Waves Vitamin vs. Aural Exciter

[keyman_sam]

Can the vitamin replace the aphex? Any reviews of these two products from those who use it?

[MogwaiBoy]

I have the Aphex and it's a pretty blunt instrument - can definitely re-EQ your track so I wouldn't recommend it on the master (there are others much more suitable). For bringing out certain instruments in mixing it's cool though - but then so are the Kush Transformers.

I haven't tried Vitamin yet but I think Vitamin, being free from hardware emulation limitations, has the advantage of stereo width manipulation by frequency as well - so it seems more versatile for subtle "enhancer" type situations, rather than just overdriven saturation.

Neither oversample so expect hellish aliasing at low samplerates.

[Andy Gone]

I believe Vitamin can definitely do something similar to Aphex (I have both), but Vitamin has much more functions (and is more CPU-heavy). I like Aphex on individual tracks that lack brightness (usually vocals, but not necessarily). It is a one-trick pony, but very good one.

Vitamin for me is more for bus processing (but still can be useful on an individual track). In essence, it is a parallel multiband exciter/widener. Aphex being actually a one-knob thing (almost), Vitamin is not that easy to get to know. Like other vitamins, it is better in small doses It is easy to overdo, however, it can be a live saver on some stems.

[simon.a.billington]

It is different tech. Both enhance the signal in different ways.

The Aphex is based on a hardware unit that generates its harmonics based on a couple of tubes, if I recall correctly. Whereas Vitamin is an amalgamation of eq, compression and saturation all combined together in a multiband format.

Both do a great job and serve to address a lot of the same needs and are often highly talked about but do vary greatly in design.

I've never put them back to back to compare, but it's within the realm of possibility you can get an Aphex type of sound out of Vitimin. Though Vitimin would clearly be the most flexible of the two. Leave the satoration off and you could even use it just as a multiband stereo widener.

[Everglide]

Not the original request...

Have you considered http://www.audiority.com/shop/harmonic-maximizer/

It could be a nice alternative, I'm yet to try it myself. Sknote have something similar.

[do_androids_dream]

Having used both quite a bit.. I kept the Aphex and ditched Vitamin. I just don't like the sound of vitamin much - tends to add a brittle character in the high end especially imo. Functionally, it's beautiful but I wasn't so keen on the sound personally. Remember that Vitamin is not linear phase so you will get phase changes (just on instantiating) on source material - a problem with quite a few Waves plugins (C4/Trans-X/IM Pusher/MM Triple D as well).

[dreamvoid]

Remember that Vitamin is not linear phase so you will get phase changes (just on instantiating) on source material - a problem with quite a few Waves plugins (C4/Trans-X/IM Pusher/MM Triple D as well).

Even if correct, the human ear-brain system cannot perceive static phase differences, only changing phases. That is true for phases of partials in the sound too.

[do_androids_dream]

Remember that Vitamin is not linear phase so you will get phase changes (just on instantiating) on source material - a problem with quite a few Waves plugins (C4/Trans-X/IM Pusher/MM Triple D as well).

Even if correct, the human ear-brain system cannot perceive static phase differences, only changing phases. That is true for phases of partials in the sound too.

Of course - but that's got nothing to with what I'm talking about. I'm just drawing attention to the fact that the multiband crossover points will mess with the phase of the source - so it may change the sound of the source in a negative way - just by instantiating the plugin - something to be aware of.

[Andy Gone]

Having used both quite a bit.. I kept the Aphex and ditched Vitamin. I just don't like the sound of vitamin much - tends to add a brittle character in the high end especially imo. Functionally, it's beautiful but I wasn't so keen on the sound personally.
...

I keep both. The Vitamin is far beyond the Aphex. It is very easy to overdo the Vitamin, so that it sounds brittle or muddy or whatever. Still, sometimes it makes wonders on live stereo capture or in other situations that cannot be fixed in a better way. I work a lot with mastering such live recordings, and sometimes Vitamin is indispensable. It is a great well-controlled and balanced tech that can help you.

[simon.a.billington]

Remember that Vitamin is not linear phase so you will get phase changes (just on instantiating) on source material - a problem with quite a few Waves plugins (C4/Trans-X/IM Pusher/MM Triple D as well).

Even if correct, the human ear-brain system cannot perceive static phase differences, only changing phases. That is true for phases of partials in the sound too.

Of course - but that's got nothing to with what I'm talking about. I'm just drawing attention to the fact that the multiband crossover points will mess with the phase of the source - so it may change the sound of the source in a negative way - just by instantiating the plugin - something to be aware of.

Most things we do to the tone of a sound results in some kind of phase shift. All these legendary analogue eqs contributed to phase shift, but that was part of their charm.

It definitely does become whether a particular phase shift sounds desirable or not.

When setting the frequency of an eq or crossover I'm using my ears to park the frequency at a point that I feel is most beneficial for the sound. Doing it in such a way it's possible to finesse it somewhat so that any phase cancellation removes some of the unwanted, or the less desirable.

Given that you blend Vitamin in at low levels usually, any phase shift that gets blended in is usually quite small.

I haven't had a brittle too end with Vitamin yet, I think that depends on what frequencies are already in the source that you are intensifying with the process.

Like wise I have had harsh and nasal sounds come out of the Aphex, but at other times not. It's all about context and how you use it, mostly.