saturation plug in on the master bus?

[Barendse]

With Nebula it's a love-hate situation everyday because it's a pain to use but its programs are above and beyond any other similar plugin, sound-wise. I wish it were more user-friendly and used less resources but I guess the latter won't happen any time soon.

That's why Nebula is perfect for mix buss duties. Just insert Nebula in your mix buss and start mixing with your other plugs.

[eytanmich123]

...but the one I use most often is the free Voxengo Tube Amp, in Mode 2 with 8x oversampling:

Great way to subtly thicken a mix or submix without colouring it too much.

What other settings besides those two are you using ? (Drive\Bias\LP Freq)

[sadkin]

is it coincidence that the Camel Phat banner has been displayed consistently at the bottom of the pages while reading this thread?

Yes it is coincidence.

You're imagining (probably random banner display)

I've never tried it but noticed its prevalence and have noticed a few folks giving Camel products a 'nod'.

The "product" I've mentioned doesn't cost you a penny. nada. camel phat (which
I own) couldn't get me there with the same easiness (though I might get there if
I'll copy the common settings).

So many options between tape emulators, console bus saturators, compressors and the other tools like FATSO and this new UBK1 - wow, what a time we live in.

Yes, amazing and disastrous at the same time (more of the latter, if you ask me).

One cannot make music while pondering over a thousand tools.

couldn't agree more!!, been A/Bing for the last :30 min on a bass tone. while not saturation based (per the thread), the tones I am deciding between are 1) from a snappier SSL tone from the G SSL, or 2) a combo COMP/EQ of the Waves CLA-2 and a Trident EQ. - I like CLA-2/Trident voluptuousness, but I also like the decisive, controlled snap of the SSL. ...over :30 minutes, back and forth. You are right the option are killing efficiency....mine at least.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[IIRs]

...but the one I use most often is the free Voxengo Tube Amp, in Mode 2 with 8x oversampling:

Great way to subtly thicken a mix or submix without colouring it too much.

What other settings besides those two are you using ? (Drive\Bias\LP Freq)

Drive usually in negative values on a full mix, though I sometimes run it higher but only mix in a small amount of wet signal. Bias is set by ear, though higher settings usually sound too obviously distorted for a full mix (to my ears) and I usually stay below half-way. I usually don't touch the LP filter at all and just leave it wide open.

[bmanic]

wanna know a REALLY cool plugin i bet most of you have never heard of, that sounds BRILLIANT on master bus??

(not bait, real answer coming)

The suspense is killing me.

fielding dsp reviver.

it does what sony inflator and voxengo varistaturator do but without any of the nasty distortion both those products produce.

it creates a very present "warmth" that you can simply feel, subtly, and smoothly, that just sounds better on everything i have put it on. EVERYTHING.

and NO nasty side effects no matter how hard you drive it.

A little known and underrated product, i hope the company stays alive, and they do a 64 bit, i'd happily pay the asking price for it, even though it's almost a week's pension pay lol.

i just worry about investing cause plug in has never seen an update that i know of (correct if wrong) and i think the last build was 2009?? It works flawlessly as it is in MAC as a 32 bit plugin ( i have not tested windwos)..but.. hosts and OSes move on!

Hmm.. I remember trying the reviver demo a long time ago but I was not impressed at that time. I remember it having some buzzing issues while creating it's harmonics.

Technically you should be able to get the exact same results by carefully tweaking Christian Budde's Christortion plugin.. then again, his plugins are always extremely buggy and not available for OSX.. so scratch that idea!

You might also want to take a look at

http://weldroid.net/track/synesthesia-2-vst

.. though that one is not available for OSX either. (see a pattern here? )

Cheers!
bManic

[kvaca]

With Nebula it's a love-hate situation everyday because it's a pain to use but its programs are above and beyond any other similar plugin, sound-wise. I wish it were more user-friendly and used less resources but I guess the latter won't happen any time soon.

no and no!!!
I know that Nebula is much harder to use compared to almost any other plugin-BUT for me this is not a big problem IF the sound is SIGNIFICANTLY better than average plugins are...Im sorry but so far I have seen soooo many happy statements about how Nebula program XY sounds better,above and beyond anything...,punchier,clearer...etcetc..than similar emulation from Waves,IKM...you name them...BUT WHERE IS one single AB demo to prove this???
AND-where is one single demo comparing that Nebula program with original sampled hardware??? /not to mention that sometimes is even hard to tell which hardware it was... /

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[kvaca]

sorry there is no buzzing in reviver. It must have been a bug they fixed.

it's awesome.

agree,its almost impossible to create hearable buzz only with second and third harmonics,also aliasing is not a big problem...I dont use reviver but its very similar to Nxtasy and other saturators...

[nixim1]

PSP mix saturator has a wonderful warm sound- highly recommended. Also, Waves mpx... I like how it's rolling off the lows.

[Mercado_Negro]

With Nebula it's a love-hate situation everyday because it's a pain to use but its programs are above and beyond any other similar plugin, sound-wise. I wish it were more user-friendly and used less resources but I guess the latter won't happen any time soon.

no and no!!!
I know that Nebula is much harder to use compared to almost any other plugin-BUT for me this is not a big problem IF the sound is SIGNIFICANTLY better than average plugins are...Im sorry but so far I have seen soooo many happy statements about how Nebula program XY sounds better,above and beyond anything...,punchier,clearer...etcetc..than similar emulation from Waves,IKM...you name them...BUT WHERE IS one single AB demo to prove this???
AND-where is one single demo comparing that Nebula program with original sampled hardware??? /not to mention that sometimes is even hard to tell which hardware it was... /

To me it is significantly better though you have a different opinion so it's OK, we're human beings after all and we're not equal

I'd like to spend some hours A/B'ing stuff so you can hear it for yourself but a) I have a slow connection to upload 44.1kHz/24bit wavs and b) the only way to know what Nebula sounds like is when you use it in a project. I'd really wish you could hear what CDSoundMaster's Siemens W295B hi-shelf sounds like and how different is the result when you compare it to your favorite EQ hi-shelf. The VBeQ (API 550A) low end, the way the PoolTeQ works on high mids, etc., etc. Tons of examples but like I said you'd have to use it for yourself to notice these differences. Maybe Nebula is not good for compression, people can even say its consoles aren't good enough but no one, who's used Nebula3 Pro, can ever say there is one single EQ out there that can beat Nebula. There is none, period

[kvaca]

With Nebula it's a love-hate situation everyday because it's a pain to use but its programs are above and beyond any other similar plugin, sound-wise. I wish it were more user-friendly and used less resources but I guess the latter won't happen any time soon.

no and no!!!
I know that Nebula is much harder to use compared to almost any other plugin-BUT for me this is not a big problem IF the sound is SIGNIFICANTLY better than average plugins are...Im sorry but so far I have seen soooo many happy statements about how Nebula program XY sounds better,above and beyond anything...,punchier,clearer...etcetc..than similar emulation from Waves,IKM...you name them...BUT WHERE IS one single AB demo to prove this???
AND-where is one single demo comparing that Nebula program with original sampled hardware??? /not to mention that sometimes is even hard to tell which hardware it was... /

To me it is significantly better though you have a different opinion so it's OK, we're human beings after all and we're not equal

I'd like to spend some hours A/B'ing stuff so you can hear it for yourself but a) I have a slow connection to upload 44.1kHz/24bit wavs and b) the only way to know what Nebula sounds like is when you use it in a project. I'd really wish you could hear what CDSoundMaster's Siemens W295B hi-shelf sounds like and how different is the result when you compare it to your favorite EQ hi-shelf. The VBeQ (API 550A) low end, the way the PoolTeQ works on high mids, etc., etc. Tons of examples but like I said you'd have to use it for yourself to notice these differences. Maybe Nebula is not good for compression, people can even say its consoles aren't good enough but no one, who's used Nebula3 Pro, can ever say there is one single EQ out there that can beat Nebula. There is none, period

well,I have Nebula3pro and I never have used their EQ or anything...maybe Im the audio-idiot from your point of view,but I prefer clean EQ like PLPar is and same time dirty saturators like Kramer tape,Amplitube Soldano etc...and thats all Nebula cannot still deliver,no?

btw-in the past I have heard somewhere on the net AB demo of song treated with Neve Portico and with Nebula similar program-and I hardly can say the difference between both /in mp3 quality and average headphones/and what is even worse-I have most of the time slightly prefered the non-processed audio against the processed ones! afterall-I can say anything but for sure not that the difference was significant in that AB demo...

I'd like to spend some hours A/B'ing stuff so you can hear it for yourself but a) I have a slow connection to upload 44.1kHz/24bit wavs

I think its not needed from you-if Acoustica or 3rd parties want to sell more Nebula or N.programmes,they should do it...or stop telling people fairy tales...

[kvaca]

PSP mix saturator has a wonderful warm sound- highly recommended. Also, Waves mpx... I like how it's rolling off the lows.

yes-that PSP was my first usable saturator-some 10 years ago...but sadly I dont use it much now,becouse of that MPX and Melda one

[Barendse]

"well,I have Nebula3pro and I never have used their EQ or anything..."

Right.

[Mercado_Negro]

With Nebula it's a love-hate situation everyday because it's a pain to use but its programs are above and beyond any other similar plugin, sound-wise. I wish it were more user-friendly and used less resources but I guess the latter won't happen any time soon.

no and no!!!
I know that Nebula is much harder to use compared to almost any other plugin-BUT for me this is not a big problem IF the sound is SIGNIFICANTLY better than average plugins are...Im sorry but so far I have seen soooo many happy statements about how Nebula program XY sounds better,above and beyond anything...,punchier,clearer...etcetc..than similar emulation from Waves,IKM...you name them...BUT WHERE IS one single AB demo to prove this???
AND-where is one single demo comparing that Nebula program with original sampled hardware??? /not to mention that sometimes is even hard to tell which hardware it was... /

To me it is significantly better though you have a different opinion so it's OK, we're human beings after all and we're not equal

I'd like to spend some hours A/B'ing stuff so you can hear it for yourself but a) I have a slow connection to upload 44.1kHz/24bit wavs and b) the only way to know what Nebula sounds like is when you use it in a project. I'd really wish you could hear what CDSoundMaster's Siemens W295B hi-shelf sounds like and how different is the result when you compare it to your favorite EQ hi-shelf. The VBeQ (API 550A) low end, the way the PoolTeQ works on high mids, etc., etc. Tons of examples but like I said you'd have to use it for yourself to notice these differences. Maybe Nebula is not good for compression, people can even say its consoles aren't good enough but no one, who's used Nebula3 Pro, can ever say there is one single EQ out there that can beat Nebula. There is none, period

well,I have Nebula3pro and I never have used their EQ or anything...maybe Im the audio-idiot from your point of view,but I prefer clean EQ like PLPar is and same time dirty saturators like Kramer tape,Amplitube Soldano etc...and thats all Nebula cannot still deliver,no?

Hey no! You're not an audio-idiot, you just have a different point of view and you prefer other tools, that's perfectly fine. No, Nebula still can't deliver that but Michael Angel, from CDSoundMaster, developed a plug-in called "VTM-M2" which adds that saturation you're talking about when using the R2R. In theory you should use 3 Nebula instances to get very close to tapes behavior: R2R + TapeBooster + VTM-M2. I have used this VTM-M2 plug-in with Waves KMT (first KMT then VTM-M2), setting the KMT at very low record levels (around -9/-12, compensated) and the VTM-M2 adding that extra bite of saturation. Works great

[EDIT] Oh, I forgot, if you just heard the commercial library that comes with Nebula3 Pro then I understand why can feel that way. That library was OK 4 years ago or so, not anymore. You need 3rd party libraries to hear what's capable of.