Bargain Center: discussion, gossip, etc.

[Uncle E]

I found my life got more complicated having Realphones and Sonarworks both running together (I had Sonarworks first and it def improved my Sennheiser HD650 curve and definition in low end especially) the problem was on Windows, both drivers were competing for autonomy of some standalone vsts, some would work and some wouldn't. Sometimes Realphones would default to Windows Audio driver on startups, just wasnt reliable.

Having said that, the monitoring on Realphones was excellent for bass response especially. You could hear a lot better what the lower frequencies would sound like and translate to a room. The tweaking options on it were very good too, you could shape your listening curve experience from a sort of eq curve to stereo imaging. The problem to me again became over complication and procrastination over which settings were 'best' for monitoring and mixing. Realphones definitely was great for listening to music, but it was also different and I started to feel like it was training me to listen in one way but I wasn't sure by the end it was 'better' than what I had before just using Sonarworks and my trusty headphones I was used to.

So in the end I decided to remove Realphones to take away complication and I have no regrets. Sonarworks is rock solid. Most people on the forums appear to prefer Realphones to Sonarworks for its headphone correction profiles but I didnt find it was better. YMMV of course.

Just dont buy both, that'll introduce more headache than its worth!

Sonarworks and Waves NX function well together. I can't say the end result is mind blowing but I don't have setup issues.

If anyone is interested, I can upload a studio impulse I made that helps me mix. It balances the highs and lows, and also has a lot of build-up in the midrange (sort of like NS-10's) so that I spend more time clearing out and un-clouding those frequencies. The cool thing is I can use the Cross-Feed control in my impulse player to make headphones feel more like speakers.

[kevinsparks]

If anyone is interested, I can upload a studio impulse I made that helps me mix. It balances the highs and lows, and also has a lot of build-up in the midrange (sort of like NS-10's) so that I spend more time clearing out and un-clouding those frequencies. The cool thing is I can use the Cross-Feed control in my impulse player to make headphones feel more like speakers.

I'm interested. I'd also like to know which impulse player you're using.

[Uncle E]

I'm interested. I'd also like to know which impulse player you're using.

No problem. Please PM me your email address. I use Studio One Open Air.

[Vleker]

You should demo Realphones, very impressive.
https://www.dsoniq.com/

Interesting. It appears to have a limited selectoin of headphone profiles.

How does it compare to Sonarworks though? From what I see this is similar to Abbey Road by Waves? Simulating a control room in headphones?

I found my life got more complicated having Realphones and Sonarworks both running together (I had Sonarworks first and it def improved my Sennheiser HD650 curve and definition in low end especially) the problem was on Windows, both drivers were competing for autonomy of some standalone vsts, some would work and some wouldn't. Sometimes Realphones would default to Windows Audio driver on startups, just wasnt reliable.

Having said that, the monitoring on Realphones was excellent for bass response especially. You could hear a lot better what the lower frequencies would sound like and translate to a room. The tweaking options on it were very good too, you could shape your listening curve experience from a sort of eq curve to stereo imaging. The problem to me again became over complication and procrastination over which settings were 'best' for monitoring and mixing. Realphones definitely was great for listening to music, but it was also different and I started to feel like it was training me to listen in one way but I wasn't sure by the end it was 'better' than what I had before just using Sonarworks and my trusty headphones I was used to.

So in the end I decided to remove Realphones to take away complication and I have no regrets. Sonarworks is rock solid. Most people on the forums appear to prefer Realphones to Sonarworks for its headphone correction profiles but I didnt find it was better. YMMV of course.

Just dont buy both, that'll introduce more headache than its worth!

Cool thanks, this gives me plenty of reasons to pass on it. I use Sonarworks for room correction and occasional headphone correction so I think its the better tool for me!

[dermage]

I had no problems using Realphones, find it far more stable than the Sonarworks Systemwide on Win10 v1909 currently.
Also the chaining of SW and Realphones works, just isn't as comfortable as only using Realphones. RP is also much more advanced in terms of Room simulation, it's almost on par with Slate VSX. Additionally RP gets better with each update, they just introduced parameter locks and a new snapshot system, can't say that about Sonarworks, they seem to cripple the software more often than adding things.
Btw: in RP you can disable the Room simulation step by step (each module has an off-switch), and you have features like low/high-pass which was requested like 100 times from Sonarworks, but they never included it.
You can test RP with a 40day trial with full functionality + they're doing sales regularly.
For room correction with my speakers I still use SW, since there's nothing much better at that price.

[mrufino1]

I just installed the realphones trial today, and am hosting it in soundsource, by rogue amoeba, along with toneboosters morphit for headphone correction. With my q701 headphones, I couldn’t believe how good that sounded. Soundsource also hosts arc3. So I switch between plugins in soundsource when I switch between headphones and speakers. Now I never have to worry about forgetting to deactivate in my DAW before mixdown, plus any other app making sound still uses the correction software.

I think I’ll be buying realphones before the trial is up.

[Uncle E]

How does Soundsource's own Headphone Enhancement compare to Morphit?

[kidslow]

Soundsource 5 uses the open source AutoEq library for headphone enhancement.

[mrufino1]

I didn’t even know soundsource had headphone eq, I’ll have to check that out. I’ve been using it since May. Morphit works really well though and has a profile for the q701 and Sony 7506, and helps with both. The q701 sound great without it but that little bit of eq is cool just to make sure.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Anyone after the “free with a purchase” Carbon Electra at Plugin Boutique who has Kontakt check out the Organetta from AudioThing, a sampled Portable Reed Organ and only £3.95

[khanyz]

^ I went with Rigid Audio Acoustic Isolation at £3.95 too. It says the WAV files are unencrypted so should be OK to use without Kontakt, though the Kontakt implementation seems good.

[RPH]

Why can't I buy iZotope RX 8 Elements from JRRSHOP, while I've been buying stuff from them for years?
Message: This product is not available in your country.

Country: The Netherlands.

[oneshotdeal]

You're kidding me. I got it on October 13th.

That's an especially bitter pill to swallow because it seemed like such a great deal at the time but it turns out virtually all the SampleTank and Syntronik stuff is unusably bad and Amplitube and a couple of the TR5 compressors is all I'm actually using of the entire package.

Oh well. Wish I had listened to the IK hate on here.

Try messaging their support about it:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support/sw/

Thanks, I did.

They responded in literally 5 minutes:

"Thanks for your patience while we got back to you.

AmpliTube 5 SE is now in your account."

Consider me an avid IK supporter now, I guess.

[ChamomileShark]

Anyone after the “free with a purchase” Carbon Electra at Plugin Boutique who has Kontakt check out the Organetta from AudioThing, a sampled Portable Reed Organ and only £3.95

I bought the Organetta samples about a year ago and liked them so much I bought the real thing. Not green though

[Gabriel Garcia]

You should demo Realphones, very impressive.
https://www.dsoniq.com/

Interesting. It appears to have a limited selectoin of headphone profiles.

How does it compare to Sonarworks though? From what I see this is similar to Abbey Road by Waves? Simulating a control room in headphones?

I found my life got more complicated having Realphones and Sonarworks both running together (I had Sonarworks first and it def improved my Sennheiser HD650 curve and definition in low end especially) the problem was on Windows, both drivers were competing for autonomy of some standalone vsts, some would work and some wouldn't. Sometimes Realphones would default to Windows Audio driver on startups, just wasnt reliable.

Having said that, the monitoring on Realphones was excellent for bass response especially. You could hear a lot better what the lower frequencies would sound like and translate to a room. The tweaking options on it were very good too, you could shape your listening curve experience from a sort of eq curve to stereo imaging. The problem to me again became over complication and procrastination over which settings were 'best' for monitoring and mixing. Realphones definitely was great for listening to music, but it was also different and I started to feel like it was training me to listen in one way but I wasn't sure by the end it was 'better' than what I had before just using Sonarworks and my trusty headphones I was used to.

So in the end I decided to remove Realphones to take away complication and I have no regrets. Sonarworks is rock solid. Most people on the forums appear to prefer Realphones to Sonarworks for its headphone correction profiles but I didnt find it was better. YMMV of course.

Just dont buy both, that'll introduce more headache than its worth!

Thanks guys for all the replies. I'm gonna try Realphones. I tried the demo of Sonarworks Reference mostly for headphones correction, and I think it does a great job. I'm using two different headphones for different tasks, and Systemwide helps a lot making them sound a lot closer to each other.