I won a plugin thanks to this plugin actually. They did a blindtest on their website and we had to guess which one was the U87 or the SM57. It was good but still pretty evident, especially when listening to the high-end. With this plugin, I feel that it can get a bit artificial and shrill sometimes. I also heard it in your (great) demo here on the C12VR on the vocal, the high-end got a bit "ringy" (one the word "place" and the words after when the singer uses a tad more vocal cords compression). Things that may get problematic after in a full mix when everything is pushed. Excellent point into matching the polar pattern btw! I am also feeling that something gets lost in the midrange, some kind of realism. I preferred it on the guitars personally. Even though the mix and match was a great idea, it sounded kinda phasey a bit in the lows imho. As always, I was hopeful looking at such plugin, but I still think that it if you/we are good enough engineer we can yield better results that this plugin. So it might useful for beginners or artists that want to go quick and not spend hours on processing. Cheers!
as a long time fan of Acustica, it´s nice to see how they keep pushing their convolution tech. Their new compressors are great too and I´m looking forward for the updates of their older stuff (especially Crimson and the SSL strip Sand) ...Also if you like the sound and want to "dig deeper", then I just can recoomend getting Nebula/N4 and libraries from TimP, Cupwise and AlexB. They offer real gems for mixing ITB and really cheap too
Their convolution technology also does harmonic response and dynamic response rather than just frequency response, which is why it sounds much more accurate
Yep...as long as the 1X setting is turned on. I asked them to make that the default setting instead of ECO but so far it's still the same. Once the early access is over with I'm going to change the default inside of reaper to that setting if they don't change it themselves.
The real test would be to record simultanious with a microphone from the "source" list and microphone from the "destination" list, and then see if the through the Lava converted sound (virtual destination mic) equals sound the recording of the real destination mic. So for example: simultaniously record a voice with a Shure SM58 and a Neumann U87ai, then change the recorded SM58 to the Neumann in Lava, and compare it with sound the real Neumann. That's the only way to know if the plugin lives up to the hype.
6:36 It sounds like a good idea to pair this mic modeller with the Austrian Audio or Lewitt mics which can change the polar pattern after recording. Then you can match the polar pattern of whatever mic you are going to be changing to.
You have to get into the third party Nebula plugins, Tim P and Alex B. Absolutely gorgeous analog modeling ala convolution. A few guys I know sold their LA2As and Sta level after using Tim P’s version
Im using a vms one pre, that was gifted to me. im using this with a really clean sounding tube mic called the CAD mP. new tube and capsule powered by the slate VMS1 preamp i was gifted and the tube mic options sound Phenomenal. with the new reaper update i can easily put an effect on a "clip/section." I'm thinking i can easily get a HIGH quality different sound for the overdubs or maybe just a certain phrase. I'm making a jingle based off old time Mark Twain days and the "copper can" mic gives it a great old timey sound at the click of a button....too insane. I love that they have some less heard of and unique mics. Being able to play with the distance is gold so far.
This plugin saved me from upgrading from my sm7b. Absolutely insane work from acustica once again Definitely looking foward to them adding the c800g microphone in there
Well it's cheaper than buying $170K worth of mics, especially for home studios where the person does not have the money for one good mic, and has say an SM57. This can make their day for sure. I have a couple Antelope Edge solo's I would love to try this on just to compare, it's nice to see something that you don't need an expensive mic to use with it. I just love free information like the link you showed us for Plugin Alliance etc and now this, so thanks again...many times over.
im using this with a really clean sounding tube mic called the CAD mP. new tube and capsule powered by the slate VMS1 preamp i was gifted and the tube mic options sound Phenomenal. with the new reaper update i can easily put an effect on a "clip/section." I'm thinking i can easily get a HIGH quality different sound for the overdubs or maybe just a certain phrase. I'm making a jingle based off old time Mark Twain days and the "copper can" mic gives it a great old timey sound at the click of a button....too insane. I love that they have some less heard of and unique mics. Being able to play with the distance is gold so far.
Awesome plugin from acustica once again and great video from Mixbus tv again! i hope to see you review more acustica plugins and if by chance i hope to see you also review their Nebula libraries as well especially the stuff from ALEXB and TIMP because that opens a WHOLE NEW WORLD for mixing in the box!!
I don't know all the specifications of the legendary microphones but it seems to me that I will buy the plug-in because according to your (excellent) video it is simply a great tool for choosing a primary EQ, all at the push of a button
Very cool plugin. The fact that you can only have a couple of cheaper mics and then turn them into a legendary mic is pretty rad -- as long as the original source was recorded properly/well,.....of course.
Pretty cool on the DI guitar. This might be something that's really good for certain virtual instruments as well.... On vocals, it feels like a bit of a gimmick to me. The results aren't bad... But, I think I'd just rather process The mix, whatever mic it is to taste... For this kind of thing, I do think machine learning would be a more accurate technology to get closer. The machine learning for Tonex for example, is excellent.. easy to fail a blind test with good captures.... If you really wanted to make something convincing, I could see advanced machine learning technology putting more of those qualities into the signal, as if you actually miked with the real microphone. You definitely would need a baseline source mic for something like that.... You probably want to start with a specific inexpensive condenser mic.... One that sounds relatively the same from individual Mic to mic... like maybe a Rode NT1... something affordable, evenly balanced and clean. If you wanted any real degree of accuracy. If done right, you might not be able to tell the difference in the mix.
Thanks for sharing this! I was offput by the costs of systems which require a particular mic. This is exactly what I need. I want to do some simple live acoustic covers and using this plus their Silver plugin for room emulation might just do the trick.
I just purchased Lava today and man!….. you gotta hear it to believe it! I sang Maxwell’s On the Hush using my falsetto and I used my Shure SM7b through my Avalon VT737SP through my Warm Audio 1176 through my Warm Audio Bus Comp through my Maag EQ2 through my Drawmer 1974 through my Golden Age Project Comp LA2A then through my DBX 286 for noise gating purposes bcuz it’s really noisy in NYC and into Pro Tools and this plugin really finished everything off by smoothing out the highs when I used the Lava’s ELAM 251 mic. I was apprehensive at first and waited last minute to buy it but now I’m happy I did
Thank you David! I checked this out per your exploration and was able to tame some vocals, (using the U47) and help an acoustic guitar/piano pop into a dense wall of sound mix that I'm always trying to perfect. Thank you for your generous time and tutelage.
It also has even the funny microphones I’d like to have for blending vocals… so would also be a good way to figure out what of the microphones I’d later get the real version of
The Neumann U47 is familiar to me. Immediately your presentation raised some good memories when I worked with that mic. Now I own some Rode mics and achieved good lead vocal sound with K2 through a Universal Audio 4-710d preamp. Just imagining converting that source to U87 for example. Do you think if that will make a significant difference to the sound? BTW I purchased 3 Acustica Audio plugins today. Their quality is superb! Yet I have to deal with the CPU consumption when using those beasts. Thank you David for sharing your expertise and for these great videos.
Significant difference? for sure, the differences here are not subtle by any stretch. Whether or not you'd like it better or prefer a different emulation other than the 87 that's to be seen
The technology is great, but this type of plugin is to please engineers. Let's be honest, that vocal sitting in a mix with some EQ adjustments - the end consumer will not know the difference. It's a cool toy.
Let's be honest, anyone with the mindset "the end consumer can't hear the difference" shouldn't be making or mixing music. Do you know all the ingredients or how your meals are made? No but you still can tell a crap one from a good one
Perfect emulation Will never be possibile but this can be a very good tool to shape and to add colori for eq a d dynamics (SS and plosive too for) in a non lineare way, not possibile with usual processing. From this point of view how much Lava Is or not more useful than other ones, as Antares Mic Mod and ik Multimedia Mic Room ? Ciao 👍
I think with these mic simulations that there should be a correction applied to the mic your using so that it’s relatively flat before the amp simulations begin.
@@jmorrisey79 That's why you dial in the sound you want, then commit to it and render it in. When using a DAW like Studio One, you can do that and if you decider later on in the mix to change something, you can revert right back to the original state. That's the way to go when using plugins like this or anything form Acustica etc. Allows you to use some of the best emulations and rendering to your audio, with the ability to recall your original state whenever you choose so you can tweak this or that.
@@commonsense5188 yea I know that's the best way to go about it but I find it frustrating when I have to commit to parameters when I just want to mess with settings to get the feel of the plugin. I still do it and deal with pops and clicks as i turn knobs... just not often cause it sucks. Plus .. as I said above.. them things take up so much hard drive space it's ridiculous. Oh, and the way they show up in my plugin list is confusing as all hell.
I just bought this and I love it. I don’t have my mic in the source list though but I can hear a difference when I select a target mic. I just set the source to Off. Already submitted the request form. Anyone knows any source mic in the list closest to the Bluebird SL?
99.9% no, you'd hear change in envelope, not knowing what kind of material it will be feed, it would have to be automatic and you'd hear questionable results more often than not
I've bought and sold many emulation mics, and I've never really been happy with any of them. But this sounds quite promising, I may have to pick it up 🤔
@@snubdawg1386 I've sold all of my modelling mics. The software I still have but I don't use them. I just use EQ and or saturation, that's all this type of software is anyway.
If you were going to correct vocals with a less expensive mic, what order would you use this plug-in vs Melodyne in a vocal chain? Melodyne 1st or Lava?
@@mixbustv zaphod from acustica mentioned in a thread in gearspace that this plugin should come before tuning, or it can potentially expose tuning artifacts.
Another amazing video. I have a question, maybe you did mention it and I missed it. I record all my vocals with the charter oak SA538 microphone I have already for 10 years. I didn’t see this mic present in the list of the modulation plug in. Do I still get the full quality when the left side is off? I always wanted to own the neumann M149 and it’s present in this plug in so it would be amazing to let the vocals go through this mic after the recording. I downloaded the trial plug in to see if it works so I have no idea if the official plug in works better than the trial version. Anyways, my question was more about if I get a 100% quality from the plug in using my charger oak and let the left side of the plug be on off mode. When I choose a model on the left it does influence the sound enormously. Only on the Neumann €129 against €5000 is a big difference. Love to hear your idea so I have more insight wether to buy it
@@mixbustv thanks so much for your fast reply. So even my mic is not in the list and that section is off do I still get close enough to what the M149 or any of the mics that are in the list sound like? Or could I better go for the UAD emulator? For that I have to purchase the microphone that goes together with the plug in - that is why I thought for €129 if that works just as well as the UAD to get the sound of the other mics it’s well worth it. What do you think - buy it or save up for the UAD?
Acustica Audio plugins are terribly heavy on the hard disk, almost 10 Gb just the Aquarius manager plus the plugin itself. It will be nice when they will be able to provide a much lighter version of their Aquarius manager and the plugins.
Great video. Question. I have a universial audio interface. Can you track it in console using the mic mods? I am currently using the slate one and I basically have to record it dry and add the effects afterwards. If not, what is a good low latency audio interface where I can actually track the emulations?
I think I have to make a video on this because too many people seem to be very very confused about this subject, and I don't blame them since companies marketing always omit this part: you CANNOT track with plugins. No matter what interface or system you use. Tracking by definition happens BEOFRE the AD (analog to digital conversion) stage, which means, the tracking processing NEEDS to be in the analog domain, and that can only happen when you have analog gear physically connected to your front end (microphone). Systems like UAD apply processing AFTER the AD conversion because they are plugins, period. (unless some interfaces out there have built in PHYSICAL compressors, eq's etc..) Now when speaking about a mic emulation and a pre, it's the same exact thing. A microphone and a pre, other than the interaction they have with each other which gets imprinted and characterizes the track you're recording, have a certain transient response, depth, slew rate and impedance matching (or not matching). Some have more detail, low level information, rejection, and many other things. You CANNOT give these things after the fact, because you recorded with a different pre which will have different transient response, different detail and so on and those things change constantly during the recording based on the material, the variable are millions even if details. Once you record with a given pre and mic, you can only add a static frequency response (basically an eq curve) and maybe saturation/color which in the best case scenario will be somewhat dynamic. This is only a small PART of what a given pre or mic will give you and most important, all this will be added POST AD stage, so literally it's physically impossible to "track with plugins" because tracking is analog and plugins are digital. So, in short, there's no difference in tracking with a system like UAD or applying the plugins later aside the fact that you can monitor in real time with such plugins, but also you kind of defeat the purpose of using plugins as you're baking those processing into your track for no reason and you can't change them later. With analog makes sense to do so, with plugins it does not make sense whatsoever.
Thank you for taking the time to give a detailed reply. Yes it is very confusing because when I look at the slate digital videos they say you can track right through the plug ins but only if you use the VRS8 pre amp. 2 videos that say you can are : “Tracking through plug ins with the slate VMS and VRS8” by Steven slate “Oak Felder - recording Demi Lovatos sorry not sorry” around the 22 min mark. I would greatly appreciate you making a video to clarify because yes it’s very confusing but for now I don’t mind dragging and dropping after I record the vocals dry. Because I don’t want the VRS8 or to buy the actual 10k microphone.
Hey everyone! I just purchased a Tegeler VTC compressor from germany and it just came in today. I have a few questions that are urgent so I can use it! First, It came with a euro power cord. Can I simply switch this out for an amaerican power cord? It also came over with different fuses by default. Which fuse should I buy so it work? I've already switched the voltage to 115v, but I am afraid to try and power it on without the first two questions answered. Can someone PLEASE HELP!!!
115/120V will never blow up a unit even if it's set to 220V because it's a lower number, it will maybe blow a fuse or not work properly until you switch to 115V. The opposite tho it will blow it up (or the fuse if one's lucky and the circuit works properly). If it came with fuses, make sure the right fuse is in, switch to 115V and you're good to go. The fuses directions will be in the manual
Great times now, why being so stupid and buy a real Neumann mic, when you could simply use this plugin and it gives even more choices. Thanks for having opened my eyes, hardware gets more and more redundant and you also have to do the dusting, whereas software is dust-free
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