THIS is a nice and unique Transient Shaper / Saturator in many ways..
I'm just learning to use it, but it takes some getting use to..
..but I also appreciate a BYPASS button inside the GUI and would also like a total output gain knob for easy balancing input / Output level...for a more accurate A/B comparison.
But all in ALL ... great plug-in that holds itS own.
(btw im a geat fan of LENS as well!)
Auburn Sounds introduces Couture [Transient Shaper / Saturation]
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Guillaume Piolat Guillaume Piolat https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=366815 - KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 308 posts since 21 Sep, 2015 from Grenoble
Normally you should find that barring lowpass and highpass Couture should preserve volume most of the time. This is the (only?) advantage of volume-preserving distortion, and the transient part does what it can to also preserve volume with internal compensation. Most sources will sound as "loud" however you set Drive. The entire effect is then volume independent so you can change input or output gain indifferently (this isn't a very good plug-in idea, but well that was the design at the time).would also like a total output gain knob for easy balancing input / Output level
For your bypass needs, setting Amount to 0% should act like a bypass so that you know how much of the effect you wanted in the first place.
Couture is at its best when it's used as a preamp replacement! First in a channel chain.
Checkout our plug-ins here.
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- KVRian
- 871 posts since 20 Jun, 2010
I do not understand the gainstaging in this plugin at all. This is what I get without touching any other control:
amount 0%, dry 0db, wet 0db => loudness increases by ~5db
amount 0%, dry -inf, wet 0db => loudness decreases by ~1db
amount 100%, dry -inf, wet 0db => loudness decreases by ~1db
amount 0%, dry 0db, wet -inf => loudness doesn't change
So, amount is not really a mix knob I guess? Could you explain how these three controls are "wired" ?
It also shows that with 0% amount we get around 1db change in loudness which is easily enough to fall into the louder-is-better trap. Considering that, it is not a viable solution as some kind of bypass imo. A dedicated (latency compensated) bypass would be preferable.
amount 0%, dry 0db, wet 0db => loudness increases by ~5db
amount 0%, dry -inf, wet 0db => loudness decreases by ~1db
amount 100%, dry -inf, wet 0db => loudness decreases by ~1db
amount 0%, dry 0db, wet -inf => loudness doesn't change
So, amount is not really a mix knob I guess? Could you explain how these three controls are "wired" ?
It also shows that with 0% amount we get around 1db change in loudness which is easily enough to fall into the louder-is-better trap. Considering that, it is not a viable solution as some kind of bypass imo. A dedicated (latency compensated) bypass would be preferable.
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Guillaume Piolat Guillaume Piolat https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=366815
- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 308 posts since 21 Sep, 2015 from Grenoble
It does Dry + (Wet modulated by Amount).
Amount at 0% means "do nothing for Wet except oversampling and passing through the signal path" which still modifies a few things and thus doesn't null with Dry.
Also when distortion is enabled, Wet isn't "do nothing" unless the Rect distortion mode with no Drive is selected. Else you have a compensation that might be a bit off.
Compensation is working across Amount though, you can Drive and transient shape, and still get the same perceived volume.
Hence why it's not exactly 6dB.
Thing is, would you like a Dry that also go through oversampling? Perhaps not, at least that was the call in 2018.
Amount at 0% means "do nothing for Wet except oversampling and passing through the signal path" which still modifies a few things and thus doesn't null with Dry.
Perhaps an Issue in the plugin, if it looses approx 1 dB on the wet signal without treatment. When distortion is enabled there is a high cut in the Wet path, might be that.amount 0%, dry -inf, wet 0db => loudness decreases by ~1db
amount 100%, dry -inf, wet 0db => loudness decreases by ~1db
Also when distortion is enabled, Wet isn't "do nothing" unless the Rect distortion mode with no Drive is selected. Else you have a compensation that might be a bit off.
Compensation is working across Amount though, you can Drive and transient shape, and still get the same perceived volume.
Expected.amount 0%, dry 0db, wet -inf => loudness doesn't change
Typically because of oversampling Wet is phase-shifted vs Dry, sounds a bit more "parallel" and uncorrelated.amount 0%, dry 0db, wet 0db => loudness increases by ~5db
Hence why it's not exactly 6dB.
Thing is, would you like a Dry that also go through oversampling? Perhaps not, at least that was the call in 2018.
Checkout our plug-ins here.
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- KVRian
- 871 posts since 20 Jun, 2010
Thanks for explaining. I'm currently using the free version, so no saturation. Since amount is at 0% the other settings do not change the ~1db gain loss.
So do I understand this correctly, that the Dry control adds the unprocessed (pre-FX) dry signal, while amount mixes a (pre)processed "dry" signal with the wet signal? And also, saturation is not affected by amount?
If so, I think a dedicated bypass would absolutely make sense.
In regard to output, I know plugins handle this differently, but to me it still makes most sense to have a makeup or output control so you can gain match the full wet signal to the pre-FX level. Then a mix control at the end of the signal path controls the amount of FX you want. This makes it easy to dial in the desired FX amount without having to fiddle with several controls back and forth.
Unless I'm missing something, in couture I would have to juggle with the Dry and Wet controls to get the desired effect amount without breaking my gainstaging. Or, if I ignore Dry and just use amount (using the processed dry signal), I would have to juggle with the amount and wet controls instead, because they are backwards in the signal path.
In my opinion a dry knob like that really only makes sense in a reverb or delay plugin, when using them as an insert (and even there, a well designed mix knob can still give you the same behavior). In any other case a mix% knob is way easier to use and it would also eliminate the need for a global output control. However I understand this may be problematic for backwards compatibility
So do I understand this correctly, that the Dry control adds the unprocessed (pre-FX) dry signal, while amount mixes a (pre)processed "dry" signal with the wet signal? And also, saturation is not affected by amount?
If so, I think a dedicated bypass would absolutely make sense.
In regard to output, I know plugins handle this differently, but to me it still makes most sense to have a makeup or output control so you can gain match the full wet signal to the pre-FX level. Then a mix control at the end of the signal path controls the amount of FX you want. This makes it easy to dial in the desired FX amount without having to fiddle with several controls back and forth.
Unless I'm missing something, in couture I would have to juggle with the Dry and Wet controls to get the desired effect amount without breaking my gainstaging. Or, if I ignore Dry and just use amount (using the processed dry signal), I would have to juggle with the amount and wet controls instead, because they are backwards in the signal path.
In my opinion a dry knob like that really only makes sense in a reverb or delay plugin, when using them as an insert (and even there, a well designed mix knob can still give you the same behavior). In any other case a mix% knob is way easier to use and it would also eliminate the need for a global output control. However I understand this may be problematic for backwards compatibility
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Guillaume Piolat Guillaume Piolat https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=366815
- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 308 posts since 21 Sep, 2015 from Grenoble
Thanks for the feedback.
Panagement is also on sale with our friends at https://www.thesoundape.com/panagement2
Panagement is also on sale with our friends at https://www.thesoundape.com/panagement2
Checkout our plug-ins here.
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Guillaume Piolat Guillaume Piolat https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=366815
- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 308 posts since 21 Sep, 2015 from Grenoble
Yes. Higher "Smooth" means that the volume detection for the saturation is lowpassed, hence it can let you distort the transient more, breaking volume-preserving for a little longer. Often it allows to sounds a bit more like a normal, non-volume-independent distortion. But will squash dynamics more.
Checkout our plug-ins here.