At least, on my my experience, the full potential of the STA Level is with a high GR, between 5 on the insert or 10 to 12 on parallel. Generally with fast attack and med to slow release. Don't like the fast release on any version of this gear, it just don't make sense for me. Even for vocals i wouldn't use fast release, that's why i would never use this kind of monster on rap vocals, but a lot on sustained chants, BGV, strings or anything that has a "swell" feeling on it and would benefit from the slow release time.

And the EQ is a complete beast on the 2buss. It gives that vintage HiFi broadcast feeling that Eminence and El Rey have, but with a pultec style EQ that fills all the song with the 3D tube goodness from Gates. It has nothing to do with anything pultec, besides the EQ parameters

 

Make sense to smash it, can be judged from the tone alone, it's just I watched the official AA video about it earlier, but the guy demoing it just doing small comp here and there, makes me think, why didn't he smashed it, so initially I thought maybe cant really smash it and just use it moderately, but then 100% it sounded better when smashed hard.

Haven't used the EQ. Too much EQ these days, keep forgetting them and use the one already on the template. life is hard.

 

Worked 100% here. Now SnowEQ, with the fixed version from R2R works fully. @Stevie Dude, fix on the thread as a solution after trying it out

 

I have a suspicion that some more reasons for reinstallation may be headed down the chimney. Just speculation.

 

Yes and no. One thing i did with STL Controlhub and some Acustica plugins was sampling the IR's from the preamp to Q-Clone when the frequency response is not flat and i can benefit from it without the harmonic distortion from the plugin, just the freq response. For example, if i want the smiley face from El Rey without the tube distortion, i just pick the Q-Clone preset i did for El Rey and use it clean on any source (big thanks to Henry Olonga for the knowledge shared).

BUT, for Ash i don't believe it makes any sense because it's a clipping plugin, so the frequency response by itself will not make it work alone. I got some Lavry Gold HW responses for Q-Clone and they just make sense if followed by a clipper plugin as StandardClip.

 

FWIW, i dont think SteveDude was crapping on anyone, just was pointing out some flaws in your engineer's analysis.

 

Stevie did state that he could not be an engineer, it is there, rather than asking for context. Instead, he crapped on every statement. If he had asked for context, I would have messaged the engineer and suggested he answer it in a PM, because that's what he does for a living - possibly 20 years longer than Stevie.

 

Now you're back could we re-address and demystify the assertion that the older (non Hyper) Pres 'crack' at two specific frequencies please?

It's obviously concerning that a professional engineer has identified a clear and reproducible flaw and I do think it would be beneficial to all here if we could learn more about what is meant by 'cracking' and 'frequency' in this case.

Maybe 'cracking' means breaking or crackling or otherwise misbehaving in an audible way? And by 'frequency' maybe it's referring to a certain band of input frequency or maybe sampling rate? It's not very clear.

If we could obtain a clear repro (for example 'load x Acqua at x samplerate and input x test audio with settings x,y,z) then we could establish the nature of this right here, for all to see

Cheers

 

I will PM a screenshot and ask him to reply - it's about 7am where he is so it may be a few hours.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 13, 2023

Looking forward. Thanks.

 

I have an example of "cracking frequencies" maybe

seriously

-arm a track with some music, and put a trim plugin and keep it muted (volume at minimum), but ready to pump up
-after in the chain open Amethyst 4 (the full channel strip version)
-make sure all modules are OFF except the pre, and put it on one of the two 2500 pre
-CRANK the input on the plugin, it will compensate for the output
-now play the music and slowly pump up the volume of the trim plugin inserted before the Amethyst

at a certain point (at high level od dBs), you will hear something strange, which to me doesnt sound as analog emulation of saturation, nor digital distortion or something related, it sounds like something very weird, it seems like having spikes in the high frequencies or something. I never use the word "broken" for a plugin or anything in the digital domain ITB, but I would do in this case according to what I am hearing: broken or "cracking"

Anyhow, with a proper gainstagin the preamp sounds very good (thanks @Riddim Machine )

PS: this is not related to our friend engineer, this is just something I am reportin, experiencing and sharing, maybe I am just testing the plugin too extremely

 

Last edited: Dec 13, 2023

I do not, but I have a question about it. when this observation of "cracking frequencies" which are identical from all sorts of different gear, does he mean to imply something such as using a service like https://mixanalog.com to create all these IR's? If there was a flaw in some part of the signal chain, it would occur and be duplicated on any recordings made of devices prior to that flaw in the signal chain.

That comment just makes me wonder about what was meant. There was a user/website on here getting their material this way, and some people had things to say about it. I would just like to know the answer what had been identified for my own curiosity.

 

Those PDFs are bloated just like the software, here is the full pack (excluding calendars) optimized (450MB instead of 2GB):

Spoiler

https://mega.nz/file/TIUgwB7T#ne1TwcuY8uIVUqSxjrYoHR7e7EedZouPKm8z750x7_8

 

Message to you all : Guys, avoid personal fights.
We are all here for the same thing. There is no need to disrespect anyone.
Or, if you really feel the need to go personal, us PM for this.

 

Thats maybe the first thought that springs to mind given the tech, but I think the person doing these definitive tests on Acqua Pres, in this case, is a pro engineer so he'd have done the proper gain staging.

It'll be interesting to get to the bottom of this.

 

as stated, I only used the "cracking frequencies" as a starting point to develope the thread : ) I really dont know what's meant to be a cracking frequency

with a proper gain stage I confirm that I like that Amethyst plugin and its preamps (the compressor didnt impress me as much as the pre module though)

 

Slightly off-topic, but does anyone have experience of how the before, previous AA N4 r2r release, works alongside/co-exists with installation of these new releases?

 

I hope he listens and gets rid of the bloatware. I give him 12 months before I start mass dumping my AA plugins.

 

If he pays me back for my investments, I will gladly subscribe

 

I also use the TP version and I'm a happy customer.