I tried most of softube plugins they do sound good but why does Fuse Audio Labs emulations sound better and sound closer to hardware in my opinion and they don't charge you as much as softube charge you either .....i wounder if Fuse Audio Labs is a group of developers that branched off from a major developing team
what are yall experiences and opinions on both companies

 

Big fan of Fuse Audio Labs. VCS-1 and VPRE-562A are permanently and widely used in my session templates. The price is right, the tools are great, the updates are plentiful, and Mr. Dratwa is both personable and helpful. That's my vote.

̶P̶S̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶i̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶V̶C̶S̶-̶1̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶o̶/̶s̶t̶e̶r̶e̶o̶ ̶f̶r̶e̶q̶u̶e̶n̶c̶y̶ ̶c̶u̶t̶-̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶B̶r̶a̶i̶n̶w̶o̶r̶x̶ ̶/̶ ̶P̶A̶ ̶p̶l̶u̶g̶s <---- Edited, see my next post

 

Last edited: Sep 23, 2022

i agree that would be great maybe they could add it as a update in the future i always find myself using the TCS68 a lot on my channels and that VPRE-562A i use on my Amplesound electric guitars

 

Last edited: Sep 23, 2022

https://fuseaudiolabs.de/#/pages/about has info from/about the developer. Were you wondering how many people work on the software? He has worked on Black Rooster plugins for certain. They are great plugins and his influence on their design is obvious.

 

yeah i wanted to know how many people

 

It just dawned on me that this can be achieved in VCS-1 by putting the filters into Side mode and using the high pass cut. So I happily recant my previous statement

 

Ive always liked softubes stuff. I use their tubetec all the time. I like most of their stuff to the point that I will purchase it (which means alot these days with the amount of cracks out there ((but im on mac)). Fuse I have some cracked stuff but never really dove into it too much - to the point that I would start comparing it to softubes version. to me, in the end, its all the same.... only people like us in the weeds hear these minute differences, so I just focus on how easy the plugin makes it to get to the sound I want to achieve.

 

I personally use either brand somewhat equally, leaning more towards Softube. Both developers have something useful to offer and, room to improve certain products.

 

I like Airwindows.

Look, both FAL and ST are good. Don't get too entangled into which one is best sounding. Ask yourself: is this tool doing what I want it to do? Does it sound good? If it does, use it.

Ears are becoming underappreciated these days... nice GUI makes up for flawed hearing. In the old days we used to listen, listen carefully. That's what the new generation gets - our experiences. You should do that, too and share your experiences with the world.

 

Softube, Fuse Audio Labs and Black Rooster Audio are all top notch stuff! More like complementing each other than competing, IMO.

 

Last edited: Sep 23, 2022

Airwindows is great, yeah. But I am also okay with a nice GUI. I don't actually care about realistic looking metal or rack screws... this can be silly, even.

However, aesthetic designs can be inspiring in their own right. It is important not to let eyes dominate ears when it comes to sound; in that sense your point is well taken and I agree. But on the other hand I do enjoy the aesthetics of certain instruments and tools.

For example, I have always loved the look of the Elektron Machinedrum. I feel as though I am interacting with a piece of retrofuturism that brings me into a different creative paradigm than it would if it was a designed to look like a cardboard box.

 

the thing is i have invested a lot of money into softube's eco system like the softube tape and softube tape echoes and other softube products i have..... i most definitely will not be neglecting these vst's i purchased i will just add Fuse Audio too my softube collection they both very easy for workflow and give me great results the best of both worlds basically

 

i agree well said

 

My favorite Softube plugin is the free Saturation Knob. For when I don't need to use the FF Saturn. Sometimes I use the Drawmer S73.

I'm checking out this guys plugin Drums SSX and this thing is going to be very helpful to me. It's like RX Rebalance, but targeted at drum separation. With channel strips/eq/compressor/etc on each of the "stems". It shows a waveform scrolling of each stem, etc. Very cool.

 

Reimund Dratwa started with Brainworx, Black Rooster Audio,partners with NeOld, and runs Fuse Audio Labs . . . ! . . . He has has written code for many compaies . . . ! . . . He's a Legend, at this point . . . ! . . .
(-;

 

If anyone's ever caught a comment of mine, it probably involves praising Fuse Audio Labs as indispensable plugins.

• Flywheel is in my shortcutted default channel chain, great for control, and just a bit of flavor
• VPRE-(any) is always an option in any mix
• VCS-1 is used, which is praise since I try and like channel strips, but I'm not usually a big fan
• VCE-118 does what a DBX does, instead of sounding like what a DBX "sounds like"
• VREV-305 single-handedly made me give spring reverbs another chance, great on guitars and EPs
• VCL-4 is what sold me on Fuse, it simply sounds like the perfect opto
• Bucket-500 is just stupid simple and sounds great on everything, I find excuses to play... uhm... "use" it
• VCL-515 is a one-trick plugin for me, but I love it for lite shaping and color on group busses
• VCL 864U and VCL 25-A are both stellar Vari-Mu designs that ooze character
• VQA-154 took me a while to get used to for some reason, but once I did, I found a subtle but unique tone

And none of their stuff is bad, but those in particular are (if the mix allows it) go-to plugins.

Some Softube stuff is aight.

 

Everyone knows the best plugins look like spaceship consoles broadcasting a 3-D image of a Macy's Day parade. Ears are for corn.

 

Quality wise they all good, the price difference comes to the company size of course. Having talked with someone working at Softube and complaining about the iLok thing, he replied that they were forced to use this because of the partnerships with big brands (TubeTech, Chandler etc etc) and that they were the ones asking for a "robust" protection scheme, therefor the cost for customers are also increased due to that...

 

iLok usually does not bother me. I have many plugins that use it from other developers, and a decent number of Softube plugins also. But between their implementation of iLok and their Softube Central manager app, it's one of the more annoying setups out there. It's a pretty good example of why people hate iLok.

 

FAL's amp sims are wayyyyy better than Softube's IMHO

FAL's Dozer Drive is my second guitar distortion holy grail after Cytomic's The Scream.

FAL's Ocelot Upmixer is a strong contestant for my new favorite stereoizer. But Softube's Fix Doubler is a really cool plug (although not a stereozier per se).

I don't use channel strips so can't comment.

For "analog" my go-to are Kush and Black Rooster.

Softube synths are good overall. Their modular system is high quality, but a bit CPU hungry (and can't compete with VCV being free).