Cerise FREE by Acustica Audio

[fmr]

Apparently Acustica deleted my account. Great way to answer to customer problems.

Bravo Acustica.

[The Main Event]

No wonder considering your posts here.

[fmr]

No wonder considering your posts here.

I was right. It isn't my fault their software has problems. So, you (and them) blame me because I was right? What if I was a paying customer?

This says a lot about Acustica Audio, their capacity to solve problems, and the way they deal with customers

[Havok]

1 gb is a joke, right or you've just not programmed efficiently or thought it out properly, installation manager or not? There's really no excuse for that. PSP E27 and PA Dangerous Bax have much more practical footprints and obviously sound great. Nice gesture but sort out your basics if you want to reach a wider audience

You do realise those plugins you mentioned use a completely different technology? It's like telling a developer to get better at coding because their impulse response reverb takes up more space than an algorithmic reverb

[HcDoom]

Tried it...sounds good, definitely not much better than some classic algo plugins some would say, I would rather say they are equal in quality. But you cant go wrong with it if your cpu can survive the meltdown.

[The Main Event]

No wonder considering your posts here.

I was right. It isn't my fault their software has problems. So, you (and them) blame me because I was right?

No, just pointing out that the way you talk makes you look like a complete douche.

[fmr]

No wonder considering your posts here.

I was right. It isn't my fault their software has problems. So, you (and them) blame me because I was right?

No, just pointing out that the way you talk makes you look like a complete douche.

Maybe I was way more aggressive than I should... But I am a right douche

[The Main Event]

In your world at least...

[pixel85]

fmr calm down. After all, it's just a free plugin.

Imagine paying a few hundred $ for a huge library just to realize that its license is disappearing every now and then and you have to fix, repair, reinstall, re-download and this and that to make it work again until it happens again, maybe tomorrow maybe next week. There's one sample library company known for that

Btw all license managers have their own quirks. Now Native Access is mostly flawless but some time ago it was a disaster. Waves Center is still a disaster for some. PA installer renders their plugins unusable for me for a year for example (known PA-Cubase issue). IKM apps are an abomination to this day.
All those apps for licenses are s*** and it's a matter of 'luck' to have them working properly for a longer period of time (until a new forced update comes ).

[fmr]

I think I have experienced basically any installer portal out there. The PA one you mentioned: never had a problem, and I am a Cubase user. Maybe I was fortunate

Native Access: Since I started using it, I never had a problem either. Sure, I wish I could retain the downloads, But it works. I know people had problems in the past with the plug-ins, when they manually move them. Fortunately, I always kept the plug-ins in their original locations, and made copies of them, so never had a problem.

IK Multimedia. Again, never had a problem. Sure, it is far from perfection, and leaves a lot to be desired, but it always worked for me. But my password for IK Multimedia is an old one, without special characters. Don'0t know if I would have this problem if I changed it.

Arturia, UVI, iZotope. Always worked too.

Don't know about Waves, since I ceased to use Waves a long time ago. I keep reading about problems with Waves Central, and every time I read them I congratulate myself for having stopped using them.

I agree that basically any installer/license manager has its own quirks. Anyway, I NEVER experienced a stupid error like this. And I'm astonished to know that the software is already at version 2, the problem is old and known, and still exists. This, and the fact they deleted my account because I am complaining, says a lot about the developers, IMO.

But I am calm now. I gave up. I wasted too much time and energy with this matter already. I was only wanting to know if their products justify the hype, and all the extra burden in terms of CPU processing power and hard-disk space. I am pretty sure now that they won't.

[Obsolete462444]

Btw all license managers have their own quirks. Now Native Access is mostly flawless but some time ago it was a disaster. Waves Center is still a disaster for some. PA installer renders their plugins unusable for me for a year for example (known PA-Cubase issue). IKM apps are an abomination to this day.
All those apps for licenses are s*** and it's a matter of 'luck' to have them working properly for a longer period of time (until a new forced update comes ).

Another significant problem with those "license managers": most require your music computer to be connected to the internet, which is not an option for a significant chunk of the user base in audio production.

[plexuss]

[snip...]I am pretty sure now that they won't.

I really dislike AA as a company: what appears to be their product roadmap, their attitude about not fixing software problems, their personalities are inconsistent and at worst rude and ignorant, etc... however...

I have to admit for myself their products sound great. I own them all and I use them all the time. Begrudgingly.

[Obsolete462444]

Since the dynamics section (according to multiple independent reports) does not work properly (it seems there are gain staging issues that are unique to the technology used here) this essentially leaves us with the three band EQ. Could someone explain in what way it's preferable to a good three band algo like Tokyo Dawn Slick EQ?

Yes, I understand that the idea of having sampled hardware gear available in the box is intriguing in theory, but is there really a significant advantage practically over an algorithmic implementation of the same function, considering the disadvantages of having to install 1gig of data and the hefty latency or CPU if you use the zero latency variant?

P.S.: no offense, I find the AA approach to be really unique and interesting, but still curious to know.

[plexuss]

Since the dynamics section (according to multiple independent reports) does not work properly (it seems there are gain staging issues that are unique to the technology used here) this essentially leaves us with the three band EQ. Could someone explain in what way it's preferable to a good three band algo like Tokyo Dawn Slick EQ?

Yes, I understand that the idea of having sampled hardware gear available in the box is intriguing in theory, but is there really a significant advantage practically over an algorithmic implementation of the same function, considering the disadvantages of having to install 1gig of data and the hefty latency or CPU if you use the zero latency variant?

P.S.: no offense, I find the AA approach to be really unique and interesting, but still curious to know.

You have to use them to answer this question. Otherwise it would require a long treatise on IR methodology, volterra analysis, dynamic IR technology etc. of which I know little to nothing about.

Try them and decide for yourself. If you decide they are not for you, are terrible sounding, dont work as advertised and/or are just a waste of money and time then you wouldn't be alone. However there is an equality significant group of people who swear by them and attribute AA to their success.

That's the nature of audio, if you haven't figured that out already: there is only so much a person can do to explain why audio sounds good or bad, to another person. Eventually that person needs to listen and determine for themselves. You ears and brain and unique - no one else has anything close in terms of these level of detailed perception. A person's opinion about audio are pretty much their own.

[Obsolete462444]

Plexxus, I have to disagree with your slightly paternalistic response.

Also, I did not really ask for a technical treatise, I'm roughly aware of the impulse response based methodology used in AA plugins (essentially the hardware device is IR-multisampled in all its possible parameter settings for recall in the plugin, so basically a sophisticated matrix of impulse responses of each setting).

My question is of a practical and objective nature. As such it can be answered generally and doesn't require much subjective, individual involvement or personal opinion: does it have objective advantages? Yes or no? If there is no clear answer, this indicates there are no concrete advantages, since those would be obvious and easy to spot and name.

Before I make a commitment to downloading a +1gb plugin, which requires additional "license manager" software to be planted into my OS and also an active internet connection, I would much rather inquire beforehand whether its worth it. Audio forums like KVR are the place to go for such inquiries, if you haven't figured that out already.