Could it be for this reason 'At readout of -14 dB corresponds to a VU level of 0 dBu'?

AFAIK, (almost?) all their plugins are calibrated this way.

 

Best LA2A: VOS ThrillseekerVBL, TbT LEA
Best Vari-Mu: VOS ThrillseekerVBL
Best Tape: VOS FerricTDS combined with Chow TapeModel (Ferric for tape compression, Chow for everything else)
Best Pultec: Ignite Amps PTEq-X
Best EMT plate and BX20 Springs: free impulse responses

 

Sure, but that's not the commonly accepted best practice. Best practice: -18dbfs = 0 dBu.

One might ask: why is it an issue? Because this will mess with your gain staging, since essentially all my other gain-dependent plugins use the best practice gold standard, not to mention hybrid in the box and out of the box setups with hardware that relies on proper gain structure. I don't want to go fully Gearslutz obsessive-compulsive here, but I hope you see the issue!

If BRA wants to deviate, they should at least give users an option to re-calibrate to the universally accepted standard.

 

Ofc

 

Do you mean of course?

 

Debatable. E. g. most Waves 'VUs' are in fact digital peak meters, they just look like VU meters. Additionally, any calibration is per definition a free choice and since they're mentioning the calibration in the manual, I see no 'issue'.
But I must add that I don't do any VU gainstaging ITB anyway, but I read the manuals.

 

+

 

Why no one write about chorus, phaser, delay, reverb, distortion?
What's your favourite vst emulations of classic gear?
Choruses, Phasers, Delays, Reverbs, Tremolos, Amps, Equalizers etc.?

 

Reverb - Relab LX480

 

real thing for plugin price

 

1176 = UAD/IK/Arturia (and maybe the purple audio mc77, even without being a direct emulation)
2A = UAD
Vari-mu = UAD/Pulsar Audio
VCA = UAD/Empirical Labs (maybe), based on the distressor

in the general way:
-Shadow hills mastering compressor
-Purple audio MC77
-Pulsar Audio Mu
-bx_opto
-bx_2098 eq
-DBX 160 (Waves)
-Lindel Audio 7x-500

 

Not the

 

Mh, you didn't happen to see some vids on YT comparing Klark Tek with some plugins?

 

Acustica's one is emulating a vintage Pultec, Softube's plugin is emulating a modern recreation, so it doesn't tell anything at all. I once measured an orginal Pultec and it didn't have this comb filtering. The reason it can sometimes happen is because of its design : it's a parallel EQ. So for a vintage unit like this, it's very possible that parts of the circuit are not time-aligned with the source signal. It will probably not happen for a modern unit like the Tube Tech model.

 

What do you mean show me some

 

I noticed on the first page there were some people liking the slate plugin.
But as far as Distressor emulation,
I think Empirical Labs & SKnote = way better

 

I've seen them months ago, so I can't recall their exact names but I'm sure you'll find them.
The bottom line was that they're not better than some plugins, rather the other way around.

 

Klark Teknik is the last rubbish. The electrical waste inside the housing is just that: electrical waste.
If you want something with a sound similar to the original for a small amount of money, then go with warm audio... or stam if you want high quality and are patient. Or look for the circuit diagrams on the net, order the parts and solder the stuff together yourself. The only problem is finding the necessary parts.

 

Last edited: Jan 7, 2021

i compared the hardware with uad, sknote and empirical labs... and the only one which is really accurate is the uad one (literally less than 3dB of distortion average) and the worst one is the sknote one which is normal considering that the original scheme is not pubicly available to use, so the developers can't be really accurate

 

The funny part: users do not always prefer the most authentic emulation, but under some circumstances actually like the sound of a less accurate "emulation" more, because it actually has more of the characteristics they associate with hardware (or even on the opposite sounds cleaner then the hardware would). 95% of emulation plugin users have no clue how the device is supposed to actually sound (me included).

That's why I actually prefer flexible, non-emulation plugins, eg Klanghelms DC8C compressor, which can do all compression styles or clear & precise digital comps like TDR Kotelnikov.