KVR Audio

Debutante · Post by **Debutante** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:21 am

I don't know exactly WHAT the ---- this thing does, but it sounds brilliant! It just brightens up things and...I don't know; check it out for yourself. It almost feels like a cheat plugin.

kylen · Post by **kylen** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:44 am

It adds a touch of CLASs - for sure! Kind of gets the ether flowing correctly...

mammath · Post by **mammath** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:26 am

When I initially started this thread, I didn't think anyone cared for it.....due to the lack of responses. I guess the Chritsmas holiday had something to do with it.

Glad it's finally being tested!

sidrat · Post by **sidrat** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:44 am

still waiting to get a response to my email... can't wait to try it...

Mr. Tingle · Post by **Mr. Tingle** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:28 am

Tried it on the master channel for a few songs and it brings them to life, finding it very useful.

No doubt I'll over do it though

PeterL · Post by **PeterL** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:09 am

Damned good exciter.

Thanks very much.

Paulie Phonick · Post by **Paulie Phonick** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:00 pm

Very nice plug, a definite keeper! Does a way better job in the low end than the BBE, adds power and nice warmth at the same time (better for electronic stuff than acoustic recordings imho). The high exciter does a very good job in bringing tracks to life and is great for quick fixes (listening pleasure), but I think I prefer 4Front Auxiter for mastering as it gives more control over the 'colour' of the excitation (it's payware though).

Is it just me (or my monitoring setup) or is it hardly possible to overdo the bass enhancement (I normally end up having the slider on 12, except for tracks with well recorded double bass), while the high exciter should be handled with care as you can easily go too far (I hardly ever go above 6).

The only thing I don't like about this plug is the GUI - why is it soo huge? Three sliders and a button could fit in a far smaller space. I don't find much use for the meters - clip indicator(s?) alone would be enough for me.

All in all, I think this is the best sounding freeware exciter around (esp. the low end). Great for making tracks alive for headphone listening. Thanks for releasing it!

fabi · Post by **fabi** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:08 pm

anyone have an opinion as to how it compares to spectralive?

MrM · Post by **MrM** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:59 pm

Requested the file at Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:13:09, got it at Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:22:49 !!!
That's good service, if you know I receive emails every 3 minutes

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:09 pm

fabi wrote:anyone have an opinion as to how it compares to spectralive?

If anyone has both, I'd love to hear A/B demos of the same clip.

For that matter, if anyone could do a comparison with BBE and Auxiter, that too would be great to hear.

fabi · Post by **fabi** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:18 pm

shamann wrote:
fabi wrote:anyone have an opinion as to how it compares to spectralive?
If anyone has both, I'd love to hear A/B demos of the same clip.

For that matter, if anyone could do a comparison with BBE and Auxiter, that too would be great to hear.

as a matter of fact i myself have both.

i just hadn't gotten around to trying them side by side and was wondering if anyone else had.

i guess it might be a little hard a/b-ing them (talking about spectralive and clas, btw, don't have the other two) 'objectively', but here are my quick two cents so far:

clas sounds very good, especially the bass, but i am also very happy with the highs - just don't drive them as much, as someone already said.

one thing that besides sound makes the clas a no-brainer for realtime/live/improv purposes is the fact that it only eats about 3% cpu here - as opposed to spectralive which eats about 20-30% - and 3-4% when bypassed.

this is on an athlon 2400+ ...

i do like what spectralive can do, though, for example with the stereo image.

PeterL · Post by **PeterL** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:45 pm

I agree. It's really hard to compare.
Each thing makes a different sound.
I like both.
CLAS makes a very good clear sound (especially on bass: so clean and crystal-clear without mudding it).
SpectraLive excites in a (let me say) smooth kind.
For myself I use SpectraLive mainly in tracks and would use CLAS for mastering whole songs.
IMO, there must be a monster algo behind the few sliders inside CLAS to get THIS sound.

PeterL · Post by **PeterL** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:59 pm

Just another impression:
CLAS has a feeling of a dynamic exciter dependent on audio material. It's just my personal impression (I could be wrong).

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 10:25 pm

PeterL wrote:IMO, there must be a monster algo behind the few sliders inside CLAS to get THIS sound.

Check its web page, they actually provide a fair amount of explanation of what it is doing.

Unlike Spectralive. Check their website. Three paged description which offers nothing but mumbo jumbo hocus pocus.

experimental.crow · Post by **experimental.crow** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:40 am

shamann wrote:
PeterL wrote:IMO, there must be a monster algo behind the few sliders inside CLAS to get THIS sound.
Check its web page, they actually provide a fair amount of explanation of what it is doing.

Unlike Spectralive. Check their website. Three paged description which offers nothing but
mumbo jumbo hocus pocus.

no need to get all technical w/ the jargon , steve ...

Refined Audiometrics' CLAS - Comp. Loudness Audio Shaping