Cheaper alternatives to Waves NLS?

[cryophonik]

Umm, strange site... resellers sell plugins cheaper than their developers? Is that legal?

I haven't bought from them myself, but I recall this thread and they appear to be legit:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6342216

[anti_phase]

thanks, much appreciated

[VariKusBrainZ]

Oh, there is also Code Red Free which models an Abbey Road console channel (as Waves Redd does). Not sure how deeply it models the console characteristics, but it has the original EQ curves and the preamp saturation on board. I guess such features as left-right or channel crosstalk are not modelled here. It's quite nice!

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/code-re ... lass-audio
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6216042

Commercial version has just been released with more features

[VariKusBrainZ]

Recently I was in a friend of my friend studio and he used NLS on every channel and busses, sounded much better with it. So I really want to implement this Non-Linear Summer feature in my DAW. But NLS is pricey a little. Are there some more good alternatives?

Which DAW are you using? I know that Sonar has a built-in ProChannel equivalent that I preferred over NLS for both sound and (esp) for ease-of-use. If you're not using Sonar, maybe other DAWs have a similar feature?

What is this Prochannel equivalent?

[HardSinc]

fwiw i didn't like code red much.. this time waves gets the win IMO. Am thinking about REDD.

I have Redd and Scheps, neither are really that subtle. Scheps is probably the more subtle of the two as you have great control.

If you want subtlety why not just use Nebula? It costs less and less than NLS.

[anti_phase]

I use Nebula but it never worked for me as a console emulation or so.Tried many console programs. Almost everything from ALexB and some others. So subtle, so that there`s no point to insert it. Like some compressors, tape emulations and guitar effects, though.

[Burillo]

well, to be fair, console emulation is supposed to be subtle. engineers for decades strived to achieve the most neutral sound possible, so it would be counter-intuitive to expect a mixer to impart much of a "sound" to the recording.

[anti_phase]

I like neutral sound and I`m not a fan of saturation. The only thing that I like from "analog past" is non-linear summing. And Nebula probably doesn`t do it. Although among 10 Nebula console users there`s always 1 which says that we are deaf fools

[mrj1nx]

... i find it hard to believe that they do, in fact, bypass the DAW summing. if that were the case, they would have to either silence the output after the NLS channel, and feed it all into the bus through some out-of-band communication with the bus; or it would have to ignore all the FX you put after NLS channel. neither of those are happening AFAIK, so i don't think they too offer some sort of magic summing algorithm. at the end of the day, bus is still a stereo bus, and does the same stereo summing thing other plugins do.

This is something I was thinking as well when I first read about NLS. So can we confirm if this is the case? That this is in effect "only" saturation and not actual summing of channels. I could imagine one way they could achieve actual summing without bypassing the DAW, by having each channel plugin somehow compensate the signal so that the resulting combination within the DAW summing results in the desired result.

[HardSinc]

RTM

Session Setup
Since analog console coloration is created by the console’s individual channel and buss
amplifiers, the NLS includes both Channel and Buss components. To faithfully reproduce
the DAW to analog console (and back again) signal chain and workflow, we recommend
using the NLS in one of two following session setup configurations.

1. As a virtual summing box or summing console: The NLS Channel is inserted on the
last insert of the DAW audio tracks, like a direct out routed to an analog console. The
NLS Buss is placed on the first insert of the master track (or any other buss), just as the
stereo return would be routed from the analog console back to the DAW.

2. To simulate console preamp coloration: The NLS Channel is placed on the first insert
of your DAW audio tracks, and the NLS Buss can then be inserted at any point on the
buss or master track.
Waves


http://www.waves.com/1lib/pdf/plugins/n ... summer.pdf

[ObsoleteAcc99]

fwiw i didn't like code red much.. this time waves gets the win IMO. Am thinking about REDD.

I have Redd and Scheps, neither are really that subtle. Scheps is probably the more subtle of the two as you have great control.

If you want subtlety why not just use Nebula? It costs less and less than NLS.

Hi i think you are confusing me with someone else. VCC is the one I use for subtlety, i like the obvious effect waves redd adds. I am anti nebula, i hate the whole convoluted system and website even. No thanks. Scheps is a neve 73 eq. Sorry what does that have to do with redd?

I find your post strange as you even put together in your mind WHY i didn't get along with the code red freebie, when i never gave a reason.

[HardSinc]

Because Scheps also adds console style saturation, which is what the thread is about, try and keep up with the conversation. I have no idea what code red is, I was just talking about an alternative to redd and a comparable product and saying they're not very subtle and offering the name of a product that actually sounds how it should.

I find it more disturbing that you imagined that I imagined why you didn't like something I've never heard of, when I was just offering you advice, which you seem to be in great need of.

[anti_phase]

Because Scheps also adds console style saturation, which is what the thread is about

umm not exactly It`s more about non-linear summing. Even Waves separates this term from Saturation
I have lots of saturators. I might even insert each of them into individual tracks in a mix without repetition

[Burillo]

I thought i already explained this. There is no "non-linear summing" going on in any of those plugins. What you get is essentially crosstalk + saturation.

[anti_phase]

Yes, but I couldn`t know this when starting a thread
Now I understand