NoiseAsh NEED Preamp and Eq Collection (Neve 73/81/84/533/31102 consoles)

[kevingham]

I haven't seen this mentioned on here yet:

https://noiseash.com/need-preamp-and-eq-collection/

I went on a bit of a classic analogue EQ emulation journey this year. As part of that I tried a load of different Pultec emulations, and (like many) really loved the RuleTec pluigins from NoiseAsh. I can;t compare them to the hardware Pultecs, but to my ears the RuleTec sounds gorgeous; I'm getting great results doing the bass boost/attneuation trick with these emulations. So yesterday they announced a new host of plugin Neve console emulations. I really love the emulations I've heard of the Neve 73 & 81 already (esp Slate and IKM), so am quite interetsed in what NoiseAsh have created here. I haven't had chance to try out their 31102 emulation yet, which is now bundled together with all of this new Neve/Need stuff.

Any thoughts? How are other people liking/disliking the NoiseAsh plugins? Anyone tried these new Need plugins yet?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I'm going to totally be "that guy" but I was disappointed in the aliasing results once you introduce a little bit of mic drive. The plugin uses oversampling but you still get quite a bit of foldback in the audible range.

Is aliasing the worst thing in the world? No. But other companies do a better job dealing with it. Last night, I also checked out the Kit Audio BBN105 (different Neve console) and the saturation and oversampling were doing great. I believe it's convolution-based though and that GUI is not fun at all. In short, I lost interest in the Noise Ash and the Kit Audio plugin is now on the "maybe" list.

[TIMT]

I don't have much faith in the claims of their accurate modelling considering their other Class A pre model and their attempt at modelling the push pull tube amp in the Pultec are static waveshapers

[briefcasemanx]

Haven't tried the new stuff but the old Neve and Pultec are good, especially the Pultec.

On the old Need the sound gets a little too harsh when you push the drive, wish it were a little more mellow, but at medium drive settings it sounds good. The Pultec (or "Ruletec" as they call it) is just nice.

Will try out the new stuff.

[pixel85]

Yep, their Pultec emulation is great. Waves or IKM are not even close (can't speak for UAD tho).
But I didn't like their old NEED. After demo, I was left unimpressed.
NEED 533 looks interesting. I hope that someone will do a good presentation of those plugins. I'm too lazy to check them myself

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I finally got a chance to properly listen to the Kit Audio BBN105, and that thing is delicious sounding. Add some Mic drive, compensate the output, sounds wonderful. EQ is great too.

For my money I’ll be buying the Kit and passing on the NEED.

[briefcasemanx]

I finally got a chance to properly listen to the Kit Audio BBN105, and that thing is delicious sounding. Add some Mic drive, compensate the output, sounds wonderful. EQ is great too.

For my money I’ll be buying the Kit and passing on the NEED.

Have you actually tried out the new Need plugins that are the topic of this thread?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I finally got a chance to properly listen to the Kit Audio BBN105, and that thing is delicious sounding. Add some Mic drive, compensate the output, sounds wonderful. EQ is great too.

For my money I’ll be buying the Kit and passing on the NEED.

Have you actually tried out the new Need plugins that are the topic of this thread?

Yes. Post #2. Aliasing. That was me. Also, the last word in my post was about a comparison to the NEED. Good day.

Also, someone asks about some Neve console emulations, and those are just basic waveshapers for saturation with aliasing so I recommend another Neve console emulation that actually sounds great and doesn't alias. So yeah, on topic.

Leave the moderation to Hink please. You're terrible at it.

[briefcasemanx]

I finally got a chance to properly listen to the Kit Audio BBN105, and that thing is delicious sounding. Add some Mic drive, compensate the output, sounds wonderful. EQ is great too.

For my money I’ll be buying the Kit and passing on the NEED.

Have you actually tried out the new Need plugins that are the topic of this thread?

Yes. Post #2. Aliasing. That was me. Also, the last word in my post was about a comparison to the NEED. Good day.

Also, someone asks about some Neve console emulations, and those are just basic waveshapers for saturation with aliasing so I recommend another Neve console emulation that actually sounds great and doesn't alias. So yeah, on topic.

Leave the moderation to Hink please. You're terrible at it.

No need to get outraged, I simply asked a question. Weird to get so defensive, hmmm. The reason I asked was because everything you wrote appeared as if you were talking about a singular in plugin. Before, there WAS only a singular Need plugin, but now there are many. But if you say you indeed tried the new plugins, no one can say otherwise.

How did you measure the console as being a "basic waveshaper" and how does this differ from more complex emulations of distortion? I see this critique thrown around a lot but I don't understand precisely what it means and would like to be further educated.

[bmanic]

.. and I'll stick with Analog Obsession stuff for this. Most likely not all that accurate but his versions sound very unique and interesting. Some issues with aliasing on those still but a lot less than some other plugins. I've also started to pre-emptively counter aliasing with pre/post EQing.. seems to help a lot and the phase warp isn't too bad on whatever harmonics do get created past around 8kHz where I usually set my shelves.

[briefcasemanx]

.. and I'll stick with Analog Obsession stuff for this. Most likely not all that accurate but his versions sound very unique and interesting. Some issues with aliasing on those still but a lot less than some other plugins. I've also started to pre-emptively counter aliasing with pre/post EQing.. seems to help a lot and the phase warp isn't too bad on whatever harmonics do get created past around 8kHz where I usually set my shelves.

What are your favorite Analog Obsession plugs? I haven't even tried any out because there's a new one each week and I don't know where to start.

[MogwaiBoy]

Looks like an attempt at a 'Plugin Alliance Killa' - and I wish them luck.

[TIMT]

My curiosity got the better of me. the "preamp"models are just hard clipping. there is zero attempt to even get the Class A topology right with the 1073 model which would of only required a slight bias to whatever functions they are using. it's odd harmonics right throughout the entire harmonic series of every single "model"

gonna call bullshit on the modelling claims. the function looks the same for every single "model". the only way they differ seems to be that the knee is ever so slightly adjusted for plugin to plugin so the amplitude of the higher harmonics is scaled below the fundamental, but if you drive them enough and within the plugins range, they all clipping identically. not only that, the scaling of harmonics is the same for every single frequency if you run a sweep through it. that's not the case with a proper class A preamp especially not one with an input and output transformer, or any analog device that produces THD

Well, at least now i know not to bother with this company when it comes to these kinds of plugins. peace of mind and that

[bmanic]

.. and I'll stick with Analog Obsession stuff for this. Most likely not all that accurate but his versions sound very unique and interesting. Some issues with aliasing on those still but a lot less than some other plugins. I've also started to pre-emptively counter aliasing with pre/post EQing.. seems to help a lot and the phase warp isn't too bad on whatever harmonics do get created past around 8kHz where I usually set my shelves.

What are your favorite Analog Obsession plugs? I haven't even tried any out because there's a new one each week and I don't know where to start.

Hard to say.. I suggest doing what I did and simply install it all, then sit down for a day or two and see which ones you gel with and then simply delete the rest. They are extremely easy to delete and organize as it's just a single .dll, vst3 or .au file.

Right now on my Mac M1 I have these installed:

N492ME
SSQ
SweetDrums
TREQ
TuPRE
LOVEND
Kolin (one of his best compressors! Try feeding it a very low level signal and then boosting on the output!)
PREDD
ReLife
VariMoon
FIVER
G395a
BXQ
dBComp
FetSnap
FetDrive
FETISH
BritChannel
BritPre
Britpressor

[Michey]

Kolin (one of his best compressors! Try feeding it a very low level signal and then boosting on the output!)

+1

I usually feed it with gain in [-18dB] -> crank Kolin's input gain to 30dB (min release max attack) -> gain out [+18dB]