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All Reviews by jones-y


By jones-y
On 3rd January 2006
Version: 1.71

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iZotope Vinyl

I'm really surprised no one has reviewed this yet...

Basically, Vinyl is, as its name suggests, a plug that makes your audio source sound as if it were coming off a turntable. And its really effective, when used in moderation. The sound is surprisingly authentic, and really good.

It models turntable models from the 1930's on up to today. As you can probably guess, the further back in time you go, the more constricted the audio will sound. It also can add mechanical noise, 60hz hum, dust crackles, and scratches. I tend to go very light on those four processes, but I use the "wear and tear" slider (which makes it sound like a worn record/stylus) heavily. I also hype the sound by increasing the input level, and lowereing the output level.

All in all, I love Vinyl, and its VFM is thru the roof here! I use it all the time, to make my synth parts sound like samples, and I have fooled a fair number of people.

The only downside I can think of is that the static and scratches don't lock to MIDI clock, and you can't pitch the noise up or down. They're pretty random in time. Which is fine if you are intending to make your whole mix sound like an authentic record, but it doesn't quite work so well when you're trying to imitate a sample. Because, as anyone who's ever sampled from vinyl would know, the crackles and scratches in the sample are static in time. So if you replay a sample, the static will be in the same location every single time, and if you pitch up a sample, the static will be pitched up as well. A simple way around this is, of course to bounce to audio, but this creates another set of limitations...

Overall Vinyl is the shizzle! All you hip hoppers owe this plug a download. I'd happily pay $25 for this freebie.
 
    

By jones-y
On 2nd October 2004
Version: 1.2

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plasq WormHole

The holy grail is here ladies and gentlemen!

For all the mac users who have been lusting to put that MS Word machine to good use, wormhole is the ticket. Very simpe to set up, very stable, and it sounds as good as the plugins/hosts you're using.

The way the manufacturer chose to implement the plugin leads naturally to an inability for one machine to recognize and automatically configure network resources. Which also means you'll need to save at least two files for total recall. One for your main sequencer, and one each for each remote VST/AU host. But it does lead to amazing amounts of flexibility. FX Teleport is much more elegant in this respect, but it is also more expensive, although still very cost effective for what it does. But Wormhole is only $25 for an unlimited amount of networked machines, mac or pc! What was Adrian thinking?

You can use any combination of WinXP PCs and OS X Macs (nope, sorry no OS 9 version). For example, my system consists of a G4 Mac running OS X 10.3.5 and Logic, and a Pentium 3 PC running Xlutop Chainer and VSTi's and VST FX. I use WormHole to stream those VSTi's directly into Logic's mixer. But you can use, for example Cubase on a PC as your primary sequencer, and VStack on all secodary machines. Or Digital Performer on a Mac, and your Granted Rax on a second Mac with other AUs or Mac VSTs. Its much better than Cubase System Link. And the only hardware you need are the audio and MIDI interfaces on your main machine! (which you probably already have.

Currently, MIDI is not implemented in the system, but according to the manufacturer, it may be coming in V2.
 
    

By jones-y
On 10th October 2003
Version: 1.1

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iZotope pHATmatik Pro

pHAT is PHAT!

absolutely love it, its my favorite plug. Its like having recycle inside your sequencer.

the only thing is that the interface is a little twiddly. Its sometimes hard to make precise edits to slices. Parameters are hard to adjust in certain cases.

But its a year of fun, easy. I sometimes get lost in the possibilities when using pHAT.

Its one of those rare pieces of software that beckon you to use it. It doesn't get in the way of your work, like some other plugs. And after a while it sort of becomes the loop, in a transparent kinda way. Like, I just say to myself 'Self, I have a sliced loop on audio instrument 4!"

And a huge thumbs up to the folks at bitshift. You have never seen customer support until you buy pHAT.

I have had a couple crashes with pHAT. But they were mostly because I forgot to assign more memory to Logic when a new subversion came out. Because pHAT uses the RAM dedicated to Logic.

mitz
 
    
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