TRacks. Vs. Vintagewarmer

[pheeleep]

I have T racks and I really like it a lot. I use it all the time. I am tempted to buy Vintage warmer for $69.00 in the group buy ( good old credit card ). I don't think I will ever be able to get it at that price again if I pass up this time..

So, if I already have T Racks, should I get Vintage warmer? or am I just being compressor greedy? Any of you have both? Which one do you end up using more?

Thanks guys

[Reverend Rhythm]

Better act fast if you want it.

[pheeleep]

Uhuh... F#*k it. I just signed up for it.

Still interested in user feedback though

[Montana]

what are the main differences between t-racks and vintage warmer?

[kritikon]

I've only really toyed with VW, but a fair bit. And I used to have access to T-Racks.

They're both good, but both quite different in character...I'd say if you're still learning the trade in mixing/mastering your own stuff, it's very valuable to have both. I did quite a number of tracks where I did versions mastered on T-Racks. Individually I liked them...after a short time, when I listened to them on CD one after another, they became kind of tiring to listen to...too obviously the same sound, even though I used different settings dependent on each track. I'm sure the same is true of VW.

I really liked the tapesat on T-Racks; it gives that almost dulled sound and full body that can be so useful on some mixes. I thought the Eq was a bit harsh - I never ever used boost on highs - It certainly had character, but I thought it grated too much on the ear. The compressor also had character - quite grungy (and I mean that in a good way). Overall it was too difficult to get any mix without using heavy compression whether you want it or not - I found the comp/limiter if turned on, were always compressing. Seems like there's an inbuilt maximum threshold or something - too difficult to use subtly and not enough flexibility for every job.

VW has a very distinctive sound - nice and dirty if cranked up even a little bit. I wouldn't necessarily use it to control dynamics precisely, but it gives a lovely warm character to songs. One of these days I'll probably buy both - I get by with other plugins quite well (I do most of my altering at the mix stage rather than final mix) but either one gives good character to dry sterile mixes.

If you want the valve emulation thing...VW is probably the one. Tape sat would be T-Racks.

Probably the main difference I see between the two is that T-Racks is more useful as a channel tool...it could be just the thing on, say drumgroups...where you want heavy compression, drastic Eq and audible effect...you could also use it on any channel or group. VW probably wouldn't work as well that way, but gives more of the "magic fairy dust" that is subtle, but can make a final mix shine that little bit more. T-Racks seemed to me more of a sledgehammer approach to final mixes (which will no doubt appeal to some ears).

Subtlety compared to obvious(but with added flexibility).

[pheeleep]

Hi Kritikon,

Thanks a lot for your feedback and info.

One question: From what you wrote, it seems that you refer to VW as a mastering compressor only, but from what I understand a lot of people do use it as a channel compressor, specifically on kick drums and bass sounds ( those are the two that come up most frequently ).

Are you saying VW should only be used for mastering? Or is only good for mastering?

Thanks again for your info.

[kritikon]

You certainly can use VW on channels. My own personal choice is that there are better compressors available for channel stages - I don't necessarily want noise and dirt added at the channel stage. There are compressors that add character without noise. Valves work by minor distortion and adding harmonics (depending on the type of valve) as well as the lmiting. My choice is that I may want character on certain channels, but I don't want added noise and/or harmonics usually. Remember that if you use harmonics at the channel stage, and also at the mastering stage...you're going to get harmonics added on top of the harmonics you've already added. Potentially serious depending on what sampling rate you're running at, and potentially just difficult to master even if you run at high sample rates.

Admittedly for kicks etc - those harmonics are still going to be lowish in the spectrum, so probably not a problem....but it still all adds up to more noise. And the vast majority of people compress at the final mix, and often at several stages - that's alot of compression that will work to concentrate any valve noise you add. Whereas T-Racks (AFAIK) doesn't add harmonics. It certainly doesn't sound like it does.

I would suggest that if you were going to use VW in channels, that it's a good idea to add a lowpass filter at the end of the chain to strip out some of the higher harmonics.

[pheeleep]

Thanks for getting in the details. Really interesting info.

I guess another alternative to avoid too much noise could be to use T Racks for mastering when I use VW on individual channels or groups.

Thanks a lot for the info.. and for the low pass filter tip..



Aside from my orchestral stuff, I think the "noise" will be welcomed

[Kim Lajoie]

I really liked the tapesat on T-Racks; it gives that almost dulled sound and full body that can be so useful on some mixes.

What tapesat? T-Racks has four components - EQ, Compression, Multiband limiting, and clipping... Are you talking about the clipper, or perhaps the combination presets?

I thought the Eq was a bit harsh - I never ever used boost on highs - It certainly had character, but I thought it grated too much on the ear.

Did you use it recently? Apparently, one of the later updates made the EQ smoother on the high-end.


You're right about T-RackS being heavy-handed. For some reason, the plugins individually seem to be quite well-behaved, but the suite ALWAYS has a sound. Just inserting it affects the signal in a not-too-subtle way. Often I'll just use the EQ output level as a "more" control, hardly tweaking anything else.


Forever,




Kim.

[pheeleep]

Hi Jeez,

Tape Sat is a preset in the compressor. I think that's what kritikon means...

Load>Suite>15 ips tape sat

Personally, I haven't been using the Eq in T Racks. I have been wanting to, but I always seem to go for the FL Studio parametric Eq.. sorry.. I mean the "fruity" parametric Eq

I use all the rest of T Racks a lot though, on individual channels and groups. The compressor gets a ton of use.

[kylen]

I think the T-Racks Clipper and Overload knob in the MB Limiter have some of the aspects of tape saturation.

[kritikon]

What tapesat? T-Racks has four components - EQ, Compression, Multiband limiting, and clipping... Are you talking about the clipper, or perhaps the combination presets?

The last time I used T-Racks, it wasn't a VST plugin...just a standalone version - so they may well have changed quite a few things since then. Used to be the limiter had an option of setting as tapesaturation or straight-forward limiter. Is the tapesat not there anymore? That would be a shame - I thought it used to be one of its real strong points.
I must demo the VST version - I vaguely remember reading that they now give access to the different bands individually - is that true?

Real shame about the tape sat.

[JeffSanders]

I never got a sound I liked from the VW on a full mix. Just on individual tracks. And even those sound just a tad flatulent to me. Maybe I need to turn the mix knob down a bit

But both times I've actually been blown away by a diy mastering job by a musician on the net and asked how it was done (one was by a dude named Olav Basowski), the answer was T-Racks.

I bought the standalone version. There are a couple of presets on there that - when the eq is disabled (handled beforehand by HarBal) - I've gotten results with recently that blow away imho both professional mastering sessions I've paid for in the past. This is the route I will go for my forthcoming cd.