KVR Audio

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:19 pm

Please let me know what you think of this one guys. I don't know why but I am just curious.

I don't do acoustic music so the gate is not a big deal though I might find use for it, won't really be using a de-esser.

I am interested in the transparent but firm nature of the compressor that I've heard in various videos and having a "warmth" and limiter in one plug-in. Looks neat.

I'd like to use it in many places just to keep transients tame without having to worry about adding a lot of harmonics or character or eating up much CPU.

Does the limiter protect against ISP? Is it Transparent?

I demoed the DSM from Paul Frindle (same designer) again today, too much work to get a likable result and it still doesn't sound quite right. I'll keep trying it out though.

Choons · Post by **Choons** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:47 pm

Was going to say the the Paul Frindle DSM v2 is a great alternative and can be had for $99 through the plug-in alliance promos seems your already testing it. The price and hassle of owning anything sonnox makes the DSM a Complete no brainer in my opinion especially at that price.

jantex · Post by **jantex** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:24 am

Despite many plugins I own (UAD, Waves Mercury, Fabfilter, Plugin Alliance, had all Softube, PSP, DMG Audio), I still regularly use Sonnox Dynamics and I greately prefer it to Compassion (which I have just sold). Very straigh forward, very powerful and transparent as hell!

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 3:08 pm

jantex wrote:Despite many plugins I own (UAD, Waves Mercury, Fabfilter, Plugin Alliance, had all Softube, PSP, DMG Audio), I still regularly use Sonnox Dynamics and I greately prefer it to Compassion (which I have just sold). Very straigh forward, very powerful and transparent as hell!

That is really interesting! Esp as you have access to some of the best itb comps by the look of it. And you just sold NI Vari Comp which I think is a very rich sounding comp.

So what is pulling me towards the dynamics is from the demos I've seen on youtube it seems like it can really put things in their place without sucking and pumping. I think I saw some 20dB of gain reduction on a vocal that still sounded great!

I need to make my drums louder and punch a little more but I don't like hearing pumping.

antithesist · Post by **antithesist** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 4:32 pm

I have it and like it. It's probably my most used Sonnox plug-in these days. Beware that a Sonnox purchase is kind of like a Catholic marriage, though. You have to get permission to resell, pay Pace, and you or the purchaser have to pay Sonnox.

I bought the Elite bundle knowing all that some years back, for what was half-price at the time, and just recently upgraded to V5. I think I have about $110 on average in each plug-in now, with about 20% of that being the recent upgrade fees.

kelldammit · Post by **kelldammit** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 5:10 pm

the sonnox stuff is excellent for clean/transparent work.
the warm button is pretty subtle from what i remember.

i was trying to ditch dongles, so sold all of my sonnox stuff, after having used them pretty much exclusively for years. in true "horses for courses" fashion, i prefer COMPassion to the plugs it replaced.

despite my current preference, i would (and do) recommend the sonnox stuff without hesitation. sonnox's "the more you buy, the steeper the discount" policy is nice, and occasionally, you might even get one free if you buy a couple of others.
the plugs are solid, the manuals are top-notch, and support is excellent.

kell

overhishead · Post by **overhishead** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 5:19 pm

you guys must have golden ears if you can tell the difference between any two compressors. rock on dudes! you ought to be sitting next to roger nichols at the console guys, hats off.

antithesist · Post by **antithesist** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 6:51 pm

Well, considering that he's dead, I'd just as soon not be sitting next to him, but thanks anyway.

Dean Aka Nekro · Post by **Dean Aka Nekro** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:54 pm

Sami, I chucked together an few examples of just the compressor from the Oxford Dynamics used doing 20dB gain reduction with attack, release & hold in there default positions and then the same with warmth engaged and on full. Now please bear in mind that electronic dance music is an area I know not much about let alone making it myself dude. So excuse the audio content apart from the dynamics in action. Its not using the internal sidechain filters and as said all controls that ought to be usually set to suit the material I simply left at the ctrl+click middle/default positions. I like it for many jobs and it is also rather good at not messing up the low-end (Which I've tried to demonstrate). Anyway audio examples here:

No processing/clean: http://www.mediafire.com/?6a2abq4knq87wob
Compressor section only in 'normal' mode doing 20dB gain reduction:
http://www.mediafire.com/?f17en1itgyfe16a
Same as above but with 'Warmth' engaged and maxed out:
http://www.mediafire.com/?xetvtjo0me3cwjp

I hope that is somewhat helpful to you and with 40%, The low CPU consumption and the way it works on any source I find makes it a good/goto dynamics processor that you'll get a lot of mileage from without spending hours tweaking. My 2pence FWIW

Dean

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:14 pm

Dean Aka Nekro wrote:Sami, I chucked together an few examples of just the compressor from the Oxford Dynamics used doing 20dB gain reduction with attack, release & hold in there default positions and then the same with warmth engaged and on full. Now please bear in mind that electronic dance music is an area I know not much about let alone making it myself dude. So excuse the audio content apart from the dynamics in action. Its not using the internal sidechain filters and as said all controls that ought to be usually set to suit the material I simply left at the ctrl+click middle/default positions. I like it for many jobs and it is also rather good at not messing up the low-end (Which I've tried to demonstrate). Anyway audio examples here:

No processing/clean: http://www.mediafire.com/?6a2abq4knq87wob
Compressor section only in 'normal' mode doing 20dB gain reduction:
http://www.mediafire.com/?f17en1itgyfe16a
Same as above but with 'Warmth' engaged and maxed out:
http://www.mediafire.com/?xetvtjo0me3cwjp

I hope that is somewhat helpful to you and with 40%, The low CPU consumption and the way it works on any source I find makes it a good/goto dynamics processor that you'll get a lot of mileage from without spending hours tweaking. My 2pence FWIW

Dean

Thanks

That was quite interesting. It's also impressive imo. Seems like it's pretty good at the extremes. I think I'll pick this up while it's on sale. The warm mode is very good at smacking those sounds up. I saw a post where Paul Frindle said warmth is not the term he would have preferred to use on that function, rather overdrive

Dean Aka Nekro · Post by **Dean Aka Nekro** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 12:27 am

No problems. I had live open when I read the thread and thought well feck it some audio example would be better than going on and on. I'm glad it was useful

The part about warmth being not an apt term by the man I can understand/hear exactly what he means. Its not the same as the Inflator but it does do to my ears a similar type of thing. I've never really thought about how long I've had these plugins and how powerful/flexible they are. In retrospect the use I've had out of them has definitely paid for themselves a good many times over. I guess that's quality. I'm pleased this thread came up as it has made me remember why I really appreciate them

Cheers and all the best to all as always

Dean

jantex · Post by **jantex** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:58 am

Aiynzahev wrote:
jantex wrote:Despite many plugins I own (UAD, Waves Mercury, Fabfilter, Plugin Alliance, had all Softube, PSP, DMG Audio), I still regularly use Sonnox Dynamics and I greately prefer it to Compassion (which I have just sold). Very straigh forward, very powerful and transparent as hell!
That is really interesting! Esp as you have access to some of the best itb comps by the look of it. And you just sold NI Vari Comp which I think is a very rich sounding comp.

I really do have practically all the best plugins (two days ago also sold Relab LX480 and last week sold all of the Softube stuff which also includes NI effects:)).

I must admit I am really not a fan of Softube stuff. I found out in in the end never used their things. There is something with attack of all of their compressors, which is very off, let it be Tubetech, Summit, FET, or Vari Comp. All of their comps fail miserably compared to UAD's new 1176 or LA2a. Same is with their EQs. Passive EQ cannot even remotely be compared to UAD's Massive Passive. The response, filters and saturation with UAD's MAssive Passive version are spot on, while Softube's/NI's is just another digital EQ. Low end is not even remotely as defined. Highs are stringent and harsh and also the response of filters is odd.

Sonnox dynamics on the other hand is a really powerful, transparent, great sounding and proven dynamics tool. I have been using it for basically 7 years now and it still finds its place in all of my mixes. Maybe some people consider Sonnox outdated, because they have been on the scene for a very long time, but this algorithms simply are of the very highest quality. They were developed for the 1.5mio $ mixing console and you can imagine lots of work and engineering went into it. The whole development process had different vision than to make a plugin for 100 USD and sell it for 50 USD after one month. Form ore than a million of investment there simply was no compromise.

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:16 am

I really do have practically all the best plugins (two days ago also sold Relab LX480 and last week sold all of the Softube stuff which also includes NI effects:)).

Neat, what are you favorite reverbs?

I must admit I am really not a fan of Softube stuff. I found out in in the end never used their things. There is something with attack of all of their compressors, which is very off, let it be Tubetech, Summit, FET, or Vari Comp. All of their comps fail miserably compared to UAD's new 1176 or LA2a. Same is with their EQs. Passive EQ cannot even remotely be compared to UAD's Massive Passive. The response, filters and saturation with UAD's MAssive Passive version are spot on, while Softube's/NI's is just another digital EQ. Low end is not even remotely as defined. Highs are stringent and harsh and also the response of filters is odd.

I have to agree with you regarding the attack on FET. I haven't noticed problems with any other comps. Though maybe the CL1b is a tad bit difficult to work with from my memory. I have to disagree with the implication though, they Softube's compressors are not very usable, if that was your implication, but I'd only argue in the case of Summit TLA and Vari-comp. I find the Vari-comp to be a rich compressor, the only one I'd use that term for. Admittedly I've never used UAD. Though it sounds like I really should get into it. But I doubt I'd really be into 1176, never tried an emulation that worked for me.

As for the EQ's, the NI passive does sound a little strange to me, especially the filters. I've never heard filters like that, not pleasant. In fact to put it plainly there is something about the sound of the NI Passive that reminds me of Mp3. That said I think it's a really neat usable EQ if you don't use it in the wrong way.

I love the Enhanced EQ, very easy to use and it usually sounds great to me.

Sonnox dynamics on the other hand is a really powerful, transparent, great sounding and proven dynamics tool. I have been using it for basically 7 years now and it still finds its place in all of my mixes.

Well I am torn between the Premium tube bundle and this, I'd like to get both but I can't afford to right now. Unless some one want's to buy something from me, like Arts Acoustic CL series of Brainworx XL_V2. Both of which I like

Kevin63101 · Post by **Kevin63101** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:18 am

Aiynzahev wrote:Please let me know what you think of this one guys. I don't know why but I am just curious.

I like it, but wish it had more presets. I bought this first thinking it was a more comprehensive tool, but since bought the Sonnox Limiter and prefer that by far for limiting functions -- which was my main use for the Dynamics.

I use the Sonnox Dynamics mostly for transparent processing of live recorded instruments, not VSTs. I use other compressors I have when I want coloring.

Of the Sonnox I have, here's the order of what I use the most:

EQ <-- absolutely love this
Limiter
Reverb
Inflator
Dynamics
Transient Modulator (bottom of list, but useful for right application)

Sonnox are all quality products even if it's been around for a while. I wish I bought the whole Elite bundle all at once on sale, but bought most of them one piece at a time on sales similar to the current promotion.

In my opinion, Dynamics is worth the promo price but I get more usage out of other Sonnox items. But I'm glad I have it and I do use it.

jantex · Post by **jantex** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:57 am

@Aiynzahev

I have many reverbs and also used hw 480L in the past. Bought LX480 in december and thought it would become my number 1...don't great me wrong it is a great reverb, but it is slightly dated and it's over hyped IMHO...there has been a great evolution since then and when you listen with your ears without being hyped, you realize that.

In december I also bought Valhalla Vintage Verb, but simply didn't give it enought chance from the start. In the beginning of January the new Exponential Audio reverbs simply shocked me with quality. So in many projects after beginning of January I used different reverbs for different projects and tested them all thoroughly to really see what will be a keeper and what will go away and it always turned out my most used verbs remained: Lexicon PCM that I have owned since it was released, Valhalla Vintage Verb, UAD EMT-140, UAD EMT-250 and Exponential Audio Phoenix.

I also have R2 but haven't found much use for it so far, but it really is special and will keep it, because it sounds very different from everything that I have.

But LX480 simply didn't offer anything special over PCM or Valhalla...I mean in direct objective comparisons the latter two always sound better IMHO. And when I need that slightly more lo-fi sound I was able to tweak appropriate algos from PCM in the past to sound more like 480L, but since stopped using 480L I actually started to appreciate more transparent sound of the PCM. It simply is an evolution and stating that 480L is superior is like stating 87' Ferarri F40 surpasses modern Enzo.

On the other hand Valhalla takes me to that vintage sound and offers much more than only classic legacy Lexicon sound. Ok, some algos of 480L are harder to nail to 99%, some easier. But with Valhalla and PCM I am able to nail all of the algos included in LX480 to 99%, while on the other hand I actually prefer sounds that are not so 480ish.

Both two UAD verbs are simply special animals and nothing can replace them, especially EMT-140. When I want plate this is simply it...look no further.

Sonnox Dynamics plug-in: Tell me your thoughts on it