Softube AAX plug ins seem to have a massive sale on

[PatriotsBiker]

Originally Posted by musicman691

The NI Passive is Softube's emulation of the Manley Massive Passive hardware eq and there's nothing like it in Softube's lineup. To compare the Passive to anything in the regular Softube line isn't a valid comparison. All it would give you is a feel for how Softube does it's programming and ease of use, nothing to do with sound as such.

In this day and age, one could easily imagine a company slapping a coat of paint, some lip-stick and change a bit of the audio and call the two efforts completely different. Hence, my early skepticism. I was very pleased to hear, to the best of my abilities, that these two units are indeed different. Quite refreshing, actually.

In other words, from my vantage point, it's just as you say. Kudos to softube!

@WorldStudios: I'm not sure. I have to admit that testing these things so many times on different tracks and mixes has got my info in a hazy state this morning. I've been planning on doing some experimenting today. Remembering everything will be the biggest challenge.

[PatriotsBiker]

I did a whole morning of testing various single tracks, a drum mix and an entire song mix bus.

Harshness: Both the T-Tech and the Summit excelled and giving me tone I wanted in certain frequency ranges without killing my ear. On a personal note, this is a HUGE deal for me. Yes, I could get harsh, but it was not default for the frequency range(s). (1k thru 3K, roughly)

Color: The Summit has that saturation knob. It also is musical as you push some of the EQ frequencies gain up a bit and again with the compressor output gain. Both units can be warm, airy, bright, dark, boomy, soft and can be pushed with good results.

Quickness: Summit was the winner for me.

flexibility: T-Tech on the compressor, if only for the attack and release knobs instead of switches. Summit on the EQ side, but I still have some growing pains to go through with the T-Tech. The separate HP and LP filters help, too.

I could not begin to say which is better and which is worse. I say at these prices, get them both.

I could not begin to say which sounds better or worse. I'd be willing to bet that a professional could say that one does something incredibly well, but the other does it maybe 90% as good. and of course, visa-versa. I'm not there yet.

A little extra:
How did the Avid Channel Strip hold up to these? The low-CPU-impact, do everything work-horse? Surprisingly well. I was able to dial in settings close to where I got to with the ST strips, and then adjust a bit more. It was like one of those situations where it got you 80-90% there in most cases. There were a couple of tests that I was quite surprised that it was even in the same ball-park on. Not bad for free. They have cause to be proud as they were on another thread a month or so ago.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by PatriotsBiker

I did a whole morning of testing various single tracks, a drum mix and an entire song mix

A little extra:
How did the Avid Channel Strip hold up to these? The low-CPU-impact, do everything work-horse? Surprisingly well. I was able to dial in settings close to where I got to with the ST strips, and then adjust a bit more. It was like one of those situations where it got you 80-90% there in most cases. There were a couple of tests that I was quite surprised that it was even in the same ball-park on. Not bad for free. They have cause to be proud as they were on another thread a month or so ago.

Hey PatriotBiker Guy ;-)

A Big Thanks for that test and the whole post aswell. Really interesting regarding the
"Avid stock PI" but I just have to ask you guys,

Whenever I see members assosiate the Avid Plugins to be "free" we need to remember that they are a big reason the Pro Tools DAW has an estimated $2000-2500 resell price tag and those VI's and PI's we see as free are a huge reason that PT is the most expensive DAW in todays marketplace hence they Should stack up atleast somewhat to the 3rd party Plugins we pay hugely for and most of us never even look twice at these expensive Avid stock PI's and jump straight onto the new shiny expensive 3rd party ones so by posting this test made me wanna test out a few stock PI's to see if I have missed anything and just buying for the sake of buying

Just a thought, Not at all any criticism to you or anyone else, just a thought

[PatriotsBiker]

Good observations. Good points about the "stock" stigma. "If it's stock, it's bad" type of thing. It might be the case some of the time, but not all the time.

To that end, I didn't know what I had with the stock Channel Strip. I started a thread about a month or so ago asking about the quality of the Avid Channel Strip. I got back mostly positive comments, but a few not so kind. It's expected. Different strokes for different folks.

I also like the stock 76 compressor and the EQIII.

I either have not come to grips on how best to use expander-gate-limiters or the ones I've tried are horrible. I'm old enough to know that it's probably more a case of user error. I might test-drive the limiter Pro at some point. I would like to do some clean up on the occasional track.

I've gotten good results on several of the Maxim. Just a touch makes it work just right. I'm sure I'm under utilizing it.

Why all the third party? Different sonic flavors? Different capabilities? Different is better mentality? I dunno. I do like some of the sonic flavors I've gotten so far with the various ST plugs. I probably need to try some others at some point, but I think I'm covered for a while.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by PatriotsBiker

Good observations. Good points about the "stock" stigma. "If it's stock, it's bad" type of thing. It might be the case some of the time, but not all the time.

To that end, I didn't know what I had with the stock Channel Strip. I started a thread about a month or so ago asking about the quality of the Avid Channel Strip. I got back mostly positive comments, but a few not so kind. It's expected. Different strokes for different folks.

I also like the stock 76 compressor and the EQIII.

I either have not come to grips on how best to use expander-gate-limiters or the ones I've tried are horrible. I'm old enough to know that it's probably more a case of user error. I might test-drive the limiter Pro at some point. I would like to do some clean up on the occasional track.

I've gotten good results on several of the Maxim. Just a touch makes it work just right. I'm sure I'm under utilizing it.

Why all the third party? Different sonic flavors? Different capabilities? Different is better mentality? I dunno. I do like some of the sonic flavors I've gotten so far with the various ST plugs. I probably need to try some others at some point, but I think I'm covered for a while.

My favorite thing about the "stock" channel strip is the speed at which you can get the compressor going and some quick eq dialed in. Literally seconds and I think it sounds pretty darn good. My favorite the last few months has been the metric halo channel strip. It is SO versatile and sounds killer!! But it takes me far longer to dial in than the Avid. But I feel I can get a smoother compressor on the metric halo. Think they said it is also PT 11 ready. The softtube tubetech cl1b though is my all time favorite software compressor.

[WorldStudios]

My days are spent chasing that extra 10-5 percent in a mix, a master, a take etc. So, I care enormously about the little extra a certain plugin can bring to the table. I have a lot of outboard, because they always and instantly bring those extra few percent to my sounds.

I compared the stock strip to the metric halo one. The mh one is easily those ten percent better. Mh cs was one of the first ever third party plugin for protools known to man. They know their [bleep][bleep][bleep][bleep]. It is just more "there" than the avid one. But a complicated interface, I agree. Made up for in some degree by loads of useful presets.

[PatriotsBiker]

Is the MH a CPU friendly unit that can be used on dozens of audio tracks in a regular PT-10 session (meaning not HD) without killing it?

I think I've got what I want for mix bus strips and of course the individual components as needed. I think I want a tame work-horse strip like the stock CS to have a choice of. I'm hoping to develop an understanding to the point of knowing that using brand-X will tame my highs while brand-Y will bring the bottom end out. Other things, too, like perhaps one is warmer while the other is livelier or what-have-you.

Having said that, it's become clear the past few days from applying settings derived by using different brands to my Avid CS that user-error is still a major problem for me. To be quite frank, moving the EQ around from where it was to where it best "matched" what I got in ST seemed absolutely random. Hence, knowledge short-coming. But that's just part of the learning game, and I'm old enough to accept it and go forward. Well, mostly side-ways.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by PatriotsBiker

Is the MH a CPU friendly unit that can be used on dozens of audio tracks in a regular PT-10 session (meaning not HD) without killing it?

I think I've got what I want for mix bus strips and of course the individual components as needed. I think I want a tame work-horse strip like the stock CS to have a choice of. I'm hoping to develop an understanding to the point of knowing that using brand-X will tame my highs while brand-Y will bring the bottom end out. Other things, too, like perhaps one is warmer while the other is livelier or what-have-you.

Having said that, it's become clear the past few days from applying settings derived by using different brands to my Avid CS that user-error is still a major problem for me. To be quite frank, moving the EQ around from where it was to where it best "matched" what I got in ST seemed absolutely random. Hence, knowledge short-coming. But that's just part of the learning game, and I'm old enough to accept it and go forward. Well, mostly side-ways.

Metric halo is quite efficient and has been very stable for me.

IMO, learning HOW to manipulate eq and compression (limiting as well) to get what your after and then learning how to apply color is much more beneficial as you can learn to make any eq or comp do what you want for the most part. It will make learning the characteristics of plugins much easier and use them to their fullest.

[PatriotsBiker]

A follow up.

First the good.

I used my new Summit Audio Grand Channel on the latest song I did. My small band of feedback and bounce listeners both had the same praise. "It sounded like a professional song." It doesn't get much than this as far as I'm concerned.

Second, the not so good.

Pro Tools Expert is reporting that Avid has released a statement regarding Softube availability, stating "they will not be ready until shortly after the release of Pro Tools 11".

[Neil Pickles]

Here's my first follow up.

1/ I've had a lot less time to play with the collection than I would have liked so far (just not got the time)I've still got some time left on my demo though so hopefully I'll fix that.

2/ What little time I have had I've been surprised at an EQ more than anything. I've got a loads of Pultec clones etc and though Softubes Tubetech are excellent I'm just not in the market......but the Trident EQ is actually something a bit different. Really pleasantly surprised with it's bite on Snare and electric guitars. If your looking for something vintage and not a pultec give it a go.

Looking forward to trying it all out more before my demo expires.