Waves LoAir vs OneKnob Phatter

[jmullis]

Could anybody explain the differences and their preference of one over the other? Do these plugins complement each other or does owning one mitigate the other?

Thanks for your advice.

[AC222]

Waves LoAir is good for adding subharmonic content. When added to a kick, the effect can give you a thunder'n lightning thump versus a dry kick alone. i own LoAir but not OneKnob Phatter. Judging by the name I would give you more thickness by adding saturation.

[Nightpolymath]

OneKnob Phatter is an "intelligent" low shelf filter for boosting Bass. It does not generate new harmonics such as LoAir. I would say the two complement each other.

I find LoAir harder to use since it can create some really ugly muck in your sound. I know it is on sale now but I would rather get MaxxBass or RenBass instead.

[barryfell]

OneKnob Phatter is an "intelligent" low shelf filter for boosting Bass. It does not generate new harmonics such as LoAir. I would say the two complement each other.

I find LoAir harder to use since it can create some really ugly muck in your sound. I know it is on sale now but I would rather get MaxxBass or RenBass instead.

MaxxBass and RenBass don't add subharmonics like LoAir does. They add upper bass harmonics.

My favourite subharmonic generator is reFuse Lowender. I much prefer it to LoAir.

[Nightpolymath]

True. The OP needs to clarify whether he is more interested in boosting low midrange bass or generating an earthquake (or both).

[AC222]

True. The OP needs to clarify whether he is more interested in boosting low midrange bass or generating an earthquake (or both).

Aptly put. Couldn't have said it better myself...Also, thanks for the hot tip for reFuse Lowender. Ever try that bad boy on drums? I wonder how it fares for that application.

[barryfell]

True. The OP needs to clarify whether he is more interested in boosting low midrange bass or generating an earthquake (or both).

Aptly put. Couldn't have said it better myself...Also, thanks for the hot tip for reFuse Lowender. Ever try that bad boy on drums? I wonder how it fares for that application.

Lowender is great on drums! The gate means you can get it really punchy. That's a big feature LoAir is missing.

[sin night]

[...]The gate means you can get it really punchy. That's a big feature LoAir is missing.

I fully agree on the gate.

When I use LoAir, I mostly use it on a send followed by a gate to control the lengh of the generated signal (I like to keep it short and not too obvious).

[AC222]

True. The OP needs to clarify whether he is more interested in boosting low midrange bass or generating an earthquake (or both).

Aptly put. Couldn't have said it better myself...Also, thanks for the hot tip for reFuse Lowender. Ever try that bad boy on drums? I wonder how it fares for that application.

Lowender is great on drums! The gate means you can get it really punchy. That's a big feature LoAir is missing.

Thanks boss! Will have to check that out for sure!

[simon.a.billington]

That is definately true about LoAir.

A good beast, but like all wile animals, often it needs a bit of taming!! A gate as part of th design would have been good.

Subharmonics can be good, but must be used in moderation otherwise things cloud up and become boomy or muddy. Often you'll just introduce more problems then it solves.

That's where MaxxBass comes in...

By generating upper harmonics it gives the phattening effect, with less of the low-end muck.

It works on a principle that if you remove a fundamental frequency in a sound its tonic quality can still be implied by the upper harmonics.

Take for a example a low A note at about 55Hz if you do a steep roll off at 60, or even 80 you can still here the tonic quality of the note, even though you have just removed it's fundamental. It should sound an octave higher, but it doesn't.

That's because the pitch of the not is implied by its harmonics.

So where all this becomes relevant is that instead of adding sub-harmonics to create a phatter, but muddier sound, you could add upper-harmonics with a similar result, but less risk of mud.

In reality you might find it more ideal to use a little bit of both.

Phatter will add a bit more bottom end in its own way, so even adding a bit of that in to the mix can work wonders.

One Knob Phatter, MaxxBass, LoAir... All good all have their strengths and weaknesses, all could be used to compliment each other

[Nightpolymath]

By generating upper harmonics it gives the phattening effect, with less of the low-end muck.
...
It works on a principle that if you remove a fundamental frequency in a sound its tonic quality can still be implied by the upper harmonics.

Couldn't have said it better myself.