Crysonic SPECTRA C1 Pro Audio Wide Band Compressor

[MelodyMan]

For balls, I prefer this or this.

Buz is cool for sure. Sonalksis is not really in the price-range . I've never been too crazy about the demo too. My taste is obviously different.

[Freeform]

I bought both spectraq and spectralive, and I was very pleased with both. Admittedly spectra-q munched on memory, but I believe it was the kind of plugin that should be used in mixed down audio for subtle balancing rather than while having 10 vstis loaded.

As for Spectra-C, I am somewhat interested in trying it out. Considering however that the general opinion from unbiased users is that it's nothing special and eats memory, I do hope that Spectrasonics keeps this in mind and focuses on the positive things mentioned (warmth), and instead focuses on developing the aspects that are more pleasing to the general crowd of musicians (at least rather than a duplicate IP addressed mystery guest). Find out what is making that warm sound Cryosonic gentlemen and you'll have your worthy golden egg. Else noone will buy the damn thing... Unless it's for rock.

[MelodyMan]

Considering however that the general opinion from unbiased users is that it's nothing special and eats memory.

For the record: I'm not biased.

I just have a different opinion .

[bduffy]

Well, I don't know...I just bought the CP series, so he's still in business, but I've emailed him twice in the last couple months with no response. And that cool linear-phase multiband has been in beta for 2 years or more...it's a shame, I think he could rule the roost if he could raise his profile a bit. Vanilla comp gets more press than he does, and he's got a bundle that can compete with Waves Mastering!

Oh OK - I thought he moved on because of that 2 year old beta. I've had CP for a while but put it away and forgot about it till tonight when you mentioned it. I like the sound of the compressors - I had CP-2 and CP-3 sounding pretty good a coupla minutes ago to smooth out things a bit. I didn't know they would compare with Waves Mastering - thanks you just saved me $675! But right now I'm tuning up Soniformer - my best dynamic EQ for transparent repairs.

Caveat: as a non-mastering engineer, I can't say for sure that Buzcomp's mastering bundle is as good/better than Waves, but it is very comparable, feature-wise and for a tenth of the price, pretty damn close.

Soniformer...what a strange beast...sounds great, though, I'll give it that. But suffers from the general bizarre-ness that puts me off most Voxengo stuff.

[kylen]

Soniformer...what a strange beast...sounds great, though, I'll give it that. But suffers from the general bizarre-ness that puts me off most Voxengo stuff.

I found that if I treat it like a kind of para-metric EQ and do a few dynamic cuts I can get a really smooth transparent sound that beats my other MB comps and Dyn EQ's. With the 32 bands I can get a pretty precise cut. For example I have a mix I'm remastering with bass guitar resonance around 90Hz, toms too loud around 100-150Hz, vocal mid range too hot around 800Hz, and too much guitar energy around 2.5KHz. If I use 4 points to set a min point at 60Hz, max point at 100Hz, then 2 more points to create a handle at 65Hz and 95Hz I can pull the threshold handle down to whatever sounds good. The same control curve can be copied to attack and release for fine tuning the adjustment.

If I try these same cuts using a parametric EQ or normal MB comp the corrections are too severe and wash out the good sound.

Maybe Aleksey has some optimization or linear phase ideas for this one! It's a such a great [re]mastering tool - nothing like it on the planet!

[bduffy]

Soniformer...what a strange beast...sounds great, though, I'll give it that. But suffers from the general bizarre-ness that puts me off most Voxengo stuff.

I found that if I treat it like a kind of para-metric EQ and do a few dynamic cuts I can get a really smooth transparent sound that beats my other MB comps and Dyn EQ's. With the 32 bands I can get a pretty precise cut. For example I have a mix I'm remastering with bass guitar resonance around 90Hz, toms too loud around 100-150Hz, vocal mid range too hot around 800Hz, and too much guitar energy around 2.5KHz. If I use 4 points to set a min point at 60Hz, max point at 100Hz, then 2 more points to create a handle at 65Hz and 95Hz I can pull the threshold handle down to whatever sounds good. The same control curve can be copied to attack and release for fine tuning the adjustment.

If I try these same cuts using a parametric EQ or normal MB comp the corrections are too severe and wash out the good sound.

Maybe Aleksey has some optimization or linear phase ideas for this one! It's a such a great [re]mastering tool - nothing like it on the planet!

Wow, that's interesting...yes, he could be sitting on one of the ultimate software mastering tools there!

[bmanic]

Soniformer is the only "low cost" plugin or effect in general that I've seen "big name" mastering engineers swear by. Most call it 'a project saver'. Personally I can't stress enough how incredibly good this tool is, the draw back is that you really need to understand how it works and that means knowing every little detail about compressors and then understand how it is applied in Soniformer. The other drawback is that like other multiband compressors, Soniformer also affects the sound a tiny bit, even when it isn't really doing any compression. I think the filters are messing a bit with the overall frequency spectrum or phase.. this is why I wouldn't use it as a 'sweetening' tool but rather as a correctional tool for problematic tunes.

.. oh, this was a crysonic thread? Sorry!

Cheers!
bManic

[kylen]

Wow, that's interesting...yes, he could be sitting on one of the ultimate software mastering tools there!

True - but I like it cause I'm always trying to balance live 2 track mixes or plain ole crappy mixes. The real way to balance that stuff is to remix - if possible...I look for trouble though...

[bduffy]

Wow, that's interesting...yes, he could be sitting on one of the ultimate software mastering tools there!

True - but I like it cause I'm always trying to balance live 2 track mixes or plain ole crappy mixes. The real way to balance that stuff is to remix - if possible...I look for trouble though...

Remix, schmemix! Magic tools rule!!

[kylen]

Remix, schmemix! Magic tools rule!!

Now if we could just get it to pop up when it needs to...

[bduffy]

Remix, schmemix! Magic tools rule!!

Now if we could just get it to pop up when it needs to...

Yeah. Like every time.

[Freeform]

Considering however that the general opinion from unbiased users is that it's nothing special and eats memory.

For the record: I'm not biased.

I just have a different opinion .

Good to know. Sorry for being paranoid... I am just wary of companies sneaking in manufactured "customers" with rehearsed reports about how great their products are. Nothing against you personally, I just got a whiff of cheese in this thread.

[MelodyMan]

Considering however that the general opinion from unbiased users is that it's nothing special and eats memory.

For the record: I'm not biased.

I just have a different opinion .

Good to know. Sorry for being paranoid... I am just wary of companies sneaking in manufactured "customers" with rehearsed reports about how great their products are. Nothing against you personally, I just got a whiff of cheese in this thread.

Maybe i was a bit overly enthusiastic . When you see my profile, you can see i've been around here for a while, from the beginning-days of Tracktion. Ah, those were the days...

I still like Spec C, though.

[Compyfox]

I'm still curious when the native versions will finally be released though. Like I said, the waiting time is as ridiculus as the waiting time for MusicLab instruments.

[SuperFly76]

I'm still curious when the native versions will finally be released though. Like I said, the waiting time is as ridiculus as the waiting time for MusicLab instruments.

I'll second that. I jumped in on the CryEverything GB a while back and have tried the plugs. While they sound good, they eat cpu for breakfast compared to others. I still sneak them into my projects but would love native, non SE, optimized dsp versions.