You knew it would eventually happen.
Soon we will have the whole catalog of Acustica Audio (AA) and here are some background history for the company from the scope of a biased fan boy.
Grab a beer or make a tea and start reading.
Hope you will enjoy the journey.

I found Nebula (V1) around 10 years ago almost at the middle of my ongoing career which is counting 22 years already.
I am collecting plugins all these years so I have heard some crazy, some good and some crazy good plugins.
I always had a vision: since recorded digital audio is 0-1, you only need the right code to emulate this analog perfection to sound just like hardware. That's what AA gave me.
This different feeling that things are not static.

For those who don't know : AA is using Vectorial Volterra Kernels Technology.
This technology is designed to provide a high level of accuracy in the digital reproduction of analog audio equipment by using advanced mathematical algorithms to model the behavior of analog components and circuits. One of the key features of VVK technology is its ability to accurately reproduce the nonlinear behavior of analog components. This is achieved by using a technique called Volterra analysis, which involves analyzing the response of a system to multiple input signals.

Again, 10+ years ago they were nearly as many developers as they are now and the quality was not even comparable by today's standards. However, some have endured the test of time.

Now, the first 3 versions of Nebula was nightmare. You had to modify the parameters inside an xml file to make them sound proper and basically you have to be a hacker to get a "good" sound out of em. I remember running them to a CUDA graphics card and thinking that this might be the future of audio, something that was abandoned from the company aswell as the NAT recorder which allowed you to capture your own hardware with a minimal documentation for a complex procedure.

But funilly enough what made me felt in love with AA, was their super detailed and culturally enriched manuals. I swear I 've never seen so well written manual and as a "President of RTFM global foundation" , that alone had my hat off from the first moments.

I quit using Nebula when v4 came out which is strange because most problems were gone by that time but I was tired with fiddling, I wanted to have the best results with minimal effort and I had to look elsewhere.
When deadlines are approaching, nobody cares what pre you used and if it's algo or not, you just have to do the damn work with what you have, make it sound great and be on time.

Fast forward to first Aqua plugins and I jumped on the hype train again because this time everything was so much straight forward and I didn't have to fiddle with xml pages anymore. Yes. It was slower but being a nebula user that was so much faster and the GUI so much better. AA means compromises in workflow and speed for better sound fidelity.

Then we had a new improvement with every new Core release. Cores are like improvements in audio engine that would enhance sound, usability, better timings for compressors, attack modifications other than the hardware (SHMOD) , SASM (Symmetric & Asymmetric Saturation Modeling) which is a high performance saturation algorithm and of course less CPU consumption.

I have to add that compression was never the strongest part of AA until very recently with Hyper versions, which is the new generation of Audio engines that succeeded the Core.
Core 1 - 18 / Hyper 1-3 is how it goes.
So someone used Gold2 will be amazed when use Gold5. The updates are not only visually or feature enriched but sonically superior too.

*At the end of the post I will note what every core version offered.

Now on top of all that we had new aqua releases very frequently. AA never disclosed the sampled hardware for copyright reasons but also to build a hype and a sense of mystery around their products.
Some users from audio forums with most notable doom64, created a list of what the emulations could be.
Notes from this list, will be listed under each release in sister site so you will know what hardware you "get".
Emulating your favorite producers chain the best way possible gives you some satisfaction. No, you won't sound as him by any means but you feel some intimacy knowing what he used to get there.

So with the increase of aqua plugins, we built our PCs with the best CPUs only to be able to run AA. We went to solutions like AudioGridder which is sent from heaven to be able to run those needy bit***s and after thousands of euros spent, we end up seeing them to sister site.

I won't regret a single penny spent on this company because they evolved the product to insane levels. Yes there are bugs that haven't been fixed for ages and some might find the attitude of Giancarlo to be over the top.

Personally I admire him as an inventor and as someone who put a different touch in the industry with his crazy well written manuals and the will to reply to every post extensively in other forums where he is active.
I believe his name worth to be in hall of fame of pioneers in digital audio domain next to that of Rupert Neve in analog domain.
Different times though.

That being said, after they left us so long with no update on hyper engine in Pink and Sand, they released Salt which is essentially this, minus the compressors. The numbers maybe working for AA and the cash flow but they lost me with this move, although I end up buying it like a true gearsl*t.

However there are some people I admire and trust more than Giancarlo.
The witches were always with me at my worst and best moments and they never asked me for a penny, instead, they were working tirelessly to break the last line of a protection. While I was playing with my kids they made sure that they will fix what developers (who got paid) didn't. So.
Eternal glory for the witches! Long Live R2R.


Core updates thanks to doom64:

Core7: Brought major CPU and RAM usage enhancements. Zero latency plugins made possible.

Core8: First released with Amethyst and Pink in April 2016. Further computer performance enhancement and major compressor behavior progress. ShMod feature introduced with Pink2412

- Support for VST3 64 bit processing
- Improved AU channel handling

FIXES

- Fixed FL Studio VST3 issues
- Fixed Cubase and Nuendo macOS VST3 crash with plug-in A/B button
- Fixed double engine instantiation
- New metering engine (EVFb)
- VU with various filter types (IEC A, B, C, D, Z, BS.1770) and various standards (DIN, Nordic, North American, EBU, Standard)
- EBU R128 (short-term, momentary and integral) - RMS (EBU, K20, K14, K12)
- Core optimisations

FEATURES

- Better internal ruoting (blender engine that can work in various positions of the DSP chain of each internal instance)
- Direct access mode of the follower envelopes, better synchronization between the various elements)

- PPM (peak, true peak with oversampling)



Core15: - Released in February 2020 with JADE.

Enhanced Harmonic Response Technology
Dynamic Routing™ control technology: The behavior and the sound of dynamic processors may vary further due to different block configurations.



Core16: - Released in July 2020 with Green4

 

Nice detailed message, I could fill in all the gaps but I've done it so many times all people have to do is search and all the info is out there.

 

I just want to point out that Acustica did NOT invent dynamic convolution. IIRC, I've seen it used by UAD more than 20 years ago.

It is actually a very common technology, fueling most amp profilers for example. The difference with Acustica is really just their marketing. This type of signal modeling is great for systems that can be entirely measured with a limited set of measurements, which is unfortunately not the case for all effects. A relevant case is a compressor. It has hidden internal states that make its behavior very complex and almost impossible to do with dynamic convolution. Acustica goes around this by... guess what... implementing a physical based modeled compressor on top of their dynamic convolution. So their compressors are not actually just samples.

The reason why other devs don't talk about this tech as much is because they know that it's not the ultimate way of doing analog emulation. It's great for distortion and that's pretty much it. Nembrini implements dynamic convolution in the distortion stages of their guitar amp plugins, with circuit based modeling for the rest, a bit like Acustica's compressors. The difference is that Acustica tries to do EQ with samples too, which is extemely inefficient as you need to map different IRs for every setting.

Good technology, but nothing revolutionary and a lot of marketing.

 

Last edited: Nov 21, 2023

Great read. I have similar experience, but jumped off the train earlier after Sand 1. I'm not even interested to try them anymore, but it's always cool to destroy the fake hype.

 

so what is it exactly that makes these emulations so special, and what other plugins by other developers come close? i'd probably think, judging from the sister site comments, sonimus maybe?

i would not want to commit to such a developer who is deliberately bloating his products beyond recognition. reading that nfo was pretty shocking. sonimus stuff on the other hand seems to be a lot more reasonably protected

 

+1, this is my question as well

 

long story, short comment: no matter how long and complex the journey has been - in the end it all boils down to the sound quality.
So, is Acustica worth it? IMO, no. It's 2023 and there are loads of algorithmically based alternatives. Many are on-par ant even better ones out there, you just need to know about them

 

Oh i would say the UAD is waaay better at marketing themself than Acustica.
Not to mention being more user friendly the first incarnations of Nebula (released in 2007 i believe) required a Nvidea graphic card so you could take advantage of cuda kernels unless you had a real powerful machine and those wherent available at that time unless you worked for Nasa and could use their computers.
Not to mention the many parameters you needed to set before you could use the plugin.
So therefore alot of users who tried Nebula didnt continue to use it and left for more user friendly plugins.
It wasnt until they released the Aqua version it become user friendly but that meant that they lost Alex B, Tim Petheric, Henry Olonga, CD Soundmaster, and others that made Nebula librarys and when i compare some of the Aqua with a Nebula lib i always prefer the Nebulka Lib it could be placebo but i think they sound slightly better.

 

Last edited: Nov 21, 2023

i disagree. Their latest offerings are exceptional plugins. Salt eq, Opal Comp, Ash clipper, Pumpkin / Jam saturator, Mystic channel strip, El Rey compressor, Erin mastering, all are extremely top notch when it comes to useability, sound quality, versatility etc. if you havent tried them, try them, spend a solid day a/bing with the usual run of the mill. There are of course great plugins everywhere nowadays, so really all it matters is what you want to use and what you think sounds the best.

 

Acustica's tech ISN'T dynamic convolution. it's volterra kernels. yes, there is a difference and it's not just semantics. i don't use Acustica anymore so i am not defending their use of this tech, but they are the only company who uses this tech

Nembrini's modelling is 100% SPICE. there is no dynamic convolution in any of their plugins. just linear impulses responses for the cabinet "modelling"

UAD has never used dynamic convolution for a nonlinear model as far as i know. if they have, they've kept it extremely tight lipped. every bit of their literature suggests that they have always used their own in house circuit modeller to solve algorithms to use in a linear system. they have a couple of plugins that rely solely on impulses like the AKG spring model, and some mode of the Space Echo, but for the most part they seem to be circuit modelling all the way

 

First comment by the man, the legend.
If there is a name that should be added in the community user of AA that left history, that's WillTheWeirdo. Always super helpful and his knowledge was a beacon in the dark abyss of the unknown.

Unfortunately he was not treated with due respect in GS AA forum, only because he spoke the truth! Glad to see you Will!
Your posts always made my day and make me look further. You made the AA journey more fun and knowledgeable.

 

Last edited: Nov 21, 2023

Δώστα μια ευκαιρία ακόμα

 

Most definitely, yes. Their new tech is where it should always be. No laggy interface and great sound.

 

I've taken the AA developer class and was on the beta team... Nat4 uses Volterra Kernels a dynamic IR type using a form of ultra sound tech that not only captures the signal it also captures up to 10 harmonic layers or Kernals. So what makes their tech special is when something is sampled, like an EQ, you get the real tone and the true harmonic content dynamically captured. It makes the possibility to capture the hardware tone very accurate. The library developer and the converters used also play a part in the quality.

This tech is very close to hardware at normal levels, but can not be pushed much. In use we find it's better to boost with EQ using this tech and reduce with Algo EQs.

 

The bloated DRM, greedy marketing, buyer's remorse and a charismatic cult built around a crybaby manchild. Sound-wise - they're just shitty, but not in a standout way like Soundspot for example.

Steven Slate comes close both in terms of sound shittines and crybaby manchild cult leader, MAAT in terms of buyer's remorse and Waves in terms of greedy marketing. But nobody quite comes close in terms of all five, especially the DRM.

Sonimus are okay, what are you talking about?

 

I found the recent Pumpkin freebie quite performant compared to previous Acustica Audio stuff I tried over the years. The earlier stuff always came with lots of latency and huge CPU tax and sometimes strange convolution artefacts, unusable for me. I think they are going into the right direction. If I understand correctly, their latest tech mixes algorithmic tech with their traditional sampled / dynamic convolution approach to reduce the CPU tax and they have also better figured out how to do their dynamic convolution thingy for nonlinear processes like saturation.

 

HWMC has algorithmic breakwall limiter for sure.
Jet has the dynamic eq detection parts
Diamond Lift 4 is hybrid
Fire the De-es has also algo detection.

I think that's all, correct me if I am wrong.

 

vs

Isn't this a contradiction or are my reading skills still sleeping?

 

I use the Nebula line & pre programs with algo plugins and If it sounds good it is good. AB, TP & CW are still releasing great stuff, and the HO/AITB archive is still out there

 

Last edited: Nov 21, 2023

Where are the manuals? PDF?