Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

noticed something about plugins

  • 18-03-2010 4:51pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,655 ✭✭✭


    ive demod aload of great plugins in the last year , and ive noticed that some

    ( WAVES )
    sound edgy - and a little cold - but still nice - but seem to make the sound 2d or " flat "


    others ( sonnox - softube ) - sound warm - and keep or add a 3d element which is great .


    is this normal ?


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,892 ✭✭✭madtheory


    Well, you're hearing something so there must be a difference. Could be lots of things- truncation, type of dither, resampling, harmonic distortion. Be thankful that you can hear this stuff :) We have some Waves and Sonnox at work but I haven't A/B'd them. There's never time :(

    If you're curious:
    1. Put a bitscope on the output to check bit depth (soundhack do one, RTAS so only 32 bit fp, not 48 bit).
    2.Then a spectrum analyzer and a good level meter to see if there's dither, and what type it is (Waves PAZ would be OK to start with).
    3. Put a sin wave and a square through, check output on analyzer and draw conclusions from the distortion and harmonics added (if any).


  • Site Banned Posts: 4,415 ✭✭✭MilanPan!c


    I would say this, if you don't wanna go to all that trouble or if your not sure you could even realistically inperpret the results of the above tests - plugins work differently an produce different results, even when you set them the same.

    Find ones that sound the best to you and stick with them until you sound ones tht sound better.

    To me, that's a better reckoning then testing bit rate etc., though of course there's nothing wring with that.

    Compressors, and there's hundreds of different makes and models, all seem to be a bit different.

    Those AR compressors are very musical but nut exactly precise.

    The meldya ones seem to be able to compresses a but harder without the horrible overcompressed sucking sound that I always get from Cakewalk compressors.

    I use different plugins for different instruments and then different ones gain for busses, etc.

    No magic bullets unfortunately.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 266 ✭✭bytey


    madtheory wrote: »
    Well, you're hearing something so there must be a difference. Could be lots of things- truncation, type of dither, resampling, harmonic distortion. Be thankful that you can hear this stuff :) We have some Waves and Sonnox at work but I haven't A/B'd them. There's never time :(

    If you're curious:
    1. Put a bitscope on the output to check bit depth (soundhack do one, RTAS so only 32 bit fp, not 48 bit).
    2.Then a spectrum analyzer and a good level meter to see if there's dither, and what type it is (Waves PAZ would be OK to start with).
    3. Put a sin wave and a square through, check output on analyzer and draw conclusions from the distortion and harmonics added (if any).


    hmmm, i think will pass ;):D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,655 ✭✭✭i57dwun4yb1pt8


    madtheory wrote: »
    Well, you're hearing something so there must be a difference. Could be lots of things- truncation, type of dither, resampling, harmonic distortion. Be thankful that you can hear this stuff :) We have some Waves and Sonnox at work but I haven't A/B'd them. There's never time :(

    If you're curious:
    1. Put a bitscope on the output to check bit depth (soundhack do one, RTAS so only 32 bit fp, not 48 bit).
    2.Then a spectrum analyzer and a good level meter to see if there's dither, and what type it is (Waves PAZ would be OK to start with).
    3. Put a sin wave and a square through, check output on analyzer and draw conclusions from the distortion and harmonics added (if any).

    jesus - i might have to clone myself to do that for me :pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,892 ✭✭✭madtheory


    DaDumTish wrote: »
    jesus - i might have to clone myself to do that for me :pac:
    LOL! I don't know of any plugins that don't put out the right numbers these days so it's probably a total waste of time. Caveat- there was that version of Pro Tools where the left out dither on the mixer. Hence the whole analogue summing lark.

    Actually, it would be more fun and more useful to set up a blind AB test- sometimes we hear a difference because the plugin looks good, or has nice metering, etc. Visual bias, for want of a more accurate term. (Been discussing this crap on other forums).


  • Advertisement
  • Site Banned Posts: 4,415 ✭✭✭MilanPan!c


    madtheory wrote: »
    LOL! I don't know of any plugins that don't put out the right numbers these days so it's probably a total waste of time. Caveat- there was that version of Pro Tools where the left out dither on the mixer. Hence the whole analogue summing lark.

    Actually, it would be more fun and more useful to set up a blind AB test- sometimes we hear a difference because the plugin looks good, or has nice metering, etc. Visual bias, for want of a more accurate term. (Been discussing this crap on other forums).

    I really honestly think many plugins do sound different, even when the settings are EXACTLY the same.

    Could be bias, I guess. But I've noticed the same thing happening time and time again.

    And some plugins are just crap at doing their job.


Advertisement