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Post by mrholmes on Oct 27, 2021 3:34:31 GMT -6
Thanks for the tip on this ! - purchased. I must admit Dan's approval tipped me over / as observed, a hard man to please with the audio quality of plug ins I have avoided almost all saturation plug ins waiting for the next generation with LOTS of control (Plus PSP Saturator is a realistic price !) Anyone have a vague comparison to FF Saturn2 ?
Looking off the road, you can find a few smaller dev. Doing great saturation tools. Or just doing that preamp color you love .... it's insane what they can do in plug in today.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 26, 2021 16:58:17 GMT -6
Bought it. It’s dope. Sounds sick pushed into the red. Better than the overpriced VSM-4. Not as good in the red as Tupe or some Fuse plugs but more flexible and different. I like it better than the 2C but Tupe more than both for tubes. Tape is decent. Not as good as Satin but wah better than average and very useful if you don’t want the noise or to stick it on 2 bus This is sick. PSP is sick and super underrated. This is as sick as Infinistrip, E27, EMT 2445, Lexicon Delay, and Vintage Warmer. Looks to me like the old saturator off the mix pack II with a new GUI.... Should be no problem for you to evaluate... And yes the old saturator was dope too a little went a long way...
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 26, 2021 7:10:51 GMT -6
This is all so fucking stupid. This is a pro audio forum (in spite of what the Late Great Marten says). Does it really matter what computer somebody has? Seriously...
It does not matter which computer I use, but it does matter which decision I make for the future. To hear some opinions can help to not impulse buy something for the studio, which may is a wrong decision in the long run.
I mean, you could say the same about any other gear. Jesus does it matter to discuss pages long compression. I am pretty sure 90% of the pros think this is a waste of lifetime, and some of us are nerds....
I just can speak for myself.
The thread helped me to make a wise decision for my new M1 Mac Mini, which I will order next week.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 25, 2021 18:33:21 GMT -6
That demo makes me wonder if it's worth me paying a premium for more than 16 gig ram. I'm never above 30 tracks and minimal VI's Cheers, Ross Go for the 8 GB version I mean its 30 day money back. At the time I do research if my favorite plug ins are M1 ready, and they are not. The Idea is great when everything runs without rosetta. Heck yes with freezing I produced pretty complex mixes on my old 2.1 Mac Pro. I think you cant go wrong. I just go for the 16 version for peace of mind...
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 25, 2021 17:13:10 GMT -6
BTW I totally forgot to tell that I had my hands on an M1 8 GB on Sunday. I did some Geekbench tests for Logic X. For reference I did the same test on my Desktop Mac Pro 2.1 with 8 cores and 32 GB RAM. To use the 12 core would have been unfair... The M1 Laptop was able to handle 65 tracks the old Mac Pro about 35 tracks without stopping to work. Interesting was, that the M1 one was totally unimpressed with higher buffer sizes. It does not matters to him if I use 128 or 1024 he is always stuck in the 60s count .... But for a small laptop it was impressive how fast freezing went, and how fast I was back in the game with freeing CPU power. Could I live with that computer for making music, sure one USP is its not getting hot at all. Its lower than human body temp. The technology is impressive and it will change the way we work. Intel is snapping at their heels with a 3NM invention, which is able to handle 50 thousand more transistors. I like Apple computers but the new idea of no RAM upgrades sounds to me like an beancounter idea, to make more profit. I remember the idea to not have enough ports on the Mac Books and people had to buy adapters. Which by all means was a total image disaster for Apple. I also made the experience that Apple is not interested much in customers laws of any country. I had a case of an hidden HW bug. Apple just decided -out of the blue - that they only do the free repair 5 years long. German law is saying something very diferent about hidden defects. What if the new CPU technology leads to trouble one day. Will they handle this the same way... sorry your computer is not longer protected. Hey dudes the oldest Mac I own runs since 2006.... I'm surprised that the Mac Pro 2.1 did as well as it did for such an old machine. In apples defence a lot of the reasoning for the soldered on ram is manufacturing, size and ease. But I don't like the built in obsolescence which makes lower spec machine redundant after a few years. Along with the premium that you pay for the apple upgrades Apple devices are quality and do last a long time which is a plus I know it may is very likely that I pull the trigger on the M1 16 Mini. Alone the power bill will pay back in 4 years, here in the EU.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 25, 2021 16:22:17 GMT -6
BTW I totally forgot to tell that I had my hands on an M1 8 GB on Sunday. I did some Geekbench tests for Logic X. For reference I did the same test on my Desktop Mac Pro 2.1 with 8 cores and 32 GB RAM. To use the 12 core would have been unfair...
The M1 Laptop was able to handle 65 tracks the old Mac Pro about 35 tracks without stopping to work. Interesting was, that the M1 one was totally unimpressed with higher buffer sizes. It does not matters to him if I use 128 or 1024 he is always stuck in the 60s count .... But for a small laptop it was impressive how fast freezing went, and how fast I was back in the game with freeing CPU power.
Could I live with that computer for making music, sure one USP is its not getting hot at all. Its lower than human body temp.
The technology is impressive and it will change the way we work. Intel is snapping at their heels with a 3NM invention, which is able to handle 50 thousand more transistors.
I like Apple computers but the new idea of no RAM upgrades sounds to me like an beancounter idea, to make more profit. I remember the idea to not have enough ports on the Mac Books and people had to buy adapters. Which by all means was a total image disaster for Apple.
I also made the experience that Apple is not interested much in customers laws of any country. I had a case of an hidden HW bug. Apple just decided -out of the blue - that they only do the free repair 5 years long. German law is saying something very diferent about hidden defects.
What if the new CPU technology leads to trouble one day. Will they handle this the same way... sorry your computer is not longer protected. Hey dudes the oldest Mac I own runs since 2006....
EDIT:
This is impressive the 16 GB M1 Version...
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 25, 2021 3:15:13 GMT -6
As Dan said, the premium that Apple charge i.e.in Australia $600 to go from 16 to 32 gig of ram (do i really need it ) and 300 to up the SSD to the next level is almost a ball breaker. What happens if the SSD goes on the blink over time and is out of warranty - can it be Apple replaced ? And please leave the antsy stuff out of here guys. Cheers, Ross
Good question, which I had myself too, because I just do home recording.
There was a video on YT and the new external SSDs are just a littler less slow than the internal ones.
But I have the same feeling as you have it, it's a bummer that I can't change RAM and or SSDs myself. I still wait and don't open my wallet. Maybe I go with an M1 16 GB Mac-Mini, but I have my doubts, also with an M1Pro-MacBook.
I remember that I wanted to get a small repair on my G5 MacBook, and it was 400 bucks for a small change.
Apple repair prices are out of mind, and that's what makes me stop investing. What if the RAM breaks, and that can happen, I had it three times in 15 years. With my cheese-grater I just swap out the RAM risers, and I am done in minutes. Investment for all blocks something abut 250 bucks in Euro.
The problem Apple creates with the new line. Potential customers have more questions than answers, and the communication of Apple always have been BAD. On YT Video Producers try to give answers, but the chaos is perfect.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 24, 2021 17:51:22 GMT -6
The greatest thing about Behringer is they pretty much tell you upfront what your in for... its right on the box. I mean, ever notice that their logo is the international sign for caution? Big yellow triangle. Understood in pretty much every language across the planet. Most of the B gear is weirdly disappointing. If it's not outright just broken out of the box, or soon after first use... it ends up sounding thin or hollow or something. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, I'm always hoping there's a good one among them. Like an abused boo who just keeps coming back. Wants to believe. Hurts so good. The buys of KT and AKG are part of thier quality offense. If you go by pure technical facts… you will have a hard time to say a lot of bad things about the KT76. The lesson I learned with the new song. It doesn’t hurt to stay entirely in the box. In the end of the day it makes my life a lot easier …
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 24, 2021 15:28:31 GMT -6
Yeah, I know, Behringer is the devil's vanilla and all that. But there has to be one or two products in that line that are at least usable. I think Ragan said that too. A couple of them you could put into blind tests and get mad at yourself, etc. I was listening to some of mrholmes lead vocal tracks on his new hit single with the KT 76 and it sounded great. But it's also foolish of me to mention a product I haven't personally owned, so I am neither here nor there with this one. I did just get a KT Mic Booster which is a cheap Cloudlifter thing and it works a treat. But that is off topic to this thread, but some support for the KT label, at least for a utility product like this one. Mostly I just find the "Throw your hands in the air and scream" reaction kind of hilarious. Makes me more interested in the gear, not less. Behringer KT76.
Yeah, the thing with Behringer is it leaves a bad taste in my mouth because someone needs to suffer for a final selling price point, which is beyond DIY. Nothing against China, but the price for the KT76 still is unbelievably low. There is no way that this is a good deal for all parties in the chain. For this reason I would not buy it again...
The Sound. What heck again?
One more time it sounds like an 1176, and it's nearly no different from the Warm one.
Side note.
In my last post, I was frustrated about the PA MC77 (Plug In), but learning never stops... Today I found out the purple is much faster, and I have to lower the speed off the ATK/REL. And voilà the purple MC77 plug in now sounds very similar to both HW units.... surprise...
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 23, 2021 6:28:56 GMT -6
That's funny, just wanted to ask if someone uses the Drawmer. Yes I love the PA SPL as well sounds good to me too.
the 1978 is really good (not only „for the price“). it is very flexible and has most feature and more you could dream of - all useful: saturation, dry/wet mixknob, eq/sidechain ... it really is just laziness which leads me to work completely in the box lately ...
Hit me up in case you want to Sale it....
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 22, 2021 10:15:51 GMT -6
i have and used the drawmer 1978 on the mixbus. bit lately it got replaced by PA SPL iron and TDR kotelnikov ... it‘s simplier staying totally itb. and it sounds good, very good to me.
That's funny, just wanted to ask if someone uses the Drawmer. Yes I love the PA SPL as well sounds good to me too.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 20, 2021 16:23:03 GMT -6
I used the Molot GE more today and mh yes after my first WoW it's not my friend for lead vocals. But it likes percussion and drums a lot.
For LV it's still my HW 1176s or the SW equivalents by PA and LogicX. BTW when you set the LogiX 1176 by ear, and you ignore the stupid GR meter, toying around with the output saturation, it's very close to what I expect...
We are truly spoiled with tools....
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 20, 2021 14:22:44 GMT -6
RTFM BTW dan this video helps a lot to understand molot That's nuts. This compressor was designed exactly for someone like Dan Worrall. A true *chef's kiss* technical plugin geek, haha. I bet this plugin is top shelf over at KVR audio, those people eat this stuff up, brands like U-He as well that give you all the good things. But thank you, now I understand the diff. between alpha and sigma, which was the main thing that was escaping me. And there was a nice lesson about feed forward and feed back compression in that video, which was worth it just for that. RTFM is not bad too.....
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 20, 2021 13:10:26 GMT -6
That's true, but the GUI of Molot / GE is not very intuitive to me.
Agreed. I've watched Dan Worral's video a couple times but I'd love a PART 2 "Advanced" Video as all of the other videos/reviews on the internet are just people screwing around with controls trying to see what it can do. I love Molot and get good results but the complexity always makes me feel like I might be missing out on something. I sometimes use the compressor section of the TDR Limiter 6 GE for it's simple/straightforward interface but that plugin, even with everything else disabled, is really CPU intensive.
If you can run AUs or VSTs try some Airwindows Compressors by zero complexity no fancy GUI but with a sweet sound. They are the reason why I droped some of my hardware compressors.
Buttercomp is so sweet sounding, or Pyewacket is just great for 60s-70s sound.
Also, his take on the SSL Bus-Comp Logical4 ....soo sweet
If you like it, don't forget to support Chirs via Patreon because most of his Plug Ins are free of charge.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 20, 2021 5:56:06 GMT -6
Have you analized the slate compressors? No because I hate the sound of most of the Slate rack plugs. Thwack, thwack, thwack, and in your face pings. The sound has gotten better but the i initial early 2000s butt rock marketing and sound put me off. I love the PSP rack though. You can get some very unique lofi sounds at the touch of a button. The 60s pre sounds woody. Like how some 60s drums sound like practice pads. I love it. Inward put off by how lofi it was at first but it’s so cool and the de-esser is incredibly powerful. The way PSP laid Infinistrip out really makes you push it as a tool and it doesn’t sound bad or get that nasty. Another one that’s great is Tupe. You’ll really push it. Screw being precise. Push it hard. Same with Molot. The metering sucks intentionally. People on gearslutz whined about it but it’s still use your ears and now too fast but still just push that thing a little hard, and pull back if it’s too much or use a shelf. Sounds killer. I love using the input, makeup, saturation, and limiter (soft clipper). You really get a lot of hard to control control that does cool stuff and you’re just taming it into doing what you want to do!
That's true, but the GUI of Molot / GE is not very intuitive to me.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 19, 2021 15:54:20 GMT -6
BTW dan this video helps a lot to understand molot
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 19, 2021 14:18:38 GMT -6
That's some pretty stunning insight. I wish I was reading the same books, haha. On this punk thing I'm mixing I got a stereo track of drums. So my hands are tied with the drum sound. I used Nova GE to compress the high end, (crazy cymbal smashing,) and to upward compress (boost) mids when the snare hits and lows when the kick hits. I tried more compressors after that, including Molot GE, but it made everything too small. When you get enough dynamic EQ going on, you're sort of in compressor territory already, in this case. I ended up taking the compressors off the bass, drums, and guitar, and this material sounds a lot better. Some punk stuff like that, when you control everything, it just becomes a wall of unmoving mud. All this thickness with no dynamic to it. Just a big wide open sounding "Hmmmmmmm" with no energy. I figured out you have to make the excitement live in the high end from 1K to 10K. It's painful to mix for more than an hour or two. So I even high passed the bass guitar. The vocal has a big HF boost from MDWEQ6 and not one but two exciters, Aphex and Slate Fresh Air. Otherwise it gets lost under the shred-fest. Don't know if anyone has punk rock mixing advice but these are my small insights after fighting with it for a month or so, finally getting somewhere. I had to do less of what I usually do to mid-tempo rock stuff. Cut the fat. Let it be kind of harsh. A delicate balancing act in the treble. You have a ton of powerful tools to use itb.
Yes I just had the pleasure to use the Klanghelm DC8C3. Another ITB compressor, which can do any type of compression you want it to make. Sounded that good that the HW compressor is taken down from the LV, even though it needed 4 times OS to sound that way.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 18, 2021 14:30:23 GMT -6
I'm bringing in the big guns to this hullaballo! mrholmes tell these people that the KT 76 compressor is OK!
Sounds and behaves very similar to the WARM one. Sure, 1176 experts will find a hair that is wrong with the unit.... It's on the LV in the rough mix I did send you today....
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 16, 2021 12:17:02 GMT -6
Anyone else getting Jeff Tweedy's newsletter? I found this terrifically on point in terms of my personal singing journey: "Ed asks: Hey Jeff and Susie! I’ve wanted to ask this question forever so thanks for the chance! Jeff, how did you work on expanding your vocal range? It’s quite a bit different to listen to your vocals on AM compared to more recent releases. It seems like you keep expanding your range even higher even as you get older. And you really use that higher range effectively for conveying vulnerability. How did you start expanding your range and how do you keep that upper range as you age while other singers lose some range? It’s sort of advice-related as I struggle myself to push my vocals higher. Thanks! Jeff: Hi Ed, First of all, thank you for thinking of me as a singer with any type of vocal range. I wasn’t aware there were any of you out there. Seriously, I’m flattered. The sad truth is I have no idea why my voice has changed the way it has. I do know that I feel much more in control of what comes out of my mouth when I open it these days than I did when I was, say, 25. The only explanation I have is that I’ve grown to have a comfort and familiarity with what I sound like over the years. So when I sing today, those feelings allow me to stay focused on what I’m trying to say instead of being overly concerned with the traditional criteria of “good” singing—pitch, note duration, whatnot. So the only advice I feel strongly enough about to advocate for here would be to get comfortable with hearing yourself sing and make peace with the way your voice sounds. Then sing all the time. Actually, THAT’S the only real advice I have. Sing as loud and as often as you can, and everything else will work itself out." Having taught vocals for the last 30 years, I'm not sure I can agree with "Sing as loud as you want" Developing your middle voice (which is a turning point for freedom for most male singers) is achieved by not getting louder as your move into the middle voice. It's why CCM singers use microphones to do the work for them - yes it's good to use belt occasionally for highlight and effect but generally that's a recipe for inflamed vocal chords. The pedagogy of singing is a murky place with many statements out their that confuse younger or inexperienced singers because they're taken out of context.
That's interesting, I do the online training with Jane Edgren since two years now, exercises every day. I now can say I am getting much better control over my singing, no more scooping, from time to time I hit the wrong note, but that's OK.
I start to like my vocal work, which wasn't the case in the first 16 months.
Very late in this course, I make the experience that my practices are more effective when I sing the vowels soft.
That was a surprising experience for me.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 15, 2021 10:18:46 GMT -6
Based on title I thought this was going to be about actual mastering consoles... analog transfer desks. Not software based packages... While I'd hesitate to hang out a shingle as a true mastering engineer, reality is I've cut more then a couple three masters over the years for all kinds of indie labels & self released projects. That said my opinion on the "automated mastering" is that having tried a few over the years, they all kinda suck. Personally I can get farther ahead with a well picked EQ and limiter. Maybe saturation too if the project needs it. YMMV. The vibe I get from automated software is that they're attempting to emulate the chain of equipment & decisions that would be made by an actual mastering cat who's patched it all together with their transfer console. And I guess depending on desired expectations etc results can range from "icky" to "that's not so bad!" - but overall probably better then using Landr. Technically mastering is the last step of the creative process, but its really the first step in replication and releasing music to the world. Its technical more then creative. Best results, no matter what equipment is used tend to come when mastering is separated from mixing. Mastering is about context as much as anything else... treating a group of songs as a whole. Making sure things are uniform, balancing low end to song gaps so the music will translate to various playback mediums... from CD & vinyl to streaming that everyone has the same listening experience. For example, if your doing an EP or LP with 5-10 songs? Trying to master while mixing and/or mastering each one on its own? Probably not a great idea. But if your just putting out a single or two here & there? Throwing stuff up on soundcloud vs doing an actual release? Then I'm sure any of the "one shot mastering" programs are fine... at that point its probably a matter of taste or preferring a certain GUI. Carry on! Nailed it; You don’t hire a mastering engineer for his gear you hire them for their ears. Chances are your mix isn’t quite going to fit one of the presets their algorithm is going to pick. Mastering isn’t about big moves it’s about tiny subtle adjustments.
I take the AI-generated masters always as a suggestion, and from there, I most often, pull things back. Works for me in 90% of the cases, and it shows weak points in my mixes as well.
Sure, a human ME is the best you can do. As long my Covid income still goes down the drain, I don't even think about a mastering house.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 14, 2021 13:02:31 GMT -6
Thanks for stressing this plug in ... dan .
I had some spare time today to elaborate the TDR-Molot-GE more.
Its absolutely insane how versatile this plug in is. I can make it sound a lot like my 1176 HW, and it blows all 1176 simulations, including PA-Purple 76 and BRA-VLA-FET - out of the water. My mouth stood a while open ABing HW vs Molot GE.... even the distortions sound very similar, when the so-called "special 1176" simulations fall short.
I have no idea how they do this, but it works. I am happy because both of my HW 1176 are blocked in my latest project.
WoW...TDR...
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 14, 2021 4:00:09 GMT -6
This... jefftweedy.substack.com/p/welcome-to-starship-casualHis book was an interesting read, and he points out that he is not a genius, but he works hard. Totally worth to buy if you write songs, even if you don't write songs. He has everything it needs IQ / EQ / PQ ... Love his view of doing the thing on earth.
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 12, 2021 15:33:43 GMT -6
Uff so I was wrong... since when Neve artifacts sound bad? Sounds to me like a cheap excuse...for not doing the work......and gives me doubts about his ethics, because they claim too to model every detail....
Pushing a board that was designed to be crystal clean hard enough to clip it can very well sound quite bad.
Uff so I was wrong... since when Neve artifacts sound bad? Sounds to me like a cheap excuse...for not doing the work......and gives me doubts about his ethics, because they claim too to model every detail....
This may have been covered in this thread already but the console_N is a "neve" but it's not the classic Rupert Neve Neve (like an 8068 or the Lindell 80/Softtube British Class A in plugin form) we think of as having desirable neve artifacts. The console_N is a model of the modern, clean, Neve VXS from the late 90's/ early 2000's www.mediaandmarketing.com/13Writer/Reviews/MIX.AMS-Neve_VX-VXS.html
THX for clearing this....
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 12, 2021 12:21:32 GMT -6
Haven't used it in ages, but I like it. It's got kind of a big round sound to my ears. Good for rock material. I thought the UAD Neve 88RS had a better compressor, but Console N was better in most other ways, the EQ and so on, the tone. Some people have said the THD algorithm is the same in several of these bx consoles. I wonder if dan might know. Whatever it is, it sounds pretty good. I've gravitated more to the SSL 4000 E as a general reach, I guess. Kind of a bog standard sound that works for me. Use it a lot in my drum template. If I ever end up owning the Lindell 50 (API console), that one is likely going to end up on a lot of drum bus tracks. Used it on a few Superior Drummer sounds and it took me somewhere. Dirk has a response on GS which confirms that the saturation/THD algo from the SSL consoles was retrofitted onto the N because 1. it wasn’t originally modeled with the saturation, and 2. Dirk claims that the distortion on the original desk was not very good to begin with. I don’t know if that’s the case for later BX Consoles.
Uff so I was wrong... since when Neve artifacts sound bad? Sounds to me like a cheap excuse...for not doing the work......and gives me doubts about his ethics, because they claim too to model every detail....
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Post by mrholmes on Oct 12, 2021 8:07:52 GMT -6
Svart is the 1176 still one of the fastest compressors? My impression is it's almost fast on every setting....
Not speaking for svart , but the blue-stripe is the fastest I've ever encountered, it grabs without destroying the dynamic of the program material. Did you know the audioscape 76a is even faster than the original, but just like the original, you can slow it down considerably. If the initial clamp is ever an issue, have a snare hit or something spiky at 1 measure before your material rolls to start the 76 working before it rolls on. It's an old technique that used to work wonders back in the day. Especially useful during mixing.
Interesting. I always wondered why some transients were missed out by bot of my 1176 HW as well as both 1176 Plugs...
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