Hello,

I recently only started using Nebula to see what the fuss was all about and I must say I'm pretty impressed.

I have a bit of an issue though. I read in lots of places that changing the kernels to timed mode at 50ms can be very beneficial to the sound quality (at the expense of the CPU).

I'd like tro try that, however Nebula won't let me set a setting higher than 13ms. I went in the .xml file and changed the limit there, but still Nebula won't let me set the timed mode higher than 13ms.

Does anyone know how I could change it to 50ms?

Thanks

 

The parameter is changed to <LTIMED> 100000 </LTIMED> . This lets you use up to 100ms of a TIMED kernel, any more and your CPU may explode ...and it’s not needed !!! *no*
Hit save, boot up your DAW... *yes*

Simply set that 'LTIMED' to the desired (needed) value... (For '50ms', set it to '50000').

 

Thanks ! It worked. My CPU hasn't blown up yet xD.

I would only use this on a wav file for mastering. I don't want my house to catch on fire

 

hahahahah You guys are funny !!

May i ask what it would change if i was to do that modification ?

 

It's subjective what you read. It may help presets that do certain tasks better but probably overkill for most presets, bass freq response is the thing I notice that it's worth tweaking for but only on presets your going to use on instruments that deal in those freq's or it's just takes too long fiddling with things for little payback, that being the opinion I've formed.
Dev's get it as close as possible without having to tweak anything and have got better at the task over last few years, If you do though, worth resaving presets as it's time consuming to go through all those changes everytime, so keep your originals intact somewhere as a backup or printscreen setting before making changes, also try and make some comparison tests as you could be using way more cpu in some cases while things sound only slightly different rather than better. Our 3 second sound memory makes us all susceptible to the mcgurk effect.
There's some great new compressor library's released recently that are worth a purchase, make the earlier one's sound like crap, though old ones can still give a nice vibe with clean sounding algorithmic comp plugins doing the actual compressing before it gets to nebula. One thing to look forward to with this plugin is the library's keep getting improved bit by bit over time. Can hardly wait for version 4, multiple eq pots should make it a lot more ergonomic, my biggest gripe.

 

Don't.

The people who make the programs / presets do so by finetuning and comparing to their real recordings till it matches the most they can make it match. Don't try to tweak anything, this is the general advise any of the preset/program makers give you on the Nebula/Acustica forum.

That being said, did you change the XML file for the right instance of Nebula (normal / Reverb?) Did you reinsert the plugin or at least restarted your DAW after changing the XML file?
In the 'mast' page on Nebula you should have an option 'max timed kernel' or something that does the same thing.

That option puts a limit on the kernel-length the program uses in timed-mode, and a limit on the kernel-length the program uses in freqd-mode (regular kernels so to speak).
If the preset you are loading into Nebula uses kernels _shorter_ than 13ms, nothing will happen. You're only raising the 'max allowed', but since the preset doesn't contain bigger kernels, nothing changes.
Again, _that_ being said: Most presets I know use kernel lengths of 50ms or more, I think you just changed the wrong xml file or didn't restart/reload after it.

A lot of presets use timed mode already for the initial transient kick and freqd-mode for the longer tails, so you get the good mix of quality and processing power.
Setting everything to forced timed-mode will only drop your CPU to its knees and mess with the preset someone took a lot of time perfecting.

 

So should I touch or not in the kernel tab of a specific N4 Nebula plugin, the option: max 0 ...

I can put it to 1 (clean)
2 first harmonic
3 second harmonic

and so on ...

I can put split-H mode for hybrid between timeD & freqD modes
or classic for one of the two ...

its standard set is on freqD ... for alex B Opto Tube Compressor for example

=> if I don't touch it, does my nebula actually (don't ? or do ) work, becuz i see processing & all the faders work acutally &
apparently have influence on the sound ... so i'm a bit confused as a seemingly paradox between
alex B comments on not touching anything as it is perfect
&
my intuition telling me kernel mode max 0 does or does not let the plugin process & i have to move it to min 1 for clean and so on ...


{{{{{{ sideline ::: I can put mono-L or stereo mode ( but apparently mono = 2 x mono (left & right) is this correct ?
what is the best option here ... my guess is for stereo still use mono-L mode , to have two env followers per mono channel process
independently the different audiochannels, for mono track use stereo ?????becuz of only one env follower??? ==>> sounds really weird but hey)

or does the plugin adapt, if you put it in stereo buss track it will process stereo
if you put in mono track, with mono audio it will process mono ...
}}}}}}}

 

If you change the xml file it's best to rename your Nebula instance, as each developer may recommend different settings for their libraries.

 

Thnx for reply, but do you touch your max 0 in the kernel tab or not ?

why does it say max 0 in the kernel tab , when in normal program mode ( begin setting of N4 nebula ) it might say 11 kernels for eq or 2 kernels for the dannish dynamite opto tube compressors

 

I use 3rd party libraries, and I follow the suggestions of each developer. To be honest, I have never dug into the technicalities of what everything does, I just know it sounds good

 

Last edited: Jan 3, 2024

i'll illustrate, here you see kernels 11 ---> processing = on



then in kernel mode, you see kernels max = 0 ---> still processing = on



=> so the question is what is the general modus operandi , should i upper the kernels in kernel mode to 3 4 5 as will ... or do i just leave it like alex B says don't touch anything ... does it actually work when it's left untouched ???? don"t wanna placebo nebulizing my audio, u know


====

found the answer : 0 max means actually , leave zero out ... it means maximum harmonics
probably zero means, option 0 : max ... so unclear & anti-intuitive but hey thank me later !

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2024