Provocative question I know but honestly asked.
For example, Cubase has a flexible EQ; It has a couple of dynamics plugs: A few modulations, and now 3 reverbs, including Roomworks and a Multiband Compressor.
Now I tried Kjaerhus's classic compressor on some vocals and found it cold compared with the built-in dynamics plug. But the Multiband compressor, although massively and visually tweakable, is cold itself, adds loudness but actually seems to reduce punch a bit (spookily)
All I'm really interested in to be honest are EQ, Reverb and Compression/Multiband Compression. Can you improve for free?
Or are all improvements paid-for?
Are any free effects better than Cubase's built-in ones?
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- KVRian
- 541 posts since 19 Jun, 2002 from London, UK
Three shall be the number of the counting
And the number of the counting shall be three.
And the number of the counting shall be three.
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- Banned
- 22457 posts since 5 Sep, 2001
[DELETED]
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- KVRAF
- 19156 posts since 13 Feb, 2003 from Vancouver, Canada
You might want to try turning of the "soft clip" on the Multiband Compressor for more punch.
To repsond to the question: yes, there are free effects as good as or better. The first is EQ: easily trumped by posihfopit's stunning features and quality.
For compression, there are things like Chunkware's Vanilla Compressor, CamelCrusher, GVST Stuff (visualize your compression!), buzzroom, TbT Plugins...quite a few.
The Roomworks plugin is actually based on the free Ambience plugin, so there is a free eqiuvalent. You can of course use SIR and impulses with fantastic results, with probably less CPU than the draining Roomworks/Ambience plugin. DX Rererb Light is very nice for free too.
Quadrafuzz and Magneto are excellent plugins, hard to beat for free, but check out the excellent Multiband Bitcrusher I and Voxengo Tube Amp, or the TbT plugins that add warmth (Tls Pocket Limiter, Saturated Driver). UKM Nonlin is great on tracks.
Cubase also has a very nice Rotary effect that I use quite often. An unsung hero. The Vocoder is quite nice too, as are StepFilter and Tonic. The Chorus can be good in some situations, but is easily trumped by many free plugins.
To repsond to the question: yes, there are free effects as good as or better. The first is EQ: easily trumped by posihfopit's stunning features and quality.
For compression, there are things like Chunkware's Vanilla Compressor, CamelCrusher, GVST Stuff (visualize your compression!), buzzroom, TbT Plugins...quite a few.
The Roomworks plugin is actually based on the free Ambience plugin, so there is a free eqiuvalent. You can of course use SIR and impulses with fantastic results, with probably less CPU than the draining Roomworks/Ambience plugin. DX Rererb Light is very nice for free too.
Quadrafuzz and Magneto are excellent plugins, hard to beat for free, but check out the excellent Multiband Bitcrusher I and Voxengo Tube Amp, or the TbT plugins that add warmth (Tls Pocket Limiter, Saturated Driver). UKM Nonlin is great on tracks.
Cubase also has a very nice Rotary effect that I use quite often. An unsung hero. The Vocoder is quite nice too, as are StepFilter and Tonic. The Chorus can be good in some situations, but is easily trumped by many free plugins.
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- KVRAF
- 3369 posts since 16 Jan, 2005 from Ottawa, Ontario
I think you'd need [want to] to pay for reverb and EQ (track or master?). With free reverbs the sound is subjective and often good enough, but commercial units offer a much more intense scheme for configurability. I haven't seen any free verbs remotely like Rayspace for e.g., and even the mighty SIR lacks a little in this area compared to other IR verbs for sale.
It might be easier to find an EQ that you like for free. Posihfopit reigns supreme for its remarkable options and there are others. I'm trying the realatively new IIEQ.
For compression there's tons of free stuff. Once again it's can be subjective, but your probably most likely to find something to your tastes here. Stardust, C3 Multiband, and GMulti (GVST) are good mutlibands. There's much more for track compression.
It might be easier to find an EQ that you like for free. Posihfopit reigns supreme for its remarkable options and there are others. I'm trying the realatively new IIEQ.
For compression there's tons of free stuff. Once again it's can be subjective, but your probably most likely to find something to your tastes here. Stardust, C3 Multiband, and GMulti (GVST) are good mutlibands. There's much more for track compression.
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- KVRAF
- 3378 posts since 27 Feb, 2004 from Paris (france)
SIR for a convolution reverb
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/736.html
and slim slow slider compressor
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/950.html
well and luxonix LFX-1310
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1147.html
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/736.html
and slim slow slider compressor
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/950.html
well and luxonix LFX-1310
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1147.html
Organising a protest march this Friday Schlesische Strasse 28 ,10997 Berlin, Germany
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- KVRian
- 1144 posts since 26 Sep, 2005 from Germany
I think all Cubase effects are below average....
Really cheap sounding comapred to lets say logic build in effects, Samplitude got the best from my point of view at least in native area....
For me its clear : never use Cubase build-in fx...
EQ,reverb, compressor, they all sound like cheap fx...
there are way better VST fxs out there and even better ones in hardware...
Really cheap sounding comapred to lets say logic build in effects, Samplitude got the best from my point of view at least in native area....
For me its clear : never use Cubase build-in fx...
EQ,reverb, compressor, they all sound like cheap fx...
there are way better VST fxs out there and even better ones in hardware...
Last edited by hifiboom on Wed Aug 02, 2006 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- 2685 posts since 14 Jul, 2005 from Australia
I must agree with bduffy (and hifiboom) on this one. For chorus & phaser effects, check out the Kjaerhus classic stuff and the Smartelectrix stuff, these totally blow away the terrible Cubase modulators, especially the Cubase chorus and flangers, which are probably the worst I have ever heard.
Cubase's Dynamics plugin is once again, one of the lower quality compressors I have heard, this is one area where I truly believe that a paid compressor is a little better than the freebies. Marquis from Voxengo or Kjaerhus audio stuff.
EQ can be covered by posiphilot (oh how I hate trying to spell these names). The commercial EQs are at around the same level. Also Q included with SX is fantastic.
I like Toxic, Magneto, Q (this is a very good EQ, not the crappy track EQs, they are very different), the Bitcrusher is cool, I use it for all my crushing needs. Also the distortions come in rather handy on some occasions, Quadrafuzz is awesome !
I've never really liked Roomworks all that much, I prefer convolution based verbs as mentioned. And in my SL version, the Reverb A & B truly suck.
Good luck
Fots
Cubase's Dynamics plugin is once again, one of the lower quality compressors I have heard, this is one area where I truly believe that a paid compressor is a little better than the freebies. Marquis from Voxengo or Kjaerhus audio stuff.
EQ can be covered by posiphilot (oh how I hate trying to spell these names). The commercial EQs are at around the same level. Also Q included with SX is fantastic.
I like Toxic, Magneto, Q (this is a very good EQ, not the crappy track EQs, they are very different), the Bitcrusher is cool, I use it for all my crushing needs. Also the distortions come in rather handy on some occasions, Quadrafuzz is awesome !
I've never really liked Roomworks all that much, I prefer convolution based verbs as mentioned. And in my SL version, the Reverb A & B truly suck.Good luck
Fots
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- Banned
- 4026 posts since 27 Jan, 2004
sounds like you're on some f**king salespitch here...bduffy wrote:You might want to try turning of the "soft clip" on the Multiband Compressor for more punch.
To repsond to the question: yes, there are free effects as good as or better. The first is EQ: easily trumped by posihfopit's stunning features and quality.
For compression, there are things like Chunkware's Vanilla Compressor, CamelCrusher, GVST Stuff (visualize your compression!), buzzroom, TbT Plugins...quite a few.
The Roomworks plugin is actually based on the free Ambience plugin, so there is a free eqiuvalent. You can of course use SIR and impulses with fantastic results, with probably less CPU than the draining Roomworks/Ambience plugin. DX Rererb Light is very nice for free too.
Quadrafuzz and Magneto are excellent plugins, hard to beat for free, but check out the excellent Multiband Bitcrusher I and Voxengo Tube Amp, or the TbT plugins that add warmth (Tls Pocket Limiter, Saturated Driver). UKM Nonlin is great on tracks.
Cubase also has a very nice Rotary effect that I use quite often. An unsung hero. The Vocoder is quite nice too, as are StepFilter and Tonic. The Chorus can be good in some situations, but is easily trumped by many free plugins.
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- Banned
- 4026 posts since 27 Jan, 2004
hifiboom wrote:I think all Cubase effects are below average....
Really cheap sounding comapred to lets say logic build in effects, Samplitude got the best from my point of few at least in native area....
For me its clear : never use Cubase build-in fx...
EQ,reverb, compressor, they all sound like cheap fx...
there are way better VST fxs out there and even better ones in hardware...
Ah! finally something I can agree on!
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- KVRian
- 591 posts since 5 Feb, 2004 from southwest england
get the fish fillets from www.digitalfishphones.com
One of the best compressors around. (blockfish)
Kind regards
Dave Rich
One of the best compressors around. (blockfish)
Kind regards
Dave Rich
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- KVRian
- 943 posts since 15 Mar, 2005
id like to add my thoughts (at this point in time):
eq:
- sx's Q - for normal eq is good.
- channel eq - highly unflexible eq, warped at nyquist, but use a higher samplerate and you'll get a symmetrical bell, i think also some resolution probs in the lows? i see noise down there.
compressor:
- dynamics comp - sounds ok on single drums hits but pumps A LOT on dynamic material, which is great for creative use, but for all round high quality flexible smooth compression definately look elsewhere.
- dynamics limiter - is aweful on a mix if you want loudness with any degree of transparency compared to some great freeware in this area.
reverb:
- reverb A and B - for small rooms are springly and wierd sounding, longer rooms/halls metalic shattering type sound, basically no qualites youd expect to find in a high quality room simulation, but they may still be useful at times for fx type verb. you can see even hybrid may use them at times, every fx enables different control over sound so has its place not matter how bad objectively.
- roomworks personally i like, but reverb is highly subjective, not least because it takes a lot of experience to know what you really want in any given situation.
distortion:
- da tube sounds like a broken waveshaper with a bit crusher over the output, even so i find it can sound good on things with no highs like bass, or very thick sound with unrelated harmonics like a vintage snare. but also beware it creates massive dc offset and oscillation in extreme subsonics, so follow with a high pass filter, and may as well a low pass too for the high freq aliasing.
- quadrafuzz i think is ok, much better quality but can still alias badly with a lack of oversampling, also using all bands its phase response smears transients oddly too.
- magneto is quite nice, it has a smooth dynamic effect as well as soft saturation, kinda pumps gently with dynamic material.
filter:
- toxic i find just 'ok', for me better sounding than some free/payware but nothing special, very usable if you dont have anything else. for reference i personally rate volcano and quadfromage filters.
regards,
eq:
- sx's Q - for normal eq is good.
- channel eq - highly unflexible eq, warped at nyquist, but use a higher samplerate and you'll get a symmetrical bell, i think also some resolution probs in the lows? i see noise down there.
compressor:
- dynamics comp - sounds ok on single drums hits but pumps A LOT on dynamic material, which is great for creative use, but for all round high quality flexible smooth compression definately look elsewhere.
- dynamics limiter - is aweful on a mix if you want loudness with any degree of transparency compared to some great freeware in this area.
reverb:
- reverb A and B - for small rooms are springly and wierd sounding, longer rooms/halls metalic shattering type sound, basically no qualites youd expect to find in a high quality room simulation, but they may still be useful at times for fx type verb. you can see even hybrid may use them at times, every fx enables different control over sound so has its place not matter how bad objectively.
- roomworks personally i like, but reverb is highly subjective, not least because it takes a lot of experience to know what you really want in any given situation.
distortion:
- da tube sounds like a broken waveshaper with a bit crusher over the output, even so i find it can sound good on things with no highs like bass, or very thick sound with unrelated harmonics like a vintage snare. but also beware it creates massive dc offset and oscillation in extreme subsonics, so follow with a high pass filter, and may as well a low pass too for the high freq aliasing.
- quadrafuzz i think is ok, much better quality but can still alias badly with a lack of oversampling, also using all bands its phase response smears transients oddly too.
- magneto is quite nice, it has a smooth dynamic effect as well as soft saturation, kinda pumps gently with dynamic material.
filter:
- toxic i find just 'ok', for me better sounding than some free/payware but nothing special, very usable if you dont have anything else. for reference i personally rate volcano and quadfromage filters.
regards,
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- KVRer
- 11 posts since 29 May, 2006
The only built-in effect I ever use in Cubase is the mighty Q. Works great for making phone effects and the likes.
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- KVRAF
- 19156 posts since 13 Feb, 2003 from Vancouver, Canada
Call me crazy, but I thought the "Q" EQ is the track EQ, just in plug-in form? It's looks identical to the track EQ...
Snooky, thanks for reminding me why I muted you, you senseless little cock.
Snooky, thanks for reminding me why I muted you, you senseless little cock.
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- KVRian
- 943 posts since 15 Mar, 2005
its a different eq made by spectral design, and looks pretty different i thought. anyway some functional differences: you can eq separate stereo channels, high pass starts at 20hz and at low pass 20khz (channel eq low/high pass mode is crap), orfanidis near symmetrical bell at nyquist (channel eq is severely warped), you can adjust output level, and it has a larger graph with different handling.bduffy wrote:Call me crazy, but I thought the "Q" EQ is the track EQ, just in plug-in form? It's looks identical to the track EQ...
still not comparable to teh mightly poshifopit freeware, but a decent simple eq none the less i think.
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- KVRAF
- 19156 posts since 13 Feb, 2003 from Vancouver, Canada
You know, I used to use 'Q' all the time back when Nuendo 1.0 came out, back when I didn't give a shit about EQ quality, but I've completely dismissed it since then. I just tried it out again, and I have to say, it's definitely a step (or two) up from the track EQ! I may have to use this, I didn't realize it was Spectral Design (anybody ever try the Q-Metric? Lovely EQ!), wow...martian wrote:its a different eq made by spectral design, and looks pretty different i thought. anyway some functional differences: you can eq separate stereo channels, high pass starts at 20hz and at low pass 20khz (channel eq low/high pass mode is crap), orfanidis near symmetrical bell at nyquist (channel eq is severely warped), you can adjust output level, and it has a larger graph with different handling.bduffy wrote:Call me crazy, but I thought the "Q" EQ is the track EQ, just in plug-in form? It's looks identical to the track EQ...
still not comparable to teh mightly poshifopit freeware, but a decent simple eq none the less i think.
See, there you go. 6 years of Cubase use, and I'm still learning stuff - about its free effects! I really wonder what they're cooking up for SX 4...(faster launching time, please!)