wave arts tube saturator

[farjedi]

It's really good on certain things, and once I figured that compressing sounds ahead of it meant you could get more guts out of it before the annoying break up I started to appreciate it more. I can only get 3 instances running on a quad core on a high buffer, and it really shoots up if placed on a bus track and the worse hit being the master bus. That doesn't matter too much as it doesn't sound all that good on an entire track but can add bite to push a vocal or bass through the mix. I also got quite a gutsy sound out of a sample piano using the eq and compression before hand to get some nice believable saturation. Tried it on drums got didn't get anything I liked from it.
All in all this is OK but not sure if worth the cpu hit cos it's not phenomanal, can anyone with one of those i7 chips see how much cpu it eats?..cheers

[ADamage]

I have an i7 920 and I can use only 3 instances without EQ in Live 8, buffer at 128.

[Daniel Flores]

great stuff but it's raping my CPU... tried it in mastering and damn, I like it

Danie,

[World Studios]

I tried it for some minutes. Not impressed. If you use it sparingly it did too little and when you crank it it sounds crap. Mabye this is the sound of a tube amp overdriving, but I would never add this type of distortion to a master, that's fo sho. And it did not sound any good on individual tracks either, unless I used so little it was hard to tell if it was on. Sorry to be a spoil sport. Mabye it sounds nice before a speaker simulator?

[beethoven]

I don't ever like to dis peoples hard work but I have to agree with the comments from World Studios above.
On a more positive note, try the free FERRIC TDS at Variety Of Sound

Originally Posted by World Studios

I tried it for some minutes. Not impressed. If you use it sparingly it did too little and when you crank it it sounds crap. Mabye this is the sound of a tube amp overdriving, but I would never add this type of distortion to a master, that's fo sho. And it did not sound any good on individual tracks either, unless I used so little it was hard to tell if it was on. Sorry to be a spoil sport. Mabye it sounds nice before a speaker simulator?

[Fred_Abstract]

this plug sound very good imo , one of the few usable tube emu

[cooker]

Its good for what it's ment but not much should be expected IMO. I mean if you had similar hardware how would you use it? make cheap preamps for homestudios?

kidding, should be nice with electric guitars I didn't test it much yet.

The tech. is impressive, maybe not today but maybe 3-4 years later this is what we'll use for hardware simulation.

[Daniel Flores]

Originally Posted by beethoven

I don't ever like to dis peoples hard work but I have to agree with the comments from World Studios above.
On a more positive note, try the free FERRIC TDS at Variety Of Sound

tried it and like it too but not agressive enough for me...

Daniel

[rpmartino]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. We're certainly aware of the CPU demands this kind of plug-in creates and try to be up front about that. We thought it was important to make this kind of technology available in SOME form to those who want to use it, even if current processor speeds limit the overall extent to which the plug-in can be used. This first step for us into the analog modeling world is the tip of the iceberg as far as we're concerned.

The beauty of this technology is that the sound is defined by the circuit schematic itself, no more or less. The manual shows the actual circuit used in Tube Saturator, with all the values of the components (resistors, capacitors, etc.)

We are open to feedback about the sound of the plug-in and ideas for future products, since basically any circuit schematic can be specified in this circuit simulation system. I was personally quite pleased (and glad to see others are too) with some of the ways that Tube Saturator enhanced the sound of both tracks and whole mixes on our development systems. Different sonic results can be achieved even just by tweaking a resistor value here or there in the schematic, and as processor speeds continue to get faster we can develop more sophisticated products.

[Dubster]

Downloaded the demo of this and the 2.5 version of URS Saturation plug to try at the same time. I have to say, unfortunately, I didn't find this all that impressive at all, especially considering the CPU use. I suppose it's all subjective, especially when it comes to something like saturation, but I don't know - just don't dig it so far.

[Jantex]

I really really like it. I for example adore it on a rock female and male vocal, electric guitars, electric basses and softsynths.

For me definitely the best tube saturation plugin by far. Even if I drive it hard with alot of distortion, it still sounds very natural and musical, exactly how a well driven tube preamp would react, although I would never use it that much.

I also love its eq, which has a lot of vibe and character. It has smoothen all the vocals I processed them with it and made them pop out of the mix in a pleasant way. I has that tube silky hi-end that is not harsh IMHO.

It really rapes the CPU but I bought it, despite I already own URS Saturation and SPL Twin Tube. Tube saturator produces imho much more natural tube sound then the competition, and besides adding harmonic content also slightly compresses the material.

It is true that URS has many different saturations, which are mostly very nice, but when I'll be reaching for a fat tube sound I'll use Wavearts, although I'll need to freeze the tracks after that.

I have I7 920 and I can handle more than 8 instances of it on mono tracks. Stereo tracks are much more demanding, and group buss tracks and master tracks are complete overkill, three instances bring my computer to the knees.

[JustinAiken]

Originally Posted by rpmartino

The beauty of this technology is that the sound is defined by the circuit schematic itself, no more or less. The manual shows the actual circuit used in Tube Saturator, with all the values of the components (resistors, capacitors, etc.)

We are open to feedback about the sound of the plug-in and ideas for future products, since basically any circuit schematic can be specified in this circuit simulation system. I was personally quite pleased (and glad to see others are too) with some of the ways that Tube Saturator enhanced the sound of both tracks and whole mixes on our development systems.

Why not just make an editor that will let people design their own schematics? Then you could focus on improving/optimizing the core engine, and let the community create spot-on replications of everything they want?

[cooker]

Originally Posted by rpmartino

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. We're certainly aware of the CPU demands this kind of plug-in creates and try to be up front about that. We thought it was important to make this kind of technology available in SOME form to those who want to use it, even if current processor speeds limit the overall extent to which the plug-in can be used. This first step for us into the analog modeling world is the tip of the iceberg as far as we're concerned.

And that would be a good reason to focus on mastering on the next release. I guess simply a more complicated design would eat even more cpu right? a heavy plug-in is less of a problem when mastering compared to mixing ITB.

A proven compressor design would be very nice but I guess even the best computers today couldn't handle that. Maybe an eq design (with single band) would make more sense so if processing power allows, just open a second instance...why not a passive eq?



Edit: I'm actually using this products emulations for mastering (there goes another small secret...)with different tube's and settings CDSoundMaster.com and its really good. If you guys are on the tube route I suggest contacting with the engineer as its signal path is clamed to be very minimalistic.

[Proggm]

Originally Posted by JustinAiken

Why not just make an editor that will let people design their own schematics? Then you could focus on improving/optimizing the core engine, and let the community create spot-on replications of everything they want?

Like in Revalver, yes. That would be awesome.

[Steab]

Did some a/b comparisons with antares warm.

When not pushed they were quite similar, I like both, they definetely add some tube goodness.
When pushed the tube saturator acts much nicer, behaves in a more analog way I guess.
Plus it can get more versatile with that eq shaping.

But, the wavearts tube is indeed almost UNUSABLE, it does rape the cpu. Could work with printing the track, but it's a big disadvantage..

[Empty Planet]

I'm not going to quibble about the CPU hit. It's a factor of course, but we can freeze, right, so what's the big deal?

Make a decision, already. Print it.

Just sayin', I appreciate Wave Art's concept -- tighten it as much as you can, but don't cut corners just so people can run a bajillion instances and put off making a decision for another day. I, for one, would MUCH rather have the highest possible quality plugin, whatever the hit.

I will jump through hoops to get a dependably better sound.






Cheers.

[Everlast]

Originally Posted by rpmartino

We are open to feedback about the sound of the plug-in and ideas for future products, since basically any circuit schematic can be specified in this circuit simulation system. I was personally quite pleased (and glad to see others are too) with some of the ways that Tube Saturator enhanced the sound of both tracks and whole mixes on our development systems. Different sonic results can be achieved even just by tweaking a resistor value here or there in the schematic, and as processor speeds continue to get faster we can develop more sophisticated products.

Finally someone who said it that digital has its ways to develop and evolve. For a second I thought nothing more or better can be created in plugs world - especially in this very saturation/non-linear department I actually respect this kind of approach - no tradeoffs allowed

[LeMauce]

I did a test today with protools M-pow and a 3.0ghz 8core macpro 10gb mem. with Snow Leopard and could run 11 of this plugins on my sum busses with mellowmuse next to it to the huge latency... I'm frickin stunned by this plug. BUT you have to be carefull to not to abuse it. Its adding a certain analog vibe, still not like the real deal but hell its close!
I really really like this. Wonder perhaps its already working for RTAS if there is any change that there will be a TDM (or next gen "HD") version will be out.
for me this plug gets a 9 out of 10. I wish I could put this on every channel/aux/bus with out crapping out my cpu power.

[kreeper_6]

Yeah...and people keep telling me UAD-2 is nothing but a dongle. Native has endless processing power my ass.

[humanray]

WaveArts nailed "Analog" in the native domain like UAudio did with Moog and Fatso for the UAD.
I like the distorted Sound even more than that of the UAD Moog preamp section (which I find great)
It kind of softens harsh highs and I could make dull sounding bassheavy samples right in your face - with this analog Touch.

I would have bought it without thinking for 150$ if Tube Saturator wouldn't be THAT heavy on the CPU.
I'm on a MacBook Pro and cannot imagine to use it at the end of a heavy session - it will simply kill the CPU - maybe right from the start with freezing.

Now I'm thinking of getting an UAD-2 Solo Laptop to demo Fatso if it nearly sounds as interesting as Tube Saturator I will buy this instead or maybe get both if there's an interesting offer around.

But Tube Saturators Time will definitly come in about 1-2 years.



I tested URS Saturation last Week and SPL Twin Tube some time ago.
I tried to like URS Saturation but could not get any usefull sound out of it even when cranked it producess a grainy noisy distorted sound - nothing special. SPL Twin Tube sounded very impressive in the first place but when I lowered the volume of the processed Audio to match it with the level of the dry signal it sounded noisy and thin - too noisy and thin to pay 250€ for it.

[aleatoric]

I demo'd it for awhile very late last night with the cans (HD-650's). Sounds very cool, when I cranked it up to distorting levels it sounded very much like a distorted tube pre. I am not really sure how much use I would have for a plugin like this enough to purchase it but for what it does I am very impressed! I would like to see Wave Arts emulate the tube stage of something like a Vari-Mu, that would be really cool!

[Nrt]

I'm wondering how 12AX7 is modeled. Telefunken, Mallard and Amprex sound very different from each other.

[Retinal]

This plugin rocks, big time.

The CPU is a hassle yes but at some point they were going to push our quad/eight core pc's right? Well at least this one sounds good! And the CPU is not just for a fancy guy.
It sounded good pretty much with everything I ran through it, love it on the 2bus too

For the UAD is just a bundle, well, they came out with the UAD2 right? Which is way more powerful because people needed three old uad to close a mix, but now we have plugins like Fatso that suck all the cpu even from the new UAD2.. it's just how this will always work, more power, more poweful and better software that will require more cpu.. and so on

Anyway this one nailed it good, i love it, and the price is not bad either

[Daniel Flores]

Maybe it's time for Wavearts, Ik-multimedia, Waves, Urs, Spl, Soundtoys, Sonalksis, Abbey road and Sonnox to make their own DSP boxes with heavy programed plug-ins. I wish all developers did that as the quality of all plugs would be much higher, native must be such a tricky thing to programe for, not all have 8 cores with 8 gigs of ram.
I don't believe in native plug-ins anymore... as the Ram gets stronger the plug-ins get heavier, it's just a mad race between plug-in developers and computer developers.

Just my 2$

Daniel

[Never1]

I tried it and I gotta say it is an excellent plugin. CPU hit is big, but why not print/freeze?

Do we really need to have everything be tweakable to the end?

I'll be buying for my mastering setup, likely. It sounds like a driven preamp when cranked. The trick I found is to drive it and then tweak the eq subtly to affect the curve of the harmonics. If you push it too hard it turns to crap, but any analog front end will turn to crap.

Knowing the engine is so heavy makes me comfortable knowing it has a lot of power behind. It can sweeten and make the high end golden brown or really thicken up the low mids.

Good work guys!

[MelodyMan]

Originally Posted by cooker

Edit: I'm actually using this products emulations for mastering (there goes another small secret...)with different tube's and settings CDSoundMaster.com and its really good. If you guys are on the tube route I suggest contacting with the engineer as its signal path is clamed to be very minimalistic.

A big +1. I have his tube package and use it with Nebula 3 pro. Amazing stuff.

[Hardtoe]

Originally Posted by Daniel Flores

Maybe it's time for Wavearts, Ik-multimedia, Waves, Urs, Spl, Soundtoys, Sonalksis, Abbey road and Sonnox to make their own DSP boxes with heavy programed plug-ins. I wish all developers did that as the quality of all plugs would be much higher, native must be such a tricky thing to programe for, not all have 8 cores with 8 gigs of ram.
I don't believe in native plug-ins anymore... as the Ram gets stronger the plug-ins get heavier, it's just a mad race between plug-in developers and computer developers.

Just my 2$

Daniel

And how would we hook all these devices up to our computers???

Get with the modern age buddy - a fast computer is MUCH cheaper than 9 different companies dsp dongles - that just sounds like a logistical nightmare.

btw - It has always been a race between developers and computer power available - this is a basic fact of computer development, not something they thought up to annoy you...

(btw I have 8-cores and 12 gigs of ram)

[Daniel Flores]

Originally Posted by Hardtoe

And how would we hook all these devices up to our computers???

Get with the modern age buddy - a fast computer is MUCH cheaper than 9 different companies dsp dongles - that just sounds like a logistical nightmare.

btw - It has always been a race between developers and computer power available - this is a basic fact of computer development, not something they thought up to annoy you...

(btw I have 8-cores and 12 gigs of ram)

Boy...
So, the fact that computers have 6 to 8 PCI-e slots is holding you back from trying DSP fx? And also, you don't have to own ALL of them to make good music.

DSP is more ahead thinking than Native and anyone who owns an UAD, SSL, focusrite or TC will agree.
There is a reason why SSL has chosen DSP, the day they come out with Native (NOT Waves 4000 series – they are not even close to SSL) I will eat my words.

BTW, I also use native with dual core 3.2 with 4g ram so I'm not sitting with an old comp, but I bet you never owned a DSP... that's why you are hating

[Empty Planet]

MUST you two be such pricks?

Can we keep the macho posturing for some place it's more appropriate, like, say, a schoolyard, and just keep a simple discussion more or less to the topic?

[everythinglouder]

Originally Posted by Empty Planet

MUST you two be such pricks?

Can we keep the macho posturing for some place it's more appropriate, like, say, a schoolyard, and just keep a simple discussion more or less to the topic?

thumbsup