Softube FET compressor

[cane creek]

Yummy!!!! .... softube Fet compressor

[Jens]

Only judging from the demos on their site I think this will be my x-mas gift from myself.

Wow!

[Synergy Media]

Certainly sounds good ! Was thinking about getting some waves bundle . . . that might have to wait haha .

[cane creek]

Softube are the guys who made the powercore Tube-Tech CL1B emulation
so its from good pedigree

[mig27]

Wow.
The demos on their site really knocked me out.
Especially the Rock drum samples - holy cow!!

[javahut]

Originally Posted by Synergy Media

Certainly sounds good ! Was thinking about getting some waves bundle . . . that might have to wait haha .

Waves is WAY over rated in my book. I demoed some of the their high end Studio Classics. I just don't get it. Compared to Abbey Roads EQs, TC's CL1B, now Softtube's FET Compressor... Waves' sound boring and mundane, and on top of that, are ridiculously overpriced for their worth... IMHO. To me, they're similar to URS in sound quality, only cost 2 to 3 times as much. I don't get them (Waves... literally).

[AnonJack]

softtube makes some great UIs!

[gundam]

Maybe it's time to retire the uad1176? I've never really thought of it as a fairly accurate emulations but this new softube comp sounds promising.

[Synergy Media]

Originally Posted by javahut

Waves is WAY over rated in my book. I demoed some of the their high end Studio Classics. I just don't get it. Compared to Abbey Roads EQs, TC's CL1B, now Softtube's FET Compressor... Waves' sound boring and mundane, and on top of that, are ridiculously overpriced for their worth... IMHO. To me, they're similar to URS in sound quality, only cost 2 to 3 times as much. I don't get them (Waves... literally).

I guess the funny thing I had fond memories of using waves years back, and now I'm working in another studio which has a HD rig and waves gold + ssl and now I'm wondering if it was just nostalgia .

My own studio is logic with sonnox ,urs ,wave musician 2 , DUY etc . From my limited use now of the SSL bundle , I'm not sure what I'm missing yet. Will have to try it on session with less time pressure .

Have fond memories of the L2 also, but maybe that’s it . Ren bass did however save my ass e. Thoughts?

[Mr.HOLMES]

By the way I have demoed today the softube fet and IMO it sounds very bad against the UAD 1176 emulation.

The demo files on the website are mostly over compressed.

The only + for the softube is it handles transients a bit more clear as the UAD 1176 emulation.

The UAD sounds in my ears much warmer more nice saturation which I like.
No big deal for this money.

The CL1B was much better compared to the real deal, had the pleasure to listen to files.

[jbsg02]

Can I vote that the best looking plugin I've ever seen

[Denny McNerney]

i love they way it looks...

but, does anyone else here think it looks just like a marantz receiver from the '70's?

[TonyBelmont]

Originally Posted by javahut

Waves is WAY over rated in my book. I demoed some of the their high end Studio Classics. I just don't get it. Compared to Abbey Roads EQs, TC's CL1B, now Softtube's FET Compressor... Waves' sound boring and mundane, and on top of that, are ridiculously overpriced for their worth... IMHO. To me, they're similar to URS in sound quality, only cost 2 to 3 times as much. I don't get them (Waves... literally).

I don't think Waves is over-rated. The Studio Classics bundle is on par with the Abbey Road stuff... The JJP compressor is great, the API EQ's are great, the SSL channel plugin is great. I think these are some of the best plugins money can buy, along with the Chandler/ EMI TG EQ and compressor, the URS Strip Pro and Saturation, etc. People just like to hate Waves on the internet... psychologically speaking, I think it's the same reason why people hate Digidesign.

We recently added the Softube line and I'll be checking out the compressor when I get a chance. But, I've been impressed with their other plugins, so I'm sure it will be good.

[gundam]

Originally Posted by Mr.HOLMES

By the way I have demoed today the softube fet and IMO it sounds very bad against the UAD 1176 emulation.

The demo files on the website are mostly over compressed.

The only + for the softube is it handles transients a bit more clear as the UAD 1176 emulation.

The UAD sounds in my ears much warmer more nice saturation which I like.
No big deal for this money.

The CL1B was much better compared to the real deal, had the pleasure to listen to files.

Same here. Nothing that impressive about this plugin despite the nice look. IMO, UAD1176 still has the edge, and by far.

[Mr.HOLMES]

Originally Posted by gundam

Same here. Nothing that impressive about this plugin despite the nice look. IMO, UAD1176 still has the edge, and by far.

and by the way we did a comparsion to the real deal of UAD 1176 and all I can say the plug in is not far away from the hardware.

it misses with some sources a bit bite but this was all in my opinion.

with the fet I think soft does not win the race.
maybe it is an good emulation of the original 6176 what their compare it to this compressor.

the 6176 is not reissue of the 1176 and that is maybe a reason that I miss the bite in it.

not very impressive to my ears why should I spend over 200$ if I have an more accurate emulation of an world famous 1176 LN on my plate.

softube should think before they do things the trend is to get units with color this one does not colors the sound in a nice way.

since the TC electronic thing I thought they would be a high end manufacture of plug ins but now I hear UAD is doing better and the 1176 plug in is very very old.

[Mr.HOLMES]

Originally Posted by Denny McNerney

i love they way it looks...

but, does anyone else here think it looks just like a marantz receiver from the '70's?

your are right it reminds me of hifi gear which my father bought.
this one is just champagne coloured but I can remind the polished steel knobs and that you could feel the fine crack from the steel polishing process on the knobs.

It felt very very noble and was 25 KG

[javahut]

Originally Posted by TonyBelmont

I don't think Waves is over-rated. The Studio Classics bundle is on par with the Abbey Road stuff... The JJP compressor is great, the API EQ's are great, the SSL channel plugin is great. I think these are some of the best plugins money can buy, along with the Chandler/ EMI TG EQ and compressor, the URS Strip Pro and Saturation, etc. People just like to hate Waves on the internet... psychologically speaking, I think it's the same reason why people hate Digidesign.

I'm not hating on Waves. I really wanted to like the API EQ. When I first found the Abbey Road Brilliance Pack, it caused major problems trying to save files in Sonar. Abbey Road had no fix for this for awhile. I downloaded the API and V series bundles from Waves looking for an EQ that could substitute for what the Brilliance Pack did for my sounds. Waves just did not compare. Sure, they sounded OK. Just not worth the huge dollars they ask for them. Not near enough difference between them and what I can get out of Sonalksis to warrant their massive prices. Just MHO.

[Mr.HOLMES]

Originally Posted by javahut

I'm not hating on Waves. I really wanted to like the API EQ. When I first found the Abbey Road Brilliance Pack, it caused major problems trying to save files in Sonar. Abbey Road had no fix for this for awhile. I downloaded the API and V series bundles from Waves looking for an EQ that could substitute for what the Brilliance Pack did for my sounds. Waves just did not compare. Sure, they sounded OK. Just not worth the huge dollars they ask for them. Not near enough difference between them and what I can get out of Sonalksis to warrant their massive prices. Just MHO.

this al depends on taste as well.
i am sure waves as moddeld the api and v series stuff as well as the ssl stuff.

maybe this sound is not for you.

but waves is still one of the nr 1 plug in companies we have.
i mean we have to be careful with our diction more fair... waves is overrated for you and in your opinion.

I love my waves SSL Plug Ins.

[ADWolpert]

I was pretty impressed by the Softube FET demo, but clearly, one of the things I like about it is it's wet/dry function for parallel compression. Are there other plug-ins (in Native VST format) that have this feature?


TIA

Alan

[everythinglouder]

Originally Posted by ADWolpert

I was pretty impressed by the Softube FET demo, but clearly, one of the things I like about it is it's wet/dry function for parallel compression. Are there other plug-ins (in Native VST format) that have this feature?


TIA

Alan

Yes, FabFilter Pro-C has it. That's another excellent compressor plug-in.

[PhonoquO]

Originally Posted by ADWolpert

I was pretty impressed by the Softube FET demo, but clearly, one of the things I like about it is it's wet/dry function for parallel compression. Are there other plug-ins (in Native VST format) that have this feature?


TIA

Alan

Vintage Warmer from PSP does

[mOjO FET]

The Rocket has it too from Stillwell.

Michael

[raymondwave]

Been demoing this now that Softube has a sale and I'm very impressed with the sound. Excellent atleast for driving up electronic music, very big. I tried to compress a dry 808 kick with this against other compressors and the result is amazing, you can really bring it up smoothly while others sounded uggly and digital. Sidechaining is pretty cool for the obvious dance music effect..

I have only one question, has anyone else noticed that the pluging might make the Logic9 gui somewhat laggy? The same goes for the plugin itself, I have plenty of cpu left, but at times it feels like someone spilled soda on the knobs, if you know what I mean, they just feel jammy and not responsive.

[Melgueil]

Same here (demoing this plug right now). I think it is underrated. I often look for tools that can do unique things - this one can. It's not the CLB1 or the TLA - but what it can do - it's nearly by itself. The filters alone ....yikes. Love it.
Cdlt

[Gammon2004]

Agree on this completely - If I want something to "sound really compressed" (especially vocals or piano) I haven't been able to find anything that does it quite as well as this plug. I have two licenses in fact, so I'm selling one over in the classifieds section. Shameless plug.

[peter434]

Concerning vocals, is the FET effective ? Can it give density and homogeneity on vocals, as apparently the last Softube plug Summit TLA 100 gives ?

[raymondwave]

Has anyone else trouble sidechaining without getting random transients to the sidechained signal?

I can't seem to find any settings to smoothly sidechain for example pads to a kick. I've tweaked with all possible settings, attacks, releases, ratios. Also have tried different attacks and releases with the sidechaining signal.

Best way seems to be having ratio turned all the way to ALL and setting attack and release to maximum FAST. If I start slowing down attack or release, the transient click gets more obvious. The same if I turn down the ratio.

Any tips?

[engmix]

Originally Posted by raymondwave

Has anyone else trouble sidechaining without getting random transients to the sidechained signal?

I can't seem to find any settings to smoothly sidechain for example pads to a kick. I've tweaked with all possible settings, attacks, releases, ratios. Also have tried different attacks and releases with the sidechaining signal.

Best way seems to be having ratio turned all the way to ALL and setting attack and release to maximum FAST. If I start slowing down attack or release, the transient click gets more obvious. The same if I turn down the ratio.

Any tips?

Have you tried keying....or is that what you're talking about?

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by peter434

Concerning vocals, is the FET effective ? Can it give density and homogeneity on vocals, as apparently the last Softube plug Summit TLA 100 gives ?

Yes, or you could always try parallel compressing

Softube FET Compressor - New York Style Compression Preset (download)

[zephonic]

Originally Posted by TonyBelmont

I don't think Waves is over-rated.

+1

But they need to port their s--t to 64 bit. With AAX I expect it to finally happen.

I have the Softube mix bundle and it's good, but Waves is still the flavor.