izotope & others on mastering

[jammer42777]

Izotope ozone seems like a good idea for the price, but is it really PCU efficent?
I like the kjearhus Gold bundle, but it is expensive and how efficient is it?
I was also looking at some of wave arts offerings, though they are more expensive, again efficientcy is an issue.

So far I can have used the bundled FL studio plugins and the kjearhus free plugins, but I top out at an average of 3 effects plugins on 13 busses of audio.
that's when my CPU maxes out.

I'm using FL studio 6
I have a 200+ athlon XP
Windows 2000 Pro
1.25GB ram
120GB HD
SBLIVE MP3+

Which one of these plugins will provide the best sound quality while at the same time minimizing CPU usage?

[diverdee]

Izotope rags out ones cpu, from what I have seen (it wasn't on my pc).
But it is excellent quality & should really be used on finished, rendered mixes at the mastering stage I guess, not on works in progress which are running other plugins concurrently (is that the right word?).

[Warmonger]

Kjaerhus stuff is much better from a CPU utilization aspect, but they're generally meant for per-track usage, while Ozone is most often used on a mixdown.

I don't think they're really comparable though; there's lots of stuff in Ozone that has no Kjaerhus equivalent, and vice versa. Ozone would be more comparable to Voxengo, but then you're into the high-CPU territory again.

[Black Box Recorder]

Yes, Ozone is high on CPU. But as Diverdee stated, it's a mastering plug-in. Ideally your only using it with a rendered final, stereo mix down of the song w/ maybe 1 or 2 (if any) other plug-ins for mastering (Compressor, etc).

So used in that regard, Ozone should have no problem running on just about any average system. Of course, you could use it during tracking but it will unnecessarily spike your CPU if running with other VST's. An average Ozone preset can run about 20-27% on a 3.0 GHz, 1GB RAM, etc. machine (some presets run even higher depending on the active modules).

I generally only use Ozone as the very last thing to master a rendered stereo file with a mild compressor/limiter before the Ozone in the signal path to rein the dynamics in and make the final track shine.

Ozone is great. It's really advanced but laid out in a unique way that it takes no time for the user to get the hang of it. Plus, they have a ton of great presets that are the equivalent of a "Mastering For Dummies". Load up a preset and tweak to taste and it makes just about anyone sound like they know what the f**k they are doing.

But it seems Ozone (more than any other plug-ins designed specifically for mastering) will bring out a shit mix in a heartbeat. Not even Ozone can polish a turd.

[ericzang]

Sometimes I use ozone as a track plugin using only one of its modules. Though at some point I may bounce down or freeze the track. I sometimes use the eq or the tube emulator on a track.

[softegg]

The Kjaerhus are quite CPU efficient, and very flexible. On the other Ozone is superior for mastering. I would say, you want something for general use go kjaerhus, if you want a dedicated mastering tool go ozone.

[jammer42777]

What about WAVES resonance MAXX? or Native power Pack?
I noticed that they are surprizingly reasonably priced and you get quite a bit.
what's the catch?
are they huge CPU hogs?
Also I can't find demos for them anywhere.

[juha_p]

You seem to have SB Live! card there. If you like to have some more CPU power into use for your DAW, there is always something to try out.

I assume you're using Asio4All driver with MP3+, but
- which latency settings are you using on mixing/mastering --> you can use 100ms to 300ms latency on these (buffer size 512-1536 @ 44.1kHz)
- have you set Asio4All to use HW buffering?

Also, have you increased PCI Latency (google after PCI Latency tool) for the sound card to 64-128 and decreased it to 64 for graphics card? These settings can bring some CPU time for your sound card.

NOTE: I have found Asio4All very CPU consuming driver with some VST/VSTi's (espec. w/ FL) --> strange spikes up to 80%? If you're using Asio4All drivers, I suggest you to try to do your mixing/mastering with using WDM driver mode w/ or w/o direct sound or mme + big enough latency buffer size.


Stand alone mastering system (A.A.M.S) - http://www.curioza.com/

Couple of sources for mastering plugins:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=706393
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=705824

Juha

[martian]

What about WAVES resonance MAXX? or Native power Pack?
I noticed that they are surprizingly reasonably priced and you get quite a bit.
what's the catch?

they arent very good.

thats from an objective point of view, they dont give you current dsp quality. subjectively you may like them, but i wouldnt bother.

[CANE CREEK]

if you own a good DAW then it will have a freeze function , CPU usage shouldnt be an issue.

[AVBunyan]

1. What about WAVES resonance MAXX? or Native power Pack?
2. I noticed that they are surprizingly reasonably priced and you get quite a bit.
3. what's the catch?
4. are they huge CPU hogs?
5. Also I can't find demos for them anywhere.

1. I have the Native Power Pack and Muscians Bundle II and love them - though they are not loaded with Mastering tools they are still great plugs. The UltraMaximizer+ and the Q10 EQ can work for mastering.

2. After you divide the price by the number of plugs they are surprisingly reasonable per plug.

3. Most folks don't like Ilock - I have no issue with it.

4. Not really

5. Go to Waves and download their full-blown demos.

God bless