Satin - Beta

[Urs]

I wonder if FXpansion are going to release MindFX 2 before we get to finish anything

[Dunc]

Hmm...that kinda sounds like an imminent beta of Satin is not so imminent after all...is a beta of Satin this month still a possibility ?

[benburling]

I feel responsible for this.

Can I remind myself and everyone that we dont needs synths to make beautiful music..

Todd.. over to you..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsezr0qi ... sHW5AVbw5g

[sascha]

Well, some info from my side:

We're almost finished with what we'd like to put into it. I just have to add the delay sync feature (due to multiple requests) and add latency compensation (just a few samples, but anyway), as the latter had been added to our framework just the other day.

Most of my effort lately went into the documentation, e.g. making a draft for Howard, who layed out the words in his usual professional way. The manual will be very comprehensive (~30 pages so far), and we're doing a tape 101 primer, lots of tricks and what to listen for etc.

We're currently kicking ourselves a bit in the asses, because we're also impatient of releasing the plugin. From a developer's view, there's always something missing, and you want things being complete, perfect etc., but we've now reached the point where we can say, phew... done... some stuff may come later. I think we've got a pretty cool v1.

On the release date: we're still aiming for July. I'll have to get our youngest daughter become familiarized with Kindergarten next month, so I can't be all ears to u-he affairs for some unspecified period in August, therefore my wish is have it released before.

Side note: we've never aimed for a emulation of a special device, and we've always communicated that Satin is a tape construction kit. Just out of curiosity, I've done null tests against files we've made for an A827 lately, and, erm... my strange text-book approach somewhat works.

"It works... I can't believe it! And they said cheap mailorder diamonds aren't good enough..." (Dr. Fred Edison, Day of the tentacle)

[benburling]

We all know this is going to be an award winner.

I think sometimes I forget how the creative and hard working team at U-HE have lives beyond making these incredible instruments and effects.

Really looking forward to hearing it and recommending it far and wide

Thanks so much for all your efforts

Big love

Ben xxxx

[t3toooo]

i have a feature request.
please add mid/side,at least for certain effects/options like distortion for example.
specially distortion often sounds better when using more in the mid and if there is just a bit in the side signal.
it's annoying that not many plugins does have the m/s option.

i will write to jeroen from toneboosters as well and ask him to implement mid/side in reelbus because while i really like the overdrive/clip i don't use it much because the signal sounds rather washy in an overall mix.

another reason for m/s would be that todays mixes are way louder compared to some years ago,so to be "competitive" you need a certain rms level but because of that too much distortion in the side sounds rather bad.

[sascha]

Satins distortion doesn't happen per se, in fact it can be quite low (down to 0.8% THD), unless you kick it.
The plugin already got a s**tload of controls, so we might be better of not to bloat it further. For v1, we'd like to keep the feature set as-is (and there's already more than we've shown back at Musikmesse). Then comes the phase of gathering feedback and we'll be of course all ears.

However, we hear you about M/S. Presswerk can do it, by design. And it saturates and warms. But more on that later...

[t3toooo]

great,thank you!

[t3toooo]

i just found "presswerk" and this is a new compressor right?
well,generally i can use other plugins for saturating,what i meant was to be able to use certain features using mid/side independently in one plugin.

for a master bus plugin it is essential to separate the mid and the side amount of the effects because otherwise i probably wouldn't use very nice features like mentioned with the reelbus clipper,which i like btw.


for me this is a design flaw (very inefficient),i hope this will generally change in the plugin developing market.

[t3toooo]

just to be a little bit more specific.

mid/side control really depends on the plugin,i can simply put a pan after a reverb to have the reverb more in the middle and to control the amount of the wideness.
for compression,usually i'm not a big fan of compressing mid side independently but it can be handy,sometimes.
there are plugins that do just one thing and for them it isn't necessary to have mid side control (although still i think it would be much better).

now,if i use a plugin with lots of features/effects one of the most essentials things would be to have the effects nicely placed in the mix and not to have it just drawn all over or just controlled by amount.

satin has a flanger?
well,i'll test it and let you know if it disturbs me to not be able to separate the flanger more refined (beside the amount).

it isn't only about the features but also on how you can place them in the mix.

[Urs]

satin has a flanger?
well,i'll test it and let you know if it disturbs me to not be able to separate the flanger more refined (beside the amount).

it isn't only about the features but also on how you can place them in the mix.

This flanger is designed to also be "placed in the arrangement". We looked at how flanging used to be done in the olden days - it wasn't an effect that ran all over the recording, it was just placed at certain points. This took a lot of planning and experience to extract the right material, sync the two machines and get the timing right. In Satin this is just a matter of automating a button at the time you select in a drop down... and off it takes!

- Urs

[t3toooo]

satin has a flanger?
well,i'll test it and let you know if it disturbs me to not be able to separate the flanger more refined (beside the amount).

it isn't only about the features but also on how you can place them in the mix.

This flanger is designed to also be "placed in the arrangement". We looked at how flanging used to be done in the olden days - it wasn't an effect that ran all over the recording, it was just placed at certain points. This took a lot of planning and experience to extract the right material, sync the two machines and get the timing right. In Satin this is just a matter of automating a button at the time you select in a drop down... and off it takes!

- Urs

thank you Urs,
that sounds interesting.

[snigelx]

Thanks for your efforts guys. I would like to voice my appreciation for any work you guys have put into the documentation. I come from an era of manual-reading, when companies had a real interest in the user understanding a bit of the science behind a product. I did not get into tape until well after it disappeared from the open, so I am looking forward to using and learning your model here. Sascha, best of luck with your little princess, on her first day. In the end my personal opinion is that you should not rush this delicate project and rather refine it with a bit more time. We all know the truth behind how it goes w updating a product w new features...slow as thick syrup...due in part to other project deadlines and the inevitable planning for next year's plug It would be wonderful to have Satin hit the streets as something that is a Finished product (baring minor aftermarket revisions) and that can defeat the best tape models currently available. Just my thoughts... If something should hit before August, I would rather it be updates for existing product line. Again, appreciate all the time and Communication

[Bathrobe]

Oh yes, the way you communicate is seldom found in this industry.
Top notch, thanks for that.

I don't get why other companies are so secretive with their plugins and daws. Imho they could learn from you and a few other developers in this regard.
It is much appreciated.
Anyway looking forward to V1.0 of this texture.

[Nielzie]

I don't get why other companies are so secretive with their plugins and daws.

Because this is KVR.