Cheaper alternatives to Waves NLS?

[Musicisbest]

If you hold out for a sale, NLS isn't too expensive. I got it from them at the end of December for $79. I probably could have saved a bit more if I'd gotten it during Black Friday. Or you could find one on sale here.

Another option is bx_console and that has the same full price. The reason I wanted one of these instead of the other console emulations is that with others you will end up with the exact same "analog emulation" on every channel. This isn't how a real console works. So NLS and bx_console are the only two that I know of that allow for the channel differences you will find on the real deal. I like the way bx_console achieves this, but NLS was cheaper at the time and also gave me three different consoles versus one with bx.

Yea, it is on sale often.
I also use some other emulations but none of them cheaper.
I think the NLS has its own sound which i personally like better then the competition when i want that analog punch.

[anti_phase]

and what are those others? Maybe I could save some money for real deal

[ObsoleteAcc99]

Because Scheps also adds console style saturation, which is what the thread is about, try and keep up with the conversation. I have no idea what code red is, I was just talking about an alternative to redd and a comparable product and saying they're not very subtle and offering the name of a product that actually sounds how it should.

I find it more disturbing that you imagined that I imagined why you didn't like something I've never heard of, when I was just offering you advice, which you seem to be in great need of.

wow what a condescending rude little person you are. I certainly never need advice from the likes of you. Muted for eternity

Edit: Ahh, i see, you are one of those trolls that just joined up and decides to take over the forum and be rude to audio veterans. Not that uncommon.

Your post made little sense and i gently pointed that out without being rude to you at all. You were recommending things to me without reading my posts properly, (which you yourself have admitted as you didn't know what code red was which is what you actually QUOTED me about), but you had to kick it up a notch and be a jackass. I bet you still don't even know what i was initially posting about anyway

Scheps 73 sucks by the way. IK and UAD 73's and their preamps are far superior. Not that it matters, as i will never see a single thing you write ever again.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

Because Scheps also adds console style saturation, which is what the thread is about

umm not exactly It`s more about non-linear summing. Even Waves separates this term from Saturation
I have lots of saturators. I might even insert each of them into individual tracks in a mix without repetition

[AC222]

Back off on attacking Theo. He's my boy You tell him, Theo!

[Bouroki]

I could imagine one way they could achieve actual summing without bypassing the DAW, by having each channel plugin somehow compensate the signal so that the resulting combination within the DAW summing results in the desired result.

I think that would be giving NLS way more credit than it actually does. That said, I recall Steven Slate asserting that through their extensive tests, they found there to be absolutely nothing special about the actual summing stage in real consoles - that the analog magic happens completely elsewhere. So, then, it wouldn't matter that plugins like NLS wouldn't bypass the DAW summing.

Honestly, the whole NLS thing rubbed me the wrong way with its misleading presentation. Not to bash Waves - I really love a lot of their stuff, but NLS just has this very shady vibe about it which is absolutely not helped by the fact that it does not even have stereo bus crosstalk nor proper VU metering

Britson/Satson, coupled perhaps with something like Burnley73 to simulate the preamp stage is all you really need. Burnley as a first insert on every track, then Britson/Satson as the last inserts, then followed by the Busses wherever appropriate. Try this setup on some raw multitrack drums (set the Burnley to at least "Mic 20" input on every track) and you will right away hear some proper enhancement that is neither too subtle nor too hyped - it just sounds real and convincing enough and for less than a 100 bucks

[ObsoleteAcc99]

I just want to confirm a previous observation that NLS does not offer -18 dbfs metering options.. it's just digital peak metering with analogue needles.. i don't know why someone said otherwise.. and if it's possible, i would appreciate a step by step how to activate it, as the manual has nothing, and all the internet posts on it elsewhere confirm the limitation

[SoundPorn]

Interesting thread. NLS is one sale for $30 right now and wondering if this will bump it to provide insight on anybody who has used it in the last 2 years. I'm thinking of demoing it mainly because I'm concerned with how much CPU it consumes.

[The Noodlist]

Interesting thread. NLS is one sale for $30 right now and wondering if this will bump it to provide insight on anybody who has used it in the last 2 years. I'm thinking of demoing it mainly because I'm concerned with how much CPU it consumes.

Give it a demo, what have you got to lose?
Airwindows channel.

[simon.a.billington]

To risk repeating something that may have already been noted here, but NLS on SALE is the cheaper alternative to NLS.

The trouble is, that aside from the channel strips made from Brainworx that feature their TMT, NLS is the only plugin I’m aware of that emulates the subtle variations from channel to channel, which really breathes more life into a mix than just using the same saturation plugin over and over.

[sleepcircle]

I should mention that while Airwindows' Console5 system does not have channel-to-channel variations like NLS and TMT, what it DOES have is actual non-linear summing (which NLS and TMT do not)

If you wanted, you could put an NLS channel instance on each channel, and do your trim and stuff there, and then put a Console5Channel instance at the end of your chain, then on the master bus, put a Console5Bus instance, and then the NLS bus instance, and then the rest of your stuff.

The main inconvenience is that since the mixing is in fact non-linear, you can't use your DAW's faders and pan pots any more, because all fading and panning operations have to go BEFORE the Console5Channel plugin, which deconstructs the signal slightly before all the 'deconstructed' versions are mixed together in non-linear format and then reconstructed into a full signal. It's all a bit of an ordeal, but if you like the sound it gives it's worth it, I think. You just need to place a trim/pan/balance plugin of SOME KIND at the end of the chain, before NLS and Console5, and automate all the stuff from there.

[simon.a.billington]

NLS Buss does the non-linear summing.

[Burillo]

NLS Buss does the non-linear summing.

no it doesn't. "non linear summing" implies a different summing algorithm. by the time the sound makes it to the NLS Buss plugin, the sound was already digitally (and linearly) summed by the DAW, and the NLS Buss effect is applied on top of an already summed signal.

by contrast, Airwindows stuff bypasses the DAW summing altogether (which is why you cannot use DAW faders with it), and as far as the DAW is concerned nothing comes into the bus.

that said, i don't believe the "non-linear summing" part is actually all that important.

[simon.a.billington]

NLS Buss does the non-linear summing.

no it doesn't. "non linear summing" implies a different summing algorithm. by the time the sound makes it to the NLS Buss plugin, the sound was already digitally (and linearly) summed by the DAW, and the NLS Buss effect is applied on top of an already summed signal.

by contrast, Airwindows stuff bypasses the DAW summing altogether (which is why you cannot use DAW faders with it), and as far as the DAW is concerned nothing comes into the bus.

that said, i don't believe the "non-linear summing" part is actually all that important.

Ah yes. I see the difference now and yeah, we’ve been making great albums digitally for a few decades without it now. I do think there is an over emphasis on something so small and almost negligible.

It would be interesting to check out, but I’m not a big fan of having my faders disabled. I automate levels in a Gain plugin to avoid this issue too.

[sleepcircle]

Yeah, it's not super important, but I've noticed that console5 does help my mid-range frequencies mesh a lot better in the stereo field.

(That said, what helps middle frequencies mesh the best of all is GOOD EQING. If you can't get them to mesh nicely without non-linear summing, then console5 will not be a magic bullet.)