ACUSTICA AUDIO COFFEE vs SOFTUBE Zener Bender vs WAVES TG12345 || CURVEBENDER plugin shootout
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- ACUSTICA AUDIO COFFEE vs SOFTUBE Zener Bender vs WAVES TG12345 || Abbey Road curvebender plugin shootout / plugin comparison
Waves - / danielwaves
Acustica - / @acusticaaudiochannel
Softube - / softubestudios
Abbey Road studios has been renowned for its vintage gear and has produced some of the best records from The Beatles to Pink Floyd.
The TG12345 desk is one of most well known and sought after consoles due to its colour and crystal clear clarity.
Many big plugin manufacturers such as universal audio have seen success and adoration for their emulations but it was Waves Audio who managed to secure the abbey road licensing which allowed them to release the TG12345 & RS56 back in 2016. These were emulating the emi tg12345 compressor and curve bender eq.
In terms of marketing, waves plugins and abbey road studios are match made in heaven. However this year Softube and acustica audio respectively released their own variations of the hardware in the form of the chandler hardware emulations who have the licensing for the Abbey Road hardware. Softube managed to secure image licensing from chandler in the form of the chandler zener limiter, chandler curve bender & zener bender, while acustica did their usual and stuck to their 'discrete' colour scheme in the form of the Acustica coffee which emulates the same chandler gear and much more.
So... Who actually does the best abbey road / chandler emulation?? .. Let's find out
#acusticaaudio #wavesaudio #softube # pro tools for beginners 2020
This is probably the best comparison between VSTs I have seen on youtube as someone who is obsessed with plugins I am subscribed. Keep it up bro already seen 4 videos lol.
Thank you so much 🙌🙌 I put a lot of time and effort in these to ensure that they are as fair as possible so makes my day to hear that people appreciates them. This and the helios comparison are definitely the benchmark for me in terms of how I set them up and now I have the correct setting for streamlabs and filmora (on this video anyway, the helios I rushed and pressed the wrong format button 🙈) it means that I can now have them all running at 1080p with 320 kbps audio so I can't get any better with what I have just now. This Wednesday is going to be kush silika vs korneff pawn shop.. And.. Vocal leveller shootout (sta level, mjuc, el rey & xla3) 😁😁
@@PaulThird no problem man yeah that's what impressed me too because it is not common for reviewers when it comes to audio plugins and looking forward to it on Wednesday. I have a feeling your channel will gain a lot of subs very quickly since it's very hard to find the comparisons which are done by audio engineers in technical detail without any bias at least I can't find any.
Yeah you normally find that plugin reviews are more 'have a look at it on a few sources and play about with it'. Where I think if you compare it against direct competitors or similar recreations, level match it, then it's just a case of tone which is what we're all after. From there it gives you a better idea of how it actually stands up as on its own you don't have anything to compare it to.. So it can be very easy to make something sound more appealing.
Oversampling or not, the waves sounds best for me.
@@cucumberforest that's what's great about audio. No right or wrong answers. If it works for you then it works, everything is completely subjective 😀
Late to this video but I highly recommend folks demo Coffee. It's so good on a bunch of things and it's compressor alone ends up on a bunch of my busses (especially drums). Acustica plugins will hit your CPU hard but the trade off is a realism I don't hear on too many other plugins. I've just learned to freeze my tracks in Logic once I land on the settings I like. UA-cam compression doesn't do the plugins justice and you should really try the demo on your DAW listening on your headphones/monitors.
I totally fell in love with Acustica Audio after following your channel. Next to all the comparisons it is still a personal tast which company you use IMO. If it sounds good, it sounds good. Aldo Softube is for me just as important as Acustica is. The great thing on your channel is how you open up the perspective on using plugins in general. It made me rethink every decision I am doing now in my studio. Keep up the great work! ✌🏻
🤓🤓
I really dig these videos. Paul, have you ever tried DDMF's metaplugin? You can oversample plugins that typically don't have oversampling. I use it with waves stuff sometimes and it smooths out some of that harshness.
I heard that somewhere. I actually forgot I bought metaplugin years ago. Never knew it could do that. However does it only oversample vst's? I'm protools so I only install AAX but suppose if it made a plugin sound better I could install the vst3 and put it into metaplugin 🤔
@@PaulThird to be honest I'm not sure. I'm a logic user so I'm not positive if it supports AAX. For AU's though, it definitely improves on the TG12345 a bit when I add 2 - 4 X oversampling. A bit more leg work upfront to set everything up, but its still less CPU than acustica and that coupled with the NLS for the TG12345 gives me a pretty good sound with flexibility for saturation that acustica doesn't have.
It would be nice if Waves would just oversample though. I agree that they are falling behind in that department significantly.
@@PaulThird
I am so happy you were emancipated from Pro Tools and have joined Maximus and the Cubase Movement . . . . ! . . . 🙂
(-;
Thanks to you, I'm increasingly looking after Acustica Audio stuff. A bit pricey, but seems worth of it.
Genuinely changed my mixes overnight 🙌🙌
Acustica is just closest to hardware I’ve found. Uad and softube is nice too. The waves plug-in.... meh. Great comparison sir.
Wait till you hear this Wednesdays comparison. Warm audio pultec vs Acusticas warm audio emulation in purple.. Definitely gonna stir things up with the analog vs digital debate 😳
Man you are pretty persistant with any waves video I do haha
Either way.. Sorry but I have to disagree. If you come out and state that a plugin is an out and out emulation of a certain hardware then it's very important that it sounds like it as that is the lure of the purchase.
Lets be truly honest. How many would buy the waves plugins if they didn't have the hardware licensing?
The RS56 that I used in this video.. Doesn't even have harmonics.. Its just a linear eq. How can you possibly lure people in.. And still sell these abbey road licensed plugins and not even bother to emulate the harmonics of the unit.
I spent close to a grand on waves plugins due to the fact I thought they were the best hardware emulations. Some like these aren't even realistic. If I pay for something that advertises that it emulates the hardware closely and has a license to use the product names then I expect that it sounds like the real deal.. As in my book, that's false advertising.
Without being funny though. I am genuinely selling nearly all of my waves analog emulations so if you are looking for any then I have 80% of them. Be better in somebody's hands that will actually see use and see benefit out of them
@@najinelson6742 i have analog gear. Specifically an ssl fusion and a shadow hills mastering comp as acustica has done emulation of both. So in most cases? Sure.
Not in my case.
@@najinelson6742 well in context what I was saying is acustica is the closest to getting that analog vibe I’ve found after abing myself. There are things like true iron and other plugins that give you that feel. But in a world where your marrying a lot of sounds together and you can stack effects... is it impossible to make something sound amazing without analog gear or authentic plugins!? Heck no.
If you’re talking amp plugins neural dsp mercurial are just plain better than anything for guitar rig or waves. Can we get a nice guitar tone to sit in a mix with basically any modern amp sim?
Yep.
We’re talking isolated tracks here and a bing in a controlled listening environment where the difference is most noticeable.
@@johnbach2380 there's no point discussing with guy John. He's commented on nearly every waves video I've done and spouted the same stuff.
High cpu, latency, waves have been used for years, waves make engineering legends, there is no production without waves, Cla3a is the plugin he uses on everything, acustica prioritises GUI over cpu, most acustica eq's will be the same bla bla bla
I've tried to teach him about what causes high cpu consumption in AA plugs due to them being convolution plugins loading sampled impulse responses of the actual hardware etc different technology from algorithmic plugins and is the reason why they sound more analog than most most algos.
He tried out one AA plug, went in the huff cause it his computer couldn't handle it and has been bashing any video that states that waves are inferior to other plugins.
I've got an i5 lenovo laptop and can run entire sessions on PT just by utilising freezing so I can benefit from the superior sound quality acustica offers (in my opinion).
I talk as someone who has invested close to a grand in waves and used them for over 10 years. I've got PA and slate subscription bundle and tried out nearly all and also own a lot of acusticas plugs as well.
In the same form that he mentions that 'it's not waves fault that people use crappy interfaces, shitty mics and don't know how to sing'
Its also not Acustica's fault that he can't afford a good enough computer to run their plugins.. Or at least freeze instances in his DAW.
You'll never EVER win with guys like this. I've even offered to sell him my waves plugs that I want rid of but no reply thus far 🤷♂️
I preferred the Waves for the same reason you didn't prefer the waves. I thought the highs sounded more thin and brittle and thin on the other two, and preferred the more saturated/compressed/roll off of the highs in the waves.
It's funny looking back at this as it was when I didn't know how to curve match or anything, especially knowing now that the waves is just a completely clean linear digital eq haha
I hear the harshness on the waves, I don't really hear the "muddyness" (only on the vocals).. I think it will be a lot better in busy mixes. Has an interesting sound. Softtube and Acustica sound closer to each other.. which makes sense, since they emulate the chandler.. and not the abbey road. I prefer the Softube between the two, but I think in many mixing situations the TG 12345 will be the best choice. Will help you let the scource cut through, sounds more interesting to the ear (mine at least). Thinking about E-Guitars, Keys, Mallets.. stuff that is not the lead, but still needs to cut through.
Interesting looking back knowing now that the Rs56 is completely clean and digital haha
@@PaulThird stupid Paul ...do you work for Acustica ??
I wish there was a Germanium compressor in the Coffee bundle. Purchased Alex B Germanium but need a skin to go with it now. :P
Why do I constantly hear many going on about the germanium so much? I've not tried it yet but as far as I know it's a FET with diode's in it. So like a 33609 but snappier 🤔
@@PaulThird I was hearing the same thing, then saw Michael Brauer using it on his master bus (the hardware) and then I demoed the Softube and it had a preset called Michael Brauer. I used it and without even changing anything it gave a sense of phatness to my master bus. I never had the chance to purchase the Softube one. I havnt compared them side by side but I think the Alex B Germanium comes very close. Not sure if the settings correspend to the same values though.
I use it more as a coloring box rather than a compressor.
Dear Sir Paul III., I've made a comparison test between Softube Chandler Limited Curve Bender and the Acustica Audio Pensado EQ on stereo masters which I like to share here with you: The Pensado EQ does not induce dynamic spikes - the Curve Bender slightly does. So I would rather tend to slightly flatten these spikes again after the EQ stage. I recommend not to use 50 and 80 cycles per second on the Pensado EQ though as at these settings a weird ringing in the low frequencies even by attenuation is induced (it may work with other material though). At 100 cycles per second and above everything works fine on the Pensado EQ. I think the inducement of dynamic spikes occur due to Curve Bender EQ not operating as a linear phase EQ.
It's interesting looking back as I know now that the pensado eq had a lot of sampling artifacts.
@@PaulThird, never look back!
Could increasing the headroom slider in the softube one make for a crisper sound?
Yeah...waves has to take all thier plugins....and do a Slight 80k Low Boost a 400k Cut and maby a 10k Boost they need to be slightly Scooped to Sound more natural like they are actually attenuating...like Hardware....thier EQing is off in the Plugin.....
Acustica wins every time, Softube's weakness shine when one starts stacking tracks! One track shows nothing! Waves just seems to have reskinned another plug. 1/2 dozen of softube anything reveals that top end you like to be brittle.
'waves just seems to have reskinned another plug'.. Funny looking back now knowing that the waves is simply a clean linear digital eq haha
Cream2 vs EMI TG 12345 which do you prefer? maybe you could make a video would be great!
I'm going to be trying that out soon again. Always forget about the cream eq
Why do you use a one shot sample instead of a mix or a bus? It is hard to get the difference with just a rimshot as an example with few DB increase or reduction of gain.
That's just what I did back then
Love your videos, dear sir… but chees, the intro music is always soo much louder than the rest of the video.intro makes me turn up volume, and then aaargh got to rush for the volume for 7 seconds of music 😂
I stopped doing those intros years ago 🤣
Softube x1.5 at +5 means: +15db and not +5db!!!
Yup, I totally got it wrong thinking it was oversampling. Its more than just the boosts though. I read the Acustica manual quickly and wasn't that clear to me but if I read elsewhere I would've understood better like here..
“If you set the multiply setting below each band to the upper position of X1.5, the cut/boost can be increased to up to 15dB in either direction, with a narrower bandwidth also used to tackle more surgical tasks“
So it's not just a straight +10db change, it's basically altering the bell from wide bell to a narrow bell and adjusting the level parameters to accommodate for the level difference in narrowing the Q. Makes sense to me why I thought it was oversampling as there wasn't a level jump with the x1.5, just sounded a bit more focused and detailed which again makes sense in hindsight.
Makes more sense why I prefer the x1.5 as I normally prefer narrower boosts as apposed to big wide boosts on individual instruments.
Hindsight is a great thing and is the main reason why I use plugin doctor now in most of my new shootouts so I can see the curves and boosts for myself before doing the shootout. I've been stung with this already with the waves & acustica Viridian shootout. Waves looks by the numerics that it's adding a dB when it's adding 3-4db in reality. Near impossible to do a fair comparison unless you can see the actual frequency response of each plugin.
Every day is a schoolday
@@PaulThird, whats that with Acustica? Sounds interesting with N4, Nebula and all the stuff they offer. The website just don't offer quick access to their ideology. Can you please provide me with YT links or press links so that I got a better picture of what they are doing? Thank you in advance! Best
Acustica use convolution sampling to sample the hardware and every move you make in the plugin is an actual impulse response of the hardware so every boost, cut, filter will result in a different frequency impulse response of the sampled hardware. That's why the file sizes are so big and the CPU is heavy.
The PRE is where you'll find the sampled harmonics and any non linear frequency behaviour associated with the hardware harmonics. They also sample at 96khz.
@@PaulThird, what I understood from their website (I have just found them because I watched your video about EMI/Chandler Softube vs. Acustica) is that now with the N4 software we are able to capture a multitrack tape machine at a certain setting (i.e. driven to saturation), too. Am I right? I also discovered (because of your video) the Plugin Doctor and DDMF Metaplugin (
Acustica Taupe has nearly every tape machine imaginable. Definitely check that out
Get acustica now it’s 70% off! Wow!
Ahbie RTRTRooAD!
You are comparing the wrong plugins!
I Just spent 2 days messing with the Zenner Bender doing my very best to get it to sound anywhere near as good as Waves TG Mastering Chain.
Try as I may it couldn't be done! Waves is way more versatile.
For a $500 dollar plugin vs one I paid $29 for, I was sadly disappointed in Softube. which after all the hype, I thought would beach Waves.
The Zenner Bender is distorted and lifeless and flat in comparison, when using the Compressor and EQ Combined.
When the Zenner bender sounded clean, I notice it was with Mastering Presets that, by the way, all left the compressor out of the mix and only used the EQ.
Don't take my opinion or anyone's opinion for that matter. Get trials and judge for yourself.
It's all subjective.
Any thoughts on the Trackcomp 2 Zener model?
ua-cam.com/video/vQ0stfni80k/v-deo.html
Acustica really slurps your cpu to the ground. And by the way...why is not the Manley and BAX involved? I test al three of your eq's in my studio plus the Manley and BAX...guess what?... ;-)
But they aren't curve benders haha
The Waves are very flat...with a tiny bit of 400k added...really really bad idea...LOL