Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[Insanelysane]

Saturator on the other hand does have better control and blending the mix elements.

You mean bx_saturator V2 , right?

Just consider whether you 'need' these. Only do processing if you feel it needs it rather than because the button/knob is there.

I agree. These days I am questioning myself a lot on that before buying anything. I think I have moved away from impulse buying, for good. I might just buy one plugin if I am really happy with it after demoing.

Yes bx_saturator V2. Just wondering what you are looking at using these specific plugins for versus what you already have in that camp? Interestingly, being a bargain hunter I always am drawn to a sale and the prospect of gain I feel about a great deal and the worth I got it for - but sometimes I'll pay say $40 for something reduced from $100 when another plugin at $25 would've been better, not on sale. Have you looked at Contemporary Color as a saturator/color option? its permanently at $29 even though at release it promised to be an intro price with a higher pricetag of $89 (that never seemed to happen, frustrating in some way for early adopters, but a good plugin used a lot here)
https://endeavorfx.com/contemporary-color.html

I am in the exact same boat to be honest. I don't really "need" any of these plugins. Being suckered to even "think" over these deals is actually bad and a time waste. That's the next improvement I need.

Thanks for the suggestion. Never heard of Contemporary Color. The GUI does not look that good, but looks like an interesting plugin. I will check it out since you have praised it. But I will resist buying it, or anything for that matter.

Read the reviews for it, you'll see it got some real praise. Shame on the gui, yes, and if you do buy it I'd install the Advanced skin and use that instead of the main one as the advanced one had some helpful extra features like mix knob per band, just more useful. But definitely a pleasing plugin, does great things to bring out certain regions. Try it and good luck

[LoveEnigma18]

Read the reviews for it, you'll see it got some real praise. Shame on the gui, yes, and if you do buy it I'd install the Advanced skin and use that instead of the main one as the advanced one had some helpful extra features like mix knob per band, just more useful. But definitely a pleasing plugin, does great things to bring out certain regions. Try it and good luck

Trimmed the quoted text for brevity.

Sure buddy, I will follow what you said and give it a try. If it sounds good and fits the purpose, will forget PA, and get it instead. Thanks, and good luck to you too.

[imrae]

Knock his presentation style and lack of research, sure. But Wytse at least makes relevant comparisons between hyped stuff and alternative tools. Gain-matching shouldn't be a big deal, but official demos from plugin developers still usually fall down on this regard.

What I'd really like to see are some demos of EQ plugins that actually meaningfully compare them to alternatives. There are so many demos out there of EQ X which compare the results to un-EQed source material and "hear how much better it is with EQ!" It tells you nothing about why this EQ is special. With saturators/exciters it can also seem that a lot of the action is just EQ. If people like the way blackbox boosts low-end, have they compared it to a pultec model? Waves did a super long Yoad Nevo video for Vitamin without level matching; I wonder how much of it could have been achieved with RenEQ or Q10.

I don't doubt that the HG-2 plugin is of good quality and a useful approximation of the hardware for people familiar with that workflow.

[Holon Mundi]

Knock his presentation style and lack of research, sure. But Wytse at least makes relevant comparisons between hyped stuff and alternative tools. Gain-matching shouldn't be a big deal, but official demos from plugin developers still usually fall down on this regard

Sure. He focuses a lot on the advantages of the UX in the computer and laments rather loudly when plugins are missing good computer features like automatic gain compensation. Not to make and take sides but so do I.

[hotmitts]

HG-2 is generally very well-regarded.

Personally I demoed it (and VSM-3) during the $29 sale and found the level-matching workflow difficult. It was much easier to create controlled low-end saturation with Reelbus without being fooled by loudness. So I bought Spectre instead.

Blimey, I want to buy 'Spectre' just for the GUI alone

[InkSFX]

If you've never watched his videos before, take it with a grain of salt because he hates almost everything he reviews. He craps on plugins that experienced engineers use successfully every day.

This so much. Half of the time I just can't take him seriously although he does have his moments from time to time. But I think the whole point of people watching his videos is more about his style rather than if he's right or not. Personally I find his way of doing it annoying af, and leave it for others.

[InkSFX]

Btw Uncle E, any insider knowledge whether the ROLI sale for Cypher2/Strobe2 upgrades will be joined by FXpansion as well? Would suck if they'd leave OG DCAMmers out of the fun...

[Forgotten]

If you've never watched his videos before, take it with a grain of salt because he hates almost everything he reviews. He craps on plugins that experienced engineers use successfully every day.

This so much. Half of the time I just can't take him seriously although he does have his moments from time to time. But I think the whole point of people watching his videos is more about his style rather than if he's right or not. Personally I find his way of doing it annoying af, and leave it for others.

Don’t really know who he is, but it’s videos like this that remind me why I dislike looking for information on YouTube.

[autodafe]

Btw Uncle E, any insider knowledge whether the ROLI sale for Cypher2/Strobe2 upgrades will be joined by FXpansion as well? Would suck if they'd leave OG DCAMmers out of the fun...

same here...

[Fleer]

If anyone’s not using his Heavyocity Forzo Essentials coupon, PM me

[masterhiggins]

If you've never watched his videos before, take it with a grain of salt because he hates almost everything he reviews. He craps on plugins that experienced engineers use successfully every day.

This so much. Half of the time I just can't take him seriously although he does have his moments from time to time. But I think the whole point of people watching his videos is more about his style rather than if he's right or not. Personally I find his way of doing it annoying af, and leave it for others.

Don’t really know who he is, but it’s videos like this that remind me why I dislike looking for information on YouTube.

He’s the most insufferable YouTube reviewer I’ve ever seen. I never advocate for slapping another human in the face, but those facial expressions makes it mighty tempting.

[dzilizzi]

Saturator on the other hand does have better control and blending the mix elements.

You mean bx_saturator V2 , right?

Just consider whether you 'need' these. Only do processing if you feel it needs it rather than because the button/knob is there.

I agree. These days I am questioning myself a lot on that before buying anything. I think I have moved away from impulse buying, for good. I might just buy one plugin if I am really happy with it after demoing.

Yes bx_saturator V2. Just wondering what you are looking at using these specific plugins for versus what you already have in that camp? Interestingly, being a bargain hunter I always am drawn to a sale and the prospect of gain I feel about a great deal and the worth I got it for - but sometimes I'll pay say $40 for something reduced from $100 when another plugin at $25 would've been better, not on sale. Have you looked at Contemporary Color as a saturator/color option? its permanently at $29 even though at release it promised to be an intro price with a higher pricetag of $89 (that never seemed to happen, frustrating in some way for early adopters, but a good plugin used a lot here)
https://endeavorfx.com/contemporary-color.html

No, no, no! You do not mess with the GAS by talking about need.

Need only comes into it if you are broke. Then you really don't need much because stock plugins do almost everything now a days.

[WatchTheGuitar]

United Plugins Autoformer has a 15 day demo and is on sale for 25 bucks right now and well worth a look if you're after something to add colour/saturation.
Also if you have Reason Rack VST then check out some of the effects in there, especially Audiomatic.

[escalona]

^ Lol

Does anyone find PA Black Box Analog Design HG-2 good? I downloaded its demo yesterday along with the demo of other plugins I mentioned, and to my surprise, I only really liked HG-2. Really beefy sound if my ears judged it right at midnight. I already have the Soundtoys stuff, but I think this might be a good addition. To some extent I did like the Masterdesk too, but I need to explore Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain first to see if I really need it. I did like bx_saturator V2 last time I demoed it, so, I just need to decide between bx_saturator V2 and HG-2.

Any opinions?

I've had both the Saturator and the HG-2. Within a year I never used them once (that's my main reason to let go of plugins). I always ended up reaching to different plugins. The HG-2 sounds better to my ears. The saturator V2 honestly just sounds plain, boring and unpleasant to me on every occasion. As someone else mentioned already, the HG-2 will give you the sensation that it always sounds better. It always makes everything louder, so you may get tricked more often that you think.
Someone else mentioned Spectre... after using that one I never looked back. The oversampling feature is awesome.
Someone else mentioned the Contemporary Color and I find it very juicy. It does have some issues with aliasing when used heavily... but so do all the good ones (including decapitator)
I will personally add the Audified U78 saturator. Not a lot of controls, but smooth saturation that sounds soooo good. Use it within a multiband plugin (like Blue Cat's MB-7, for instance, or using the splitter if you use Studio One) for full control.
Like most PA things, I think that the ratio of unreasonable hype versus potential for true honest use of a tool is infinity to zero (perhaps one or two), particularly with the latest plugins. Many will tell you that they use plugin X from PA in all of their mixes, and so it happens with everyone on their facebook page (quickly jump and see). I think it would be hilarious to actually see those tracks...
When I see these "mega-uber-bigger-than-god" PA sales, my brain goes straight to thinking "need to take advantage of this... when will I ever buy the HG-2 again for $19?" ...now I think "if I buy this, I'll be $19 away from getting something that I will really use". My disinfected $0.02.

One last thing about the Asperger's video kid, just like Uncle E said, take it with a grain of salt... the size of Nebraska.

[Fleer]

True. Wavesfactory Spectre is quite something.