Take Our Audio Poll: Do We Need Higher Definition Sound?

We’re in the 21st century and we have the worst sound that we’ve ever had. It’s worse than a 78 [rpm record]. What happened?

Reblogged from Trust Me I’m a Scientist: Take Our Audio Poll: Do We Need Higher Definition Sound?

 

introducing ThrillseekerLA

ThrillseekerLA – digital stereo leveling amplifier with truly analog qualities.

At a glance

• Sophisticated and deep gain riding full of musical character and attitude but with virtually no inter-modulation (IM) distortion artifacts
• Feedback compression design w/o any samplerate based delay in the loop
• Classic input level driven two knob design with additional manual attack and release time interventions
• Highly program dependent envelope timing adoption offering attack times ranging from “instantaneously” up to around 100ms and release times from 30ms up to several seconds
• Mix level switch to adopt the plug-ins internal gain staging to mixing levels at around -18dBFS
• Custom SC filter option to attenuate the SC bass response while slightly boosting the HF spectrum
• Additional one pole (6dB per octave) SC low-cut filter adjustable from 20 to 500Hz
• External sidechain support
• Switchable Input/GR/Output metering display
• Variable compression range control from 0 to 100%

compression is for kids

Well, at least that’s what engineering legend Bruce Swedien once said and so he did in his appearance in “Pensado’s Place”.

NastyVCS – released today

NastyVCS - Virtual Console Strip

NastyVCS – I can has dynamics

The upcoming NastyVCS virtual console strip VST plug-in will feature three pristine and complementary tools to shape the audio dynamics. This allows a vast variety of different dynamic treatments and here is a very first and brief overview:

NastyVCS – virtual console strip

virtual console strip

I’m really proud to announce the NastyVCS virtual console strip which finally brings the beloved “nasty” signal coloration series onto the next level.

Build entirely new around an opto-electric style compression unit, NastyVCS offers everything you need to shape your channels dynamics and tone. It offers a dedicated input stage featuring crunchy pre-amp saturation and a brickwall safety limiter  in the output stage while everything is set up to work in zero latency and so to have it available for hassle free tracking and mixing. Two dedicated filters can be used in either the audio path or in the compressors sidechain which can be external as well.

one year, one Blog

Exactly one year ago I’ve opened this Blog and during the year I’ve been really surprised over and over again about getting so much feedback here from you. Meanwhile, the posts here have been read half a million times and some posts even received more than hundred comments. Occasionally, this Blog hits the Top 100 WordPress list – on balance not too bad for the very first year.

the beauty of opto-electrical compression

Opposed to VCA, Variable-Mu or FET based approaches, opto-electrical compression takes advantage of using a light-sensitive resistor and a small light emitter (a LED or electroluminescent panel) to obtain a gain reduction voltage in the sidechain path. This technique is well-known to add some smoother gain riding characteristics to the signal because of the specific attack and release response which comes from the inertia and inherent memory effect of the photoresistor element.

FerricTDS – released today within the KVR DC’09

FerricTDS - Tape Dynamics Simulator

applying saturation through the sidechain

This short article gives a brief introduction on applying waveshaping algorithms not directly in the audio path but via a transformed equation through the sidechain and a VCA instead.

Typical saturation curves