I thought you were a little too flippant when I saw it first time. There is definitely sombre comedic value in it although you are giving the guys at AA a hard time (leaving Christmas offers up is a good thing as it adds more chances to get plugins at a cheaper price) I thought you weren't at all trying to get a giid sound out if them (because you know what to expect from an analog equipment) in the end the question is if you can c achieve a similar feel even if the knobs behave differently?
Hi ! I have some Acqua plugins (not this one) and I know a few things about how this plugins work. An important thing to know is that the harmonic content is separated from the eq/comp and it's in the preamps (they're not all mic preamps), the name is a bit confusing maybe. In Viridian the first 3 preamps are the mic preamps of the consoles, a dynamic sampling of the channel strips with the EQ off/bypassed. The last 3 are the harmonics/tone of the compressors. To get the right sound of the compressors you should use the last 3 "preamps" also :). That's why you didn't saw any harmonic distortion in PluginDoctor. Usually is the same process also with the EQs..you have to engage a preamp to get the COMPLETE tone. The input trim has compensated output and adds subtle harmonics when is pushed...but you have to choose a preamp for this. There's a learning curve with this products. I like how they sound and I mix exclusively with Acquas but I had to dedicate some time to get all the right info. And there's a lot to discover. Some guess-work (not official) : - EQs: (1) He*ios 69 console [boost mode] (2) He*ios 69 console [cut mode] (3) Sie*ens console (tube) - Compressors: (1) Vintage PY3 406o, (2) Reissue He*ios 760 (3) Vintage He*ios 700 FET - Preamps: (1) Sie*ens 72 microphone pre (2) Sie*ens 72 with more harmonics (3) mono He*ios 69 console microphone input pre (4) mono He*ios 700 FET compressor Harmonics (5) mono He*ios 760 compressor Reissue Harmonics (6) PY3 Compressor Harmonics Have fun !
@@guitar-jamru When you combine a compressor with it's preamp they should work together like a one piece. I use some plugins from Acustica but I cannot explain the sampling process or other technical stuff in great detail..I know a few things but in the end I prefer to just trust my ears. It's weird to see a compressor without harmonics but we're talking about a new approach (in plugins world) that we have to understand it first. Maybe this tech is much more like Kemper Profiler that regular algo plugins..I don't know..:) They did a great job sampling Greg Wells's RCA compressor (El Rey), he was very impressed.
@@peteralbert9805 AA plugins are antithetical to Whytse's 'just wing it for the first look' philosophy, which I totally get, but these are RTFM plugs for sure, as @Adrian Ursu suggests. I actually like having the 'color' separate as every plugin in your chain these days wants to be THE color plugin and it can build up dangerously fast..
Maybe my answer is late, but in case it is useful I clarify it: A compressor acts on the envelope of a signal not on the amplitude variations of the sinusoidal wave, a pure tone has a flat envelope, so testing a compressor with a tone does not generate distortion, it simply attenuates the wave, perfectly preserving its sinusoidal shape, and if the wave has not changed its shape, it does not have to appear any distortion. Clearly this boy does not know what he is doing, you can check it with any compressor.
A compressor can not possibly compress without creating some (and be it minor) harmonics.. that's due to the fact that it actually changes the signal.. it's waveshaping. Most analogue compressors are very well known for their saturation/harmonics/distortion that they introduce - and yes.. you can absolutely see the harmonics in plugin-doctor. True, compressors are also known for their different attack and release-time and ratio capabilities, but acting as if a compressor acts as a simple attenuator is wrong.. I am actually surprised this compressor doesn't show up in harmonics on plugin doctor at all.. I've never seen that happen before.
@@akagerhard Hi, what I explain is difficult to assimilate right away. You think you're talking about the same thing as me, but you don't quite understand the difference between a pure sine tone and an audio signal like the one that would normally be used to be compressed. Pure tones cannot be compressed, since the nature of the operation of a compressor does not act on the cycles of a sinusoidal signal, this is something that you should record in your mind and stop confusing sinusoidal tones with the signals that they make up. The problem is to believe that the signal cycles that rise and fall are homologous to the signal peaks, they are not, the increases and decreases in a cycle are transparent for the compressor and it will not act on them, on what it acts is the envelope, ie the average amplitude and the envelope of amplitude of a pure tone is a straight line, and if there are no changes in amplitude of the envelope, the compressor does not act as such, the only thing that is achieved is attenuation. If compression does not occur with a pure tone as long as there are no variations in the amplitude of the envelope (which is not the same as signal cycles going up and down), then there is no distortion. It has been a while since I made my comment, the memory is flagile, but I think my comment was focused on the fact that this boy did not see distortion, and was frustrated with the compressor for not fulfilling what it promised to add "character", then my comment explains the reason why he does not observe distortion. Your comment is correct (it could be more elaborate technically speaking, but it is correct) however it has no relation to what I am trying to clarify, it is out of context, what I am trying to explain is something else that does not contradict what you indicate, but as I say, it is difficult to understand and assimilate the first time. As you say "you can absolutely see the harmonics in plugin-doctor". But what happens in the video is that he doesn't see it, why doesn't he see it? is what I am explaining and you can do the test yourself too trying to compress pure tones that do not have variations on their signal envelope. Edit: I forgot to mention that the harmonic distortion generated by the amplification stages is always present, but a plung in that is a software modeling is not necessarily built as a real device, the distortion produced by the compression cannot be observed with a pure tone with an constant amplitude envelope, but the distortion generated in the preamps constitutes other stages in the modeling chain that are not necessarily going to be activated in a compression test on a pure tone that cannot be compressed. In a real compressor, of course you will see harmonic distortion at the output just by going through the compressor, without having to compress anything, but that effect must be programmed, and it does not necessarily act in the same way as a real device.
The fact that the plugin doesn't run smoothly it's because Acustica Audio is one of the companies with the most CPU-intensive plugins in the market (Wave Arts is another, I don't know any others). Some people that used TDR NOVA with everything activated get like 1% on CPU, while certain Acustica Audio plugins can reach even 25%.
He doesn't even know how to turn the components on so his review is pointless. He's seems to wear his ignorance like a badge of honor. Be weary or reviewers who don't even glance at the documentation.
The compressor harmonics are added by the pre? If they wanted to make it clean by removing harmonics and stuff they should just add a "disable" button and not do something that makes no sense.
That is not the reason for what is observed in the analysis, I have just published an answer where I explain that a compressor acts on the envelope of a signal not on the amplitude variations of the sinusoidal signal, a pure tone has a flat envelope, that is why testing a compressor with a pure tone does not generate distortion, it simply attenuates the wave, perfectly preserving its sinusoidal shape, if the wave has not changed its shape, it does not have to appear distortion.
Love your reviews on here and that's VERY clever how you said "if you think I was wrong DOUBLE press the thumbs down" in essence undoing the "unlike" LOVE IT!!! Great review once again, very informative.
Somehow I like these videos even though I have no idea of what is going on. But if it makes good sound come out of my speakers and headphones, I'm happy.
I love watching your videos, they are fun, entertaining and informative, especially from a "first glance perspective." There is a wealth of knowledge in the comments section too from people who are more familiar with the product. The combination of your videos and viewer comments is actually a great way to learn more about these plugins!
Actually that thing sounds really nice. If you would play the wet and dry signals more often I bet it would be even more evident, but my impression is that it sounds beautifully rich and warm and analog. From what the comments say, the preamp needs to be on to produce the compression harmonics. Going to look into it more. I can't afford the Acustica stuff right now, not just financially - I saw a product of theirs on sale recently and almost bought it, but I tried to read the manual and it was fairly deep, and there are not a lot of video tutorials. They should send you a check and let you learn about the plugins - it would probably increase their sales even if you called it all totally snake oil.
This video is really an eye-opener. I have Plugindoctor but never cared enough to test AA stuff with it. After seeing your video I immediately went to check if you were right, and damn, you were godamn right. No harmonic distortion, flat frequency response on the dynamics and no phase shifting. What the actual fuck? Are AA actually fooling their customers? Addendum: the preamp module samples some preamps to be used in conjunction with the dynamics module, but still, the frequency response of the compression is LINEAR, there's no doubt about that.
Its linear because its sampled without harmonic content. Turn on the preamp and then everything is there. I don't understand what's so hard to understand about that.
I can see you point, I didn't bought Viridian 2, instead I bought El Rey, it sound really interesting , I'd like to see a video about it, I feel a sonic difference between these 2 plug ins from Acustica Audio
BRAVO. Bravo for having the guts to speak honestly about Acustica. People can sound so enamored with the process (dynamic sampling of real gear) that they lose the point of the gear in the first place. I saw someone else on here comment that you shouldn’t have used the ZL for your analysis since the preamps aren’t modeled and that you should have done more research or something. 🤦♂️ I think we all know that harmonics are a normal function of compression with or without a preamp model. The demo videos on RU-vid of acustica’s stuff are always SO subtle. I understand that often times that’s how it’ll be used, but these things flat out cannot be pushed like the real hardware. Algorithmic plug-ins, as unsexy as they may be, do this MUCH better in my own opinion. Thanks!
@@andivax I know. And it still sounds like pure digital crap clipping when overdriving it. Just because it isn't meant to be. There is like a digital wall. Whereas with tube gear (or any gear to be honest) you can overdrive it a little bit to see how it sounds. Greg Wells signed it but Acustica released it. I am not saying it's crap. Just being honest and point this out.
Acustica Audio has been pushed by many as the pinnacle of analog emulation, and I have been complaining for years about the buggy, heavy software and lacklustre sound. Thank you so much for this analysis!
Just so you aren't confused. It says "British tone" because it isn't just modelling the V76. Its also modelling Various Helios processors and a Pre compressor.
I've been using Acustica Audio plugins for only a few weeks but I'm very impressed with them. They are very musical & I'm really loving the analog character, it takes me right back to using real hardware. IMO they are plugins that respond sonically like hardware does, if that isn't your thing then they may seem a bit pointless, for me it's a joy. I'll admit they are very heavy on cpu and have meter issues, so you need to use your ears, but isn't that what it's all about. Another issue is you have to wait while the IR's etc load every time you change a setting, but it's something I can live with to get that sound. I'll still be using my Waves, Slate Digital, Softube, etc plugins but now I'll be using Acustica Audio where ever I can. My current faves are Pink2, Ebony, Gold2, Taupe & El Rey. I came across this list, it should be of some help identifying what's what - Unofficial Acustica Master List justpaste.it/AcusticaAudioAcquaMasterList
Good video, this review is fair enought. What is sad is when you're not saying AA acquas are awesomes, you get jumped by AA fanboys. I use their acquas, they sound differents than regulars plugins but they don't sound exactly like hardware also ( and i know they are not meant to sound exactly like harware). The important thing is to know what you need and wanna achieve when mixing. Their acqua are good, sure it's not for everybody : you got to learn a new workflow and also how to use their stuff to get it. By watching some of your videos i know you are a good engineer. You point is valid: you know what you want, you share yours feelings and taste. For me, many of the poeple raving about AA acqua don't have good hears, are not good engineers, like their plugins because it's new, and many because they look pretty (Yes they are smart at AA, in this world you got to look good to interrest poeple) fact look at all the youtube videos about AA acqua, only a Very Very Very few demo videos test their stuff correctly, also other poeple or beginners love their stuff and don't know why:). Finally there are those who like their stuff because they hear what their acqua sound like and know they need them in their works. I demoed Viridian when it was out and didn't hear anything special and i pass on this one. You got knowledge, you know what you want, and you know this one is not for you. Keep the good work, good review!
Rambyaye - I’m so glad to read this. I have several AA plugs that I love but when I demoed Viridian (and some others) I just didn’t feel anything much about what it did to my sounds. I was beginning to think it was just me as I’ve read about others who love it. Having said that, the AA plugs I do have I’m very happy with.
Thankgod you came to the same conclusion like me. The workflow is a nightmare and I always thought the sound should compensate that disadvantage. But I couldn't hear anything that would be much better than what I could get out of a properly coded plugin. I recently downloaded "Energy" from Airwindows for FREE and that sounded soooo nice! Or the free Pyewacket compressor, amazing on drums. But yeah, no shiny, hyperrealistic GUI, and no ridiculous pricetag like Acustica Audio
A month or two ago focusrite gave out the Cream module for a month. And ya it's definitely a read the manual first type of product. As a whole unit, the eq section is it's down fall. It's saving grace is you can load the sections as their own plug-in. So preamp, compressor.. Idk maybe the eq is good for sound design??
I generally find your reviews amusing, but ultimately not very informative. I get that it’s a mix of comedy and review, but personally I think you could do a little more to show us things about the plugins that actually matter than about shadows, digital rack screws, etc. You spend time reading the general bs on the websie home page but not the manual. Then complain about not knowing how to use it. I never got a comparison of any audio without you talking over it so I couldn’t judge anything in that sense, only see meters. Did u bypass the plugin? Don’t know, couldn’t tell but I don’t think so. But I do know that from this one plugin that the entire acústica line is snake oil. Sorry if this came off harsh, I like your channel. Constructive crit. I actually think the acústica stuff is way over hyped personally, the cpu hits are just unusable.
Can't believe I'm seeing comments about this being an honest, technical review when this has to be the most misleading, uninformed review I've ever seen. Can't believe you haven't taken this down yet.
I actually saw this video about a week ago. It's always entertaining to watch you "WhiteSea" ... and I was listening to it on my old studio monitors. I couldn't hear that thing do anything either. And what a copycat company! ("cosmetically" speaking) Are u f'ing kidding me dude?! Wow. THANK YOU whitesea for covering this company. I'll just say it that way. 😂 White Sea Audio (Studio). I'm in America upgrading my living room studio for about a month then i just might be sending u some stems to mix and master for me. i saw ur website. You're a good guy. Cheers! Fabulous content!
There's video evidence here of the compressor not adding any harmonics. If it was correctly modeled like they say it is, shouldn't it add harmonic distortion to the signal?
@@iagher Acustica Audio plugins are a little bit different than the usual. As far as I can understand, they have preamps modelled for each part. I don't own Viridian, but in Lime (Neve emulation), the manual states there's a specific preamp that should be turned on for the purpose of emulating the compressor harmonics. I'm not saying Acustica's plugins are better than any other company... I'm just saying I thought the review was not fair.
Joe Crutchley I think it was unfair because he didn’t set things properly, specially engaging the preamp to have the harmonics happening (which was his main critic). I respect his opinion, of course, but I have a different point of view.
I watch every single one of your videos for about 2 years. The last months actually I press at first the LIKE and then I watch the video. But I think that this review is not fair this time. My suggestion: If you have the time, take a deeper look in Acustica Audio products and try to understand the advantages of this technology. Keep in mind that in every core update they do, their plugins go in a good direction. We (the AA users) have accept the temporary workflow limitations and we are focusing on the sound. Take some time to experiment in a mix situation and then, decide if it is snake oil or not. You may be surprised in the end. With all the respect.
Well, I think Acustica is the one who's not being fair here. They promiss analog modeling accuracy and yet their compressor don't add distortion at all to the signal.
Acustica is a bit odd when you start with their plugins but when you wrap your head around it you never look back to other plugin vendors really :P (Except PA)
It's a shame you didn't try to learn more about the Helios/Pie equipment being modeled, then at least maybe your comments about the interface would have been more informed. Also, you didn't show us how harmonic distortion in all sections changes as you raise the preamp input gain. This is where AA products tend to shine. You tested the channel strip; each section is also available in its own plugin, each of which includes the appropriate preamp model, which is omitted on the channel strip. Colour in the channel strip comes from the preamp section, which you had either off, or did not test fully with a preamp selected and gain applied (increasing harmonic distortion). Finally, with such searing criticism as this, it might also have been appropriate - and fun for us! - to approach Acustica Audio themselves with your findings and try and get their comment on it for your review. I am not an Acustica employee btw!
I am impressed it only took you 2 years to get Aquarius to work. Took me 7!. It was kind of a bucket list project for me - had to try Nebula before I die, and I barely go it done:) The installation and authorization process are highly frustrating (especially for trials), for some reason I had a problem where it would repeatedly download a plugin for 20 minutes a shot, then just quit and make me restart the download over and over again. (head banging) Anyway after trying several, I finally got around to Pink and Lime. And waow! Talk about light at the end of the tunnel. I have never been so impressed by the sound of a plugin in my life. We're talking Very Good API and Neve emulations. Of course I can only run like 1 instance at a time, even with my 5ghz CPU, LOL . Takes a server farm to run this acustica stuff man. Some day, I'll have one :).
Yeah this is nothing new, in most of their plugins there are no harmonics until you add the preamp. The workflow of their plugins is not optimal but when you start knowing all the different flavors and find ways to use them it's amazing imo. :D The preamps and eq on Viridian I think is awsome. The compressor is sometimes great on drum bus for me, it can really change the punch in interesting ways.
Please review Cream2. It is rumored to be a great voice plugin if you use fast release and very slow atack. It practically does not "close" as drastically as other software compressors!
The point of this Model is to Sound Clean and Open but Vintage and Analog......I just bought Coffee....you want more Color with AA get Coffee, Amethyst or Pink
I typically don't leave replies on the internet, but this video stirred up some anger in me. Watching this five years later, I can't help but wonder why it hasn't been removed. The guy reviewing this plugin is peddling nothing but snake oil. His lack of competence in audio engineering is glaring. With 169K members, I sincerely hope they don't take him seriously; he's far from a professional in this field. Testing a compressor with a tone? That speaks volumes. And where can I hear his music? It must be less than stellar. On a positive note, though, the plugin sounds wonderful.
To appreciate the acustica stuff, you have to consider the intended use of the machine they are capturing. Try mixing a track through Pink, Sand, and then with Lime. Do the same mix straight in the box with your Dad, you will hear a huge difference between the individual mixes. As far as Viridian, it's a broadcast mixer, not intended to change the sound of the source material, but it gives it the characteristic sound of that particular machine. They way you used the plugin in this video is the equivalent of running a source CD or mp3 player through a channel and expecting it to do something magical to the sound. You never gave Viridian a chance to do what it does. It's a mixer, do some mixing with it. Good luck! It took me a while to get the hang of the acustica stuff. You will laugh your head off after you do a mix with Lime and it sounds like a regular mix, then bypass Lime and hear how dull, the raw DAW actually sounds in comparison
@@delamar6199 That is not so, I have just published a response where I explain that a compressor acts on the envelope of a signal not on the amplitude variations of the sinusoidal signal, a pure tone has a flat envelope, so a compressor with a pure tone does not generates distortion, it simply attenuates the wave, perfectly preserving its sinusoidal shape, if the wave has not changed its shape, it does not have to appear any distortion. This does not mean that the plugin does not provide its own response.
I don't like how most companies do the analog channel strips. it's not just the preamp or the line in that has color. it's the whole unit. that said, over the years I have always found these plugins to be very cpu hungry. running a i7 quad core cpu with a gtx 1060 and 32 gigs of ram on a ssd drive I still get some pretty heavy cpu hits with acustica plugins. and has made it so I just dont use em. I make a living doing sound so I guess its one company I just will have to live without.
yeah just think about this... each second they spend on the design (which did nothing to the sound) - they didn't spend to make their plugin sound better although UX is a very important part of a plugin
You need to dial in a sound with Viridian2, then dial in the sound with another product and A/B the two channel strips. That is when I hear the huge undeniable difference and why Acustica Audio products sound remarkably better. Before I demoed and then purchased Viridian2 I watched the few RU-vid videos I could find about it to see how it works. Then I demoed it and A/B compared against what I would normally use. I too have Plugin Doctor to check on things that are not apparent, like the Q of EQ curves. Your Snake Oil videos are wonderful for showing first-blush uninformed attempts at using things. I love you and I love watching them. Maybe enjoy is a better word, I hardly know you! In general your Snake Oil videos should instead be entitled First Blush since you often cannot tell if something really delivers until you dig in and spend some time and that is not what the Snake Oil videos do; rather, they show a first uninformed attempt at using something and genuinely shows the ease or the frustration of trying to use something for the very first time without outside information.
I got Ceil for free this christmas. Haven't tried it yet. It's a small company. Some people are happy with it. Why not show us how it sounds? AB test? You have "the original" there, so what's stopping you?
I think you got distracted by your Plugin Doctor when you should have kept pushing buttons and turning knobs. There is a reason so many people asked you to review this. If your CPU can handle it, Acustica has some plugins that rival or beat similar offerings from the most-respected plugin companies.
I have this collection and these plugins are very taxing on the CPU. I hardly use them but I would be interested in what you think of them, and yes the damn aquarius thing I had to install also,I was not impressed!
Very good video, very professional! I had headache with Aquamarine 3 and they did not fix stuterring of audio (also sluggish GUI) on the support. So after several months of arguing with EU laws between Czechia & Italy, I got a full refund. This video only confirms what I was thinking.
Great video. You came to the same conclusion as I did. I tried a lot of Acusticas plug-ins. AB-tested and meazured some of them, they are actually the defintion of snake oil... omg what a scam. I understand that people are interested though cause they look amazing. They have a very skilled 3d artist.
You didn’t put the input drive up. That’s always a main component to all analog warmth plugins. That’s when you’ll hear the compression in this case sound in your face. If you don’t believe me, just try it. Honestly you looked at plugin doctor wrong too. It’s actually amazing there is nothing shown because in other regular plugins by any other brand, they show artifacts. It’s artifacts because there is no order in the frequencies shown, and they can show all the way down to 5hz. Plus these plugins sound way cleaner. Other ones in comparison both gainstaged sound like they are fuzz flatlining
For more then 1500 Dollars i bought AA Plug-ins and now my 2500 Mac breaks in two. Not usable. Some sounds great. But it breaks my Maschine apart. Great sound, but to CPU heavy
one last thing guy, you can't twist those dials around at fast speeds, you have to give a setting time for the em to load! You really are embarrassing yourself!
I think if you get the time maybe you could have a go using the normal version, not the ZL version? I know they're supposed to sound the same but I've never been quite convinced of that. It would also have been nice if you'd tested more than one compressor, and something Acustica say that might be relevant is that you should hit their plugins with a signal averaging -18dbfs. It's quite difficult to tell if you're doing that using their meters, I know, but you seem to have the technology to make it so for yourself. For what it's worth I rather like Viridian. It seems to work well on my vocals and sometimes on acoustic guitar, and to give them a certain character and presence. But it's not a Swiss Army Penknife of a plugin, and the gui is definitely quirky. But personally, I like that. :)
I use Acustica’s plug-ins and I didn’t get what the fuzz was about, when I startet. BUT i Got it after a couple of sessions and reading some manuals. I love there plug-ins and the latency is just about workflow. Love your channel 😃 but You sound negative from the start and that just kills the whole video for me. 😃
OG Jawdinz I agree, it sucks, but i made it work and most important - it works for me. 😃But the Content Creator still sounds a bit negative from the start and thats a bit annoying 😊🤷♂️
Must admit, I'm a Acustica Fan as far as the analog sound goes, but like yourself, using a old 2010 Mac Pro, but 12 core 3.46Ghz, not 6 core like yours. Even with 12 cores, I'm still struggling to use > 1 AA plugin due to CPU overload which is really annoying. Disappointed with the Viridian skin layout, which unlike their other eq/compressor combination plugs, lacks frequency (hz) labelling on the eq selections. Looks like I'll need to save up for a super duper modern, i9 overclocked 32 core 4 Ghz CPU, cooled down with a aquarium, using windows 7 and reaper. Apparently then possible to run up to 100 AA plugins at once.
ROCKO STIFFREDI wow! I use an 9 year old PC with old Quadcore 6700 2,2 ghz processor and can run 3 Viridian2 with no problems at all......... i think in your case some process is using Latency way too much......Cheers
@@patrickalphenaar Found my problem. AA Plugins need a huge amount of extra CPU for 96k sample rate. Went back to 44.1k and stacked 3 El Ray and 3 Taupe in series on the master bus, which means I should be able to spread more in parallel across the mix bus as plugins in series uses more cpu per core/ thread. Sounds like Logic doesn't have the ability to balance the CPU load evenly across all cores like Reaper does, so looks like I'll have to change DAW's to maximise AA potential.
ROCKO STIFFREDI Excellent you have found the problem. Before i had latency issue’s and was related to my internal dvd burner and wifi module. I had to disable in Bios and even needed to disconnect power from DvD Burner to be able to load more Plugins without CPU Spikes. Yea Reaper is good software. I am still on Cubase 5 which i will upgrade to 10 and Reason 10 which is also Great. Cheers and Happy Mixing and mastering!
There is nothing happening because of all ON/OFF knobs are turned off. They keep glowing all over the Plug, OFF;OFF, OFF..... One should have a minimum understanding of how the Plugin works before reviewing it. Quite a useless review.
I just can't get what people are fighting for here..True plugins are made for ears, not for eyes, exactly like hardware. So when I want to know if something digital or analogic fits in my ears I just listen to it, not referring to graphics or UI. I think Airwindows plugins are the demonstration of that way of using plugs, i.e.
just curious to see if you'd try doing those tests with the input turned on, even though it's been a year since this video. i have not used these plugins but I know people who do and they all seem to love them. very surprised after watching this review.
This was a fair review with valid testing methods. I am grateful to have seen this before investing. I feel most negative responses are those feeling buyers remorse, and treating it with denial. Keep up the good work. And to the one commenter who called you the PewDiePie of VST reviewers - that is a compliment, even though you were attempting to make an insult. Look at the success of PewDiePie. Please think harder when trying to insult someone. Again - great work.
@@Whiteseastudio Your review is spot on. I think other than buyer's remorse, there's a clear case of folks just being jealous of your honesty, charisma and views ;-)
They have I believe around 66 plugins. for just about every category from EQ all the way down to delays & channel strips. I was going to purchase a few things , but watching this video is an eye opener. Is it possible you can do their EQ's and other gear. I wish you can do them all.......... but maybe you dont have time for it heheheheee. just like my dad keeps telling me, looks can be very deceiving .LOL BTW - each single plugin also comes in a large rack as well. for example a single compressor 2U rack also comes in a 18U rack with a bunch of gear as the plugin. :) And there are different name branches that can be chosen from above like Nebula Branch, Acqua Branch, Modula Branch Aquarius Branch, Each having a bunch of plugins pertaining to that Branch of plugins. . Anyways, im very glad I watched this video. thanks.. :)
I usually enjoy the content of this channel, although this video is nothing but misinformation. Try the demos, use YOUR ears and then make a decision. To me, AA ain't snake oil at all.
Erg flauw dit. From the start it was obvious you wouldn't like the plugin. As Acustica dealer for The Netherlands I stand up for their plugins! Yes they are CPU intensive, yes the metering and latency are a problem. But the sound makes up for it. You should try some more.
I Recently Purchased Viridian2 because i love the Analog sound its giving me to my Ears when using unprocessed Virtual Instruments. The Compressor is not so Special to me (El Rey is) but i love the Eq! If you want nice Compressor from Acustica try El Rey! Cheers and thanks giving your opinion about this Plugin. However, to use Acustica Plugins in general as they are Intended the input stage or sweetspot needed for the plugin to work as intended is truly important! If input gain stage is not proper it doesnt do much. If too hot its not smooth but if right its Great! You will need to tweak that! Turning the knobs randomly doesnt do the job with Acustica. If you had Used the Pre-Amp you will had different analizer results. I also Love Nebula! Same principle!
yeah that's the thing with Acustica plugins.1.) Your cpu doesn't only have to be fast, it also has to be recent. Newer CPUs, while not being hundreds times faster for nomal tasks, have hardware instructions that perform complex instructions/tasks in a couple of cpu cycles instead of a few hundreds for a single instruction. Likely this is the reason why your mac pro is insufficient.2.) true zero latency is not possible with the algorithms they have to use. For what is being done to the signal, 2048 samples is very low. The normal (non-ZL) version is normally the right choice because the algorithm gets more efficient if you give it a longer time-span to process at once (by increasing the buffer size/latency). Furthermore, the ZL version has some other things tweaked to run faster, but you won't get the full set of harmonics and non-linearities.3.) The top module of Viridian is the "saturation" module. You turned it off for EQ and compressor analysis. They give you this option to enable you to chain multiple instances (of acustica plugins, which all have sampled distortion) behind each other and choose which ones you want to have distortion and which ones should just be clean.
Try to read the instructions once and maybe you will understand what you are doing ... Otherwise, you can chop nuts with a microscope and never find out why the microscope works so badly ...
Hi , I think in deed that having the video up again is a good thing. I am personally a AA user, and love them.. What your video points out is that if you download the plugin and test it without knowing what you are looking for, it doesn't make sens. But isn't it the same when you first listen to an extremely elaborate piece of jazz music ? Once someone explains the codes, it makes a lot more sens.. and you can appreciate the music at an other level.. I think it's a good thing you didn't test nebula4, you wold have gone crazy... (maybe try El rey? a more conventional approach) The good thing about the video is that AA can see how someone with no background concerning their products will react. And you are right, the people that react as AA fans did read all the manuals BUT 99% of the rest of the community will not.. again, you're right, the manuals are not simple factual explanation of how the plugin works.. and it can be a bit confusing when you are only looking for facts but once you understand what they are doing, it's kinda fun.. What I can say is that they are not toys, what I can do with AA plugins, I can't do with my fabfilter,D16, soundtoys, UAD plugins and it's a good thing. I think AA is still a work in progress that has greatly improved since I bought nebula3.. it is not meant to be for everyone (yet), the guys at AA are real people, it's still a human scale company with the good and bad sides of that. But I would still humbly advise you to keep an eye on their stuff. Thank for your time! ++ g
I have used Acustica for a few years, I get that they think they are special and I paid full pop so I can speak to what the issues are from an informed POV...first of all they have always been a very clumsy-non-intuitive plug-in...I ran Nebula Pro and spent more time setting up the plug-in than actually using it...some of the stuff sounded good but it was always a HUGE CPU drain so I only used them in a "process track" mode when I wanted...I knew they would never find their way into serious commercial studio environment based on those metrics...and sure enough they changed...but like the video clearly shows it is mostly a matter of a bunch of really good code engineers re-inventing the wheel...the guys at acustica are decent code monkeys but I'm pretty sure not one of them has actually engineered a real record or if they have no one has ever heard of it...this is what happens when you design audio plugins in a software lab and not in an actual studio...of course they handed off the Nebula stuff to real engineers who made files of real gear you could buy...but acustica is basically an Impulse Response coded program trying to run through vintage gear and then talking out the delta of the sound converting it to code and calling it real. As someone who has built his own SSL compressors, LA2A's, 1176's, REDD47's Neve and API preamps as well as racking Telefunken pre's I always hoped someone could make a really good software emulation of many of these vintage pieces...but Acustica is not it...get a UAD card and dump your money into those plugins because thats as close as you're gonna get. I bought the Nebula stuff because I thought there was real potential in running it on CUDA and using GPU's for plug-ins which at one time they were developing...but since they abandoned that track save your money.
...for me this plugin is stunning. I own a 80% hardware recording studio and for me some Acustica Audio plugins are perfect tools. Thanks for the review young man!!!!!.
JanAid Guitars - I’m a big fan of my AA plugs. They are the gold standard by which I judge all other plugs. Resource hogs no doubt but I’ll live with it for the sake of the sounds. However, I demoed Viridian and didn’t really care for it. It’s not the only one that I was a bit meh about and that may have something to do with the music I am working with. I know there are many people with more experience than me in mixing, mastering and recording who think it’s great so it is quite probably just me.
@@riloh58 well, a tool can work for me but not for you. I hope you are creating beautiful music and/or mixes with or without AA plugins. ;-) . About Viridian: I own some telefunken, neuman and siemens pre, eq and compressors. I love one of my telefunken v672 preamps(on vocals is stunning), and the neumann u473a compressor is so smoth and musical.... using Viridian plugin I can see these "old colors" there. For me AA plugins acts in a different way than the real machine, so I try to expend some time for to understand how the plugin really work. The AA ebony compressor based in the neumann u473a ,for me, sound like my original hardware(really really really really closed¡¡¡), but first you need to spend time whit these knobs because they are acting in a "particular" way, not exacky like the original hardware. This is all I can say about AA plugins. Enjoy the life, be happy and find the plugins,the tools, that they are ussefuuulll for youuuu¡¡¡¡. Have a nice day boy, and thank you for your coment¡¡¡¡¡
JanAid Guitars - indeed it does take time to get to grips with these plugs. That’s why I’m very glad they allow you to trial and test them. Thanks for your thoughts on AA Viridian vs your actual hardware; it is almost certainly me and not the plug. And yes, at the end of the day it is all about the music. You have a great day too.
First: zero latency isn’t possible when running on a cpu. So these versions must be seen as low latency. And that must be the reason why the metering is very slow. To get a low latency you can lower the GUI refresh rate for instance. How you use the plugs is as follows: use the normal version to use metering to set the plug with the right settings. Then in mixing you use the low latency version to save up cpu power. The plug is set anyway so you don’t need the metering and stuff.
They give a you a full 30 days full version trial, so you should demo for yourself and take a glance at the manual, or search some other YT vids. This is not the one to judge by. Whether you like them or not is your choice, but actually give them a more credible try than this.
Looks spot on to me!! The reason they do this stupid analog UI's is so they can confuse and hide how mediocre the product is. Have a look at FabFilter and Izotope for UIs that are super informative and made for music production.
This a very fair out of the box review. In fact, doing the harmonic analysis is going an extra step. Your main point that the UI is confusing is well made...and that's the problem with making it look like ancient hardware. If you have to read the manual just to turn it on and do something then it's a design fail. I couldn't believe how jagged those needles were moving. I think FabFilter and Izotope make much more intuitive UIs. While I might disagree about your take on some plugins, I've always found your reviews fair...from someone actually doing mix engineering.
