Yeah. From what I’m seeing the Ozone final master limiter seems to work better than T-Racks limiter IMO but yeah, eventually when I graduate to Studio One 64bit I can use both inside the DAW.
Just curious if anyone knows or has any experience with it … and if not I’ll tag @ikmultimedia to see if they can weigh in. On the IK VC670 (Fairchild) they have “DC” controls that are supposed to be modeled or similar to the original hardware, which changes the Knee when rotated, and I think the UAD version even impacts the Ratio too. From the TR5 User Manual:
LEFT-LAT DC Threshold: exactly like on the original unit, set it fully counterclockwise for maximum
softness of the compression knee; Set it fully clockwise for maximum hardness of the compression knee.
RIGHT-VERT: same as LEFT-LAT DC Threshold for right channel.
The stock or default position on the IK is around 11:00, and turned fully CCW there is more compression (from what I experienced) and turned fully CW there is less compression. Or more/less gain reduction let’s say. Now, that may be because the Threshold needs to be changed to account for the altered Knee setting.
Do you mess with this control at all or just leave it as is? What is your experience of what it does - or for IK - what were the design specs?
I believe on the actual units, those pots weren’t on the control panel and were designed to calibrate some aspect of the circuit (possibly the bias?) as wear on the valves/ replacing with new valves would change the operating conditions of the circuit. So there’d be a set procedure in the manual for getting things in spec and operating as intended.
I don’t tend to bother with them on the IK plugin, but in principle I don’t see why not if you want to change the compression knee - comps of this design are very gentle so if you want them to grab a bit more and/or get to higher ratios with lower GR, why not?
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That makes sense.
Yeah, I just wish IK @ikmultimedia was a bit more explicit about how they modeled it. They didn’t respond to my post (yet), but I’ll continue to play with it. Maybe I could put an Oscilloscope plugin on after it and see if that gives some indication of what is happening?
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I spent some more time with Dyna-Mu and it replaced Precision Comp in some DIY mastering I’m doing. Bearing in mind that all these mixes were already mixed from scratch and bounced down through an SSL-style comp…
The comparison is, to my ears, that as mentioned earlier, Precision comps a bit more soft, gluey, and midrange-focused. It’s great at pulling things together.
The Dyna-Mu, once I started dialling it in, was a bit more punchy. Because it’s got more adjustable attack and release, I got it adding more attitude to the kicks and snares, and it felt like it was, in doing that, keeping a bit more low end separation going on. The top end also felt like it was a bit clearer and more dynamic. The Precision Comp kinda pulls the kick, bass, anything else going on down low into one gob of thickness, in comparison, and does something similar up top so things feel smoother. I can see why @Jonathan doesn’t use it as much on rock. Sitting back and listening to the material through each, I found my ears being drawn more the the low mids of the guitars in the arrangement, whereas with the Dyna-Mu they were drawn more to the snap of the kick & snare, and the more exciting upper mids and treble - the gravel on the vocals, splashes of cymbals, etc, without it feeling like either compressor had done anything markedly different to the overall EQ of the mixes - I guess it was just in which parts were more or less dynamic.
Anyway, TL:DR… the Dyna Mu was really cool on rock mixes.
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Thanks for the analysis! I had something similar I was experimenting with using both of those plugins, and a rock mix. I don’t know how much comparing the two is apples to oranges on settings, but I definitely hear what you are talking about. I do get this nice warm thickness with the Precision, but it does tend to “mush” (glue) things together. And it does seem to enhance the midrange a bit. With the Dyna-Mu I was able to hear the kick and bass more distinctly, whereas with the Precision it kind of merged them together (not always a bad thing). I also noticed in crash cymbals or open hi-hat that the Dyna-Mu was clear and distinct, more upper mids, and the Precision emphasized the mid-mids of the crash/open-hat and made them sound a bit trashy.
Perhaps if a recorded song and mix was sounding a bit to ‘sterile’ the Precision would be glue, and if it already felt pretty cohesive the Dyna-Mu preserves that? So either could work in different situations on rock? I do see where the Dyna-Mu has an edge for rock, in general, though.
Lates mix I did was Dyna Mu - Quad Image - One - Classic Clipper - Brickwall Limiter
I went gently on everything so each one only adds little touches, but Dyna_Mu probably glues the mix the best first and the Quad image just widened the highs and mid highs a touch, One to add just a little touch of “Focus” and “Bass Punch” and “Analog” warmth, Clipper just a touch more gain boost and slow squash, and Limiter just keeping things not clipping above 0.
Once I got to know this thing I am getting some impressive results. Loving it so far, and honestly, just doesn’t feel right going back to Ozone.
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Love their stuff.The comps are always good and some of their eqs take some beating.like the 1073.Use their plugs on every mix
Any of you spotted the Tape machines they’ve recently released? I think today’s the last day of the introductory price.
They’re really, really impressive. Absolutely devour CPU headroom (my i7 laptop can run 8 before starting to stutter) but they really are good.
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I think it’s nice to have but having all these analog sims imo is enough. I have a Bretbaen (sp?) tape plug that seems to be enough and a few outboard rack units that do the transformer “iron” effect if needed. I’ll look them up though as if they’re affordable, why not?
Everything in T-Racks is super process intensive, my i–7 is also struggling.
The Tapes plugs are $99, or I missed the discounted offer?
I think that’s the discounted price. I saw them and found them interesting, but didn’t go for it. I hold a candle for the old analog stuff, and to some degree the emulations of it, but tape machines just don’t grab me as much as other things for some reason. If I were going for a realistic vintage 70’s sound (not a bad idea actually) it would be something to explore for sure.
The big thing for me is the way tape deals with transients & does something akin to compression without as many sonic tradeoffs - like, if just controlling peak energy to get more body & tone out of a drum overhead or an acoustic guitar with a compressor or something like that, you can do it but you’ll need to deal with pumping/ squashing the sound to some degree. But with tape, it just… does it. And the tradeoff isn’t nearly as bad. I’ve always got some plugin that makes it onto projects purely because of how it manages transient energy. And I know that in principle tape does it the best with the least downsides, it’s just that any tape plug I’ve had before has ultimately annoyed my ears more than it’s helped.
Vintage '70s… or what about 80s? Tape is Simple Minds and U2 and Soft Cell and Metallica as much as it’s Pink Floyd or Led Zep. And for that matter, it’s also '90s Soundgarden, Nirvana, Oasis etc.
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Good point. I heard someone else say this recently, the IK Tape demo video or maybe the Steven Slate new saturation plugin demo video. It’s something I’ve been meaning to use more. Shouldn’t any type of saturation or distortion do this? Maybe in not the same way as ‘tape’, but the function should be similar.
True, tape was still heavily used into probably the early 2000’s. Some even still swear by it today. I have some tape emulators already, so you’ve prompted me to experiment some more. The IK stuff did look cool though.
If it were me, I’d still be recording my tracks onto tape. As a performer I was a lot tighter and fluent with the tapes running. Considering that you waste about 5 mins on rewind, it mattered to get it right 
If I get this I’d be putting it on every damn sound source LOL
I am using FEROX which I’ve been happy with, but unfortunately its 32bit so might not make it to my next DAW. This one does wonders on drum bus:
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=Ferox&id=2063
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The fabfilter tape is great in the distortion plugin too.Never been a big fan of the slate one but not tied the IK tape