jimmarchi1's Reviews
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41028
when you don't want straight DI and you don't want a sansamp
this thing is a solid as fuck solid state bass amp simulation.... very modern bass sounds on tap here that thanks to the virtual perfection don't need to be blended with a DI. Has the features of a high end G&K head so if you have a use for that sound then this will get it for you without having to setup an amp and a microphone. If you want tube bass I stillr ecommend you set up an ampeg and a microphone and blend in some DI for definition, but for solid state tones this is a great alternative to using a sans amp.
41028
a solid limiter from sony
this is a limiter in the ultramaximizer/finalizer camp (who else remembers finalizer?).... an oldie but a goodie from sony. Has its own vibe to a certain degree but all the digital brickwallers are pretty similar. It can be really useful printed hard on a mix that you fly out to its own stereo bus and bring up in parallel beneath the n-limited multitrack to split the difference and add some of the interesting oxford plugin character.... wanna get silly? try chaining it after inflater. The sony plugins have a sound that's hyper modern and yt unlike the pre-renaissance waves stuff and the McDSP stuff from the same era. I don't use them one very mix but I use them a lot. Been with the Oxford stuff since seeing them advertised in a sweetwater catalog well over a decade ago and I don't regret the expense.
41028
if you wanna fight the loudness war..
this thing will slam your tracks in a very transparent way on all but the crunchiest of mixes. Artifacts are minimal and its just going to bring up the distortion and pumping from the channels summing into it so a very clean mix will stay pretty clear, just get less dynamic.... thing is that as you keep raising the RMS level you eventually make a very fatiguing mix.... I find it to more transparent than the waves ultramaximizers and that can be an issue if you're not watching your meters because you'll overdo it without noticing. You can adjust it to be less transparent , of course, but its the invisible limiter and whywouldn't you adjust the handful ofparameters for the most transparent operation? If you want artifacts use something else. I should dock a point for its destructive power but I am too impressed with the algorithm here. It really does what it says, but like jeff goldblum says in jurassic park they were so worried about seeing if they could that they didn't stop to think about whether they SHOULD.
41028
really mean sounding filter
this is basically the filter from Mono Grizzly.... its a zero delay filter that can do high or low pass.... the input, output and clean blend knobs are genuinely useful because of the 'tube' feature that adds harmonics and eventually dirt. This is a great sounding filter plugin that leans towards the nasty moog and korg monosynth side of the spectrum.
41028
late period roland goodness
on the whole this guy gets the whole JX8P vibe down.... sluggish envelopes but thick oscillators and great LFOs, this guy is a pad and string champ! Really nails that sound where roland was still pushing the last gen of analog while Yamaha's DX line and the Emulator were trying to bury analog forever. If you want that late 80s sound for free get Dexed, Phutura and this fella and have at it. Free plugins aren't always junk.... some of them hold their own with anything available commercially and this certainly falls into that category. I use it more and more.
41028
very good oberheim plugin
I tried the free version fot his with just presets and thought the sound was totally there so I bought the big version.... I've been really happy with its vibe, however I just don't seem to use it that much. I wish someone made a good matrix/xpander. Arturia is the only option and everyone who really knows the xpander series knocks on it. I sometimes regret selling my Matrix1000 even though it was so limited compared to its big brothers :-( Well, the 2 OBX type plugins I have right now will have to do for oberheim poly sounds. At elast I have the oberheim 12dB filter on my SE1 and I can do a voice stack with my SEM if I wanna tolerate the noise.... grumble.
41028
not bad
I've used this a few times, its a 4 operator FM synth with variable waveforms in the spirit of the TX81Z, but they added a master fitler with an envelope gen as well as really advanced LFO features not present on old Yamaha hardware. The interface has a helpful graphical display of the algorithm operator routing and the knobs make it feel a lot ore intuitive than hardware FM synths. The sound? Its okay. The filter model aliases a bit at high resonance, especially when assigning cut to a wheel and sweeping.... its state variable and not all the modes are created equal. There's a passable chorus that I wish had a bittier, early digital quality like an SPX90 chorus patch, but all in all a good tool that does different things than my DX7. While I could make similar patches in sytrus, the streamlined FM4 interface makes it faster and its a lower CPU hit. This has made the cut in a couple of songs over the years for keys layers that are more 'background'.
41028
when sixth month june freeware 106 ain't cutting it....
this guy sounds a bit closer to a real 106 than the freeware elektrostudio 106.... better chorus too. Not as nice as TAL U-No, on the other hand U-No is a 60 and the 60 indeed sounds thicker and nicer than the 106 where roland did a lot of cost cutting. When the U-No is too big for a track and my MKS50 is too stiff I find this emulation to be a good mid-point. I've got really into layering up lots of different Junos with similar patches, slightly outta tune, so I might do a track that his U-No, this guy, my MKS50 and Futura all working together either in unison but detuned or spitting up big parts like a string section or choir. There's some good emulations out there for free or cheap and this is one of them and the great thing is that if you have some hardware from that family of synths you can do great things layering for enormous sounds.
41028
could be worse
this model D emulation is not as good as Volt Kitchen's 2600.... or maybe its just that I haven't touched a real 2600 in 20 years LOL. Anyway,e ven in freeware there's a fake moog I like more. I'll have to add it. But withstudio electronics SE1s trading forunder a grand used and behringer about to release a tabletop model D clone for $399 USD? why do we need plugin versions anyway? The only one that interests me is NI Monark because it ahs a poly mode and I am always wishing I could pay chords with my wildest SE1 sounds! but anyway, I wills till sue this to mock stuff up occasionally while sketching out an arrangement but the SE1 ALWAYS replaces it or layers loudly over it.
41028
very good modelled 909
This sued to be a commercial plugin but all the macsynths stuff is freeware now. A lot of the synthesizers are just okay, ut I really like the sound of their 909 simulation. Generally if I wanna do the roland house drum machine thing I use a mixture of good samples and maybe some extra kick 4on-the-floor looped for a few bars offa my dr55, but when I first got this last year I was really taken with the sound. Apart from the cymbals which, like a 909 are sample based, this guy uses a little VA synth engine to replicate the rest of the drums. The toms sound particularly nice in a cheesy 80s way. Anyway, it doesn't sound JUST like a 909 but its big in a way samples aren't before processing. Drawback is that while there's a good internal mixer and some effects including a bare bones compressor and algorithmic reverb there are NO individual outs like a real 303 so everything gets routed to a stereo bus. My work around was to set up 2 or 3 separate instances when iw ant more control but its really a waste of CPU power. Its cool to use 1 of these layered with your samples on individual channels where you treat the plugin like a pair of overheads and the samples as close mics but you need to spend a lot of time ear tuning the plugin to match the pitch and you need to pay attention to the phase of your samples by ear to prevent washiness and dissonance. Still, one of the better 909 plugins out there for capturing the vibe if not the precise sound. Its nice to be able to tweak the knobs in real time. Good luck doing that with even the nicest samples.
41028
mmmmhmmmm
I have a real hard-on for this VSTi for sound effects and just nasty shit. XILS is so fun and makes very organic and nasty sounds. It rapidly can go from intuitive to unpredictable.... in a good way.
41028
an LA-2A by any other name?
probably meant to be an LA2A but it gives you time constant controls and a hpf in the sidechain.... although it also has kinda the layout of a gates sta-level, but whatever... it sounds okay. For this sort of thing I prefer the waves lord alge simualtions.... MJUC is better too. I like a lot of the VoS plugins better that this. It doesn't give me what I want most of the time, but maybe I just haven't tried it on the right program material,
41028
on the go modular
I just got this recently but it is so fun to play around with. You can putter with her all day. She sounds pretty god through headphones too. Very moogy. On the other hand I haven't tried to use her in any real music yet.... we'll see hw that goes. I gotta say that sliding virtual cables on touchstreen feels more right than moving them with a mouse. This is a fun, fun little app.
41028
this was one of the first VST effects made by iamge line
I always thought it sounded like a blizzard of rusty nails back in the 90s (or did it come out in 2000? I forget) and it still does. its just hideous and no amount of pre or psot filtering within it or from dedicated EQ sandwiching helps. Even where its abrely distorting it has a sickening quality to it.... but when you want that this thing can work for you in FL.... and being a native GUI the CPU hit is nonexistent.
41028
an oldie thatw as never a goodie
I think this VST has beena round since the birth of VST meaning its been fucking around in computer music as long as I have (I came in with VST format).... it doesn't sound so hot, never did. Once in a blue its just right to mutate a boring sound though. Given my druther though I try anything else first, even the lowly MDA 3 band distortion freeware plugin! Quadrafuzz is as subtle as a jackhammer and not much more musical even when you decide to be conservative.
41028
too much to explain, allow me to sum up
this delay is the kinda plugin that NI excels at.... its not like ANYTHNG else.... its one of those crazy FFT effects and it creates echoes like you ain't never heard, washy and weird if you want. As crazy as this effect can get its also incredibly versatile and can really pul back or jump outta the mix... I am really big on having tons of echo sends available with different timing and character that do not or abrely hit my master buss but poundinto reverb sends at various levels and this is always a cool effect to try in that capacity. Spektral Delay is just super cool and worth the price of admission. I should really use it more and I already use it a lot. 4 stars for this special toy.
41028
kidna fun and free
a nasty digital filter and a nasty sounding waveshaper.... its very trashy sounding and not very versatile but sometimes its just what the doctor ordered. Did I mention its free?
41028
its free and it works
bare bones, one knob brick wall limiting.... I assume it has a look ahead feature because its fast as hell. When you don't wanna think, you just wanna shave off some spikes on a mic bus this is good option because of the simplicity and low CPU hit. I have recourse to this little guy every mix. If used too aggressively it has some pretty unpleasant artifacts that better limiters don't exhibit, but for peak limiting where the bulk of the program material will be unaffected why look any further
41028
cool but over the top
looking to fuck up your sounds? Trash ahs got you in spades..... all the spades in the deck and then some! I dock it 2 stars for having too many options. You can waste so much time fucking with this thing without finding the effect you're looking for. Its just too powerful. I feel like that with a lot of isotope plugins. Great sound quality, so powerful but in the end the bury you with options and slow you down. I seldom have time for them. I just wanna make music. Its also a vicious CPU hit.
41028
a single extremely versatile filter
When I just need 1 really nice sounding, versatile and clean high or low pass filter I use this now instead of the McDSP filter bank I sued to rely on. It just ports the fab filter hp and lp fitlers into a streamlined plugin. Nothing you don't need. I find it to be more crisp than the McDSP and have more fidelity than the various filters that come in FL studio. Just a great little digital audio utility to skim the scum offa your broth before you add other flavors.