Product Reviews by KVR Members

The sound of ProF.E.T. is extremely harsh, with a tendency to attenuate the mid/upper mid to high frequency range.

I tried to use it to add some distortion for other material than electric guitars and the result is absolutely not pleasant, so ProF.E.T. might not be the solution if you are looking for a generic distortion plugin.

Because of the harsh tone and the fact that it doesn't has a Dry/Wet mix parameter to sooth out the harshness, I think as an insert effect it is not well suited.

I can imagine only using it on an auxilary bus for my guitars, but even there only with high caution, adding just a little bit of gain because the effect comes in really hard.

I can not understand all the positive reviews.

This EQ differs from others because of mainly 5 things:

1. 'Auto Gain Compensation' - the plugin keeps unity gain and allows to notice more accurately what the equalization (and saturation, if applied) is actually doing to the signal, without changing the volume. A very important feature. I wish incorporating this would be more popular amongst developers.
2. Four switchable curve shapes (American, British, German and Soviet), which differ in slope, steepness but also attenuation of certain frequencies. (the Q value changes proportional to the gain).
3. Gain-dependent saturation ('EQ Sat' button) and gain-independent calibration of the saturation.
4. Another very subtle output saturation stage comprised of 4 saturation models.
5. Highpass-Filter after the EQ-section to preserve added harmonics to the low end.

Great saturation plugin. Use it to up to 10 or 11 o'clock for gentle saturation, and above for a more distorted sound.

One important thing: They updated the plugin (along a generic Softube plugin overhaul) and the plugin has more parameters and most of all meters now.

You can adjust input and output gain independentely, have meters for Peak; Momentary, Short and Integrated RMS or LUFS for both stereo channel, input highpass and more.

Most important one is an automatic gain compensation feature which is absolutely great.

Set the mode, Dial in the amount of saturation and click on 'Set'. The plugin will thereafter automatically adjust the volume to unity gain.

The GUI is resizable as well now.

This plugin can glue the signal feed in and give it more warmth but be aware!

It does that even without to engage/turn the 2 main knobs 'Saturation' and 'Dynamics'. You can hear but also see that by taking a look at the corresponding meters. So, 0% value is not 0% effect. Keep that in mind while using it. I personally prefer an exponential parameter, but it works well tough.

In fact, I can put it on a track without even to consider to touch any knobs, and it does it job quite well.

I have to say that, after I put a meter behind and tested the effected with the bypassed signal (DAW-bypass, not the one in the interface), FerricTDS seems to increase volume a little around 0.4 to 0.5 db. So no exact unity gain comparison but still the signal is better in comparison to the bypassed signal turned louder accordingly.

If you using it on individual tracks, it however could make the sound a little muddy or dark (especially due to the no 0% effect). So if you feed a clear and already EQ-ed signal into it, might be prepared and put a EQ afterward or use it before any EQing.

Native Bypass-Switch is also a very very helpful feature by adjusting the parameters.

Great plugin.

There are not many valueable free multi-effect / channel strips available. Many lack in sound or design, but this plugin belongs to the good.

NastyVCS is an all-round-tool which you can really use even alongside expensive channel strips. It offers many special things like a saturation knob, an AIR-Filter (which really surprised me), boost and cut low-end filter, and many different sounding attack and release modes for the compressor.

Plus it offers a sidechain capability and you can enable/disable individual sections for quick A/B comparison. A much appreciated feature which many pricy competitors are missing.

And this isn't in 32-bit only despite being a bit aged. VOS updated NastyVCS to 64-bit in 2021.

Really worth to at least checking it out, even if you already have fency channel strips in your arsenal.

Powerful baxandall EQ plugin. M/S-Mode is fantastic and you also can adjust Mid and Side volume without even applying the shelves or cuts.

The only reason why I reduce one star and I can imagine this plugin isn't way more popular is because it is kind of hard to read the parameter values and specific elements are not easy to distinguish from each other, even if you get a little more familiar with the plugin.

If the developer could maybe enhance the GUI in an updated verson, I guess this plugin would be used by much more people.

CLA-2A and CLA-3A are very special and one of my favorite compressors. They are not suitable for every sound, but proof their strength when its about to make something more clear (CLA-2A) or thick (CLA-3A), where a standard compressor simply isn't enough.

CLA-2A brings a muddy vocal immediately in front of the mix. Anything you feed into it, in an instant becomes clear and present. But be aware, don't feed already clear sound or sound material with a tendency to having a certain kind of harshyness (for example by hard S's or T's) into it or it will ruin the sound. Tip: Gain-stage/Lower the volume clean before this plugin; the input parameter of CLA-2A could alter the sound in a non-linear way.

CLA-3A is less aggressive and "thickens" more the sound than its sibling the CLA-2A. I use it in cases CLA-2A would be too harsh. Very good and characterful compressor on its own.

Now for my own honest opinion and as fascinated as I am about the CLA-2A and CLA-3A, as double-minded I am about the CLA-76. Despite being the most feature sibling and probably the most popular one of the bundle, the sound of it simply does not convince me 100%.

For generic appliance, I always want to use it more often and every once in a while I give it a try, but the sound isn't there for me and I choose a different compressor of my collection because of better flexibility or sound.

Bluey mode is the way I prefer, clear and present. Blacky mode makes the sounds too muddy and dark for my taste.

If you need the super-fast attack time of down to 50 microseconds(!) and you might want to use some kind of transient shaping, it can be very useful. Other compressors might produce clicks by compressing that fast, but CLA-76 is known to handle it. I like Bluey mode, with ALL or 4:1 Ratio and fast attack times for that purpose. Apply it on some drums and it really excite the sound and make it more punchy.

Also keep in mind that the input gain control can be important for the harmonic distortion and the tone you will get. It usually works best to feed the signal in rather harshly and compensate the output thereafter.

You don't have to share the same opinion about that, but that is just my feeling for it.

I highly recommend you getting them on sale (or even free with the 'purchase 1, get 1 free' sale), if you are interested to acquire a few or all of them, by the way.

Great EQ-emulation of the 1073. It can give warmth to your tracks very quickly. Many users state that it has some kind of glue effect, which I can totally agree. Even just passing the signal through the plugin without engaging the EQ or Pre-Amp/Drive sections gives a subtle difference.

M/S mode makes it also very versatile for mixing and mastering. I usually use it on the master bus.

Now Waves does not say much about the use of the plugin and how parameters work in conjunction in the corresponding manual (i.e. achieving certain tones of warmth, saturation or transparence). Which I quite found surprising for this plugin.

But I could get a little more information from tutorials, including one in which Andrew Scheps is telling how important the input gain feed into the plugin is for the harmonic distortion, as well as the concept and importance of the 'Link I/O' switch at the bottom of the faders (4:14 in the video):
https://youtu.be/az1z9ZA1CXo?t=254

Other videos I can recommend:

In-depth tutorial about the plugin: https://youtu.be/jqGsZ9rrUPY
Tips by Andrew Scheps: https://youtu.be/ujlOYqBByRw

The tool for make your sounds crispy.

The Dry/Wet mix parameter let you blend the perfect amount.

Disadvantages: Tiny interface (from the old low rez days). Audio cannot be processed while tweaking the dials. (Tip: If you use Ableton Live, Device parameter can be tweaked without audio drops).

But 5/5 for the sound.

Great spatial plugin, but it is important to understand that 'Quick Haas' actually has nothing to do with the Haas-Effect itself. Rather, it is concepted by the cognizance of its subsequent psychoacoustic results and tries to emulate the environment which led to these.

But first, let's determine a few misunderstandings from the info delivered by Venn Audio.

"The 'Haas Effect', also known as the precedence effect..."

Both are different things, although they are often equated. The 'Precedence-Effect' or 'Law of the First Wavefront' is base for the 'Haas-Effect'.

", is a psychoacoustic effect where listeners can perceive the spacial position of an audio signal depending on very small delays between the left and right channels of the audio signal."

No. The Haas-Effect has nothing to do with stereophonics in general and the spacial position, at which a listener is perceiving a sound to come from, is also not determined by the delays between left and right channel/ear (at least not covered by the Haas-Effect -> Delay stereophonics belong to a different topic).

The 'Precedence-Effect' or 'Law of the First Wavefront' portrays that if one direct sound and a single reflection (until a certain threshold delay - about 50ms) is emitted, the listener perceives the sound as single event coming from the direction of the first incoming wave.

Now Helmut Haas wrote 1949 in his dissertation "On the influence of a simple echo on the audibility of speech":

"The direct sound that first arrives at the listener determines the direction only. In this case, only one auditory event occurs. The reflection arriving with a propagation delay of Δ t > 2 ms increases the volume of the auditory event, changes the timbre and increases the impression of greater spatial expansion. Even if the following signal (reflection) has a higher level and with a propagation delay within Δ t < 35 ms arrives, the signal that arrives first alone determines the perceived direction of arrival."

Haas found out that a reflection, perceived as single event with the sound, which arrived first (the direct sound), with a delay of more than 2 ms, has the psychoacoustic effect of changing volume, timbre and spatial impression of the whole entired sound.

Exactly this change in sound is 'Quick Haas' trying to recreate as rather to recreate the Haas-Effect or the Precedence Effect per se (which is impossible).

After my tests, 'Quick Haas' is doing that by applying a delay to the opposite stereo channel, which acts as the reflection.

When I adjust for example the dial to the value "L 3.0ms" (Command: To the Left - 3.0ms), the signal of the right channel is delayed by 3 ms, recreating (almost) the same sound colorations (changes in volume, timbre, spatial impression) as perceived by the Haas-Effect.

I tested 'Quick Haas' alongside another delay plugin and the results were very close. But 'Quick Haas' still sounded a bit more spatial which seems like they might have added some further effects to make the sound wider and closer to the "Haas-Sound". But it still boils down to the concept of direct sound on one stereo channel and delayed reflection on the other.

Resume:

In an abbreviated form: The plugin delays either the right or left channel by 0,01 up to 19 ms, dependent upon whether you drag the dial to the left or right. It could use some additonal effects to the make the sound wider, but due to my tests, it doesn't alter the volume of either channel.

It is not a panning device, although it can be easily but falsely perceived as such.

Note that the input routing whether you choose Stereo, Dual Mono of Left or Right channel, or Mono mixed of L+R, can make a difference to the sound.

I hope I could help you a at least a little with the understanding about the Haas-Effect and this plugin.