locrian Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 On 6/16/2020 at 4:14 PM, Piotr said: You are right Brian $70 for just 1 plugin is a lot but.... as mentioned often you get more than just 1 plugin under 1 name. Let's check what is included for instance in current deal Nebula N4 for 79EUR: Bundle features Inside this bundle you will find: N4 is a VST, AAX and AU multi-effect plug-in that is able to emulate and replicate several types of expensive audio equipment, eliminating the need for costly and bulky hardware. N4 uses libraries that are created using a sophisticated “sampling approach” making it possible to “record” aspects of the sound of audio devices and play them back. The result of this sampling process is highly realistic, complex emulations of many types of audio signal processes and effects. The Cross Platform Commercial Library (version 5) is a 10 GB library with more than 450 different real hardware emulations sorted by category. The Cross Platform Commercial Library can be downloaded via Aquarius and include in detail: N4 Pack 1 - Compressor (33 emulation presets). N4 Pack 2 - EQ and Filters (73 emulation presets). N4 Pack 3 - Preamps (73 emulation presets). N4 Pack 4 - Time Variant (52 emulation presets). N4 Pack 5 - Room Reverbs (22 emulation presets). N4 Pack 6 - Plate Reverbs Part A (12 emulation presets). N4 Pack 7 - Plate Reverbs Part B (13 emulation presets). N4 Pack 8 - Hall Reverbs Part A (14 emulation presets). N4 Pack 9 - Hall Reverbs Part B (15 emulation presets). N4 Pack 10 - Spring Reverbs (4 emulation presets). N4 Pack 11 - Others Reverbs (20 emulation presets). N4 Pack 12 - Tapes (20 emulation presets). To be clear I am not trying to convince for this deal anybody I am personally skipping it as I have got lately pink but it is tempting... Are you saying that 79EUR buys all 12 N4 Packs? I must be reading this wrong. It sounds too good to be true (unless these plugins are not that great). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) - Edited June 18, 2020 by Hidden Symmetry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 15 minutes ago, locrian said: Are you saying that 79EUR buys all 12 N4 Packs? I must be reading this wrong. It sounds too good to be true (unless these plugins are not that great). These are the factory programs included with N4. Although some are these are nice I removed them all a few years ago. It's the official & unofficial ( AlexB, Cupwise, CDS, Tim Petherick) 3rd party programs that really shine. Also if you get or have N4 make sure you get the All You Can Eat ( AYCE) free nebula presets from Henry Olonga here: http://www.nebulapresets.com/?page_id=6602 There's many great programs included although it was released several years ago. Again in general Nebula provides better quality while Acquas have the better workflow. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locrian Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Hidden Symmetry said: It's the official & unofficial ( AlexB, Cupwise, CDS, Tim Petherick) 3rd party programs that really shine. Are these also included for the 79EUR price, or do you have to buy them separately? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 8 minutes ago, locrian said: Are these also included for the 79EUR price, or do you have to buy them separately? No, 3rd party are all separate purchases. Official ones can be found on AA's website & the unofficial devs each have their own websites. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piotr Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 7 hours ago, Hidden Symmetry said: These are the factory programs included with N4. Although some are these are nice I removed them all a few years ago hm, so from such perspective better seems to use free N4 player than buying N4 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZokZTM Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 42 minutes ago, Piotr said: hm, so from such perspective better seems to use free N4 player than buying N4 ? N4 brings lots of interesting possibilities to the table. You can load (the N4) version of your Acqua plugins within N4. This opens up the ability to create your ''setups'' - like presets from multiple sources etc. Also N4 give additional DSP buffer size option (in addition to your DAW). N4 has it's own S/R conversion and it will run properly at 384kHz as well (for those demanding mastering sessions :-). Also 3rd party N4 libraries are indeed great. Tim Petherick in particular. Apparently N4 Acquas versions loaded inside of N4 will for all those reasons sound ''better'' than their Acqua counterparts. Haven't tested this myself but trust the source very much (mastering engineer). For those who are considering purchasing Acustica Audio's stuff. Please test the workflow properly before parting with the cash. Especially if you're on the Mac. There you might look at the Modula lite purchase to come to the rescue. Also on the PC, do your testing guys - first. As the plugins look great (and sound very nice for the most part) temptation to purchase is indeed very high, BUT stability can be an issue, also CPU tax has to be taken into account. I use them less and less in the sessions as they were not worth the trouble. I'm primarily on the Mac. Got the Windows PC server setup just to try to run those Acustica plugs I've got. So, installed some Acustica stuff on the brand new PC, and it isn't really a smooth sailing. N4 lost it's Repositories the very first day... still can get it to work. Just my two pennies 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZokZTM Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, ZokZTM said: So, installed some Acustica stuff on the brand new PC, and it isn't really a smooth sailing. N4 lost it's Repositories the very first day... still can get it to work. Quick update... N4 Repository now works... and I can see the N4 versions of my Acqua plugins again. If anyone ever gets this problem of loosing N4 Repository please follow this steps: go to N4's ''Settings'' > Engine MAST page (Basic) > set the ''SCAN BOOT'' to 1 recovery 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, ZokZTM said: Quick update... N4 Repository now works... and I can see the N4 versions of my Acqua plugins again. If anyone ever gets this problem of loosing N4 Repository please follow this steps: go to N4's ''Settings'' > Engine MAST page (Basic) > set the ''SCAN BOOT'' to 1 recovery Another way to troubleshoot is to delete the ~scanboot file inside Setups folder. Other issues may require deleting all the XML files inside Temp folder to fix them. I still do this every so often even w/o problems. Always reboot afterwards, this will rebuild both the ~scanboot & temp files again. I also keep backups just in case. Edited June 18, 2020 by Hidden Symmetry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 3 hours ago, Piotr said: hm, so from such perspective better seems to use free N4 player than buying N4 ? I never used the Free player so I don't know if the Nebula factory programs will work in them. I doubt it. I know you can't have both versions installed at the same time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piotr Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 4 minutes ago, Hidden Symmetry said: I never used the Free player so I don't know if the Nebula factory programs will work in them. I doubt it. I know you can't have both versions installed at the same time. What is destroying me now is what you and ZokZTM stated: Nebula is providing better quality than aqua plugins 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 18 minutes ago, Piotr said: What is destroying me now is what you and ZokZTM stated: Nebula is providing better quality than aqua plugins Yeah for me, all Tim Petherick libraries outclass Acquas and I have nearly all of them now but they are an adjustment to my workflow, which isnt for everyone. I use Bluecat patchwork so each instance in a Comp or EQ opens up stacked up each time I open. I freeze tracks a lot when using N4 and AA plugins, too much of a CPU killer otherwise 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hidden Symmetry Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Piotr said: What is destroying me now is what you and ZokZTM stated: Nebula is providing better quality than aqua plugins There's a trade off in order to offer the 'all in one' plugin workflow of Acquas. I wouldn't worry about it, they still sound great & better than 90% ( Eq's, not comps) of the plugins currently on the market. It's the cpu, workflow or the AA drama that's the killer or turns people off. Edited June 18, 2020 by Hidden Symmetry 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 3 hours ago, ZokZTM said: N4 brings lots of interesting possibilities to the table. You can load (the N4) version of your Acqua plugins within N4. This opens up the ability to create your ''setups'' - like presets from multiple sources etc. Also N4 give additional DSP buffer size option (in addition to your DAW). N4 has it's own S/R conversion and it will run properly at 384kHz as well (for those demanding mastering sessions :-). Also 3rd party N4 libraries are indeed great. Tim Petherick in particular. Apparently N4 Acquas versions loaded inside of N4 will for all those reasons sound ''better'' than their Acqua counterparts. Haven't tested this myself but trust the source very much (mastering engineer). For those who are considering purchasing Acustica Audio's stuff. Please test the workflow properly before parting with the cash. Especially if you're on the Mac. There you might look at the Modula lite purchase to come to the rescue. Also on the PC, do your testing guys - first. As the plugins look great (and sound very nice for the most part) temptation to purchase is indeed very high, BUT stability can be an issue, also CPU tax has to be taken into account. I use them less and less in the sessions as they were not worth the trouble. I'm primarily on the Mac. Got the Windows PC server setup just to try to run those Acustica plugs I've got. So, installed some Acustica stuff on the brand new PC, and it isn't really a smooth sailing. N4 lost it's Repositories the very first day... still can get it to work. Just my two pennies On my end using Purple or Single parts of a Strip (like just a preamp or just an eq or just a compressor) barely uses CPU. Versus using a Chain it goes for 3 to 5% cpu usage, no matter what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Piotr said: What is destroying me now is what you and ZokZTM stated: Nebula is providing better quality than aqua plugins Just checked your updated form, mate you really improved it. Thanks so much! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZokZTM Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) 44 minutes ago, tom said: Yeah for me, all Tim Petherick libraries outclass Acquas and I have nearly all of them now but they are an adjustment to my workflow, which isnt for everyone. I use Bluecat patchwork so each instance in a Comp or EQ opens up stacked up each time I open. I freeze tracks a lot when using N4 and AA plugins, too much of a CPU killer otherwise Likewise! However Acquas are really ''good enough'' compared to N4 custom stuff, as Hidden Symmetry stated above. Some compressors in Acqua (Ultramarine, Sand, Pink) are getting really good, but usually Native stuff and UAD for comps is the way to go. Preamps although useful in Acqua, get used not so often, exception being Cream & Water pres. Workflow is a buzz killer. Another thing just came to my mind: Italian's know how to design the visually appealing stuff. Acquas look apart and that ''fortunately'' goes in line with the sound quality. However, still laughing about when I had a Ferrari here in the studio for a video shot. We drove around (slowly) get some shots and then brought it inside the studio. Shot it for about 2 hours, had the lights on on that beauty so to capture the ''great looks''. It was a red one. Amazing car. Well towards the end of the shoot, battery ran out on the car. The dealer (client) came to pick the car up, charged the battery... nada.. new battery... nada. Huge electrical error! All got totally bonkers. They towed it away from the studio. I've heard later on that they had to tow the car to the main Ferrari dealership in Helsinki (we live cca 300 km away) and got it fixed. The cost of fixing was over 3000€. Still can't believe it... it feels almost same with those Acquas, when they work... boy what a pleasure... And the looks ? Edited June 18, 2020 by ZokZTM 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZokZTM Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 9 minutes ago, Carlos said: On my end using Purple or Single parts of a Strip (like just a preamp or just an eq or just a compressor) barely uses CPU. Versus using a Chain it goes for 3 to 5% cpu usage, no matter what. @Carlos PC or Mac? channel insert or Group/Bus insert? What Daw? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, ZokZTM said: @Carlos PC or Mac? channel insert or Group/Bus insert? What Daw? PC. Reaper 6. I can tell right away looking at the Performance Window. I tested several Acquas. Inserts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZokZTM Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, Carlos said: PC. Reaper 6. I can tell right away looking at the Performance Window. I tested several Acquas. Inserts. Ah yes, I've heard that Reaper is ''probably'' the best in handling and distributing the load on DSP (sorry CPU) hungry plugins! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 14 minutes ago, ZokZTM said: Ah yes, I've heard that Reaper is ''probably'' the best in handling and distributing the load on DSP (sorry CPU) hungry plugins! Yeah, that's the ONLY reason I stayed with it....... ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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