There was a thread last year on another site wherein I learned how to measure aliasing in VST processors and I went crazy with it all. That exercise allowed me to understand the weaknesses and strengths of the processors I can afford and use, free and paid alike. I consider processors to be very different from FX and instruments, however, so I judge them accordingly. I think most musicians feel this way to a certain degree. A processor shouldn't mangle incoming waveforms so it's important to know how accurate they are.osiris wrote:That's very interesting Aiyn. More comparisons please. Visual doesn't lie, as opposed to what people hear, or think they hear (or want to hear)
Out of curiosity, since people say AD conversion affects the sound, what did you use to generate the above pics? (I.E., DAW, etc....)
Do they look different in a different DAW? Do they look different coming through different soundcards??
It's some interesting questions.
Also, could you do some compares between VST's and hardware?
FX and synths are different, though, and I judge them on their sound and how they fit into a piece of music. I don't care what the waveforms look like. If, for want of a better example, I put Saurus into a track instead of Diva using the same parameters in each to create the same patch, in most cases the listening audience isn't going to notice a difference. Having said that, I agree that there may be times when a meticulously designed, CPU hungry, monster of circuit modeling VSTi could be useful for a part written to sit up front in the mix. An epic, in your face filter sweep, perhaps?
It gets to a point though, if we are still in the realm of accurate emulations, where a VSTi may actually sound (as someone mentioned earlier) "hyper-real"; better than the original. Then, it's no longer an emulation, its an idealization of the original. A good example are emulations of analog synths that allow one to "turn off" oscillator drift. A good idea, a great idea, that isn't an an emulation of the original.
Perhaps it's time that devs make it clear right up front as to whether or not a product is circuit modeled to indicate what could be termed "resource compatibility", similar to how "TDM" and "RTAS" labels are used to indicate what hardware resources they will need and use. I think that a company specializing in good sounding, resource conserving, plug-ins would thrive. Maybe there already is one and I'm not aware of it.
I'm just sayin'.
Sorry for the late Sunday morning, caffeine fueled, post. Time for a motorcycle ride.
