Sknote "C165a" vca compressor with saturating limiter and sidechain - Available NOW

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Yes, it is a shame that this instantiates with the compression at 100%. Is there a way to change the default setting?

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Just had a chance to play with this and dear god! This thing is amazing. I honestly can't believe how good this is. Looks like I need to check out the GTS-39 and maybe even Stripbus too. Seriously, this surpasses the NI/Softube and UA versions of the 160 IMO.

If this were a UA plugin, they'd charge $200-300 for it, and everyone would rave about how great the modelling is. Meanwhile, Quinto's doing just as well at a fraction of what UA would charge. Seriously Quinto, great job on this! I'm very impressed.

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Funkybot's Evil Twin wrote:Just had a chance to play with this and dear god! This thing is amazing. I honestly can't believe how good this is. Looks like I need to check out the GTS-39 and maybe even Stripbus too. Seriously, this surpasses the NI/Softube and UA versions of the 160 IMO.

If this were a UA plugin, they'd charge $200-300 for it, and everyone would rave about how great the modelling is. Meanwhile, Quinto's doing just as well at a fraction of what UA would charge. Seriously Quinto, great job on this! I'm very impressed.
Agreed. Stunning achievement. :clap:

(I too must revisit GTS-39. But I still use Stripbus as my main bus compressor.)

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Is this a good choice for someone (me) who has other compressors but not very good with them, but wants to get good with one that can become a go-to?

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Yes - I'm having a good time with this on the master bus of a classic rock style recording (lots of 2KHz guitars... :hihi: ), very nice.

I'm running Reaper (latest version) and version 1.0 of 165a. Is it just me or is the stereo switch broken? I can't shut it off unless I go to the naked UI (Reaper has a UI switch to toggle the GUI off if you're into numbers only).

Just thought I'd see what other folks are getting. Very nice sound so far - I recently picked up Waves H-Comp and V76 - getting better results with sknote...good work!

P.S. Forgot to mention - that internal sidechain is really responsive - I like it a lot...IOW turn up the mids and you actually hear the mid balance change - nice control!

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Great!
Yes, this version is fixed mono/stereo!

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Just bought it very excited about and waiting the link , is our first Sknote product and i have good feeling about Quinto products if i get what is my inside feeling about his plugins i will start buy one by one the whole gamma he offer :))! We have uad dbx and now this dbx emu seems like bussy hours in the studio and tons of releases ::) !

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To my knowledge, the UAD DBX is the 160 model which has "auto" att/rel rather than individual settings - else a threshold and ratio knob (read: a RMS compressor). The SKnote C165 is based upon the DBX C165A with some more modern ideas (custom sidechain, limiting/peak stop).


Gave this one a spin recently. Definitely a compressor I have to get used to. But I hope to find out how to pull off the "Peak Stop" mode, and whether or not the "Over Easy" technology is turned on constantly (which would make it into a soft knee comp the higher the ratio). Then this thing will be a suitable and not to underestimate weapon in my engineering arsenal.


Oh, and I'd love to see slightly slower ballistics on the meter. But it's fine regardless.
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Studying the 160 here, now I see how 165 and 160 are completely different beasts, I mean radically different. The sidechain circuits are completely different, the principles are different and even the VCAs aren't the same model.
I see 160 and 165 often being compared, and I still don't have a good experience with 160, but the main difference is that while 160 has some softness due to circuits internal time constants (slew rate etc.), 165 has a super-soft knee designed in the circuits. The so called over-e@sy is always there.
The auto mode doesn't simply activate an automated control of attack and release time constants, it switches the comp to another one. One for all, it is almost peak compressor in manual mode and rms compressor in auto mode.

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quintosardo wrote:Studying the 160 here, now I see how 165 and 160 are completely different beasts, I mean radically different. The sidechain circuits are completely different, the principles are different and even the VCAs aren't the same model.
I see 160 and 165 often being compared, and I still don't have a good experience with 160, but the main difference is that while 160 has some softness due to circuits internal time constants (slew rate etc.), 165 has a super-soft knee designed in the circuits. The so called over-e@sy is always there.
The auto mode doesn't simply activate an automated control of attack and release time constants, it switches the comp to another one. One for all, it is almost peak compressor in manual mode and rms compressor in auto mode.
Very cool.

Hey, I was wondering: is there a way to make it default to a more neutral setting? It instantiates with 100% compression; this seems like a strange choice to me.

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No way, we have to change it.
It is 100% comp because the threshold is set to max, so you shouldn't get compression when you put it on but you hear it immediately when you start reducing threshold level. That's how I'm used to use it (I always start with a compressor to its extreme settings, setup, go back from there), but some feedback will suggest the best default settings for the next update :)

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quintosardo wrote:No way, we have to change it.
It is 100% comp because the threshold is set to max, so you shouldn't get compression when you put it on but you hear it immediately when you start reducing threshold level. That's how I'm used to use it (I always start with a compressor to its extreme settings, setup, go back from there), but some feedback will suggest the best default settings for the next update :)
But...the threshold is not set to max, and you do hear compression right away. The threshold is set dead-center, at "25", or "50%", and on a drum loop, the LEDs hit the red right away. :shrug:

I'm fine with it at 100% compression with zero threshold, that's fine. But that's not how it's set up now, if I understand you correctly.

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bduffy wrote:
quintosardo wrote:No way, we have to change it.
It is 100% comp because the threshold is set to max, so you shouldn't get compression when you put it on but you hear it immediately when you start reducing threshold level. That's how I'm used to use it (I always start with a compressor to its extreme settings, setup, go back from there), but some feedback will suggest the best default settings for the next update :)
But...the threshold is not set to max, and you do hear compression right away. The threshold is set dead-center, at "25", or "50%", and on a drum loop, the LEDs hit the red right away. :shrug:

I'm fine with it at 100% compression with zero threshold, that's fine. But that's not how it's set up now, if I understand you correctly.
This is what I get too. Just putting C165 on a track created a big drop in volume. Compression is set to 100% and the ratio is set to something deep. At it's default setting, there is a large amount of reduction occurring. I'd suggest taking another look at that.

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Already bought two more also from the catalog . Back on the topic in the A/B we did with Uad DBX(they are different but....) the Quinto one sound much better on drums and bass loops ,much more open and tight .Is amazing compressor, something really going with it. Tried few others on the same 2 loops and most were that bright digital and loosing detail ,165A just keep sound musical and don't loose details..! My inside feeling about Quinto plugins was right they are very very good actually amazing and good on cpu. Also the support of Quinto is unique. letting you know what u need exactly, very satisfied and will sure follow the amazing creations of Quinto.

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lacandon wrote:Already bought two more also from the catalog . Back on the topic in the A/B we did with Uad DBX(they are different but....) the Quinto one sound much better on drums and bass loops ,much more open and tight .Is amazing compressor, something really going with it. Tried few others on the same 2 loops and most were that bright digital and loosing detail ,165A just keep sound musical and don't loose details..! My inside feeling about Quinto plugins was right they are very very good actually amazing and good on cpu. Also the support of Quinto is unique. letting you know what u need exactly, very satisfied and will sure follow the amazing creations of Quinto.
Agreed with all. :clap:

I find the UAD dbx160 quite lacking too. It sounds like dated code compared to their more recent offerings, you can just tell it's a compressor that sounded shit-hot 12 years ago, but just doesn't cut it now.

Actually, this reminds me: the thing to compare c165a to would be de la Mancha's sixtyfive, which kicks the UAD dbx up and down the block. However, I know sixtyfive is more of an "inspired by" thing, but it's closer than the UAD offering. Sadly (but good for SKNote), it's Windows-only, and I was sad every day until Quinto released c165a. Now, I can mix again. :D

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