Some people on Gearspace are getting very excited.

https://gearspace.com/board/new-pro...ultra-iconic-british-sound-80s-hyperized.html

 

Last edited: Apr 24, 2024

Audiophiles are audio fools. Off course, they excited. They never do ABX blind test Acustica vs some superb algo plugins.
Only "blind" they stick with it a blind cult.

 

add "Ultra" to existing plugins and call them new, sell the same product twice ...great! Acustica Audio has become a milking cow ...can you see?

 

This one is actually a free update.

 

1 often it's a free update

2 for me the "ultra version" doesnt sound like* the old one, it's surely better for the CPU and the overall plugin easy of use

*I dont mean "sounds better", it's a matter of taste. For me in certain cases the old version sounds still better. What I can tell is that the plugins are "new versions". Thats fair to say.

EDIT: forgot to mention that I am not talking about this new SAND version, not tested yet

 

After testing it I can say it is sampled from the 4000 G Pink EQ but it is too clean and does NOT sound like any SSL I've ever used.

 

Yes too clean. These new hyper releases have everything we ever wanted in AA plugs, cpu wise, gui management, low aliasing, etc but they lack the analog feel of the old releases, they feel too digital.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if these new hyper releases are entirely algorithmic, AA just make a fancy new GUI and say they’re sampled.
Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve been dishonest…

The new EQs all sound clean to the point of sterility compared to their predecessors - regardless of the hardware they’re supposedly sampled from.

 

SSL lolz....

we are in 2024

Check this guy's plugs and dial in the real tone you're lookin for

https://psychocircuitry.com/

or go for Sonimus

StonEQ 4k - Sonimus

Satson CS - Sonimus

Satson - Sonimus

 

only this time around is free update to "ultra" ...after a few minutes of testing, I pass on Sand 4 Ultra ...wll hear it next days in action more

 

looks like a different SSL model is sampled

 

Fuck Acustica Audio

 

Unfortunately AA has watered down the sonics in favor of useability, now Sand Ultra does NOT sound like an SSL 4000 EQ and compressor. It's just not a good tool if SSL tone, attitude, and drive is what you want IMHO.

 

What's the best, AlexB?

 

I downloaded it and messed around with it for about 45min. Compared it to Sand 3 and Green 5 (Non Hyper)

It is not faithful to SSL hardware. The attack and release times are inaccurate, but the saturation is a significant improvement imo. It sounds much more lively in the way that it breaks up (I guess that's part of the Hyper BS).

If you're a purist to SSL it's not exactly that close (based on what other people said, I've only ever used an API and Neve in person), but it is a step up in my opinion. The actual GUI with EQ nodes on the EQ made it about 10x faster to use.

The compressor has a bunch of extra features like stereo unlink and Hyper fading between Comp/Limit/Saturation, but doesn't have 30ms attack (wtf? Why?)

It's of course a bunch of bullshit bloat. 1300mb library install with each additional plugin type being 55mb, yet it takes up 4+ GB or space. Fucking Acustica.

Still, as a free upgrade I like it. My ears like it. Mainly the saturation. Also the GUI improvement. Don't care about how faithful to the original hardware it is. Definitely still a couple teething issues they need to work out with the V1 release.

PS: Not an acustica fanboy. I think their releases are hit and miss.

 

On the new Sand Ultra I had to really crank up the input gain (+6-18dB) but it breaks up hard if you do that.

 

People pay money for a nice GUI and firmly believe they have an SSL console.
They won't notice a difference in a blind test with pro-q

 

Ultra High Latency?

 

even Analog Obsession made more improvements than Acustica Audio, you can't deny that!

 

lol you guys love to hate acustica. they have issues, but many of their plugins are great. They have greatly reduced the size, latency, cpu etc in the last year or so. They make some great plugins. Sand 4 is as will and others have noted, a bit clean, but its still a great eq. nothing crazy, but it sounds really good. I also dont hate the compressor. Its not quite right, but it sounds good on some material i tested with. The 24 line and 24 mic pre's are nice too.