KVR Audio

pschoenb · Post by **pschoenb** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:57 pm

Hello,

I am wondering if the Ultimate Dreamware Studio Collection 2 is worth its money if one only mixes ITB but on a professional level. Any opinions?

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:52 am

Try the demos

pschoenb · Post by **pschoenb** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:56 am

plexuss wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:52 am Try the demos

Ok. But I am still interested in a variety of opinions based on long term experience with these plugins.

dionenoid · Post by **dionenoid** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:05 am

pschoenb wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:56 am
plexuss wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 12:52 am Try the demos
Ok. But I am still interested in a variety of opinions based on long term experience with these plugins.

Do you already own any Acustica plug-ins ? Because they are cpu hungry and the only way to find out how hungry they are on your system is to demo them.

pschoenb · Post by **pschoenb** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:28 am

dionenoid wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:05 am Do you already own any Acustica plug-ins ? Because they are cpu hungry and the only way to find out how hungry they are on your system is to demo them.

I own Nebula 4 Pro. I assume, with a Intel Core i9 9980XE, CPU hunger should be manageable also on larger mixes?

escalona · Post by **escalona** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:40 am

I use a limited variety of plugins. Acustica is the main force (usually). With a i9 9900K I haven't found limitations yet. I do mostly rock and pop-rock, so I don't use many VSTis. Mostly Falcon 2 does everything I need and at times a NI library here and there or a second synth, but that's about it. My full mixes end up in the 16 to 32 tracks tops and it's mostly audio tracks and buses.
I have all the dreamware plugins by Acustica that I've been buying over time. Money wise, I have paid way more than what they're asking for. Thinking about it, I could have skipped a few strip channels and EQs (I don't use all of them all the time, at all), but overall I'm very happy with those plugins. They do sound fantastic, along with a collection of 3rd party nebula ones.

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:08 am

I have all of them except 3. I use them regularily on my mixed and mastering. I typically use them on tracks as the final touch. They have transformed the sound I am able to get into something more pleasing. I feel they help to mitigate the nasty sound that digital processing can impart. However it really depends on how your ears/brain work and how capable you are of using them in a pleasing way. They are not a silver bullet/one-knob kind of thing.

Here are a couple tracks mixed and mastered with Acquas. Pretty much on every track and the master buss. To me these have "that Acqua sound" - however as I mentioned it comes down to how the individual uses them - just putting them on tracks and hoping won't help.

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/world-suite

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/kkryhztalizzed

jochicago · Post by **jochicago** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:36 am

I don't use AA because of the CPU. But:

pschoenb wrote: ↑Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:57 pm if one only mixes ITB but on a professional level

All the other plugins we are buying are toys? 9 y/o Timmy mastering records with TDR plugins, Black Rooster made a 1073 because they wanted an excuse to use the color purple?

pschoenb · Post by **pschoenb** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:49 am

plexuss wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:08 am However it really depends on how your ears/brain work and how capable you are of using them in a pleasing way. They are not a silver bullet/one-knob kind of thing.

I am aware of that and I'm not looking for one-knob stuff. Since I am more after a warm, analog sound, and since I have to stay ITB (because as a physically handicapped person, I could not work with outboard equipment, at least not without help), I am wondering if the Acqua line would be worth to be added to my arsenal.

dionenoid · Post by **dionenoid** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:09 pm

pschoenb wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:28 am
dionenoid wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:05 am Do you already own any Acustica plug-ins ? Because they are cpu hungry and the only way to find out how hungry they are on your system is to demo them.
I own Nebula 4 Pro. I assume, with a Intel Core i9 9980XE, CPU hunger should be manageable also on larger mixes?

Some do, some don't. The ones on older Core versions are still laggy and very cpu hungry (like one of my favs : Lemon). Gold is known for being cpu hungry so i don't think even the newest systems can run a lot of these. But since you already have Nebula, you also have Aquarius so it's easy to demo them and see how they act on your system and daw.

I read a lot ppl like some Nebula libraries better than the Aquas. There's some good topics about this on Gearslutz. Personally i didn't like the workflow of Nebula so i didn't buy it, but since you do it might be worth checking out some libraries if you didn't already..

I own a bunch of Aquas. I demoed almost all of them but just don't feel the need for owning all of them, as there's a lot of overlap and a lot of them are just not that great.

While this offer for the whole collection is appealing, i think you can get by with having a few of them that you really like for your purposes. And realistically you'll never be able to run all of them in a project, even on the most powerful computer. But again, demo them and listen for yourself.

Acustica Ultimate Dreamware Studio Collection 2