What's Your Opinion On Nebula VST?

VST, AU, AAX, CLAP, etc. Plugin Virtual Effects Discussion
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So, vote your opinion if takes too much to write a post:

Get it, you can't live without it
34
43%
Good but limited
28
35%
Avoid at all costs
17
22%
 
Total votes: 79

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ariston wrote:
richinmusic wrote:Part of the magic of using Nebula is very similar to the magic of using analog signal chains as opposed to all digital; it's a difference that is subtle in small doses but very amazing when it's cumulative.
The operative word being "magic", I guess. :hihi:
bmanic wrote:Nebula sounds way better than the competition.
Here we go again... I'm curious: How much "way", by the way? Twice as good? Thrice as good? 3.1415926545 times better? Or are we talking exponentially better? Do tell.

Seriously, I guess the world will stay as it is, divided between the Nebulons and the Unwashed Ears, and ne'er the twain shall meet.
No reason to be so dramatic. I sort of answered one of your questions, too. Yes, it is exponentially better, if you use Nebula like you would an analog signal chain. The flavor it imparts is a cumulative thing that builds as you go, much like running audio through a long signal chain. And for the record, I used the word "magic" just to get a response. But if you do as much audio as I think you do, then you already understand that not everything can be neatly quantified or qualified; there IS a bit of magic in this work. There is for me sometimes.
Music folds and unfolds the universe.
http://soundyaudio.com/

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bduffy wrote:It's been 5 days now (counting the weekend) since I requested authorization for my Nebula. I'm sorry, but that is totally unacceptable.

And I know people will say "just post on the forums, they're really helpful" - but should I have to do that every time I need a reg code? Ridiculous.
That is one of the aspects which count under my "not userfriendly" description ;) That said, the sound of it has made my decision and I love it despite it not being userfriendly.

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richinmusic wrote: No reason to be so dramatic. I sort of answered one of your questions, too. Yes, it is exponentially better, if you use Nebula like you would an analog signal chain.
"Exponentially"? And you call me dramatic? I was just using that thing with iron in it.

No, you won't convince me, sorry. I think your general dismissal of algorithmic plugins is a bit... over-zealous.

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Flandersh wrote:
bduffy wrote:It's been 5 days now (counting the weekend) since I requested authorization for my Nebula. I'm sorry, but that is totally unacceptable.

And I know people will say "just post on the forums, they're really helpful" - but should I have to do that every time I need a reg code? Ridiculous.
That is one of the aspects which count under my "not userfriendly" description ;) That said, the sound of it has made my decision and I love it despite it not being userfriendly.
I've never found it to live up to its reputation, but that's if I can get it to even work. And I have to admit my frustrations with the whole Nebula experience colour my opinions. But still, it'll have to be pretty f**king amazing, at this point.

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ariston wrote:
richinmusic wrote: No reason to be so dramatic. I sort of answered one of your questions, too. Yes, it is exponentially better, if you use Nebula like you would an analog signal chain.
"Exponentially"? And you call me dramatic? I was just using that thing with iron in it.

No, you won't convince me, sorry. I think your general dismissal of algorithmic plugins is a bit... over-zealous.
I don't dismiss algo plugs, did you read my other posts? I have some of my favorite's, for sure. I love Sknote, Stillwell, Valhalla, to name a few. But I am not trying to convince toy really. Everyone has their own style and tool-sets, and in the end, we all do what sounds best to us. And maybe exponentially is not the word I wanted, I am not trying to be dramatic. "Cumulative" is more like it. Instead of an A/B test of Nebula and Non, how about some mixes that are Nebula and all analog? That is something that I could put together in a day or so. I have a particular project that has some songs that were tracked completely in a very nice analog studio (complete with Tape and session musicians), and others that were tracked mostly by me, all ITB, and with drum software and heavily Nebulized. I have a hard time telling them apart, honestly. That is the differences I am referring to. But I really don't care if you or anyone here love or hate Nebula (other than the fact that I want enough people to support it so they stay in business, but that is out of my own selfishness!). Cheers, and I am not trying to battle you, this is all about sharing information to hopefully educate ourselves and each other more, and in result making our audio better.
Music folds and unfolds the universe.
http://soundyaudio.com/

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Because Nebula users find it so difficult to actually make an A/B test, here, in about 8 minutes I made this:
http://soundcloud.com/mihai-sorohan/vintage-vibe-test

Now, there are 2 loops, one percussion, one drum set, both run through one mixer channel and each time the loops are getting another effect on top. First is clean.
Plugins used are Vintager Toy, The MCI JH 536 Console Audio Plug-In which gives me the impression that uses Nebula engine (couldn't use both in my DAW), and Ferric TDS by Bootsy, NOT in that particular order. First loop is clean.

I do understand the difference between preamp, tape and a generic "vintager", so, this is not really a test, just a "doodle" to see if the people can guess by sound which is which and say which sounds better.

Post

sorohanro wrote:Because Nebula users find it so difficult to actually make an A/B test, here, in about 8 minutes I made this:
http://soundcloud.com/mihai-sorohan/vintage-vibe-test

Now, there are 2 loops, one percussion, one drum set, both run through one mixer channel and each time the loops are getting another effect on top. First is clean.
Plugins used are Vintager Toy, The MCI JH 536 Console Audio Plug-In which gives me the impression that uses Nebula engine (couldn't use both in my DAW), and Ferric TDS by Bootsy, NOT in that particular order. First loop is clean.

I do understand the difference between preamp, tape and a generic "vintager", so, this is not really a test, just a "doodle" to see if the people can guess by sound which is which and say which sounds better.
Thanks for that, sorohanro! Very hard to say which one sounds "better" based on that...I mean, it depends what you're going for. Two of them sound a bit more "hi-fi" than the original, and one has more tape roll-off type sound.

But I'll be brave and guess that the first process is ReelBus? Not sure about the others. Maybe #2 is Nebula?

I'd be interested in hearing a compressor or time-based effect (like chorus). I never heard those work convincingly in Nebula.

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richinmusic wrote:I have posted so many A/B clips for this same topic elsewhere, no offense to request, but I don't have the time.
I can totally relate to this. However, it surprises me that Acustica themselves have not once done this. You would think that if it makes that much of a difference, you would want it to be plain and obvious for everyone to appreciate, and you'd find a way to do it convincingly.

I've never encountered an audio product where the manufacturer offers NO audio examples, or some other way of experiencing the "vibe" before purchase. It's bizarre.

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Breeze wrote:
richinmusic wrote:I have posted so many A/B clips for this same topic elsewhere, no offense to request, but I don't have the time.
I can totally relate to this. However, it surprises me that Acustica themselves have not once done this. You would think that if it makes that much of a difference, you would want it to be plain and obvious for everyone to appreciate, and you'd find a way to do it convincingly.

I've never encountered an audio product where the manufacturer offers NO audio examples, or some other way of experiencing the "vibe" before purchase. It's bizarre.
They offer a free version, and besides that many of the library producers offer audio demo's: like AlexB:
http://www.alessandroboschi.eu/html/ale ... g_room.htm

That said, I have not got the impression that the manufactures are so much into the "We have a product which is better than all the others" market strategy. It is more like "We have a product based on that technic and we hope you like it" strategy, and I find that a much better strategy. For me as a customer I'm interested in what a product is all about, not if it is rated better than another product or not.

Post

bduffy wrote:
Flandersh wrote:
bduffy wrote:It's been 5 days now (counting the weekend) since I requested authorization for my Nebula. I'm sorry, but that is totally unacceptable.

And I know people will say "just post on the forums, they're really helpful" - but should I have to do that every time I need a reg code? Ridiculous.
That is one of the aspects which count under my "not userfriendly" description ;) That said, the sound of it has made my decision and I love it despite it not being userfriendly.
I've never found it to live up to its reputation, but that's if I can get it to even work. And I have to admit my frustrations with the whole Nebula experience colour my opinions. But still, it'll have to be pretty f**king amazing, at this point.
The registering process made me think twice about it, and my conclusion was that for all the days I get such an amazing sound the few times a year I reinstall my OS and so and will have to fiddle with the registering process again is to live with. But I completely understand your frustration about that part of it.

Post

Flandersh wrote:
bduffy wrote:
Flandersh wrote:
bduffy wrote:It's been 5 days now (counting the weekend) since I requested authorization for my Nebula. I'm sorry, but that is totally unacceptable.

And I know people will say "just post on the forums, they're really helpful" - but should I have to do that every time I need a reg code? Ridiculous.
That is one of the aspects which count under my "not userfriendly" description ;) That said, the sound of it has made my decision and I love it despite it not being userfriendly.
I've never found it to live up to its reputation, but that's if I can get it to even work. And I have to admit my frustrations with the whole Nebula experience colour my opinions. But still, it'll have to be pretty f**king amazing, at this point.
The registering process made me think twice about it, and my conclusion was that for all the days I get such an amazing sound the few times a year I reinstall my OS and so and will have to fiddle with the registering process again is to live with. But I completely understand your frustration about that part of it.
Thanks, man. I try to understand, but it is difficult. I'm hoping I'll hear something good in this plug-in, if I ever get my auth code.

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Flandersh wrote: They offer a free version, and besides that many of the library producers offer audio demo's: like AlexB:
http://www.alessandroboschi.eu/html/ale ... g_room.htm
Thanks for the link. Seems interesting.

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sorohanro wrote:Because Nebula users find it so difficult to actually make an A/B test....
I avoided joining this forum for a few years for this very reason. Why do people have to turn an informative thread into immature rants and insults. I thought I detailed a pretty good explanation why I personally didn't do a ton of audio clips. Comparing Nebula vs non-Nebula on single tracks is not a fair comparison, unless you also happen to produce music that involves only 1 or 2 tracks. Then you may be impacted by results of such tests. But if you are working with many tracks, like most music these days, that is how you should be testing the effects (or lack of) of Nebula on source material. "Because Nebula users...".... this is so goofy. I joined this forum to help some devs that I test for, but I am remembering why this forum often gets annoying. Can't we just share info and sometimes agree to disagree without the petty insults and such? Jeez.
Music folds and unfolds the universe.
http://soundyaudio.com/

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I'm just wondering if there's any way someone could sonically prove Nebula's worth. It might be impossible if you have two well-mixed mixes; then it's just a matter of taste, and the ears of the mixer, between each mix.

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richinmusic wrote:
sorohanro wrote:Because Nebula users find it so difficult to actually make an A/B test....
I avoided joining this forum for a few years for this very reason. Why do people have to turn an informative thread into immature rants and insults. I thought I detailed a pretty good explanation why I personally didn't do a ton of audio clips.
I'm sorry if my comment offended you. Wasn't my intention.
The comment wasn't also directed at you, was just a rant about people coming with "catch phrases" (analog warmth/ game changer/ you don't have the ears to hear/ learn to stage your gain...etc) but when comes to actually make a test...

Also I think that if people say the effect is cumulative, then one instrument makes the difference. I think if you threat drums or percussion section you have:
- big dynamic changes
- wide frequency range
- a change in drums sound has a dramatic effect over the mix.
Again, my comment wasn't directed at you personally and I'm sorry if sounded harsh to you, I just got tired of not seeing a test (like Flandersh linked in his comment) for several pages, so I did one (8 minutes of "effort").
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Unrelated logic rant:
So, when you try the free version and doesn't sound good the answer is:
"you need the pro version, with 3rd party programs which don't work in free version"
But when you say "there is no A/B test" the answer is:
"but there is the free version, go try it"
:?

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