Hey guys,

since R2R will soon have all acustica audio plugins cracked and there are a few now that are already here, what are your opinions on them ? What do you like and what do you dislike ?

I am very excited to hear about your opinion !

 

Hooo boooooy I can change it so, *so* quickly

 

bloated, heavily overrated and one of the worst GUIs to work with I have ever seen.
Beside the 48khz errors.. i was so hyped about the plugins, and now i am back to reality - not worth the hassle.

 

Bad feedback is also allowed

 

That was my first impression also but maybe someone has a different take on this

 

GUIs clearly dated - not up to 2023. Worst part you cant even scale up on 4K+ monitors. That alone is a no-no-no fr me.
Then the AA sound.. Well! Ok, good in some AA plugins tbh. I'd rate 8/10 mostly.

 

El rey 2. Best compressor in the world and best Clipper in the world.
I love diamond.eq, and the pultec simulation Best in the world too.
But that's generally the case. You can do the same thing with another plugin

Only problem. You need a very good computer

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 25, 2023

Giancarlo, stop it

 

gold 5 is killer. but the latency is so high i can only use it on ready projects

 

I was a customer before, and those releases only strenghten my opinion on them.

They're based on a very specific technology that is very inefficient and not that good compared to a well built circuit modeling, but it allows them to release A LOT of plugins with minimum effort. It's a company that aims on maximum profit instead of delivering good products. They put shiny GUI on something they want to falsely market as "the only plugins that sound like real analog gear", and they're not even trying hard to do CPU and disk space optimization. It's like they believe that customers will feel that the plugins are doing more if they eat more resources.

Yes, they're doing something different compared to other devs... by using a technology that shouldn't even be used for what they do (trying to create an analog comp plugin emulation with dynamic convolution/volterra kernels is a stupid idea). It's like trying to make your car fly by adding propellers and wings. Just build a plane ffs, it's way simpler and better. This tech only really works for EQs and distortion, and it's not even good for EQ as every setting needs its set of samples, so the plugin begins to eat way more disk space compared to a regular IIR/FIR EQ that sounds just as good, or even better. And for distortion, other devs have used dynamic convolution with great success, as it is one of the few effects where this tech is useful.

Honestly, considering their price, size, CPU performance, limited dynamic range/sample rates, and their terrible installer... some of the most overrated plugins out there.

 

Last edited: Nov 25, 2023

I'm gonna stick to the plugins themsleves, because even if the company hasn't done anything bad to me they have done some questionable stuff out there and have earned a bit of a bad reputation.

So, the plugins. Sound-wise it's a mixed bag, not gonna judge that too much because i think they do have a sound of their own and that can be good or bad to you. Pretty heavy on the CPU, shouldn't be a problem if you use them here and there but if you want to load them on each channel of a big session while maintaining low latency, good luck with that. Pretty heavy on your drive too, but as we learnt recently that's a lot of BS. Also, kind of expensive considernig other (sometimes better) options.

In terms of emulating this and that, can't say for sure since i haven't tried the hardware most of these are based on, but i think there's a general concensus on what (for example) an 1176 should sound like, and most devs gravitate towards that, but i always felt AA kinda strays away from that concensus, with any emulation but specially compressors. Again, sometimes that's bad, sometimes good. That's what trials are for.

Other tools like reverbs, clippers...Not bad, but nothing special IMO.

Overall and in today's market, i'd say the cons overshadow the pros.

 

They don't really seem to offer anything original, just, by all accounts, pretty decent emulations of famous hardware. Big wow, everyone does that and I really, really doubt the differences between different companies claiming to "perfectly capture" the same gear are all that obvious. Nothing you can truly hear in a full mix, anyway. The biggest difference is marketing.

 

best plugins to ever exist. if you dont use acustica plugins its because you have a weak computer, bad ears, or dont know how to mix. If you are using fab filter pro q, your mixes sound like a garage band demo. Its essential to have gold5, pumpkin pro, and ash ultra on every single track. its 2023. Are you trying to make music, or are you just beating ur meat to fab filter and ozone?

 

their GUIs remind me of a Winamp custom skins era

 

to me sounds really weird "lets judge the AA plugins": they have many, some are good, some so and so and the rest trash, just like every company. Junkcarlo made a great job working on the hype about his company lol

I judge one by one

-GUI is generally pure TRASH

-workflow is like junkcarlo: so selfish but not efficient

-I dont have many problems of CPU in my system, but they are heavy obv

-the Pultec emulation is one of the best, maybe also better than UAD (which is "my sound" since ages)

-the ASH clipper is VERY VERY GOOD, I am starting to use it regularly thanks to R2R, but I already have some experience on it (keep in mind that I change clipper almost on every track, its part of my sound). And yes, its GUI is HORRIBLE, but its a clipper, so I make my presets and then I usually only drive the input and tame the output while being in a session. On a compressor or EQ with a horrible GUI I would give up in 1 minute...on a clipper you can resist lol

-FireThePump is surprising. I will use it regularly I guess

will tell more while going on testing, next one I wanna stress is TAUPE, never ever tried it

---------------

EDIT: I wanna add some words in general

I have a bunch of free plugins plus some that I had as gifts, never bought one because I find STRESSFUL their names and GUI: how the hell should I judge a plugin if i dont have at least an idea of what is going to do?

I regularly used only the Pultec emulation because it looks and acts like a pultec lol
all the API stuff for example is STRESSFUL

Obviously I unistalled all the legit stuff and I actually I wouldnt buy a licence because the R2R versions work better. And I usually buy what I use a lot, no doubt on that

 

Last edited: Nov 25, 2023

acustica audio nerds hopeless

 

i really don't care. i really wanted them, in the same way as the remaining ones, to be cracked and just have them for the sake of it

 

Well...

 

Tried many years ago... Not much impressed... If you get into count that one simple plugin needs more than 10gb of HDD space, it is an immediately big no for myself.
So that would be the first thing what makes me not to install even this debloated versions.
Second, their CEO who is an arrogant person which threatens legit users, I mean what company is that?
Threating people who actually pay money to you?
Third to expensive I mean now he dropped prices , like excuse for "BF shit deal" which is desperate move, but actually he is exposed to the bare bone...
And I still can not understand people who is in need of that plugins after having almost all what market has to offer till nowadays...
The only plugins which I would like to have an extended trial would be an UAD plugins, and my mix and mastering tools is complete.
For me I can say PSP was a quite discovery after many many years, the I would like Oxford plugins, but PSP is enough, Waves is okay but I don't use them, just have them for compatibility.
So this thing would be the only thing in years that I will pass.
Not to speak about GUI, and plugin naming, what a horror story for eyes....
Still happy TEAM R2R give the CEO a good lecture so he will start to treat customers in right manner, and remove all bloated things in order to give people optimized plugins not to sell DRM, who needs that???
He need to learn a true statement regarding warez, if someone is willing and like the plugin he will buy it at some point so no lost at all, but the one who never intended to buy the plugin he will use warez no matter what or he will not use it, so again no loss in either way!
Is that hard to understand!?

And just to clarify myself, this is my opinion and preference which is very personal, so I am not saying you should not try it and use it if you want.
You have them now for FREEEEE THANKS TO TEAM R2R