us Pro's use Nebula, regardless of equipment access.

I predict within the next 5 years it will be the dominant audio plug in format being used all over the world.

 

Click the Acqua tab, then down to trial. Once in trial, add as trial plugins as you want many to your account, then once your cart is full, purchase, price will be $0. They will then be in your dashboard. Download the demo, install with Administrator rights on PC, find the ser file, upload it to your dashboard, then download the aut file, place it in the same Acustica64 folder as the ser file and enjoy.

I will warn you..... Pink will change your idea of what a plugin should be and there will be no going back, lol.

 

Thanks WTW. But I eventually got it and you are absolutely correct. I've been a long time Neb user and they've definitely progressed with this one. Hell, even the free Ochre still makes it to most of my mixes.

 

I stress tested Pink in Reaper 5, on Win 7 x64 Ultimate, i7 5820K OC'ed to 3.8Ghz 16GB DDR4 2400 Ram.

On PinkT I found that the settings that used the most CPU were:
EQ A all 4 bands on, Pre on, Insane and Pink on with Hrd knee and FBK on.

Here is what I got after testing 2 times.

# of Pink-------Reaper CPU/ Win CPU------Reaper RAM/ Win RAM
1 -------------------- .65% / 1% ------------------ 444MB / 3.1GB
5 ------------------- 4.7% / 4-6% ---------------- 1.05GB / 3.7GB
10 ----------------- 11.6% / 8-13% -------------- 1.9GB / 4.5GB
20 ----------------- 22.9% / 20-25% ------------- 3.7GB / 6.3GB
30 ----------------- 33.8% / 35-42% ------------- 5.5GB / 8.05GB
40 ----------------- 45.4% / 45-54% ------------- 7.7GB / 10.1GB
50 ----------------- 56.6% / 65-70% ------------- 9.6GB / 11.5GB
60 ----------------- 68.2% / 80-90% ------------ 11.1GB / 13.2GB
65 ----------------- 73.2% / 89-95% ------------ 11.7GB / 14.1GB
70 ----------------- 80.1% / 95-100% ----------- 12.6GB / 14.9GB

I used 10 tracks and played back audio all the way up to 70 Pink.
Under normal sessions you would not be using Pink with everything on, so I could see another 20 instances for me with a normal mix going. If I OC'ed to 4.3, I'm on water, I could see another 20 Pink..... wowzers!

In conclusion, a new i7 5820K on Windows 7, using Reaper 5 with the new Core 8 Pink is gonna bring 60 to 120 instances depending on your OC and RAM.

 

Last edited: Apr 13, 2016

@WillTheWeirdo and others with Nebula experience:

If I want to invest $100 on an Acqua plugin and avoid all the prep and configuration of Nebula, which one would the one plugin to go to? I'm looking for opinions on a workhorse that can serve as many needs as possible. I am eyeing Amethist. In your experience, how much good does it bring to the table?

On another note, can anyone PM me the link to an full unregistered installer of Nebula 3 so I can fool around with third party libraries? I've seen the Windows version around but can't find it for the Mac. I wouldn't want to commit to it without fiddling around with it plentifully. I hope I'm not asking for too much. Maybe I can stretch to the cost of Neb 3 Pro, but it'd be a long-term learning curve. That's why I am inclined to one Acqua plugin.

Peace to you all.

 

Last edited: Apr 24, 2016

Without doubt get pink. Presale ends tomorrow. 112Eur rising to 149 after

 

Sand and Coral are out and not only sound amazing, they use Core 9 tech and have the best buss compressors ITB today IMHO.

Nebula 4 is planned to be released very soon.

Tim P has also just released a Nebula 3 Retro Sta Level library that is fantastic sounding.

 

Sta Level from Tim P has me about to sell my two gates. Thing is so close to being identical, it's stunning. Nebula 4 will be in beta test soon.

 

Those tests seem fairly accurate with Sand as well. With ~20 instances I started to get problems just to realize Reaper was in fact consuming 5,5GB of RAM, which together with Windows depleted my 8GB. Good thing my i7 2600 stands up like a champ, and I just need to add some more RAM to keep the show up.

 

Just got Sand really impressed am anxiously waiting to try it on my new dual boot Hackintosh 5820 i7 32 gb ram

 

I've had Nebula for quite a while, but lost interest in it, & stopped using it...I got a new pc this spring that can handle a lot more than the previous pc, & my interest with Nebula sparked again recently...I've gotta say, so far, I'm pretty impressed with it, but only after I read up/learned how to use it...I'm miles behind most folks who use it, so things should only get better for me with Nebula...

I have to say this forum & a few people in particular have made things much easier on me, with the learning curve Nebula has...I just finished reading this entire thread again, & just wanted to thank everyone for their help/advice...

This is a copy/paste part of a post from Will, & helped me greatly to understand how to chain all these things together, especially for a simple-minded guy like me:

Think of it like you were in a real studio and apply the same chain, because in the real world it is the total signal chain the gives us what we loved about analogue. Endless combinations are at your fingertips without needing an assistant to patch it all.

Got a lifeless electric guitar:
Pull up Guitar Rig or any algo distortion plugin
Pull up a Speaker Cabinet
Pull up a Royer 122 Ribbon mic
Pull up a1073 preamp normal or hot
Pull Up a Summit TLA100
Pull up your favorite Tube
Pull up some Tube saturation
Pull up a Culture Vulture
Pull up Tape 15ips
Pull up Tape saturation
etc, until you get the sound your ears are looking for.

Take your Electronic Drums:
Pull up an MPC 3000
Pull up AMS 88RS line input
Pull up SSL 4K Brown EQ
Pull up a transient plugin
Pull up SSL channel comp or AMS 88RS channel comp
Pull up a Studer Tape 15ips
Pull up Tape Saturation
etc, until you get the sound your ears are looking for.

Get the idea?
Use Reaper to store you Nebula chains.
Use Nerv Agent or Bluecat Chainer to make Nebula chains.

I'm still learning & experimenting, but my eyes have opened to a lot of things I was overlooking before...

I really like the idea of the Acqua plugins a lot, & I think going this route might be better for me, but I don't wanna lose any of the sound quality, but from what I've read, the Acqua plugins are basically Nebula 4 in a different box, correct???

I'm giving everyone in the entire forum a big thanks for all the info & help!!!

 

Bro i am planning on building my first PC for audio production and i want to start with the cpu i am having a pick on i7 5820k.How many Nebula libraries can you pull up with your machine?

 

It depends on what libraries you use, every Nebula library uses a different amount of CPU, the gorgeous sounding reverbs take the most but I freeze them. In a normal mix I'm pulling between 50 to 100 Nebula instances, I freeze in Reaper when I need more. I also only have my 5820K OC'ed to 3.8Ghz, so you could pull more if you clock higher. I also suggest to get a motherboard that will accept that newer 6950X, so you could upgrade the CPU in a year or two if needed, that thing is a beast.

 

pretty much, same engine
People moan about it being a cpu hawg, but if your not using cycles your not really emulating analogue

 

i've always wanted to hear a uad vs acustica/aqua shootout. i'll be purchasing the manley from acustica pretty soon.
anyone remember when slate and acustica were beefing. correct me if I'm wrong but i believe fabrice took acustica's idea and thats what started the animosity. he's still bitter and rightfully so imo. (read the fine print on the OCHRE plugin)

 

"I don't care that they stole my idea, I care that they don't have any of their own."
I did wonder what that was all about

 

There's no comparison to be made.
If you dont care mixing full analog style, get yourself nebula and bounce your tracks.
If you prefer compromising analog warmth and harmonics for faster workflow , get yourself the UAD product.
Simple as that.

UAD is in the slate digital/wave game. Those belong to the digital realm.
Acustica-audio bring OTB closer to ITB at a CPU and RAM cost.
People got to get their fact straight.

Those not hearing the difference between UAD and Acustica-Audio should get their ass in a studio to hear the diffrence with analog gear and their DSP based plugin.