Bx_Masterdesk 2 Teaser!

[Fleer]

14 minutes ago, abacab said:

V1 was worth every penny as a freebie!

I've started putting this across my master bus in every project. It's THAT good!

That freebie was a lite version, Abe!

[Brian Walton]

1 minute ago, Fleer said:

That freebie was a lite version, Abe!

They gave away both the "lite" Classic version and the full version at different times.

 

 

[Fleer]

3 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

They gave away both the "lite" Classic version and the full version at different times.

 

 

Dang! I want my money back. 

[Brian Walton]

9 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

I'm happy to have rewarded whoever was responsible for its creation with my small contribution!

I also liked the earlier freebie bx_masterdesk Classic.

I submitted a mix to PA's online mastering service and found the results to be unsatisfactory. There's still a difference between having an all-in-1 mastering plug-in where I can tune each module the way I want and just letting an algorithm do its thing.

V2 looks pretty similar to V1, but with more "food processor" buttons.

Based on the image provided above that has "v2" written on it.  I'm curious how they are going to market this thing as it frankly looks nearly identical in both layout and features to V1.  

 

Sure V2 says True Peak on the limiter section which I'm going to guess has the same algos under the hood as True Peak Limiter (which I like - but frankly only when I control  some of the settings - so that is going to be interesting).  

But in terms of really taking it to another level, I'm a bit confused until we get more detail as I expected a little more of a visual overhaul at the least.

[Brian Walton]

3 minutes ago, Fleer said:

Dang! I want my money back. 

https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2022/04/12/soundwide-free/

[Fleer]

13 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2022/04/12/soundwide-free/

Yep, now I remember. Also already bought Oberhausen. Good thing I got some other freebies outta that. 

[abacab]

43 minutes ago, Fleer said:

That freebie was a lite version, Abe!

No, I got the full version v1.6.0 free with the Soundwide Welcome Bundle. Never had the lite version...

[abacab]

1 hour ago, Fleer said:

Good thing I got some other freebies outta that. 

My faves so far outta that bundle are the Oberhausen, Black Box, and Masterdesk. Haven't played with the console yet, but that Focusrite looks like a doozy!

 

[Fleer]

Yeah, got that one through Focusrite or Novation. 

[abacab]

Some History

We’re proud to welcome Focusrite’s famous console to our platform.
The birth of Focusrite began in 1985 when Sir George Martin, otherwise
known as the fifth Beatle, approached Rupert Neve to inquire about
custom modules for AIR Montserrat. His studio regularly saw everyone
from Paul McCartney, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Eric
Clapton and countless others. George discussed with Rupert a design
for a top of the line mic pre and an EQ with low noise and an extra wide
bandwidth with the main goal of it being as musical as possible. What
came out of this vision was the ISA-110, featuring transformer-coupled
mic pre amp with a four band EQ and highpass and lowpass filters. Word
travelled fast and these standalone units could sound be found in studios
across the planet. With the massive success achieved by the ISA-110 and
the companion ISA-130 compressor/limiter/de-esser module, a ton of
orders quickly emerged.

In the late 80’s Focusrite spared no expense when working on their ambitious
studio desk but as costs rapidly reached astronomical levels, the rights to the
console were acquired by Phil Dudderidge of Soundcraft Electronics and the
Focusrite Studio Console was finally completed by his team. From the work
on ISA-110 and ISA-130, Phil’s engineers crafted equally successful designs,
the ISA-215, 220 and 430. Since then, the Focusrite Studio Console has gained
an enviable reputation for dynamic punch and clinical equalisation and firmly
established itself as the mixing desk of choice in studios all over the world.
The list of records made on this desk includes everyone one from Green Day,
No Doubt and tons of others.
 

[Jesse Screed]

6:36 into the vid

"It's not gimmicky,"

and it was free!

usually free stuff is gimmicky

[MusicMan]

15 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

Based on the image provided above that has "v2" written on it.  I'm curious how they are going to market this thing as it frankly looks nearly identical in both layout and features to V1.  

 

Sure V2 says True Peak on the limiter section which I'm going to guess has the same algos under the hood as True Peak Limiter (which I like - but frankly only when I control  some of the settings - so that is going to be interesting).  

But in terms of really taking it to another level, I'm a bit confused until we get more detail as I expected a little more of a visual overhaul at the least.

Maybe they're adding TMT to the meters so there will be some variation between them too ? 

[Soundwise]

6 hours ago, MusicMan said:

Maybe they're adding TMT to the meters so there will be some variation between them too ? 

Nice one! I hope they're not going to emulate scratchy pots, malfunctioning cables or power failure.

[Sidney Earl Goodroe]

I am absolutely blown away by the Focusrite strip! The quality of my mixes have improved so much it's hard to believe that I mixed the project myself! The eq is so fat but not wooly sounding. The top end is so pleasing to listen to.

I don't know how I got by without it all this time. The real clincher is by having all the tools in one gui, it has cut my mixing time just about in half. I could very easily see having enough presets that I would only have to organize tracks, insert my preset, and in a matter of minutes be done.

Best plugin in my arsenal. Hands down!!

[abacab]

Not sure how this feature exactly works in the Focusrite Console,  but probably worth checking out. It does random channel assignments as claimed.

(From the manual)

Console Channel Numbers L&R (TMT Section)
Switches between 72 different Console Channels. In a Stereo instance,
two adjacent Channel numbers will be displayed. Each channel has its
own, different character! This is achieved by including about 150 resistor
and capacitor tolerances in the modeling which correspond to the
real-world component tolerance ranges, as specified by the component
manufacturers and / or the hardware designers. TMT is Patent-Pending,
a true Brainworx invention.
 

Random One
Only the plugin instance you click on will switch to any unused channel
number in that session randomly.

Random All
If you have many channels of bx_console Focusrite SC running in your mix
session, you can make sure to be using different channel numbers for
every single instance with a single mouse click now! In most hosts you
can add a copy of the same plugin to every channel with a keyboard
shortcut (for example click ALT on a Mac to put a bx_console plugin on
every channel of your Pro Tools session automatically). Imagine opening
48 channels with one click and then randomizing all the channel numbers
with a second mouse click. Done.

Tip:
One very cool way of using the RANDOM ALL feature is to finalize a mix
and bounce it, then save the whole mix session. Now you can play back the
song and click RANDOM ALL a few times on any instance of bx_console
Focusrite SC, and you will notice that the “timbre” or tone of your mix will
change ever so slightly, depending on the use or abuse of the individual
EQs and Dynamics, of course. The more processing you apply, the more
obvious the differences become.
Now by clicking through different randomized channel combinations you
may actually find one that sounds a bit darker or brighter, a bit punchier
or smoother than your original mix. Why not save 1 or 2 alternative mix
sessions and bounce them, so your client can choose between 2 or 3
different “flavors” of the otherwise identical mix?
 

[Starship Krupa]

6 minutes ago, abacab said:

Why not save 1 or 2 alternative mix
sessions and bounce them, so your client can choose between 2 or 3
different “flavors” of the otherwise identical mix?

Well, one reason I can think of is that my ears and mixing moves might have accommodated for the variations while I was finalizing (yeah, right) the mix.

Something I don't need is a button that generates variations in a mix after I've decided that I'm finished. Why not just call it the "Rabbit Hole Generator," or "Too Much Choicerizer?"

The way that this works in the physical world is that every strip does indeed have tiny variations, especially when it comes to pots. But if we're "mixing with our ears" (which I thought was one of the points of using a channel strip rather than, say, a chain of Meldaproduction or Fab Filter "scalpels," then couldn't one's mixing moves have accommodated for the variations in some way?

TMT="Too Much Twiddling?" "Tweaker's Midnight Terror?"

[abacab]

27 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

TMT="Too Much Twiddling?" "Tweaker's Midnight Terror?"

?

[Sidney Earl Goodroe]

Speaking to the "too much twiddling" theory, if you are working for a producer, an artist manager, and the artists themselves, you will thank God that you have the ability to twiddle til everyone is satisfied!! ?

[Brian Walton]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

Well, one reason I can think of is that my ears and mixing moves might have accommodated for the variations while I was finalizing (yeah, right) the mix.

Something I don't need is a button that generates variations in a mix after I've decided that I'm finished. Why not just call it the "Rabbit Hole Generator," or "Too Much Choicerizer?"

The way that this works in the physical world is that every strip does indeed have tiny variations, especially when it comes to pots. But if we're "mixing with our ears" (which I thought was one of the points of using a channel strip rather than, say, a chain of Meldaproduction or Fab Filter "scalpels," then couldn't one's mixing moves have accommodated for the variations in some way?

TMT="Too Much Twiddling?" "Tweaker's Midnight Terror?"

While I agree with this idea on paper, in practice I'd say there is a component of randomization in all my final tweaks.  Of course I ultimatly choose which version I think sounds better, but as it relates to something like TMT which is rather subtle there are certainly things that I add to and tweak almost randomly in a master bus or mastering chain that create even more variation by nearly random controls.  

Tools that add flavor where I might put it on a track, tweak some knobs and then you A/B with the on-off to see if you like the results more than before.  I don't see the TMT randomization as any different than that process.  

My ears certainly are not good enough to eq with two different eqs bilindly to get the exact same end result that would phase cancel each other without some serious A/B during the process.  Thus I think there is an element of randomization even when I think I know what I'm doing or am after. 

 

In the example specified of giving a client 2-3 mixes where the only thing you change is TMT (many clients want to hear more than a single option), the question in many respects is if that TMT variation is even noticable enough for a client to say they strongly prefer mix "A" over an alternate.  That would be pretty interesting if Brainworx actually did a real world study on it to see if cients actually care about those differences, vs say putting BlackBox MS on the master vs not.