KVR Audio

iainduncan · Post by **iainduncan** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 4:04 pm

So far the KVR hive mind has been a really efficient way of finding good plugins, y'all rock. ( trying out demos takes time, trying out pre-qualified demos, much less time!)

So, someone tipped me off to Hornet. At a glance, it looks like my kind of company. Independent, simple guis, low prices, direct to consumer sales with low overhead. ( I love you Sean Costello! hahah ) Would love to hear how they stack up sound quality wise to some of the competition. Particularly for the mixing basics, (reverb, compression and EQ. ) I'm currently using Valhalla DSP, ToneBoosters limiters, FXPansion DCAM Dynamics & Klanghelm DC8C comps. I'm happy with that quality range or better. (Planning on picking up The Glue this week).

So, your thoughts on Hornet....Go!

iain

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:01 pm

Also curious. I have FAT FET, seems to be a quality compressor but sorta one trick pony.

asdfrewq · Post by **asdfrewq** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:11 pm

I like his compressor(s), the MultiComp gives OPTO and VCA compression as well as the FET. All 3 modes have a different compression curve and have different sound coloring.

DuX · Post by **DuX** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:57 pm

I love them. Especially the MultiComp. Recursive one, all retro compressors are a kind of one trick ponies. Like Urei-1176.

But some ponies are just so good for all kinds of things [like Urei-1176

]. It's not like a one trick pony synth. MultiComp is like having 3 one trick ponies at once.

Although, you do need more flexibility or transparency sometimes and then you should use some other plugin.

Shame he doesn't have an EQ plugin but "only" the channel strip. The channel strip is great, but an overkill to have on every channel IMO.

EQ from the channel strip as a separate plugin would be great to go with the MultiComp.

I think his plugins are especially good for those people who look for a retro kind of sound, and they have absolutely great price/performance ratio. I also think they're quite under-appreciated in general. In my view, they are a "Valhalla DSP" of compressors and EQs.

A note to asdfrewq: HQ button is there for a reason. Try it. It works. It gets rid of some aliasing. Regarding aliasing, I find HoRNeT plugins fairly aliasing free. Really nice sound, quick to work with, great and usable, efficient GUI that I sometimes find lacks more contrast, but it doesn't make me go "oh, I can't see shit on this plugin".

Yeah, my X-mas wish would be a HoRNeT EQ that looks like the MultiComp and has the same kind of analog modeling, noise and saturation.

I'm glad that someone finally spoke about HoRNeT plugins here! I also wonder what other people on KVR think about them. I rate them really high in my book. But they can just be my cup of tea, OTOH. They're not subtle at all, which is what I like about them.

bungle · Post by **bungle** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:11 pm

Love his stuff, but i do have to warn that some of his plugins have serious bugs that have not been fixed in a long while (3Xover for instance)
But even with that i still bought Sybilla yesterday to add to my Hornet collection

DuX · Post by **DuX** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:15 pm

Oh, and I demoed TrackShaper. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. Quite useless.

Maybe I didn't give it enough time?

I think MultiComp and the Channel Strip are HoRNet "gems", and the AutoGain is pretty unique, and the VU-meter is nice.

Just IMHO, of course.

I haven't tried Sybilla because I find SPL De-esser quite sufficient and I'm not a fan of de-essers anyway. It's better to use a different microphone.

Cheers!

EcHo2K · Post by **EcHo2K** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:57 am

bungle wrote:Love his stuff, but i do have to warn that some of his plugins have serious bugs that have not been fixed in a long while (3Xover for instance)
But even with that i still bought Sybilla yesterday to add to my Hornet collection

Sorry about that, you are right I still have to understand why that bug happens, for the others, it's a problem with the filters of 3XOver in Reaper + windows x64, I've been able to reproduce it but not to understand why it happens. The funny thing is that the ChannelStrip works fine in the same setup and it uses the same library code for the filters...

Saverio
HoRNet Plugins

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 11:32 am

i demoed hornet plugins yesterday. quite like the comps, EQ is okay too - so i think at some point this channel strip will make its way into my plugin folder. i miss a few things though, mainly some kind of output control on each module. as an example use case, i could boost with an EQ, loudness increases and EQ output starts clipping (if analog emulation is on). i could lower the input level to alleviate that, but then it'll affect the compressor that is going before the EQ, so i have to retweak it too. with an output control that wouldn't be necessary.

EcHo2K · Post by **EcHo2K** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 5:04 pm

Burillo wrote:i demoed hornet plugins yesterday. quite like the comps, EQ is okay too - so i think at some point this channel strip will make its way into my plugin folder. i miss a few things though, mainly some kind of output control on each module. as an example use case, i could boost with an EQ, loudness increases and EQ output starts clipping (if analog emulation is on). i could lower the input level to alleviate that, but then it'll affect the compressor that is going before the EQ, so i have to retweak it too. with an output control that wouldn't be necessary.

Hi, there are input and output controls for each module, look between the input ant output meters, there is a small fader handle that allows you to turn up and down the levels for each module!

Saverio

EcHo2K · Post by **EcHo2K** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 5:06 pm

Burillo wrote:i demoed hornet plugins yesterday. quite like the comps, EQ is okay too - so i think at some point this channel strip will make its way into my plugin folder. i miss a few things though, mainly some kind of output control on each module. as an example use case, i could boost with an EQ, loudness increases and EQ output starts clipping (if analog emulation is on). i could lower the input level to alleviate that, but then it'll affect the compressor that is going before the EQ, so i have to retweak it too. with an output control that wouldn't be necessary.

Hi, there are input and output controls for each module, look between the input ant output meters, there is a small fader handle that allows you to turn up and down the levels for each module!

Saverio

twoifbysea · Post by **twoifbysea** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:15 pm

Auto-Gain works as advertised and is certainly much more cost effective than some of the alternatives.

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:21 pm

EcHo2K wrote:Hi, there are input and output controls for each module, look between the input ant output meters, there is a small fader handle that allows you to turn up and down the levels for each module!

sorry, didn't see that! thanks!

also, i noticed that when you turn on oversampling, all the compressor models in the channel strip cut off high end. is that normal?

Breeze · Post by **Breeze** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:35 pm

twoifbysea wrote:Auto-Gain works as advertised and is certainly much more cost effective than some of the alternatives.

Auto-Gain is very useful but it'll be even more so once the "advanced" version that was discussed on GS comes out. There's nothing right now that can track level from one track and control another like a VCA via VST3 sidechains. The advanced version is supposed to include far greater range of control as well as a few other useful parameters. I like the Hornet business model too.

asdfrewq · Post by **asdfrewq** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:49 pm

Burillo wrote: also, i noticed that when you turn on oversampling, all the compressor models in the channel strip cut off high end. is that normal?

I believe that when oversampling is enabled this happens (to some degree) in most plugins (folding frequency is what I think it's called). At least it happens in the ones I have tested with VST Plugin Analyser.

@DuX I didn't mean aliasing noise, I meant the overall sound of the 3 different modes (they sound different to me).

I guess I was not clear... I really like the HoRNet MultiComp and ChannelStrip.

EDIT: The Freq response when using HQ has changed as of version 1.2.7, it no longer has the dramatic high freq rolloff.

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:53 pm

asdfrewq wrote:
Burillo wrote: also, i noticed that when you turn on oversampling, all the compressor models in the channel strip cut off high end. is that normal?
I believe that when oversampling is enabled this happens (to some degree) in most plugins (folding frequency is what I think it's called). At least it happens in the ones I have tested with VST Plugin Analyser.

maybe, but not to the degree it happens in Hornet channel strip. i've never ever been in a situation where i turned on oversampling and was like wtf where did all the high end go

Hive mind, sound quality of Hornet plugins?