Precision Compressor / Limiter now available on T-RackS CS + AAX compatibility

[poshook]

been testing against The Glue on 2Bus and prefer The Glue in most situations because is more 3D (focused) and less pumping in higher GRs

[Compyfox]

Stereo compressors are usually declared as "bus compressors" (could we stop this double-s nonsense by now? Bus as in "data line" or "channel", to buss means: "to kiss playfully or rudely").

Now here's something you don't usually get on a lot of audio forums...I had no idea you were thinking that when discussing a buss compressor, good to know!

I think some crazy engineer started that trend to call it "buss" as in form of "bussing something together", which can be taken as "well, the signal is being fused together, like some hot lovin'". But, it's either a bus, or summing.


It's as grammatical incorrect as saying stuff like "this sounds analog". Arg!

Again:
a bus (as in a channel)
a stereo bus, or 2-bus, quad-bus, etc
a summing bus (again, as in summing channel = mix bus = stereo sum)

But not "buss". Else I call it from now on "snog compressor" (as in: "make out" compressor, yeah - let's get it on!).

take care, next is plugin /plug-in..

Depending on the dictionary you're using, both are correct. But the prefered form is plug-in. (at least accordng to the EN dictionary in "After the Deadline" and "Thunderbird").

This is not as drastic as "bus". As funny as it might sound to you.

Compyfox, the sound is really impressive. I would like a mix or blend knob if possible. That would really make me love something even more that I already love. But the Neve and SSL bus comp are now my two favorites!

A Mix/Blend Knob is fairly simple, especially if you use a modular environment. But controlling the compressor through a sidechain, which can be done with the 1176 and the LA2A as well (at least in hardware form, though I'm not sure which of these two need to be modded), lies on a whole different ballpark.

Certain modern compressor creations already have that built in, and it wasn't such a big deal until like the last 10 years or so. But if we talk about emulations, that should be covered as well.

In terms of the Slate VBC plugins, the sidechaining (at least for the RED) will be eventually implemented. I filed that as FR, and it's high on the list.

Peter wrote me a nice long response about it that really piqued my interest and I ended up buying both last night as well as another bass and cab.

If I had the funds, I'd stock up to Grand, and then get at least the NEVE. But alas, I don't. And I hope for IKM to create a system where you pay like 99EUR (incl VAT) once a year and you get ALL plugins for T-Racks that will arive within that timespan.

Like... a subscription plan, or Season Pass or something. Can even be seen as the infamous WUP plan. But heck, you'd be sorrow free and can still use these tools to your liking.

But I can at least dream.

[audiosabre]

Stereo compressors are usually declared as "bus compressors" (could we stop this double-s nonsense by now? Bus as in "data line" or "channel", to buss means: "to kiss playfully or rudely").

Then, buss compressor is a better description than I first thought. Kiss playfully, that's exactly what I want it to do

Duly noted though, foxy.

[kylen]

...But not "buss". Else I call it from now on "snog compressor"...

OK, I'll try and remember, don't want to be responsible for that!
Now that you mention it my trusty Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook uses 'bus' as well as 'group'. I've got some other things that use the term 'buss'...never thought about the global impact of that one!

But back on Track - I keep wanting to hit the trigger on this one but I just don't want an IK Kiosk on my trusty PC. I already went thru that with a couple of other devs and I just don't want the overhead or to spend time to clean up. I've got a bunch of older Tracks plugs but I'm still on the fence about CS so I guess I'm not helping this thread any - other than I'd like to put the Precision up against the VBC's I purchased (different I know but from an ITB perspective) as well as the cupwise nebula and glue...

[kylen]

Where's the secret link to demo this comp?

I dl'd the Custom Shop - registered my T-Racks3 plugins, watched the YouTube video on CS and I'm supposed to be able to 'TRY' plugins I don't have, easily, at the speed of the internet.

I press Dynamics --> Precision Comp

I get a message 'Model Not Available' THe model has not been activated...do you wish to enter the Custom Shop now to try out or purchase...

Well yes, of course please...

I hit yes and up pops my Nomad Factory Licenses folder...

Windows 7, Reaper, Custom Shop version (whatever I downloaded on 11AUG2013 from the website, can't find any version info on the Custom Shop VST).

argh!@#$

[sounddesigner]

Any more details about the modeling? Is there heavy physical modeling involved? The buzz around the Black 76 for instance is that the compression behavior is spot on but a bit more transparent than the real deal because the input section that contribute to harmonic content and distortion was not physically modeled. It would be nice to know more about the process involved.

I guess you didn't see that Black 76 and White 2A were updated a while ago to rectify this, we should have posted more about that but definitely let people here know... Our process is meticulous, when we model a real piece of hardware like this we use the real deal and we take it apart, analyze and measure everything, even repairing any issues on some of the vintage gear if it has any because we have people here who are qualified to do so... We even modeled a hand-built compressor made by one of our own for our Opto Compressor so that is truly one-of-a-kind and all of this contributes to how our modeling is top shelf.

Thanks for this. Normally I would be skeptical but have been really impressed with your releases that have come out the last two or three years. So you must be doing something different (in a good way) than before. The dynamics plugins seem to have a nice character, nail the behavior, and are able to do so without squashing the dynamics too much or imparting weird artifacts that most other digital compressors do.

I agree! I did not like IK's first emulations but after demoing these last two days their most recent releases i must say i'm impressed. I'm not a color-box chaser but was greatly compelled to download and try IK's 33609 emulation since UAD's version has always been one of my favorite ITB compressors and i missed it. IK did a great job, its sound definitely has weight, thickness, and a bit of smoothness, and handle fairly extreme settings well. It's a otherworldly beast. Both UAD and IK versions are masterpieces. I no longer have the UAD version to compare to see wich is better but i'm sure IK's is atleast as good if not better judging by memory. Wich means IK has come a long way imo. 33609 was UAD's flagship compressor for a long time (probably still is) and definitely the "jewel in the crown" imo. It's the one plugin that beganned another level for UAD and the only one i really truly missed when leaving that platform so i was definitely curiouse about IK's version. I guess good things come to those who wait since IK now has one i may have it again.

To Peter from IK or any other IK agent. I have a couple questions:

1. Can i uninstall IK's Authorization Manager and any other un-needed software and still keep my plugins activated once i've bought and installed plugins? I don't like unnecessary programs installed and running on my computer. I had multiple crashes with your plugin demos running Sonar, Reason, Rewire, Web pages for your demos, the demos, and whatever else your huge software download has with it. Task Manager now shows more processes running on my system. Also several times i tried to run the demo again i got no response from your website for granting permission, i had to retry several times before getting activated again. Is it possible to uninstall or inactivate some of the software?

2. I see that License transfer credits are sold at the webstore but Custome Shop purchased plugins are non-transferable. Will IK consider selling a single license key for all of a users Custom Shop plugins so that they can be transferable as well? Would that be a good enough solution? I'm a bit scared to invest or get heavily invested in IK plugins due to the non-transferable license policy for Custome Shop plugins. Losing a $100 due to non-resale policy is'nt that bad but losing several hundreds or thousands of dollars is horrible to even think about. I believe the ability to resale has always been fundamental twards surviving in this world, you don't have rent money you sell something you own. You don't have food you sell something you own. That's how it's always been since the dawn of time and that's how it'll always be. No matter how much we supposedly advance as people some things are never suppose to change. The right to resale is VERY important. I'd hate to see myself homeless on the streets one day while having $5,000.00 worth of software that i can't resale, that's a very bad joke.


I'm not a fan of Internet Activation but its better than dongle and UAD so i accept it. However i'd be more than happy with the whole paradigm if IK come with a solution for the non-resale situation and would gladly invest in IK products especially since i love the all-in-one plugin concept (one of the reasons i'm a HUGE fan of Izotope). I really don't want to buy too many plugins that don't follow this all-in-one concept for several reasons (Price, Workflow, Re-installation, and they allow me to cheat when fighting off collecting plugins and to tell myself i don't own that many plugins ).

I do like the credit-purchase scheme in place cause it offers further discounts on larger orders so i don't have any issue with it. SSL and UAD sell many plugins for around $300 for a single plugin but IK's credit system allows for 500 credits to be purchased for $300 wich can get a customer 5 plugins of high and comparable quality. Not that i need 5 more plugins but i am interested in 500 credits since it allows for such a huge bargain and i like to make the best purchase far as saving money goes. But again the non-resale policy is bothering me. I still may buy atleast one plugin but am more scared to get too heavily invested and need to further think about all this.

Sorry for the long post but i try to investigate as much as i can before getting involved with a company (tho i did own some IK products many many years ago but that was long ago). I try to find the best company to deal with especiall after the situation i had with SSL and their overly priced and overly copy-protected duende plugins and non-caring attitude twards customers.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Understandable, sounddesigner. I have much shorter answers, though, which may or may not be unfortunate...

1. I believe that you'd be safe with Authorization Manager since that is also safest to get back if you need it directly (at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/authorizationmanager without installing an associated product from your User Area). Custom Shop and other components (though you probably did say no to QuickTime during the install already, note that that one is purely optional if you are not using T-RackS Standalone and furthermore not importing certain media types) are another story. You may want to consult the folks at support for those. If you removed Authorization Manager and were asked for authorization again, you could download it again and even the reauthorization would likely reuse an authorization instead of burning a new one anyway so it would be pretty safe to test regardless.

2. I appreciate your suggestion, obviously you know that's not how it works now but I can put forth this suggestion as I typically do. I see you do like the credit system, but we're also considering more options at least for people looking to use their local currency instead and I hope any change (if any occurs) accommodates both because of the deep discount you can get every day with Gear Credit packs in larger quantities (and JamPoints making that an even better deal for existing customers).

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Where's the secret link to demo this comp?

I dl'd the Custom Shop - registered my T-Racks3 plugins, watched the YouTube video on CS and I'm supposed to be able to 'TRY' plugins I don't have, easily, at the speed of the internet.

I press Dynamics --> Precision Comp

I get a message 'Model Not Available' THe model has not been activated...do you wish to enter the Custom Shop now to try out or purchase...

Well yes, of course please...

I hit yes and up pops my Nomad Factory Licenses folder...

Windows 7, Reaper, Custom Shop version (whatever I downloaded on 11AUG2013 from the website, can't find any version info on the Custom Shop VST).

argh!@#$

Once you install T-RackS CS 4.2 from your User Area (even the free version should be there for everybody to download) you can open it, then there's the Custom Shop button near the lower-right portion of the GUI. Once Custom Shop is open you can navigate to the Precision Comp/Limiter. That is the right place and you should see the Try button.

Definitely try opening Custom Shop from within T-RackS itself, clicking Try, and leaving it open during the trial process. If this does not help, please contact support at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/support

[kylen]

...Once you install T-RackS CS 4.2 from your User Area (even the free version should be there for everybody to download) you can open it, then there's the Custom Shop button near the lower-right portion of the GUI. Once Custom Shop is open you can navigate to the Precision Comp/Limiter...

Yes that was the problem - Custom Shop was not opening, T-Racks CS 4.2 was opening a folder location where it expected the CustomeShop.exe to live. It hadn't been placed in its expected directory yet because the T-Racks CS 4.2 install [apparantly] was not successful because it got mad that a newer version of Quicktime was already on the PC (because Adobe Audition CS6 has a dependency on Quicktime during install) and did not install quicktime (got tangled up in the install state?). There is no readable install log (dat file?) for the end user to look at so I couldn't tell what happened. I wasn't presented with any other errors so it seemed to have installed properly (first time CS user so I assume a lot). I had previously dl'd TRCS4.2 from my user area, confirmed the version was 4.2 (hit the info button).

I uninstalled the newer version of Quicktime, confirmed my Adobe Aution projects were broken (the ones needing the codecs mp4 I guess), re-installed T-Racks CS 4.2 w/runas admin (did not uninstall first), Quicktime was installed during that process, brought up reaper, inserted T-Racks CS in the effects rack, clicked the Custom Shop button (lower right had corner) and [drumroll...] Custom Shop.exe requested permission to run. It installed fine. My existing plugins (I had previously registered) were in the 'sHell' and now I could get into the IK Kiosk to select Precision Comp to try it out. Brought up Adobe Audition - all my projects worked again.

Observations:
1. Customer Readable Install log for a system of this size might be nice.
2. Try - trial time is 72 hours, can try again after 6 weeks. That's a little short, eh?
3. CPU hit for the sHell/Precision Comp is approz 20+% on my Win7, 2core 1.6GHz. Granted underzised for this day and age.
4. Now I can try the TR Precision/TR Bus and VBC (already own license) and nebula ssl's out for comparision. Trouble is I have 2 days left on the demo and it is well into Sunday, I am mostly a weekend warrior. Comparison ain't gonna happen - haha my problem!
5. At least I have Custom Shop properly installed - that is my accomplishment for this pass.
6. T-Racks sHell and Custom Shop must've been a huge undertaking taking a few thousand man-hours. I don't have anything else like it. It seems like a nice accomplishment for you guys. All I needed was a zip file and a dll though.
7. I seem to still have all of my standalone TR3 plugins which was my initial fear of losing those in the Custom Shop upgrade.

[meloco_go]

Guys@IK is there a specific reason why demo periods are so short? I started demo at Friday as I though I would be free during the weekend, but unfortunately I was busy. So I just have a few hours left...
Why not give a week or two as most other companies?

BTW from my limited experience the plug-in is cool, but I don't know if I need another compressor.

[contrary]

6. T-Racks sHell and Custom Shop must've been a huge undertaking taking a few thousand man-hours. I don't have anything else like it. It seems like a nice accomplishment for you guys. All I needed was a zip file and a dll though.
7. I seem to still have all of my standalone TR3 plugins which was my initial fear of losing those in the Custom Shop upgrade.

JC , seems like an accomplishment in making life a living hell for the potential/existing customer............

No thanks

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

That's quite dramatic! Too bad we haven't brought the dongle back - that would ensure a horror/apocalyptic movie deal out of this! "Day of the Dongle: Custom Shop's Living Hell"

Seriously, though, give it time I'm sure there will be further evolution of the Custom Shop that will be nice touches for many (and no, not just the many that already find it convenient and easy to use in their experience).

[Eddie TX]

Seriously, though, give it time I'm sure there will be further evolution of the Custom Shop that will be nice touches for many (and no, not just the many that already find it convenient and easy to use in their experience).

I've yet to encounter anybody who thinks the Custom Shop is "convenient and easy" compared to how other companies do things. IMHO it's the most INconvenient and convoluted demo/purchase experience I've had. Continuing to insist that it's great doesn't enhance your credibility, to say the least.

What other firm refuses to post the prices (in actual money) of their products on their website? 100 credits -- what does that mean? Well, once you succeed in installing the huge CS app (not a trivial matter), you can see how much these credits cost. But wait, you can't buy a pack of just 100 credits. In order to buy this compressor, you'll need to get the 120-credit pack. So you've got 20 credits left over for ... what? Can't buy much with that. So you feel like you got ripped off.

I could go into the truly wacko demo procedure, but ...

Are IK's products good? Certainly. Are they worth the hassle? Rarely.

Cheers,
Eddie

[HcDoom]

OMG, so much talk about CS. Please, talk about this compressor and how it sounds...

[Aiynzahev]

If anyone want's an idea how it sounds on dance music but can't be bothered with the whole CS thing yet:



At 8 minutes in I get to the new Neve comp. Just before that I am using the bus-comp. This is all on the master bus.