PA has released the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor (native)

[himalaya]

Speaking of the Shadows Hill Compressor, I have the one from AA, and I like it very much. So much control, so many different sounds emanating from one plugin. I guess this PA version should offer the same (has anyone compared both yet?)

[sqigls]

Alcoholics Anonymous make a Shadow Hills compressor too?
or you mean Applied Acoustics?
Arts Acoustic?

Amon Amarth?




Archie Arbuckle?

[mladi]

First comes to mind normally is acustica-audio..

[himalaya]

AA = Acustica Audio

[medienhexer]

I was, thinking of selling my $50 PA voucher but seeing as how PA has had insane sales recently, and considering this is a revamped UAD plugin for VST and AAX, I can't see PA charging full retail for this. I saw they hearted a YT comment stating they hope it will have an introductory price. I'm sure it means nothing, but that's enough to motivate me holding on to that voucher because I definitely will have a use for this particular 2-stage compressor. This one is a game-changer IMHO.

Too lazy to read the pages of comments but does anyone have a clue about the price?

My guess is, and I would love to be proven wrong, $149 introductory price for Joe Average and $99 for special customers and cross graders.

Even at $79 and with a coupon, a lot of people wouldn’t bother, me included.

I have so much stuff already and a choice of other fantastic products competing for my attention. And in the end, I pick Logic‘s compressor most of the time because in most cases, it covers most bases SO WELL.

Back when the UAD version was introduced, I was very interested. But now, it would have to be exceptionally affordable to make me even demo it.

[Mies]

Speaking of the Shadows Hill Compressor, I have the one from AA, and I like it very much. So much control, so many different sounds emanating from one plugin. I guess this PA version should offer the same (has anyone compared both yet?)

Yes, I have. The PA SHMC is not miles away from Aquamarine and far less demanding on your system, but it lacks this "control" as you put it, this loose but effective tightening of the overall sound. In comparison, push the PA SHMC and the cohesion of your mix starts breaking down.
Also, the bottom is a little weaker and it handles badly the high mids when under stress. This could be down, at least in part, to the way transformers are implemented (I would think they lend themselves well to convolution).

Don't get me wrong, the PA SHMC is an interesting compressor, and if I hadn't Aquamarine, I'd probably be waiting for the 15th to know how much PA want for it, but if you have no performance issues with it, I believe you're better off sticking with Aquamarine (that's in any case what I'm going to do - of course, just my opinion).

[Endor-8o8]

Speaking of the Shadows Hill Compressor, I have the one from AA, and I like it very much. So much control, so many different sounds emanating from one plugin. I guess this PA version should offer the same (has anyone compared both yet?)

Yes, I have. The PA SHMC is not miles away from Aquamarine and far less demanding on your system, but it lacks this "control" as you put it, this loose but effective tightening of the overall sound. In comparison, push the PA SHMC and the cohesion of your mix starts breaking down.
Also, the bottom is a little weaker and it handles badly the high mids when under stress. This could be down, at least in part, to the way transformers are implemented (I would think they lend themselves well to convolution).

Don't get me wrong, the PA SHMC is an interesting compressor, and if I hadn't Aquamarine, I'd probably be waiting for the 15th to know how much PA want for it, but if you have no performance issues with it, I believe you're better off sticking with Aquamarine (that's in any case what I'm going to do - of course, just my opinion).

I had the same experience with it. I found that when you push it doesn't sound really good to my ears, you feel it falling apart. I heard a video test of the hardware where the guy is pushing it a bit and the movement of this beast is still amazing even at high compression performance, lot of caracter and breathing still happening. The plugin doesn't like to be pushed or I don't like it when I push it...
At conservative gain reduction levels (like 2 or 3db) it sounds pretty good.

[plexuss]

This one is a game-changer IMHO.

*resisting the urge to troll on this ubiquitous empty statement* ...

Damn! I trolled.

Just for that post alone I am going to wait a year and pick this up for free and never use it, like most of my "game changer" plugins that are really just marginally ok.

And now, some calming music made with no game changing software what-so-ever...

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/the-dream

[SoundPorn]

Look all I know is I don't need another compressor but if you like your drums to knock this is the best compressor I've ever heard for that. It just pulls drums out of a mix and slaps them across ur ears while gluing everything else in place. Now I won't buy it but I will try to get another plugin to sound similar which won't be easy.

[Googly Smythe]

First comes to mind normally is acustica-audio..

Only if you have heard of them...

[NullDevice]

By the way: why do so many people hate Acustica?

I don't know if people hate Acustica so much as just get annoyed.

I own a few Acustica products and I'll chime in with my satisfaction and dissatisfaction...

1) Their stuff does sound great. I absolutely love the vibe of Magenta, for example. I'd rank a few of their plugins up there with the very best.

2) Their installer and authorization software is maddening. It took me weeks to get an upgrade installed to one of my plugins, because I ended up having to dig around in hidden cache directories and get rid of old versions that they didn't clean up properly. And because of the impulse libraries they're based around, they're generally pretty huge. I've got orchestral sample libraries smaller than some of these. They also install multiple versions of each plugin for each feature set PLUS the zero latency versions so it's always a bit confusing to navigate. Condensing it all into one doesn't really fit their underlying architecture, I realize, but it's certainly different from most others.

3) They use, as was previously put, "pornographic amounts of CPU." Which, y'know, one might expect from stuff that intensive, but...still. They've gotten better with every subsequent revision of the engine, but it's still not gonna be super fast, and a lot of the plugins aren't updated yet.

4) No matter what forum you're on, no matter what email chain you're involved with, no matter what you're buying from whom, no matter what the question is, someone somewhere will ALWAYS chime in with "Acustica's version is way better" or "You should just use the [reasonably obscure third party library] in Nebula instead" and THAT, more than anything, is what drives people bonkers.

[simon.a.billington]

By the way: why do so many people hate Acustica?

I don't know if people hate Acustica so much as just get annoyed.

I own a few Acustica products and I'll chime in with my satisfaction and dissatisfaction...

1) Their stuff does sound great. I absolutely love the vibe of Magenta, for example. I'd rank a few of their plugins up there with the very best.

2) Their installer and authorization software is maddening. It took me weeks to get an upgrade installed to one of my plugins, because I ended up having to dig around in hidden cache directories and get rid of old versions that they didn't clean up properly. And because of the impulse libraries they're based around, they're generally pretty huge. I've got orchestral sample libraries smaller than some of these. They also install multiple versions of each plugin for each feature set PLUS the zero latency versions so it's always a bit confusing to navigate. Condensing it all into one doesn't really fit their underlying architecture, I realize, but it's certainly different from most others.

3) They use, as was previously put, "pornographic amounts of CPU." Which, y'know, one might expect from stuff that intensive, but...still. They've gotten better with every subsequent revision of the engine, but it's still not gonna be super fast, and a lot of the plugins aren't updated yet.

4) No matter what forum you're on, no matter what email chain you're involved with, no matter what you're buying from whom, no matter what the question is, someone somewhere will ALWAYS chime in with "Acustica's version is way better" or "You should just use the [reasonably obscure third party library] in Nebula instead" and THAT, more than anything, is what drives people bonkers.

It used to be Slate users that posed an annoyance. Now it seems that responsibility has fallen onto Acustica users. I’m sure they make great take too, bet “best” in this context is always matter of “subjective” opinion, no one can wield it as “objective” fact.

To put it another way “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.

Back on topic, I’ve been waiting for the Shadow Hills to come to native for a very long time. This is indeed an awesome moment.

[simmo75]

AA = Acustica Audio

Hi himalaya, which AA plugin is their take on the shadow hills comp? Cheers.

[kovengarden]

The PA one behaves quite differently from HW. I like the Acustica emulation better.

[thecontrolcentre]

Has anyone done a comparison with SKNotes SDC?

https://www.sknoteaudio.com/wp/index.ph ... ompressor/