Izotope releases Neutron: "A smarter way to mix"

[nirm123]

I meant exactly what you understood from it, no hidden interpretation here.

You think I'm wrong about it, could be. I urge more people to perform testing, this is a very interesting exercise.

[plexuss]

I meant exactly what you understood from it, no hidden interpretation here.

You think I'm wrong about it, could be. I urge more people to perform testing, this is a very interesting exercise.

Think about what you are testing: we dont know what Neutron does under the hood so trying to find use-cases that do what you expect will be like playing darts with a blindfold on. I suppose it might give some insight into what it's doing but it would pointless to draw conclusions from it. For example, lets say hypothetically Track Assistant (TA) is deducing what the audio "sounds like" by filtering out audible "haze" - think about the contrast parameter in digital imaging - if you decrease the contrast you get more dynamic range detail, but if you increase the contrast you get more of a sense of the important structures in the image minus all the "haze". maybe TA is doing that. in which case anything in the "haze" is not going to be part of the processing. this is just a totally hypothetical example because TA could be doing anything. but if you are doing tests where you are looking for things in the "haze", well it's not going to happen because in this example TA would eliminate this part of the audio.

I hope that example was clear for what I am getting at?

Anyway... I'll leave it to you guys to work out what its doing and if it meets your expectations and I will keenly read this thread for your findings and opinions! Keep on truck'n!

[jens]

You think I'm wrong about it, could be.

And I already thoroughly, clearly, explicitly and exhaustingly explained you why and how. I suggest you read my respective post again.

[jens]

[
Think about what you are testing: we dont know what Neutron does under the hood so trying to find use-cases that do what you expect will be like playing darts with a blindfold on.

Well, actually it is relatively clear what the Assistant does under which circumstances.

[rod_zero]

jens, you are wrong. nirm123 is not arguing about what Neutron supposedly does, he is pointing out that in fact it is not doing what it claims to do by comparing the generated preset from different input.

Would be great if nim123 provided some screen shots to see what he is talking about more clearly.

But to me if it indeed makes the same preset for different material then I would claim there is false advertising.

[jens]

jens, you are wrong. nirm123 is not arguing about what Neutron supposedly does, he is pointing out that in fact it is not doing what it claims to do by comparing the generated preset from different input.

My suggestion to read my thorough explanation again goes for you too.

Care to quote Izotope and explain in what exact way the quoted claim is false?

No, really: please do!

When you mention "facts", then bring them on!

P.s.: sorry, but your post makes it quite clear that the conversation went WAY over your head so far, so please really take the time to re-read it before replying again.

Otherwise the whole conversation is rendered into meaningless chaos.

[plexuss]

Get along guys.

[jens]

Here's some Facts:

[apparently it selects the same type of processor-presets and processor-chain according to the type of instrument and Assistant-preset and then adjusts the processor settings depending on the analysis.

What I did was to use four instances of Neutron on an Addictive Drums bus, each with a very different MIDI pattern. The Chain was always the same:

EQ first: four bands of Proportional Q plus Baxandall low and high - no Dynamics

different: frequencies, Q, gain


Exciter next; full, three bands, all pure Tape, same drive and blend settings on all instances

different: crossover frequencies


Compressor 1 next: three bands, Peak, Auto Gain and Auto release, yadda yadda

different: crossover frequencies and threshold

Compressor 2 last: single band, Peak, Auto Gain and Auto release, yadda yadda

different: threshold

For the fun of it I now tried it with the same drum-pattern but instead two different drumsets: same kind of different results on both instances as with different drum-patterns.

Still drums, but different Assistant-preset means still the same chain, but then some of the other parameters change.

[rod_zero]

No Jens, we perfectly understood what iZotope is marketing. It is you who doesn't want to read and understand nim123.

If the material is different why does it creates the same presets with the same settings for eq, compressor and exciter?

Is it analyzing the audio as they claim or not?

I think we need more testing and evidence to see what is really happening.

Maybe it really does it for drums but not for vocals? Maybe the Algorithms are not as good for vocals? I will test too.

[jens]

OF COURSE it is analyzing the material! If you read my explanation above and understood it then you would not ask this question! What sense does it make to prolong the discussion under these circumstances?

[jens]

Maybe nim123 simply didn' compare the settings of the different instances thoroughly enough?

My own findings make perfect sense to me and do not at all contradict Izotope's own claims / explanations.

[rod_zero]

OF COURSE it is analyzing the material! If you read my explanation above and understood it then you would not ask this question! What sense does it make to prolong the discussion under these circumstances?

If there is evidence to the contrary it is worth discussing, but I will try it first on my own before making any conclusions .

[surferman]

I've so far only used Neutron on one track and I really liked what it set up. But I was curious so I tested it.

Ok, quick test. This is from a .mogg file of the Cars. I was using it to learn the song and recreate many of the instrument parts.
So I had a vocal from me singing and the original vocal from Ocasek. I took screen shots of the Eq settings and they are similiar but different. I'll check the other modules and add them.
Ric's vocal:


My vocal

[jens]

B.t.w.: Izotope themselves call the instrument-, Preset- and Mode-specific settings the Assistant starts with "Smart Templates" - the manual explains pretty well what the Assistant does.

[surferman]

The compressor settings were nearly exact but the Threshold settings were different.

My vocal compression setting.


Ric's vocal compression setting.