VBC Released

[HOFX]

A is the hardware B is VBC and C is waves

Well, I got Waves and the hardware mixed up. Turns out I prefer what the Waves was doing to the kick snare over the hardware...wow.

I would like to hear the original to compare to though, so I can reference where each plugin "took" the original.

 

[Max Morton]

After testing the VBC for a week or so, I came to the conclusion that I still prefer Waves SSL in 90% cases. And Cytomic the Glue in other 10. Slate is just too non-linear. I don't care if it's the analog behavior or not, I hate that presence boost, it's all about dirt. My subjective opinion.

 

[Fbarre]

I preferred the Waves comp in the shootout. I tried it once but I couldn't get it to sound quite right. Need to test VBC myself.

 

[Ermz]

Well, I got Waves and the hardware mixed up. Turns out I prefer what the Waves was doing to the kick snare over the hardware...wow.

I would like to hear the original to compare to though, so I can reference where each plugin "took" the original.

FWIW I did a shoot-out years ago with my freshly-built GSSL and the Waves SSL Bus Comp and sent it to the guy who put the GSSL together. After hearing it, he asked why I even wanted the GSSL. He couldn't hear a difference.

While there was one, it was relatively minute and more related to the 'feel' and sway of the material rather than anything overtly audible. I still don't know why the Waves comp gets such a mediocre rap around these parts. It's always been one of the most authentic sounding to the hardware counterparts I've used.

 

[crillemannen]

FWIW I did a shoot-out years ago with my freshly-built GSSL and the Waves SSL Bus Comp and sent it to the guy who put the GSSL together. After hearing it, he asked why I even wanted the GSSL. He couldn't hear a difference.

While there was one, it was relatively minute and more related to the 'feel' and sway of the material rather than anything overtly audible. I still don't know why the Waves comp gets such a mediocre rap around these parts. It's always been one of the most authentic sounding to the hardware counterparts I've used.

I did a shootout between my HW and the Waves and Duende when i got mine. And i actually liked the waves one the best . Would be nice to do a test once again. But there is something about the snap about the HW using it on snare which neither the waves,duende or the glue can recreate. Soo well.. that's where i mainly put mine to use nowdays

 

[HOFX]

FWIW I did a shoot-out years ago with my freshly-built GSSL and the Waves SSL Bus Comp and sent it to the guy who put the GSSL together. After hearing it, he asked why I even wanted the GSSL. He couldn't hear a difference.

While there was one, it was relatively minute and more related to the 'feel' and sway of the material rather than anything overtly audible. I still don't know why the Waves comp gets such a mediocre rap around these parts. It's always been one of the most authentic sounding to the hardware counterparts I've used.

Interesting.

I never liked the Waves as a full mix buss compressor though, was ok on a drum buss but could never get things to slam when dialing in considerable gain reduction and testing different attack times, and then dicking around with parallel compression. The other side of that equation was using stock BFD2 samples and ReaEQ, and I've since gone to SSD4 and EQuality for linear EQ, so maybe I need to revisit the Waves comp to compare apples to applies...

Though I must say, I've found VBC to immediately act like the compressor that I've always read about but never experienced.

 

[Ermz]

The Waves comp doesn't really give you the 'vibe' of a hardware SSL comp, hence why you can't really go above 3-4dB GR without things falling apart entirely. The attack is very plastic, and it lacks the weight of a real unit. It gives you the general picture, but the vibe isn't there. That's mostly what I'm hoping VBC captured, though I haven't had a chance to try it as yet.

 

[Matt-Steele]

The Waves comp doesn't really give you the 'vibe' of a hardware SSL comp, hence why you can't really go above 3-4dB GR without things falling apart entirely. The attack is very plastic, and it lacks the weight of a real unit. It gives you the general picture, but the vibe isn't there. That's mostly what I'm hoping VBC captured, though I haven't had a chance to try it as yet.

Ermz, I would very much enjoy to read your opinion of VBC after you've tried it out. Please be sure to report back!

Thanks!

As for other mix buss compressors, don't forget about the Universal Audio SSL Buss compressor. I own it if you guys would like me to throw it on something if we want to do a comparison test. Last I recall, I liked it more than the Waves.

 

[EOC]

download this zip
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1425397/VBC shootout.zip

and play around for yourselves.
It´s really hard to get the right picture of VBC or hardware only listening to a shootout.

The VBC feels and reacts like a hardware unit!
I think I´ll sell my hardware SSL because it´s easier to work in the box, and VBC comes not close, it´s like the real deal for me!

The waves SSL is a great plugin, but it´s getting "flat" and looses "depth" when it gets pushed. Its also "muddy´s" compared to the hardware and VBC

I just imported the files into reaper and flipphased the orinal with the different compressed ones. Pretty clear image of how each plug is working the sound.

 

[Slate]

Just a note, there is a small bug in the FG-GREY that is random, but when it's there, it does some subtly odd things dynamically to the lows. I can't say whether the bug was evident in Gabriel's test, but what I can say is that when it is 100% functional, the FG-GREY sounds identical to the SSL hardware we have with the exception that it has juuuuuust a hint more weight on the lows and that when you compress harder (like over 6db), the lows stay a bit more together.

There is an update coming this week that fixes the bug, and I'll post some A/B/C's of GREY/SSL and RED/RED3 too.

We'll also get the people who already demo'd the VBC some new codes to try it again with the bug fix.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[JeffTD]

Waves SSL tends to kill my stereo image just a bit. The Glue doesn't, and VBC really doesn't. Still loving this program.

 

[Slate]

Thanks Jeff!

I think the FG-RED on the first preset is pretty awesome for metal stuff. Keeps the bottom tight and adds a lot of upper midrange snap, and the image stays really wide.

FG-GREY is also really awesome for metal.. we'll have an update soon so you'll all now what you're hearing is intended.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[baalzebubba]

I really enjoyed the VBC when I first got it. Some time later I updated it and it's never worked since within my DAW.

I am running x64 cubase 7.5 now. Had been keeping up with the cubase updates and releases since 6.

I get crashes or it refuses to populate an insert. Rather frustrating as I am at the stage where I need to A/B some buss compression for the project mixdown and I was hoping the VBC would be the solution.

Again, what I heard, I liked. Now if I could just get it working again. From some searches I see that I am not entirely alone, but perhaps still a corner case. Hopefully slateDig can address a solution to sandbox this kind of problem.