Pushtec appreciation thread

[TRIAC]

I think there's something else that needs to be said about this plug-in that no one has mentioned. It takes two seconds to dial in a sound with Pushtec. I mean, sure the interface is based off the Pultec, but I don't own a Pultec, and damn is this a great way of interfacing with an EQ. I was using Pushtec extensively last night, and I have to say, it's just a lot simpler to dial in what what you need than the Kjaerhus EQ, Posifohpit, etc. I found myself not futzing about for the perfect Q width or frequency or anything. Just 100hz, boost, 10k attenuate, pull the mids in at 1k, and ha! that bass sound will work. Workflow is important, and I like the way this plug-in is laid out. I don't care if it's the best EQ in the world, but it does allow me to dial in a sound quickly, which I think is a trait that is sometimes undervalued around here. Anyway, those are my two cents. Pushtec will be staying in my plug-in folder.

excellent explanation!

[RaelDWTW]

Well spoken indeed! This is always overlooked in the "audiophile" world of those finnish guys.

[bmanic]

No, not at all. I agree with that. However, every time I move any of the gain knobs I cringe. I simply do not like the sound. How can it be so hard to understand?

Look at it the opposite way. I like the sound of the AirEQ and I really like the fact you can hide all the numbers so as not to distract you. I'm very much in for the interface but ALWAYS, ALWAYS more for the sound. If sound doesn't turn me on, NOTHING else can. No GUI, ease of use, nothing.

Of course it DOES work the opposite way too. If I had the best EQ in the world and it had an interface that would require 30 minutes of simply cutting or boosting 2dB at 1kHz then I would probably not bother to use it.

One more analogy: Would a race car driver be happy with the exterior of a Pagani Zonda that has a basic 2 liter Ford
engine? You would still have the exterior, quite good handling, all the fancy electronics but NOT the performance.

Cheers!
bManic

[Kingston]

Well spoken indeed! This is always overlooked in the "audiophile" world of those finnish guys.

Is it really?



yeh that's my personal mod of shane sanders's ergonomic version of electri-q. coz usability *is* important.

[RaelDWTW]

Fair enough, guys. But the fact that you -bmanic- "cringe" whilst turning the gain knob, alongside your freaked-out argumentation, still bothers me. Nice mod by the way, Kingston. Personally i prefer ye olde knob.

[bmanic]

No, what bothers you is my opinion. Take it as it is. It is MY opinion. No need to listen to what I say or how I express it. Remeber, english is not my mother tongue so maybe "cringe" was the wrong word (too strong?). What I wanted to describe was like when eating food and there is just a bit too much salt so I make confused/weird face.

- bManic

[JamieSkeen]

I love the pushtec plug, great great great something this good should win the competition. thanks for making this great plug!!!

[ghost666]

No, only the dorks buying Cubase need credit.

Does this guy ever stop?

Sad.

I wonder how much his Mum spends on therapy?

[Kingston]

Sad.

It is, isn't it.

[RaelDWTW]

Bmanic, please refrain from telling me what bothers me and what doesn't. It shouldn't surprise you to hear that I mostly agree with the concept of sound over looks etc. So there's really no need to argue.

What bothers me is that one day, KVR will be ruled by a small group of audiophiles with no interest in music.

Now for the eq. Very nice GUI, and such smooth operation. Excellent, really. Now if only the sound was on par.

[LeftoverLasagne]

Hello guys,

first let me say - thanks to everyone who likes it - we're glad you enjoy it we really are. things like that keep us going. you knoow it's strange we do this for free and hope that people will like it and well are taken aback when they don't. but we hear your plea and are willing to better ourselves. although this won't happen before the developer challenge is over.

and I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to fix bugs and stuff while the contest is running. but we worked very hard to keep the deadline and so far had no bug (when you don't count some people not liking the actual sound that is) report so far, but we still believe it would be unfair to add features now (before the challenge is done).

Now let me tell you a little bit about the history of this plug-in. I was chatting with Leonardo and told him about my wish for an easy to use EQ plug-in, as well as being easy on the eyes (as in lovely to look at - like that John Mayer dude - girls you know what I'm talking about - well like him when he's not playing a solo ).

I tested some software eq's like the bombfactory pultecs and was very satisfied with the boundaries they provided - they kept me from over-using them. Leo liked the idea and we started putting things together. then we decided to - while keeping the boundaries - allow for more flexibility and added slightly more power (as in available dB's on each band). But all those vintage EQ plugs had something in common - they weren't A freeware and B only available with HEAVY copy protection (dongles and what not - stuff we absolutely disagrea on).

btw: here's a screenshot of an early version of the GUI - which was "truer" to the original layout. but we decided to change it for aesthetic & userfriendly reasons



now to the sad part for me. we (leo & me) worked very hard to get this thing together and with the help of our beta team (and JJ has been the biggest bestest betateam anyone could ever ask for - thanks for that) got a VERY stable "product" online for the developer challenge - we were proud of. we didn't say it was an exact replica (all we aimed for - and could aim for in the amount of time we had from the moment we decided to do it till the competition deadline - was an emulation) we didn't say anything about nonlinear tube modelling or such thing.

we provided an equalizer which beahves in many ways like "these analog EQs behave" if we focused on the wrong aspects for YOUR ears - we are sorry and we will keep working on it to make it more suitable for everyone. still I'm a bit shocked about the hostility expressed here. and I don't neccesarily mean twoards us or our EQ.

but when I read things like "this is the usual case of being tricked by the GUI, ie. placebo, ie. will you guys ever learn?" it really sounds to me like - "I told you so often why don't you accept my words as wisdom" - and at the same time "Lucia - great job on the GUI" - sorry Michael just joshing. But let me tell you something I honestly mean. A guy like you - with all your knowledge and musical abillity and talent - certainly can do better.

I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to state your point of view - totally fine with me!! And you're propablly right with most of your assumptions - but WHY are you (and this time it's not the LL-girl talking) so keen on changing everyone's point of view. So what if it's a placebo (and I'm not saying that's all it is) ??? as long as it gets people to have fun while mixing their tunes, or helps them to do it more quickly. While looking at something nice in the meantime? C'mon you can do better. I really appreciate your opinion - and we will make amends and try to make Pushtec a better EQ. But this crusade of yours is kinda strange to me.

And yeah I get your point - the others started it by praising something that wasn't (in your opinion) worth the praise. so f**king what? you certainly are one of the most golden eared boys out here and are a superb musician (I dig your voice btw.) - accept that and move on.

and bmanic - I'm sorry as well that when you grab to the gain knobs - you cringe. AGAIN - we will try to make it work for you - please pm me your email addy when you want to help betatesting new versions, so you can give us more input on what would please you.

I read many of your posts and, just like Michael's, value your opinion - you guys do seem to have better ears then most of us. Just one thing I gotta ask you - what did we do to get so strong reactions. was it the wish for a "100%" freeware vintage EQ? sorry to have mislead you. but to be honest I'm sure that if we, or better yet (girls may dream) when we achieve that - I guess we would want to sell it for about 40€ or so instead of giving it out for free.

we love freeware but we're no millionairs either.

we have never said this was the be all end all - best of the bestest EQ plugins ever. We just wanted to, no I wanted to have an EQ for myself that would behave like those vintage EQs without having to revert to a dongle.

I for one am really glad about the way this EQ turned out. But I also think there's room for improvement and we're already thinking about a bigger and better (though not brighter) version - so again if you wanna have a say during the development of this new version - please feel free to feel yourself invited.

I hope this post didn't come out wrong. english is not my first language. so please bare with me if I said something stupid.

with the best regards
Lucia (GUIgal for LeftoverLasagne)

P.S. I don't hate Cubase but then again I've never used it

[sinkmusic]

I haven't read every topic from the thread (and i won't), but hey ! this thing has a nice GUI,it sounds nice, it has a unique way of working for an eq (and the interface is VERY important, not only the GUi or the features, but the way you give the user access to it), it has midi learn ( )and it is given for free, with very responsive "support" : So hey ! I really don't see why would someone complain or get faming anybody !
I don't even know who did get angry or flamed who, whatever, this is just a plugin, a good plugin, but why the f_ck sometimes do we see so many reactions on forums like it is a higly political debate ?

I don't get the point, and don't want to go deeper into this, i just want to say : thank you for your contribution to the DC, nice GUI, fine stuff, thanks for giving it to everyone. The only thing i could imagine to improve it is a input/output level fader, but if it doesn't have one one of these days, it won't be the end f the world and i'll keep using it.

[Watto]

I can't believe anyone would have deleted this plug from their folder just because of something Kingston or bmaniac said - if so, they're a little

Useability has a lot to do with how attractive a plugin is, and this is amazingly well set out IMO. To use bmaniac's analogy, you could have the most souped-up sports car in the world, but if the seat's uncomfortable...

That's not to say these guys aren't entitled to their opinion, and on a forum you can't dictate their tone either, but to read and then act on their opinion alone??!!

Of course, this is all just my opinion, and if you let that dictate your behaviour, I'd call you a little as well.

[ghost666]

Hey, thanks again Lucia.
Your GUI rocks.

Sound improvements to come or not... your plug has already earnt it's place in my arsenal, so to speak.
I'm using this thing, will continue to do so & I would pay for the priveledge if I had too.
You & your teams efforts are not unappreciated here.

While I haven't used an actual hardware Pultec, I do own the UAD1 Pultecs & close or not to the real thing, your plugin gives me another colour to add to my sound palette.

Please keep up the great work & if you ever need another beta tester in your ranks, gimme a yell, I'd participate gladly.

[bmanic]

I can't believe anyone would have deleted this plug from their folder just because of something Kingston or bmaniac said - if so, they're a little

That's not to say these guys aren't entitled to their opinion, and on a forum you can't dictate their tone either, but to read and then act on their opinion alone??!!

Exactly. This is very worrying to me. Look, people, I'm just a human being too. Please don't be mindless sheep and go by somebodys opinion alone. It's bad as it is already in the music industry (heck, all over the globe, hence we are in such a mess! people NEED TO start thinking by themselves and make up their own conclusions instead of letting the stupid media force-feed them garbage).

So once more: Just because I do not like the plugins sound, does NOT make it bad at all. Also, if I say that I'm not impressed by something I also try to point out the reasons (which can be wrong even! :shock horror!: ) so that people can get a perspective on my opinion.

What bothers me is that one day, KVR will be ruled by a small group of audiophiles with no interest in music.

You saying I have no interest in music?

The single most important reason why I'm currently having a mastering studio built is because I have a burning passion for music. I actually find the opposite usually true: People who don't really care about the fidelity of the audio they produce/compose tend to be of the "McDonalds" generation, treating music as a basic commodity, de-valuing music (this is actually happening at an alarming rate and there are several official polls that prove it. The 'value' of music in the minds of teenagers has gone dramatically down).

Anyways, I'm going way off topic here, so apologies for that. I don't think KvR is in any danger of becoming "audiophilized", ever. It's simply too large a community and this is what makes it so great.


@LeftoverLasagne & CO:

First of all, please don't get stuck on single words that I say. It looks like "cringe" was the wrong choise. Just like you, I don't speak english natively either. I thought that "cringe" would suit in the context, obviously it did not. Second, I have absolutely nothing at all against freeware, on the contrary I highly encourage it!

In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have chimed in on this thread at all. I'm slowly learning to simply avoid giving out any critique as it seems like quite a lot of people read what we "finns" write here. It's a bit sad but looks like it's human nature and inevitable.
I know I can be a bit harsh at times and forget that somebody has actually put a lot of time into something but this is just how I have gotten to where I am today. Probably it comes from my background as a classically trained pianist (I was at one point really aiming for world dominance.. ). In that world there is definately no patting anybody's back "yeah, good job, you played that quite well" and I can see how it is necessary. Another reason might be that we finns are a bit blunt (sorry for the generalisation my fellow countrymen ). It's just our way (we are generally quite opposite to the Brittish/American way who can small talk and be "too kind" all the time). What I'm obviously trying to do here is to apologise for the harsh words earlier. Sorry.

I could give you guys my opinions during developement but you have to realise that I'm not the usual "wow! great realease! it totally rocks!" kind of tester. I'd rather run you some test files trough various tube gear for reference and try to pinpoint what sounds "wrong" or artificial compared to the hardware.

@everybody reading this:

Did you actually listen to the files I posted earlier? It would be interesting to see if you guys can hear/appreciate non-linearities or not. It would give me a good perspective of what the general public hears. I'm simply suffering from the "once you've seen the truth about the matrix, there is no turning back" syndrome.

Cheers!
bManic