Airwindows CONSOLE8: Mac/Windows/Linux/Pi AU/VST
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- Опубліковано 7 жов 2024
- Yep. Told you I had stuff in the works! ;)
These are subtle things, not meant to be wildly wildly more colored and different from regular digital mix buss. It's not like an amp sim. BUT, all the same, if you start to seriously listen to the texture and depth and how stuff communicates through Console8 relative to even Console7 much less a straight DAW mix, Console8 pretty much obliterates the rest. I made it because I needed it. I'm going to be using it, lots, and you can use it too: my plugins and digital things are free, Patreon-supported. These are tough times but that's still working and has become all the more important to commit to.
But what makes Console8 that much better?
Ultrasonic filtering at 24k, distributed among more stages than ever before in a Console version, for extended highs (and it switches off at lower sample rates when it wouldn't be helping, for lower CPU and more direct sound)
Distributed highpass filtering emulating real analog gear. This is a new filter that doesn't exist anywhere else and is only part of Console8. It's more a texture/attitude filter than a sound-shaping filter, and is quite low but its effect is strongly felt.
Distributed, gradiated treble softening across the whole mix topology. The idea is that your inputs are clean and low level, and as we go deeper into the console the levels rise as does the energy level, until the final mix buss is very powerful and pushing any electronics, transformers etc. quite hard. This gives Console8 the ability to do airy subtle sparkle and big roaring powerful energy all at the same time. It should just naturally happen through appropriate mixing. Think big, grand scale.
A new mix topology with much simpler rules for how to set it up, using six dedicated plugins in six places.
ChannelIn, SubIn, and BussIn go FIRST on your channels, submixes, and master buss.
ChannelOut, SubOut, and BussOut go LAST on your channels, submixes, and master buss.
All channels must go to a Submix with unity gain between the Out plugins and the In plugin on the submix.
All submixes must go to the Master Buss with unity gain between the Out plugins and the In plugin on the master buss.
The output of the BussOut goes directly to your converter, your file etc. and you're done :)
Don't use any added processing between BussOut and the file or converter. It uses a version of ClipOnly2 plus a new wordlength reducer that doesn't exist anywhere else and is a hybrid between my old Ten Nines process and Airwindows Dark. It only does 24 bit and if you must make 16 bit you can add a 16 bit dither (but you don't need to make 16 bit, this is 2022, come on). This wordlength reducer is specially optimized for Console8, so if you're using one of my existing Monitoring plugins that applies a wordlength reducer, switch it off when not in use (I'll produce a 'plain' Monitoring that doesn't interfere, though Monitoring2 is probably going to end up arriving at the same output as Console8BussOut)
I realize this is a lot to take in but in practice it should all just work and fall into place very naturally. The Out plugins all have faders, which are good to assign to midi controllers so you can adjust them with physical controls and not the mouse. I have mine working with a TX-6 :) They're designed so that 0.5 is unity: less than that fades down to zero, and more than that gives you about 12dB of boost in each stage. That's also true for the master buss, except it also drives into the ClipOnly2 so it gets a punchier 'slam' than the channels and submixes get if you push those.
It's not really intended for 'everything is louder than everything else' overloudenated nonsense but will probably do that better than anything else you can have, especially if you're trying to get a grand scale on things and not just ear-maiming grit :)
Again, 'In' goes first. 'Out' goes last. All Channels go to a Sub, all Subs go to the Buss, and you're done. Easy to explain :)
I may or may not get back to my regular posting and/or streaming routine but I'm inspired and have more great stuff coming so it should be good. More on that when it actually comes out: you know I'm full of surprises. Please do join the Patreon if you're sure that you can, we gotta stick together and I'll pull my weight. Console8 should still count as 'one plugin' unless you really feel you should support it as if it were worth six :)
www.airwindows...
/ airwindows
I was just working on a console 7 mix and swapped out to the new system: a miracle! This is the bomb, thanks Chris!
Where do you place the console seven channel plugin ? At the end of fx chain or at the first
@@Felix00007 end
@@Felix00007it's a bit trickier than that though. If you don't have post fader plugin inserts, you shouldn't use your fader for volume changes and automation or it won't work as intended. There is a volume slider on the console channel plugin though that you can use instead.
WOW! Time to update my mixing template! HA! Thanks, Chris.
Time stamps for me to A/B compare: @17:40 without Console8 @18:14
Man, I keep coming back to Console8. I've never heard a plugin sound so much like an analogue desk. Not just a preamp, but the actual flow of the desk. It lets me set levels so smoothly and quickly. Thanks 💜
Thanks so much for your continued work Chris. It's amazing that someone has taken analog sound and made it digital. Even more amazing and generous that you make the plugins free. Appreciate it so much.
You mean the digital sound and made it analogue?
Reaper team must pay you money and intergate whole console system in the DAW
Wow! Just tried. Sounds mega good. Thank you, Chris!
Thank you very much for your amazing work! I'll try to spare Console 7 of my latest mixes and hear the difference. In this video it sounds very promising, though Console 7 gives a fantastic result as well
I cant believe i get to own a Console8 for free. Your generosity and passion for audio is unique. I cant wait to see what it can do. Cheers!
I'm surprised I'm just now hearing about you and your plugins. Free? My guy this sounds damn good and it's properly subtle unlike some analog emulation plugins. Subbed. Can wait to see what else you got going on.
This is astonishing. Thank you yet again : )
You’re a brilliant man, like come one :) I’m new to the console stuff now but just the idea you had of how to ACTUALLY make something to mix two sounds together, not just “compressing them together” etc. Brilliant man
Hey mang. You probs get a ton of requests, but a simple flanger plugin with positive and negative feedback would be awesome. Love that negative feedback tube sound.
Btw Grindamp and Cabs are excellent. Also I use Spiral and Mojo all the time. Keep up the great work Chris!
Yeah it is sooo hard to find a proper tape style phase/flange. I’ve had to resort to sticking a J37 tape on a bus with tape speed instability. It pretty much works but not ideal.
Digital: 18:25
Console8: 19:00
That is an incredible plugin
Can't wait to use this. Great production quality on the vid - sound and picture. Like the music a lot.
It would be nice to have a global disable button to bypass the entire console
saying this gr years,, in logic for instance if you have them in the same slot on each channel its possible or get the plugin A/B Perception
Ah to be a reaper user and to have this for every plugin
@@MattDxstined Cmd+B (by default) to open your Project Bay window, switch to the "FX" tab, right click on the plugin that you want to bypass or offline, and click.
Huge on speakers.... A definite, solid improvement on earbuds.... Very strong on good headphones but even better on good speakers. It sounds so convincingly non-linier.
I'm sure it's been mentioned a zillion times already but
_I'd pay double for a Reaper "Airwindows version" with this and more plugins built into the audio paths._
I'm kind of surprised that none of the "big DAWs" come pre-configured for band-limiting and viable emulation of fully/mostly analog setups already.
imho the future of DAWs is going to be even more about workflows and aesthetics than about new processing algos.
The next leap in DAW usefulness could be: A transparent implementation to more freely choose console style/complexity//era, noise characteristics and tape formula. Just get on with sounding better, and leave behind the hassle(s) of "'making things sound not-so-damned digital" by having to set up every little VST element (well, unless you want to, of course) beforehand.
One can only keep so many templates viable for so long. Updating all of them whenever a new plugin arrives is yet another hassle that nobody needs. What I _need_ is for my DAW to facilitate the focus of any session, and not bog me down in housekeeping of plugins and minutia.....sorry if that all reads as a quasi-rant that went nowhere; I'm just (badly) attempting to elaborate on my opener!
At any rate, thanks so much, Chris :)
I want to hear the story about how your rock music is structured like jungle.
Cool Chris! (& I love when you dumb-it-down re-explaining the hook-up process so to speak). Can’t wait to try this out :)
You hit a home run Chris .... Best Reaper Ruff Mix yet !!!
Hail The Bob Ross of plugins! Respect, Sir.
Thank you so much
thank you, chris!
I've been waiting for this one! I presume that one can have multiple ConsoleBusses. I.e. multiple grouping sets of Channel>Sub>Bus. I.e. multiple mix busses.. A,B,C,D, etc. And, then go multichannel OTB to whatever, hardware compressors,summing mixer,etc.
I'm experimenting with this for Mach1 Spatial audio. Basically one input channel becomes 8 output channels (purely amplitude panning, no filtering), those 8 get sent to a submix bus at unity gain and then those 8 go on to the main 8 channel output/monitoring/master bus at unity gain. Running it all in Plogue Bidule and working really nicely! Can't imagine how this is gonna sound with what could be dozens of 8x8 console encode/decode pairs!
Great as always !
Great!!!
thank you so much...gentle genius....console8 it's awesome ...grazieeeeee
Hey Chris, sounds interesting. A few questions. First why only 96k? Most people still mix at 48k. If using at 48k, what are we not getting in this plugin? Also, great thing to listen to Paul "Genius" Frindle about the SSL design also Sony's Oxford's Design. When you are phase-shifting the low-end by doing high passes on every channel, can you explain a little more? I use Hypersonic on the Master, am I getting the high attenuation effect over 24k when mixing at 48k? Thanks in advance!!!
when using 48k you're not getting the ultrasonic filtering which eliminates digital aliasing
Wow Chris, I cant believe how good this sounds!! When you A-B'd it, I got really excited, as I've been trying to get analogue on all my sounds, as I beleive it's the best. What your plugin does is give things more space which is magic. So good that you have designed something to get away from the digital. This is superb. I'm learning to listen to you more, as there is so much involved in your designs. NB:- By the way Chris, is that your music? I love it! It reminds me of The Doors. Thank You.
Love your work Chris. What about an Airwindows analogue emulation channel strip with the console system built in. 👍
For a project with no submixes, would there be any issue putting SubIn/out on the master before Console8Bus? Or putting SubIn/out it on a track after ChannelOut?
+1
if im not mistaken you're removing the expected effect it would have on your mix if you channel everything including subin/out THEN channelout to just one channel
That would be what you'd do, yes, if you really needed to not have any submixes. You'd put them on the master so all the filtering would still work normally. It will be better if you use submixes though :)
@@sebastianbaran9645 kk
And all at half the cpu load! Which brand of console are the Console8 high pass filters most similar to? Do you have any plans for PurestConsole3 at this point? I love the neutrality of PurestConsole2 but you seem very excited by the high passing in Console8, as well as the softening of the highs, would the new concept work without these features? Would there be any point? Looking forward to using Console8 on my next mix, thank you Chris.
*Quarter, it uses one quarter of the cpu of PurestConsole2 (even though it's now 2 plugins on each channel). Incredible.
Hi Chris, when I use a loudness limiter and clipper plugin for the mastering purposes, should I put it before or after console 8 bus out? Cheers!
CHRISTMAS HAS COME EARLY BOYS😎
I don't know, guys... It seems to complicate the mixing process a bit, with each channel and subgroup now having 2 extra plugins instead of 1 like on Console 7. Also not being able to use DAW faders is a kind of a drawback for me (I'd like to automate tracks easily).
Overall it's a great idea, but I just can't integrate it in my mixing process right now, as it will make it longer and more complicated.
Same here. How can I mix without automating my daw faders?
I figured out how to control the level fader on the channel output plug in with my keyboards pitch wheel. I simply write the automation which works well.
I almost never touch my DAW faders. Use a gain plugin, every DAW has one. Ableton calls it Utility. If you do some research into gain staging you’ll understand why mixing with the faders as your main gain stage is going to mean it’s harder for you to get the mix right, and it won’t sound as good. Basically you want to get your gain staging right going into any effects chains on your channel. That’s one gain process. Then after your FX chain, you’ll have a higher gain signal thab you need. I always throw a gain plugin on there to do actual mix volumes. The big plus there is, your faders aren’t constantly flying everywhere, so you can use your channel fader as a “painterly” main gain control. If that makes ssnse. With this system, you just use his faders as those final faders. It’s not bad if you’re doing sensible gain control happening anyway.
Awesome Chris. I can’t wait to try this on my next mix, but my head is swimming with questions:
Is it ok to have more than one set of SubIn/SubOut in an audio path? e.g. If drums are already a submix, if you then sent to a parallel reverb channel with its own SubIn/SubOut, then the path with the reverb is going through two lots of SubIn/SubOut and you are breaking the “all SubOuts must go to the BussIn” rule…
I can see some limitations with having the dithering built in. What if you want to push into the built-in clipping (which it looks like clips to -0.4dbfs), but then turn it down to say -1dbfs? You can’t do this without double dithering. Also if you want to export at a different sample rate, you are forced down to 24bit prior to the sample rate calculation (making it a tiny bit less accurate) and then you have to dither again after the sample rate calculation. Similarly, if you want to send your mix to mastering engineer, you are forced to send a 24 bit file rather than sending them 32or64 floating point.
Using this makes certain other Airwindows plugin redundant e.g. dithering and UltrasonX. Are there any others that are effectively redundant? e.g. Interstage?
Originally, I believe this was going to be a Mackie inspired thing, but is it now a more general idealised console?
Love your work,
Dave
But in parallel- if you sent a channel to two subs (main and the reverb) each path is still channel-sub-buss. If you snuck some Sub into another Sub to feed a reverb I think we'll all manage just fine (I might try that)
The new plan for real-desk Consoles (there are Patreon goals that can bring those to you) is that they will be lettered, not numbered, so the Mackie 8 buss will be 'ConsoleM' and so on. More options, and Console8 is an important step towards that, but I've not got a physical Mackie 8-Buss yet. Maybe the submix concept is partly inspired by 8-buss?
Edit: Got it now.
And this is without so many other analog-ing Airwindows thrown thrown in like slew only, capacitor 2, interstage..... Channel 9, etc..... All really just building out the console still.... Which is is really just the canvas....
Plays real well with other high Fidelity, aliasing aware developers on the cutting edge, as well as Chris's other wild, initial and really cool plugins. How about some of those reverbs? Etc....
Harrison mixbus has this built in. Although it's less unique and creative and more of an emulation of one of their consoles.
@@Pinko-Diamond - Harrison Mixbuss only fools you into thinking that it emulates one of their consoles.
But what it actually gets it’s „sound“ from are the tape emulations on the busses.
@@Pinko-Diamondrrison mixbus nulls with any digital summing. They just give you saturation on the channels and buses to play with. (Like heat in protools or magneto 3 in Cubase) There's nothing special happening in its summing at all.
Harrison mix bus Is a modified version of a Adour.... An open source DAW. They do have a very analog style interface. It can be a good flow for mixing for some people. It's lacking in quite a few features for editing and even more for MIDI. Some of the plugins are decent. Their marketing is misleading. They've gotten a lot of criticism which is deserved. A lot of their so-called analog plugins have no nonlinearities. And their something is completely linear digital.
Still.... Some people love it.
So NO DITHER is necessary after this, because the dark is built in...
Important to point out to people, to disable dither on the DAW before exporting audio.
Ten Nines and Dark. Yes :)
How do you handle bus “cascading”? Eg: track > bus > bus > master.
Don't. Pick one of the two sub-busses and don't use it with the plugins, or don't add the additional series buss. It's very much designed to use exactly one submix buss always.
@@airwindows hi Chris, I am trying to follow this - when you say "pick one of the two sub-busses and don't use it with the plugin", wouldn't that mean that the source channel for these busses can't use ConsoleChannel since it's required that it feeds a bus?
Would it be a good or bad idea to perhaps "stretch" the channel plugin in across multiple tracks to achieve parallel processing? For example -
TRACK 1 -> Console8ChannelIn-> OUT to TRACK 2, TRACK 3 and TRACK 4
TRACK 2 -> (multiple plugins) -> OUT TO TRACK 5
TRACK 3 -> (multiple plugins) -> OUT TO TRACK 5
TRACK 4 -> (multiple plugins) -> OUT TO TRACK 5
TRACK 5-> (multiple plugins) -> Console8ChannelOut-> OUT to TRACK 6
TRACK 6-> Console8SubIn etc...
@@airwindows just want to confirm that what I listed below regarding "stretching" the plugins across DAW tracks is a good approach.
You mention in the comment above to not use one of the sub-busses with the plugins. How would that work? Wouldn't the tracks that didn't use ConsoleChannel/ConsoleSub still have to pass through ConsoleBuss?
I am very interested in this but am for the moment turned off by the internal fader.
I currently use Logic and am thinking of getting into Reaper: is this the sort of thing I could genuinely make a console out of? I.E. Map the internal faders to reaper's mix track faders? Thanks :)
Good question ! Is there a way to map reaper's faders to those included in Console plugins?
You can Bypass/Unbypass many of the same plugins at once in the Proyect Media/Fx Bay in REAPER (View menu) maybe that would be better for a real WET/DRY comparison considering how subtle it can be. I'm definitely going to try it. Thanks Chris!
Also, on a small side note/question.. Any thoughts on what could be causing a bunch of tiny clicks in your StereoDoubler? I really want to use it because it sounds so nice on a vocal but the clicks don't let me use it really :( And it seems I'm not the only one. One day it worked perfectly, the other it started doing that, very weird.
But you'd be bypassing the gain trim too, so that can't really work. Handy, though :) and StereoDoubler is based on GlitchShifter. If the clicks are obtrusive you have to either work with them or not use it, the whole point is that it never does crossfades and that's where the clicks come from. Some sounds mask it and others really don't…
@@airwindows Ah, true, I did'nt think of the gain trim. Maybe useful to you in other things then! And damn, that's weird, with vocals sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn't. Great on percs and such. Thanks for the reply Chris, have a good day.
Hey Chris, thank you so much for this!
2 questions tho.. when sending something to master after, I don’t want dithering already be applied. So is there a away to not dither at the last stage?
Second when working in 36 bit will there be any problems as you mentioned it’s made for 24?
Cheers!
Oh and another one, what is your suggested sweet spot for hitting the sub/ bus? Same as with console 7 wich is around -3dbfs if I remember correctly?
Bear in mind it's not even dithering and it's at 24 bit. I think you're in the clear: consider what it does to be part of the Console8 sound, as much as the highpass (also unusual) and treble softening (also unusual() is,
As for sweet spot, you tell me. I think it's gonna be a LOT more flexible than previous ones. Slamming stuff harder will bring out the thickness and fatness, and leaving lots of headroom will bring out the highs and sparkle. There is no single point where one switches to the other.
Noob question: Intended use is to mix with the channel/sub out plugin faders and keep daw faders at unity, correct?
Correct
Reverb Sends in your project are not at unity gain (which of course makes sense) - is this fine because reverb changes the signal so much that the desired interaction of ChannelOuts and the SubIn doesn't matter anymore?
Yup :)
@@airwindows thank you!
@@airwindows so no need to put reverb send through console8?
Wow😮
I'm confused about the gain staging. I have a couple of questions which are not clear for me after watching the video:
- So the sum of all ChannelOuts needs to hit SubIn around unity gain or does each individual channel need to hit the SubIn at unity gain?
- And do you mean unity gain at 0 dB or just that the input and output levels are matched?
- Can't you just match input and output levels with the DAW sliders?
- Should you use the console faders to set levels or the DAW sliders?
I would love to use this setup, but I'm unsure if I can practically make it work with my workflow in FL Studio.
Also, if I only set up 3 channels into 1 sub into the master bus I'm already at 24% CPU usage in FL Studio running at 96kHz, which is much higher than what I would get for Console7.
Each channel should go directly to the In it's pointed at: don't use DAW faders or mess with the unity gain there.
I have to ask, what microphone are you using there? It looks beautiful. Perhaps a Telefunken or a Golden Age? Regardless, that copper colour is gorgeous.
Thanks for this awesome upgrade to Console 8!
Does this mean that when we have console in and console out the fader in DAW which level acts as post fader, will work now as intended not like in Console 7 where fader would mess bit the desaturation on master channel? 🙂
Still can't use the DAW faders, all DAW faders at unity is still necessary.
@@LS-ud7do Okay but why?
When we have console 8 in and then at the end of the same channel we got out then using DAW channel volume fader which is happening after console 8 out will only push more signal into Console 8 Sub in, or am I missing something?
And similarly if we mess with group fader for example drum group fader we only change how hard we push the Console 8 in on the master bus, where again Console 8 out sees the same level as Console 8 in.
Before this sort of in and out instances we have now Console 7 instances weren't on the same channel so yes messing with DAW fader would change and send different signal between the saturation and desaturation stages of console 7 and pushing faders into Master bus would make it sound darker which was counter intuitive, but I don't see why not use DAW faders with console 8.
Do you know why we should have all faders at unity?
Thanks!
It's true, between the Out and In plugins should be at unity gain to work mathematically with the system as designed :)
@@danielkisel5661 The input plugins don't have any knowledge of the output plugins and vice versa. Perhaps in an ideal world there could be communication between the plugins, but they are dumb plugins, so the unity gain approach works, because both plugins don't have to be aware of each others gain then, they know its unity.
Any way simple way to access console fader control outside of the plugin instance. Midi assignments??
MIDI assignements to your MIDI controller, yes. That's what Chris recommends. And using your ears while setting the volumes.
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🤝👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
What inspired the changes from Console7 to Console8?
I was just willing to try more and wilder stuff. The distributed highpassing is from a remark by Paul Frindle about how analog mixing desks work, and you've not yet seen everything that came out of the treble softening ideas, there's more. There was an experiment that did the opposite in an amazing way. The change in ultrasonic filtering was to let the sound be brighter and more open than Console7 :)
@@tunairaiol That would be nicceeee... But pls bpm sync or something :'( it's tough getting them to a certain tempo in a hurry, only in sound design its negligible but it sounds to good to not use it anywhere
🙏🤲🤙💥💥💥
All my channels route directly to my master buss. No sub bussing. Should I skip using the sub in & out plugs in that case or should I instantiate one instance of sub in followed by one instance of sub out before the Buss in plugin followed by my mastering chain and ending with the Buss out plug??
Hello, where can I get Bacon Paul's Jucetoy plugin?
instead of adjusting the channelout fader into the submix i’ve been adjusting the level of the send in Reaper’s routing menu (i use CStrip before channelout to get any sort of EQ/compression i want and then set the level of the send to the submix around -18db for the focal point of my mix for headroom purposes) . is this the same as adjusting Reaper’s channel fader to -18db? should i not be operating console8 this way?
Has anyone been able to set up Console8 in Ableton ? Struggling to figure it out
Same
So, just to clarify something. You mention that the low pass filter switches itself off if the project sample rate is lower than 96K. I assume, though, that the previously mentioned high pass filters remain, regardless of the sample rate?
Yes. It's the ultrasonic filtering, which is at 24k this time and goes higher before phase shifting/cutting off, that switches off at 48k and below. Not anything else :)
@@airwindows we who mix at 88.2k have been forgotten :(
@@rrrafiel In the Gearspace thread, Chris says the filtering activates at >49k, so you're good to go!
why aren't console modes built into DAWs?
17:40 and 18:17
Would it hurt a lot if I’m using it in 48khz?
😁
so I need to keep all of my saw faders at 0 and use the output fader to control volume?
Yes, all the Airwindows Console designs are meant to be used with unity gain between them: so, DAW fader at 0.
I am just wondering one thing: when you say "unity gain" do you mean -18dB RMS? To what unity gain dB value are your plugins like this calibrated?
Yeah that statement around 25:20 is confusing... are the faders in the plugins just for saturation or level too?
Just checked more comment answers and I understand now. He means unity gain as in the DAW's channel fader is set to 0dB. Console8 necessitates more complexity in routing in DAWs without post-fader FX (like Reaper) since it can't be used in conjunction with normal volume control on tracks. The C8 plugin faders appear to be designed like analog desk faders, i.e. volume plus saturation.
"Sub" meaning sub bass or like a auxilary send?
Submixes in Console8 are a set of busses you send tracks to, with the sub-busses also mixed to the final output buss. So it's a two-stage mixing process where you can also adjust (and process) whole sections of the mix together.
One thing I dont understand. All DAW faders have to stay at unity, correct? How does one automate levels if they have to stay at unity? Can the faders on the console outs be controlled with midi?
You need to automate the Console8 channel out fader, not the track volume. And yes, you can address your midi channel to control anything.
do you own roswell audio or just use their mics?
What is sub?
It didn't work for me, I did as indicated using the Ins of Hype and Outs of Console 8 and it was horrible, the treble was squeaky
Apparently I'm going to keep using Console7, but unfortunately it likes a CPU a lot
am i the only one who cant understand this?
You must reach nerd level 8. I’m still working on level 3.
What do you do with Reverb and Delay Sends? If I'm sending vocals to a Delay, do I send the Delay to the Bus? And are Pan Pots at Unity as well?