KVR Audio

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Tue Feb 11, 2025 8:59 pm

Ableton 12 has ROAR which is an amazing Saturator that offers a multi-band mode and a whole lot more, and it's Stock with the DAW... why any ableton user would want to pay 150 bucks for a "retro" multiband Saturator when they already have Roar.... there's just no good reason, at all.

Granted that's just the Ableton crowd, but I dunno, Softube seems to have run out of ideas for what = an "exciting" emulation. I realize the teaser is just generic marketing 101, but still, the idea that anybody would see this reveal and be like "OH WOW, YES!" is.... a bit of a joke. and at this price point, it's a really, really bad joke.

crimsonwarlock · Post by **crimsonwarlock** » Tue Feb 11, 2025 9:35 pm

kmonkey wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:39 pm your combinator is probably better sounding than this crap.

As I said, I use my own combinator instead of that one

IvyBirds · Post by **IvyBirds** » Tue Feb 11, 2025 10:35 pm

mholloway wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 8:59 pm Granted that's just the Ableton crowd, but I dunno, Softube seems to have run out of ideas for what = an "exciting" emulation

At this point I don't think there are very many "exciting" things left to emulate. Either Synths or Effects, and there very well could be no exciting things left to emulate at least that would have mass market appeal

Any vintage gear you can think of that might be exciting has already been done, or something like it has already been done and probably been done in a a pretty good way

So at most you might get slight GUI improvements or go from sounding 95% like the original to 96% like the original. In either case it's not going to be very exciting

When it comes to effects how many compressors, saturators, EQs, channel strips, mic pre emulators, reverbs, delays, tape sims etc does anyone really need? So with each successive release they get less and less exciting

The same can be said for Synths. All of the biggest most popular/exciting vintage synths have already been emulated usually by multiple developers. There are a few obscure usually digital synths that haven't been done yet but for the most part it's been done

As for me I have a very hard time thinking of any emulation of anything that is super exciting at this point

It will be interesting to see what developers do, I hope they focus their energy making new things with new ideas, but I suspect they won't

paramita123 · Post by **paramita123** » Tue Feb 11, 2025 11:50 pm

Some people might have money to splash for vintage-looking plugins.
..
Others might find excitement with free plugins like FKFX Audio LovPassFilter 2 Plugin.
..

lovpass-filter-1536x559.png

AND remembering that any VST3 plugin can be made multiband easily with the FREE Waves StudioRack plugin which is amazing for building chains !

Jac459 · Post by **Jac459** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 12:45 am

mholloway wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 8:59 pm Ableton 12 has ROAR which is an amazing Saturator that offers a multi-band mode and a whole lot more, and it's Stock with the DAW... why any ableton user would want to pay 150 bucks for a "retro" multiband Saturator when they already have Roar.... there's just no good reason, at all.

Granted that's just the Ableton crowd, but I dunno, Softube seems to have run out of ideas for what = an "exciting" emulation. I realize the teaser is just generic marketing 101, but still, the idea that anybody would see this reveal and be like "OH WOW, YES!" is.... a bit of a joke. and at this price point, it's a really, really bad joke.

Mmm... Technically this plugin is really.... Literally, ... An exciter...

(Talking about bad jokes).

miloszz · Post by **miloszz** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 6:29 am

I'm unlikely to buy this but I went ahead and demoed it - I like it. Saturn and Roar are way more powerful, but it took no effort to dial this in for a nice sound on a pattern from my Behringer 909 knockoff. (Whereas I'll bail on Saturn pretty quickly a lot of the time, too easy to get lost in the sauce.)

I need to put it up against Wavesfactory Spectre though.

kmonkey · Post by **kmonkey** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 8:28 am

This is an interesting effect of KVR expertise. So if a company doesn't release a product you expected = a bad company, lacks innovation, etc.

Makes sense. Totally.

A Larch!!!!

El°HYM · Post by **El°HYM** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:27 am

So one of the very best modeling companies modeled one of the best hardware saturators by one of the best British audio companies.

Hanz Meyzer · Post by **Hanz Meyzer** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 1:45 pm

What is coming from Softube?

Hanz Meyzer · Post by **Hanz Meyzer** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 2:06 pm

Mmh that saturation bank? Aren't there way way better, more precise vsts available in that regard ? Who is buying this?

abernathy · Post by **abernathy** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 2:07 pm

El°HYM wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:27 am So one of the very best modeling companies modeled one of the best hardware saturators by one of the best British audio companies.

I know. It's very upsetting.

El°HYM · Post by **El°HYM** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 2:42 pm

I am so upset, that I might be just buying the hardware to make softube feel embarrassed & ashamed.

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 5:38 pm

El°HYM wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:27 am So one of the very best modeling companies modeled one of the best hardware saturators by one of the best British audio companies.

Yeah, exactly. I've owned several Drawmer hardware units over the decades and I've always loved everything about them, including their saturation circuits. I especially love what it does to the high end of vocals and Softube's' emulation seems to have nailed that. I also like the straightforward interface. A little cheaper would be nice, but I can see this being my go-to saturation plugin and the intro price isn't terrible IMO.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 6:01 pm

cryophonik wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 5:38 pm
El°HYM wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:27 am So one of the very best modeling companies modeled one of the best hardware saturators by one of the best British audio companies.
Yeah, exactly. I've owned several Drawmer hardware units over the decades and I've always loved everything about them, including their saturation circuits. I especially love what it does to the high end of vocals and Softube's' emulation seems to have nailed that. I also like the straightforward interface. A little cheaper would be nice, but I can see this being my go-to saturation plugin and the intro price isn't terrible IMO.

I was a bit tempted by this but it sounds a bit too harsh in the highs for my liking. I'm not convinced this is Softube's finest hour in terms of emulation.

If I remember correctly the hardware is a bit opposite in that regard, even to the point of easily going a bit mushy in the highs. I don't recall liking the hardware that much when I tried it in the shop. I was shooting it out against the Elysia Karacter and Elektron Analog Heat.. and of all of those I liked the Elektron the most in terms of "vibe" of the saturation.

mholloway · Post by **mholloway** » Wed Feb 12, 2025 6:12 pm

kmonkey wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 8:28 am This is an interesting effect of KVR expertise. So if a company doesn't release a product you expected = a bad company, lacks innovation, etc.

Makes sense. Totally.

A Larch!!!!

who said anything about expertise? are we all required to have the same opinions when companies launch new products? we can't say we think the company is releasing unexciting products? again, where does "expertise" fit in here? I see people responding to a hype campaign / company product announcement and saying: "yawn, softube's latest products are not exciting," including myself. But you need to criticize this subjective response, because it's "inexpert" ?

Something is coming from Softube