'Why I don't buy "Analog" EQ Plugins'

[T Boog]

I saw this a while back and thought it was very interesting. And considering it's such a beautiful day, I just thought I'd try to get an argument going between u guys 😁

 

 

[T Boog]

And comps...

 

Just curious if anyone here has any thoughts on these vids. Cheers 🍻

Edited yesterday at 09:37 PM by T Boog

[Bapu]

He's a very intriguing guy.

[Bapu]

I bought his paid for compressor.  Have not taken it out for a spin.

[craigb]

1 hour ago, Bapu said:

I bought his paid for compressor.  Have not taken it out for a spin.

Shouldn't you leave it inside and compress with it instead of taking it out for a spin Ed? 🤔

 

😜

[OutrageProductions]

Opinions are like A##holes, everyone has one, thinks they're entitled to proclaim it to the masses, and most of them stink thanks to YT.

As an over-educated and practicing Electrical Engineer for over 40 years, I'll state these facts, which obviously only apply to the accurately emulated analog modeling algorithms, most of which one has to pay real money for:

Beyond the EQ curve or compression ratio are factors that are captured from the analog circuitry that are meant to emulate things like Intermodulation distortion, Total Harmonic distortion, slew rate, hysteresis, and transformer ringing, among other stuff that gives a distinct difference (to well trained ears) between, for example, a Dbx 160x and a genuine Teletronix LA2. They actually sound different if done correctly as a plug-in, as they do in the hardware version.

Does the "average" wannabe musician/recordist/content creator know the difference? No. Therefore, it matters to a very slim minority of modern engineers.

[T Boog]

1 hour ago, OutrageProductions said:

As an over-educated and practicing Electrical Engineer for over 40 years, I'll state these facts, which obviously only apply to the accurately emulated analog modeling algorithms, most of which one has to pay real money for:

Beyond the EQ curve or compression ratio are factors that are captured from the analog circuitry

  Cheers to u my friend and thanks for the feedback. It's good to hear some different, experienced opinions.

After all, even I know there's lots of snake oil out there that comes wrapped in cool looking packages. I've also seen a lot of strongly opinionated people get humbled quickly in blind test. Even pros can get fooled by their eyes &/or preconceived notions. 

Btw, ironically, I was actually coming back here to post his most recent video on this subject. He says he designed an even better testing plugin. And he addresses some of the  things that u, & others have mentioned. (I figured I should be fair to the guy and let him have his final say)

I'd be curious to hear ur opinion as to the effectiveness of his new & improved testing method 👍

Edited 20 hours ago by T Boog

[mettelus]

5 hours ago, OutrageProductions said:

hysteresis

+1 to this entire post, in the analog realm there is no way to "prompt jump" (step function) from point A to point B without some transition/smoothing effect, but in the digital realm you very much can. While individual components are often well modeled, their interaction may be lacking. This also leads into the traditional analog medium (magnetic tape), which adds more variables, with hysteresis being one of them. It is the interaction of all those variables that yields the analog result, so the more "piece parts" there are, the harder (or more complex) the modeling will be.

Adding more variables onto the pile would be an amp sim accurately modeling a tube amp, especially with complex circuits... my Carvin XV 212 is one of the more complex ones, and LINE6 put a lot of effort into modeling it in their "Legendary Drive." Even though that has the highest CPU usage in HELIX/Native (not sure if that is still the case), it is not fully modeled nor 100% accurate, but as mentioned above, to the average user that will not be an issue/concern. If they never used the hardware, they will be none the wiser.

5 hours ago, OutrageProductions said:

Opinions are like A##holes, everyone has one, thinks they're entitled to proclaim it to the masses, and most of them stink thanks to YT.

This did give me a good chuckle though, thanks for that! When I slip up and let my sarcasm loose, I catch myself saying, "Congratulations, you Googled something... now you're an expert." from time to time.

[Byron Dickens]

19 hours ago, OutrageProductions said:

Does the "average" wannabe musician/recordist/content creator know the difference? No. Therefore, it matters to a very slim minority of modern engineers.

More importantly, does your audience know? Or care?

[OutrageProductions]

40 minutes ago, Byron Dickens said:

More importantly, does your audience know? Or care?

As someone who has been mixing music for albums and film for almost 50 years, if it passes muster for myself and a very few respected colleagues, it will definitely work for the vast majority of the target audience. 

[craigb]

How do you get AI to use your analog devices?

Asking for a friend...

 

😜

[Chaps]

13 minutes ago, craigb said:

How do you get AI to use your analog devices?

Asking for a friend...

 

😜

Robots.