Acustica Audio Nebula 80% off - just these Days or just another Marketing Game?

[dionenoid]

I just tried some of the compressors in the N4 Trial pack. Everytime i try to recall a saved test preset (using 747 comp) it crashes Cubase. Anyone knows anything about this ? I have no problems at all with any of the Aquas i own so i'm wondering what's happening...

[Dirtgrain]

Edit: never mind--watched a video on it

[scalawag]

Does it come with Violet (Culture Vulture if i'm not mistaken)?
If yes, i think the price is insane for what you get!

[dionenoid]

This is an interesting read, for those wanting to buy N4. It's what the CEO of Acustica Audio had to say about N4, on Gearslutz in the Nebula thread :

For us the real product is N4, a free player, with which to run the acqua libraries

The only reason there is a paid version of N4 is to support the old library with a new and updated version (example that works on catalina). In our experience ALL these interventions are crucial: operating systems are changing quickly and for example mac side the survival of nebula already depends exclusively on our releases and updates. It's partially happening also in windows, where the old authorization system is stopping working (for your curiosity, also some obsolete compilers we were using for some versions of Nebula are stopping working, for example borland c++: yesterday I updated windows to version 2019 and it doesn't start anymore). This is the reason why N4 today is compiled exclusively with the latest compilers, xCode 10 and Visualstudio 2019/2017 and takes into account the continuous changes that are required from developers, for example Apple's policy. And I'm talking about this not to mention some formats like VST3, which have become mandatory (nebula was a VST2 product and they are gradually removing support and discouraging it). For example, we spent a few weeks in contact with Steinberg to deal with some VST3 issues.

The reason why it is paid for is to cover the costs on this side, since developers that need to be supported on the N4 side do not pay royalties.
That's all. To me if it sells or does not sell this version does not change anything, we do it to satisfy a request.

And we come to the points listed:
- stacked: N4 will never support them, at least not the way you think. We already support libraries that have multiple instances within them, and that's a feature that applies to the developer, not the user. Why? It makes no sense to create a stacked version with the typical library latency. Sequencers can handle single plugins quite well, but they have difficulty dealing with a single block with 56 thousand samples of latency, for example. This doesn't apply to all hosts, but some have serious problems. To have a stacked functionality it would be better to have products with really low latencies. Developers can solve the problem by declaring a master nebula that receives equalization bands from other instances, saving resources and latency. But it's something that is solved very badly by randomly randomizing instances one after the other.
- network: yes probably this year the functionality will be released. I think we'll start from Modula first. We are building the tools to allow the configuration.
- commercial library: it doesn't make sense for us, but we provide it to have a "batteries included" product. It's the same demo library released in 2007 more or less, and it's the one that even in 2007 was criticized. Those who buy N4 today do so for external libraries, not for that. We have no interest in creating a better library, or in selling more N4 plugins. The way we would prefer instead is the free player, with third-party developers producing libraries that we host in our marketplace in exchange for royalties.

I want to be extremely clear on one point, which I repeat: for us N4 is an inconvenient product, since it creates high maintenance costs: users tend to follow some suggestions from developers who ask to change the environment parameters. This creates very high support costs and bug fixes. If you want to talk bad about the product you're just doing me a favor, I'd much prefer to sell only acqua and acqua libraries, or Modula. But every now and then I like to help reason the unwary: managing N4 for a fee is something we do for the community. We could have stopped supporting old libraries years ago, pushing the production of our own, a bit like Facebook does when it buys the competition or leverages someone. We probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now. And if someone thinks that the "revolt" of the users could have damaged us, let's say that the sales at that time were already zero, in the end we would have simply started again with a new chapter. People like to forget quickly. Instead we're doing it for you. Buy it and don't buy it, I don't care at all. If people don't buy it, we'll have less trouble.

Besides, if people don't buy it our Helpdesk will thank you, most of the support requests are exclusively related to the N4 commercial platform.

[dionenoid]

Also be aware that although its $80 or whatever, there are $1000's in 3rd party libraries you open yourself up to, so if you are prone to GAS, consider your future budgets carefully.

Learn from my mistakes.

Thanx for the advice. This is the main reason i didn't buy N4 at the last sale, and will also pass now.

Not only do you pay for a product that's far from a priority for the company (see my post above with the quote from AA's CEO) but you will also most certainly spend a lot of money on third party libraries, with no guarantee that they will be working for a longer time.

Also, the included libs are old (i remember some names from using them many years ago in the early free version of Nebula) and will never be updated.

[alexishere]

Wow, thanks for that quote from him. It’s clear to me now that they’re doing 80 off like they are throwing it away before they almost abandon it..

[escalona]

I bought nebula at a much higher price. I immediately went for a group of compressors by Tim Petherick and still nowadays haven't found anything that sound even close. I know it has shown some issues here and there for some folks, but for what I use it, this is simply irreplaceable. Mostly with Studio One and Reaper here and so far zero problems in the last 3 years give or take.
I recommend anyone to give it a try with your system and see how it goes. Mileage will vary for sure. I am for one super happy with nebula.

[The Noodlist]

Wow, thanks for that quote from him. It’s clear to me now that they’re doing 80 off like they are throwing it away before they almost abandon it..

It might look ominous, but this is one of their most expensive products and was their flagship, shouldn't be really pussy footing with a product that costs so much. After all, it's a lot more efficient than the Acquas, and if it can run these more efficiently, this would be a bonus rather than crippling the computer.

The free Acustica upgrades have it's pitfalls, no money made from developments, updates and improvements.

[GRUMP]

Not only do you pay for a product that's far from a priority for the company (see my post above with the quote from AA's CEO) but you will also most certainly spend a lot of money on third party libraries, with no guarantee that they will be working for a longer time.

Would you pay for a Product that you can´t really demo? There may be amazing, stunning, boombastic Libs out there - but I won´t pay for the Wheels if I don´t know about the Rest of the Car.

There´s also no Download Link in Aquarius for the Librarys marked as Demo. Really uncool.

And what happens when N5 comes? N4 can only be loaded via Aquarius.. All those Questions...

It´s ominous. Really ominous - and I usually need one EQ, not 77. A good Preamp. That Box smells like "get 100GB of Samples for 99$".

And there are always People who say "nothing is better than" like "Serum is the best" while I would use it for not more than Wavetable Editing. Some Acquas are really nice and I assume that an outdated IR Library that is frequently sold for 20% won´t really be a Competition for their Flagships.

[dionenoid]

Not only do you pay for a product that's far from a priority for the company (see my post above with the quote from AA's CEO) but you will also most certainly spend a lot of money on third party libraries, with no guarantee that they will be working for a longer time.

Would you pay for a Product that you can´t really demo? There may be amazing, stunning, boombastic Libs out there - but I won´t pay for the Wheels if I don´t know about the Rest of the Car.

Nope, that's the other thing. I've read a lot about it, and while some ppl say that some libs are tha bomb, other ppl don't like it or have issues with it. It's gamble, and a rather expensive one.

I'll just stick with Aquas.

[The Noodlist]

I get the option to install some demo libraries, a lot are missing, not really good for a demo, the others are a shot in the dark. 11GB is a sufficient amount.

[The Noodlist]

I just did a visual test, I sent a test tone to the line in of a GAP Pre MKII and compared it to the N4 demo - RND5088 line preset and with Waves NLS Nevo channel. I thought NLS looked closer to the hardware, which is a cheap clone.

NLS on the left and GAP hardware on the right.

Nls Nevo.png.png

N4 RND 5088 line below.

N4_RND5088_L.png

[imrae]

Looks like it needs to be hit a lot harder. "More DC than saturation" is a bad look though.

[The Noodlist]

Let's not forget, this is a €400 product.
Demo limitations, like not being able to test the other libraries and Acquas running in N4, makes it a shot in the dark. That said, 3rd party libraries might be an option. Signal to Noize offers some libraries as "pay what you want" starting at $1.

On the other hand, it comes with quite a few presets, and the cost when on sale might be cheaper than buying a single algorithmic plug-in. The EQs do sound totally different to algorithmic, cuts sound totally different, to me at least.

And, there is also plenty of demo libraries by 3rd party devs that are useable. And some free stuff.

[Saukar30]

Are the EQs included just 1 or 2 bands or are there any 4 or 5 band options?