D Verb CPU usage at idle?,EQ issues,Autotune,etc

[Greg K]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone can elighten me with a few PTools questions.
1. With an AUX channel running a D verb i notice the CPU usage meter increases quite a lot at idle?
2. Using Audio Suite - highlight waveform and apply eg: flanger over the section. After processing waveform decreases in height and volume on playback??? I must be doing something wrong?
3. Is it just me or is the EQ , desser, D Verb etc fairly ( trying to think of nice words ) average or even very average?????
4. Any recomended useful nice sounding plugins??? eq, compression, FX?
5. Anyone running Antares autotune3.25 and having intermittent crashes???
Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks G

[swayne]

It would be nice to see a response from DIGI about the plug ins and the shakiness of Pro Tools LE

[GothicV]

Greg, throw a dither before the dverb plugin, its a known bug that hasn't/maybe can't be fixed.

I quite like the eq, but definately could do with a few of the fancier ones (really mad that I installed a bunch of demos and can't afford any of them)

[Jon Dickinson]

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone can elighten me with a few PTools questions.
1. With an AUX channel running a D verb i notice the CPU usage meter increases quite a lot at idle?
2. Using Audio Suite - highlight waveform and apply eg: flanger over the section. After processing waveform decreases in height and volume on playback??? I must be doing something wrong?
3. Is it just me or is the EQ , desser, D Verb etc fairly ( trying to think of nice words ) average or even very average?????
4. Any recomended useful nice sounding plugins??? eq, compression, FX?
5. Anyone running Antares autotune3.25 and having intermittent crashes???
Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks G

G, my 2p worth below:

1. See earlier answer - it's the 'D-Verb Denormalisation Bug' - just put a Dither as the insert immediately before the insert with the D-Verb on it, and this will go away, trust me. 20 bit works for me.

2. Don't know, but the flanging and phasing will (intentionally) cause some phase related effects like this. I never notice any audible volume drop when using flanging as RTAS, so just turn it up.

3. Yes, they are pretty average, but there are many instances where they work fine. I prefer to think of the eq, comp etc. as utensils rather than creative stuff.

4. When I want 'vibe', I get out the more interesting plugs that add characeter - I use the T-Racks EQ quite a bit, also PSP Vintage Warmer. There's pots more out there and plenty of opinions expressed on DUC about them all, but I'd suggest you download demo versions and test them out with your own ears to find out if they pull your chain.

5. No.

[Greg K]

Thanks so much to all for your replies. I am new to how this DUC works. I have checked a few times to see if anyone responded but only stumbled on your answers searching autotune. Sorry i was not intentionally ignoreing you and thanks again for your valuable comments
Regards Greg

[xeetstreet]

It's more an issue with the processor than it is with the plugin. This problem can manifest itself with any application using numbers that are very small precise numbers. There are certain perameters set within the processor that make it especially susceptible to audio applications.

However, having said that, this problem is certainly not unnavoidable. Fixes have been made to a number of plugins to avoid this issue.

[QuikDraw]

Yeah, if we can workaround the Dverb issue by inserting a dither ahead of it, it could certainly be fixed programatically. They could program a little uncorrelated noise into the algorithm and we wouldn't need to use up the extra insert slot.

Oh well...

Mike

[L-Train Studios]

This issue came back in Pro Tools 10

[albee1952]

The old AutoTune version may just need to be updated(you never mentioned what version of Pro Tools you have). As for EQ, I have to say that the stock EQ III works very well for most tone/surgery. For top end "air", nothing matches a Pultec, so I would buy any Pultec EQ1A. If money is tight, even a used Bomb Factory Pultec bundle will do a decent job. Between BF76 and SMACK!(also available used for about $50) these 2 compressors cover a lot of ground for me(I have lots of "better" compressors, but those 2 still get a lot of use here). Dverb is my least-liked of the stock plugins(although it can work great for trashy guitar verb), so a decent reverb is always my #1 recommendation. Right now IK is offering their Classik Reverb bundle for $49(a no-brainer in my book)