That's just what i'm saying.

No, sorry. All algo and VVKT clippers makes audio sound flat and fake.
Do a hell a lot of blind tests, comparing with my analog clipped devices.
Cheap DIY Red LED clipper sounds way better.
It's realistic, no aliasing or phase shifts, transients smearing, by oversampling filters, and no pre-ringing if OS filter is linear phase)

I already stop using any ITB saturation or clipping. Saturate my audio only in analog voltage domain.
Working like this, few years and very happy with results.

Draw your own conclusions, guys.

 

Any suggestions for analog clippers, both DIY and commercial?

 

Don't expect much Nebula development moving forward. AA plans to stop developing full Nebula (making hundreds of 3rd party libraries obsolete) and only update Nebula player (which has maybe 15 libraries available).

 

Acustica's new Cherry EQ. It'ss a-singin' my song, Smooth and natural, can't go wrong, But them mid/side options, they ain't too strong.

 

They are all currently on sale!

 

I can't think of one professional mastering engineer actually using AA-stuff (difference between sponsorship where you SAY you like a plugin and you actually use it for your clients projects). I haven't heard of any top tier mixing engineers that uses AA either. Even those ITB only.

AA has slow and buggy software that uses some stupid tricks, like when you turn on some of their plugins, they go up by 1 dB (louder feels better.....). I noticed many stupid bugs, like that they are not stable in the audio output. Plugin does things they are not supposed to do. Randomly increasing small amount of volume on an EQ during playback.. thats NOT how the hardware counterparts do it.

When reporting these things in detail to AA support, they don't care and just end the support ticket.

Not that the plugins does not do anything, it's worse, they do, but they do not do exactly what the hardware versions are doing. Also, you can achieve same things ITB with algo plugins if you are a skilled engineer...

Just analyze them with Plugindoctor and you can match it with any algo plugins you have already.

 

yeah acustica fucking sucks so much. honestly just pissing down the consumers mouth clumsily forcing their WORSE product onto people cause they have the people skills of a mule. they had nebula and the devs making products for them, could sat back and ACTUALLY practiced what they say. like archiving hardware, they had dudes who basically worked around the limitations imposed by Acusticas laziness to make amazing shit. acustica stumbled into a good tech then were greedy AND incompetent. 400 euro for nebula with their bundle of garbage. never put in basic sync options. mono env follower. no mid side. online whatever. fucking terrible customer service for 400 euro. lol.

how has no one made another Volterra player thing? they use that technology in all sorts of stuff like ultrasounds, there are multiple IR reverb plugins..... come on. fucking rich people fly to space no one who has money and cares about like capturing hardware units decently before they get fucked is creative enough to think of that? I hate this world. like other shit (in the music scene) I care a lot less about even when it's blatantly shitty- like waves for instance. cause waves sucks. nebula doesn't. was just ruined by basically a dude who made a good invention and then drove it into the ground cause he's more likely to try and bitch me out in a reply then be a semi decent business person. it's like beta max beating VHS but also being a shittier product with worse picture. fantastic.

I voted love hate if you couldn't guess, at least eventually I'll have like all the libraries I want, and it's not like they go bad. still such a shame, like anyone can see the potential of the handful of third party devs and azzimov- and the vst game is supposed to like grow a ton the next decade or two. so acustica in their GRAND WISDOM ABANDONS THEM cause they were toooooooo fuckinnggggggg stupidddddddd to figure out how to make NEBULA WHICH HAS A CULT FOLLOWING DESPITE EVERYTHING THAT SUCKS ABOUT IT enough money for them I guess. Pure greed. and they give.... aquas in return. pissing down your throat and calling it prosecco. pathetic. truly it is, from acustica to anyone with enough money to hire a lawyer to look into patent laws and start a business and who loves music.

and yeah I know its easy to say with no money shit like that, but there is fucking business built in with devs you could hire or contract with proven track records and your main competion would be ACUSTICA. like someone give me whatever money please Ill give you it back plus some in a while.

 

Last edited: Aug 5, 2023

From AA-site:
"Golden ears make gold records
For the first time, Howie Weinberg opens the doors of his studio to bring you the benefit of his 30+ years of elite mastering experience in an exciting new plugin."

Would you trust a company that writes stuff like this?! :D ...

Your music, mixes and mastering won't be ANY better with "this" or "that" plugin. There is nothing like "golden ears"... sheesh. Audiophile/Snake oil talk. I feel bad for all the young people who believes this shit.

 

while I do agree that some systems can’t handle the Acustica plugins which makes them not user friendly, if you rig out a proper pc , you will actually hear the difference. Their new Gold update for the vintage Neve stuff sounds great and the pre amps are saturating much better than anything I’ve tested so far, even on new and old material.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 5, 2023

It's just marketing like those waves producer plugins

 

You can get the same sound in pro-q linear high mode. it's just a curve

 

Cherry sounds pretty good to me, still on trial, but very very clean cuts for mastering.
So.. you say that Pro Q 3 in linear high mode is the same ? challenge accepted

Edit: found this on GS "I was able to match Cherry with PSP MasterEQ2 with the analogue curve settings but without the analogue saturation. Will try on multiple tracks, but MasterEQ2 sure is powerful!"

cool, I have things to try before giving my money again to AA

 

Last edited: Aug 5, 2023

As does modern hardware..

All Pultec hardware units are also vastly different, hence the particular units they are modelled on will dictate a different outcome..

The clue is in the language name, English..

Are modern masters of digital music analog when they stimulate transducers, move the air and are decoded at the sample rate of the human auditory system?

I was going to say, that when the leading hardware companies producing guitar amp/speaker models branch out into emulating hardware other than specifically guitar based emulations, it's likely that all other emulations will crumble before them. They're maybe not quite there yet but it won't be long before they are.

Personally, I do not believe that it will be VVK or any other form of dynamic IR that will win out in the end, it will be cold, digital, mathematical algorithms. Sure, there will have to be sampling analysis involved but that will then be coded algorithmically; machine learning will assist this. Hopefully at that point there won't be any arguing about it and people can then move on to the realisation that they never needed emulations in the first place...

 

Those stating that a plugin, such as Pro-Q3, etc can match the sound from either Acustica's modern tech are missing some crucial factors as to why this is not the case. At least put Acustica up to CraveEQ or TransientEQ if you want a stronger contest.

1) Transient response (see Acustica Cherry) for example.
2) Sound-Stage. (the unique phase response of audio in the stereo-field)
3) Added (optional) preamps, which offer additional unique curves and odd/even harmonics.
3) Unique Band interaction (if applicable). [EQ curves / Q Curves]

It's 2023, and as amazing and useful as virtual plugins can be, hardware in almost every case will beat out the sound of conventional plugins, offering a more pleasing tone - particularly if a piece of software is modelling a specific hardware unit. This is due to many variables and nuances. Acustica's sampling tech, plus their additional tricks make them the closest sounding to their hardware counterparts, often near-spot-on.

Those who may dislike or disagree with the reality of this situation are only publicly showcasing their ignorance or bias.

 

Well said, those who judge Acustica always talk bad about GUI and its clunkiness and I can see where they’re coming from, especially if their system isn’t specd out or modern.

I really wish everyone would download the Gold 5 trial update and test out the Neve pre amps on ultra mode. They are truly amazing sounding - really great drive and saturation - especially at 96K.

I’ve tried it on guitars, bass, drums, even 808’s and they distort and saturate really nice.

 

Have you seen Randy Merrill & Chris Gehringer's Mix with the Masters? They use mostly FabFilter and Ozone and wipe the floor with Luca Pretolesi (he uses and endorses Acustica. he also does have hardware in the studio, no idea if he still uses that).

I've seen the threads at the GS forums: all the people there are collecting Acustica exactly as other people collect micro-trains. They are all hobbyists and Acustica delivers the monthly fix like a responsible crack dealer. There's no way someone can finish big (normal) projects with those clunky interfaces amd multi-gigabyte-sized plugins eating CPU for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

When I reach for an EQ, I want an EQ, not saturation. When I want to shelf from 10K upwards I REALLY WANT TO SHELF FROM 10K upwards, not from 1K or even 200 Hz - as many Acustica EQ function when setting a 10K high shelf.

I have to give it to Acustica though: their marketing is spot on. Never seen anyone selling placebo with so much succcess )

 

I now mainly eq with Fabfilter, comp with Fircomp and saturate with Kush, Saturn or Decapitator. But absolute magic happens when adding Nebula consoles from AlexB (API, Neve, SSL). It just sounds better. To each his own I guess.. oh and lately using AA Ash to clip before the limiter, awesome stuff really.

 

this one account at GS with 1 million dollar worth studio, and AA big fanboi in every thread once posted a song he made. Damn... micro train indeed. shiny polished glittering it-hurts-your-senses-glowing micro train. not collectable at all tho. mf doesnt even know how timing works in music. 15 years experience written on the profile.

 

I got a good system with 16 core CPU and 32 gig memory. Plugins are clunky still, its not CPU usage problem per se, its just how ui behaves. I havent tried or demoed all their plugins, but the free ones arent impressive. I can somewhat see someone using an AA EQ with certain curves and saturation, but their compressors Ive tried feels like using presets with VERY limited range of settings.
Did you try UADs Neves to compare preamps?

 

I sold all my AA plugin 2 months ago.

I was hoping that one day, it would become cpu ''normal'' ( not saying friendly) but I think i've waited long enough.

I moved to UAD 2 years ago and they cover my basic needs. The community is not even half as toxic and brown nosers as the AA one either which help if I ever have a question or a comment.

All my other plugins are normal vst's.