KVR Audio

fuseaudiolabs · Post by **fuseaudiolabs** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 4:09 pm

Fuse Audio Labs presents the VCL-25A Vintage Vari-Mu Leveler Plugin

Available for Mac OS and Windows in AAX, AU, VST2.4 and VST3 in 32 and 64 bits.

BACK WITH ANOTHER CHARACTER COMPRESSOR, FUSE AUDIO LABS BRINGS YOU THE VCL-25A.

ON SALE FOR $29 USD UNTIL SEPTEMBER 27TH! (REGULAR $69 USD)

ABOUT THE VCL-25A

The VCL-25A is an authentic emulation of a 50s vari-mu audio leveler originally used in radio broadcasting. All aspects of the circuit including the transformers, phase inverter stage, the 6386 vari-mu circuitry as well as the output driver and the time-constant network have been accurately modeled. Plenty of useful features, namely comprehensive metering, input gain compensation, switchable release times, a linear output attenuator, adjustable noise floor level and a mix control have been added in the digital domain for more versatility.

The release time constants have been carefully selected in order to give you a wide range of compression flavors ranging from transparent to aggressive.

Download your fully functional 14-day trial here: https://fuseaudiolabs.de/#vcl25a

TRIALS AND PLUGIN ACTIVATION

You can test our plugins without any restrictions for 14 days. Simply click the "Activate Trial" button in the plug-in GUI after the installation to start your trial period. To activate your full license you can purchase a product activation key on our website. The activation key will be sent to you by email once the payment process has been completed, successfully. Click "Activate plug-in..." in the plug-in GUI or the drop down menu below, enter your email and product activation key and hit the "Activate" button to proceed.

FAQS AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

An overview of Frequently Asked Questions can be found under the following link on our website

https://fuseaudiolabs.de/#faq

Our tech support can be reached via the following link

https://fuseaudiolabs.de/#support

VIDEO REVIEW BY OPTOMOD

Best,
Ray | Fuse Audio Labs

Funkybot's Evil Twin · Mon Aug 27, 2018 8:40 pm

Gave it a quick go on piano and a full mix, loved it on both! I feel like each of your dynamic processors is a little better than the last one. I'd find it hard to justify another compressor, but the intro price also makes it hard to say no. Great job Ray!

MogwaiBoy · Post by **MogwaiBoy** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:18 pm

Wonder how it compares to VariComp, my favourite - or MJUC, everyone's favourite?

Agreed the intro price is almost too tempting...

The Noodlist · Post by **The Noodlist** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:36 pm

The Noodlist wrote:
MogwaiBoy wrote:Wonder how it compares to VariComp, my favourite - or MJUC, everyone's favourite?

Agreed the intro price is almost too tempting...

It reminds me of the Sonimus TuCo and VCL-373. I also like it's nice and clear, resizable GUI. Sounds smooth.
Still 13 days left on demo, I like it.

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:57 pm

BrockHardcastle · Post by **BrockHardcastle** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 4:45 am

MogwaiBoy wrote:Wonder how it compares to VariComp, my favourite - or MJUC, everyone's favourite?

Agreed the intro price is almost too tempting...

I prefer it over MJUC. I love MJUC but this one is easier to get a great sound fast. I also think it sounds better than MJUC. Another poster mentioned TuCo which is another fav of mine that this will also likely replace. It feels weightier in the way it manages low end. TuCo is great for guitars but not so hot on kick and bass. This new one excels at both.

Rockatansky · Post by **Rockatansky** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 5:44 am

Not so excited, to be quite honest.
GR meter idles at -3.5 instead of 0.0 when Threshold is all the way down and release all the way up, at -inf dBfs input signal.
Release time at 1.0 seems to last around 4.0 seconds, that's a bit of a stretch to the manual calling it an "approximate".
The Floor is nothing but plain white noise, not even pink/purple, weighted or otherwise filtered.
Cranking up Input/Output gain or messing with the Mix knob will change nothing about the noise level... one would think that boosting a signal with noise would affect the output noise floor.
Looking at the schematic in the manual, why would volume adjustments and phase inversion happen when the signal is oversampled?
Aren't those linear changes that don't require the extra samples and only lead to CPU overhead?
Brings me to the next downer: CPU consumption... without any input signal, with the project not playing, with UI set to low, with no processing at all necessary, it eats up nearly 1% CPU. Sure, "woah - a whole percent", but it's still puzzling how not-processing can chew up that much processor.
The oversampling filter is high and looks steep, so that seems OK, but it has an attenuation under 28 dBfs while below Nyquist... quick test with a 1 kHz/-12 dB sine wave shows that's definitely not enough to avoid aliasing. Even at very low gain settings (3.0, 100% Threshold) there are already harmonics folding back and buzzing. If it doesn't filter out the aliasing, then why bother at all.
And what's the deal with the UI? It's cool that it's scalable, and I do see the difference between the quality settings, but... why? At any scale, even with quality cranked up to high/slow, the labels are blurry and there are unaligned pixels (edges between full pixels, a display can't correctly show those, for obvious reasons) all over the place. And is it really necessary to dynamically render those hex nuts live while the project is running? In this case, a simple rasterized interface with downward resampling to crisp scales and vector labels would probably have worked better.
There's potential, but even at $29 that's too much quirk in one plugin for me.

Mr. Spock · Post by **Mr. Spock** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 8:27 am

Posted hours after the initial release. That went quick

BrockHardcastle wrote:
MogwaiBoy wrote:Wonder how it compares to VariComp, my favourite - or MJUC, everyone's favourite?

Agreed the intro price is almost too tempting...
I prefer it over MJUC. I love MJUC but this one is easier to get a great sound fast. I also think it sounds better than MJUC. Another poster mentioned TuCo which is another fav of mine that this will also likely replace. It feels weightier in the way it manages low end. TuCo is great for guitars but not so hot on kick and bass. This new one excels at both.

Liero · Post by **Liero** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 8:38 am

I don't need more plugins ... BUT ...

This does indeed just seem "easier" than MJUC.

Am I the only one BTW who would love to see a Fuse Audio Labs take on the 1176?

I know there are many but Fuse has great usability without hassles at a great price.

The Noodlist · Post by **The Noodlist** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:11 am

Variable oversampling would be nice.

fuseaudiolabs · Post by **fuseaudiolabs** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:20 am

Rockatansky wrote: Cranking up Input/Output gain or messing with the Mix knob will change nothing about the noise level... one would think that boosting a signal with noise would affect the output noise floor.

That's true and that's just the way it's implemented. From my perspective and from what I have heard in the past from betatesters, this is the way that makes most sense if you're going for usability.

Rockatansky wrote: Looking at the schematic in the manual, why would volume adjustments and phase inversion happen when the signal is oversampled?
Aren't those linear changes that don't require the extra samples and only lead to CPU overhead?

Good catch: This is in fact a mistake in the manual..the volume adjustment takes place after the downsampling in fact. Phase inverter: Nope, this one isn't a linear process. This block refers to the emulation of a phase splitter that's built up out of two 12AY7 triodes in the original unit so it's highly non-linear. The former will be corrected in the next update.

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:25 am

i missed the previous two comps on an intro sale... hoping for a Black Friday now

on topic, i like this. it's a pity that attack time isn't adjustable as it gets kind of clicky on drums on high gain reduction and low release time, but otherwise i like it very much.

jens · Post by **jens** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:25 am

I just realized that, while Ray has done quite a few VCA and opto compressors over the years, it appears he has indeed never done a FET compressor... I wonder why that is?

fuseaudiolabs · Post by **fuseaudiolabs** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:27 am

Burillo wrote:i missed the previous two comps on an intro sale... hoping for a Black Friday now

on topic, i like this. it's a pity that attack time isn't adjustable as it gets kind of clicky on drums on high gain reduction and low release time, but otherwise i like it very much.

Hi Burillo,

The VCL-4 is currently on sale. Use the UVC9-D8ZY-S2S8 voucher code for a 50% off.

Best,
Ray

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:32 am

jens wrote:I just realized that, while Ray has done quite a few VCA and opto compressors over the years, it appears he has indeed never done a FET compressor... I wonder why that is?

i think Black Rooster Audio have a 1176 emu which is a FET compressor, and i believe Ray does all the dev work for them. so, yes, he has

Fuse Audio Labs releases the VCL-25A Vintage Vari-Mu Leveler