Slate Virtual Mix RACK

Really??? I think VBC is awesome. I own all of stevens plugins (including VMR), and i think VBC so far has been the most "magical". I dont have a ton of experience with actual hardware bus compressors, but VBC instantly sounded amazing to me with no effort at all. To each there own i guess. What is it you didnt like about it?

Well... As you said, it's a matter of personal preferences. I think it won't be ethic to discuss VBC here again. There were blind tests, and I was demoing it a lot. I still prefer Waves SSL on a master buss. I can only say that I'd love to demo VBC once again but both demo licenses Slate has provided have expired already:) So maybe I'll buy it on Black Friday. Won't wait for Black Friday with VMR though:D
 
Steven, is the 1176 module supposed to distort as much as it does? I used it on a couple of tracks on Cubase 6 and it was sizzling like crazy. It didn't sound intentional, nor like any of my outboard 1176s running the same settings. I also tried it down at the studio on Pro Tools and experienced the same thing. You hear it most on steady-state signals like bass and guitars.
 
I could not recreate the automation crash. On my system, it's down to this : anytime the VST was loaded in reaper, it will crash on quitting. Whatever I do, close, save, open, sessions, if VMR has been loaded just once, it will crash on quitting. So it's not big deal, but i'm posting a ticket anyway.

For info, the .au version seems to be working 100% fine for me

For those who want, here is where to report a crash : https://slatedigital.zendesk.com and I'd suggest you copy your latest crash logs from
/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ where you should find your reaper crash logs
 
I have the 1176 shootout and my backstory about it

Hey bud! Nice to see in these parts!

Over at Gearslutz you said of Andreas' 1176 vs 116 blind comparison this about what ended up being the 116:

"[FG-116] is lively, more of a silky sound, and pushes with a dynamic feel to it"

I think the issue we're seeing right now concerning the 116 with a few folks, and there is no professional or nice way to say this so I'll just be honest, is that many people reference the current stock of plugin 1176s as comparison rather than the actual hardware. And most of the plugin versions just don't sound like the hardware. Some of them we measured weren't even close in the timing, and one of them that is super popular has no output transformer saturation which is a HUGE part of the sound.

You can find quite a few folks on Gearslutz who've done A/B who said it was spot on, one even saying it practically nulled his hardware. I can say that when comparing to the original unit we modeled, there is no way I could tell which was which on a blind test.

Dig into the 116 more, roam through the presets.. it's a tone beast. I absolutely love it. Also, experiment with an EQ before it to shape the tone that goes in it to see how it reacts differently.

Steven, is the 1176 module supposed to distort as much as it does? I used it on a couple of tracks on Cubase 6 and it was sizzling like crazy. It didn't sound intentional, nor like any of my outboard 1176s running the same settings. I also tried it down at the studio on Pro Tools and experienced the same thing. You hear it most on steady-state signals like bass and guitars.

Hi Ermz. Sounds like a bug. Send in a ticket.. 'sizzling like crazy'.. Probably not. Little grit on heavy settings? Absolutely.

Cheers,
Steven
 
I bought VMR last night and I've been using it on a client's mix today and I must say that it fucking rules. It has improved my workflow so much, and I love mixing with my ears—not eyes—now. I don't have an extensive collection of eqs and comps (mainly just my stock ones and a couple freebies), so this really fills that void. Thanks for an awesome product, Steven.

BTW: I'm using VMR on 10-15 track projects in Logic Pro 9 (Mavericks) with no crashes or issues so far.
 
Hey bud! Nice to see in these parts!

Over at Gearslutz you said of Andreas' 1176 vs 116 blind comparison this about what ended up being the 116:

"[FG-116] is lively, more of a silky sound, and pushes with a dynamic feel to it"

I think the issue we're seeing right now concerning the 116 with a few folks, and there is no professional or nice way to say this so I'll just be honest, is that many people reference the current stock of plugin 1176s as comparison rather than the actual hardware. And most of the plugin versions just don't sound like the hardware. Some of them we measured weren't even close in the timing, and one of them that is super popular has no output transformer saturation which is a HUGE part of the sound.

You can find quite a few folks on Gearslutz who've done A/B who said it was spot on, one even saying it practically nulled his hardware. I can say that when comparing to the original unit we modeled, there is no way I could tell which was which on a blind test.

Dig into the 116 more, roam through the presets.. it's a tone beast. I absolutely love it. Also, experiment with an EQ before it to shape the tone that goes in it to see how it reacts differently.



Hi Ermz. Sounds like a bug. Send in a ticket.. 'sizzling like crazy'.. Probably not. Little grit on heavy settings? Absolutely.

Cheers,
Steven

Hey Steven! you know in our interactions I am not one to just be annoying for no good reason and you also know I'm a fan and user of Slate plugins. I'm also not super picky when things are different but within the spirit of their hardware counterparts, which is fantastic.

I have been comparing FG116 to HW audio clips, in fact two different units. One set given to me were from Andreas and I am just perplexed by the inconsistencies. What he gave me isn't a consistent characteristic like in the sound clips we all listened to on GS. And with the other emu's I am able to get close-ish with the same settings and more importantly the GR to the HW clips (of course 10% that isn't there I simply chalk up to it being the limitation of those emu's, plain and simple). Other inconsistencies I observed was that FG116 with the same settings and GR, specifically on fast release doesn't exhibit the same behavior. This was more of a concern to me because its something I can test and validate for myself. BUT I did post on GS last night however that I am investigating input gain and needed some info from Andreas. That seems to be getting me closer, don't give up on me yet. Once I understand GR used from Andreas I may make even more sense of it.
 
Steven, Andreas G confirmed his settings of his files on GS for me and it corroborates what I've been hearing. Also confirms what I thought a couple of days ago which is with the FG116 better to go by ear (speaking strictly for the comparison tests of course). The other emu's you can pretty much go with the same GR as the HW. But now I can get closer to the 'bigness' and action I was expecting with FG116. :)

Shootout
 
I think the issue we're seeing right now concerning the 116 with a few folks, and there is no professional or nice way to say this so I'll just be honest, is that many people reference the current stock of plugin 1176s as comparison rather than the actual hardware. And most of the plugin versions just don't sound like the hardware. Some of them we measured weren't even close in the timing, and one of them that is super popular has no output transformer saturation which is a HUGE part of the sound.

That's dead on. When comparing it to the current crop of 1176 plug-ins, the 116 sounded more dense, yet sort of murky, which is exactly what all the hardware 1176s I've used have done. No plug-in quite nailed the 'gooeyness' of that compressor across the lows before this, IMO.

I'll issue a ticket about the crackling issue. It might be something you'd want to look at pretty quickly, as it may give people with the same issue a distorted idea of what the plug-in is supposed to do. The distortion was quite excessive and as you say, sounded more like a bug than an intentional feature. I'll look into the conditions which cause it a little more on this end soon.
 
Steven, can we get some sort of reasoning/explanation for the lack of all-buttons-in on the 116? Having to use an extra module for saturation that you'd get from all-in is just dumb, although I could understand you're incentive if you planned on charging for said saturation module (it'd be deplorable, but at least understandable). It's seriously the main thing, aside from lack of trim (another module for that is also dumb considering module instances are limited!), that's keeping me from buying.

For the record, when I say dumb I mean from a UX standpoint; it's just plainly stupid from a users perspective to not have that functionality. It just absolutely does not make sense.
 
That's dead on. When comparing it to the current crop of 1176 plug-ins, the 116 sounded more dense, yet sort of murky, which is exactly what all the hardware 1176s I've used have done. No plug-in quite nailed the 'gooeyness' of that compressor across the lows before this, IMO.

I'll issue a ticket about the crackling issue. It might be something you'd want to look at pretty quickly, as it may give people with the same issue a distorted idea of what the plug-in is supposed to do. The distortion was quite excessive and as you say, sounded more like a bug than an intentional feature. I'll look into the conditions which cause it a little more on this end soon.

hi Ermz,
But no need to speculate on what the general sound is, take a listen to this shootout it's interesting stuff. It is possible there are still trade-offs i.e. low end gooeyness for transient punch. But I only say this solely based off of the same unit that was used in the vmr thread which is the unit in my audio clips. So there is an exception. Is the exception a total anomaly? Does anybody know the sound of every 76? lol Any way see what you like there and why, would be nice to have your thoughts on it.
 
its impossible to mix without a plugin that looks and sounds exactly like the hardware. I want the numbers to match the hardware so I don't have to think or listen.

God damn.

Can we move on already. Do we have to do shootouts every 3 months when a new 1176 emulation comes out?
 
No problems for me in reaper even with automation and what not. I wish the 1176 had the all buttons mode but even with that flaw, they are much more interesting than other ITB eqs and comps i have. things will saturate and get squishy and even distort a little on extreme settings. so, regardless of how close it is too inconsistent hardware, iv been digging the sound of these.
 
No problems for me in reaper even with automation and what not. I wish the 1176 had the all buttons mode but even with that flaw, they are much more interesting than other ITB eqs and comps i have. things will saturate and get squishy and even distort a little on extreme settings. so, regardless of how close it is too inconsistent hardware, iv been digging the sound of these.

I'm very curious about its all-buttons sound as well. But yea, I can definitely get an interesting sound out of it and utility versus matching should always be distinct things. Both however interest me and are interesting to me.
 
I finally had a play with this and it and this has seriously taken my mixes to a new level, unbelieveable.

I don't really care whether it matches hardware x or not (I understand it's Slate's claim and it's important to people to test that stuff out) but for me, couldn't give a rats when it sounds this good.

Slate: what's the plan with the new modules? Release them in bundles, or release them individually for single purchase?

To be honest, I'm not sure if I need anything else - maybe a de-esser and a distortion module, but other than that, I feel I am set.
 
I finally had a play with this and it and this has seriously taken my mixes to a new level, unbelieveable.

I don't really care whether it matches hardware x or not (I understand it's Slate's claim and it's important to people to test that stuff out) but for me, couldn't give a rats when it sounds this good.

+1
 
I'm gonna have to go ahead and say this might have been the best purchase I've ever did plugin wise.

I literally just mixed a song for a record 90% using VMR. The 401S (or wtv its called) might be the grabbiest compressor I've ever heard ITB. Both EQs are terrifically good!!