Old 03-11-2018, 04:33 AM   #1
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default Your favorite Airwindows fx

What's your favorite Airwindows plugins?
And how do you use them?
How do you find them compared to other vendors?

Thanks!
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2018, 04:35 AM   #2
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default

IronOxide and buss/console
caught my attention.
But, workflow seems a little hard for adjusting many instances,
and the bus/console felt rather subtle.
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2018, 09:27 AM   #3
Swamp Ape
Human being with feelings
 
Swamp Ape's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Asheville NC
Posts: 1,335
Default

Fathom Five is great for thin or too-digital material.
The console plugs are all nice (haven't tried 5 yet).
I like Hombre and Guitar Conditioner for tone.
And he's got several nice Dither plugins to choose from.
Swamp Ape is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2018, 12:26 PM   #4
morfi
Human being with feelings
 
morfi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: BUENOS AIRES
Posts: 125
Default

Airwindows has got some of the best algorithms out there.

My main concern as an Airwindows user is dodge the craziness in their concepts and design and figure out which plug-ins I'm really going to use and which ones are just insanity made code. When you look at Airwindows sound and developing politics (no GUI, no latency, no CPU, no copy proyection, no costs - supported only by Patreon) (open code for everything, native Linux builds, no manuals, just a crazy video, no marketing) there's no doubt Airwindows is the work of a GENIUS.

Back to the subject, these are the ones I use everyday:
Channel4
Density
ClipOnly
Lowpass/Highpass (the best-sounding LPF/HPF out of every EQ I've tried in my life)
NotJustAnotherCD/Dither

To name a few...
__________________
TITANIO
BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
www.titanioesarte.com.ar
morfi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2018, 02:10 AM   #5
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by morfi View Post
My main concern as an Airwindows user is dodge the craziness in their concepts and design and figure out which plug-ins I'm really going to use and which ones are just insanity made code.
Yes, that's why I asked you here

Quote:
When you look at Airwindows sound and developing politics (no GUI, no latency, no CPU, no copy proyection, no costs - supported only by Patreon) (open code for everything, native Linux builds, no manuals, just a crazy video, no marketing) there's no doubt Airwindows is the work of a GENIUS.

Back to the subject, these are the ones I use everyday:
Channel4
Density
ClipOnly
Lowpass/Highpass (the best-sounding LPF/HPF out of every EQ I've tried in my life)
NotJustAnotherCD/Dither

To name a few...
The Channel plugins are all subtle and hard to use compared with eg. slate or other console-makers.

Quote:
Lowpass/Highpass (the best-sounding LPF/HPF out of every EQ I've tried in my life)
Yes, this got my attention

Thanks!

Hard to grasp many of the plugins, and lack of sensibel GUI doesn't help.
But, I see myself using more of these in the comings.
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 12:30 PM   #6
dub tree
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 308
Default

I personally love IronOxide, ToTape, and HardVacuum (think of it as "ToTube"). These handle 95% of my saturation needs nowadays. I've gotten some delightfully dirty drums, smashing the snare with IronOxide and putting some ToTape on the overheads. HermePass is a great little highpass filter too, elegant in its simplicity.

I haven't messed with the snake oil stuff like the various consoles or dithers, but i'm certainly much more of a musician and not so much an audio engineer. Regarding the consoles, I can't hear even the slightest difference in the demo videos or in my own brief experimentation. I'm probably not the intended audience for those.
dub tree is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2018, 01:46 AM   #7
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
Fathom Five is great for thin or too-digital material.
Strange plugin. Some sub-enhancer?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
Guitar Conditioner for tone.
Nice. I guess it's more than a eq.
Ok, a tubescreamer says the maker

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
Hombre
Strange one. Tried modulating the voicing
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp

Last edited by G-Sun; 03-13-2018 at 01:59 AM.
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 12:50 PM   #8
Judders
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 11,044
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Sun View Post
IronOxide and buss/console
caught my attention.
But, workflow seems a little hard for adjusting many instances,
and the bus/console felt rather subtle.
Without post-fader inserts, console is a bit of a nightmare.

I haven't used the latest version, but a few years ago when I experimented with it I was surprised how much came through a null test. Remember that the more tracks you have, and the more you pan them, the more noticeable the effect.
Judders is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 02:05 PM   #9
JamesPeters
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Near a big lake
Posts: 3,943
Default

I feel some Airwindows plugins are "the emperor's new clothes". I don't hear anything when using them. Not that they don't do anything, but maybe for how I mix (and my source material, number of tracks, how I highpass/lowpass the tracks) I'm just not getting any benefit from them. Console is one of these. Granted he's made different versions since then with other things rolled into it, but I'd rather just use those things separately without Console.

His comparisons in the Youtube videos A/Bing with/without an effect can be poor since he doesn't set up a loop in advance (it seems he's only figured this out recently lol), he takes too long to switch back and forth for A/B, he sometimes talks over it, and sometimes (like with that "aaaaaaaaa!!!!" singing multitrack) the sound changes too much from the start of the file to the end so switching a plugin on/off in the middle doesn't really help hear what the plugin is doing. I recommend you try the plugins for yourself. Some, you probably won't find a use for, some you'll find are just a bit too wacky, and some you'll probably really like.

Also: some of the plugins generate significant signal around 10Hz. With a sine wave before it and a frequency spectrum analyzer afterward, you can see this (and it's not too far below the test signal level). So beware. Test the plugins to see if they do this, and be prepared to use a "DC remover" plugin (there's one included in Reaper as a JS plugin). Or deal with the fact the extra inaudible information in that frequency region might mess up your headroom, trigger compressors when you don't want, etc. I posted about this on one of his videos and in the comments for his latest plugin but he hasn't responded. Here are the plugins that I noticed have this behavior:

Hard Vacuum
FathomFive
PurestWarm
Density
NC-17 (but a lot lower in level)
ToTape5 (when the sine sweep hits around 3KHz)

I don't have all his plugins installed so I didn't test all of them. Also some of them like Point (and some of the noise-thingies), I just uninstalled immediately because they're too nuts for me.

That being said, here are some Airwindows plugins I think are very useful:

Highpass (basically a dynamic highpass that's really unobtrusive, very useful)
Lowpass (a kind of lowpass filter which helps keep high-end detail)
MidSide/EdIsDim (very low-cpu plugins for mid-side encoding/decoding)
Acceleration (dynamic high-end "warmer" similar to how vinyl's high end sounds)
Slew2 (smearing of high frequencies)
EveryTrim (trim for L, R, Mid, Side, Master)

Pressure4
Pyewacket (this and the above are interestingly different compressors and/or transient shapers)

FromTape
IronOxide5
BussColors4
Channel4 (These 4 are to emulate characteristics of some hardware in a pure/general sense)

What I like about a lot of these is that they're so simple as to be considered "modular" in a track chain. Once you've used Lowpass for instance you'll realize its value in being "its own thing", and you'll reach for it for specific things. Likewise I appreciate Acceleration to emulate the high-end treatment "of vinyl" but without the other limitations of a "vinyl emulator".

Then consider how you can use "clean compressor" (maybe with frequency range splitters/joiners) combined with some of these "character plugins" to emulate the aspects of a hardware "character compressor" you want, but without any characteristics you might not want...at a much lower CPU cost than some compressor plugins that emulate hardware.

Yeah I should mention: most of his plugins are very low in CPU usage and introduce no latency, with a few exceptions.
JamesPeters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 02:42 PM   #10
dub tree
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 308
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesPeters View Post


Also: some of the plugins generate significant signal around 10Hz. With a sine wave before it and a frequency spectrum analyzer afterward, you can see this (and it's not too far below the test signal level). So beware. Test the plugins to see if they do this, and be prepared to use a "DC remover" plugin (there's one included in Reaper as a JS plugin). Or deal with the fact the extra inaudible information in that frequency region might mess up your headroom, trigger compressors when you don't want, etc. I posted about this on one of his videos and in the comments for his latest plugin but he hasn't responded. Here are the plugins that I noticed have this behavior:
I'd be interested to know if this happens when using actual real-world signals, and not just when testing with pure sine waves. I think a lot of the responses of his plugins are quite program-dependent, and your analysis might be skewed because of the nature of the method used.
dub tree is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 03:59 PM   #11
JamesPeters
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Near a big lake
Posts: 3,943
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dub tree View Post
I'd be interested to know if this happens when using actual real-world signals, and not just when testing with pure sine waves. I think a lot of the responses of his plugins are quite program-dependent, and your analysis might be skewed because of the nature of the method used.
My method is common for testing this sort of thing. A sine sweep with normal settings of the plugin is a reasonable way to know if this can affect the audio you pass through it, at least in some ways. Keep in mind this is a sine sweep, going across the frequency range. I'm not slamming it with a square wave at 30Hz for instance. If you still see that information in the 10Hz range when the sweep has passed 300Hz (for instance), you might want to take notice.

It doesn't mean you will have a problem with these plugins. It means you may have a problem with these plugins depending on how you use them. I avoid plugins that do this because I've had problems in the past due to this sort of thing. Instead of trying to remember "do I need to use a DC filter" I'd rather just not have the plugin in my list. There's always another plugin which can do a similar job if not identical. That's how I roll. I'm not recommending you do the same thing, but just a bit of a warning.

PS. I just tested Hard Vacuum with a full mix. With Drive, Warmth and Aura controls all centered, the 10Hz information appeared and it was about -20dB below the largest peak. This happens with "normal audio" as suspected.

Last edited by JamesPeters; 03-15-2018 at 04:07 PM.
JamesPeters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-15-2018, 06:11 PM   #12
Swamp Ape
Human being with feelings
 
Swamp Ape's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Asheville NC
Posts: 1,335
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesPeters View Post
His comparisons in the Youtube videos A/Bing with/without an effect can be poor since he doesn't set up a loop in advance (it seems he's only figured this out recently lol), he takes too long to switch back and forth for A/B, he sometimes talks over it, and sometimes (like with that "aaaaaaaaa!!!!" singing multitrack) the sound changes too much from the start of the file to the end so switching a plugin on/off in the middle doesn't really help hear what the plugin is doing.
I agree with all of this - he is his own worst salesman. Unhelpful examples, rambling 20 min. videos, inscrutable jargon, bizarre musical choices...I think if he took more time planning instead of just winging it with the same two or three songs over and over, he could attract a lot more users.
Swamp Ape is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-16-2018, 01:08 AM   #13
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
I agree with all of this - he is his own worst salesman. Unhelpful examples, rambling 20 min. videos, inscrutable jargon, bizarre musical choices...I think if he took more time planning instead of just winging it with the same two or three songs over and over, he could attract a lot more users.
Chris says he has autism, and his plugins, user-interfaces, videos, support etc. may be better understood in this context.
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-23-2018, 02:58 PM   #14
Spacemen Tree
Human being with feelings
 
Spacemen Tree's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 515
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamp Ape View Post
I agree with all of this - he is his own worst salesman. Unhelpful examples, rambling 20 min. videos, inscrutable jargon, bizarre musical choices...I think if he took more time planning instead of just winging it with the same two or three songs over and over, he could attract a lot more users.
While I agree with the above, and haven't bothered with his console plugins and all, his tremolo is at the top of my list when it comes to software tremolos. I just love it. Haven't used anything else. It's just awesome.
__________________
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music", Aldous Huxley
Spacemen Tree is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-07-2018, 11:18 PM   #15
Dex
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 518
Default

I discovered Chris's work maybe 6 months ago and became one of his patreon supporters. I haven't delved into all of the plugins he's released so far but I'm getting a lot of mileage out of

Console4
ToTape
TapeDust
IronOxide

Console and ToTape are subtle, but if you set up a whole mix using them and set up a hotkey to toggle them all with one keystroke you'll likely hear a large difference. I know I did. Yes it's a pain to use Console in Reaper but imo it's totally worth it.
Dex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-15-2018, 10:01 AM   #16
RCJacH
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Beijing, China
Posts: 215
Default

Thanks to Chris I'm running 400+ plugins on a daily basis.

Just want to mention that ElectroHat is great at getting rid of machine-gun effect on sampled electronic drums, be it kicks, snares, HHs, or cymbals. Haven't got time to test it on acoustic samples yet, but I believe it should work as well with low dry/wet percentage.
RCJacH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-15-2018, 10:13 AM   #17
morfi
Human being with feelings
 
morfi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: BUENOS AIRES
Posts: 125
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by RCJacH View Post
Thanks to Chris I'm running 400+ plugins on a daily basis.

Just want to mention that ElectroHat is great at getting rid of machine-gun effect on sampled electronic drums, be it kicks, snares, HHs, or cymbals. Haven't got time to test it on acoustic samples yet, but I believe it should work as well with low dry/wet percentage.

Really? Would you mind sharing how you are using it?

I've always found that ElectroHat was the craziest plug-in he's come up with and hence the useless.

Not to talk bad things about Chris, he is a GENIUS and his plug-ins rock but as a GENIUS he also puts out stuff that's crazy and not very handy in the studio. I've always felt that Desk, PowerSag, GuitarConditioner as well as ElectroHat are kinda doing nothing worthy at all or doing nothing any other plug-in can achieve.

This is all of course in my most humble opinion and it may be me the one not knowing how to use those properly =)
__________________
TITANIO
BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
www.titanioesarte.com.ar

Last edited by morfi; 04-15-2018 at 10:24 AM.
morfi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-15-2018, 01:17 PM   #18
Dex
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 518
Default

I would guess they're just layering it with the samples.
Dex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-16-2018, 02:47 AM   #19
RCJacH
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Beijing, China
Posts: 215
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by morfi View Post
Really? Would you mind sharing how you are using it?

I've always found that ElectroHat was the craziest plug-in he's come up with and hence the useless.

Not to talk bad things about Chris, he is a GENIUS and his plug-ins rock but as a GENIUS he also puts out stuff that's crazy and not very handy in the studio. I've always felt that Desk, PowerSag, GuitarConditioner as well as ElectroHat are kinda doing nothing worthy at all or doing nothing any other plug-in can achieve.
For ElectroHat, it's basically a plugin that adds sizzles, much like any dynamic noise generator, like the one I made here: https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=186812

The difference between ElectroHat and white/pink/brown noise is that ElectroHat has a very distinctive noise profile, edgier than common white noise, and I find it somewhat similar to the noise type of physical impact on some sort of membrane (in recorded samples). Thus I think this plugin is not as fitting for generating a HH sound, but maybe more for adding the impact component to an existing sound.

With this mindset, I use ElectroHat to layer with existing sample(s) as a specific type of distortion. Currently I only use Electro Mode, and haven't figured out applications for other modes. From my understanding of the source code it seems that 606/808/909 Mode has fixed trim, and that's the only difference. I would adjust **Bright** first, so the generated sound would first match the application. For example, if I want to distort a snare, I would pull **Bright** to 0, in comparison of around 0.8 or something for HH and Crash. Then adjust **Trim** very carefully as it is an unpredictable parameter, but it may land on a very nice tone when you get to a specific value, and losing it by just changing 0.001 or something. Then use **Dry/Wet** to blend, normally around 0.4 or less, and use **Output** to fine tune the volume.

One thing to keep in mind is that not all sound sources may have the fitting length or dynamic for triggering noise - the Roland 808 snare is a short gliding sine with a longer noise oscillator - thus we may need to alter the input signal before it triggers ElectroHat. We can use gate/compressor to reduce length and dynamic, but if we want to increase the triggering length, we need something else. The RCNoiseBuzz JSFX that I linked above is one method to increase triggering length, basically using ElectroHat to color noise so it doesn't...sound like normal noise...The other method to lengthen a sample is to use reverb, and I find the new NonLinearSpace very fitting for the job since the artifact from it is replaced by ElectroHat. The settings for NonLinearSpace in the context usually involves setting **Liveness** to 0, reducing **Bass** and **Dry/Wet** to near 0, then adjust **Treble** to taste.



The **Desk** series, which I rarely use, apparently does its job only when signal surpasses 0dBFS, and since I use Console system, this series only works with bitshiftgain applied before and after desk...such a hazzle that I rarely bother with.
**PowerSag** may work well for designing amp systems, but...most studio rarely have such need. May work well with software synths to add a taste of analog circuit.
**GuitarConditioner** I use it after gate for each track of non-ultra-clean Electric Guitar that I have to record.
RCJacH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-16-2018, 07:11 AM   #20
morfi
Human being with feelings
 
morfi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: BUENOS AIRES
Posts: 125
Default

@RCJacH thank you so much for your very detailed and in-depth answer. I appreciate it a lot and you certainly seem to know your way round Airwindows plug-ins.

I guess I'll have to take a second look at Electro Hat. It still seems like a crazy tool that I may never ever need at all, and I try to avoid such plug-ins (Airwindows is known to have more than 250 plug-ins - who can live with that in their minds?)

Thank you also for your comments on other plug-ins I mentioned. I still think that what GuitarConditioner does for the sound, you can accomplish with a just an EQ...

EDIT = after re-reading your answer, a new application for ElectroHat came to mind. REAPER's ReaGate has this wonderful noise-generator that you can use by blending in a white noise profile for instance, when gating a snare drum, in order to artificially add some sort of snare bottom/snare wires sound when the gate opens up. I bet you're using ElectroHat for some sort of use like this...?
__________________
TITANIO
BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
www.titanioesarte.com.ar

Last edited by morfi; 04-16-2018 at 07:23 AM.
morfi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2018, 08:13 PM   #21
Seldrums
Human being with feelings
 
Seldrums's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: North Pole
Posts: 226
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by RCJacH View Post
Thanks to Chris I'm running 400+ plugins on a daily basis.

Just want to mention that ElectroHat is great at getting rid of machine-gun effect on sampled electronic drums, be it kicks, snares, HHs, or cymbals. Haven't got time to test it on acoustic samples yet, but I believe it should work as well with low dry/wet percentage.
RCJacH-

Thanks for the tip on the ElectroHat tip! Really works on pretty much all kinds of percussive material! Really great tip. Thanks again.
Seldrums is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2018, 03:25 PM   #22
poetnprophet
Human being with feelings
 
poetnprophet's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 1,651
Default

My first time hearing of these, but I'll be trying them out this weekend for sure. I'm always interested in new and different plugins, no matter the look or feel or cost, as long as they sound great. Thanks for posting this.
__________________
https://www.kdubbproductions.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpC...2dGA3qUWBKrXQQ
i7 8700k,4.9Ghz,Win10,Reaper 6,Motu 828es, Cranborne ADAT500
poetnprophet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2018, 04:19 PM   #23
morfi
Human being with feelings
 
morfi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: BUENOS AIRES
Posts: 125
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Seldrums View Post
RCJacH-

Thanks for the tip on the ElectroHat tip! Really works on pretty much all kinds of percussive material! Really great tip. Thanks again.
Wow! I had completely dismissed ElectroHat. Will definitely have to try this I guess. What does it do really? What's the benefit?
__________________
TITANIO
BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
www.titanioesarte.com.ar
morfi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-16-2018, 02:39 AM   #24
RCJacH
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Beijing, China
Posts: 215
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by morfi View Post
Wow! I had completely dismissed ElectroHat. Will definitely have to try this I guess. What does it do really? What's the benefit?
It basically adds impact type of noise to the audio source. One benefit is some sort of anti-machinegun effect.

Quote:
Originally Posted by shosty View Post
What is the problem with using Console in reaper? I don't think I've played with it yet but I don't understand why it has been said that it is hard to use.

Also StarChild is the bomb!
The problem is that the input and output of console should have unity gain to avoid distortion, thus you can't use volume fader or pan knob for any track that is sending audio between console channel and bus.
RCJacH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-05-2018, 11:40 AM   #25
Seldrums
Human being with feelings
 
Seldrums's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: North Pole
Posts: 226
Default

I love "Air" and "Energy". I support Chris's patreon for those alone! "Buss4 colors" also finds it's way into my mixes on a regular basis. Huge fan of Chris here.
Seldrums is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-05-2018, 04:21 PM   #26
morfi
Human being with feelings
 
morfi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: BUENOS AIRES
Posts: 125
Default

More than a dozen plug-ins later after my last post this guy is still a genius and Airwindows plug-in still one of a kind in all respects; concept, sound quality, CPU consumption, product-presentation, marketing, etc etc etc.
__________________
TITANIO
BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
www.titanioesarte.com.ar
morfi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-06-2018, 03:37 AM   #27
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by morfi View Post
More than a dozen plug-ins later after my last post this guy is still a genius and Airwindows plug-in still one of a kind in all respects; concept, sound quality, CPU consumption, product-presentation, marketing, etc etc etc.
The GUI-part and lack of metering says "Stay away" to me.
But, if it's good enough, I'll use it
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-06-2018, 10:50 AM   #28
morfi
Human being with feelings
 
morfi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: BUENOS AIRES
Posts: 125
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Sun View Post
The GUI-part and lack of metering says "Stay away" to me.
But, if it's good enough, I'll use it
Don't let those things keep you apart for Chris' plug-ins - you're missing out on many of the very, very best and unique sounding processors out there.
__________________
TITANIO
BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA
www.titanioesarte.com.ar
morfi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2018, 01:10 AM   #29
RCJacH
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Beijing, China
Posts: 215
Default

Recently I've been using Desk4 presets, found in https://www.gearslutz.com/board/prod...ac-pc-vst.html, combining various other components such as ReaEQ or ReaComp to simulate the "hardware" sound. The subtle distortion would smooth the digital high peaks and the resulting glue can be quite fascinating compared to using only the same digital FXs.
RCJacH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2018, 03:00 AM   #30
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by morfi View Post
Don't let those things keep you apart for Chris' plug-ins - you're missing out on many of the very, very best and unique sounding processors out there.
At hearth Chris is an inventor and scientist of audio digital fx.
But, to make a front end of a plugin-company he'd need:
- A superviser to judge what to present to the users
- A tech for the boring stuff like metering and such
- A GUI-maker
- A user-service team
-- Manuals
-- Tutorials
-- Customer service

But, that's not stopping him, so power to Chris
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-15-2018, 10:14 AM   #31
dub tree
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 308
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by G-Sun View Post
The GUI-part and lack of metering says "Stay away" to me.
But, if it's good enough, I'll use it
I'm always conflicted when I see these types of post about Airwindows plugins. On one hand, I want everyone to know about how awesome these plugins are. But on the other hand, I wanna be like "yeah, nothing to see here, move along" and maintain the world's best kept secret.

It's like when you find a restaurant that looks like a hole in the wall but low key has your favorite food in the world. And you don't want it to become gentrified, but at the same time, you wonder how people are going through their dreary lives without having tasted their amazing food.

...So, yeah. Nothing to see here. Stick with McWaves and their combo meal/bundles.

Last edited by dub tree; 08-15-2018 at 10:19 AM.
dub tree is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-16-2018, 02:28 AM   #32
shosty
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 249
Default

What is the problem with using Console in reaper? I don't think I've played with it yet but I don't understand why it has been said that it is hard to use.

Also StarChild is the bomb!
shosty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-2018, 12:05 AM   #33
G-Sun
Human being with feelings
 
G-Sun's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Norway
Posts: 7,318
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by dub tree View Post
I'm always conflicted when I see these types of post about Airwindows plugins. On one hand, I want everyone to know about how awesome these plugins are. But on the other hand, I wanna be like "yeah, nothing to see here, move along" and maintain the world's best kept secret.

It's like when you find a restaurant that looks like a hole in the wall but low key has your favorite food in the world. And you don't want it to become gentrified, but at the same time, you wonder how people are going through their dreary lives without having tasted their amazing food.

...So, yeah. Nothing to see here. Stick with McWaves and their combo meal/bundles.
I guess your not using the OS Window GUIs either.
Command prompt has all you need. Why bother with that graphic overlay?
__________________
Reaper x64, win 11
Composer, text-writer, producer
Bandcamp
G-Sun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2019, 02:10 PM   #34
theMuzzl3
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 19
Default

uLaw is my favorite, but its hard to pick one.

The reason why I pick uLaw is because there is no 1 right way to use it, it can get the most nasty sounds I've ever heard, and about 1 out of 1,000 specific parameter settings & variability will be a golden needle within the haystack. Plugins behave differently, and their behavior will change based on what other effects are within the uLaw's, and in what series of order, etc. I swear, there are some plugins that I've used 1,000 times, inside uLaw's... and then on the 1,001th try, some how something unexpected and awesome comes from its behavior, in combo with other things. Its very strange, so its like my twin brother.

I'm building 2 albums with it. One is based on dither noise (and dither types of things' noise) in uLaw, and shaped in ways to create drum/synth sounds, then organizing the stuff into patterns, etc.

I do live streaming, with experiments for it... and its building up.

On gearslutz, we've talked about various methods.

Decode before encode & encode before decode & switching back and forth.
Using 2 or more uLaw's within each other.
theMuzzl3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2019, 02:27 PM   #35
JayJSE2
Human being with feelings
 
JayJSE2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 310
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by theMuzzl3 View Post

On gearslutz, we've talked about various methods.

Decode before encode & encode before decode & switching back and forth.
Using 2 or more uLaw's within each other.
I saw the one about using deEss between them, but are there any other good combinations you've found (airwindows or otherwise)?
JayJSE2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2019, 03:13 PM   #36
karbomusic
Human being with feelings
 
karbomusic's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 29,260
Default

I only read a few responses and this one caught my eye...

Quote:
I don't hear anything when using them. Not that they don't do anything, but maybe for how I mix (and my source material, number of tracks, how I highpass/lowpass the tracks) I'm just not getting any benefit from them.
This is similar to Nebula which had a similar heyday IMHO. When I first tried the free version and used some preamp presets, I wasn't sure I was hearing anything at all. Then I figured out it became more noticeable when I put the preamp on every single track and the busses and the master. I quit doing that because I realized there are as many things I don't like about analog as things I do like which was nothing against Nebula which I still love when I use it.

I still use nebula for reverbs, tape emus or to tame things that are out of control but I don't really have a reason to go through this whole recreate an analog console ritual as I don't see the payoff being that big, YMMV of course. It's just so easy to get micro-focused on tiny things that no one cares about but me, and if enough time passes, even I forget it's there LOL.

I have AW but haven't loaded any up yet, my main interest will be that same tame the harshness when needed approach.
__________________
Music is what feelings sound like.
karbomusic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2019, 03:22 PM   #37
Judders
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 11,044
Default

I don't use any AW plugins, though I have tried a lot and bought a few in the past when he was selling AU format only.

Even though I don't use his plugins, I love Chris and think the DAW world is better off with him in it. I particularly like his attitude to analogue - instead of circuit modelling he takes a concept from the analogue domain and then sees what he can do with it in digital. It's a cool approach, even if none of his plugins have stuck in my favourites folder.
Judders is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2019, 04:52 PM   #38
Timothy Lawler
Human being with feelings
 
Timothy Lawler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,595
Default

Used recently:

AtmosphereChannel
AtmosphereBuss (for anyone not familiar with those - the channel and buss plugins are designed to be used together)
ToTape5
PurestDrive
Slew2
__________________
Website
Youtube
Timothy Lawler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2019, 06:07 AM   #39
Philbo King
Human being with feelings
 
Philbo King's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 3,202
Default

To be honest, I don't use them much. The plug names generally don't provide any clue as to the plugin function, and when running a mix session I don't have time to try them all out to find one that does what I'm looking for.

If you name plugins with things like "Aspirator" and "Respirator" (not real names, just examples), it becomes a total PITA to find what you want when you need it.

If you HAVE to have a strange cool sounding name, append the actual function to the title and the .DLL filename, like "Aspirator - Flatulence Noise Generator", or "Respirator - Add Wheezing Breath Effect", otherwise I won't bother with it generally.

To be fair, a lot of his plugins do have functional names, but many do not. I don't want to sound harsh on the dude. I do like the idea of plugins that do unique novel things that are otherwise impossible. But it's very much like a packing crate full of tools with no clues as to whether they're for carpentry, automobile repair, plumbing or masonry, if you get my drift.
__________________
Tangent Studio - Philbo King
www.soundclick.com/philboking - Audio streams

Last edited by Philbo King; 04-08-2019 at 06:29 AM.
Philbo King is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2019, 07:20 AM   #40
vdubreeze
Human being with feelings
 
vdubreeze's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 2,613
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Philbo King View Post
To be honest, I don't use them much. The plug names generally don't provide any clue as to the plugin function, and when running a mix session I don't have time to try them all out to find one that does what I'm looking for.

If you name plugins with things like "Aspirator" and "Respirator" (not real names, just examples), it becomes a total PITA to find what you want when you need it.

If you HAVE to have a strange cool sounding name, append the actual function to the title and the .DLL filename, like "Aspirator - Flatulence Noise Generator", or "Respirator - Add Wheezing Breath Effect", otherwise I won't bother with it generally.

To be fair, a lot of his plugins do have functional names, but many do not. I don't want to sound harsh on the dude. I do like the idea of plugins that do unique novel things that are otherwise impossible. But it's very much like a packing crate full of tools with no clues as to whether they're for carpentry, automobile repair, plumbing or masonry, if you get my drift.

LOL, yeah. I'm a big supporter of Chris and his work, but there are *some* plugins that don't require any information or feedback and others that I just don't want to spend the time dealing with if they don't. I don't really care if the eqs have nothing but high.mid and low sliders, with no other info. But a dynamics processor comprised of two sliders that are 1 - 10 and 100 and nothing else I'm not going to bother with, and ones like that aren't exceptions.

I get that it's related both to the efficiency of the programming and also Chris' genius mindset, but nevertheless, they don't get used.
__________________
The reason rain dances work is because they don't stop dancing until it rains.
vdubreeze is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:22 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.