How good are Hornet Plugins?

[Tricky-Loops]

A general concern with Hornet is that he is approaching a Melda-volume of plugins with similar functionality.

Nearly impossible to beat Melda in terms of the amount of plugins!

no. making multiple eqs, comps, reverbs and filtes and calling them spectral/turbo/LE/whatever isn't that hard + additionally doubling the amount of plugins by making them multiband.

Vojtech told us many years ago that his big advantage is that he already has his GUI framework (created already at the university), so he doesn't have to design and program a completely new GUI for every new plugin because the GUI is always the same!

Which is an advantage for users, too, because once you understand the basic GUI features, it's easier to work with all other plugins, too.

Voxengo has a similar approach!

[jens]

Vojtech told us many years ago that his big advantage is that he already has his GUI framework (created already at the university), so he doesn't have to design and program a completely new GUI for every new plugin because the GUI is always the same!

It's not just a GUI framework. It's the DSP too - the LFO's, the oscillators, the filters, the envelope-followers, etc - it's like his own private version of SynthEdit - and that's how it sounds and feels too.

Voxengo has a similar approch

Nope - of course every programmer re-uses code - it would be insanity not to - but the question is how much stock is used for a new product and how much it is - and can be - adapted to the new application.

I think in the case of Melda the adaption is minimal. In the case of Voxengo it is massive.

[Sam-U]

Don't know why melda has been brought up but I prefer Hornet over melda in any way. I had to contact Hornet support 2 times and got back very quickly and very friendly. On the other hand I needed help from melda support 1 time and I got back with claims what is my fault and what is bitwigs fault, but never the plugins fault.

[Junkyard Sam]

ThirtyOne is as good as everyone else said, but to elaborate:

You can set it to 4 seconds sampling mode with "continuous" EQ update and it listens and evolves the EQ of your track over time. I use it with the default 50% setting. The results are gentle but effective - it's a frequency unmasking process.

I ran pink noise through ThirtyOne with some peaks and valleys, and it sort of averages it out - but not too much. And there may be a slight overall shaping of the EQ that it pushes the overall curve toward, but I'm not certain. Again, it's subtle.

This frequency unmasking idea is similar to what Har-Bal encourages manually with Paarvo's "empathetic EQ" technique, and IntuitQ... but the magic of ThirtyOne is that it can do that process over time, so it's reacting to the audio as it happens.

Hornet Tape & Analog Stage are good. Sibilance is good. Master Tool is good, but it's a little buggy at the moment so "save before using."

What's neat about Master Tool is --- you know how Ozone listens to your audio for 20 seconds? With Master Tool -- you set it to "listen" and then you just move around to all the parts of the song you want it to consider... So you can play the loudest part, the quietest part, an average part -- the plugin just listens and captures samples until you tell it not to. (It's smart enough to capture only when you're playing audio.)

I own almost every Waves plugin and I picked up the "Hornet Complete Collection." I love Hornet plugins because they feel a little bit unusual and he handles audio differently than Waves so it seems to complement my other tools well... But Hornet tools are not as stable as Waves, so again -- save frequently.

I also like Hornet Magnus Mk2. I was using it, with Thirty One, to equal something somewhat similar to Master Tool before he released that.

[audiot]

... it's like his own private version of SynthEdit - and that's how it sounds and feels too.

Didnt know that the source codes are public Any links? And please tell us some more about the sound of SynthEdit ...



Seriously ... i agree that not all of his plugins are top notch, but saying they all sound like Synthedit is

[mcnelson]

Like everyone else, 31 is top notch.

[audiot]

Like everyone else, 31 is top notch.

31 is an excellent tool to give clarity and definition to the master! Seems to be a bit overlooked here at kvr

There's a thread at gearsluts with 12 pages, where the dev already announced version 2

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/product ... c565dfd464

[jens]

... it's like his own private version of SynthEdit - and that's how it sounds and feels too.

Didnt know that the source codes are public Any links? And please tell us some more about the sound of SynthEdit ...

Seriously ... i agree that not all of his plugins are top notch, but saying they all sound like Synthedit is

You must have vastly misunderstood me , it seems.

[audiot]

You must have vastly misunderstood me , it seems.

Then i apologize Sounded like some negative criticism to me, because i still can remember that endless discussions about Synthedit not sounding good.

[Tricky-Loops]

So far more hate for Vojtech Meluzin than I'd expected and more love for Saverio Vigni than I'd expected...

I have to test the Melda customer service in the next weeks because I don't have an account there yet but I have the (from Melda bought) 7 and 8 years old license files for the CreativeFX bundle and several others, so it needs to be assigned to a new account.

I did my best 7 years ago convincing Vojtech to improve the GUI massively and he did improve it, it's even customizable now. But he cannot completely throw all his hard worked framework with so many elements in the bin and hire a professionell graphic designer like U-He or Native Instruments.

Then I probably will make a "How good are Melda plugins" thread someday. Hopefully not a war between Melda GUI haters and lovers starts or about the license transfer fees...

Personally I have so many other stuff that I still haven't tested most of them...

[DPhil]

Then I probably will make a "How good are Melda plugins" thread someday. Hopefully not a war between Melda GUI haters and lovers starts or about the license transfer fees...

You forgot the main concern which is workflow (like pop-ups, hidden options, too many useless options), another thing is copy-cat behaviour, the trash-talk and bs marketing, ...

Anyways back to topic. I'm happy with FabFilter and HOFA (especially System). I used Hornet plugins long time though and have nothing really to complain. The free bundle alone has some nice tools.

[jens]

You must have vastly misunderstood me , it seems.

Then i apologize Sounded like some negative criticism to me, because i still can remember that endless discussions about Synthedit not sounding good.

It was negative criticism, but not the way you seem to have understood it. What I meant is that Vojtech in my opinion recycles too much from product to product, which I assume is super-easy with his framework (as it is in SynthEdit). I think it's throrough attention to detail that make or break a great product (a kind of attention that is of course possible with SynthEdit too, but not required to quickly come up with something) and he seems not to be especially capable (and/or willing) to muster that sort of attention during development. That makes him quick - and uninteresting to me.

[dopet]

I will echo a lot of what has been said here RE: the love for the Hornet.... The ThirtyOne EQ is killer. Had some acoustic guitar parts that were not cooperating, demoed that Eq and bought within minutes. It got me real close right off the bat. I like how you can 'influence' the auto eq portion along with what Junkyard Sam above talks about.

I grab the channel strip, analog stage and tape 1st thing on every track. The beauty of 'in the box' is that we have options. I don't always end up with the Hornet plugs at the end, but more often than not I do.

What I have found about the channel strip is that small tweaks on the EQ go along way and the compressors seem to be 'heavy handed'... very likely my fault though ... I find I get nice results using both compressors working just a little bit as opposed to really pushing just one. Not a new technique to be sure, but apropos here.

Generally speaking my go to VST's come from Hornet, Boz and Sonimus.

Take care!

[Tricky-Loops]

What I meant is that Vojtech in my opinion recycles too much from product to product...

That's a valid point. 109 Melda plugins in less than 10 years indeed look a bit like "Fließbandarbeit" - assembly line work.

I was surprised how many Hornet plugins Saverio Vigni created in several years but not so many plugins like Vojtech...

I'm absolutely excited when a band finally releases a new album every 2 to 4 years like Depeche Mode - but in case of Melda, it would be like releasing a new album every 2 months, then exitement decreases!

That said, there are a quite a few of professional musicians and audio engineers using them, so they cannot sound bad, either.

I'll make a "How good are Melda plugins" thread in several weeks!

[El°HYM]

A 'How good are Melda plugins' could indeed become a pretty interesting topic, looking forward to that one.