Thank you for MFreeFXBundle - it's amazing!!

[plugin_master]

I recently mixed my wife's vocal and the recording had issues with dynamics and tone.

I threw an arsenal of plugins on the vocal channel and could not figure out why the sound was harsh and unpleasant. Listening to the mix made my ears bleed. This was exacerbated because of extreme maneuvers I did to try and fix the problems, not realizing I was only making it worse.

The plugins I used were from Reaper, Waves, and Izotope.

I made some research and learned about plugin aliasing and oversampling. I enabled oversampling for the entire chain and the result was that some plugins simply didn't work at all, the reverb became short... Clearly, some plugins would not support higher sampling rates.

So I bought the MFreeFXBundle to get the oversampling feature and started a new effects chain.
The plugins I used are:
- Reaper ReaEQ
- Reaper ReaGate
- Melda MEqualizer
- Melda MCompressor
- Melda MConvolutionEZ

I enabled 8x oversampling for the entire chain in Reaper 7 and was already happy with the sound at that point. I didn't have to struggle with harshness or weird tonal issues as I was tweaking the plugins. Then, I rendered the mix with the r8brain oversampling setting.

The result is nothing short of amazing. The vocal sounds entirely natural: the sibilance is natural and pleasant - does not pierce the ears. The dynamics, although with compression, sound natural. The reverb, round and beautiful. The vocal suddenly fits more with the instruments. It is such a stark difference.

I have been a loyal Waves user for probably too long, and spent quite a bit of money on their plugins over the years, as well as others. But now that I tried this new generation of plugins, I'm totally converted.

But it doesn't end there: the MFreeFXBundle plugins work very well, the GUI and animations are rock solid (unlike other plugins), they are full of powerful features, sound absolutely fantastic (mostly transparent and clean), and the content is great: MConvolutionEZ impulse responses are varied, useful, and of high quality, and the plugin presets are generally useful.

I am simply amazed at the quality of these plugins, and that it far exceeds that of pricier, more "veteran" vendors.

So thank you Melda for the great work!

[plugin_master]

Important clarification...

Waves has some amazing plugins, and I still have some favorites I'll continue using - V-Comp, H-Comp, REDD, and H-Reverb, among others. My H-Reverb is not the latest Waves version, probably V11, and from what I understand oversampling is usually reserved for analog modeling plugins (although if I'm not mistaken H-Reverb has some analog emulation features). Also, these are the Waves plugins I used in the original chain.

With Izotope, I used Neutron 3 in the original chain. Not sure if it worked or not in the oversampling exercise so I'm not saying anything bad about it.

So this was a very interesting exercise for me, I learned something important from it, and I hope someone else will too. To me, the conclusions are:

• Oversampling can have a huge impact on sound quality

• Not all plugins can be oversampled at high multipliers as their maximum supported sample rate is lower

• The best way to use oversampling is inside plugins that have oversampling functions built-in to them (like Melda for example)

• For plugins that don't have an oversampling function but support high sampling rates, you can use the Chain Oversampling function in Reaper, but make sure you are oversampling at a multiplier resulting in a supported sample rate of the lowest common denominator. For example, in a 48KHz session, if you have 4 plugins in a chain that don't have built-in oversampling functions but support 384KHz (effectively 8x oversampling) but one plugin that supports 96KHz, you should oversample the entire chain at 2x because that will result in 96KHz which is the lowest common denominator. For a better result in this particular example, use the FX Instance Oversampling function to individually oversample each plugin to its maximum supported sample rate to get the best results.

• Not all plugins document their supported sample rates or mention anything about oversampling them. As such, it's difficult to tell if oversampling them through the host will yield the desired result or a weird result due to unsupported sample rates, how far you can oversample them before they blow up, or if you even should... For example, if a plugin only says it supports 88.2KHz sample rate, we know we can safely oversample it 2x in a 44.1KHz session.

• As I was busy listening to myself moan about the previous point, I found just the information I needed before throwing the baby with the water listing supported sample rates for Waves plugins https://www.waves.com/support/tech-spec ... te-support
  So it appears that all Waves plugins support 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, many support 96, and some support 192. If you want to oversample Waves plugins, consult this page to know your limits.

Another note: this wasn't a scientific exercise. Meaning, I didn't compare the sound of my Melda chain without oversampling enabled, and frankly I don't care to. I'll just continue using these plugins with OS enabled as long as I continue getting great results.

[sparella]

The free bundle is indeed amazing. Since you're a Reaper user, this FX Chain is a good illustration of how powerful the free bundle can be. Make sure these plugins are installed to use it: MNotepad, MAGC, MRatioMB, MEqualizer, and MRatio. (The forum wouldn't allow a .RfxChain file extension, so I had to zip it.) In Reaper 7 you can put the plugin chain into a container if you want, so it doesn't clutter your processing chain.

Attack/Release EQ:
This plugin chain for Reaper uses processors from Melda's MFreeFXBundle to create the functionality of a tonal/transient equalizer.

Signal Flow:
The first MAGC instance is used to measure the loudness of the original input material for the automatic gain compensation of the last step. (The reference signal is sent on channels 7 & 8.)

Two MRatioMB instances isolate the attack and release bands of the stereo signal. (Attack is sent to channels 3 & 4. Release is sent to channels 5 & 6.) The Crossover, Slope, Resolution, & Speed parameters may be manually adjusted to fine tune the detection. Settings in both MRatioMB instances must be identical to avoid phasing artifacts. For convenience, the Attack instance's detection parameters are configured as the master controls, and the Release instance's parameters are linked to match using Reaper's parameter modulation functionality.

An instance of MEqualizer is used to eq the Attack band (on channels 3 & 4). A second instance of MEqualizer is used to eq the Release band (on channels 5 & 6). EQs are in M+S mode, so either mid, side, or both can be chosen per band. They can also be switched to Left + Right mode if desired.

MRatio recombines the EQ'd Attack and Release bands together (channels 3 & 4 with 5 & 6). To monitor the Attack band adjust the Ratio control to 0%. To monitor the Release band adjust the Ratio control to 100%. For equal balance, return it to 50%.

Lastly, a second instance of MACG sets the gain for equal loudness with the original material.

If you find this chain useful, please consider supporting the plugin developer by purchasing a license for the plugin bundle.

Enjoy,
Sparella

[78deluxe]

The free plugins are great but I'm sure the same settings would be just fine with no oversampling on.

Regarding your conclusion you owe it to yourself to export the project the same way but turn oversampling off. This is a 5 min task way less time than it took to type out your conclusion. Use Melda compare to blind test between the oversampled and non oversampled. I'd bet the differences are next to nothing based on what you describe the source material as.

Sure, leave it on final export for projects, but for educational purposes I can't fathom not taking a few min to test based on how thrilled you are with the results.