vst althernatives to tdm duy effects.

[prene]

I would say color tone, valvetone from tritone digital, and Magneto<<< works wonders honestly.

[sidrat]

never got good results from magneto or antares tube (yuck). however, psp mixsaturator is good and offers both tube and tape style saturation. colortone is a good tool too...

if you want something free, look at digital fish phones thd/endorphin/dominion or tls saturated driver.

[bduffy]

Get TriTone Digital's ColorTone Pro and try mixing through it!

I personally can't do without it. Well, I could attempt to but I'd miss the hell out of it!

I'm wondering: do you run Colortone on every track or on the main bus, or both? On thing that confuses me about using analog/tape sim plugins is where do you draw the line? Can you use it on every track, as if you recorded to tape? Do you use a tape sim or a gear sim? At some point are you just going to irretrievably smear out the signal and your dynamics?

Just wondering, I get really conflicting messages about how much tape sim is enough, and where to use it. Obviously, I assume the logical response is to use it liberally on bass and drums...but in a big studio, everything can go through tape, analog EQ and gear, all adding phase/harmonics. How much is too much?

[mammath]

Get TriTone Digital's ColorTone Pro and try mixing through it!

I personally can't do without it. Well, I could attempt to but I'd miss the hell out of it!

I'm wondering: do you run Colortone on every track or on the main bus, or both? On thing that confuses me about using analog/tape sim plugins is where do you draw the line? Can you use it on every track, as if you recorded to tape? Do you use a tape sim or a gear sim? At some point are you just going to irretrievably smear out the signal and your dynamics?

Just wondering, I get really conflicting messages about how much tape sim is enough, and where to use it. Obviously, I assume the logical response is to use it liberally on bass and drums...but in a big studio, everything can go through tape, analog EQ and gear, all adding phase/harmonics. How much is too much?

It's utilized in both scenarios. But depending on the material......when used on the main bus, I tend to use the more subtle impulses. On tracks however, it's used on all vsti's and drums. But I mix through it. Vocals pretty much already have the tone I need as they're recorded through an Avalon.

[bduffy]

Get TriTone Digital's ColorTone Pro and try mixing through it!

I personally can't do without it. Well, I could attempt to but I'd miss the hell out of it!

I'm wondering: do you run Colortone on every track or on the main bus, or both? On thing that confuses me about using analog/tape sim plugins is where do you draw the line? Can you use it on every track, as if you recorded to tape? Do you use a tape sim or a gear sim? At some point are you just going to irretrievably smear out the signal and your dynamics?

Just wondering, I get really conflicting messages about how much tape sim is enough, and where to use it. Obviously, I assume the logical response is to use it liberally on bass and drums...but in a big studio, everything can go through tape, analog EQ and gear, all adding phase/harmonics. How much is too much?

It's utilized in both scenarios. But depending on the material......when used on the main bus, I tend to use the more subtle impulses. On tracks however, it's used on all vsti's and drums. But I mix through it. Vocals pretty much already have the tone I need as they're recorded through an Avalon.

Thanks for getting back to me, mammath. So do you run colortone on those tracks in realtime or do you process them offline?

[mammath]

For the most part, I usually have an idea of what I want (having experience mixing OTB). And even when I don't, ColorTone Pro always helps seal the deal for me.

[bduffy]

Yeah, I don't know if I have enough experience with popular pro mixers and hardware to be able to discern which impulse to choose. Hell, a couple of them, I have no idea what they are! I tend to find the SSL ones instantly pleasing, and the LA ones a little boxy, and the others are kind of a turkey shoot.

[mammath]

Yeah, I don't know if I have enough experience with popular pro mixers and hardware to be able to discern which impulse to choose. Hell, a couple of them, I have no idea what they are! I tend to find the SSL ones instantly pleasing, and the LA ones a little boxy, and the others are kind of a turkey shoot.

You should really try the different modes. There's so much tone to be gotten from this thing. And lord forbid you have a large impulse library, forget about it.

I find that I use much less EQ when using ColorTone.

[bduffy]

Yeah, I don't know if I have enough experience with popular pro mixers and hardware to be able to discern which impulse to choose. Hell, a couple of them, I have no idea what they are! I tend to find the SSL ones instantly pleasing, and the LA ones a little boxy, and the others are kind of a turkey shoot.

You should really try the different modes. There's so much tone to be gotten from this thing. And lord forbid you have a large impulse library, forget about it.

I find that I use much less EQ when using ColorTone.

Really. Interesting. I was really impressed with this plugin when I tried it out, I still have the free version, but after some experimentation it just wasn't clear to me if it was helping or hurting. I did try out the different modes...I guess I'd have to start off my project with Colortone on the tracks. I would think the CPU would be used up in no time, though...

I do plan on picking up this and the rest of TriTone's lineup sometime soon; excellent sound - that much I can tell!

[jess123]

I also can recommand the PSP MixSaturator (included in the PSP MixPack). 3 different valve and tape characteristics. I even prefer it to the McDSP Analog Channel in some cases, because it's more flexible, but it doesn't make any compression, only saturation.

Vintage Warmer is imho for many quests too 'heavy'. Another, also much coloring alternative is CamelPhat.

Do agree the Vintage Warmer are rather heavy.

I understand compression, but what is saturation?

Sorry, quite newbiew here.

[mammath]

Thanks for getting back to me, mammath. So do you run colortone on those tracks in realtime or do you process them offline?

Sorry, I must've somehow overlooked your question. I run ColorTone in realtime. I mix on a Dual Opteron......so it allows for many plugin/vsti instances. That doesn't mean I abuse this priviledge though.

Remember, grouping your instruments (into subgroups/stems), is a great way to work and have a handle on things. Not to mention, it removes the need for numerous instances. Many use ColorTone simply on the main buss and/or drum buss. It's all subjective.

In a sense, I guess you can say that I use it like an EQ (with the benefits of added tone and character). Essentially, this is the same concept in practice when you choose to pass an instrument through one preamp rather than another.

[bduffy]

I understand compression, but what is saturation?

Sorry, quite newbiew here.

The KVRwiki is your friend!

http://www.kvraudio.com/wiki/?id=Distortion

Basically, saturation is like over-driving analog tape in a recording studio, producing distorion that increases a signals harmonic content and, darn it, human ears just like the sound of it! And that is specifically what Vintage Warmer was made for doing.

[bduffy]

Thanks for getting back to me, mammath. So do you run colortone on those tracks in realtime or do you process them offline?

Sorry, I must've somehow overlooked your question. I run ColorTone in realtime. I mix on a Dual Opteron......so it allows for many plugin/vsti instances. That doesn't mean I abuse this priviledge though.

Remember, grouping your instruments (into subgroups/stems), is a great way to work and have a handle on things. Not to mention, it removes the need for numerous instances. Many use ColorTone simply on the main buss and/or drum buss. It's all subjective.

In a sense, I guess you can say that I use it like an EQ (with the benefits of added tone and character). Essentially, this is the same concept in practice when you choose to pass an instrument through one preamp rather than another.

Right - I wind up running eveything to busses also. I would be a little worried about running many instances just because it takes so damn long for the Pluggo Runtime to instantiate! But I'll try it out again.

So in terms of EQ'ing: do you know what to expect from each model - like, LA3 on drum bus, SSL on main - or are you just going by ear?

[Jason Brian Merrill]

And that is specifically what Vintage Warmer was made for doing.

made for it yes... particularly GOOD at it, thats up to debate

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]