Sonnox Essential Bundle ,.. outdated ?

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https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... Exclusive-

Upgrade from any plug for 114€, lowest price ever, but does it make sense ?

Many, if not all, Oxford series plugs, are ported directly in 2005 from a Sony desk sold mid 90's

(not that old code is nessesarily bad, but still)

From a quick look it doesnt seem to add much to the standard-plugs in a good modern DAW 2024

What justifies the price aside from the "brand-name" ?
HM

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They still sound brilliant and work brilliantly. No-one ever talks about the Reverb, but it's still one of the best sounding, most versatile and lowest CPU out there. Oxford Dynamics is still ubiquitous in brodcasting / post in particular. The SuprEssor is excellent.

But do you need any of them if you are already covered with good stuff? Of course not (this goes for every developer btw).
http://www.guyrowland.co.uk
http://www.sound-on-screen.com
W11, Ryzen 7900, 64gb RAM, RME Babyface, 1050ti, PT 2024 Ultimate, Cubase Pro 13
Macbook Air M2 OSX 10.15

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The EQ is good. Mode IV is very unique with equal power curves like a parametric API 550.
The Dynamics are old but still solid. The plugin 20 samples of lookahead to smooth the attack, the gate is good as a noise gate, and the combination of all the processors (it only picks one at a time depending on the gain reduction) is useful on vocals but rather stiff on drums.
The Reverb is low cpu and unique. There's no pre-delay for one thing.

The SuprEssor physically cannot de-ess anything above 3 kHz. The linear phase filters used also dull everything. You might as well automate a low zipper noise eq or draw in the fader automation yourself to avoid the filter. Get the Softube Weiss DS-1 or the TDR Arbiter. The Arbiter can serve the role of a DBX 902 or 520.

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ToMegaTherion wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 6:38 amThe SuprEssor physically cannot de-ess anything above 3 kHz.
Eh?
http://www.guyrowland.co.uk
http://www.sound-on-screen.com
W11, Ryzen 7900, 64gb RAM, RME Babyface, 1050ti, PT 2024 Ultimate, Cubase Pro 13
Macbook Air M2 OSX 10.15

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noiseboyuk wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 8:39 am
ToMegaTherion wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 6:38 amThe SuprEssor physically cannot de-ess anything above 3 kHz.
Eh?
A 20 sample lookahead means that the Supresser must attack for at least 20 samples to not release prematurely. This drastically smooths the rate of action. Since frequency is the reciprocal of period, 1 second / 44100 samples * 20 samples gives us the finite time that it must attack for and the reciprocal of that is 2205 Hz. The processor cannot modulate the signal quickly enough to suppress higher frequencies than that. The Dynamics and Supresser do not produce any harmonic distortion when triggered by a signal over 3 kHz at a 44.1 kHz sample rate. This is why they do not sound horrible from aliasing.
Last edited by ToMegaTherion on Tue Feb 06, 2024 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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ToMegaTherion wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 1:05 pm A 20 sample lookahead means that the Supresser must attack for at least 20 samples to not release prematurely. This drastically smooths the rate of action. Since frequency is the reciprocal of period, 1 second / 44100 samples * 20 samples gives us the finite time that it must attack for and the reciprocal of that is 2205 Hz. The processor cannot switch between attack and release quickly enough to suppress higher frequencies than that. The Dynamics and Supresser do not produce any harmonic distortion when triggered by a signal over 3 kHz at a 44.1 kHz sample rate. This is why they do not sound horrible from aliasing.
I don't really follow any of that which I'm sure is my fault, but I do know that it de-esses just fine above 3k.

I'm sure that over the past 16 years someone would have noticed if it physically couldn't do the job it was designed to do.
http://www.guyrowland.co.uk
http://www.sound-on-screen.com
W11, Ryzen 7900, 64gb RAM, RME Babyface, 1050ti, PT 2024 Ultimate, Cubase Pro 13
Macbook Air M2 OSX 10.15

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noiseboyuk wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 1:35 pm
ToMegaTherion wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 1:05 pm A 20 sample lookahead means that the Supresser must attack for at least 20 samples to not release prematurely. This drastically smooths the rate of action. Since frequency is the reciprocal of period, 1 second / 44100 samples * 20 samples gives us the finite time that it must attack for and the reciprocal of that is 2205 Hz. The processor cannot switch between attack and release quickly enough to suppress higher frequencies than that. The Dynamics and Supresser do not produce any harmonic distortion when triggered by a signal over 3 kHz at a 44.1 kHz sample rate. This is why they do not sound horrible from aliasing.
I don't really follow any of that which I'm sure is my fault, but I do know that it de-esses just fine above 3k.

I'm sure that over the past 16 years someone would have noticed if it physically couldn't do the job it was designed to do.
Compressors and de-essers are slowed down volume modulators. Oxford SuprEsser modulates the volume much slower than the high frequency events it claims to suppress.

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Late reply, but I've using them since I used the actual desk and still think they're great. Love the UI of the EQ, and used the reverb on loadssss of mixes over the years. Plus Inflator is always a handy tool to have in the toolbox when you need something extra. I try out the warmth on the Dynamics if I want to warm up something I've added some compression to given I usually use it for transparent processing. I also like the way the Dynamic EQ works, and the Limiter is a useful tool too.

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