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Pro Channel


John Nelson

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I was away for several years so I missed the introduction of the Pro Channel (the X years?).  Anyway, I think it is under rated inasmuch as I am getting great results with just the built in Pro Channel processing.  Any 411 on where it came from, who wrote the code etc.?  The eq especially punches above its weight.

I've been underwhelmed by not a few third party eqs that promised to be all that but in the end were just a pretty face.  Not withstanding the inevitable hardware emulations (Pultec etc.) which have their own vibe, and which I do dig, the Pro Channel gets the lion share of use in my sandbox.

Just looking to learn more about the Pro Channel.

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Pretty sure the EQ was an in-house development along with most of the other modules. Softube added the Saturation knob and offered a collection of paid modules. While the Softube bundle is no longer sold, the PC modules are still included with the individual plug-ins that were part of the bundle. Overloud developed the tape and console modules.

The PX-64 and VX-64 foreshadowed the original PC. Both are multi-function plug-ins in which the individual "modules" could be arranged in any order. The original PC had dedicated effect slots just like these plug-ins. This is why the PC76 U-Type Channel Compressor and PC4K S-Type Bus Compressor modules cannot be loaded into the same PC. These were developed for the original X1 PC which had one compressor slot. While the one slot for each effect type restriction was removed with the introduction of the modular PC in X1 Producer Expanded these modules were never updated to the new design.

There are quite a few threads about the PC modules in the old forum.

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The ProChannel is the thing that for me makes Cakewalk/Sonar stand above other DAWs.

The ProChannel EQ is my go to EQ the vast majority of the time.

Although I quite often use some of the Waves modelled EQ's/Channel Strips, these are mainly to get the sound of their preamps more than anything. Occasionally I'll use the EQ on them for a specific colour, but the ProChannel EQ is definitely my go-to EQ.

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Yes, I love the ProChannel, especially the slide out, big window, parametric eq. That's great just to see whats going on tonally with the vocals and guitars, if there are any unpleasant things can find and then fix at source with a small recording before recording the main take. Because I have less time for music now, workflow is king, ProChannel does it all quickly and easily, no real need for thousands of different plugins and their accompanying and annoying authorizations, passwords and quirky incompatibilities.

I was using Studio One V3 but I am preferring Cakewalk now, wasn't happy with the sound and the black interface on everything, I'm bringing those projects over into Cakewalk now. The sound of Cakewalk is much better, console emulation, saturation, tube etc all there, without having to do anything, raw sound sounds meatier to me as well, S1 doesn't have any of that or if it does, I haven't found it buried in menus and I hate adding stuff all the time. Simplicity is king!

I think that unless you've been working in a professional studio for 20 years with the accompanying professional audio qualifications, then it is better to pick a few plugins and learn how to use them well rather than drown in hundreds or thousands of plugins.

ProChannel rules!

 

 

 

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An underrated thing about the PC is the ability to create custom UI's for FX chains so you can control any plugin the same way that the included modules. I want to start creating UI's for my amp sims to control them from the track inspector and map the controls to the knobs on my Nektar Impact. Talk about workfkow!

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10 hours ago, John Nelson said:

Just looking to learn more about the Pro Channel.

You might have to go to youtube and grab some info/demos on it from there. Sonar X series and Platinum etc and also more recent Cakewalk. I just use a youtube downloader and then watch them later on my TV while I muck about with it on the computer.

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