KVR Audio

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 5:21 pm

Tbt's plugins - especially TubeLimit - and the underrated UKM Nonlin are excellent for this.

The Peu · Post by **The Peu** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:33 pm

I like Tube Booster ST
I actually find myself using this quite a lot.

TP

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:40 pm

oh yeah, that's a good little unit too!

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:13 pm

I prefer to digitally harsh out smoothness.

kylen · Post by **kylen** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:15 pm

I'm not understanding the problem with using Voxengo Tube Amp - or any plugin that excites certain odd & even harmonics in a pleasing way - to warm or deharsh something. These type of plugins merely "Mimic" one of the many attributes of analog gear (not all attributes of course), specifically harmonic distortion. I'm glad to have them in my toolset for rebalancing live mixes. A fine EQ and/or compressor (to kill some of the attack) works nicely to help with harshness (unpleasant upper midrange or boost of highs). Maybe it's just the word Tube and Amp that are the problem...

A couple of folks mentioned gainstaging and overhead. In digital there's nothing to "push" into like there is in lossy (hehe) analog. Digital reflects exactly what it is shown - in the audio sense anyway. This can be noticable when bringing analog tapes into the digital realm and listening to them, they sound different already since the analog tape & player is already missing from the equation!

For the bass side I currently have Arboretum Hyperprism Bass Maximizer followed by Voxengo LFPunch in a chain. I'm rebalancing the low harmonics of kick, snare, and bass guitar. In the live tape the kick has bled all over the place. This isn't harshness but another example of adding in even & odd harmonics and compression to make something more pleasant....down low!

g_worroll · Post by **g_worroll** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:21 pm

Wow, thanks for all the replies... about the only useful advice I got the other place I asked for was to use a light bit of distortion... which helps, but doens't work in every track(and is easy to overdo and end up with the same problem, only worse).

omo · Post by **omo** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:50 pm

foosnark wrote:I prefer to digitally harsh out smoothness.

Good point here if I get it right. If you record smooth and beautiful balanced material then the last thing you want to do is mess with digital (plugs for the matter), cos if you do, whatever you use it only makes it harsher (funny, even tho it supposed to do the oposite). But if it is computer generated sound and it's harsh then you're in trouble.

fritzman · Post by **fritzman** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:10 pm

omo wrote:
foosnark wrote:I prefer to digitally harsh out smoothness.
Good point here if I get it right. If you record smooth and beautiful balanced material then the last thing you want to do is mess with digital (plugs for the matter), cos if you do, whatever you use it only makes it harsher (funny, even tho it supposed to do the oposite). But if it is computer generated sound and it's harsh then you're in trouble.

Hehe,

read his signature. I'm almost sure he meant the opposite.

Ah, taste, sweet taste ...

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:38 pm

Really my point was more that I just don't deal with "analog warmth" in my music. I add dirt. Bitcrushing, sample rate reduction, ring modulation, lo-fi pitch shifters, digital clipping, doubling parts a few octaves up or down at low velocity, timestretching, turning down the quality knob in Ambience, adding a sort of audible carpet for the noise floor

, etc. Sometimes subtle, sometimes not. I render to 16 bits usually, with linear interpolation.

People are making some damnfine music on a GameBoy, and I'd probably do some of that as well if the interface/tools were friendlier (as it is, I threw together a few beats in an emulator and have used them in some of my tracks).

It just seems like so many people are chasing this elusive thing that has to be simulated or emulated in plugins, and some of them are dismissive of the musicality of anything that sounds digital.

Now, if you're talking about recording acoustic instruments faithfully I can see the point, but in a wholly electronic setting I don't quite get it.

I'm not sure if this was a rant or what, heh.

g_worroll · Post by **g_worroll** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:49 pm

foosnark wrote: It just seems like so many people are chasing this elusive thing that has to be simulated or emulated in plugins, and some of them are dismissive of the musicality of anything that sounds digital.

I'm not trying to dismiss the musicality of digital stuff... a lot of it is quite good. but its not really hte sound I'm personally after most of the time, and I can't even come close to affording a full analog studio of any quality. Going with VSTi's, digital hardware, and a few plugins to partially emulate an analog sound gets me what I want, on a budget I can actually afford. I'd probably prefer all analog synths(personal preference, not "OMG its the best way period!!!!!!"), but the cost is prohibitive.

Other people are sure to prefer more digital sounds, thats cool... and sometimes I do go for a harsh, gritty digital sound, just that most of the time I want something smoother and warmer, more like an oldschool analog synth.

contrast · Post by **contrast** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:00 pm

I'd be curious to know what plugin instruments you are using.

fritzman · Post by **fritzman** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:01 pm

Soundwise I'm somewhere inbetween. I like my bitcrushers, sample rate reducers, distortions with aliasing and all these cool LoFi FX. It's not my overall sound but I use these as colours in a whole picture that I want to be big and fat sounding.

Best wishes, FRitz

g_worroll · Post by **g_worroll** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:21 pm

contrast wrote:I'd be curious to know what plugin instruments you are using.

Plugin instruments I use are pretty much limited to AudioRealism Bassline, FM7, and MiniMoog... sometimes I bring up Reason, but I do that less than I used to. I'm primarily on offboard hardware for my sound generation.

The Chase · Post by **The Chase** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:26 pm

jens wrote:
Chase wrote:Oh yea, voxengo tube amp: http://www.kvraudio.com/get/446.html

more for overdrive distortion, but the "tube" knob does some great warming
will this thing ever stop to pop-up over and over again?

Yup, it's Voxengo, and yup, it has tube written on it, but nope, it doesn't sound like tube-distortion but rather like generic digital waveshaping nonetheless - it doesn't sound analog at all!

Jeez - use your ears...

You will find that it matches the threadstarter's criteria exactly, and your comments about it made it seem even more of something he was looking for.

jens · Post by **jens** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:44 pm

bduffy wrote:Tbt's plugins - especially TubeLimit - and the underrated UKM Nonlin are excellent for this.

indeed - indeed - spot on!

smoothing out digital harshness?