You've told me all I ever need to know about you.

 

Curious fact: If you check...
Sister site = AA plugins have highest rating
Audiosex = AA plugins are trash

 

I've tried some of the r2r releases and here is my first impression on each plugin:

Amber: GUI respond after 1-2 second. Deleted

Ash ultra: sounds good and modern design, no gui problem. will compare with bx_clipper

Black: same problem with amber. There are too many presets, really dont have time to try each preamp and each mic/line channel. Deleted

Gainstation: no resize, the gui is too small and packed with different color dots. deleted

Gold: good, but engaging the compressor on the channel strip will turn the volume down automatically? will compare with other neve emulation

Honey: feels good, but i dont have another harrison emu

HWMC: GUI response slow, routing is complex, but sounds good. good for quick demo master

Magic flow: nice!

Midnight: i like RS660 the most, will keep testing

Pink: very good, but has 48k problem

Salt: i liked it, but just dont need another compiled eq, i have kirchoff

Sand: ok, kept if for now, will compare with other acustica ssl emu

Taupe: very good tape emu, haven't tried the separated eq and comp yet, has 48k problem

Ultramarine: good compressor, but the reverb sounds a bit weird.

 

I Talk to @steven Dude and @Turl on the phone all the time they said that Acustica Audio is they favorite plugins and there is no company is better than Acoustic Audio not even UAD or Softube or Slate Digital or others and they said they live next door to some of the guys that make the bloated interfaces for Acustica

 

El cabron ya ta borracho wuei

 

ok, all jokes aside, the plugins are actually really good. They are cpu hogs yes, and you can get great results with any plugin if you have the ear, good monitors and listening environment, but i still find that the extra 5% that they offer in terms of sound is worth it to me. Especially with their latest offerings.

I am one who actually enjoys the interfaces. I understand wanting a quick workflow and a modern interface etc, but i enjoy slowing down for a sec, tweaking some knobs as if its actual hardware, i think it helps me make different decisions than if i was using something like Pro q, Izotope neturon, etc. I still use UAD plugs all the time, and still use Pro q etc, but i tend to reach for acustica stuff when its a core element, the lead vocal, the drum buss, main sample chop etc. I always use acustica for mastering, sometimes with other brands as well (dmg multiplicty and limitless fans where ya @?)

bottom line, spend some quality time really a/bing them with your current fav plugins. set them up to have as similar compression, eq curves as possible and do some blind testing. You may end up staying with your cuurent go-to's, you may end up completely changing your workflow.

 

Acustica on busses is an interesting approach. Because you can exclude all other algo plugins on the chain that has saturation on the exange of a more refined hardware feel. But still would never use on inserts of my drums, for example.

 

everyone has the right to their own opinion to each it's own brother whats hell too me is heaven too you enjoy your bliss

 

Oh damn, did I fall for some boss level trolling? D'oh!

 

Last edited: Nov 26, 2023

As @daval i'm gonna give my personal impressions for each plugin i tested


Amber: A/B with the Kazrog Avalon and sounded awful. With the Avalon i can crank the input and with the tube stage and compressor it just gives a forgiving sound big holographic sound. Amber breaks very fast into a strange distortion IMO. The EQ section is good, praise for the bottom end. For the top end i prefer Kazrog. Excluded forever in all formats.

Ash ultra: Didn't liked nothing. Deleted in exchange of Ash

Ash: this one i found more intuitive with extremily good gear sampled. Worth it, and it's not a hog.

Black: My favorite plugin by now. Throw at the first insert of a submix or 2buss and choose your model. I call it the "vibe" box.

Diamond EQ: this one i always wanted and was exactly what i expected. After Black, my favorite plugin from AA.

Diamond Lift: meeeehhhhhh. Bad eq, bad comp, bad clipper and bad saturation. Deleted

Diamond Saturator: c'mon do we really need another Black Box HG-2? Waves did one also. But this thing doesnt worth the hit. Deleted

Diamond Transient: the shitiest shit i could ever experience in so many years of shitty plugins.

Gainstation: Nothing new under the sun. deleted

Gold: Kept only the Pre. The full channelstrip can change the tone very drastically depending on the choices you make. For EQ and compressor, i have better Neve algos.

Honey: Loved the EQ's. It's a Harrison and finding one is pretty rare. The CPU hit is not high and pretty similar with other Harrison analog plugins that i tested and this one wins the battle against all of them. I would recomend puting this on the bass after a LA-2A at unit gain, without compression. Gave a sense of fullness that is rare to find. Deleted the comps.

HWMC: Tried several times but i never made it sound good. Just with the signal passing through it gave a artificial vibe that i didn't liked. deleted

Magic flow: Good plugin for vocals, but don't like the pre

Midnight: Good, as Ultramarine. I liked the fact that they sampled modern revisions of the Fairchild. BUT WHAT THE HELL IS THAT TV SCREEN EATING ALL THE SPACE? Fuck, terrible GUI. But i kept for the sound

Pink: Kept only the pres, the worst API EQ/COMP made to this date for me. Deleted both

Pumpkin Pro: TONE PROJECTS KELVIN, YOU ARE SO DIFFERENT BOI! HOW YOU DOING?! Deleted

Salt: The most innovative AA plugin for me and sounds good, like a good rework on Pink if you use the API bands. Amazing pres.

Sand: Keep only the Pres. Don't need the dynamics and EQ, because there are zillions of plugins that has that and sounds better.

Sounda: why does this even exist in first place?

Space Control: i didn't liked the GUI, although seems to be a powerful imager. Deleted because i don't feel i need it.

Taupe: Deleted the channel strip and kept only the Tapes and EQs. The tapes are good for sound design and i am a MCI whore so i kept the EQ's also.

Ultramarine: Best Fairchild i found so far, but it's the king of hogs. The only way to use it is printing stuff like a real analog gear, i would use it only if i need some especial tone on some stuff.


I'm on 44Khz

 

Last edited: Nov 26, 2023

Best compressors and clippers are ANALOG.
AA is overhyped dream sellers.
I'm down with them from Nebula 3 times and they lost me after shiesty schemes with adding FTC to Ash, them update this clipper in Ash only, basically drop Fire the Clip.
AA tech support deserves a separate cauldron in hell.

 

most viewed this week (or even most stolen this week) does not mean most used this week

 

Firstly, I agree with several things that have been said here. It's true that the intensive CPU usage gives you the impression of, 'Wow, this VST is really emulating this or that.' Additionally, what R2R is releasing now wasn't available before. I also believe there's something psychological behind the idea of 'if I don't have it, it must be really good.' Then you get it, and you realize it wasn't as great as you thought; you just didn't have it. Does it happen to many of you, for example, when you see free VSTs on AZ, but you might think, 'It's free, the paid version must be better,' and maybe it's not. So, with that said, I think there's a psychological aspect to these VSTs in general.

Having said that, I've always liked AA. As mentioned here, it has a particular sound, neither better nor worse, just unique. In my personal taste, I prefer their compressors; they seem more subtle when compressing. I'm not a big fan of their EQs; for instance, when you boost the highs, it gives a harshness to those highs, unlike other EQs (not from AA) that are more subtle.

I really liked Ash's Clipper, released recently on the sister site; as a limiter, I found it quite good. I also like Pink and AA's multiband compressors. But what I like the most are their compressors.

To be honest, I like what R2R did. I don't know about you, but now it doesn't load my CPU as much. For example, when I use Amber, it takes about 30-40% of my CPU, and when I used the AA trial some time ago, my CPU would almost hit 100%. So, that's a problem with the original AA plugins. When it comes to R2R's great work, it's a different story. Perhaps the question should be, 'Did you like R2R's VSTs?' Because even though the VST is the same, consuming half the CPU is a big difference.

Regarding the GUI, I'm not interested. I mix with my ears, not my eyes. In fact, I love simple VSTs like Sonnox, and they are great, beyond their simple GUI. But well, my conclusion is that AA, yes, is overrated, as has been said, but they are good plugins that can improve. To conclude, the creator should be a bit more humble with their customers. It was not cool to say, 'Buy bigger screens.' You don't treat the people who support you like that. That's my humble opinion

 

I’m one of the few legit owner here, beside the crap bloat48 gate i think some of them nails the rights to stay in a must have pro studio: Salt, Tiger and El Rey, the last few plugins i still didn’t try..when ill have time to finish some projects ill try for sure.
Anyway to my ears Uad2 plugins nailing the same results of most AA tried in the past with super efficiency and i do use 3x octo dsps that allow me to mix with some nice quite old machines, for such reason i stopped to look at AA.
Im so sorry to see and read about the bloat48kHz gate at Junk-arlo sit comedy development, i always asked to my self how the fuck these plugins needs so many crap space and why so inefficients..now we know, is sad that a cracker group should discover the truth, happened in the past with tone2 and today with AA…sadly for who is paying to get legit plugins funny for others..anyway i stopped with AA when i bought Tiger…to me Uad2, soundtoys, ssl and slate digital (all in one subscription), fabfilter, some mcdsp are really enought and the most pro and used..i will not included AA in the list if not for the already mentioned plugins..Tiger, Salt and El rey.
P.s. Tiger still not released yet by R2R..strange…well..when it will be, try it because sounds pretty good in some mix contests.

 

Last edited: Nov 26, 2023

I tried to use the Fairchild emulation Ultramarine and now I need Viagra. Damn you, Giancarlo.

 

good thing, Fairchild shouldnt make you hard. that would be weird and also a crime

 

Acoustica promises an emulation that is as close to the original that can be found, but when I recieved the Morgan Fairchild sex doll in the mail and blew her up it was anything but that, hence my need for the Viagra. Does Giancarlo make an expander by any chance? Why is this illegal?

 

My opinion on Acustica Audio plugins = bloated, CPU hog, GUI that freezes/hangsup for 2 seconds when you change most settings, takes too much disk space, most settings dont change the sound, when it works you can easily substitute with a different better made plugin.

The company is all marketing. You wont find their plugins being used by most pros.

 

geez thats an old reference

 

I've never seen the AA plug-in used in any of MWTM's videos. AA's admirers are probably bedroom musicians. They trust the plugin doctor more than they trust their ears. lol