Thoughts on CS-Strip87 from eaReckon

[audiobot202]

I just bought this yesterday. I have not yet had much chance to try it, but I have used across 3 or 4 channels and it seemed to perform a nice gentle, transparent job on them. I quite like the light indicators on the Compressor to let me know when the compressor is working. It gives me a good indication of how far it's being pushed and when I need to back it off...apart from the sound.
The Lo/Hi cut before the comp is useful and the output before the internal Limiter is handy to push a hotter signal into Limiting.
EQ seems to be quite sweet sounding and useful too. Don't know too much about Gates, so can't comment on it
All in all seems quite nice and low CPU. I did see some surges to 38% per instance in Studio One v2 though, but there's every chance it's a S1 issue. I have noticed some instability with certain plugs and Melodyne is particularly heavy and can cause some spikes.

Anyway, anyone else demoed or bought this? Like to hear some thoughts, technical or otherwise.

[@midnight]

I quite like the light indicators on the Compressor to let me know when the compressor is working. It gives me a good indication of how far it's being pushed and when I need to back it off...apart from the sound.

Most compressors have a gain reduction meter, don't they?

Anyways, these guys stuff always seems "cheap" to me, if I may say so. Definitely not worth spending the money on with the alternatives available both free and inexpensive.

[audiobot202]

I quite like the light indicators on the Compressor to let me know when the compressor is working. It gives me a good indication of how far it's being pushed and when I need to back it off...apart from the sound.

Most compressors have a gain reduction meter, don't they?

Anyways, these guys stuff always seems "cheap" to me, if I may say so. Definitely not worth spending the money on with the alternatives available both free and inexpensive.

It's a strip plugin, so it contains cut down sections of the full plugins, hence, no GR. I wouldn't call it a precision compressor, but a gentle one. Yeah, I guess you could call DDMFs plugins cheap as well, but actually they're high quality. Same with SKnote: even cheaper, but high quality. Cheap does not always mean crap. The eaReverb gets good reviews here and is made by the same guy.
If you've demoed the plugin, I could understand your logic. If not, it's just an opinion based on speculation about price versus quality; which, in the VST world, is not always obvious.
I know some of the alternatives you speak of. Never been a fan of the Bootsie plugins and have plenty of others myself..so this is just another flavour.

[xybre]

Anyways, these guys stuff always seems "cheap" to me, if I may say so. Definitely not worth spending the money on with the alternatives available both free and inexpensive.

It's a strip plugin, so it contains cut down sections of the full plugins, hence, no GR. I wouldn't call it a precision compressor, but a gentle one. Yeah, I guess you could call DDMFs plugins cheap as well, but actually they're high quality. Same with SKnote: even cheaper, but high quality. Cheap does not always mean crap. The eaReverb gets good reviews here and is made by the same guy.
If you've demoed the plugin, I could understand your logic. If not, it's just an opinion based on speculation about price versus quality; which, in the VST world, is not always obvious.
I know some of the alternatives you speak of. Never been a fan of the Bootsie plugins and have plenty of others myself..so this is just another flavour.

Eh? I'm pretty sure each of those companies is totally different and not made by the same guy. If you look at the "about" pages it tells you that.

I've only really tested the standalone compressor. And I can't say its bad, it just didn't vibe with me for some reason. I know thats probably silly to say, but I just had a hard time making it sound like I wanted it to, with some other compressors it was able to immediately coax any sound from them.. but not all.

One thing PFozz showed me is that the channel strip can do a really good job of overall enhancement and loudness while still keeping sharp transients, I had a hard time replicating the same effect with another channel strip I had.

I think if it vibes with you and sounds like you want it to sound then critics be damned.

EDIT: Always preview before submitting..

[audiobot202]

Anyways, these guys stuff always seems "cheap" to me, if I may say so. Definitely not worth spending the money on with the alternatives available both free and inexpensive.

It's a strip plugin, so it contains cut down sections of the full plugins, hence, no GR. I wouldn't call it a precision compressor, but a gentle one. Yeah, I guess you could call DDMFs plugins cheap as well, but actually they're high quality. Same with SKnote: even cheaper, but high quality. Cheap does not always mean crap. The eaReverb gets good reviews here and is made by the same guy.
If you've demoed the plugin, I could understand your logic. If not, it's just an opinion based on speculation about price versus quality; which, in the VST world, is not always obvious.
I know some of the alternatives you speak of. Never been a fan of the Bootsie plugins and have plenty of others myself..so this is just another flavour.

Eh? I'm pretty sure each of those companies is totally different and not made by the same guy. If you look at the "about" pages it tells you that.

I've only really tested the standalone compressor. And I can't say its bad, it just didn't vibe with me for some reason. I know thats probably silly to say, but I just had a hard time making it sound like I wanted it to, with some other compressors it was able to immediately coax any sound from them.. but not all.

One thing PFozz showed me is that the channel strip can do a really good job of overall enhancement and loudness while still keeping sharp transients, I had a hard time replicating the same effect with another channel strip I had.

I think if it vibes with you and sounds like you want it to sound then critics be damned.

EDIT: Always preview before submitting..

I know all those companies are different. The point I was trying to make in response to the other poster is that cheap plugins don't necessarily mean low quality. The other vendors I listed also sell inexpensive plugins and most agree that they are high quality effects.
I think the compressor in particular is quite gentle. It's not aggressive at all. This is a good thing for a channel Strip I think. If character is needed, there are other plugs to do that. Have you tried the CP1A from Mellowmuse? Not a character compressor, but very easy to get results quickly and dial in a setting.
I don't NEED the Strip. I have other high quality compressors and EQs, but the price was right and I didn't have another Strip with the same internal routing that did the job in as gentle a way as this one.

[miro pajic]

I wanted to like it(!) but we didn't become friends. The compressor didn't do it for me at all. I love Channelstrips and the GUI is very nice but........

[xybre]

I know all those companies are different. The point I was trying to make in response to the other poster is that cheap plugins don't necessarily mean low quality. The other vendors I listed also sell inexpensive plugins and most agree that they are high quality effects.
I think the compressor in particular is quite gentle. It's not aggressive at all. This is a good thing for a channel Strip I think. If character is needed, there are other plugs to do that. Have you tried the CP1A from Mellowmuse? Not a character compressor, but very easy to get results quickly and dial in a setting.
I don't NEED the Strip. I have other high quality compressors and EQs, but the price was right and I didn't have another Strip with the same internal routing that did the job in as gentle a way as this one.

Ah I see what you mean. I don't think he meant inexpensive, I think he meant "feel" or "sound". Or at least that's what would make sense to me.

I use free and inexpensive plugs right next to ones that cost me a huge chunk of change, as I imagine many of us do. Some audio gear just can't be beat, whatever the price.

I haven't tried the CP1A yet, its on my list though. I am really fond of the CP2V however, its like its alive or something.

[audiobot202]

I wanted to like it(!) but we didn't become friends. The compressor didn't do it for me at all. I love Channelstrips and the GUI is very nice but........

That's fair enough. It is a very gentle compressor. I quite like preserving dynamics throughout the mix, so the idea of just taming the signal a little is appealing. A more aggressive character could be used before it in the channel to get some depth and grit and this could simply be used as a final stage to even out the sound.

[miro pajic]

Yes, true but I remember even having a hard time dialing in the desired amount/finding a sweet spot. For simple peak catching tasks, Live's compressor does a better job IMO & I have lots of options, which can even make it a character compressor if I want to.

As said, I really liked the SSL inspired design very much but just didn't find any use. Really sorry PFozz! I also remember that using/turning the knobs was somewhat weird. Didn't like the behaviour (and honestly, I'm not a very picky person when it comes to that!). I think they were very sensitive and hard to "control".

[audiobot202]

If you want to catch sharp transients, easy to use a comp with a fast attack before it. I don't think this comp was designed to distort or act too quickly on clamping down on the peaks. I think it adds a moderate amount of compression, and with a slow attack and release, it can function quite nicely on vocals or sustained sounds. Even when pushed harder, it's unlikely to add any grain or distortion to the sound. This tonal character also has an upside in that it tends to preserve transients rather than flattening or distorting them. That's really the type of compressor needed in a Strip type plugin to be fair.
Obviously this is not for everyone, but for material where you really want to preserve tonal character, but still seek some gentle compression and EQ sculpting, I think this one fits the bill quite nicely. It's not hard or digital sounding and fits quite naturally in the mix. Not a character compressor though; but then, we have plenty of those to choose from.

OK...I've just run a drum loop through it. I have pushed the compressor hard...shortest attack and release to try and cause distortion. I have also maximised the output against the final inbuilt limiter set at 0 db and there is no grain or distortion at all. In fact, the drum loop is heavily compressed at max makeup gain and ratio and even then, there is no distortion. The drum loop is even pumping at this point if that type of character is needed...but at no point is there any evidence of distortion in the signal. Now, some may view this as too gentle, but I just tried it on bread and butter material and was able to get a pumping sound out of it very quickly and then dial it back to gentle compression.

[PFozz]

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I wanted to like it(!) but we didn't become friends

Some love it and some may not... It is really not a problem to me.
Thanks for giving it a try!

Most compressors have a gain reduction meter, don't they?

This has been requested by some users.
The next update will have a gain reduction meter as well as a "gate openess meter".

Really sorry PFozz! I also remember that using/turning the knobs was somewhat weird. Didn't like the behaviour (and honestly, I'm not a very picky person when it comes to that!). I think they were very sensitive and hard to "control".

No problem! Just in case it could be usefull, it is possible to turn knobs with more precision by pressing the Shift key.

I have pushed the compressor hard...shortest attack and release to try and cause distortion. I have also maximised the output against the final inbuilt limiter set at 0 db and there is no grain or distortion at all.

This is exactly what they have been designed for
The limiter features a very special algorithm. I'm not sure something similar can be found elsewhere (please tell me if I'm wrong).
"Brickwall" + "No Distortion" are the first specifications of BW-LIMIT87...
It may be fun to process an E.Piano through a Brickwall limiter (even an expensive one) with a very fast release time... This is what decided me to work on the Analog87 Series more than one year ago.

Thanks again for your precious feedback!
All the best,
Philippe

[@midnight]

The limiter features a very special algorithm. I'm not sure something similar can be found elsewhere (please tell me if I'm wrong).
"Brickwall" + "No Distortion" are the first specifications of BW-LIMIT87...

http://loudmax.blogspot.com/

[PFozz]

Just tested it (LoudMax) with usual problematic sources.
It is different than BW-LIMIT87 (auto-release/no release knob, different sound, ...) but it is a good limiter indeed.
Thanks for sharing the link.

[miro pajic]

PFozz:

I really wish I could have liked your plugins but it didn't "click" with me. Maybe I expected more vibe (which I always prefer to clean and plain) especially when you come up with an SSL design.

[PFozz]

miro pajic:

It is not a problem, really, and I sincerely appreciate your feedback.

Those who love them usually appreciate how "smooth" these plugins are.
Some may not like them for the exact same reason.
They are obviously more usefull as everyday mixing tools than as creative effects (except SD-GATE87 probably).
Most users are currently engineers/producers working either on "soft" acoustic instruments or pure electronic materials (hip-hop / electro).

It's probably easier to get a unanimous positive feedback about something like EAReverb because almost everybody may potentially need a reverb which sounds very natural (even if a lot of users may also need a shimmering/lush reverb tale from another reverb plugin).

Maybe you will like the next eaReckon thing
I don't know when it will be available but it will be a very different beast!
However, I still have to update the ANALOG87 Series, EAReverb and BloXpander before I can finalize this thing...

Thanks again for your feedback!
All the best,
Philippe