KVR Audio

fgimian · Post by **fgimian** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:08 am

dburgan thanks a lot for the advise, I will definitely check it out. I'm just wondering if the sonalksis stuff will be enough ... the main reason I still may need to buy Kjaerhus is coz I would love a good track limiter and the GPP is the only good one I can find. The rest are freebies which aint bad, but I'm trying to stick wtih particular vendors only (Sonalksis, Voxnego & Kjaerhus). Any suggestions on a good track limiter ? Please note that by track limiter, I mean something that can be used for realtime mixing.

Cheers
Fots

dburgan · Post by **dburgan** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:19 am

I've never used a track limiter, much less any plugin for realtime mixing, so can't help ya there.

kilroy · Post by **kilroy** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:19 am

bmanic wrote:
kilroy wrote:
jens wrote:actually I think you were cheating - I bet you put it through a limiter...
Nope...but i did cheat.

TL Audio C-1
And you used a different source file.

Indeed. I used soundpalace's original file for the source.

I'd love to hear my original drum clip smashed trough the C1

Right then. Look here tommorow...about this time or a bit sooner, with luck.

brianbrian · Post by **brianbrian** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:32 am

That new ultra fast attack on Crunchessor sounds cool. It reminds me of the 1176 sound (especially on that snare)...not so much the color of the Urie, but the way it squishes the signal so damn quickly and adds some nice crunch.

Since this thread seems to be turning into a compressor comparison, I will try to run that drum clip through all the UAD-1 compressors with multiple settings (1176, LA, 670, and GateComp...this one is a sleeper for super aggressive sounds).

If I can use my friend's laptop/M-Box combo (can't exactly lug my PC into the studio), I can take that same drum clip and run it through a real 1176 (silver face), a dbx160A, SSL 6000E bus comp (maybe the 9000J comp too, but that room is always extremely busy), and Neve VR desk channel comp. Probably can't get this done until the end of the month though...and if I can somehow aquire/borrow some tape, I can run it hot through an Otari MTR-90, but this is much less likely to happen.

I like how that Sonalksis sounds, as well as the opto GCO compression clip Jens posted. I really didn't want to like either of those so much since money has been extra tight lately...

damn G.A.S.

brianbrian · Post by **brianbrian** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:36 am

Oh yea, Kilroy's C1 example is slamming! I like that one...I will try to get some equally extreme examples up soon.

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:40 am

soundpalace wrote:Any suggestions on a good track limiter ? Please note that by track limiter, I mean something that can be used for realtime mixing.

TLS Audio Pocket Limiter is a great track limiter with adjustable knee compression.

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:27 am

This thread is both valuable and shit - I went through all my compressor freebies with extra careful attention to detail last night and I can't say that I'd be satisfied at all.

Besides Blockfish & Endorphin (that both "cheat" a little with additional processing), the best was Mackies's Stereo Compressor included in Tracktion 2... a real piece of shit to use (some speakershattering presets, wanky dials and too small switches), but flexible with a pretty usable sound without major artifacts or unwanted distortion.

The common factor with the all my comps, however, was the dullness of sound when compared with the Sonalksis... Blockfish & Mackie are ok, but after repetivive listening I began to appreciate the hifi quality in that sonalksis example. It somehow enhances the musical "note" of the kick, and the glitter and shine of the cymbals. Is this something common to good compressors, or is there some subtle exciting magic stuff going on under Sonalksis hood? Either way, I wouldn't mind to getting a similar sound

Haven't checked the GPO sound yet, but I'd prefer it to be real shit so I could be happy with my freebies

Aleksey Vaneev · Post by **Aleksey Vaneev** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:56 am

pakana, you could use Lampthruster or Warmifier for the same kind of 'shine' on the cymbals.

It's just a bit of harmonic distortion.

jens · Post by **jens** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:09 am

bmanic wrote:
jens wrote:GCO-1 in classic mode pushed even harder (up to 15db of reduction)

edit: wrong link
This one sounds really solid and nice! Damn you! God damn credit card is maxed for this month already (damn you arts accoustic!)

- bManic

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:22 am

Thanks Aleksey, but I'll download the Soniformer demo as a result of this topic

let's see how the hi-tech approach compares with vintage emulation. There seems to be two ways to utilize the huge capabilities of modern CPUs... to use it all to emulate old technology or then open up new possibilities - IMO it's not hard to see which path will take the sound further.

It's also glad to know that Crunchessor is being developed

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:43 pm

soundpalace wrote:kilroy lol nice !

i'm starting to like the kjaerhus compressor a lot too, very nice stuff...

Can I afford to buy Kjaerhus & Sonalksis i dunno

so let's see ... on my ... TO/BUY list...

- GlissEQ (good digital eq to complete my voxengo collection) 80 $
- Sonalksis EQ & Compressor 400 $
- Kjaerhus Essentialls maybe ? I would buy em all if I could ... but i'll say essentialls for now, 228 $

now that's a lotta dosh ! I wonder sometimes if I should have just bought a UAD-1 ... but the fact that the card could be obselete in several years is a HUGE turn off for me

You guys rock, I love checking this thread

Cheers
Fots

Skip the Sonalksis EQ, it's been bettered by other companies by now (unless you really happen to like it's character, which it does have). Also, if you are studying or teaching you can get up to 50% discounts from sonalksis.

If you still don't have a compressor of this calibre yet I highly recommend getting the kjaerhus one first as it truly is a swiss armyknife compressor. You just need to work it a bit more because of all the options and controls, but that's a GOOD THING imho.

Cheers!
bManic

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:48 pm

Aleksey Vaneev wrote:pakana, you could use Lampthruster or Warmifier for the same kind of 'shine' on the cymbals. It's just a bit of harmonic distortion.

Actually, that 'shine' is in the original audioclip too, just a lot more quiet. The sonalksis compressor is rather good at preserving high frequencies and I don't think it adds any other process than simple compression. It's just that it does it's compression very smoothly, that's all. This makes all the transients sound more natural, true to the original, while still being squashed a lot.

I'll do some compressing of a sine wave and lets see if sonalksis adds harmonics. I doubt it though.

EDIT: well, I should know better than doubt Aleksey and his in-human ear. The sonalksis compressor DOES add 3rd harmonic distortion, especially with short release and in Mode 1 (models classic compressor behaviour). Even in Mode 2 which I always thought was rather transparent it adds a bit of 3rd harmonics.

Cheers!
bManic

jens · Post by **jens** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:50 pm

bmanic wrote:You just need to work it a bit more because of all the options and controls

that's easy - even I manage to use it...

I second Bmanic's recommendation - GCO-1 offers all you could ask for and more and it just sounds fantastic - b.t.w.: up to now I showcased just two of five algorithms...

joachime · Post by **joachime** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:59 pm

Here's some UAD-1 samples. I realize, they may be a bit modest (compared to previous samples).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to download the wav-file from bmanics site (no connection). So I worked with what I had, ie the dry mp3 sample.

--- EDIT ---
These samples are now origined from bmanics wav-file:
UAD-1 LA2A hard compression
http://hem.bredband.net/joachime/kvr_au ... D_LA2A.mp3

UAD-1 1176 LN - 8:1 ratio
http://hem.bredband.net/joachime/kvr_au ... 6_LN_8.mp3

UAD-1 1176 LN - Brittish mode
http://hem.bredband.net/joachime/kvr_au ... N_Brit.mp3

UAD-1 1176 LN - Brittish mode mixed with equal amount of dry signal (ie Bus compression example)
http://hem.bredband.net/joachime/kvr_au ... t+Orig.mp3

UAD-1 1176 LN - Brittish mode mixed with equal amount of LA2A
http://hem.bredband.net/joachime/kvr_au ... t+LA2A.mp3

TLs Saturated Driver
http://hem.bredband.net/joachime/kvr_au ... driver.mp3

Reference - bmanics original wav-file
http://cmt.siba.fi/nisilen/DrumCompress ... iginal.wav

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 2:02 pm

About 3rd harmonics and compressors, looks like they all seem to add that on the sinewave at short release. I think my test is flawed. The sonalksis clearly 'adds' them but I got some subtle 3rd harmonics from even the basic FL Studio compressor. Compadre and Blockfish add something too (especially blockfish, it has a saturation stage in it).

Oh well.. technical reasons are not so important to me, especially when I don't understand them at all, I just use whichever one I like the sound of.

Cheers!
bManic

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