i think you should take your gripes up with marketing with the people that do the marketing. me discovering this plugin for the first time, using it, being wow'd by it, and coming to an audio thread to discuss my findings has nothing to do with them and their marketing. and its annoying that you'd derail a thread with this presupposition.

 

not really. fanboy denotes an actual die hard longterm fan. im new here.

 

I know Nebula since V1.
And alternatives "capture models" (FR Liquid Channel, pluggo angel tone,classic tone, color tone,hydra tone,pul tone, valve tone and more).

In those times, it was VERY complex to run Nebula (setup, ressources ...).
And most ppl didn't understood WHY some ppl were building PC boxes JUST to run more instances and emulate a whole 64 tracks console
But on my side, i always HEARD the difference between any algo plugin and Nebula.
And multiple boxes, Nebula ... price was largely UNDER real console price. Flexibility too.

Fun fact : some devs are now making "dynamic" guitar cabs (IRDX, Fluid IR ...) but i was already using OwnHammer Nebula cabs since day one

Just to tell there are ppl hearing things BEFORE others.
In my case, it was ... 20 years ago

I'm not really an AA fanboy anyway.
I lost too much time and money with their products. BUT face the truth : it sounded amazing in those days.
And even now, there are few products playing in the same league.

You don't ear the difference ? No problem
I do (in AB blind test) since day one vs algos.
It was a sport on GearSlutz (good old days ... gone forever).

I speak about GOOD profiles (AlexB consoles, spring verbs ...), not bad captures sounding like sh*t.
Because YES there are bad profiles sounding worse than anything.

About WHAT Nebula tech capture ... it is everything, in fact. And that's why this tech was AHEAD of his time.
When you do algos, you need to define WHAT you want to emulate and code it.
So you need to THINK about every aspect (distortion, phase, crosstalk ...).

With profiling (Nebula, Kemper,NAM ...) your only question is HOW i capture a maximum of characteristics.
And the process will capture more characteristics than you can think of.

That's why Kemper ruled guitar world for more than 12 years ... alone.
And even today, "algo only" amp sims are not up to profiling sound and dynamic.

White box/black box combination is raising (capture+algo circuit modeling) like AmpHub, last THU Made In Rock amps ...

I suspect AA to use it now in their Acqua engine, to complete the gaps into Volterra Kernels.
https://tech.acustica-audio.com/vvkt-technology/

Once again, you don't hear it no problem.
But pretending there is nothing is just a pure joke ... or a proof you should not pretend "having good ears".
Side note: most big bucks producers don't use Nebula AA products ... because they own the real thing

And NO, plugins analyser are NOT going to give you the whole picture.
Only a mere idea of "does it do something ?".

@officialswish Welcome to the Nebula/AA world !

PS : sorry for the long rent, but i'm bored to read the same bullsh*t against AA products for 20 years

 

I have used everything from AlexB, and still do. I love his console programs and how they magically (to me) make everything sound better. I just do not know if there's more to it than EQ and harmonic distortion in terms of audio manipulation. I literally lack the knowledge and terminology to describe it. It sounds like there's more to it, something to do with phase/transients?

 

no worries mate. love the long reply. yeah im new here but i definitely love what i HEAR. its pretty clear already that the skeptical are the ones that literally have never used it. which is fine. just go be skeptical somewhere else.

 

I've already said it is a combination of the non-linear Vectorial Volterra Kernels Technology combined with the manipulation of the Nebula algorithms by the 3rd-party developers. If that isn't enough information then it's probably best for those with inquiring minds to contact the developers directly, as I don't think they have made public the exact techniques they are using to shape each individual sound, and to the point why would they? I treat Nebula like an old piece of hardware. It does it's thing and we should be grateful for that.

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2024

I know you guys are usually comparing Nebula 3rd parties with algo stuff. But, does anyone really took time to see how official Acustica stuff like Salt, Sand 3, Gold 5 or even newer stuff compare with AlexB, TimP or Cupwise stuff?

Now with azzimov skins, nebula is far more accessible but still it's not as quick as R2R decrypt acustica stuff. Do anyone know which is better and how much. Even Chicago Symphonic doesn't sound the same under two different conductors. What's the difference? How much sonically superior does it get? Do one need Focal Utopia EMs to tell the difference?

 

yeah i wouldnt be able to answer that. I agree with you. I went through plugindoctor and was like "oh ok it does SOMETHING" but then when i added it in the session, it was very very clear that it did more than just whatever plugindoctor says its doing. i just think this is the benefit of convolution vs algo. whatever algo says they are attempting to emulate, convolution gets you just that much closer.

 

And that is all that matters

 

lol zen im not inquiring about the inner workings, personally. I honestly dont care. it sounds great and im looking forward to using it more and learning more about it and some of the others we've talked about.

 

yeah no one talks about the sonimus Satson and Satson Cs...

Because not too many have ears
lolz
PeaceR

 

love that Chicago Symphony analogy. I've been using TimP's Bus Comp and really like it. I didnt compare it to Sand but i have thrown Gold 5 in with the 9k on the session to emulate a real studio environment and it all sounds great. I'm on my first week of testing so I'm going to lean in on more of it. I'm working on an album atm so a lot of stuff to test these on.

 

ive seen a lot of ppl talk about Sonimus. ive known about them for years. there was just no scene release for mac so i never tried it.

 

The Nebula app is more or less abandonware these days, but it still works and it sounds good. I think AA would like to kill it, but a lot of their Acustica customers are still using it, so it would be a PR disaster.

 

I know, I'm just saying how it is because the thread has been pulled in all directions. There are things we know, and other stuff that is going on behind the curtain. We should just enjoy what we have and make the most of it while we can

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2024

Yeah, but isn't the thread about Nebula. I tried Theatre of Life & find it decent but hard to setup as even small adjustments freezes the sound and takes seconds for those changes to take place. I have around 10 Nebula plugins, some of them can't be turned into VSTs & some can.

I just wished they still developed it enough to be on-par with regular acustica stuff in terms of programability & performance. But, they charge 200$ for a plugin, if this could be gotten for 30$ from a third party why'd anyone pay them. It's at the end a business. Still once they recorded on tape & now here we are. Following the money isn't all that bad.

How much time does it get to mix with Nebula. If every single move takes 2-3 secs & you make 5-10 of them to just adjust the compressor for a single audio track. Even me who just mixes my own stuff rarely can't get through that.

 

If I were you I would wait untill AlexB updates The EQ’s (4K and 9K) to ultimate or GE. Untill then the AA versions( Salt, Sand, Gold) are more then good enough.

 

There's no money in that for them, as they've already milked the Nebula cow dry. I would like to see Nebula being open-sourced, but that's never going to happen. It's actually an ethical dilemma, a family feud, and a tribal war all rolled into one. The 3rd party devs made Acustica Audio what it is today, and Nebula still has brand loyalty, while the owner sees it as a chain around his own neck.

 

It's pretty rapid with a Midi Fighter Twister, but not so good with just a mouse, but I find that to be the case with all EQ plugins.

 

Last edited: Jun 6, 2024

im by no means a mix engineer. Im a producer that can get a record sounding how i want before i pass it off(which is super important) so i have to be intentional with all of my sound direction and choices. the minute lag time in the plugin doesnt slow down any workflow for me. its milliseconds.