Anybody use all of these? I recently purchased Stripbus, and if you have never used it, I strongly recommend it. It is amazing, and the Version 2 that has just been released is even more incredible.
I am curious, though, if I should purchase the others to open up the arsenal…I would likely start with RC Tube on the Slate Digital side, and from what I can tell, Satson is used more for the filter than anything, but I am really curious about which of these does the best job at console emulation, and are the differences complimentary of one another.
i have all the sknote stuff they all sound amazing but never used satson from what i hear though and what other people say they are different machines with different color to em stripbus i would have to say though is the more versatile with its ducking and desks now and it how has crosstalk which is what lots of vcc people always rave about. personally i think they all sound good in there own way i like srtipbus because it can be transparent if you know what your doing (most people don't know how to set up levels on it). but they are all good i know people who would never go without vcc and some like me who love the stripbus it just has more bang for your buck if you like what one is doing doint throw more money getting something else because you think it will make it even better from what i can hear they can all be used to make a great mix and i just prefer one to the other.
Satson is indeed used as filtering alot from what i read around here i almost got it once but i dident see the point roundtone and stripbus with some presance and a tiny tiny bit of verbtone for some smoothing really do the trick alot of the time for me if you have verbtone and you want to kind of smooth out the song try making it almost transparent you will be surprised its so clean that it can actually give it more of a warmth i did it on some classical guitar stuff not for reverb effect but for a warming smoothing effect.
i have all the sknote stuff they all sound amazing but never used satson from what i hear though and what other people say they are different machines with different color to em stripbus i would have to say though is the more versatile with its ducking and desks now and it how has crosstalk which is what lots of vcc people always rave about. personally i think they all sound good in there own way i like srtipbus because it can be transparent if you know what your doing (most people don't know how to set up levels on it). but they are all good i know people who would never go without vcc and some like me who love the stripbus it just has more bang for your buck if you like what one is doing doint throw more money getting something else because you think it will make it even better from what i can hear they can all be used to make a great mix and i just prefer one to the other.
Satson is indeed used as filtering alot from what i read around here i almost got it once but i dident see the point roundtone and stripbus with some presance and a tiny tiny bit of verbtone for some smoothing really do the trick alot of the time for me if you have verbtone and you want to kind of smooth out the song try making it almost transparent you will be surprised its so clean that it can actually give it more of a warmth i did it on some classical guitar stuff not for reverb effect but for a warming smoothing effect.
Great Response. I agree with you on the Stripbus; it is a great plug.
Since getting it, I have been mulling getting the rest of his stuff.
The new V. 2 is excellent with the crosstalk and the headroom controls…..just done some minimal testing, but from what I can tell, it is going to be amazing.
I won't be dishing out any money for additional plugs, but I was interested in seeing what people thought in regards to the differences and if they did align with one another.
FWIW, I have all 3 and continually mix and match with them. The consoles you can create are simply not possible in the real world and these things give u soooo many useful options. I really feel that you can't go wrong with any of them.
__________________
Leo Alvarez Mixer/producer
Soundjunkies productions I have a theory that if you aren't a little scared shitless about what you are working on then it isn't worth doing John Congleton Genius is small pieces Daniel Lanois
Some of my mixing/mastering work (pop, reggae, rock, metal)
FWIW, I have all 3 and continually mix and match with them. The consoles you can create are simply not possible in the real world and these things give u soooo many useful options. I really feel that you can't go wrong with any of them.
Awesome!! Thanks.
I may go ahead and get RC Tube just to have a different flavor, but I've been messing around with Stripbus Version 2, and cannot imagine anything getting better results…..
I could not believe the difference in depth when I Take Stripbus off Bypass….
I have a question about all these console emulations.
Do they really add anything to the mix or is it just hype?
I would like to hear some A B mixes.
Cheers
Most definitely NOT hype. It's subtle but basically you get a deeper soundstage ( width, depth ). Things become a little easier to place within the mix and as soon as you take it off you miss it. Depending on which one of these you choose you'll have a different feature set. Satson has some of the nicest filters I've ever heard and the actual console emu sounds very SSL 4000 like. When comparing it to the VCC version of the SSL I find that they sound very similar but IMO VCC edges ahead. That said VCC is a lot more money but also has all the other consoles. StripBus is a different animal altogether. The StripBus consoles don't sound like any gear I've worked on before and that's exactly what's so cool about them. To me they are the ones with the strongest fingerprint and can get really saturated but the new headroom control allows it to be everything from squeaky clean to filthy and everything in between PLUS you also get a bunch of tone control options, a sick buss comp and Cuttertone vinyl processor, so in the bang for the buck department I think this guy's hard to beat . As far as recreating the original consoles they modelled I feel VCC is king. Steven did several shootouts between the original console and the VCC models and almost no one guessed correctly ( including me ). I know almost no one likes to admit that a plug can do what this one does and I'm sure that some will say that I'm out of my mind for saying it but tools like these, UAD and others are the reason I went ITB after nearly 17 years of working exclusively with analog tools and swearing that plugs would NEVER sound right. Sometimes it's good to be wrong
I have a ton of work but as soon as I can I'll post something to show you what I mean
Most definitely NOT hype. It's subtle but basically you get a deeper soundstage ( width, depth ). Things become a little easier to place within the mix and as soon as you take it off you miss it. Depending on which one of these you choose you'll have a different feature set. Satson has some of the nicest filters I've ever heard and the actual console emu sounds very SSL 4000 like. When comparing it to the VCC version of the SSL I find that they sound very similar but IMO VCC edges ahead. That said VCC is a lot more money but also has all the other consoles. StripBus is a different animal altogether. The StripBus consoles don't sound like any gear I've worked on before and that's exactly what's so cool about them. To me they are the ones with the strongest fingerprint and can get really saturated but the new headroom control allows it to be everything from squeaky clean to filthy and everything in between PLUS you also get a bunch of tone control options, a sick buss comp and Cuttertone vinyl processor, so in the bang for the buck department I think this guy's hard to beat . As far as recreating the original consoles they modelled I feel VCC is king. Steven did several shootouts between the original console and the VCC models and almost no one guessed correctly ( including me ). I know almost no one likes to admit that a plug can do what this one does and I'm sure that some will say that I'm out of my mind for saying it but tools like these, UAD and others are the reason I went ITB after nearly 17 years of working exclusively with analog tools and swearing that plugs would NEVER sound right. Sometimes it's good to be wrong
I have a ton of work but as soon as I can I'll post something to show you what I mean
I have a question about all these console emulations.
Do they really add anything to the mix or is it just hype?
I would like to hear some A B mixes.
Cheers
No they are not hype. However, they all come with an "opportunity cost". Sometimes you can get more depth, sometimes you just get more distortion that might mask the sometimes desirable clarity that only digital recording can provide. (I know, I know....heresy)
I use Satson and VCC, but not religiously. If I've used great mics with a humping front end on an awesome talent I'm going to think twice before I automatically assume that some console emulation is going to make it sound better.
That said, they can be great tone shaping tools. And let's not forget Cranesong's Phoenix, which i still think is the best of the bunch.
I just did a mix with both satson and stripbus and I am now heading to my import/export office to pay duty on my ilok for VCC.
Concerning bus comp, the stripbus one is cool, but it wasn't the best one I had, so I just use my other tools for that use.
Sent from my HTC Dream using Gearslutz.com App
Have you really messed around with all the options on the comp? I'm only asking because when I used it the first time it didn't wow me either. When I really dug into it I started seeing how you could adapt this to do just about anything. The mid/side stuff combined with the side chain eq, the parallel capabilities and the auto release on the comp make it ultra versatile. Won't work every single time but you end up using it a lot.
I used it and it was good, but I prefer other comps to it. I like a certain sound and the bus' buscomp just isn't the flavour I most like. It can do lots of stuff, but I don't use those options on my bus.
I will probably use the 1176 bus comp on some vocal busses or perhaps drums, but on my 2 buss I prefer others.
I stopped focusing on tools like Satson for the reason that it was a bit distracting (and maybe "dangerous"). Why I say so?
Because it can have a "problem solver" effect (like multiband compressors for certain people) and somehow can give you that
"now it'll sound like a hardware mix" too easily, instead of concentrating on the source (selection of sounds, EQ, balancing etc.).
I'm more focusing on getting the mix right without those "helpers" (while still using Satson a bit here and there, but not relying on it) and maybe have a little icing on the cake with it.
The trick for me is to not pay real attention to it. When you mix with a board, you also focus on the EQ, compression,
getting the source right and so on. You surely will not get a great result just by going through the console itself. It's just a side effect.
This is just my opinion and my observation for myself. My mixes are better again, since I stopped jerkin' off on the cool "emulation" thing and work more intuitively.
Limiting myself helped. Less is more because I use my skills and talents much more again.
I still use the mild saturation in Satson and the filters are great but I'm happy that I found the focus (on what's it's REALLY about in a mix) again.
Going through mixes I did a year, two years, three or five years ago, I didn't hear real improvement in my mixdowns using it. That was so revealing! (Like blind tests)
Hope it's not too off topic here but I felt like saying it!
Merry Christmas everyone
P.S. I was never tempted by SK's Stripbus...WAY too cluttered and packed with features - far from what I'd call a "console emulation" and has this "I'll fix your mediocre mix" badge IMO. Distracting!
Fantastic mixes were done without default M/S, dynamic filters, ducking and what not....
(Besides that, I was very dissapointed with his "Presence" plugin, so from now on I'll never buy a plugin again when there's no demo!)
I stopped focusing on tools like Satson for the reason that it was a bit distracting (and maybe "dangerous"). Why I say so?
Because it can have a "problem solver" effect (like multiband compressors for certain people) and somehow can give you that
"now it'll sound like a hardware mix" too easily, instead of concentrating on the source (selection of sounds, EQ, balancing etc.).
I'm more focusing on getting the mix right without those "helpers" (while still using Satson a bit here and there, but not relying on it) and maybe have a little icing on the cake with it.
The trick for me is to not pay real attention to it. When you mix with a board, you also focus on the EQ, compression,
getting the source right and so on. You surely will not get a great result just by going through the console itself. It's just a side effect.
This is just my opinion and my observation for myself. My mixes are better again, since I stopped jerkin' off on the cool "emulation" thing and work more intuitively.
Limiting myself helped. Less is more because I use my skills and talents much more again.
I still use the mild saturation in Satson and the filters are great but I'm happy that I found the focus (on what's it's REALLY about in a mix) again.
Going through mixes I did a year, two years, three or five years ago, I didn't hear real improvement in my mixdowns using it. That was so revealing! (Like blind tests)
Hope it's not too off topic here but I felt like saying it!
Merry Christmas everyone
P.S. I was never tempted by SK's Stripbus...WAY too cluttered and packed with features - far from what I'd call a "console emulation" and has this "I'll fix your mediocre mix" badge IMO. Distracting!
Fantastic mixes were done without default M/S, dynamic filters, ducking and what not....
(Besides that, I was very dissapointed with his "Presence" plugin, so from now on I'll never buy a plugin again when there's no demo!)
I'm glad you feel that way. But I got my mixes sounding more "round, fuller and sonically balanced" faster with these tools and that's what tools are supposed to do. Help me get my job done faster and help me get the results and sound I want as quickly as possible.
Also the console an engineer uses is very important and many mixing engineers book a room according to the sound of a room and also the console in that room. I'm pretty sure Dr. Dre, CLA, Eminem, Timbaland and Dave Pensado all like an SSL because of it's sound. Because of how the input works and of course the eq and comps and buscomp and the overall sound of that board... and these guys could get any board they went. Not saying SSL is better than API or Neve or whatever you like... it's the sound they prefer andwith these tools we can get a sound, if you like it or not that's a personal matter.
Of course you don't need a console or a console emulation plugin, but with this mentallity we wouldn't have any analouge modeling software because we could always do a solid mix with stock plugins... it just takes longer to get there...
Well, this truely a matter of opinion. Just like anything else; I figure out what all the knobs do and if I know whether I like it or not. Now, I don't have years upon years (meaning decades) of experience mixing records, but I know the sound I like and I know that just using strip from strip bus I can get a more punchy sound.
I don't use the eq, or the bus. I use the input because it's punchy. I use satson on the inputs to get 2nd harmonic distortion and also gain control, a nice meter for gain staging and very nice high and low pass filters. That usually give me enough umph so that I can mix some niceness. So how is that not fast?
Two plugins that already get most of the way there character wise and if those extra options get in my way I won't use them. Don't need too, just load my ssl channel strip, my lo air or whatever for my bass and through vcc on my bus.
It makes me faster because I don't let it distract me and I already know how I want it to sound and so far I have been satisfied. I am finishing a project and can send you a piece after we are done with the mastering and you can hear it (like I said I still lack lots and lots of experience on how to most quickly get the sound in my head out, but so far these tools have been the best at getting me there).
Of course you don't need to like these tools and a budy of mine doesn't like what satson does, he prefers something else and like you he's allowed too, just pointing out a caveat to your opinion.
Have you really messed around with all the options on the comp? I'm only asking because when I used it the first time it didn't wow me either. When I really dug into it I started seeing how you could adapt this to do just about anything. The mid/side stuff combined with the side chain eq, the parallel capabilities and the auto release on the comp make it ultra versatile. Won't work every single time but you end up using it a lot.
yeah... ive really been messing around with it recently and it hasnt really grooved with me much...
it just requires too much tweaking to get it sounding right...
Sknote does awesome reverbs... i think thats his real forte.
havent tried the new StripBuss though... looking forward to that... but the first version didnt impress me much either... i would love to get proven wrong though!
oohhh and Satson is GREAT... i use the Buss on all my effect returns... and on the masters in combination with the VCC buss.
yeah... ive really been messing around with it recently and it hasnt really grooved with me much...
it just requires too much tweaking to get it sounding right...
Sknote does awesome reverbs... i think thats his real forte.
havent tried the new StripBuss though... looking forward to that... but the first version didnt impress me much either... i would love to get proven wrong though!
oohhh and Satson is GREAT... i use the Buss on all my effect returns... and on the masters in combination with the VCC buss.
Yeah you know it's funny you say that. I like both the Satson and the Sknote Strip which I recently got the V2. You still have to play around with it to get the sound you want but it's very useable. The Satson seems to do something great as soon as you place it on the channels. With little tweeking of those filters your mix is headed in a great direction. I love having them both.
I use satson on every project along with nebula modeling preamps like neve and tape along side it. Let me tell you what I've never been happier sound wise
I'll be investing in the alex b MBC console (API) to round out my 3Dness on my mixes and its a wrap. I've heard great things about slate vcc and stripbuss but sadly I haven't tried them yet. To be honest I probably won't. Nebula does what I need along with satson which I just can't replace because its gain staging is phenomenal. But I will say this, the way I use nebula and satson is a set it and forget it approach. I run all my tracks through the preamps (first insert) then throught the tape emu and finally satson with both the on/off switch and the fat switch on. I then freeze the tracks and go about mixing as normal giving me great "instant" results because the "sound" I'm going for is right there. I hope all of you are having the same results as I am and enjoying yourselves because its a great time to be an ITB mixing engineer
No they are not hype. However, they all come with an "opportunity cost". Sometimes you can get more depth, sometimes you just get more distortion that might mask the sometimes desirable clarity that only digital recording can provide. (I know, I know....heresy)
-R
It might be heresy and what's more on GS but it's good to hear! thanks for sharing
A.
I have VCC and Satson and now I'm curious about Stripbus... Sounds like a fun tool for the collection! I'm just not sure if I need it...
It offers a different set of options - channel ducking, dynamic filters, actual inter channel crosstalk (if you like that sort of thing) ... and it also sounds radically different. I've got Satson, Stripbus and RCTube and use all 3 sometimes (not usually at the same time :p). None of them are redundant imo.
It offers a different set of options - channel ducking, dynamic filters, actual inter channel crosstalk (if you like that sort of thing) ... and it also sounds radically different. I've got Satson, Stripbus and RCTube and use all 3 sometimes (not usually at the same time :p). None of them are redundant imo.
Thanks for your impressions. How is the ducking? The manual made it seem like its not for surgical purposes but what do they mean? I can't duck the bass guitar with the kick??
i don't know if we need a new thread for my question, but since it's along the line with these analogue emulation of consoles, i'm curious what you guys think about the sk note roundtone vs. waves master tape emulation?
i will buy one to put it on ALL channels in the recording stage. why not both? well, they are both cheap, but i like to keep my setup identic 'most of the time'.
for example, i always record my stuff through the vcc api console, and later in the mix i run it through the trident. it's not a golden rule, but it just works.
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). I know almost no one likes to admit that a plug can do what this one does and I'm sure that some will say that I'm out of my mind for saying it but tools like these, UAD and others are the reason I went ITB after nearly 17 years of working exclusively with analog tools and swearing that plugs would NEVER sound right. Sometimes it's good to be wrong
but it's good to hear! thanks for sharing
