Upmix test

[jbelliston]

Hi all,

I have been trying to find a good upmix plugin, but the one getting great reviews and that a lot of people are recommending doesn't sound that good to me. So I thought I would put it up for debate here. This link has two short samples of a drum break that has been upmixed with two different plugins. I'm just curious which one the community thinks sounds better. You will need to bring them into pro tools and listen in 5.1 to hear it properly. Both of these have been set to the default setting of the plugin. I'll be happy to share which plugins I used after a few replies if anyone is interested (or better yet, try to guess).

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7dyeorcie...7461I4JF4xhLMa

[TomBoykin]

Sample 1 sounds the best. It more closely matches what I'm used to hearing from Perc tracks on a dub stage.

[mgoorevich]

Sample 2 to my ears is the best. I would decrease the LFE however in it.
Sample 1 has phasing issues in rears.

And here is Sample 3 I made it from your original stereo file.

[laki]

Between Option 1 and Option 2, I prefer Option 1 (phasing issues aside).

However Option 3 Sounds most like the original in 5.1, so overall Option 3 gets my vote.

[jbelliston]

Thanks for the responses guys! I like option 1 as well. Option 2 seems to add some "mud" and kill the clarity and definition especially on percussive spots like this. Option 1 does have some interesting phase things going on in the rears but overall I think it sounds better.
Option 3 that Michael did sounds great as well. A little too much low end for me but no phase issues and keeps the clarity! What did you use on that?
Option 1 was upmixed with TC Electronic Unwrap (No AAX! Aarrrghh) and option 2 was the Penteo 4Pro.

[bad jitter]

The great thing about Penteo is that it doesn't add any reverb / ambience of its own, it just upmixes. I have used it to upmix some sound fx with Exponential Audio R2 Surround Reverb with great results. I like to pick up my favorite reverb, if I need one during the upmix process, not to be forced to use any built-in preset reverb of any upmix plug-in.

[jbelliston]

Do you notice any unwanted artifacts with Penteo? Specifically on fast transient attacks? It seems to me that Penteo works great for classical type music but for anything pop or percussive, it reduces a lot of the definition and energy.

[mgoorevich]

And the option 3 was upmixed with Anymix Pro AAX. I used my personal default preset for music upmixing.
Yes, I agree the Lfe could be dialed down a bit for this kind of music.

[Peter Cole]

Here's one more sample for your tests. No LFe. I picked the first preset and hit go.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bbt7tlgxx0...le%204_OH_.wav

[mgoorevich]

Originally Posted by Peter Cole

Here's one more sample for your tests. No LFe. I picked the first preset and hit go.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bbt7tlgxx0...le%204_OH_.wav

Not bad at all for that kind of music. But sounds to me like UM226 with reverb added in rears. Don't tell me now it was an Auromatic one
And here is the Sample #5