Many years ago, a young musician named Darude began his musical journey by writing indie folk and country songs. He played in small bars and cafes, dreaming of making it big one day. One day, while on tour, Darude found himself stranded in a small town in the middle of a sandstorm. As he sat in his hotel room, listening to the howling winds outside, he picked up his guitar and began strumming a new tune. The melody came to him effortlessly, and he found himself tapping his foot and nodding his head to the beat. The melody flowed out of him, painting a picture of the storm raging outside. Excited about his new creation, Darude began to perform the song at his shows, but it never quite caught on with audiences. Disappointed, he scrapped the song, and continued on playing his usual fan favorites. Years went by, and Darude faced personal struggles and challenges that left him feeling lost and unsure of himself. One day, he stumbled upon the old sandstorm song and realized that he could turn it into something entirely different. He spent months in the studio, experimenting with different beats and sounds, trying to capture the essence of the sandstorm he had experienced all those years ago. Finally, after much soul-searching and hard work, he settled on the now-iconic dance version of Sandstorm. The song was an instant hit, and Darude found himself propelled into the spotlight he had always dreamed of. He performed to sold-out crowds around the world, and the song became a staple of clubs and parties everywhere. Looking back on his journey, Darude realized that it was the struggles he faced along the way that led him to create the ultimate version of Sandstorm. He never forgot his roots as a folk and country musician, but he knew that sometimes, in order to succeed, you have to take risks and embrace change. (side note, AI aside, this plugin just sounds like shit)
Beautifully told, thank you for educating me on this less well-known backstory. Reminds me of a famous poem of his life: A man born / Between genres he’s damn torn / For indie lifestyle he was sworn / Until the man met his equal - sandstorm /
Dust comes from the Sandstorm. That reminds me of a fairytale i once heard. Once upon a time in a faraway desert, there lived a young boy named Darude. Darude loved to explore the vast expanse of golden sand that stretched as far as his eyes could see. He spent his days wandering the dunes, searching for treasures that the wind might have left behind. One fateful day, as Darude was exploring the desert, the sky darkened, and a ferocious sandstorm began to brew. He sought shelter under a large, twisted tree, his heart beating like a bass drum. As the wind howled and the sand danced around him, Darude heard a strange, captivating sound. It was a melody like none he had ever heard before - a symphony of flutes, drums, and strings, all swirling together in perfect harmony. Darude decided to follow the enchanting sound, determined to uncover its source. The mysterious melody led him deep into the heart of the sandstorm, where he discovered a hidden oasis. There, in the midst of the swirling sands, stood an ancient, enchanted music box. As Darude approached the music box, he noticed that it was adorned with intricate carvings of characters. He recognized Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood), Hänsel und Gretel, and even the Musicians of Bremen. The beautifully carved figures seemed to dance to the melody that the music box played. Darude cautiously opened the lid of the music box, and the desert air filled with even more wondrous sounds. It was as if the very sands around him had become alive, playing in harmony with the enchanted music. A beautiful, magical feeling filled his heart, and Darude knew that he had found something truly special. As the sandstorm began to subside, a group of desert animals gathered around Darude, drawn by the spellbinding music. Camels, foxes, and even a few geckos appeared, each one wearing a bemused expression. "Well, this is truly a treble in the desert," chuckled a clever camel named Klavier. With a wide grin, Darude shared the enchanting music with his newfound friends. They danced and sang together in the desert oasis, the melodies of the music box filling the air with joy and laughter. The animals even joined in, creating pun-filled songs that made everyone giggle. They sang, "We're just a quaver away from a desert rave, let's scale the dunes and ride the musical wave!" As the days went by, Darude and his animal friends continued to explore the wonder of music. The enchanted music box revealed new melodies and instruments each day, and they were soon composing their own songs. The desert became alive with the sound of music, and Darude's heart soared with happiness. Word of the desert oasis and its magical music spread far and wide, and travelers from all corners of the world came to hear the symphony of sounds. Darude's oasis became known as the "Wundermusik Wüste," and people journeyed there to experience the joy and wonder of music in the heart of the desert. And so, with the power of music, a young boy named Darude brought happiness and laughter to the desert, turning the once desolate sands into a place filled with the magical melodies of friendship, love, and the enchantment of a music box found during a sandstorm. And they all lived happily ever after.
Totally agree with your frustration regarding the aliasing! Goddam, makes me want to swear. I don't know how Plugin developers still get away with this!
I have a theory that most plugin developers are like the car industry... they have one engine that gets used in every model and just "tune" it for the specific emulation. Honestly, we're buying the same plugins over and over for tweaks and sexy GUIs 😎
Same here !! This theory is very true with IK for instance : all their plugins sound the same (pultec, bus comp, vari-mu, tape machines...) same sense of thickness in the low mids, and saturated sound... which can sound good, don't get me wrong ! And sadly, I find it also true for Analog Obsession's stuff.. Totally different sound from IK, but I find every tool sounding the same, with a sense of clean sound, snappy behaviour with some harshness in the hi-mids range (even with OS).. Arturia's compressors are all offering the same strange feeling on the stereo field (which can also be cool) I often find more differences between brands than between tools ! Different story for reverbs, echo, modulation stuff, mainly talking here about everything that distorts : analog EQ emulations, compressors, saturators, preamps.
This is why you should pick plugins you like and never buy any more. Once you've bought everything you need, it's useless to go after this simple, expensive fashion that they speculate on. Useful plugins are few, each for each category. Then: how many really know the TRUE analog sound? How many would really recognize the true analog sound in an emulation plugin? Meditate people ;)
Still happy with my old UAD-1 card. There's one plugin that sort of dissappoints . Nigel-> Cab sims + efx. The cab sims are 'different' but the overall sound is the same. If you want to emulate analog you need to emulate everything. I remember comparing sounds with an old Line 6 Pod from a friend. Those sounded way much better, but yet-> same issue. I used Guitar Rig at another friend place, like years ago-> same issue Best way to go for me is still; a hardware FX unit somewhere in the chain. I have an old Yamaha FX pedal thingy. Totally colors and degrades the sound, just in bypass. It's filtered at 16k if I'm not mistaken. I always direct people to Airwindows, that dude has the right state of mind when it comes to fresh and innovative plugins, without all the GUI crap. His latest plate reverbs f.e. sound amazing!. And they are free if you can't afford to support him. He also updates old plugins if he feels they could be more efficient/ better sounding algorithms. He deserves so much more support.
@@JohnSmith-pn2vl aye, but aliasing is not very helpful when trying to emulate an ANALOGUE piece of hardware in the digital realm; anti-aliasing should be on by default for those types of plugins
What strikes me here is that perhaps the lack of input level knob (?) means you have to push the drive so much that you're getting a lot of saturation instead of compression. Thus, perhaps if you drive the plugin harder on the input stage, you wouldn't have to turn the Comp/Drive-knob to 11. Just speculating, haven't tried this beast yet.
@@jann_rygh i can see why you feel that way. Unfortunately I've had great results with guitars, but why? Depends on the situation. I suppose it's quite hit and miss for people.
@@jann_rygh This is my main gripe with everything "smart". If I feed it its own output, it'll adjust it... If it was truly smart in any real sense, it wouldn't need to.
Tone Empire actually uploaded a video today addressing the aliasing topic in the digital plugin world - while they don‘t say names I certainly have the feeling they are referring to this review haha
Seen it, they are demoing on drums, which doesn’t make a lot of sense when talking about aliassing, I would rather have seen the demo on melodic content…
Another Snake Oil? I would love to see real AI compression or EQ plugins that can learn how to compress or equalize sound from any actual hardware units, based on real input or just samples, and deliver an output that is an exact 1:1 match, reproducing the sound of real analog equipment from the old decades. I believe that what is currently missing is a deep analysis of the noise, harmonics, and analog sound shaping based on the true behavior of the hardware, as well as a clear analog output signal without any digital artifacts or over-aliased final processing, which can result in a sound degradation that is not truly 'analog-ish' at the very end. I believe that every small detail matters, and further investigation is key to improving it.
I was curious about this one in particular. Maybe it's my doubt of some of the claims of some of the AI powered plugins, but I feel many of them don't really fully leverage machine learning models in the right way to full recreate hardware. I think it's going to be a mix between component layer emulation and full unit response modelling (eg: every possible combination of the potentiometers/settings). I feel this can happen somehwhat by using impulses, but I don't think we're there yet.
Darude had always been drawn to the sound of music. It was like a magnet, pulling him in closer and closer until he was completely absorbed in its spell. He longed to create his own music, but he had no idea where to start. One day, as he was wandering through the desert, he heard a faint melody carried on the wind. He followed the sound, and as he walked, the melody grew louder and more insistent. Suddenly, a fierce sandstorm kicked up, and Darude found himself in the middle of a swirling vortex of sand and wind. But even amidst the chaos, he could still hear the music, pounding and throbbing with a life of its own. Driven by a sudden inspiration, Darude pulled out his recorder and began to play along with the music in his head. The sandstorm became his orchestra, the wind his conductor, and the notes of his recorder his instrument. For hours he played, lost in the music and the storm. And when the storm finally died down, Darude emerged with a newfound sense of purpose and creativity. He had found his music, and he knew that he would never be able to let it go.
i did some quick trials with it but somehow i didn't enjoy it. didn't even bother to check aliasing... i can do the same - and better (at least for my taste) - with klanghelm mjuc and sddr.
We can use DDMF metaplugin to make this plug OS. But I do see the frustration. It's not always convenient to be running a lot of plugs through an oversampling wrapper. Tone Empire seem to be following in the footseps of Waves on the disregard of OS.
I really struggle and sympathise with folks who are taken on by analogue emulation BS . Aprececiate the plugin for what it does to your sound. But not what, you are conditioned to believe it is. Keep your money 💰
6:50 VInyl records do something like Aliasing, when the Groove has details smaller than the needle can follow. Then there will also be created some low Frequencies that weren't there before. Maybe even some analog Exciters or whatever does this, too.
I got this a couple of months back on the strength of liking their OptoRED compressor. Like you I was not particularly impressed with the LVL-01, I have it filed under 'Saturation'. As a Saturating type Compressor it has a 'Sound' I guess. That said, I've yet to have it make it through to the end of a Mix though; something else has always sounded better ... Maybe their AI is just for making the GUI ? 🙄
Ferric TDS by VOS. It has compression, it has distortion, it has no aliasing. And it's free. Years come by and I still have it on my drums and vocal busses.
How did it pass their validation testing? Easy... *insert Mr. Crabs Meme: Because I Like Money* They didn't expect creators like you to research and call them out. 😂 So a big thank you!
Our chief engineer has always used AI for more than 10 years now in his DSP projects. Back in the day, it was considered a trade secret. Now it's nothing more than a sticker on the box that might as well serve as a snake oil warning.
What does he mean by AI though? There's the old school deliberately programmed algorithms and the newer neural net using genetic algorithms(really heuristics as they can tend to converge on local optima rather than the global optimum in the search space) to adjust the weightings.
0:50 actually a neural network does try to imitate our brain's thinking method (neurons spiking, exponential firing, weighting...) and, in the end everything collapses into a math formula (a convolution, a division, whatever). I really do feel like they are reinventing the wheel in order to get even more money out of our pockets. It would be nice to know what runs in the background that makes it SO special in a plugins world where everything is "a game changer".
Instead of a series of impulse responses with convolution like Aqustica, you get a trained AI model. It should give you the most accurate digital representation/emulation of the hardware they sampled, nothing more, nothing less.
@@Stormgnome I know :) If you deep down into a convolution, you'll see that it consists of a product and sum of one signal slicing over the other in an infinite loop (until it ends). Saying "a trained AI model" is like talking about bodies, when the interesting part is studying the cells that compose them. Its so high level.
Год назад+9
AI booming everywhere is like when the "smart" technology came out (smartphones, smart tv, etc.) I wonder what comes next...
No such thing as AI, just the same algorithmic approach + larger datasets +_ this years marketing term ('AI'), researchers who actually work in the field of AI are literally laughing at all this 'AI' stuff, you are being sold the same EQs and compressors you already own but with an AI sticker on it.
@@davelordy exactly. We have not seen AI yet, and may never. The fact that we don’t actually understand what consciousness IS means that we can’t create it. Being fooled by the Turing test does not mean it’s conscious
Honestly after their fairchild emulation and their reaction to my qualms with it. I lost my emthousiasm for them I really expected this thing to compress at least a bit and not havr too much aliasing issues.
I don't understand plugin companies, its not 2008 anymore. We don't just go crazy because you emulated our fave analog piece anymore. Because its been done probably 10 other times. Engineers are testing their tools for this snake oil marketing all the time. I hate that these companies try to say stuff like "plugin dr is a poor test" or Whatever blah blah blah explanation for their poor performance like its just obvious they're trying to cover their asses. I'll stop my rant right there but god damn, do these marketing guys actually talk to any engineers or do any freaking QA on this crap?
as far as i understand aliasing is not only digital issue, you can also get aliasing from hardware if your converters configured to 44100/48000 without any pre-filtering. it's just high frequencies that was mirrored because captured wrong and doesn't matter from hardware or software. but otherwise, in 2023 oversampling is highly required
Respectfully, you contradicted yourself here. As you said aliasing happens at the conversion stage which is, a digital process (converting analog to digital). And you are absolutely right about this btw 🤝.
Yeah I tested it out. Its...not great. Just a company trying to cash grab on using the terms AI and Machine Learning. This is a great example of how just because something used Machine Learning, doesn't mean it will actually be better an traditional algorithms, etc.
I for one hate chasing the "analogue warmth" with whatever plugins there is to this or that. I've been chasing the emulations of all the tools that have made the music before me great. I have just come to realize that we really, really should put our minds into the music rather than our toolbox on how we can alter the sound after the fact. Just get one decent mic and capture the song. AI or not... doesn't matter. Music speaks for itself; it doesn't need this mambo jambo. (But I'm here for the mumbo jumbo).
I haven been there many times too... and I am still here for the mambo jambo... I actually find that the waves abbey road plugins work really well when it comes to this beatlelesk analog feel... I don't use compressors for their functionality but for their effect. I like Alan Parsons for not wanting to use any compressor, and Jeff Lynne for not wanting to use any reverb (ever) I like them because of their firm choice and still make crazy famous music. By the way, it is crazy interesting to use no reverb... especially when it comes to vocals, it forces you to sing different. No reverb to back you up. So I agree with you,focus on the music, as a composer I always mix during composing. for me mixing and composing is the same process... Mambo Jambo... nice studio name.
Strange.. I just did the same tests as you and I didn't get much aliasing at all. On both settings the aliasing stayed below -100db while the sweep averaged about -20db. so thats an 80db difference. im not sure how to interpret your spectrogram information but the readouts im getting are similar to say my UAD 1176 when trying to saturate the signal. I believe UAD use oversampling under the hood so it kinda makes me think that the LVL 01 is also. But im not sure about that. but I can say the aliasing im getting is very acceptable. I don't hear it when using the compressor in a real world scenario.
That's because you aren't stressing the shit out of every sound, and also because most plugins start folding back from something like 4-5kHz at minimum. I hardly find myself killing high end with distortion and saturation that much and that high. I mean, aliasing exists, but you really need to look for it if you want it to be noticeable.
@@beat_spot I technically am stressing it. I’m doing the same exact tests as Wytse in the video. Like I said, I see and hear the aliasing on the tests but it’s so low that in a normal use case scenario it seems irrelevant. I guess you’re just referring to the statement about not hearing it in the mix.
I'm surprised someone with your seemingly very knowledgeable background didn't know most plugins don't use machine learning. It's almost always algorithmic modeling of analog circuits in code.
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems do not typically have physical sensors like the ones found in robots or other machines. Instead, AI algorithms are designed to operate on data that is fed into them from various sources. The inputs to an AI algorithm are often called "features" or "inputs" and can include things like text, images, audio, or other forms of data. These features are typically processed through a series of mathematical operations that are designed to extract patterns and relationships within the data. For example, in image recognition tasks, an AI algorithm might be fed a series of digital images and trained to identify certain objects or patterns within those images. The algorithm doesn't "see" the images in the way that a human would, but rather processes the digital data that represents the image. Similarly, in natural language processing tasks, an AI algorithm might be fed text data and trained to recognize patterns in language, such as identifying parts of speech, analyzing sentence structure, or detecting sentiment. So while AI systems do not have physical sensors, they do rely on the inputs and data that are fed into them to operate and make decisions. The algorithms themselves are designed to process and analyze this data in a way that allows them to learn and improve over time. Hope this answers your question.
"The algorithms themselves are designed to process and analyze this data in a way that allows them to learn and improve over time" This is a pretty common misconception. AI (as we use the term now, not in the 70s) does not learn more or improve over time. Making an AI is essentially defining a polynomial of unknown terms. The first phase is defining what we want it to solve for, and then for the second phase we feed in a ton of data to try to find the best polynomial terms that solve it. You then run new data through that pre-optimized equation you just made, computer does math, answer comes out. Nothing magic, or even all that complicated going on.
Can you put together a list of quality analog emulations and point us to the videos you made so we can research quality plugins? Or make a top 10 plugin list of 2022, 2023 etc.
My theory is that: To emulate analog machines, software has -as consequence- to define an infinite number (let's say the infinite knob position between 0 and 1 etc...) I believe there lies the problem, because the relation between 0 and 0.0543 is probably different than the relation between 1 and 3.456... It's not linear, there are too many "infinite" factors that changes sound in an analog machine. So the software has to "choose" a precise number and make an output ¿how is that number decided?, maybe there's a 0.00001... error Happy to hear other thoughts on it.
Sometimes I think that manufacturers are well aware of the "problems" of their plugins, but despite this they bring them to market because perhaps too much time and money has already been put into the development. The tools for control are accessible to all of us, so they will also use these tools to test their software to the heart and kidneys. Everything else only harms the reputation of the developer or is simply then tolerated to earn money. So always first trybefore buy ! Thx for the Video !!!
I really hope these developers aren't using "AI" purely as a marketing tool???. I've been a user and supporter of Tone Empire plugins for a long time. The Sta-Level note was more of a selling point than the AI point. I concur, it doesn't really sound like a Sta-Level, or maybe it does but a badly maintained example?.........but why would they do that??. It certainly distorts, but it's not pleasing to my ear. I hate to dump on Gauav and his team, as they've made some winners!. The Goliath, Model 5000, and Opto Red and excellent and I use them all the time. Hopefully they take this criticism to heart and go back to revise the LVL ?
Question could i use 2 AI Compressors? My main AI Compressor is currently from the FAST Bundle. I would like to use both. Would that make sense and be ok?
Hey, as much as I love your reviews/videos: because of the nature of what it's about I HEAR YOUR VIDEOS WITH HEADPHONES! OUCH! Next time you use a sweep sound please put a warning out or reduce the volume much more. This was quiet painful.
The worst part about aliasing and not even giving an oversampling option is that there's virtually no reason for the end user to not have access to it anymore. Back when ITB mixing was first coming along, it was next to impossible to run full mixes with x8 or even x2 oversampling, but computer hardware has come along so far that many people can run Saturn 2 on the highest oversampling mode on every track AND Pro-L 2 with x32 oversampling and the excessively high oversampling on Pro-L 2 is what finally makes you think "Huh...Maybe I should freeze the drum tracks for now." And most of the time, that's not even remotely necessary. No point in oversampling when you're just adding a couple of harmonics in the kick or bass. By now, these software engineers know how. It's just lazy cash-grabs.
That makes sense on paper... but for people who grew up loving music and wanting to make their own, they'll have influences which will influence the music they make. I semi-recently put out a retro-80s pop-synth album and I couldn't afford to buy twenty grand worth of old synths, so I used plugins. Also, I see no reason NOT to build on sounds from the past. EVERYTHING builds on the past. All of that said, take out the word emulations from your statement and I agree 100%. People are paying silly money for hardware compressors, but get a pro engineer with a UA plugin and it'll sound 90% as good for a tenth the price. Is that last 10% worth four grand? People won't even hear the difference in the final mix. If you have a world class studio, yes, the last 10% matters. Not for most of us.
_"whether you like it or not, AI is everywhere, it's booming"_ Whether you like it or not, there is no such thing, we've not invented AI, in fact there not even a consensus within the field as to whether it's even possible, what we do have is increased algorithmic efficiency and larger datasets . . . but no, there's no such thing as AI, no one - outside of marketing departments and clickbait media - has ever claimed there is, listening to these sort of videos is like listening to someone saying _"whether you like it or not, time travel is everywhere, it's booming"_
isn't aliasing in every digital plug-in, audio engine and so on ? zero and one's no matter how much you oversample it will be steps and a never a curve like in the analog world. on the other hand this digital sound became the industry standard.
I was waiting for this before making the decision of whether to get the thing or not after reading so much praise from people. Now I’m definitely not gonna be wasting my money in this and instead, just gonna skip all of this entirely and save up for a real hardware piece in my rack. Thank you
I use it, not often, not heavily, and when I do, I'm kind of glad to achieve the sound it gives with a few tweaks. It might not be analog, but it sounds quite natural. I think Wytse went too hard on settings in this video, I found it to sound best at slow and within the first half of drive (harder on drums sometimes), and only on classic-sounding records. EDM doesn't need it much. And in general you want to mix it lightly on mix busses. There might be other ways to achieve that sound but I like the quick workflow of this. I reviewed it too, I actually asked Tone Empire to send me the NFR for the review (not paid), so I didn't really sold my soul to them. I have to say that seeing it as a compressor doesn't make justice to the plugin. You might see me talking nice about almost any plugin on my channel, and that's because I'm reaching out to them to review stuff I'm interested in or I found nice while demoing. My goal isn't to spot snake oil as the main focus of the channel. However, I don't keep myself from suggesting what could be improved, just for the sake of transparency.
However, I'm not saying "buy it", but trying the demo on your music will give you the answers that no other review actually can. At least for this plugin that is subtle and non-obvious like not many others.
The point is that it sounds anolog..it is impossible for a digital simulation of anolog to have the same readings as actual anolog..your measuring and or testing wrong in my opinion..I think a blind listening test would be more practical. For this sort of thing. Or you could test it by actually running it through a speaker and microphone..
That noise from the knob is not acceptable. How can you release a plugin that makes that noise with the turn of a knob? How can you trust that plugin / company not to mess with your signal in bad ways? I don't know, for me this is pretty serious.
AI is a over used term and used to sell products. In reality AI is not intelligent. Computers have no concept of Empathy, feelings, likes and dislikes especially in music and what make humans feel good when listening to music. Everything a computer does has to be programmed. In 2023 AI is basically a program attached to mass amounts of collected data that it can sift through to find the desired outcome. That is where is AI may have value in music where you tell the program you want to sound like a Led Zeppelin Mix or something and it can analyze past recordings, etc. Bottom line AI is not intelligent and never will be. But it sells products.
Agree with everything you said. (Although, never say never re the future of a potential “true” form of AI). For geeks, there’s some great talks with MIT people like Noam Chomsky and computer scientists basically saying this current fad of AI is really not intelligent, that is doesn’t mean the criterion of intelligence as usually accepted (regardless of whatever practical values it may churn out).
Just wanted to comment that Oxford Inflator is still useful and fantastic to this day. I have buddies who send me pop mixes and sometimes it’s on the mixbus and it’s always doing something really awesome to enhance the thickness and perceived loudness.
Don't panic everyone, AI is only software. It's not magic, it's not 'The Force'... it's just software. Very hyped software yes, but it IS just software. Now breathe. 😎
The only thing in an analog device that we cannot measure is the feeling you get from that multiple thousand dollar price tag. Obviously that doesn't mean this is a good plugin...
I think the next AI tool will be to listen to a sound and then spit out a preset of how it was made with options for turning delay/reverb on/off etc. We already have sound > to MIDI We have smart EQ that compares two sounds and slots them together. Smart Reverb.. They're not bad. But they're still tools. The more of a complete track is made using AI, I actually think how awful music will be. The view of the artist and what they wanted to convey comes from the very beginning to the final mix. Well, you would hope... I'm sorry. But I've suffered fory art. Relationships, time learning, time invested, mistakes and faulted along the way to get to a place where I can finally say - I'm happy with this. People interested more in money and pumping out crowd pleasing mainstream bangers.. fair enough. But I want to hear things that touch me.
Many years ago, a young musician named Darude began his musical journey by writing indie folk and country songs. He played in small bars and cafes, dreaming of making it big one day.
One day, while on tour, Darude found himself stranded in a small town in the middle of a sandstorm. As he sat in his hotel room, listening to the howling winds outside, he picked up his guitar and began strumming a new tune.
The melody came to him effortlessly, and he found himself tapping his foot and nodding his head to the beat. The melody flowed out of him, painting a picture of the storm raging outside.
Excited about his new creation, Darude began to perform the song at his shows, but it never quite caught on with audiences. Disappointed, he scrapped the song, and continued on playing his usual fan favorites.
Years went by, and Darude faced personal struggles and challenges that left him feeling lost and unsure of himself. One day, he stumbled upon the old sandstorm song and realized that he could turn it into something entirely different.
He spent months in the studio, experimenting with different beats and sounds, trying to capture the essence of the sandstorm he had experienced all those years ago. Finally, after much soul-searching and hard work, he settled on the now-iconic dance version of Sandstorm.
The song was an instant hit, and Darude found himself propelled into the spotlight he had always dreamed of. He performed to sold-out crowds around the world, and the song became a staple of clubs and parties everywhere.
Looking back on his journey, Darude realized that it was the struggles he faced along the way that led him to create the ultimate version of Sandstorm. He never forgot his roots as a folk and country musician, but he knew that sometimes, in order to succeed, you have to take risks and embrace change.
(side note, AI aside, this plugin just sounds like shit)
Beautifully told, thank you for educating me on this less well-known backstory. Reminds me of a famous poem of his life:
A man born /
Between genres he’s damn torn /
For indie lifestyle he was sworn /
Until the man met his equal - sandstorm /
@@Notacet incredible!
You guys are both fricken genius artists! 😂 🤣
You should probably add reference to his dalliances with Jazz, soul, and r&b though. 😅
AI did a better job writing this origin story than it did band-wagoning onto a plugin
2:46 I think oxidation is more common than dust. But who knows? Creating a plugin in a totally dustfree environment is difficult.
This made me laugh. Thank you! Yes, dust in the code is a problem for all software devs.
Dust comes from the Sandstorm. That reminds me of a fairytale i once heard.
Once upon a time in a faraway desert, there lived a young boy named Darude. Darude loved to explore the vast expanse of golden sand that stretched as far as his eyes could see. He spent his days wandering the dunes, searching for treasures that the wind might have left behind.
One fateful day, as Darude was exploring the desert, the sky darkened, and a ferocious sandstorm began to brew. He sought shelter under a large, twisted tree, his heart beating like a bass drum. As the wind howled and the sand danced around him, Darude heard a strange, captivating sound. It was a melody like none he had ever heard before - a symphony of flutes, drums, and strings, all swirling together in perfect harmony.
Darude decided to follow the enchanting sound, determined to uncover its source. The mysterious melody led him deep into the heart of the sandstorm, where he discovered a hidden oasis. There, in the midst of the swirling sands, stood an ancient, enchanted music box.
As Darude approached the music box, he noticed that it was adorned with intricate carvings of characters. He recognized Rotkäppchen (Little Red Riding Hood), Hänsel und Gretel, and even the Musicians of Bremen. The beautifully carved figures seemed to dance to the melody that the music box played.
Darude cautiously opened the lid of the music box, and the desert air filled with even more wondrous sounds. It was as if the very sands around him had become alive, playing in harmony with the enchanted music. A beautiful, magical feeling filled his heart, and Darude knew that he had found something truly special.
As the sandstorm began to subside, a group of desert animals gathered around Darude, drawn by the spellbinding music. Camels, foxes, and even a few geckos appeared, each one wearing a bemused expression. "Well, this is truly a treble in the desert," chuckled a clever camel named Klavier.
With a wide grin, Darude shared the enchanting music with his newfound friends. They danced and sang together in the desert oasis, the melodies of the music box filling the air with joy and laughter. The animals even joined in, creating pun-filled songs that made everyone giggle.
They sang, "We're just a quaver away from a desert rave, let's scale the dunes and ride the musical wave!"
As the days went by, Darude and his animal friends continued to explore the wonder of music. The enchanted music box revealed new melodies and instruments each day, and they were soon composing their own songs. The desert became alive with the sound of music, and Darude's heart soared with happiness.
Word of the desert oasis and its magical music spread far and wide, and travelers from all corners of the world came to hear the symphony of sounds. Darude's oasis became known as the "Wundermusik Wüste," and people journeyed there to experience the joy and wonder of music in the heart of the desert.
And so, with the power of music, a young boy named Darude brought happiness and laughter to the desert, turning the once desolate sands into a place filled with the magical melodies of friendship, love, and the enchantment of a music box found during a sandstorm. And they all lived happily ever after.
wtf bro start making a book
@@bforbes1 love it! Can you send that thing you drank by mail? LOL
WARNING: This product has been shown to cause aliasing in the state of California.
XD
Totally agree with your frustration regarding the aliasing! Goddam, makes me want to swear. I don't know how Plugin developers still get away with this!
I have a theory that most plugin developers are like the car industry... they have one engine that gets used in every model and just "tune" it for the specific emulation. Honestly, we're buying the same plugins over and over for tweaks and sexy GUIs 😎
not with u-he plugins. Completely programmed from the ground up, all proprietary coding/design.
Same here !!
This theory is very true with IK for instance : all their plugins sound the same (pultec, bus comp, vari-mu, tape machines...) same sense of thickness in the low mids, and saturated sound... which can sound good, don't get me wrong !
And sadly, I find it also true for Analog Obsession's stuff.. Totally different sound from IK, but I find every tool sounding the same, with a sense of clean sound, snappy behaviour with some harshness in the hi-mids range (even with OS)..
Arturia's compressors are all offering the same strange feeling on the stereo field (which can also be cool)
I often find more differences between brands than between tools !
Different story for reverbs, echo, modulation stuff, mainly talking here about everything that distorts : analog EQ emulations, compressors, saturators, preamps.
This is why you should pick plugins you like and never buy any more. Once you've bought everything you need, it's useless to go after this simple, expensive fashion that they speculate on. Useful plugins are few, each for each category. Then: how many really know the TRUE analog sound? How many would really recognize the true analog sound in an emulation plugin? Meditate people ;)
@@AforismiDAutoreAD 100% agree. Just managed to skip the "3 brainworx plugins for 50€", wasn't easy though 😅
Still happy with my old UAD-1 card. There's one plugin that sort of dissappoints . Nigel-> Cab sims + efx. The cab sims are 'different' but the overall sound is the same. If you want to emulate analog you need to emulate everything.
I remember comparing sounds with an old Line 6 Pod from a friend. Those sounded way much better, but yet-> same issue.
I used Guitar Rig at another friend place, like years ago-> same issue
Best way to go for me is still; a hardware FX unit somewhere in the chain. I have an old Yamaha FX pedal thingy. Totally colors and degrades the sound, just in bypass. It's filtered at 16k if I'm not mistaken.
I always direct people to Airwindows, that dude has the right state of mind when it comes to fresh and innovative plugins, without all the GUI crap. His latest plate reverbs f.e. sound amazing!. And they are free if you can't afford to support him. He also updates old plugins if he feels they could be more efficient/ better sounding algorithms. He deserves so much more support.
It should be a standard in development now that there is no or reduced aliasing, especially in compression and distortion plugins.
why? , anti aliasing is not bad by definition, stop following mindless useless rules
@@JohnSmith-pn2vl aye, but aliasing is not very helpful when trying to emulate an ANALOGUE piece of hardware in the digital realm; anti-aliasing should be on by default for those types of plugins
@@JohnSmith-pn2vl you just said 'anti' aliasing is not bad.
It is standard that if you mix in a higher res possibly with a better spec computer you won’t have aliasing
What strikes me here is that perhaps the lack of input level knob (?) means you have to push the drive so much that you're getting a lot of saturation instead of compression.
Thus, perhaps if you drive the plugin harder on the input stage, you wouldn't have to turn the Comp/Drive-knob to 11.
Just speculating, haven't tried this beast yet.
Would love to see video review on Softube Bus Processor, especially before Intro price jump in a week or two!
Digital dust is going to be the new hip thing, right next to rusty screws.
Windows update is when your antique wooden device gets woodworm and falls to ashes in your hands.
Yea in 30 years they l be saying " yea it's got that harsh digital sound, that we love so much "
I mean, I think my Generation Loss Mkii has that lol
In all seriousness, I really do love the digital haze of the zoom h4n recorder. There is just something about it that I like a lot!
@@sideast f no i'm keep my real analog Grandmother Moog
So far...imo the only AI style plugins that are "doing it right" is quite possibly Sonible.
dont forget Izotope
Smart EQ is terrible - Smart Comp is cool but I'm quicker using a normal 3A/2A Style Comp - depends on what you workin on.
@@jann_rygh why is it terrible? Curious about your experience.
@@jann_rygh i can see why you feel that way. Unfortunately I've had great results with guitars, but why? Depends on the situation. I suppose it's quite hit and miss for people.
@@jann_rygh This is my main gripe with everything "smart". If I feed it its own output, it'll adjust it... If it was truly smart in any real sense, it wouldn't need to.
Tone Empire actually uploaded a video today addressing the aliasing topic in the digital plugin world - while they don‘t say names I certainly have the feeling they are referring to this review haha
Seen it, they are demoing on drums, which doesn’t make a lot of sense when talking about aliassing, I would rather have seen the demo on melodic content…
We’re going to see a time when we’re longing nostalgically for the days of ‘digital warmth’
Another Snake Oil? I would love to see real AI compression or EQ plugins that can learn how to compress or equalize sound from any actual hardware units, based on real input or just samples, and deliver an output that is an exact 1:1 match, reproducing the sound of real analog equipment from the old decades. I believe that what is currently missing is a deep analysis of the noise, harmonics, and analog sound shaping based on the true behavior of the hardware, as well as a clear analog output signal without any digital artifacts or over-aliased final processing, which can result in a sound degradation that is not truly 'analog-ish' at the very end. I believe that every small detail matters, and further investigation is key to improving it.
I'd love to see you review P42 Abyss!
Do you mean the P42 Climax or the P11 Abyss?
I want to see the p11 abyss too! I love p42climax so I’m wondering if their other plugins are as good
@@scottrennie6896 Aaa! I made a mistake haha. I meant P11 Abyss, the compressor!
I was curious about this one in particular. Maybe it's my doubt of some of the claims of some of the AI powered plugins, but I feel many of them don't really fully leverage machine learning models in the right way to full recreate hardware. I think it's going to be a mix between component layer emulation and full unit response modelling (eg: every possible combination of the potentiometers/settings). I feel this can happen somehwhat by using impulses, but I don't think we're there yet.
The mix knob was a mix between distortion and compression, not wet and dry, that's why it crunched so much
😮
Nope, the product page labels it a dry/wet nob.
Darude had always been drawn to the sound of music. It was like a magnet, pulling him in closer and closer until he was completely absorbed in its spell. He longed to create his own music, but he had no idea where to start.
One day, as he was wandering through the desert, he heard a faint melody carried on the wind. He followed the sound, and as he walked, the melody grew louder and more insistent.
Suddenly, a fierce sandstorm kicked up, and Darude found himself in the middle of a swirling vortex of sand and wind. But even amidst the chaos, he could still hear the music, pounding and throbbing with a life of its own.
Driven by a sudden inspiration, Darude pulled out his recorder and began to play along with the music in his head. The sandstorm became his orchestra, the wind his conductor, and the notes of his recorder his instrument.
For hours he played, lost in the music and the storm. And when the storm finally died down, Darude emerged with a newfound sense of purpose and creativity. He had found his music, and he knew that he would never be able to let it go.
i did some quick trials with it but somehow i didn't enjoy it. didn't even bother to check aliasing... i can do the same - and better (at least for my taste) - with klanghelm mjuc and sddr.
We can use DDMF metaplugin to make this plug OS. But I do see the frustration. It's not always convenient to be running a lot of plugs through an oversampling wrapper. Tone Empire seem to be following in the footseps of Waves on the disregard of OS.
I really struggle and sympathise with folks who are taken on by analogue emulation BS . Aprececiate the plugin for what it does to your sound. But not what, you are conditioned to believe it is.
Keep your money 💰
6:50 VInyl records do something like Aliasing, when the Groove has details smaller than the needle can follow. Then there will also be created some low Frequencies that weren't there before. Maybe even some analog Exciters or whatever does this, too.
Extra frequencies is not equal to aliasing
@@markrude not equal but quite similar, when analog distortion generates frequencies below(!) the clean signal
I got this a couple of months back on the strength of liking their OptoRED compressor.
Like you I was not particularly impressed with the LVL-01, I have it filed under 'Saturation'.
As a Saturating type Compressor it has a 'Sound' I guess.
That said, I've yet to have it make it through to the end of a Mix though; something else has always sounded better ...
Maybe their AI is just for making the GUI ? 🙄
Crazy how just one plugin can totally change how Sandstorm sounds! 🥵
Ferric TDS by VOS. It has compression, it has distortion, it has no aliasing. And it's free. Years come by and I still have it on my drums and vocal busses.
How did it pass their validation testing?
Easy... *insert Mr. Crabs Meme: Because I Like Money*
They didn't expect creators like you to research and call them out. 😂 So a big thank you!
Our chief engineer has always used AI for more than 10 years now in his DSP projects. Back in the day, it was considered a trade secret. Now it's nothing more than a sticker on the box that might as well serve as a snake oil warning.
What does he mean by AI though? There's the old school deliberately programmed algorithms and the newer neural net using genetic algorithms(really heuristics as they can tend to converge on local optima rather than the global optimum in the search space) to adjust the weightings.
0:50 actually a neural network does try to imitate our brain's thinking method (neurons spiking, exponential firing, weighting...) and, in the end everything collapses into a math formula (a convolution, a division, whatever). I really do feel like they are reinventing the wheel in order to get even more money out of our pockets. It would be nice to know what runs in the background that makes it SO special in a plugins world where everything is "a game changer".
Instead of a series of impulse responses with convolution like Aqustica, you get a trained AI model.
It should give you the most accurate digital representation/emulation of the hardware they sampled, nothing more, nothing less.
@@Stormgnome I know :) If you deep down into a convolution, you'll see that it consists of a product and sum of one signal slicing over the other in an infinite loop (until it ends). Saying "a trained AI model" is like talking about bodies, when the interesting part is studying the cells that compose them. Its so high level.
AI booming everywhere is like when the "smart" technology came out (smartphones, smart tv, etc.) I wonder what comes next...
No such thing as AI, just the same algorithmic approach + larger datasets +_ this years marketing term ('AI'), researchers who actually work in the field of AI are literally laughing at all this 'AI' stuff, you are being sold the same EQs and compressors you already own but with an AI sticker on it.
@@davelordy exactly. We have not seen AI yet, and may never. The fact that we don’t actually understand what consciousness IS means that we can’t create it. Being fooled by the Turing test does not mean it’s conscious
Sticks and stones.
VR based plugins so you can really experience the screws.
@@joruffin take my money!
Honestly after their fairchild emulation and their reaction to my qualms with it. I lost my emthousiasm for them
I really expected this thing to compress at least a bit and not havr too much aliasing issues.
I don't understand plugin companies, its not 2008 anymore. We don't just go crazy because you emulated our fave analog piece anymore. Because its been done probably 10 other times. Engineers are testing their tools for this snake oil marketing all the time. I hate that these companies try to say stuff like "plugin dr is a poor test" or Whatever blah blah blah explanation for their poor performance like its just obvious they're trying to cover their asses. I'll stop my rant right there but god damn, do these marketing guys actually talk to any engineers or do any freaking QA on this crap?
Even in 2008, oversampling was already a thing.
@@kutnersuicide bro I didn’t even know that, that makes it so much worse
thats why that era of plugins peaked in 2013[also why those plugins are still better than today]
as far as i understand aliasing is not only digital issue, you can also get aliasing from hardware if your converters configured to 44100/48000 without any pre-filtering. it's just high frequencies that was mirrored because captured wrong and doesn't matter from hardware or software. but otherwise, in 2023 oversampling is highly required
Respectfully, you contradicted yourself here.
As you said aliasing happens at the conversion stage which is, a digital process (converting analog to digital). And you are absolutely right about this btw 🤝.
Yeah I tested it out. Its...not great. Just a company trying to cash grab on using the terms AI and Machine Learning. This is a great example of how just because something used Machine Learning, doesn't mean it will actually be better an traditional algorithms, etc.
Also, the CPU usage on this plugin was pretty high to make matters worse. All the downsides of Machine Learning with none of the benefit! Nice!
What is missing is dimension
Hardware has its own space dimension
When this is discovered in DAW then we are very close to the end
What I missing is money.
#Braden Larsen
il y a 1 heure
The mix knob was a mix between distortion and compression, not wet and dry, that's why it crunched so much
I for one hate chasing the "analogue warmth" with whatever plugins there is to this or that. I've been chasing the emulations of all the tools that have made the music before me great. I have just come to realize that we really, really should put our minds into the music rather than our toolbox on how we can alter the sound after the fact. Just get one decent mic and capture the song. AI or not... doesn't matter. Music speaks for itself; it doesn't need this mambo jambo. (But I'm here for the mumbo jumbo).
I haven been there many times too... and I am still here for the mambo jambo... I actually find that the waves abbey road plugins work really well when it comes to this beatlelesk analog feel... I don't use compressors for their functionality but for their effect.
I like Alan Parsons for not wanting to use any compressor, and Jeff Lynne for not wanting to use any reverb (ever) I like them because of their firm choice and still make crazy famous music.
By the way, it is crazy interesting to use no reverb... especially when it comes to vocals, it forces you to sing different. No reverb to back you up.
So I agree with you,focus on the music, as a composer I always mix during composing. for me mixing and composing is the same process... Mambo Jambo... nice studio name.
Same approach of Acuatica Audio (with Preamp ON lol)
And this is why I run a lot of my plugins through ddmf's metaplugin and force oversampling.
Strange.. I just did the same tests as you and I didn't get much aliasing at all. On both settings the aliasing stayed below -100db while the sweep averaged about -20db. so thats an 80db difference. im not sure how to interpret your spectrogram information but the readouts im getting are similar to say my UAD 1176 when trying to saturate the signal. I believe UAD use oversampling under the hood so it kinda makes me think that the LVL 01 is also. But im not sure about that. but I can say the aliasing im getting is very acceptable. I don't hear it when using the compressor in a real world scenario.
That's because you aren't stressing the shit out of every sound, and also because most plugins start folding back from something like 4-5kHz at minimum.
I hardly find myself killing high end with distortion and saturation that much and that high.
I mean, aliasing exists, but you really need to look for it if you want it to be noticeable.
@@beat_spot I technically am stressing it. I’m doing the same exact tests as Wytse in the video. Like I said, I see and hear the aliasing on the tests but it’s so low that in a normal use case scenario it seems irrelevant. I guess you’re just referring to the statement about not hearing it in the mix.
I'm surprised someone with your seemingly very knowledgeable background didn't know most plugins don't use machine learning. It's almost always algorithmic modeling of analog circuits in code.
Still loving your videos, as always, White Sea. I trust your ears and judgement.
Btw, the pronunciation is "Stay-Level." The "a" is long.
I think I'll stick with my Arturia Sta emulation which sounds quite nice and smooth. AI doesn't really hear stuff like we do.
But will it master it into Sandstorm.....
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems do not typically have physical sensors like the ones found in robots or other machines. Instead, AI algorithms are designed to operate on data that is fed into them from various sources.
The inputs to an AI algorithm are often called "features" or "inputs" and can include things like text, images, audio, or other forms of data. These features are typically processed through a series of mathematical operations that are designed to extract patterns and relationships within the data.
For example, in image recognition tasks, an AI algorithm might be fed a series of digital images and trained to identify certain objects or patterns within those images. The algorithm doesn't "see" the images in the way that a human would, but rather processes the digital data that represents the image.
Similarly, in natural language processing tasks, an AI algorithm might be fed text data and trained to recognize patterns in language, such as identifying parts of speech, analyzing sentence structure, or detecting sentiment.
So while AI systems do not have physical sensors, they do rely on the inputs and data that are fed into them to operate and make decisions. The algorithms themselves are designed to process and analyze this data in a way that allows them to learn and improve over time. Hope this answers your question.
Most of audio AI-based stuff is based on pictures: spectrograms.
"The algorithms themselves are designed to process and analyze this data in a way that allows them to learn and improve over time"
This is a pretty common misconception. AI (as we use the term now, not in the 70s) does not learn more or improve over time. Making an AI is essentially defining a polynomial of unknown terms. The first phase is defining what we want it to solve for, and then for the second phase we feed in a ton of data to try to find the best polynomial terms that solve it. You then run new data through that pre-optimized equation you just made, computer does math, answer comes out. Nothing magic, or even all that complicated going on.
I Love STA Levels this kinda didn't sound the same as the units I have used quite a bit.
Can you put together a list of quality analog emulations and point us to the videos you made so we can research quality plugins? Or make a top 10 plugin list of 2022, 2023 etc.
My theory is that: To emulate analog machines, software has -as consequence- to define an infinite number (let's say the infinite knob position between 0 and 1 etc...) I believe there lies the problem, because the relation between 0 and 0.0543 is probably different than the relation between 1 and 3.456... It's not linear, there are too many "infinite" factors that changes sound in an analog machine. So the software has to "choose" a precise number and make an output ¿how is that number decided?, maybe there's a 0.00001... error
Happy to hear other thoughts on it.
You should do a video where you do an alias test on muliple popular compression plugins to see which gets "closest" to analog!!!
Sometimes I think that manufacturers are well aware of the "problems" of their plugins, but despite this they bring them to market because perhaps too much time and money has already been put into the development. The tools for control are accessible to all of us, so they will also use these tools to test their software to the heart and kidneys. Everything else only harms the reputation of the developer or is simply then tolerated to earn money.
So always first trybefore buy ! Thx for the Video !!!
Hi! Could you please tell me what are the tools for testing that ? Thanks !
@@tobytodelafontena ruclips.net/video/RLJn8680O6E/видео.html
Developers of plugins aren't there yet.
Aliasing test. Yeah! How do you do that?
How can I make this man even angrier...
SmartAnalog AI
That's horrible analog distortion too. It doesn't sound like something's over driven, it sounds like the cable is bad lol.
That thing sounds amazing through my headphones..to me it sounds very much like an old kenwood or pioneer amplifier..
I really hope these developers aren't using "AI" purely as a marketing tool???. I've been a user and supporter of Tone Empire plugins for a long time. The Sta-Level note was more of a selling point than the AI point. I concur, it doesn't really sound like a Sta-Level, or maybe it does but a badly maintained example?.........but why would they do that??. It certainly distorts, but it's not pleasing to my ear. I hate to dump on Gauav and his team, as they've made some winners!. The Goliath, Model 5000, and Opto Red and excellent and I use them all the time.
Hopefully they take this criticism to heart and go back to revise the LVL ?
Question could i use 2 AI Compressors? My main AI Compressor is currently from the FAST Bundle.
I would like to use both.
Would that make sense and be ok?
Hey, as much as I love your reviews/videos: because of the nature of what it's about I HEAR YOUR VIDEOS WITH HEADPHONES! OUCH! Next time you use a sweep sound please put a warning out or reduce the volume much more. This was quiet painful.
They are not stating it is a analoge emulation, it is digital emulation of an analoge device, right?
6:00 What are you using to visualise the aliasing?
He always says "sandstorm" by the roots but its always a different song wt..
If it is Realtime AI every mixdown should be different else it is deterministic so how would you go about that in Production......
Is you instant mastering service working? It only says April's fool ...
What are you using to display the visual for those sweep tests?
A Cadburys crunchy bar plugin, cool...
The worst part about aliasing and not even giving an oversampling option is that there's virtually no reason for the end user to not have access to it anymore. Back when ITB mixing was first coming along, it was next to impossible to run full mixes with x8 or even x2 oversampling, but computer hardware has come along so far that many people can run Saturn 2 on the highest oversampling mode on every track AND Pro-L 2 with x32 oversampling and the excessively high oversampling on Pro-L 2 is what finally makes you think "Huh...Maybe I should freeze the drum tracks for now."
And most of the time, that's not even remotely necessary. No point in oversampling when you're just adding a couple of harmonics in the kick or bass.
By now, these software engineers know how. It's just lazy cash-grabs.
lol. the analog thumpers.
It's far past time we all move past old analog gear and emulations and embrace new digital technologies.
NO DAMN WAY...
Can you elaborate? How would we get saturation if we do not emulate something analog?
@@maxhammerum7705
By buying a real analog hardware unit and ditching that digital junk
But… what of the search for the ultimate ANALOG WARMTH (the crack, and potential illusion, of the digital musician)!?
That makes sense on paper... but for people who grew up loving music and wanting to make their own, they'll have influences which will influence the music they make. I semi-recently put out a retro-80s pop-synth album and I couldn't afford to buy twenty grand worth of old synths, so I used plugins. Also, I see no reason NOT to build on sounds from the past. EVERYTHING builds on the past. All of that said, take out the word emulations from your statement and I agree 100%. People are paying silly money for hardware compressors, but get a pro engineer with a UA plugin and it'll sound 90% as good for a tenth the price. Is that last 10% worth four grand? People won't even hear the difference in the final mix. If you have a world class studio, yes, the last 10% matters. Not for most of us.
_"whether you like it or not, AI is everywhere, it's booming"_
Whether you like it or not, there is no such thing, we've not invented AI, in fact there not even a consensus within the field as to whether it's even possible, what we do have is increased algorithmic efficiency and larger datasets . . . but no, there's no such thing as AI, no one - outside of marketing departments and clickbait media - has ever claimed there is, listening to these sort of videos is like listening to someone saying _"whether you like it or not, time travel is everywhere, it's booming"_
While I agree with you, pedantry will not save us from the marketing departments and investor capital.
sandstorm never sounded so analog before!
isn't aliasing in every digital plug-in, audio engine and so on ? zero and one's no matter how much you oversample it will be steps and a never a curve like in the analog world. on the other hand this digital sound became the industry standard.
I was waiting for this before making the decision of whether to get the thing or not after reading so much praise from people. Now I’m definitely not gonna be wasting my money in this and instead, just gonna skip all of this entirely and save up for a real hardware piece in my rack. Thank you
I use it, not often, not heavily, and when I do, I'm kind of glad to achieve the sound it gives with a few tweaks. It might not be analog, but it sounds quite natural.
I think Wytse went too hard on settings in this video, I found it to sound best at slow and within the first half of drive (harder on drums sometimes), and only on classic-sounding records. EDM doesn't need it much. And in general you want to mix it lightly on mix busses.
There might be other ways to achieve that sound but I like the quick workflow of this.
I reviewed it too, I actually asked Tone Empire to send me the NFR for the review (not paid), so I didn't really sold my soul to them.
I have to say that seeing it as a compressor doesn't make justice to the plugin.
You might see me talking nice about almost any plugin on my channel, and that's because I'm reaching out to them to review stuff I'm interested in or I found nice while demoing. My goal isn't to spot snake oil as the main focus of the channel. However, I don't keep myself from suggesting what could be improved, just for the sake of transparency.
However, I'm not saying "buy it", but trying the demo on your music will give you the answers that no other review actually can. At least for this plugin that is subtle and non-obvious like not many others.
@@beat_spot ok, I’ll try it out and the new tape emu that they claim to run in 192khz, thanks
Am just loving the song ,what the name of the artist
The point is that it sounds anolog..it is impossible for a digital simulation of anolog to have the same readings as actual anolog..your measuring and or testing wrong in my opinion..I think a blind listening test would be more practical. For this sort of thing. Or you could test it by actually running it through a speaker and microphone..
Plz review AAMS Auto Audio Mastering System
That noise from the knob is not acceptable. How can you release a plugin that makes that noise with the turn of a knob? How can you trust that plugin / company not to mess with your signal in bad ways? I don't know, for me this is pretty serious.
always tonal empire and no voxengo,
AI is a over used term and used to sell products. In reality AI is not intelligent. Computers have no concept of Empathy, feelings, likes and dislikes especially in music and what make humans feel good when listening to music.
Everything a computer does has to be programmed. In 2023 AI is basically a program attached to mass amounts of collected data that it can sift through to find the desired outcome. That is where is AI may have value in music where you tell the program you want to sound like a Led Zeppelin Mix or something and it can analyze past recordings, etc. Bottom line AI is not intelligent and never will be. But it sells products.
Agree with everything you said. (Although, never say never re the future of a potential “true” form of AI). For geeks, there’s some great talks with MIT people like Noam Chomsky and computer scientists basically saying this current fad of AI is really not intelligent, that is doesn’t mean the criterion of intelligence as usually accepted (regardless of whatever practical values it may churn out).
can you please review Sonnox oxford inflator?
Just wanted to comment that Oxford Inflator is still useful and fantastic to this day. I have buddies who send me pop mixes and sometimes it’s on the mixbus and it’s always doing something really awesome to enhance the thickness and perceived loudness.
Nice video.
it's kinda disoppointing coming from tone empire,i tried it , in addition to aliasing it just doesn't sound good.
Wella Deluxe Hair Treatment Oil?
How do you run your aliasing tests Wytse?
Sweeping
Shout out for doing the aliasing test. The plugin needs oversampling. This shows low quality development.
i think it's just marketing. I tried this plugin. Never fitted in my audio material.
Don't panic everyone, AI is only software. It's not magic, it's not 'The Force'... it's just software. Very hyped software yes, but it IS just software. Now breathe. 😎
great video
U changed the intro sounddddd
If you skip parts of emulating something then it's not an emulation that they should know.
I can't believe Tone Empire plugins are actually tested, considering how buggy and crappy they are
Just here for the nails at this point
The only thing in an analog device that we cannot measure is the feeling you get from that multiple thousand dollar price tag.
Obviously that doesn't mean this is a good plugin...
Another snake oil plugin. And by the way Melda already has done a compressor emulation with machine learning
Another gem from Tone Empire 🤣
I'll stick with Invisibleverb Pro by Aurora ;)
Analog Emulations on a digital world? Never. Digital is digital.
They got it WRONG!
As soon as i heard the aliasing I was like......."bruh"😕
Nice intro
No oversampling?? 🥴
I just knew it was bs looking at the gui
I think the next AI tool will be to listen to a sound and then spit out a preset of how it was made with options for turning delay/reverb on/off etc.
We already have sound > to MIDI
We have smart EQ that compares two sounds and slots them together.
Smart Reverb..
They're not bad. But they're still tools.
The more of a complete track is made using AI, I actually think how awful music will be.
The view of the artist and what they wanted to convey comes from the very beginning to the final mix.
Well, you would hope...
I'm sorry. But I've suffered fory art. Relationships, time learning, time invested, mistakes and faulted along the way to get to a place where I can finally say - I'm happy with this.
People interested more in money and pumping out crowd pleasing mainstream bangers.. fair enough. But I want to hear things that touch me.
lOving the rave ... Facts are facts