KVR Audio

trz303 · Post by **trz303** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:03 am

My vote for SpectraLive, but V2 : V1 is not multi-band and the middles are a bit eaten ...

lion_cub · Post by **lion_cub** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:04 am

Are exciters just another gimmick ?

deaf dunderkwac · Post by **deaf dunderkwac** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:07 am

a useful gimmick

liars&ashes · Post by **liars&ashes** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:14 am

----Exciters are an effect, albeit a very round-a-bout kind of effect. Personally, I'd rather see clearly the signal path, than run my material through some majick box because it makes my eq decisions for me.
----I suppose used very sparingly, an Enhancer/Exciter/E-whatever, could be a bonus to have in one's arsenal. But overall, I'd say sidestep them, and just get back to eq-ing more, see what you can do yourself.

Jeff

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:22 am

liars&ashes wrote:----Exciters are an effect, albeit a very round-a-bout kind of effect. Personally, I'd rather see clearly the signal path, than run my material through some majick box because it makes my eq decisions for me.
----I suppose used very sparingly, an Enhancer/Exciter/E-whatever, could be a bonus to have in one's arsenal. But overall, I'd say sidestep them, and just get back to eq-ing more, see what you can do yourself.

Jeff

Sure. Then how come they're so popular in professional studios?

Len · Post by **Len** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:34 am

I don't think you'll find a BBE plugin in a pro studio. It is the most useless plug I ever bought - I really hate it. It really degrades the sound of organic instruments - like a standard rock set up. It might work better for electronic music, but for rock/folk type music it really really sucks. IMHO anyway.

liars&ashes · Post by **liars&ashes** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:35 am

bduffy wrote:
liars&ashes wrote:----Exciters are an effect, albeit a very round-a-bout kind of effect. Personally, I'd rather see clearly the signal path, than run my material through some majick box because it makes my eq decisions for me.
----I suppose used very sparingly, an Enhancer/Exciter/E-whatever, could be a bonus to have in one's arsenal. But overall, I'd say sidestep them, and just get back to eq-ing more, see what you can do yourself.

Jeff
Sure. Then how come they're so popular in professional studios?

----I've not been in any professional studios in a while, but the last 2 I was in, did not have any hardware Exciters, and 1 of those 2 for sure, did not have any software ones.
----For live playing, and I suppose to some degree, for recordings of live played guitars/bass/etc. a BBE Sonic Maximizer is maybe a good option. I have heard the BBE enhance some live stuff, but not on live instrument recordings that I know of.
----Having an exciter of some kind, and using it, does not make you the enemy, or weaker or worse in some way. I just question people who use them all the time, especially for finalizing their mixes, specifically, I question their overall mixing ability, and would encourage them to spend a few (many) more hours with their eq's.

Jeff

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:44 am

Right, well, I've seen a few and heard of a lot more being used in studios big and small. But I don't generally hear about people using them all the time on every mix. I would hope not! But everybody has their methods. I'm sure most favour using EQ before exciter.

chagzuki · Post by **chagzuki** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:52 am

BBE sonic maximizer is not an exciter. No-one on this forum seems entirely clear about what it actually does, and this has been the subject of many threads in the past.

chagzuki · Post by **chagzuki** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:54 am

I for one would avoid it like the plague, based on my own experiments with it.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 1:00 am

chagzuki wrote:BBE sonic maximizer is not an exciter. No-one on this forum seems entirely clear about what it actually does, and this has been the subject of many threads in the past.

Sure, I understand that. I was just saying it in a lack-of-a-better-word type way. I was hoping not to cause a stir about that.

chagzuki · Post by **chagzuki** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 1:07 am

I think it would be useful to have a proper discussion about what it really does.

deaf dunderkwac · Post by **deaf dunderkwac** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 1:08 am

The BBE plays with the phase of the lower (bass) frequencies. Highly effective with certain types of sound systems, and probably on some types of sounds. I've used it for both live and recorded mixes. I didn't use it on everything (but I tryed it on everything when I first got one, I just didn't necessarily use it on 'everything')
It's an effect, a gimmick...
like eq and reverb and exciters and dynamics controllers and other gimmicks... they all have a use.

chagzuki · Post by **chagzuki** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 1:13 am

Well, I haven't used it for so long I forget exactly what controls it has. Bass and treble controls are independent?

My question is this: how is the way it effects an EQ change related to this phase shifting?

deaf dunderkwac · Post by **deaf dunderkwac** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 1:28 am

The older analog units shifted the phase of the signal... Like an eq, except this phase shift wasn't neg combined to create an eq. Effective on 'some' speaker systems because of all the phase shifts caused by the seperate speakers, xovers and such.
I have no idea how the digital units work, as I never used them.

BBE Sonic Maximizer: Still the best exciter?