Thank you for your replies so far. I just noticed they have a pretty much uncrippled demo version. Will test and see (or rather, hear).
But still, 249 bucks... I know that's not much compared to high-quality hardware, but it's still a hefty sum for a plug.
Is 2C's Aether REALLY worth it? (the answer is: yes, certainly)
-
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3878 posts since 28 Jun, 2009 from Wherever I lay my hat
-
- Banned
- 4072 posts since 7 Nov, 2007
At this point I see little, to no difference between software and hardware.ariston wrote: I know that's not much compared to high-quality hardware, but it's still a hefty sum for a plug.
I was talking about the lexicon software pack. $1000. Yet, doesn't seem overpriced to me.
Does that make any sense?
If you want to buy a name, which imho, you do when you by this Aether stuff, buy a real name, imho, lexicon.
If not?
Why not audio damage, or stillwell. Just because they are cheap? You think they suck?
-
- KVRAF
- 5200 posts since 17 Aug, 2004
It won't squash Lex plug at all. I have listened demo of both plugins and Aether is completely different sounding then Lex. More unreal and sometimes bad. It does not wrap around source like Lex and overall it is different sounding. I don't like car analogy but really this is situation where i would say two very very different cars.JeffSanders wrote:Yes. It's already king of all reverb plugins imho. And it's currently being taken up to another level to take on (to squash) the new Lexi plug.
Seems silly expensive next to the excellent EOS. Not so much next to ArtsAcoustic, RP, etc.
But - a say, $189 price point like ArtsAcoustic would make it more of a no-brainer. Definitely.
imho
But Lex is overpriced a bit so really you will have to decide what do you want for your production ONLY when you hear both plugins. Test them and see for yourself.
-
- KVRAF
- 1783 posts since 11 Jun, 2005 from Phoenix, Arizona
Is it worth it? To me it is. I don't aspire to have 20 different reverb plugins. However, I have Wizoo (for several years), Aether, Redline, Uhbik-A, Epicverb and Poor Plate. Reverberate will replace Wizoo soon for me as I like what I have been able to do with the demo.
Now I use Uhbik-A on tracks mostly, not busses, Poor Plate and Redline are for special situations. So in the end my two most used will be Aether and Reverberate. I can probably address more than 90% of my reverb situations with this pair. That level of confidence in those two tools makes the price worth it for me. And I feel that to match the quality and flexibility they give would cost me a lot more in the hardware arena.
Now, I did get the GB discount so things worked out for me there, but I had already made plans to buy it anyway. As always, ymmv
Now I use Uhbik-A on tracks mostly, not busses, Poor Plate and Redline are for special situations. So in the end my two most used will be Aether and Reverberate. I can probably address more than 90% of my reverb situations with this pair. That level of confidence in those two tools makes the price worth it for me. And I feel that to match the quality and flexibility they give would cost me a lot more in the hardware arena.
Now, I did get the GB discount so things worked out for me there, but I had already made plans to buy it anyway. As always, ymmv
-
- KVRist
- 243 posts since 16 Nov, 2007 from Spain
For me?
A BIG yes!
It hasn't replaced all my reverbs but it gets used a lot...
Why not check out the demo and see for yourself?
Hd
A BIG yes!
It hasn't replaced all my reverbs but it gets used a lot...
Why not check out the demo and see for yourself?
Hd
-
- KVRist
- 234 posts since 30 Sep, 2002
Yep.
After testing it for 10 minutes, it had won me over. It didn't obstruct the material, like so many other reverbs did.
And people who figure the price is too high can relax. They have plenty of lower priced options. Listen around, and you'll probably find something you like.
After testing it for 10 minutes, it had won me over. It didn't obstruct the material, like so many other reverbs did.
And people who figure the price is too high can relax. They have plenty of lower priced options. Listen around, and you'll probably find something you like.
Will mix for fun
-
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3878 posts since 28 Jun, 2009 from Wherever I lay my hat
I'm going to answer my own question here... I tried the demo extensively. I tested it against at least a dozen reverbs, both free and not-free. I tried it in small doses on vocals, piano, guitar, then with huge dollops to get some soundscape-stuff. It is one amazing product, and well worth the price. And I think it's very light on cpu, considering the quality of the sound.
Thanks again for the input!
Thanks again for the input!
-
- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3878 posts since 28 Jun, 2009 from Wherever I lay my hat
strav101 wrote:Plug-ins! Ha,ha,ha!
Cheap and nasty
Get a Bricasti M7
-
- KVRian
- 1313 posts since 3 Aug, 2008 from where the streets have names
Then you will be able to get some "real" dust on your unit.strav101 wrote:Plug-ins! Ha,ha,ha!
Cheap and nasty
Get a Bricasti M7
@OP To answer your question, it's a big yes it is indeed worth the price.
Didn't replace all my reverb plugs...and hardware, but it is doing more and more every day. Looking forward to the new update
-
- KVRAF
- 2621 posts since 12 Sep, 2008
Hi guys,
I'm not going to comment on the price. It's up to the individual customer to decide if it is a fair value for the price. We think it is a steal, and many people agree. I won't waste much time here trying to convince anyone who disagrees. It's a big world out there with many choices. We don't expect to capture exactly 100% of the market.
What we do expect is to be the best we can be and constantly learn, grow, and evolve, ourselfs, our company, and our products into something better each day. Our first goal is follow our vision as perfectly as possible and continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with the current state of technology (hardware, CPU power). We hope to gain many loyal customers along the way, and we enjoy interacting with them to gain insight into how we can help steer our vision to better help their professional needs...
...and, well based on the responses we have received, it seems we are not too far off these goals:
Computer Music, UK, 07/09
"10/10! Editors Choice Award! Performance Award! One of the best algorithmic Reverbs we've ever heard! Fantastic Sound quality. Great for both mixing and sound design. Highly useful tail envelope controls. Excellent categorized presets. ER Space presets system is very cool."
Sound On Sound, UK/US, 09/09
"Overall I was deeply impressed by Aether's rich and versatile sound and it's the best sounding native plug-in reverb i've heard to date by a long chalk. This is a damn fine reverb and 2Caudio should be very proud of their first baby."
Recording Mag, US, 10/09
"For anyone with at least a fast dual-core computer, I can recommend Aether without reservation. It's powerful beyond just about anything else out there, and gobs of fun to mess with. The universe of native reverbs has a new gold standard."
EM, US, 11/09
"Aether is a reverb plug-in like no other. Offering over 40 adjustable parameter controls, many of them unique to Aether, it may be the most programmable reverb plug-in on the planet. But that wouldn't mean much if this processor didn't also sound good. No worries, Aether sounds incredible! Aether is an engineer's wet dream. The outstanding sound quality, deep programmability and great price make Aether the reverb plug-in to beat!"
I'm not going to comment on the price. It's up to the individual customer to decide if it is a fair value for the price. We think it is a steal, and many people agree. I won't waste much time here trying to convince anyone who disagrees. It's a big world out there with many choices. We don't expect to capture exactly 100% of the market.
What we do expect is to be the best we can be and constantly learn, grow, and evolve, ourselfs, our company, and our products into something better each day. Our first goal is follow our vision as perfectly as possible and continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with the current state of technology (hardware, CPU power). We hope to gain many loyal customers along the way, and we enjoy interacting with them to gain insight into how we can help steer our vision to better help their professional needs...
...and, well based on the responses we have received, it seems we are not too far off these goals:
Computer Music, UK, 07/09
"10/10! Editors Choice Award! Performance Award! One of the best algorithmic Reverbs we've ever heard! Fantastic Sound quality. Great for both mixing and sound design. Highly useful tail envelope controls. Excellent categorized presets. ER Space presets system is very cool."
Sound On Sound, UK/US, 09/09
"Overall I was deeply impressed by Aether's rich and versatile sound and it's the best sounding native plug-in reverb i've heard to date by a long chalk. This is a damn fine reverb and 2Caudio should be very proud of their first baby."
Recording Mag, US, 10/09
"For anyone with at least a fast dual-core computer, I can recommend Aether without reservation. It's powerful beyond just about anything else out there, and gobs of fun to mess with. The universe of native reverbs has a new gold standard."
EM, US, 11/09
"Aether is a reverb plug-in like no other. Offering over 40 adjustable parameter controls, many of them unique to Aether, it may be the most programmable reverb plug-in on the planet. But that wouldn't mean much if this processor didn't also sound good. No worries, Aether sounds incredible! Aether is an engineer's wet dream. The outstanding sound quality, deep programmability and great price make Aether the reverb plug-in to beat!"
-
- KVRAF
- 2621 posts since 12 Sep, 2008
A few other things:
Aether is a 2CAudio product. 2CAudio is a company founded by myself and Denis Malygin. 2CAudio develops software, plugins, etc.
Galbanum is my sound-design and content library development company. It creates sample libraries, Synth expansion products (Rapture, Alchemy soon, and NI soon), MetaSynth related tools (i have been heavily involved with MetaSynth for a long time), and lower level sound design tools I brand as the Architecture Line which includes things like Waveforms/Tables and other real geeky stuff.
When the question is asked how can a Galbanum sound-ware product sell for approximately 1/5 the price of Aether, the answer is really rather simple: developing a high quality reverb such as Aether is easily way more than 5 times as hard, takes way longer than 5 times as much time, has way more than 5 times the amount of support, has a support period that lasts more than 5 times as long, and has 5 times the amount of updates. So really it should be more like 5^5 times as expensive in my mind. Galbanum Piscis development time is measured in months for example. Aether development is measured in years (for two people).
High quality algorithmic reverb may be one of, if not THE, hardest challenges of audio DSP. The ear has evolved over millions of years to be highly sensitive to directional cues as a matter of survival. As such, we can very easily spot tiny differences and errors in artificial acoustic environment algorithms, and this makes it incredibly hard to develop a convincing model. I could write more on this topic, but I will save it for another time...
Aether is a 2CAudio product. 2CAudio is a company founded by myself and Denis Malygin. 2CAudio develops software, plugins, etc.
Galbanum is my sound-design and content library development company. It creates sample libraries, Synth expansion products (Rapture, Alchemy soon, and NI soon), MetaSynth related tools (i have been heavily involved with MetaSynth for a long time), and lower level sound design tools I brand as the Architecture Line which includes things like Waveforms/Tables and other real geeky stuff.
When the question is asked how can a Galbanum sound-ware product sell for approximately 1/5 the price of Aether, the answer is really rather simple: developing a high quality reverb such as Aether is easily way more than 5 times as hard, takes way longer than 5 times as much time, has way more than 5 times the amount of support, has a support period that lasts more than 5 times as long, and has 5 times the amount of updates. So really it should be more like 5^5 times as expensive in my mind. Galbanum Piscis development time is measured in months for example. Aether development is measured in years (for two people).
High quality algorithmic reverb may be one of, if not THE, hardest challenges of audio DSP. The ear has evolved over millions of years to be highly sensitive to directional cues as a matter of survival. As such, we can very easily spot tiny differences and errors in artificial acoustic environment algorithms, and this makes it incredibly hard to develop a convincing model. I could write more on this topic, but I will save it for another time...
Last edited by Andrew Souter on Fri Jan 01, 2010 6:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
-
- KVRAF
- 2621 posts since 12 Sep, 2008
Regarding CPU usage... our passion is to be on the cutting edge of both audio quality, and innovation. We are not real interested in making me-too products or racing to see how low we can go to sacrifice audio quality for low CPU usage. There are plenty of low cost or free products on the market that fill this segment, and this is not were we want to be. Our research explores areas that would be infeasible on high end machines just a few years ago, and this is likely were we will always remain during our company life. We are passionate about manifesting new possibilities.
That said, we highly optimize our algs, and attempt to be reasonable with regard to the current average user's access to CPU resources. Furthermore, you will soon see we have adopted some strategies to offer the best of both worlds (quality vs performance).
The 2CAudio slogan/motto is: Convergent Creative Precision
Convergent: represents the idea that over time things which were once seen as distinct discrete ideas, concepts, fields of study, eventually come together and become one. This is sort of a universal philosophical truth and we attempt to keep this in mind with our work.
Creative: we are not afraid to try new ideas or embrace new technologies, methods, or metaphors. We learn from the past, but we do not wish to repeat it. We attempt to be bold in our embrace of exploration and discovery and we strive to be the perfect artist.
Precision: Additionally, we strive to be the perfect scientist as well. We take our mathematical perfection to extreme levels. This includes things such as 64bit internal processing, perfectly flat freq responses from 16 to 32768hz (depending on SR), and total self-noise from all of DSP used in our algs (including highly recursive ones such as Aether) to be far below -144dB (> prefect 24bit).
That said, we highly optimize our algs, and attempt to be reasonable with regard to the current average user's access to CPU resources. Furthermore, you will soon see we have adopted some strategies to offer the best of both worlds (quality vs performance).
The 2CAudio slogan/motto is: Convergent Creative Precision
Convergent: represents the idea that over time things which were once seen as distinct discrete ideas, concepts, fields of study, eventually come together and become one. This is sort of a universal philosophical truth and we attempt to keep this in mind with our work.
Creative: we are not afraid to try new ideas or embrace new technologies, methods, or metaphors. We learn from the past, but we do not wish to repeat it. We attempt to be bold in our embrace of exploration and discovery and we strive to be the perfect artist.
Precision: Additionally, we strive to be the perfect scientist as well. We take our mathematical perfection to extreme levels. This includes things such as 64bit internal processing, perfectly flat freq responses from 16 to 32768hz (depending on SR), and total self-noise from all of DSP used in our algs (including highly recursive ones such as Aether) to be far below -144dB (> prefect 24bit).
-
- KVRAF
- 2621 posts since 12 Sep, 2008
taoyoyo wrote:So you should be called 2CPAudio then really?Galbanum wrote:The 2CAudio slogan/motto is: Convergent Creative Precision
It's actually not were the name "2C" comes from... It just worked out that way.