Waves Tonecentric and Mixcentric add noise

[MogwaiBoy]

Hmmmmmm....



Admitedly I have cranked the output higher than average but the hum and hiss is always there, regardless of setting (even just having it on at the lowest setting).

Surprisingly Mixcentric is even worse than Tonecentric - I feel a bit more hesitant to trust it on my master bus now

Would be nice if it was switchable. Anyway, just a heads up...

[simon.a.billington]

Yeah I've seen this issue raised up on GearSlutz, was it you?? Not that it matters. It does raise a good point.

At the risk or repeating myself, I've never really had too much trouble so far with increasing noise levels in my mixes and i do like to take advantage of a little of this. I like how it introduces intermodulation making mixes a bit more cohesive.

I will say though, that I do prefer the way Waves went about it for the dbx 160 plugin, and possibly the BSS DPR, is that they implemented a knob so you can control how much of the noise you want to mix in. I think its quite reasonable to want a noise dial on other plugins too, including the Greg Wells series.

It did occur to me the other day that I crop my audio/midi regions so I have no "dead air" on my tracks. I know it has lighter demand on the drive doing it this way also, but I'm pretty sure Logic only engages the processing when there is something present on the track. Oh and i use gates a bit too.

So it could be that why I don't get a lot of noticeable noise is that the music is always masking it. Perhaps. But I also don't slam my tracks as much, opting for more plugins doing only slight changes as opposed to fewer plugins doing heavier changes.

Anyway, just wanted to point out that the noise isn't always a problem and the certainly got by with it in the analogue era. It is definitely something worth noting, however.

[DJbrimLo]

I should first say, I agree being able to adjust the noise level would be nice. Even if they didn't provide an absolute 0, just a minimal to maximum would be cool. At the same time tho I come to appreciate the noise. I'm not saying I try to add noise on every channel, but a little on my 2-Buss is acceptable. I often will disable the noise on all of NLS channels except for the one Buss one on my 2-Buss. I haven't given this one a test drive yet, but if it just has a light touch of noise, I can live with that. Cause I really don't like overly clean Mixes either if that makes sense. Once the music gets to going, the noise is gone. I normally Clip Fade the Beginning and ending so that the slight bit of noise isn't even noticeable.

[pixel85]

This hum looks terrible. -70dB in one instance? How much it's with normal gain? Nothing better than spend thousands on Hi End gear to record clear sound and then add hum to it I could understand it in lofi type of plugin but not in plugin for mix purpose.

But don't worry they added it so you can buy their X-Hum to remove it

[ghettosynth]

I think that you can remove this noise. They were talking about a plugin that Waves might be giving away this year in the Bargain chat thread, it's called WupCentric IIRC.

[MogwaiBoy]

This hum looks terrible. -70dB in one instance? How much it's with normal gain? Nothing better than spend thousands on Hi End gear to record clear sound and then add hum to it I could understand it in lofi type of plugin but not in plugin for mix purpose.

But don't worry they added it so you can buy their X-Hum to remove it

Admitedly I am boosting the intensity and output controls to exagerate it on the graph.

At normal levels it's more like -90db, so it's certainly not perceptible when the musics playing but hey it's always there. I've since discovered a whole bunch of Waves plugins also have "unadvertised" noise, especially the signature stuff (Maserati, CLA, Kramer). However, the PuigTec, API2500 and Aphex Aural Exciter all have switchable broadband noise and/or mains hum. Mixcentric's is less broadband white noise type, more just hum/hiss (maybe it's sampled, even?!).

If you have the plugin, try it for yourself. Turn up the Intensity and Output and listen to the latenight studio analogness

I need to do some more testing but it's possible that it actually ducks the noise a bit when the music is playing. I'll test for this.

Still a pretty neat sounding effect though - don't get me wrong. I'm not going to make too big a deal out of it.

[soulone82]

I think that you can remove this noise. They were talking about a plugin that Waves might be giving away this year in the Bargain chat thread, it's called WupCentric IIRC.

@MogwaiBoy: This is no noise, this is pure analog warmth...

[Jedinhopy]

I think that you can remove this noise. They were talking about a plugin that Waves might be giving away this year in the Bargain chat thread, it's called WupCentric IIRC.

@MogwaiBoy: This is no noise, this is pure analog warmth...

I always remove quiet background noise with the (GATE) module in MSpectralDynamics.


Quiet frequencies simply eat up headroom in the mix.

[pixel85]

I think that you can remove this noise. They were talking about a plugin that Waves might be giving away this year in the Bargain chat thread, it's called WupCentric IIRC.

@MogwaiBoy: This is no noise, this is pure analog warmth...

[pixel85]

This hum looks terrible. -70dB in one instance? How much it's with normal gain? Nothing better than spend thousands on Hi End gear to record clear sound and then add hum to it I could understand it in lofi type of plugin but not in plugin for mix purpose.

But don't worry they added it so you can buy their X-Hum to remove it

Admitedly I am boosting the intensity and output controls to exagerate it on the graph.

At normal levels it's more like -90db, so it's certainly not perceptible when the musics playing but hey it's always there. I've since discovered a whole bunch of Waves plugins also have "unadvertised" noise, especially the signature stuff (Maserati, CLA, Kramer). However, the PuigTec, API2500 and Aphex Aural Exciter all have switchable broadband noise and/or mains hum. Mixcentric's is less broadband white noise type, more just hum/hiss (maybe it's sampled, even?!).

If you have the plugin, try it for yourself. Turn up the Intensity and Output and listen to the latenight studio analogness

I need to do some more testing but it's possible that it actually ducks the noise a bit when the music is playing. I'll test for this.

Still a pretty neat sounding effect though - don't get me wrong. I'm not going to make too big a deal out of it.

Unfortunately I can't try Waves anymore as I've had issues with their license activation and now my usb stick with licenses is somehow empty. So I gave up on Waves.
As I can understand that hardware emulations have such artifacts and some of them have option to switch it off - it's totally ok. But I have never seen advert that x-centric plugins are hardware emulators.
-90dB is actually not that bad... till someone don't try top put this plugin on 100 channels.
Maybe their plugins are created on IR and they record these impulses on Behringer equipment?

[Davey Boy]

The noise and hum are certainly a bummer. I'm doing a mix right now where I'm "mastering" during the final output so really hear it when the song is just idle (i.e., not playing). During playback it's not a big deal, until the last chord where you hear it kick in on the fade out. I'd love them to add an on/off button for this "effect". But, maybe that's one of the keys to making things sound more analog.

[MogwaiBoy]

Greg Wells said on Gearslutz that there's no chance of an 'Analog' noise button being added if he can help it, because it's exactly as he wanted it to be

[Arleth8s]

Hello friends! I'm new in this forum, its a pleasure!

Now I'm working this plugin, and to be honest is very great, gaving more life to the mix, for me ist a very cool stuff.

Now, I deteted this "noise" too, I read all the coments about is not a problem. I have no not a problem with this, because the final product is very nice.

My problem borns when I do the master, the "noise" explode and is very detectable by the increased levels of volume, I have a big question, the noise is ever over the mix? when my song has decays or silences I can hear this "noise".

I talking of course when I put the volume to the maximum, but is perceptible... and I worry that it may be a problem for the mix or the sound of the final product.

Thanks friends

[Davey Boy]

The deal with the noise is that since it's emulating analog gear, and analog gear adds noise, then this plugin also adds this same noise. I don't like it either but, since we have many other plugins that are "clean" then we have other options depending on the project:-)

[Arleth8s]

Hey Davey! thanks for reply me!
But the noise is over the mix? or the noise has gone when the music is running?

I'm asking this becouose my work sound in big sound systems, discos and more, and maybe on this big speakers the noise sound over the mix..