Larry Shelby Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 I have a license for Convology XT Complete...just PM me an offer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stony Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 (edited) Deal is back. Currently are 137 License Keys left. https://my.stagecraftsoftware.com/promo/echothief Edited June 18 by stony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted June 18 Author Share Posted June 18 (edited) 6 hours ago, stony said: Deal is back. Currently are 137 License Keys left. https://my.stagecraftsoftware.com/promo/echothief I started this thread and after trying the EchoThief Convolution Reverb, I think it's delete worthy. Both the free Convology XT and MConvolutionEZ are vastly superior. You can download the same EchoThief impulse responses-- they're free and available directly from the guy who made them -- and load them in those two superior plugins, both of which give you more control than the Stagecraft plugin. Edited June 18 by PavlovsCat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 9 hours ago, PavlovsCat said: MConvolutionEZ is a lightweight plugin that runs flawlessly on my Windows 10 PC. The included IR library sounds excellent. However, the plugin is a very cut-down version of Melda's for-pay convolution reverb. It's really just a teaser to promote their paid product and Melda removed so many of the controls from their paid product that a serious user is going to find this freebie insufficient as a convolution reverb. Ah, okay. I'm just so stuck on MTurboReverb that I've only ever opened MConvolutionMB to change the style and download the presets from the Exchange. Haven't even given it a listening test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Walton Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 On 6/18/2024 at 6:39 AM, PavlovsCat said: MConvolutionEZ is a lightweight plugin that runs flawlessly on my Windows 10 PC. The included IR library sounds excellent. However, the plugin is a very cut-down version of Melda's for-pay convolution reverb. It's really just a teaser to promote their paid product and Melda removed so many of the controls from their paid product that a serious user is going to find this freebie insufficient as a convolution reverb. I own both the Free one and the Paid MB one. I think the control differences are far smaller than you are implying for most purposes. The ability to load 2 IRs in the MB version and even have the multi-band on them is certainly useful sometimes, but the knobs to tweak are very close to the same. Things like, EQ, Saturation, and Modulation are items that can be handled by another tool. A feature such as time (related to decay) while this is something we are used to in algo verbs, typically has a detrimental effect on an impulse. As for the libraries included, a large portion of the time, I'm importing 3rd party IRs. The efficiency and sound quality of Melda's offering make it a great option. I haven't used Convology in a while (no longer installed on my machine), but I thought I remember it being more CPU hungry than Melda when I tried it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted June 19 Author Share Posted June 19 (edited) 5 hours ago, Brian Walton said: I own both the Free one and the Paid MB one. I think the control differences are far smaller than you are implying for most purposes. The ability to load 2 IRs in the MB version and even have the multi-band on them is certainly useful sometimes, but the knobs to tweak are very close to the same. Things like, EQ, Saturation, and Modulation are items that can be handled by another tool. A feature such as time (related to decay) while this is something we are used to in algo verbs, typically has a detrimental effect on an impulse. As for the libraries included, a large portion of the time, I'm importing 3rd party IRs. The efficiency and sound quality of Melda's offering make it a great option. I haven't used Convology in a while (no longer installed on my machine), but I thought I remember it being more CPU hungry than Melda when I tried it. Of course, we could handle some of these controls with additional external plugins, but that misses the point of the convenience of why developers add these controls in a plugin in the first place and why so many users appreciate them. Having more controls that many of us are likely to use in a convolution reverb as opposed to having to create a plugin chain that does that (and requires more CPU resources) is important to many users like me for a number of reasons. The first of which is the ease of making adjustments to the reverb. The second is that it enables the user to easily create and save presets that s/he can easily use in other projects and easily make edits to those presets instead of having to refer back to 20 past projects to find what effects chain and settings were used on each effect. Additionally, having an effects chain on each channel, especially if you're using a lot of virtual instruments -- which is the case for me -- can end up creating serious latency and resource issues. I'm regularly using 20 something tracks of detailed Kontakt instruments and if each one has 4 effects on it, it can mean that I have to freeze tracks while still recording the song, and need to freeze and unfreeze tracks to lessen latency. It can be a major hassle. It's one of the reasons I love Superior Drummer. It's a drum library along with a mixer and a ton of effects. Sure, we could use your argument that you can use external effects to do the same thing, and sometimes I love a compressor or a reverb and will use it instead of the internal effects, but I love the speed and convenience of having all of those effects when I'm using the mixing console in SD3. It saves time and also leads to my trying things out I would never had tried if it weren't so easy to do. It also means I can easily save everything I've done as a preset I can use in other projects, and I can't even easily convey how significant that is. I suppose you can boil it down to workflow and personal preferences. I prefer to be able to use the controls in a convolution reverb, easily experiment with different settings and save everything as presets that I can easily use in other projects. So that this conversation is helpful to others who haven't used or researched these two convolution reverbs, I've included screenshots of MConvolutionMB with MConvolutionEZ so that those who haven't compared these two convolution reverbs can understand the differences in controls. MConvolutionMB has the following controls: MConvolutionEZ provides the user with 6 controls: Dry/Wet, Widenning High Pass Low Pass Pre-delay Normalize IR Loudness MConvolutionMB gives the user those controls with a lot more precision, adds additional controls and some very significant additional functionality: Dry/Wet Widenning / Width High Pass Low Pass Gain Reverse Pre-Delay Time Saturation Frequency Additional functionality: File Manager with Automatic Stitching Two impulse responses per band plus modulation File manager with automatic stitching Ability to Generate IRs Edited June 19 by PavlovsCat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted June 19 Author Share Posted June 19 @Brian Walton The irony of all of this, is that while I think MConvolutionMB has enormous advantages to the cut down version (MConvolutionEZ), the main reason I was strongly considering buying it (it's on sale and I can get it for around $20 US at LootAudio), is that I expected it to have a lot more really good IRs, as I really like what's included with MConvolutionEZ) and the demos for on the MConvolutionMB on the product page -- especially for the jazz drums -- sounded really good to my ears. But if MConvolutionMB doesn't have many IRs that come with it, I'm not certain I would buy it just for the MConvolutionMB plugin, as I'm pretty happy with Convology XT and it runs well on my machine. If anyone wants to weigh in, I'd love to get some insights, pro or con MConvolutionMB. My favorite reverb is Abbey Road Chambers, but it is a total resource hog to the point where it creates latency that makes it basically on usable in real time, and that stinks because I find it so inspiring when I'm playing that I want to use it in real time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 10 hours ago, PavlovsCat said: But if MConvolutionMB doesn't have many IRs that come with it, I'm not certain I would buy it just for the MConvolutionMB plugin, as I'm pretty happy with Convology XT and it runs well on my machine. I'm looking at the IR browser on MConvolutionMB right now and it looks like the same list of files. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luc Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 On 6/18/2024 at 1:07 AM, PavlovsCat said: I'm glad you found it useful. Here are some other free IRs worth downloading Bricasti IRs https://web.archive.org/web/20190201211631/http://www.samplicity.com/bricasti-m7-impulse-responses/ Lexicon 480L: https://www.housecallfm.com/download-gns-personal-lexicon-480l Signal to Noise - Not free, but inexpensive IRs: https://signaltonoize.com/?page_id=4188 Some of these Impulse Responses look awesome, thank you so much for this! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Osterday Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 12 hours ago, Starship Krupa said: I'm looking at the IR browser on MConvolutionMB right now and it looks like the same list of files. Thanks for that. As much as I might like to support Melda, I don't think I need the MB version. Kilohearts Convolver is on my list when it's $19 again on next sale. Good number of IRs and will be fun to mess with in Snap Heap and Multipass. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 31 minutes ago, Pat Osterday said: Thanks for that. As much as I might like to support Melda, I don't think I need the MB version. Kilohearts Convolver is on my list when it's $19 again on next sale. Good number of IRs and will be fun to mess with in Snap Heap and Multipass. Pat, I completely forgot about Kilohearts Convoler. That comes with a few hundred impulse responses that I would expect -- based on my experience with Kilohearts -- are pretty good (if anyone here owns it, please chime in). Now I'm looking forward to their next sale too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Osterday Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 3 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said: Pat, I completely forgot about Kilohearts Convoler. That comes with a few hundred impulse responses that I would expect -- based on my experience with Kilohearts -- are pretty good (if anyone here owns it, please chime in). Now I'm looking forward to their next sale too. I demoed it a while back and remember liking it. The $19 sale price is good too. I remember watching some video where they used Multipass with one IR on the mids and another on the highs and thought it sounded really nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PavlovsCat Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 (edited) 58 minutes ago, Pat Osterday said: I demoed it a while back and remember liking it. The $19 sale price is good too. I remember watching some video where they used Multipass with one IR on the mids and another on the highs and thought it sounded really nice. Thanks for mentioning the demo, I'll do that. I have a bunch of pugins from Kilohearts, but not that one. Funny, this thread started out with me posting a freebie convolution reverb -- and I got it up fast before cclarry! But when I tried it out, I definitely didn't think it was something I would be happy about even paying ten bucks to buy. Instead, we've all gone on a collective tangent on convolution reverbs and Biran and Erik -- of all people (because he loves Melda plugins) unintentionally talked me out of buying MConvolutionMB (because I was interested in it to get more IRs) and now I'm interested in Kilohearts Convolver! This is actually part of what I like so much about this group. We collectively went on a tangent. Brian, while not agreeing with all of my observations, ended up getting me to think a bit more about the plugin I was interested in, as did Starship Krupa. Then you come along and get me interested in a completely different convolution reverb! At some forums, someone would be ripping on us for tangents. But we seem to have found a group of people who enjoy going on these tangents together! And we all can learn a lot during that process, because every one of us added their knowledge along the way. So y eah, this is basically the Socratic dialogue version of a music related forum! Edited June 20 by PavlovsCat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 8 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said: Erik -- of all people (because he loves Melda plugins) unintentionally talked me out of buying MConvolutionMB I do like MeldaProduction, but I don't believe that every one of their plug-ins is the best at what it does. Past the FreeFX bundle and MEssentialsFX there are lots of gems (MDrumLeveler, MPowerSynth, MRhythmizer), but there are also plenty where I prefer other companies' products, plenty where I can't find any use for them at all, and plenty that I think are needlessly complex, to the point where I've given them many tries and given up trying to fit them into the rotation (MDrummer, I need a drum machine, not a drum DAW). They are not everyone's cup of tea. Sometimes not even my cup of tea.? Overall, what I dig about MeldaProduction's stuff is the amazing depth most of them have, the underlying tech, and most of the company's business practices. Documentation being a glaring exception. The ones I recommend are ones I think most people will find usable. For the most part, snag those two bundles I mentioned and you've got the best of what they have to offer. Past that, pick and choose, and if you want the inverse of a subscription, get MTotalFX, MSoundFactory, or MComplete. New goodies every year until the company or you passes from this mortal plane. As for collections of IR's, I thought that was the easy part with convolution reverbs. Aren't there extensive free collections of them kicking around the netz? Like I said, not much experience with convolution 'verbs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Osterday Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 Conversation still falls under "alternative recommendation" I'd say! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now