How are you using Sonalksis FreeG?

[mdoelger]

used for gain staging between plugins, and to raise/lower gain w/o fvcking with written automation.

[DaVinci]

Originally Posted by lunale

used for gain staging between plugins, and to raise/lower gain w/o fvcking with written automation.

the automation thing alone makes it worth using for me, but is there something inherently different about it than any other trim? Also, I've heard many times now about gainstaging between plugs, but how exactly? You actually have it inserted between different insert plugs? In each case? Certain cases? Why those times? What are target readings you are trying to achieve?

[mdoelger]

I use it on plugins which don't have some kind of output trim. Also when I'm not sure about how the input trim of a plugin is going to function.

I use a lot of freeware stuff and these are things I'm not really sure about very often. So I use FreeG and can be certain it does exactly what I want.

Other than that it has nice metering and I try keeping readings between -15 and -10. I made it a habbit and it's especially useful if your going into a hardware comp as an insert.

Also I use it if I get tracks to mix which are recorded hot and I want to start mixing. I set the DAW faders at unity and do my basic levels with FreeG. then go from there.


Its also useful, when you have already set threshold and stuff of a compressor and you feel like it's the right setting for the track but later you want to try to push it a bit more/less and see what it gives you.
Hope it helps.

[Whitecat]

two main applications for me:

- quick/easy phase flip for pro tools LE which doesn't have it on the channel controls natively

- easy "transparent" gain adjustment on tracks, usually pre-plug-ins, as a previous poster said, helps with gain staging/planning, and I don't need to mess around with plug-in input levels, I'll know in my head I can just leave them all at zero and only touch them if I have to for some reason.

[DaVinci]

Not really getting why it has a trim pot if most of what it is... is a fader..


How is that different than turning it's fader down?

[mdoelger]

Originally Posted by CallMeAl

Not really getting why it has a trim pot if most of what it is... is a fader..


How is that different than turning it's fader down?

Funny...never noticed it, never used it...

[grrrayson]

As silly as it is, this might be my favorite plug-in.

I use it to do automation before/between plug-ins/faders, for example controlling how hard a compressor is hit or doing preliminary "de-essing"; I use it as a quick trim plug-in; I use it to fix uneven sides of stereo tracks; I use it as an easy phase flip.

You can use it to do "trim" automation in software that doesn't have that feature, which I love.

The trim knob is useful because it's a coarser adjustment and you can adjust it separately from the fader, which is particularly useful if you've written automation on that fader.

Unless I'm thinking of something else, the stereo version has a balance knob for panning, which can be useful in place of the usual Pro Tools pans.

Of course you can do this stuff with a lot of other plug-ins, but it's very convenient to have it all together in one place in one reliable plug-in.

[scoring4films]

Along with many of the uses already mentioned, I use it when I want to know what's going on with the PK-RMS in various parts of a signal chain (e.g. before/after a particular plug).

[DaVinci]

Just found it useful too for additonal gain. Had ESX instrument with so much low end removed it was not loud enough even with channel fader at max... Free G gives way more gain than needed.

The resolution is quite nice too.

For the automation, I just wish there was a way... short of adding another monitor and keeping them open... of just assigning the channel fader to be automation independent... so I don't have to open up FreeG each time I want to bump the whole track.

The whold option drag volume with the automation showing thing is not for me as I have to STOP the song playing to get a read on how much it's moving... and the resolution is low. FreeG is clearly much better at this... but I have to open plug each time.

[kozlikha]

There is no manual for FreeG, does anyone know how to adjust 0VU to equal -15dBfs please?

[ciperlone]

Originally Posted by kozlikha

There is no manual for FreeG, does anyone know how to adjust 0VU to equal -15dBfs please?

I hated manuals when I started, but I miss a manual On FreeG.
We know it's a simple tool, but why didn't they write a manual?

EDIT:

Here's some description.
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/freeg-by-sonalksis

[sluttypat]

I use it for fader automation, I never automate the faders of the DAW directly, i record the volume automation with freeG, so the faders in the DAW's mixer are still available and not stuck with the automation.

I also use freeG for gainstaging between plug ins.

Really useful plugin.

[Strange Leaf]

As others have said, gainstaging and automation. I love it.

[True North]

Along the same lines that have already been posted

Comes in handy when you have completed a very complex volume/gain automation

Sometimes things change in a mix, and you might want to change the overall gain level of the track with the complex automation while still keeping all of the gain automatons intact.

Now there are other ways to do this but not as simply or as quickly and there is always the danger of making an error with the other approaches to this problem

Free G just gives you a dead simple solution to this issue. You can automate some changes with Free G you can also 'Ride the Fader' until you find the gain change that works for you.

Hope that helps

[undertone]

I use it as others have mentioned. I tried using it in DDMF's Metaplugin for gain staging and phase inversion, but it's proved to be unstable in that particular plugin (GUI elements missing, and crashes).

Have any of you experienced instability using Free-G at all? So far, outside of the above, it's been quite stable for me.

[ultra171]

Metering because Ableton has bad metering. IMHO the Slate FG-X has some the best metering available (I absolutely LOVE the RMS meter on that one).

And no, it hasn't crashed even once. It's just a really simple, free, useful plugin.

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by kozlikha

There is no manual for FreeG, does anyone know how to adjust 0VU to equal -15dBfs please?

Do you mean calibrating your signal/converter? Send out a -15 dBFS 1kHz oscillator sine test tone. Open your converter. Use a digital multimeter to measure the output while trimming the gain pots in the conveter until the signal on the multimeter shows 0.00 dBu. You can't do this with just a plug-in. For the input signal you can use the FreeG while calibrating the input gain pots to make sure the I/O levels match up on the return trip, but only after calibrating the outputs.

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by mdoelger

used for gain staging between plugins, and to raise/lower gain w/o fvcking with written automation.

In Logic Pro you can hold down the Command key and drag up or down on the yellow track header automation bar to offset automation. No need to use a plug-in for that.