KVR Audio

Eddie TX · Post by **Eddie TX** » Tue Dec 05, 2017 7:56 pm

Pprimo wrote:I wish I could try the UAD Culture Vulture and compare !!!! I heard its incredible !!!!

I briefly compared Sculptube with the UAD CV. While it's obvious they're both based on the Thermionic unit, they don't sound that much alike to me.

The UAD is a lot more aggressive and can get much dirtier. But I preferred Sculptube's sound in some cases, being somewhat smoother and more natural to my ears. It compares well to the Black Box HG-2 from Plugin Alliance.

One major difference is the amount of resource usage. The UAD is a real DSP hog, while Sculptube barely makes a dent in my CPU. Nice work from Overloud's DSP team to get this and their other recent plugins so efficient.

So it's a good-sounding plugin, reasonably priced, and very CPU-friendly. Whether you'd prefer its sound over the UAD version (or any other tube plugin) comes down to taste. Worth a demo, anyway.

Cheers,
Eddie

Pprimo · Post by **Pprimo** » Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:17 am

Eddie TX wrote:
Pprimo wrote:I wish I could try the UAD Culture Vulture and compare !!!! I heard its incredible !!!!
I briefly compared Sculptube with the UAD CV. While it's obvious they're both based on the Thermionic unit, they don't sound that much alike to me.

The UAD is a lot more aggressive and can get much dirtier. But I preferred Sculptube's sound in some cases, being somewhat smoother and more natural to my ears. It compares well to the Black Box HG-2 from Plugin Alliance.

One major difference is the amount of resource usage. The UAD is a real DSP hog, while Sculptube barely makes a dent in my CPU. Nice work from Overloud's DSP team to get this and their other recent plugins so efficient.

So it's a good-sounding plugin, reasonably priced, and very CPU-friendly. Whether you'd prefer its sound over the UAD version (or any other tube plugin) comes down to taste. Worth a demo, anyway.

Cheers,
Eddie

Thanks Eddie really appreciate your feedback and taking the time to give me your opinion on the 2 plugins !!!! I think I am going to pick up sculptube !!!! I really like it so far. I have heard from other users also that it doesnt sound like a "Culture Vulture" but oh well.....it still sounds good and I love this GUI !!!!!

Thnks

Ghostwave · Post by **Ghostwave** » Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:00 am

Is it me or are they destroying a good mix with Scuptube in the product video?

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:48 pm

Indeed they are. That video left me scratching my head. Also, isn't it a bit weird to make your plugin look kind of like a Thermionic Culture Vulture when it doesn't function as the real one does?

Anyhow, it's a bit of a strange one from Overloud who in general have pretty damn solid stuff.

Endor-8o8 · Post by **Endor-8o8** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 2:11 pm

Ghostwave wrote:Is it me or are they destroying a good mix with Scuptube in the product video?

I asked myself the very same question. I just stopped the vid after hearing the mixbus crushing. Strange manner to add "warmth"...

Liero · Post by **Liero** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 2:21 pm

bmanic wrote: Anyhow, it's a bit of a strange one from Overloud who in general have pretty damn solid stuff.

IMO, now nearing 2018, Overloud is way, way behind in product quality - it's being beaten by DMG, Slate, PSP, Softube, even Analog Obsession. Not to mention Acustica. Don't understand why someone would go for Overloud now instead of a competitor. They aren't even priced competetively!

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 2:26 pm

I like the plugin and the sound, much as with the other gem series. I have them all, except the tape, which I didn't like too much.

Not sure it offers enough over other stuff I have to actually grab it yet. In particular, this plugin didn't do very well against Dent 2 from Unfiltered Audio in my tests. I will continue to see how much it grows on me, before I decide for sure. So far, I'm leaning towards a pass on it.

personally, I don't agree about them lagging behind, most of the gems are top notch imo, and I have most of the mentioned competition as well.

-Cheers

stratum · Post by **stratum** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 2:27 pm

Overloud is way, way behind in product quality - it's being beaten by DMG, Slate, PSP, Softube, even Analog Obsession.

May Analog Obsession quote you on that?

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 2:49 pm

Liero wrote:
bmanic wrote: Anyhow, it's a bit of a strange one from Overloud who in general have pretty damn solid stuff.
IMO, now nearing 2018, Overloud is way, way behind in product quality - it's being beaten by DMG, Slate, PSP, Softube, even Analog Obsession. Not to mention Acustica. Don't understand why someone would go for Overloud now instead of a competitor. They aren't even priced competetively!

I can agree on the price but the latest plugins they've released in the past year and a half have been pretty much excellent in sound quality in my opinion. Definitely in the same quality league as the others.

But yeah, they do indeed price themselves out of the competition somewhat. It's the main reason I haven't bought any of theirs yet (and also because I have so damn many emulations of all the stuff they also went to emulate, including a lot of the Analog Obsession plugins).

Ghostwave · Post by **Ghostwave** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 3:25 pm

Liero wrote:Don't understand why someone would go for Overloud now instead of a competitor.

As much as I'm not impressed with Sculptube, Breverb2 is still my go-to verb. I just love that thing!

DuX · Post by **DuX** » Thu Dec 07, 2017 5:22 pm

Liero wrote:
bmanic wrote: Anyhow, it's a bit of a strange one from Overloud who in general have pretty damn solid stuff.
IMO, now nearing 2018, Overloud is way, way behind in product quality - it's being beaten by DMG, Slate, PSP, Softube, even Analog Obsession. Not to mention Acustica. Don't understand why someone would go for Overloud now instead of a competitor. They aren't even priced competetively!

Maybe they should've skipped 4th generation DSP and go with the 5th??

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Sat Dec 16, 2017 4:14 pm

The Gems are using so little CPU its unatural.
I just loaded up a Gems chain of

Sculptude>Comp76>Tapedesk>EQ495

Normally I kill any magic in a drum loop if I try and create chains like this due to my wooden ears but with these it was so simple to get a really nice fat punchy sound that actually did sound better compared to them bypassed

Not only that but Windows TaskManager was reporting each plugin using a fluctuating CPU % of 0 to 0.3 WTF !!

How can a plugin use so little CPU Windows has to report it as 0 %

I dont care if a plugin emulation isnt quite spot on when I can slap these on everywhere at practically no CPU cost.

I wish they could pass their wisdom to other developers to reduce CPU usage

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Sat Dec 16, 2017 4:18 pm

And of these plugins (Sculptude>Comp76>Tapedesk>EQ495) theyre all zero latency except Scupltude which is 0.2ms

Turello · Post by **Turello** » Sat Dec 16, 2017 4:25 pm

Imho a good tool but please, try this

https://www.audiothing.net/effects/type-a/

I'm divided to what buy..! :-O

DuX · Post by **DuX** » Thu Feb 08, 2018 11:26 pm

Yes, the low CPU with Overloud plugins is completely puzzling, even more because they don't sound like shit. Have someone finally done some work in assembler? I doubt it... There's not much talk about these Overloud GEM plugins around. I wonder why? I'd like to hear some opinions from people who really used them.

Overloud Sculptube