Nebula is weak as fuck

drew_drummer

drew_drummer

Dancefap
Sep 7, 2008
6,474
3
38
London, UK
Nebula is weak as fuck, and lame as a dead dick. I literally *NEVER* hear it doing what everyone raves about it doing. I've used it for cab emulation, and it sounds no better than regular IR's to me. I've got a bunch of the analog in the box stuff, and I don't hear any significant improvements over algorithmic EQ's and compressors (The Glue and EQuality for instance)

I thought I'd give it one more go before consigning it to the snake oil barrel, so I bought the CLC console from AlexB.

Pish. Fulcrum and pish.

Not only do I not hear any significant difference apart from it being louder, it also brought my computer to its knees and was really unstable. The last straw was putting one of the mix-bus programs across a drum bus, and every time a snare hit, it would distort like a resonant filter.

To my mind, it's bullshit. It doesn't work as advertised, and I cannot believe it is as popular as it is. I tried VCC and I was impressed, but didn't buy it at the time as I figured I already had the Sonimus stuff, as well as Nebula - figured I'd get captures of the "real deal" at some point.

Well some point was tonight, and I was not impressed. Think I should've put that money towards VCC after all!
 
I really think VCC has all but killed the Nebula love. I've lately taken to offline processing all my tracks (in a separate session, usually) with a VCC -> plugin -> VTM -> VCC chain to simulate working on a real desk and can definitely say that it makes mixing easier in addition to improving the end product and not killing my CPU use. I know a lot of guys were doing the same with Nebula, but VCC just seems to do it all so much cleaner and more accurately.
 
I sort of agree man, I picked it up a while back and then got the AITB massive passive, and some other assorted stuff. I can hear positive improvements with some of the programs but mostly i get angry at the lack of flexability you get with tweaking paramaters, and its a major cpu hog. Since I purchased the NI Massive Passive/analog bundle I havent looked back, Nebula is clunky and plain doesnt work with me.
 
drew_drummer said:
Nebula is weak as fuck, and lame as a dead dick. I literally *NEVER* hear it doing what everyone raves about it doing. I've used it for cab emulation, and it sounds no better than regular IR's to me. I've got a bunch of the analog in the box stuff, and I don't hear any significant improvements over algorithmic EQ's and compressors (The Glue and EQuality for instance)

I thought I'd give it one more go before consigning it to the snake oil barrel, so I bought the CLC console from AlexB.

Pish. Fulcrum and pish.

Not only do I not hear any significant difference apart from it being louder, it also brought my computer to its knees and was really unstable. The last straw was putting one of the mix-bus programs across a drum bus, and every time a snare hit, it would distort like a resonant filter.

To my mind, it's bullshit. It doesn't work as advertised, and I cannot believe it is as popular as it is. I tried VCC and I was impressed, but didn't buy it at the time as I figured I already had the Sonimus stuff, as well as Nebula - figured I'd get captures of the "real deal" at some point.

Well some point was tonight, and I was not impressed. Think I should've put that money towards VCC after all!
Click to expand...

Well said. My thoughts also. Fuck Nebula.
 
Melodeath said:
Can you elaborate/clarify?
Click to expand...

I either do it as I'm building the mix or bring all the tracks into a separate session to do it, but you basically just pretend you're on a console.

Every track gets VCC on the first plugin. If I'm working with say a vocal channel, after VCC I'll stick on CLA76 - in real life if I had the gear (we have an 1176 and use it on vocals all the time so this is just an example), I'd run a 76 into a 2A for the vocals while tracking, so I just set it up like that. I use a tracking mindset for tweaking EQ and compression; not too much, but enough to make my job easier when it comes to the mix. After those plugins (usually just the 76, 2A/3A clones, SSL channel, Waves Pultec, some surgical EQ if I think it needs it, etc) I run VTM. In real life you'd be running mics into console, sending out to the hardware, and then sending that to the tape machine. After that the tape would run back to the console before the master tape, so I get another instance of VCC at the end. I print all those and then start my mix from there.

The chain for vocals then, for instance, would be:

VCC
CLA76
CLA2A
VTM
VCC

The end product is a Slate-plugin processed and slightly compressed version of the original track.
 
Still happy with Nebula sound wise, but I agree it's not very user-friendly and not that easy to set up.

Just make sure to :

- setup the plugin correctly.
Use always the "Nebula 3 Reverb" instance.
More infos here : http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/backline/645593-nebula-faq-sticky-me-plz.html

- gain stage correctly. The distortion / resonant filter sound you're talking about is produced when clipping the input of the plugin.
Each library is made to work at a specified input level / unity gain, just read the manual of the library you bought.
For example, AlexB CLC should be hitted around -18 dB RMS, just like a real analog desk.

There's also some mods to push Nebula a bit further, like this one :
http://www.learndigitalaudio.com/blog/nebula-vst-plug-in-tips-switching-to-timed-kernels
 
Nebula sounds awsome. And the cabinets are far better and have more real sound than any normal IR. Just check your ears. And I'm not a pro.
 
Shameless self promotion alert: if you guys are dissatisfied with various cabinet simulation options out there, you could always give Recabinet a try. Recabinet 3.5 offers industry-leading speaker dynamics emulation, IR import, stereo panning, and an internal library with 20 cabinets and 8 mics to choose from.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I haven't used Nebula but I will say I am very happy with VCC. When I first got it at its release I couldn't hear what it did that well. Now, after much listening and mixing, I can easily hear what it does and I love it (especially the Neve setting, but use it sparingly!).

Also Recabinet is dope, as an IR loader and for its expansive selection of IRs.

Plus the dynamics knob, I like using a bit of that to make the gtrs breathe a little better :D
 
We spent a while testing Nebula as a replacement for cab IRs, but never arrived at anything that made me think 'woah, yeah, that's it!'. Always had some weird grain to it. That being said, I think IRs blow too, so I'm still mic'ing cabs like crazy back here.

I still like some of the Nebula EQs for boosting top-end in a 'gentler' fashion on key tracks. The saturation programs aren't so much 'saturation' as they are an EQ curve that you strap across your mix. That being said, the CLC mix bus curve often complements my mixes, so I still use it from time to time.

For the most part VCC is a much more authentic emulation of console sound.
 
Which cabs for nebula have you tried? I used Kalthallen,and didn't find it any different from regular IR,hovewer demo cab from Ownhammer was noticeably better than IR equivalent.Is there any other free cabs for nebula?
 
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