Slate Digital FG-X 1.1

[Bang]

Originally Posted by Marty Long

Anyone notice that if you remaster old mixes where you used some other limiter, that when you put on the FG-X, you can take away most of the eqs you used on the master? I had a mastering session in PT where I had two eqs doing all kinds of tweaks, a compressor, and the Sony limiter. I made a way way way better master by using the FG-X, and then just kept one eq on the mix doing a tiny low mid pull down and hi pass.

I love this plugin so much. Even my non musical wife hears a huge difference in my latest works.

Originally Posted by MarsBot

Yes. I've noticed this too. It kind of makes you wonder about a lot of things.

This makes sense, and the reason is because the FG-X doesn't really mess with your frequency and dynamic balance.

A typical limiter will alter your transients in a way that changes your dynamic response and then your frequency balance, so people tend to eq "in" to the limiters to compensate for this.

Thanks again for all the great comments on this plugin, its wonderful to hear that its helping you guys make great music

[dirtboy]

Originally Posted by Marty Long

I don't understand why you didn't just save your 1.0 installer. I don't think this is a communication issue, its a responsibility issue. As previously stated, not a good idea to mess with stuff in the middle of a project, and not a good idea to delete old installers if thats what you did.

.

[sonicdefault]

Originally Posted by RoundBadge

Hang in there RoundBadge!


-SD

[Chris Lago]

Originally Posted by Bang

This makes sense, and the reason is because the FG-X doesn't really mess with your frequency and dynamic balance.

A typical limiter will alter your transients in a way that changes your dynamic response and then your frequency balance, so people tend to eq "in" to the limiters to compensate for this.

Thanks again for all the great comments on this plugin, its wonderful to hear that its helping you guys make great music

This is exactly what I used to do; I used to EQ a lot more to get the loudness aspect, but Now I use the Limiter a lot more and I keep the mixes to their original state. This way I keep the essence of what was mixed.

[diggo]

Hi all,

I purchased FG-X without trying the demo, mostly because I wanted to try out the full range of functions. Didnt want to try a crippled demo. I'm using FG-X 1.1 with Sequoia 11.1. The audio is being processed by the plugin, but the metering doesnt work at all....and the presets often dont load properly. The underlying settings change, but the controls stay at the default. This is very disconcerting and makes me worry that settings wont save and load correctly. Has anyone else experienced these issues running FG-X in Sequoia? They seem to be different issues from those reported previously by Tobben. This is on a very stable XP box which works flawlessly in all other respects. I dont have any problems with other plugins or Sequoia.

I guess I should install the Reaper demo, see if the problem is specific to the host application....but thought it cant hurt to ask here as well.

Thanks,

Sean

[Never1]

Finally bought it, a few days ago. first impressions are that this plugin slays every other limiter (or loudness maximizer) I've tried. Definitely a whole other level in terms of maintaining punch and clarity while delivering masters that sound as loud as the competition.

Even pushed it into -5rms for the hell of it and, though some obvious slamming was happening, it was by no means unlistenable. I've heard worse at a lower overall perceived level. Not that I'd ever go there for a real session, but i just had to try it out.

[bryan k]

Originally Posted by diggo

Hi all,

I'm using FG-X 1.1 with Sequoia 11.1. The audio is being processed by the plugin, but the metering doesnt work at all....and the presets often dont load properly. The underlying settings change, but the controls stay at the default. This is very disconcerting and makes me worry that settings wont save and load correctly. Has anyone else experienced these issues running FG-X in Sequoia?

Thanks,

Sean

Yes, its a known Bug in Samplitude/Sequoia, i have already sent in a ticket to Slate Digital, and they are aware of it and working on the fix. The next update will have the Samp/Sequoia fixes......

[Chris Lago]

The only way you can fix that in Sequoia would be to de-activate and reactivate the plug, the meters will start working again.

[bryan k]

Originally Posted by Chris Lago

The only way you can fix that in Sequoia would be to de-activate and reactivate the plug, the meters will start working again.

exactly.......i simply hit the 'bypass" button (twice) in the top right corner of the plugs GUI, .....and then the meters and lights start working again....

[Steven Slate]

Originally Posted by Never1

Finally bought it, a few days ago. first impressions are that this plugin slays every other limiter (or loudness maximizer) I've tried. Definitely a whole other level in terms of maintaining punch and clarity while delivering masters that sound as loud as the competition.

Even pushed it into -5rms for the hell of it and, though some obvious slamming was happening, it was by no means unlistenable. I've heard worse at a lower overall perceived level. Not that I'd ever go there for a real session, but i just had to try it out.

Great to hear! And yes the samplitude issue will be fixed for the next update, due out soon.

[David-Morpheus]

Okey guys,

this is the shit. period. I've been demoing nearly all limiters and/or loudness maximizers available in the last two months but nothing gave me results like this one. You can get a really loud but still not squashed master, despite the loudness the song does not fall apart and get thin.

I redid a master from the last week and there is a noticable difference. it's better in every aspect.
gonna buy.

[therealbigd]

Amazed at this plug-in. Not only does it sound incredible when loud, it doesn't destroy the waveform visually either - which is great for impressing bands!

I have been doing a band lately with heavy powerful drums. I used to brickwall with Vintage Warmer, that would have crushed the drums and hidden them in the mix. Not only did FG-X not do that, it made them sound BETTER once the ITP was adjusted.

Amazing!

[mindsett muzik]

Has anyone purchased FG-X on Saturday and got their license emailed before Monday. I'm waiting on a response from this morning.

[RoundBadge]

Updates?

[Steven Slate]

Originally Posted by morpheuzrecords

Okey guys,

this is the shit. period. I've been demoing nearly all limiters and/or loudness maximizers available in the last two months but nothing gave me results like this one. You can get a really loud but still not squashed master, despite the loudness the song does not fall apart and get thin.

I redid a master from the last week and there is a noticable difference. it's better in every aspect.
gonna buy.

Great! Thanks for the review!

Originally Posted by therealbigd

Amazed at this plug-in. Not only does it sound incredible when loud, it doesn't destroy the waveform visually either - which is great for impressing bands!

I have been doing a band lately with heavy powerful drums. I used to brickwall with Vintage Warmer, that would have crushed the drums and hidden them in the mix. Not only did FG-X not do that, it made them sound BETTER once the ITP was adjusted.

Amazing!

Cool! The ITP control is very powerful, as is the Dynamic knob. Between the two of them you can get some really transparent results.

Originally Posted by mindsett muzik

Has anyone purchased FG-X on Saturday and got their license emailed before Monday. I'm waiting on a response from this morning.

Where did you buy? If from Slate Digital Online Shop, you should get the email within minutes, check spam folder. If from a retailer, it'll probably be Monday.

Originally Posted by RoundBadge

Updates?

Very close to next release with full PPC compatibility!

[mindsett muzik]

I got it thanks.

[Chris Lago]

All I can say is, my album will sound killer with this Plugin on the Mastering buss

[Johnkenn]

This thing is beyond awesome...If VCC is even half as good, we're in for a treat...

[drew]

Originally Posted by Chris Lago

All I can say is, my album will sound killer with this Plugin on the Mastering buss

Please..... if your record sounds killer, IMO this plug has little to do with it.

This plugin turns things up, it doesn't make things sound any way!!!

I love it, it's frickin awesome!! But it doesn't have a sound at all IMO, nor should it.

[Chris Lago]

Originally Posted by drew

Please..... if your record sounds killer, IMO this plug has little to do with it.

This plugin turns things up, it doesn't make things sound any way!!!

I love it, it's frickin awesome!! But it doesn't have a sound at all IMO, nor should it.

It glues really well

[feck]

Originally Posted by drew

Please..... if your record sounds killer, IMO this plug has little to do with it.

This plugin turns things up, it doesn't make things sound any way!!!

I love it, it's frickin awesome!! But it doesn't have a sound at all IMO, nor should it.

If you compress, it does.

[drew]

Still haven't met a software comp I like on the buss. So yeah, aside from those using the comp part. I honestly forgot it had it!!

[feck]

Originally Posted by drew

Still haven't met a software comp I like on the buss. So yeah, aside from those using the comp part. I honestly forgot it had it!!

Haha, I don't really use them either, although a bit of playing with this one gave me some pleasing results. But I am fortunate enough to have some great hardware options, so I use those pretty much all the time. But man, this limiter really is the shit.

[Chris Lago]

Originally Posted by feck

Haha, I don't really use them either, although a bit of playing with this one gave me some pleasing results. But I am fortunate enough to have some great hardware options, so I use those pretty much all the time. But man, this limiter really is the shit.

No, let me rephrase this. Your Website is the shit

[feck]

Originally Posted by Chris Lago

No, let me rephrase this. Your Website is the shit

Thanks, Chris! I really appreciate that.

[Marty Long]

Originally Posted by Johnkenn

This thing is beyond awesome...If VCC is even half as good, we're in for a treat...

+ 1

I had a situation where I had the FG-X on my mix doing 8db. The drums were still so punchy that I clicked the insert bypass button to make sure that the FG-X was really on.

It was.

[Ivorydom]

Well, I expressed my opinion after demo-ing the FX-G some pages ago.

I find it absolutely brilliant on every rock/pop material I have thrown into it. I think that no other plugin can match what it does.

After trying out some more on softer/acoustic material however, I am getting unpredictable/unpleasant results.

For example, I tried it on a piano ballad, and I got some really noticeable distortion when I turned the gain up. Also I tried it on a string arrangement and still I got distortion. It does not introduce any distortion to any pop/rock material I have tried to process.

So, my question is: Is this mastering processor optimized only for pop/rock tracks with drums? Is this an algorithm that works well when drums are detected in the material?

I should not be getting distortion and I assure you I did not turn up the gain to insane values (around 12 o'clock). Is there something I am missing?

[Steven Slate]

Yup.. Turn that ITP down

Just did a bunch of masters for some soft ambient stuff, and I turned the ITP down and got some extremely smoooove results.

So Rock/Pop ITP 0.0 and up.. Softer acoustic and ambient, drop that ITP! Check out the manual for some more tips thumbsupthumbsup

[Ruud Unit]

I find that 1.1 still does provide distortion on some mixes even with ITP all the way down.

In particular, I have noticed that sounds like horns, vocals, strings, all "steady-state" sounds, can get a little "strained" or "pinched" when relying exclusively on the FG-X

Before everyone flies off the handle about this...I'm not trying to bash the Slate team or their products in any way. I have FG-X and I use it. It's a tool without any equal.

I think it's been stated by the Slate team that FG-X is built on "optimized saturation curves." The theory being that you can apply distortion in a way that tricks the ear/brain into thinking something is louder than it really is without it crossing 0 db and without it actually sounding "distorted". So while objectively it's distorted, subjectively it isn't. I'm sure they have developed all kinds of great tricks for doing that, but I would imagine that there is a theoretical limit to what can be done, especially with "steady-state" sounds, which tend to reveal saturation more quickly than transients.

Without diminishing the Fabrice's / Slate's accomplishments in any way, I would propose that certain kinds of material, with certain dynamic profiles, still sound better with conventional limiting. Or perhaps, with a combo of FG-X and conventional limiting.

In closing, FG-X is a phenomenal tool, but it doesn't cover 100% of all loudness needs. Still gotta think...

[Marty Long]

I just did my friends quartet (horns and strings) to -10RMS.. had to turn the ITP down a bit but I found it extremely transparent yet again. It beat the Sony Limiter by a long shot. I'm not saying you're wrong Ruud Unit, but perhaps it didn't work on your particular horn or string mix.