Variety of Sound NastyDLA (Bootsy) - I don't get the input staging
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 173 posts since 26 May, 2018
I still find Bootsy's plugins useful, I don't mind the fact that they are 32-bit (frankly I hardly ever need 64 bits because I don't use that many samples, and even if I did bridging works quite well in Reaper after all). I've always used his "glue" plugins (FerricTDS, TesslaSE, etc.) but I may need a chorus/delay effect for a couple of songs in my next recording, so I'm looking to use NastyDLA which does exactly that. The basic sound is great, although it doesn't like to be tweaked in real-time (maybe with automations it works better), but I can't get the input staging. No matter how much I turn the input knob, with or without SAT engaged, there is no difference at all. I'm using 32-bit Reaper, FWIW the behaviour is the same in Reaper x64. I don't understand whether it's a big or I'm doing something wrong. In general I don't really get the metering in any of Bootsy's plugins, it is hard to get unity gain in his plugins.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 173 posts since 26 May, 2018
Anyone?
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 173 posts since 26 May, 2018
Did you even read?
The input knob has no influence whatsoever on the output. I can hear "subtle" thank you very much.
The input knob has no influence whatsoever on the output. I can hear "subtle" thank you very much.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 173 posts since 26 May, 2018
All right, I tried testing it with a tone generator.
With all settings to zero (chorus, color, feedback, delay, saturation disengaged) I can achieve 0VU with the tone generator's output at -12dBFS.
If I engage saturation, the whole 18dB range equals 3dBVU on the internal vumeter. REAPER reports a dB or so difference on its own meter (that's expected because saturation compresses, right?).
If I scope the output with Voxengo SPAN though (block size: 16384, mode: RT AVG), saturation has a weird behaviour.
For starters, there is always odd-order harmonic distortion whether SAT is engaged or not (this means the plugin is always internally clipping/shaping the signal). Pushing the input will increase the output from -12.4dB peak to -10.9dB peak, with higher odd-order harmonic distortion. If the input is low enough (-24dBFS) there is very little difference in harmonic content between saturation and no saturation and this is consistent with my expectations. When I push the input higher and I also crank the feedback to self-oscillation, saturation filters out some harmonics compared to without it (again, this isn't that strange). What I don't get is why the whole range (which is advertised as 18 decibels) has so little influence, with dynamic content cranking the saturation may not cause the peak output to vary much but the RMS outputs should increase dramatically). With an electronic drum loop (normalised to 0dBFS) the difference in RMS output is maybe half a decibel between maximum saturation and saturation disengaged.
With all settings to zero (chorus, color, feedback, delay, saturation disengaged) I can achieve 0VU with the tone generator's output at -12dBFS.
If I engage saturation, the whole 18dB range equals 3dBVU on the internal vumeter. REAPER reports a dB or so difference on its own meter (that's expected because saturation compresses, right?).
If I scope the output with Voxengo SPAN though (block size: 16384, mode: RT AVG), saturation has a weird behaviour.
For starters, there is always odd-order harmonic distortion whether SAT is engaged or not (this means the plugin is always internally clipping/shaping the signal). Pushing the input will increase the output from -12.4dB peak to -10.9dB peak, with higher odd-order harmonic distortion. If the input is low enough (-24dBFS) there is very little difference in harmonic content between saturation and no saturation and this is consistent with my expectations. When I push the input higher and I also crank the feedback to self-oscillation, saturation filters out some harmonics compared to without it (again, this isn't that strange). What I don't get is why the whole range (which is advertised as 18 decibels) has so little influence, with dynamic content cranking the saturation may not cause the peak output to vary much but the RMS outputs should increase dramatically). With an electronic drum loop (normalised to 0dBFS) the difference in RMS output is maybe half a decibel between maximum saturation and saturation disengaged.
