# The ultimate "what are your favorite plugins" ques



## Waywyn (Apr 6, 2005)

Heya,

i know that this question is asked thousand times a year but since there are so many developers releasing new software it is always good to maybe stay updated 

i just want to start with a few:

i just demoed the voxengo stuff a while ago and i was pretty impressed with the elephant2 stuff, ... a/b'ed it with waves L3 ... and i have to say that the elephant2 is way better to finalize a mix than the L3 plugin.

also for eq's:
i tried voxengo harmoniq and gliss eq and i find this is way better than waves stuff.

am i maybe kinda too impressed or just way to overwhelmed like a little kid when it sees new stuff or is there some truth in it.

also i really would like to know (and maybe helpful for he community) which plugins you use for what ...


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## Frederick Russ (Apr 6, 2005)

My favorite new plug ins are from elemental audio. 

www.elementalaudio.com

Neodynium, Firium and Finis are all world class quality plugs and they have demo downloads for both Mac and Windows. Check them out!


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## Waywyn (Apr 6, 2005)

yeah, thats pretty cool stuff, also they have another eq called equium.

tho the neodynium is pretty hard to handle i think. probably takes some time to check but i like multicompressors the way they usually work ... and i really dunno if this is better than other multibandcompressors.

but the finis sounds pretty cool, gonna have to test that one a little more


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## Niah (Apr 6, 2005)

Elemental Audio and Voxengo pluggins are my favourite to work wtih.

Yes I love elephant, it's great!


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## Herman Witkam (Apr 6, 2005)

I've tried Equim and Fyrium once for mastering a track. These things have surgical precision! Unbelievable! Are these available for TCPowercore only?

Gigapulse is my most used plugin. On the free end I really like the Digital Fishphones.


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## Frederick Russ (Apr 6, 2005)

Herman Witkam said:


> I've tried Equim and Fyrium once for mastering a track. These things have surgical precision! Unbelievable! Are these available for TCPowercore only?



Nope - they're native and you can get a cool working demo here:

www.elementalaudio.com

I think the demo silences for a 1/2 second every 45 seconds but its enough to hear the magic it can do.


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## Herman Witkam (Apr 7, 2005)

Frederick Russ said:


> Nope - they're native and you can get a cool working demo here:
> 
> www.elementalaudio.com
> 
> I think the demo silences for a 1/2 second every 45 seconds but its enough to hear the magic it can do.



Thanks Fred! I'm already impressed with Equium and Fyrium, and I'll be sure to check out Neodynium!


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## Waywyn (Apr 7, 2005)

so, here is another i wanna throw in.

there is this eq which is called hydratone and it should be pretty cool. unfortunately i am unable to test it because the demo does not start.

http://www.tritonedigital.com/

maybe somebody else could have a listen


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## Frederick Russ (Apr 7, 2005)

Looks interesting - 

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HydraTone is a mix-oriented parametric EQ that utilizes state-of-the-art multistage convolution to provide analog EQ flavor with digital precision.

HydraTone allows for band-by-band selection of individual EQ algorithms sampled from world-class analog EQs. This unique TriTone Digital concept allows you to use, for example, the color and charm of a 550 on the top and the strength and heft of a 9098 on the bottom. HydraTone currently features four classic sampled models.

Additionally, HydraTone provides unique expansion and cut-capable filters, frequency specific phase rotation and correction, a separate output signal-path model and a unique and complex signal warming algorithm called Fire.

---------

I'll DL it and work with it tonight - thanks for the heads up!


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Apr 7, 2005)

I bought HydraTone and ValveTone at a group buy over at osxaudio. I haven't had time to really put them through their paces, but the sound is nice and fat, full of character, and they work fine in Logic for me. If you're looking for super-clean, laser eqs, then stay away! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Frederick Russ (Apr 8, 2005)

Since I don't have a 9098 laying around to compare the emulation with the real thing I guess I'll just have to trust that its close. Probably get to it this weekend - thanks again Alex.


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## Peter Emanuel Roos (Apr 9, 2005)

Waves S1 ! :lol: 

Just kidding, although I use several of them.

For tracks or subgroups I still like my Waves Renaissance EQ's (over the Q alternatives). But I must admit that I still have problems of really hearing the "sound" of a specific EQ plugins. 

So in time I will surely checkout the demos of the plugins you guys are mentioning.

I also still believe that CakeWalk Soundstage can be a very handy tool for creating distance (ER's). But that's still in the ambience dept. (which seems to be my pet peeve).


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## Waywyn (Apr 11, 2005)

so what is your definition of a really laser and clean eq ?

i tried the harmiq of voxengo which is pretty cool and also the gliss eq i like a lot.

there is also the Q-metric of steinberg which i like and the TlAudio one. imho tl audio is the best available but the settings are kinda shitty. you just have 3 or 4 bands and thats it.

so my fave in the moment is the eqium and voxengo stuff, because of their usage.

also a big problem i have are mastering mulitcompressor.
i really don't like the concept of the neodynium, ... or i am too stupid kinda, but the LinMB and L3 multimaximizer is still no1 for me.
which other mulitcompressors do you use ???

tho i have to add that i would never use the internal steinberg cubase fx because they suck all the way  i once tried to use the EQ of the channel strip and ...BRBRRRRRRR .. no way !!


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## Scott Cairns (Apr 12, 2005)

The Digital Fishphones plugins always seem to get a great rep. 

Incidentally, I read that the guy that created them (Sasha 'somebody') is now being paid by the Samplitude folk to write plugins for them.


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## fictionmusic (Apr 13, 2005)

I like the Sonalksis CQ1 a lot, as well as the Elemental audio stuff. I also like the WaveArts suite, but I think my favorite compressor is still the logic one. As far as free things go I really like Cyanide 2 and Sascha's Blockfish.
I recently got U-He's Filterscape...thats a lot of fun!


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## MCS (May 15, 2005)

? would be interessted would do you think about the sonitus fx suite. Especially compared to the voxengo stuff. I?m looking for a good limiter/finalizer and I think the prices of the voxengo pluigins are more then fair.

Best,
Michael


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## fictionmusic (May 15, 2005)

MCS said:


> ? would be interessted would do you think about the sonitus fx suite. Especially compared to the voxengo stuff. I?m looking for a good limiter/finalizer and I think the prices of the voxengo pluigins are more then fair.
> 
> Best,
> Michael



I use the Elemental limiter (Finis) and it is pretty cool. So is the Wave Arts limiter (FinalPlug). Even still I find a lot of use for my TC-Electronics Finalizer (the outboard hardware one ie). Don't know about Voxengo stuff but have heard good things about them. The Sonitus Fx Suite is for Sonar right? I didn't think they had a limiter.


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## sin(x) (Jun 2, 2005)

The UAD-1 plug-in collection is really my personal "desert island" tool. I thoughtlessly upgraded to osx tiger some days ago without checking whether the UA guys managed to release compatible drivers yet (they didn't), and it wasn't before this that I realized I've become somewhat dependent on those beasts (not that that would be a good thing). The LA2A, 1176 and Fairchild 670 are by far the best compressor plug-ins I've come across so far - none of them a jack-of-all-trades (far too much edginess for that), but the combination of the three makes for a dynamics toolbox extraordinaire.
Speaking of compressors, I also still like the old Waves C1 (which is about the only waves plugin I'm still using). Sure, it's not exactly exiting, but it does its job well and usually in a very predictable way. Great for "technical" compression as opposed to artistical. Also the only singleband compressor I own which can also act as an upward expander with ratios of less-than-one to one, which is great for adding punch to drum or bass tracks.



Waywyn said:


> so what is your definition of a really laser and clean eq?



The UAD Cambridge EQ comes pretty close in my book, although it's IMHO not quite as smooth as the Oxford at sampling rates lower than 88.2kHz (it doesn't do upsampling).



Waywyn said:


> also a big problem i have are mastering mulitcompressor.
> i really don't like the concept of the neodynium, ... or i am too stupid kinda, but the LinMB and L3 multimaximizer is still no1 for me.
> which other mulitcompressors do you use ???



I try not to, as I find the effect of multiband compression on a good mix usually rather unpleasant to listen to. If there is no good mix to begin with, a multiband compressor can save the day, though. I've achieved pretty good results with building a frequency crossover myself (the Cambridge EQ is particularly well-suited for this, since it allows fine-grained control of filter characteristics) and processing the bands with single-band compressors. This is a major PITA in DAWs without latency compensation such as Logic6 (which is what I'm still using), but the upside of having full control over what happens in every sub-chain is well worth the trouble.

Cheers,
jan


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## elith (Jun 2, 2005)

My favourites are Firiun and eqium from elemtal audio. best of all I bougth at LUG group buy with nice bundle price.


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## Fatnurse (Jun 8, 2005)

OOOOOoooooooo gotta be the UAD1 stuff, yummy yummy yummy!

cheers

matt


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## José Herring (Jul 5, 2005)

Okay Ladies and Gentlemen.

I'm on a buying spree for plugins because I've come to realize that the plugs in Cubase suck shyte.

Just got Pristine Space. Lite version because I just can't fully deal with the 8 channels just yet and I figured two channels was enough for two track mixes. :D It does sound much better btw. I didn't think that the convo engine would make a difference but it does.

Now I'm looking at EQ's. It's between elemental audio and voxengo's eq's. Which or the two would you guys recommend for EQing live instruments and vocals on mono tracks and for mastering stero tracks?

Also, any good free filter plugs. For as little as I use filters I don't want to pay.

Then, for mastering plugs I'm looking into Izotope, but that would be a little farther off.

Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

Thanks guys. Sorry my internet was down since Tuesday and I couldn't respond.

I'm on PC now. But those filters look great.

Any problems with any of them? It kind of scares me a little that so many are not know to be compatible.

UAD looks good but can't swing the big version just yet. Is the smaller light version any good.

And, what's Poco? Is that a plug or are you saying you have the poco version of uad?

Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

BTW Ned love the new Pic. 8) 

Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

Folmann said:


> UAD and Poco...



Ah okay. PoCo=Powercore. Yeah that's definately a must have in my book.

Cheers,

Jose


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## Patrick de Caumette (Jul 7, 2005)

Yep, Ned looks like a little devil :twisted: 

My favorites are UAD & Voxengo.

For Voxengo EQ, I use GlissEQ 2 constantly: very easy to visualize what is going on frequency wise...


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

Thanks Patrick.

Just bought the Gliss EQ. I like it because it seems just as good if not better than the Elemental Audio one and is less expesive. I'll probably end up with both in the near future though.

Between UAD and PoCo which one is more useful and better sounding?

I want to purchase one or the other but don't want both.

Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

Alright Guys! Your suggestions are working like a total charm.

I've got the Gliss EQ and as the name implies this little baby is sooo smooth. Balanced out one of my orchestal gold tracks in about 2 min.

Now this is what I'm doing:

I maybe should have gone with the eight channel Vox convo plug as I'm using about 6 of the light plugs for my mastering experiment.

I've got a free impluse of the Concertebauw. This matches Gold's hall sound really well. This IR has samplings from many different possitions. I've set them up LCR for the front and the back of the hall. On the back LR I reversed the signal so that the listener is hearing the reverberation coming back of the back wall in reverse. Doesn't make sense I know but it adds a bit of body to the sound. Of course the level or the reversed verb really low so you actually don't hear it.

Then I balance out the track with the Gliss EQ.

Now all I need is a great compressor or multi compressor.

I like Izotope but it's pricey for me right now. Finis is good I think but I'm afraid it may sound too harsh. Has anybody tried anything else?

Jose


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## Dr.Quest (Jul 7, 2005)

josejherring said:


> Finis is good I think but I'm afraid it may sound too harsh. Has anybody tried anything else?
> 
> Jose



Finis too harsh? Hmmm, that doesn't sound right. All the Elemental stuff is pretty transparent to me. I can't say that I perceive a sound to Finis when i use it but I'm fairly light handed with it.
What kind of settings are you using? Have you tried Neodynium? or the PSP Audio Mix Pressor?
J


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

Update.

Just tried the free Digitalfishphones set of dynamic processors. Really good for vocal and single instrumental tracks. Don't know if I'd trust them with a full mix but really good on an individual track basis.

Thanks Scott for the suggestion.

Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

Dr.Quest said:


> josejherring said:
> 
> 
> > Finis is good I think but I'm afraid it may sound too harsh. Has anybody tried anything else?
> ...



That's good to know. I think I was thinking of another limiter when I said that. I've tried so many today.

Jose


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## Joanne Babunovic (Jul 7, 2005)

So Jose,

You chose Voxengo Gliss for Eq, but what will be your final choice for reverb? 

I'm glad to hear Cubase effects are considered pretty useless by everyone. The eq especially is tough to get any good output with and I think I'll maybe try the Voxengo gliss. I'll check the website, but is the UAD talked to here an eq or convolution reverb effect?

Joanne


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## José Herring (Jul 7, 2005)

Final choice for reverb is the Voxengo Pristine space lite convolution reverb. I might also get the full Pristine space. I like convolution a lot as I'm really picky about spaces sounding natural and the only reverb I've ever liked was the lexicon 480 and lexicon 960 both of which are extremely pricey. I don't know if IR's sound as good as those but IR's do sound very natural to me.

I believe Gigapulse is a great alternative to the best sounding Altiverb. So I'll probably step it up to that soon as possible.

UAD is a card that you add to your PCI slots. I believe it comes with about 8 different plugs ranging from verb to compressors and such things.

Cheers,

Jose


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## Joanne Babunovic (Jul 8, 2005)

Thanks Jose. Not sure where I've been all this time, but just waking up to the world of effects. Sounds like you have a background with old fashioned hardware recording like me. It's taken a good two years to finally start feeling comfortable with soft synths and samples. I started with a relatively complex setup for a beginner though, which did not help things.

Since I'm still on GS2.5 and with no Gigapulse, I think I'll go with both the Gliss and IR from Voxengo. Plugging in a card for 
UAD makes me nervous. :shock: 

Joanne


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## José Herring (Jul 8, 2005)

I don't think you should be nervous about it. I've actually just started doing this kind of things seriously since well January. I dabbled here and there but not really that much.

I really like the Voxengo stuff. I've improved some of my pieces just today in about two minutes. It's really cool. I should post before and after soon.

You can get computer shops to help you put in cards if you're not sure about what to do. It's really quite easy and well worth it in some cases.

Jose


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## Waywyn (Jul 8, 2005)

well about all that i read i guess i should definitely check out the uad1


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## José Herring (Jul 8, 2005)

Hey any of you OSX guys want to take a stab at this?
http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/l ... AznOhMaS=1

I know that it's an untrusted third party so be careful. But if you're curiosity get's the better of you, tell me what it's like.

Jose


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## Dr.Quest (Jul 9, 2005)

josejherring said:


> Hey any of you OSX guys want to take a stab at this?
> http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/l ... AznOhMaS=1
> 
> I know that it's an untrusted third party so be careful. But if you're curiosity get's the better of you, tell me what it's like.
> ...



I've had this for awhile and it's fine. I use it in Logic 7 using VST>AU FXpansion. Very simple user interface (didn't copy the original).
It's good if you need a quick bump down of an over signal without changing the sound much.
I use Finis and Mixpressor more often these days though.
J


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## José Herring (Jul 9, 2005)

Thanks guys.

One last final question on the subject. I'm debating between Izotope Ozone and Finis. Do any of you have experience with both? I know that Izotope is an entire mastering suite. But do I need all that? Can I get away with a good EQ(which I have) and Finis(which is less expensive than Izotope)? Or do I really need the multiband compression in Izotope.

I do mostly orchestra with occasional Electronic music. Leaning towards Izotope but would sincerely like opinions on that. So far you guys have been spot on and I've made some good choices.

Thanks!!!



Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 10, 2005)

Waywyn said:


> as far as i can tell i had the feeling that the finis is not able to do some hard brick wall compression. it always felt to me that there is some good amount of headroom is wasted when working with finis.
> 
> on the other side i don't like ozone because you have to switch, adjust, tweak and program so much that it seems almost not oversightable. it may be me but i like it more easy like or L3 multimax.
> 
> did you also try this voxengo multiband compressor?



Thank you Waywyn for your answers. Yeah, I'm afraid of anything that is too complicated but I need something that works well with orchestra and sounds natural or transparent and that doesn't pump. I'll try voxengo. I'm basically looking for something that works like Sony's inflator. Until I can get the TCPowercore I understand I can't get inflator so I need something that's the same.

Thank you for your help.

Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 10, 2005)

Joanne Babunovic said:


> Hi Alex,
> 
> Appreciate the topic and another question for you and everybody. Are people generally using both a standard reverb and convolution reverb together? If so, which one typically gets applied first?
> 
> ...



Hey Joanne,

I've tried convelution on orchestra and on pop vocals and it sounded great. I also have a friend who just did a major Jazz album using convelution on the lead instruments, trumpet, guitar ect.

I think that you would use one or the other. If you're going to use both then it depends on what you're trying to do. If you want to put drums in a small artificial space then put the whole mix in a larger sampled space then that might be a use. I just put an urban drum mix into an IR of a garage and talk about sounding urban. It was so cool. So I see convelution and impulse response as part of the artistic processes. I think like this when creating music,"would this sound better inside a car interior or garage or the Concertebauw or the Milan Opera House or a Church, ect." I had a Gosple cue that I put in a church IR and did it sound realistic! I also put it in the Milan Opera house and that sounded cool!

For more urban, rock stuff I may use artificial reverb only as this has become part of the sound. But, things change and I really like putting instruments in a suitable natural space. Ergo, I'm going to apply convelution on everything I can.

Jose


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## Waywyn (Jul 10, 2005)

yeh i was going to say the same,

i use artifical reverb only on stuff were i definitely want that artificial sounds like on electronic instruments etc.

on natural instruments i try to use impulses because synthethic reverbs sound like hundreds of little delays being so fast that it is almost a reverb simulation. 

of course reverb is reflection of waveforms etc, but for me an impulse reverb always sounds better than all synthetic plugins.

i think i am looking ahead to buy an uad1 card with all those really cool plugins since so many people are telling good stuff about it.

however i am still not 100% sure if it will be uad1, tho i never had the chance to test powercore or pulsar stuff etc


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## José Herring (Jul 10, 2005)

Tried the Polysquasher from Voxengo demo. Hmmmm, not too impressed with it. I can't find a way to adjust the individual crossover frequencies except for the highpass filter. It seems to me like a suped up full band compressor with a little extra perks.

It may be worth it to get the full version of waves C4 or Izotope Ozone.

Also, Hans Zimmer uses TCPowercore with the inflator plug Waywyn. If Hans is using it then I'd look into it over UAD-1. What's good enough for Hans' studio is good enough for me! :lol: 

Jose


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## José Herring (Jul 10, 2005)

Hey,

Did some more research on the Izotope Ozone plug for mastering and I'm really impressed. It is a little complicated but once I understood it fully I found that it is pretty logically set up and would work fast with a little practice. But all those features for that price and it sounds good too!

It looks like it even has a spetrum analyzer where you can play in a similar recording from a CD and it will adjust the EQ settings automatically. Then you can apply those settings to your mix. Not sure if I'm reading that correctly. Maybe somebody can chime in.

But also the Voxengo Soniformer looks like it's really interesting too.

But as far as bang for the buck I like the Ozone plug. 

I'll buy this one then save my money for the Poco and inflator.

Jose


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## Joanne Babunovic (Jul 12, 2005)

Thanks Jose and Alex. Makes sense on your rules on when to use straight reverb vs. Convolution. 

Joanne


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## José Herring (Jul 13, 2005)

Alright. Check this out. I don't know how to compare Multiband compressors but it's the last thing I really need.

This is suppose to be a copy of the Waves C3: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/950.html

Can anybody give me any info as to whether this compares to the best or is it cheap free trash.

I've been running it in Cubase SX3 for 20min with no problems in case you have doubts.

Cheers,

Jose


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## Waywyn (Jul 13, 2005)

you mean a copy of waves c4 ?

on the other hand it is not a matter IF it runs without problems. it is a matter HOW it compresses.

i will test it later but i doubt it will be better than the L3 multimaximizer.

i spend hours of time just to listen to several EQ's and compressors and i am still not 100% happy. maybe i will get with a dsp card like tc powercore or uad, but i am still not sure ...argl...

it seems to me that the company cares more about updates etc at tc, but everybody talks about uad1....arglargl


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## José Herring (Jul 13, 2005)

josejherring said:


> Alright. Check this out. I don't know how to compare Multiband compressors but it's the last thing I really need.
> 
> This is suppose to be a copy of the Waves C3: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/950.html
> 
> ...



I put it up on the monitors today and I mastered a recording of a real orchestra playing one of my pieces. Uhhhhm, like I said I'm not very experienced with this kind of stuff but gee whiz this thing sounds pretty good to my ears at least on real instruments.

I seriously think more should check out this plug.

Jose


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## José Herring (Aug 25, 2005)

Found and bought this little thing for 30 pounds sterling, 46euros($56usd).

http://www.quikquak.com/


This thing rocks. Also recommended it to a well established friend and he bought it too. Does wonders on live tracks. Still trying to work it for sample stuff. Almost there on the sample stuff. It's a little trickier with samples for some reason.

Jose


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## synergy543 (Aug 25, 2005)

That's a very interesting plugin Jose.


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## José Herring (Oct 12, 2005)

Hey.

I found this limiter. It's a freebee.  http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1727.html

I was trying it out on some orchestral mockups and it sounds pretty good.

I was wondering how this thing compares to Voxengos Elephant.

Can somebody who knows more about these things help me evaluate whether I sound use this thing or not?

Jose


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## Marsdy (Oct 12, 2005)

I was thinking that it might be a nice idea to do a Loudness Maximizer shootout. Get a few varying pieces of music together and see which plugs come out best. The music would have to be none processed of coursed, i.e. not mastered.

I could maybe do the Waves L1, L2, and L3, Digidesign Maxim, and the Logic and DP maximizers (not that the last two are worth doing, or the L1 for that matter!).

I've been getting good results with the L3 but I'd like to get away from Waves and their WUP upgrade crap. It would be nice to know what the best of breed is.


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## José Herring (Oct 12, 2005)

Good idea. I think it should be done with 3 different cues. One orchestral, one rock and one urban. I got an action cue and an urban cue I could contribute.

I'd like to compare the big companies against the little indies like Voxengo or even the freebee I posted above and also digitalfishphones. I think there will be a few suprises. :D 

Jose


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## Tod (Oct 12, 2005)

Marsdy said:


> I was thinking that it might be a nice idea to do a Loudness Maximizer shootout.



:o  :D :lol:


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## Frederick Russ (Oct 12, 2005)

Marsdy said:


> I was thinking that it might be a nice idea to do a Loudness Maximizer shootout. Get a few varying pieces of music together and see which plugs come out best. The music would have to be none processed of coursed, i.e. not mastered.
> 
> I could maybe do the Waves L1, L2, and L3, Digidesign Maxim, and the Logic and DP maximizers (not that the last two are worth doing, or the L1 for that matter!).
> 
> I've been getting good results with the L3 but I'd like to get away from Waves and their WUP upgrade crap. It would be nice to know what the best of breed is.



I've only tried Waves L1 and L2 (the latter sounds best on pop-type pieces imo). I like TC Electronic's Brickwall Limiter for its transparency, but a real surprise was T-RackS suite of plug-ins - warm, transparent, and very little on the way of artifacts (unless you want them) - I actually liked these better than most of the Waves stuff(!). Isotope Ozone 3 is another big bang for the buck: pretty flexible in getting perceived loudness via their 4-band harmonic exciter and integrated limiter, compressor and expander module. (Watching the training video could make this one really shine with the right tweaks.)


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## José Herring (Oct 12, 2005)

there's a training video for Ozone 3? :o 

I need to get it right away.

Jose


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## Waywyn (Oct 13, 2005)

i also have to correct something on the inflator 

somewhere i have written that this thing is complete crap.

well, it is when you approach it as a limiter, like it is described everywhere, but when you really take your time and work with it, it works best BEHIND the last limiter in chain.

if you leave everything like it is and then raise the little two faders upwards you get much much more punch, warmth and clearness to the track, even if i pulled out everything with voxengos elephant 2 ...

i nearly tried all limiters around now and personally i think that voxengos elephant is still the best out there. also i downloaded the demo of MD3s mastering suite incl the brick wall limiter and i think that's the only thing which can compete.

it is definitely a matter of taste but while using the L3 everything gets very treble-ish while the elephant keeps warmth and depthness. when i use the L2 everything gets broken and clumpsy prettys fast.


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## Marsdy (Oct 13, 2005)

The trouble with my maximizer shootout idea is where to host all the files. If we test 10 different plugs with three different pieces of music there'll be quite a lot of data. Anyone got any ideas?


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## Waywyn (Oct 13, 2005)

hmm we could split it 

let's look how many files we got at the end and then divide the tracks.
i am able to host some.

how do we want to do this test? we take 3 pieces of music and just pull the faders down on every limiter short before it start to distort 

or do we want to have something like a definite position for the faders, like:
medium release, -6db , -0.1db headroom.

i would say we beat the shid out of every limiter and people can decide which one is the loudest, warmest, best for their personal taste 

what you think?


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## Marsdy (Oct 13, 2005)

Waywyn said:


> hmm we could split it
> 
> let's look how many files we got at the end and then divide the tracks.
> i am able to host some.
> ...



As Jose said, 3 differing pieces about a minute each. One rock or heavy dance track, one dynamic orchestral piece and maybe a hollywood orchestra/tech hybrid?
It would be best if they didn't have any mastering already and have them normallised at -0.5dB below full scale. http://www.soundsonline.com/cd_mp3_demos/171313.mp3 would be one suggestion for an sample orchestral piece because it's quite dynamic and Jose said he had a rock and an urban track.

I was going to suggest using auto release settings if the plug-in has them or alternatively, simply the best release setting for each plug in with each piece of music, in other words, get the besst out of each plug in. It might be better to set the ceiling at -0.5 as different apps count different numbers of clipped samples before registering an "over". I'd be quite happy to do this at 16 bit but others might not agree. It would be cool to do this in 2 or 3 dB increments in terms of the threshold setting. Maybe 2dB, 4dB, 6db, and then a mad 9dB setting just to hear what the plug-in sounds like when really pushed. 

That's a lot of webspace if we test 10 plug ins though. I can test the Wave L1,2,3, Digidesign Maxim, and Logic and DP maximizers (the last two just in the interests of completeness!)

I can host some, I'll check how much space I've got.


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## Waywyn (Oct 13, 2005)

okay, i would do that then with voxengos elephant and maybe on of the free plugins ... i dont care which pieces we take.

so lets do a little list 


marsdy: L1,2,3, maxin, logic, dp
waywyn: elephant2, TbTs pocket limiter



we should definitely also include, the poco brickwall limiter, uad1 stuff, finis, t-rack, maybe some hardware stuff (if somebody owns one) and if there are suggestions ... a lot more limiters 

please remember if anyone wants to use multitools like ozone, just the limiter, no mulitband compressors or enhancers since this would completely give a wrong impression.


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## José Herring (Oct 13, 2005)

I have live orchestral tracks and a few urban tracks. Not really rock stuff. I was hoping Way could provide the rock stuff.

Jose


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## Marsdy (Oct 13, 2005)

I started a new thread for the Maximizer tests.
http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtop ... 6930#26930


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