Two new Plugin Alliance products announced: SPL Iron & SPL HawkEye

[Tappistry]

What are some good alternatives to this? Something with more color?

Yeah, your stock DAW compressor.

[sqigls]

derp

[macmuse]

Check your email again, you may have gotten a heavy hitter discount which brings your to $99 - $50 Jan Voucher.

rsp

Wasn’t the $50 voucher only good for Jan 3?

[zvenx]

Personal vouchers are usually good for a month.
rsp

[pixel85]

I put IRON to the test in the mastering chain for one of my tracks. Here is a render of an excerpt. I uploaded the 96/24 masters, so soundcloud is doing the SRC. You can download the 96/24 source with the download links.
https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/se ... os/s-Ek8Ah

The longer I work with audio the less and less I can hear these "magic nuances" that new plugins provide (as if believing their adverts). In this demo I couldn't find anything that could give me a reason to pay even a penny for another compressor that gives me 0 advantage not to mention that it will have no impact on casual listener's decision to like or not like a song. Maybe it's because I have already more than enough plugins (with mojo, without mojo, clean, dirty, analog, digital, retro, future...) or it's because we already got to the point that we have awesome tools (some even for free) and most of new plugins is just the same stuff with new gui and marketing that feeds on sound engineer's naivety that this "0,00001% difference in sound" will have any reasonable impact on the final product... Or I'm simply too old for this

[martinjuenke]

I put IRON to the test in the mastering chain for one of my tracks. Here is a render of an excerpt. I uploaded the 96/24 masters, so soundcloud is doing the SRC. You can download the 96/24 source with the download links.
https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/se ... os/s-Ek8Ah

The longer I work with audio the less and less I can hear these "magic nuances" that new plugins provide (as if believing their adverts). In this demo I couldn't find anything that could give me a reason to pay even a penny for another compressor that gives me 0 advantage not to mention that it will have no impact on casual listener's decision to like or not like a song. Maybe it's because I have already more than enough plugins (with mojo, without mojo, clean, dirty, analog, digital, retro, future...) or it's because we already got to the point that we have awesome tools (some even for free) and most of new plugins is just the same stuff with new gui and marketing that feeds on sound engineer's naivety that this "0,00001% difference in sound" will have any reasonable impact on the final product... Or I'm simply too old for this

At least we‘re two with the same view...
Thanks for your clear and true words!

[soulone82]

most of new plugins is just the same stuff with new gui and marketing that feeds on sound engineer's naivety that this "0,00001% difference in sound" will have any reasonable impact on the final product...

THIS!

[enCiphered]

I´ve bought a lot of PA plugins over the years and the only one I use is Fiedler Audio Stage. Absolutely brilliant. I agree that most new plugins is just the same stuff with new gui and marketing.

[Burillo]

i love how people are quick to assume malice on developers' part. do you really think they sit in a smoke-filled back room and go all "let's re-release our 1980's equalizer for DOS under a new GUI and call it an emulation of rare tube analog equalizer, muahahahaha!"? i mean, if you feel that the difference between them is teeny-tiny in the grand scheme of things - yeah, i agree, just as it is for any tool, analog or digital. they all do pretty much the same thing (a compressor... compresses! duh!), and the difference is often buried in so much nuance that it doesn't matter.

but don't go around assuming developers outright and intentionally lie to you. that's just not classy, and you have no proof that it's actually the case.

[dblock]

I put IRON to the test in the mastering chain for one of my tracks. Here is a render of an excerpt. I uploaded the 96/24 masters, so soundcloud is doing the SRC. You can download the 96/24 source with the download links.
https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/se ... os/s-Ek8Ah

The longer I work with audio the less and less I can hear these "magic nuances" that new plugins provide (as if believing their adverts). In this demo I couldn't find anything that could give me a reason to pay even a penny for another compressor that gives me 0 advantage not to mention that it will have no impact on casual listener's decision to like or not like a song. Maybe it's because I have already more than enough plugins (with mojo, without mojo, clean, dirty, analog, digital, retro, future...) or it's because we already got to the point that we have awesome tools (some even for free) and most of new plugins is just the same stuff with new gui and marketing that feeds on sound engineer's naivety that this "0,00001% difference in sound" will have any reasonable impact on the final product... Or I'm simply too old for this

At least we‘re two with the same view...
Thanks for your clear and true words!

I hear what you're saying and if you don't want it you don't want it.
I never thought a plugin was ever intended to be a be all end all solution to getting people to like my music. I think that's a bit overly simplistic. It's about the cumulative effects of all these tools coupled with knowledge of their use to help "improve" the chances that someone will like your song "helped by the way it's being presented" using each of these tools. That's all they are. tools.
That said, and so as not to hijack the thread with general plugin philosophy, I bought SPL Iron mainly to stand in when my Acoustica compressors prove to be too heavy cpu wise for certain projects. Iron is nice no doubt. I doesn't blow my mind but for $74 the price was right and the low cpu hit was definitely a deciding factor. I don't want to become an expert in compression so no matter what compressor I buy at this point, I'm only going to get but so much out of it because I don't care about compressors like some people who are into every detail of what it does. More power to them. I write background music for TV and frankly they couldn't care less if I didn't use a compressor at all if they can use the music. SPL Iron is cool, looks cool and does what I bought it for and probably more if I were the type to dig into it.

[plexuss]

I've worked with Iron after I posted those two examples. I was surprised at how subtle Iron is. But it can be pushed further. I think there is a learning curve with Iron. However, without going into the extremes of distortion with it, it is still a subtle effect. I find it brings the mid-range forward, settles the top end into it. The more I use it the more I think its a mid-range control tool. I thinks its because of the harmonic distortion and perhaps phase characteristics. In some cases the GR has to be pushes to get there.

As a track tool I find it most useful when over driven.

But does it do something other plugins dont do? unsure still. That effect on the mid seems pretty unique. Is it worth the money? Time will tell but for me probably at the $50 price with discounts.

[pixel85]

i love how people are quick to assume malice on developers' part. do you really think they sit in a smoke-filled back room and go all "let's re-release our 1980's equalizer for DOS under a new GUI and call it an emulation of rare tube analog equalizer, muahahahaha!"? i mean, if you feel that the difference between them is teeny-tiny in the grand scheme of things - yeah, i agree, just as it is for any tool, analog or digital. they all do pretty much the same thing (a compressor... compresses! duh!), and the difference is often buried in so much nuance that it doesn't matter.

but don't go around assuming developers outright and intentionally lie to you. that's just not classy, and you have no proof that it's actually the case.

Yep. Not a single case of developer in history of human kind who could even think about screwing customers by selling them crap. In our Disneyland everyone is honest and there's no example of plugins with basic template code made in some 'plugin maker' with nice GUI advertised as analog emulation etc. We should trust every random person first, not our ears, not our own common sense
Seriously... just go to 5th post in Effects section on KVR to see for yourself that not every developer is trustworthy and beside that just look around to see how thousands of producers/developers/marketers is trying to sell us crap every single day. I believe that anyone with common sense don't believe blindly in advertisements and is aware that not everyone is trustworthy.

btw no one here accuses anyone of anything. We're just exchanging our loose thoughts and opinions.

[pixel85]

Is it worth the money? Time will tell

This is the truest truth I burned myself multiple times on plugins (or other software)
that I praised for great unique sound by the first few weeks and now I'm not using them at all. Saying this I still need to get PA Acme compressor for its unique character

[Burillo]

Yep. Not a single case of developer in history of human kind who could even think about screwing customers by selling them crap.
In our Disneyland everyone is honest and there's no example of plugins with basic template code made in some 'plugin maker' with nice GUI advertised as analog emulation etc. We should trust every random person first, not our ears, not our own common sense

look up "strawman".

btw no one here accuses anyone of anything. We're just exchanging our loose thoughts and opinions.

"they just sell the same stuff with a different GUI" is a not just "an opinion", it is a factual claim that can be objectively verified. fact of the matter is, this is direct accusation of a developer lying to you. i hope your accusation is not baseless.

[dblock]

ok so this is where I get off once the plugin itself becomes less upfront and the rocks start flying about who said what and what they meant by it. Happens every release. lol!.