Thoughts on T Racks?

[wuworld]

Thoughts in general on IK Multimedia T Racks, and it's emulations? You like it or no?

[derschönekarsten]

Modo Bass is a keeper for me. The tape collection sounds great as well, but the CPU hit is too much of a hassle on my machine.

Amplitube is so-so IMO, definitely not bad though. The ones I really disliked were the Leslie and the Tape delay.

In general, I'm kinda put off by the huge catalogue. Makes me think they're just another big corporation that "only cares about the money". (Yes, I know that's horse shit and there's no real basis for that "conclusion". It's just sentimental.)

[Mr Arkadin]

Well the only thing I have T Racks for is the Leslie, all other stuff I use diffetent vendors.

[plexuss]

I have TRacks 5 Pro or whateve the whole bundle is called. They are nice. I consider them to be alternate emulation examples and I often use them along with other dev's products. The standout for me are the tape emualtions which are very nice and my go-to for master buss tape. I do like the 660 compressor as well. The others are fine to my ears and I just use them when I feel like it, perhaps to try some different sounds over other products I use. Depending on the price, what you have and what you are looking for they are worth looking at. I consider them in the same realm of quality as the Arturia products, a notch or two above, say Waves.

[an-electric-heart]

I've collected nearly everything through various group buys, most things get no use. The thing I use most is the Fairchild compressor, I actually use that all the time. I use the Pultec eq a fair bit too. Black 76 gets some use for individual drums, and the Buss Compressor gets use for... Well, drum groups, I used to use the Waves SSL comp for that, but the T-Racks buss comp has pretty much replaced it. Overall, yes, they're good plugs.
Oh, I use Quad Image a lot too.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Thoughts in general on IK Multimedia T Racks, and it's emulations? You like it or no?

I really like the Tapes. The Leslie's also sound great. Both the Leslie's and tapes do not model any noise or hiss though, which seems like a missed opportunity. But I'd say those two are excellent.

Just about the entire rest of the T-Racks suite has better alternatives IMO, but they're all at least good with some additional stand-outs. For instance their 432 EQ is really good, and their 33609 is also very nice. I'm less impressed with their 2A and 76 and don't use their channel strips. The Neves are too saturated, but if you want an exaggerated saturation could be good. The API's never did much for me and the non-emulations I've hardly ever touched. The CSR reverbs are ok, but I doubt they're anyone's first choice.

[dwinmusic]

Just like any other plugin, you gotta demo it on your stuff to see if it fits our genre

[Triplefox]

I have one of the T-Racks bundles from IK's Total Studio holiday deals. IK's installation methods have gotten better recently, so one of the major complaints about them is no longer an issue, though I recall some fuss with getting the license working(nothing as invasively evil as iLok though). The install will put in all the plugins even if your bundle is only for a subset so it be a bit irritating and trial-and-error to explore.

The plugins themselves - and I'm really speaking of the whole IK-plugverse here - basically do the job, and get out of the way, though most of them are undistinguished these days, and the bundle I have doesn't let me use some of the reverbs and tape emulations. TR One is a pretty outstanding timesaver, my go-to when I want general mix controls. Amplitude is pretty solid. MODO bass is pretty solid. Sampletank and Miroslav are very usable multisample romplers after applying some elbow grease, but not as comprehensive or out-of-the-box amazing as they'd like you to think.

Overall, would buy again. You can get equivalents for most of T-Racks by cobbling together free and built-in plugs, but it's nice to have one of this kind of bundle - from IK or any of the other majors in this category - since it simplifies plugin management across sessions, DAWs and installs.

[imrae]

It's a mixed bag really; being in T-racks doesn't tell you much about the quality of a processor. The Quad compressor and limiter have taken some pretty severe criticism. I like other Pultecs better. There are more modern alternatives to the linear phase EQ (but I like the workflow!) As for SSSR, uh... go see the thread on that release.

But Invisible Limiter is really good, everyone likes the tapes, I like the sound and workflow of the 73/81/White EQs (no idea how much that has to do with "accuracy"), the vari-mu has its place, Saturator X is very convenient even if other plugs might be better at each saturation "style". The clipper is simple and does what it says on the tin. White 2A and Black 76 hold up well against a lot of competition.

If demoing, be aware that some of the processors default to a slight volume boost

[evilantal]

In general, I think the more recent releases are the better ones compared to other vendors' emulations.

In particular the Leslie, Sunset Sound Studio Reverb and Tape Machine Collection.
I think those are only in the highest tier collection bundle, though

[jamcat]

T-RackS is my main set of mixing plugins.

Every mix starts with the Bus Comp on the master and a British Channel on every mix channel, to set up a virtual SSL mixer. I’ll use the White Channel instead if I’m doing something orchestral.

I always have Stealth Limiter in place on the master, as well.

Every “mic” channel gets the T-RackS EQ-73 Neve 1073 model as the first insert with the MIC button on, because IK modeled the complete preamp of that unit. The thing to know about the Neve 1073 is it isn’t actually an EQ, it is a preamp that happens to have EQ, and it should be used as such. Both the IK and Arturia models get that. Most 1073 models don’t. I happen to prefer the IK version better, it’s a bit less hyped than the Arturia, but both are good.

TR5 Black and White compressors get regular use. They’re goto comps for me. Once again, they do what they’re supposed to, with less hype and exaggeration than other models I’ve compared them to.

T-RackS is missing a dbx 160 model though, which is a pretty glaring hole in the catalogue, if you ask me.

T-RackS also really needs an EQ on the level of Slate Infinity EQ or FabFilter Pro-Q. The TR EQual is just not in the same league.

The TR Tape Machine models are awesome, but they are CPU killers and can’t be used on each mix channel the way Slate VTM can be. I’d like to see a light CPU mode so you could at least mix with them in place.

[ralfrobert]

I can second most of the things that have been said about the single processors, particularly the Tapes, Stealth Limiter, the Reverbs. Good stuff. As with every collection, there are some highlights and some not-so-brights. It is another thing that made me switch to other solutions after about two years ...

Let me explain: For me, work and shopping are very different realms. For IK, this means (a) Custom Shop for shopping and (b) the T-Racks interface for work. Ok. However, they put a shop link into the T-Racks interface in a prominent position. And they remind you how and where to buy whenever you touch a module in the module list you do not own. For me, this is inexcusable. Laugh about me, but absolute no-go! Working with music is no shopping party. This is the wrong mindset when designing software for experts. My world has very limited space for shopping carts.

And on top of this: The tone of the marketing reps lurking around in several forums is quite "poisonous" as somone stated on KVR before. IK's whole marketing talk just has something in it that triggers an avoidance mechanism in me. Like a mix between neon lights and a used car dealership.

After looking at the alternatives, I picked some of them (Arturia instead of Syntronik, PSP Infinistrip for mixing, Ozone or custom stuff for mastering; only Sampletank is still around.) I am happier than before now.

But that is just me.

[jamcat]

Producer: “Let’s put a Lexicon reverb on the vocal.”

Engineer: “Sorry mate, we don’t have any Lexicons because I didn’t like the salesman.”

[Mr Arkadin]

Producer: “Let’s put a Lexicon reverb on the vocal.”

Engineer: “Sorry mate, we don’t have any Lexicons because I didn’t like the salesman.”

That might be a thing if there weren't so many good alternatives from many companies, no need to stick with T-Racks if there are many alternatives. For me the Leslie was the only thing I was really missing from my million comps, EQs, reverbs, delays, tape emus etc. The good thing is after doing an 'everything' install that IK insist upon, I know I can delete everything except the Leslie.

[glokraw]

T-RackS is my main set of mixing plugins.

Thanks for the setup examples, I'll put them in my tips and knowledge folder
for when I expand production. I like the Lurssen Mastering Console for small
productions, but need some serious book-learning on studio gear and it's uses
Cheers