OVERLOUD Introduces 'Flexible GEM Bundles'

[Heath Row]

 

COMPOSE YOUR BUNDLE
AND SAVE UP TO 66%

You can now purchase a bundle of 3 or 5 products at a fixed price, and redeem the Gem plug-ins of your choice.

3 GEM PLUG-INS                 5 GEM PLUG-INS
 179 €/$                                         249 €/

Purchasing value up to 537 €/$ - Purchasing value up to 815 €/$

 

 

The Gem plug-ins are the Overloud emulations of legendary studio processors, extended beyond the original hardware.
Learn more about the full Gem series.

LEARN MORE

[Heath Row]

Cool, just nabbed a 5 pack to finish off my GEM collection ?

[antler]

Very cool - I do love the GEM series. The three that practically go on all my mixes are:

• Comp76FET
• Comp LA
• Dopamine

[lawajava]

In addition to the above-mentioned Dopamine I use Echoson on some tracks  with nice results

[Heath Row]

I have Dopamine and Sculptube on practically everything.

[MusicMan]

These are now available at Audio Deluxe with further discount and freebie.

If I was to get 3, so far I'd be thinking Comp670, Tapedesk but then having trouble deciding on a 3rd. Not because I don't like them, they're all pretty good, the first two just stood out more. So far I've been leaning toward Dopamine which is a little more unique to what I have.

I do quite like Sculptube but I also have Arturia's Dist Tube Culture and also Sound Toys Decapitator which somewhat sit in that space and I like as well.

For all of you that use Overloud, what do you like and recommend?

Note: I have and love Comp LA

[mibby]

I like the 2 Overloud EQ plugins I own and they have some of the best UIs out there, but I don't have many because they are always too expensive.  I'm still finding $50+ per plugin way too much for my cheap-o self...  There are too many reasonably priced alternatives and I have a few of them.

Didn't there used to be a 20% off coupon in our accounts if we owned a GEM?

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by mibby

[jackson white]

Comp G is also a fine workhorse.

Edited October 5, 2022 by jackson white

[antler]

6 hours ago, MusicMan said:

For all of you that use Overloud, what do you like and recommend?

It depends on what you've already got, and what you write.

Personally, I put Dopamine on the main bus of pretty much every mix before final mixdown. Best to use sparingly and to check your mix the next day to make sure you haven't overcooked it. It's one of those reverse Dolby NR plugins that do something magical to the high end.

Comp76FET is great for adding some crunch to drums and doing Parallel Compression. Some options in there for different sonic colours too.

[Heath Row]

9 hours ago, mibby said:

Didn't there used to be a 20% off coupon in our accounts if we owned a GEM?

Yes, there was, it's moved over to REmatrix libraries now.

[MusicMan]

13 hours ago, mibby said:

I like the 2 Overloud EQ plugins I own and they have some of the best UIs out there, but I don't have many because they are always too expensive.  I'm still finding $50+ per plugin way too much for my cheap-o self...  There are too many reasonably priced alternatives and I have a few of them.

Didn't there used to be a 20% off coupon in our accounts if we owned a GEM?

If these were cheaper I would definitely have already owned them too. But they do have an interesting analog'ish type of feel/vibe and are low on CPU than some alternatives I have.

[MusicMan]

10 hours ago, jackson white said:

Comp G is also a fine workhorse.

I'm not testing this one, as I think I might like it ? I already have quite a few SSL compressors, including the G from SSL themselves so I don't want to buy any more! I'd be surprised if it didn't hold up very well to the competition.

[MusicMan]

8 hours ago, antler said:

It depends on what you've already got, and what you write.

Personally, I put Dopamine on the main bus of pretty much every mix before final mixdown. Best to use sparingly and to check your mix the next day to make sure you haven't overcooked it. It's one of those reverse Dolby NR plugins that do something magical to the high end.

Comp76FET is great for adding some crunch to drums and doing Parallel Compression. Some options in there for different sonic colours too.

Thanks! Dopamine does sound good to me. I always need to drop the volume once I turn it on, so that I'm not just getting fooled, by it being louder. They talk about it being like a dynamic EQ of sorts in how it works. Do you find that you can get similar results with other EQ options you might have? That's the only thing I still need to try.

Checking it isn't overcooked is a really good tip, especially waiting until the next day with fresh ears. I've got a few plugins like that (Vertigo VSM-3, SPL Vitalizer MK2-T, etc) and they're easy to overdo.

I was also considering Comp76FET as well and have been giving this a demo. I can get pretty close to that with Softube FET and even some of the PA offerings. I've also got Comp FET-76 from Arturia which works better on full mixes, but I do prefer what the others include GEM do on drum busses. I'd probably grab it if I didn't have them and it still might be a contender as well.

[jackson white]

13 hours ago, MusicMan said:

not testing this one, as I think I might like it ? I already have quite a few SSL compressors, including the G from SSL

ya, had it before some of the others, still efficient for dialing in basics, preferring the PA townhouse for color though

Arturia, OL GEMs and some of BRA, are all great options, still working through them to get a better feel for favorites. this link made the OL LA3A a winner.

LA-3A Compressor SHOOTOUT against 4 PLUG-IN emulations

unfortunately, it's also sent me down the Acustica Audio rabbit hole...

...

have yet to try Dopamine on acoustic/organic material, one of those 'magic wands' that's too easy to overcook as noted, but could give it a demo sometime.

[antler]

53 minutes ago, jackson white said:

the Acustica Audio rabbit hole...

They sound great, but don't those need huge amounts of CPU?

[antler]

15 hours ago, MusicMan said:

Thanks! Dopamine does sound good to me. I always need to drop the volume once I turn it on, so that I'm not just getting fooled, by it being louder. They talk about it being like a dynamic EQ of sorts in how it works. Do you find that you can get similar results with other EQ options you might have? That's the only thing I still need to try.

I can't get anything like it with a static EQ.

I confess I've not tried to recreate it with dynamic EQs. I'd imagine it'd be fairly difficult though. I understand it to behave like a Dolby NR reversal process, so if there are any specs available, they might be a good insight into what it does - either that, or using something like Plugin Doctor?

I usually put it on the main bus, followed by the Ozone EQ with a very gentle scoop, and then an IK tape machine (one instance is all my computer can handle?) - Dopamine will give it some colour, but I'll still add a tiny bit of EQ after.

 

15 hours ago, MusicMan said:

Checking it isn't overcooked is a really good tip, especially waiting until the next day with fresh ears.

Sometimes I think it sounds great after a mixing session. I'll load it up the next day and wonder if I actually saved my work because it sounds so bad ?

[jackson white]

55 minutes ago, antler said:

1 hour ago, jackson white said:

the Acustica Audio rabbit hole...

They sound great, but don't those need huge amounts of CPU?

yes. clock speed / # cores make a difference. but they've also been pretty pro-active with improving the efficiency of their internal processing.

fwiw, i come from a hw background and it's a bit amazing to actually hear the difference. AA are not without their sonic limitations (they can be all over the map) but starting to get some pretty interesting results.

interestingly enough, i was told I'd have to run Reaper to use these, but Cakewalk has been holding up just fine.

the ongoing exploration on CPU here.

 

[Grem]

6 hours ago, jackson white said:

preferring the PA townhouse for color though

I love that color!!

Great plugin

 

[MusicMan]

6 hours ago, jackson white said:

ya, had it before some of the others, still efficient for dialing in basics, preferring the PA townhouse for color though

Arturia, OL GEMs and some of BRA, are all great options, still working through them to get a better feel for favorites. this link made the OL LA3A a winner.

LA-3A Compressor SHOOTOUT against 4 PLUG-IN emulations

unfortunately, it's also sent me down the Acustica Audio rabbit hole...

...

have yet to try Dopamine on acoustic/organic material, one of those 'magic wands' that's too easy to overcook as noted, but could give it a demo sometime.

I feel somewhat glad to hear that! I do like the Townhouse for a coloured SSL as well and the native SSL for clean G Comp I like too, so I'm pretty well covered with them. I do have quite a few other G comps as  well though just for good measure ? 

Agreed on Arturia, OL GEMs and BRA. These guys have some great plugins and I'll often reach for something out of them. All 3 are actually quite different in their sound too I'd say. They all sound good, but sonically I'd say they're quite diverese.

I think I may have watched that video before, but I'll check it out again. Out of all the LA-3A compressors I tried, the Overloud was my favourite and considering it can do 2A and 3A is a bonus too.

I do actually rate the Acustica Audio stuff pretty highly and rabbit hole is a good way to describe that! They can be a CPU monster, but in their updated Erin they have boasted great performance gains. I don't own it and haven't given it a demo yet, but might be promising if it works out to be more efficient without sacrificing on sound quality.

https://gearspace.com/board/new-product-alert/1390043-acustica-audio-renews-erin-state-art-mastering-suite-new-modules-hypercomp-tech.html

[MusicMan]

5 hours ago, antler said:

I can't get anything like it with a static EQ.

I confess I've not tried to recreate it with dynamic EQs. I'd imagine it'd be fairly difficult though. I understand it to behave like a Dolby NR reversal process, so if there are any specs available, they might be a good insight into what it does - either that, or using something like Plugin Doctor?

I usually put it on the main bus, followed by the Ozone EQ with a very gentle scoop, and then an IK tape machine (one instance is all my computer can handle?) - Dopamine will give it some colour, but I'll still add a tiny bit of EQ after.

 

Sometimes I think it sounds great after a mixing session. I'll load it up the next day and wonder if I actually saved my work because it sounds so bad ?

I actually tried to open the demo in Plugin Doctor, but I'd need to activate the full demo or buy it and I've been liking keeping them as 10 minute demos so when I'm ready I can do the full trial. For some reason in Plugin Doctor that trial/activation part works differently to in Cubase (quite possibly intentional on their part!).

But I did check it out in Bertrom analyser and the curve in that was pretty basic, just a simple high shelf with the two 361s with one been steeper and also dropping the overall volume down. The 180 rolls off some of the lows as well as boosting the highs.

That may change a little depending on what material is passing through it I guess. It does sound nice though. I recreating a somewhat similar curve in Fabfilter ProdQ3 but I didn't quite sound as good. Maybe some saturation would get it closer.

Once you start adjusting the dry/wet/comp the curves do get a little more complex and I'd say introduce some harmonics. So recreating on a static EQ or dynamic would require A-B matching which would make it easier to just own the plugin!

And Dopamine you literally just turn on, drop the output gain to level match and it's already there, but you can also tweak.

Agreed on those IK tapes! I love them, but even Acustica Audio Taupe is lighter on CPU! ?

That next day test is funny... sometimes I've been producing stuff and getting right into it late at night only to hear it the next day and not be impressed at all ? Luckily not too often, but I've learnt not to get my hopes up the next morning just in case!