DON'T buy a $3500 Neve 1084.. buy this Pulsar Modular p42 Climax instead 👍.. (😅😅😅😅)
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- Can the pulsar modular p42 Climax v3 actually sound like mix analog's real Neve 1084 line amp? Does this analog transformer line amp plugin emulation recreate the classic transformer sound of a wolfbox DI line amplifier and how does it compare to acustica gold 4's sampled neve line amplifiers.
Also includes a line amp vs mic pre lesson and why its not a good idea to compare the pulsar modular plugin to a microphone preamp plugin.
My name is Paul Third and I am a Scottish youtuber / audio engineer / mixing engineer / audio geek. I mostly cover audio engineering related content ranging from audio plugin shootouts / plugin comparisons (acustica audio plugins, universal audio etc etc) to actual analog vs digital / gear vs plugins plugin tests via access analog and mix analog. I even include ddmf plugindoctor tutorials in my plugin reviews so you can be your very own plugin tester and experiment and understand whats actually going on under the hood. I also discuss digital music distribution from time to time and like to give my viewpoint on online music distributors such as onerpm and distrokid.
All of my audio blind tests involving music production software are conducted in avid pro tools 2021 which is my main daw and I also use HOFA blind test 4U as my blind test software. In terms of my audio interface I record and monitor through my audient id44 and use an audio technica AT2050 for all of my voice overs.
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📖 CHAPTERS
0:00 intro
0:50 why this shouldnt be compared a mic pre plugin
2:48 kick drum shootout
3:40 acustica audio gold 4 sampled neve line amps
4:00 snare drum shootout
5:03 'low weight' transformer test
6:07 can the same saturation algorithm emulate really other units?
7:00 using the p42 as a mastering tool
8:56 is it worth the price tag?
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www.pulsarmodular.com/product/p42-climax-line-amp/
As I feel kinda bad for you guys that I only showed you all expensive plugins so I thought I'd give you another option to give you that line amp transformer saturation vibe.. And it's completely free
Gsat+ from tbproaudio. Set it to 2 stages of harmonics. No fluctuation. Odd at 29% & even at 13%.
Thank me later 🤜🤛
Funny, I have looked up P42 Climax a just few seconds ago before I checked my RUclips bell and now I am here. 😀
I will always find you... ALWAYS!!
@@PaulThird how does gold and p42 compare to blond?
Different vibes. Blond has a lot of character pieces and eq's to choose from. One of the most tonally versatile analog sounding plugins out there
So today you gonna break the 10k subs mark, son!!! Congrats!!!
I bought the P42 Climax last holiday season (when it was on sale) and it's quickly become my most-used plugin. Very happy to know they're now paying you to make review videos! I don't really care if it sounds exactly like a particular piece of hardware. It's very low on CPU usage and improves just about every track I put it on.
It does have enhancement but I noticed very quickly that the perceived clarity is actually brightness in the presets due to the wide shelves they like to use.
Its not a bad plugin, but tbh after I replaced all the p42 instances for acustica gold line's I much preferred the build up of the mix. For a pass through transformer sound I'd simply just commit all the Acustica instances just like I would using the hardware. No cpu issue at all as I don't really have any need to go back to the plugin as its just pass through.
I genuinely believe if they priced the plugin correctly they'd gain a lot more interest. Even though acustica gold is a cpu hit, it offers way more ie all the sampled lines, pre's and buses, as well as the sampled eq's and compressors.
Its one of those where sadly I have to be a little more tough as my videos do lead to plugin purchases now and then so I need to justify things when it comes to price
Subjectively, I almost always find myself at least mildly astonished when I throw the P42 on something. I simply do not care about its level of accuracy in emulating something else. I have lots of great hardware, and sometimes I just go with this instead and move on because it just stacks up in the same ballpark of the type of qualities that I adore in premium outboard. It's about as expensive as any of my UAD plugins, which is to say, yes, a bit more than I have become accustomed to. But it is so rare that I find a plugin that can hold weight like this one does, AND that is so CPU friendly (WHICH IS AMAZING). More than happy for what I paid.
I'm an amateur mixer and hobby musician. I have a pretty good ear. I guess this might be due to using headphones? But I can simply never hear any differences in the audio examples in your videos. Really amazing that you're able to pick out this stuff so easily.
It's all about the time spent setting up critical listening tbh. I tend to tweak stuff a lot to match so I need to be able to hear the differences.
You get a short snippet of audio examples. I have the entire song, blind tests, plus I've got to level match everything so in regards to listening time it's in the hours when all said and done.
The main thing is knowing how to critically listen to tell stuff apart. You have to hone in on a difference you find and really only focus on that. Once you focus on just that element its pretty easy to tell stuff apart.
In the kick it's the punch. In the snare it's in the top end and sustain, in the bass it's the focus is the lows. p42 bass has the heightened mids and lack of low lows compared to the 1084 which is more rounded in the mid range and has more strength in the lows. It holds the low notes better.
If you listen to just the low notes in the bass you'll notice that acustica is very close but still isn't as rounded in the mids as the 1084 which is darker sounding.
If you listen to things as a whole and expect stuff to pop out at you then you'll struggle to tell a difference. Especially in blind tests. It's just an ear training thing tbh
Paul, truely appreciate your honest appraisal and perspectives. I really think there's too much of this, so close, stuff around now. Totally believe that if we have a target in mind, then most of us can realise with most of what he have. I mean, shit me... I remember when Q4 and L1 were basically the first plugins available and there was a coffee break between going between the Pro Tools Edit window and the Mix window, life's good 'ey!!
Very true. I remember using really cheapy software in a radio shack about 15 years ago and it was torture 😅
It's an amazing product! Even the first version was a revolutionary one.
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Competition in the plugin market is at an all time high. Great coders keep coming out of nowhere. Beware of pricing yourself out of sales. I agree with you Paul. This does not mean the plugin sucks. It does mean that you had better get stellar results to get the community buzzing and putting it in the budget.
That's where I feel for them as they are very dedicated and passionate guys and also a new dev trying to break through.. BUT.. Got to play the game. My critique probably seems harsh to many but I've done so many plugins and tested that much gear now that I kinda know whats worth the price and what isn't.
Soothe and Gulfoss.. People just save and pay it as there aren't many plugins that do what they do, whereas a saturation plugin in 2022 is like adding a needle in a haystack.
Its really gotta deliver something that makes you need it. Soothe for example.. My god I missed it when I didn't have it. It's one of my most used plugins 🤣
P42 is a great plugin.. Just not I need it as much as £172 soothe brilliant hahaha
P42 is my secret weapon for about an year.
Phenomenal plugin.
Yiu can change harmonics structure by tweaking drive and saturation.
Привет, я купил почти сразу, как только первая версия ушла на audioz. Поигрался 2 дня и приобрел. Еще раз спасибо за совет о Silver Bullet, ненарадуюсь. Оказалась мне куда более полходящей чем Fusion.
Great video as always. Thanks Paul 🙏🏼
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Honest and clean, thanks Paul
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"A line level signal is 1,000x stronger than a microphone signal."
Yep...I learned that lesson the hard way in college. Portable mixer set to line output. Camera input set to microphone input.
Uhh...whoops! Good thing my college insures the students because that input was SHOT!
Great video as always, Paul.
Hahaha game over
I actually use the p42 on instruments (not drums) specifically cause of the high taper and slight low mid boost that it naturally has. Don’t use the filters at all either. There’s something sweet and enhancing that p42 does specifically to the mids that makes it 🔥 in my book.
However, I prefer something more open with a faster attack for drums and vocals.
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I spent the whole afternoon comparing the P 42 with UAD 1084, AA Gold, Kit's plugin and a few other similar plug-ins. In the end, the P 42 did sound very authentic, but it was twice the price of the UAD and I couldn't keep that out of my mind. I think it sounded great on your test here. So it's a great plug-in, IMHO. I think if they fix the lower end and halved the price, lots of people would buy it.
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On the HW 1081 stereo mixes the guitar tails are smoother which also makes the stereo field interplay juicier- way more gel
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When you're mixing and mastering your tracks it just comes down to sound, p42 is an expensive plug-in but it sounds beautiful
hello paul, I have a question for you, I recorded some acoustic guitars with my audient id 14 and I wanted to give them a bit of analog color with the 1084 from access analog, will I have good results? and would it be a good idea to pass it through the voice too?
Depends on which you use, how you set the gain and how much colour you want. When I looked at the harmonics. There was ones that had more harmonics than the other.
You just need to run stuff through them and experiment
Man...this is the best Saturation....plugin outside....of PA Analog BB, Karacter.....or UAD or IK media Tapes
Hi Paul, did you use just the saturation part of P42 or with the filter and shelves? What I notice here is that P42 has a stock sound as a smiling curve bc of the shelves. If I increase the low shelf frequency slider it obviously gets fatter. I've also compared P42 to other plugins last year and if you start saturating the plugin that's when the fun starts. Gold can't do that...I couldn't match the saturation with any other plugin, on bass it's incredible.
I used the neve presets and utilised all the functions. Tried to tweak to get closer but couldn't do it. Tbh I was surprised he agreed to increase the saturation above 100% when everybody started moaning as those transformer line amps can only be pushed so far. I would have stuck to my guns as I was making a realistic line amp.
Personally I think they caved in too much and tried to give everyone what they wanted but that's probably cause I'm a stickler for things being what they were initially intended haha
The bass preset is like 50% odd or something and when I compared the studer setting it didn't sound like tape and the saturation was hit hard as well. Compared it on vocals but didn't include it as the video was too long.
I didn't try abusing it like properly distorted cause that's not what it is in my head. I'm a cunny funt when I have something in my head haha
@@PaulThird haha cool! I like abusing it! :p
I agree with you on the "caved in" aspect. It took me a while to fully understand how to use it properly and across the mix with different settings for each track. The depth and punch you can get in a short time as you develop the mix is what makes this plugin a winner for me. It just speeds up the workflow with a great sound. that's the main issue with AA for me. having bought most of their catalog and nowadays using very few bc I got a 6yo computer.
P42 with a channel strip after it is a killer combo.
I stuck a gold 4 line on every track and honestly preferred the mix with gold compared to p42. Was so much quicker as there's no tweaking bar line selection and input. creates a mix with more weight and depth but that's just my ears. I've actually been doing this with the brown pre on my mixes for a while but I need to compare it with the gold lines now. I hardly use AA lines but this has got me thinking haha
Makes sense why I instantly knew the sound I expected as brown has always done that low weight thing from day 1 for me.
Im a funny bugger though and extremely picky as I've tested so many plugins 🤣
This is not a review of P42. It’s just a comparison of their 1080 neve preset and comparing it to hardware and Acustica Gold… To start with: Gold smearing the transients is awful. The neve preset in P42 needs more tweaking to sound close to hardware for sure, but you can get pretty close if you tweak it from that starting point. So if Pulsar paid you to do a review of their plugin, I would have redo this video, cause it’s just a preset comparison, while P42 is a lot more than what you showed in this video.
Nope. It's not eq. Everybody keeps on saying.. Just add low end.. No thats not it. There's not enough harmonic behaviour in the low end. If it was that easy every dev would just be plopping on low shelves.. But they don't.. Cause that not hardware. Stick it in doctor you can see for yourself how low a lot of these transformer based plugins are in the low harmonics. There's a lot of low harmonic information going on in transformers. Just speak to a few developers and engineers and they'll tell you.
This plugin is called p42 Climax LINE AMP.
I explained the difference between a line amp and a mic pre so people knew what NOT to compare it to.
I then took a real line amp using transformers and compared it to a preset made by the developer who states that p42 has all the tone shaping qualities required to nail the sound of other devices.
He tweaked his p42 neve sound to sound like the mix analog 1084, the exact same one I used and I compared it. That's apples for apples. Of course I tweaked it to see if I could get closer.. But guess what happens when you go about hitting stuff with wide low and high shelves, you start tonally affecting the sound of the unit and the more I tweaked it the more i got away from the hardware sound.
People have a got a fucking bee in their bonnet about this video cause I challenged their marketing claims which is what I do.
Low and high shelves with hp & lf.. Woopty do. You can match the EQ slopes with most standard eq's.
This is marketed as a plugin emulation of a line amp, specifically apparently of a triad transformer which funnily enough there is no evidence of actually being referenced. No audio examples of a wolfbass DI.
I took the time to actually measure the strength of the hardware harmonics so I could get the hardware saturation matched closer.
I'm not selling a line amp plugin for €210 and stating
"Don’t get scared by the price tag- a comparable hardware unit for a single channel costs around $1,700. Check the Audio examples below as we compare P42 Climax plugin tone shaping against the Neve 1080, Studer A812 Tape recorder, WolfBox DI and other hardware devices."
That's using clever marketing (which I advised them to get rid of) that they still kept as it alludes that this is a magic plugin that can recreate other famous units.
Originally I had a vocal shootout with his studer tape preset which I tweaked and compared to uad studer and 1084..didn't sound anything like tape and was more akin to the 1084 but just sounded different.
And this is where the problem is with this plugin. All the guys that have bought it are complaining that 'it does more' but pulsar modular aren't marketing it like this.
On their website.. Audio examples which don't sound close to the hardware but still using this to have a tie in to hardware as that's what sells.
In reality p42 is its own plugin. It has its own sound but its not as marketed. Its heavily pushed as an emulation of a rare transformer which has the tonal capabilities of recreating other transformer based units.
That's my thing on this channel to challenge the marketing claims and I made them fully aware I would be comparing it to a neve 1084 and another comparible plugin.
They asked it to be shown on drums & bass which I did. They also asked for it to be shown over an entire mix.. Which I did
Everybody seems to be forgetting the end of the video where I showed its sound in a mastering context.. When really I shouldve matched the curves in fabfilter and added that as another comparison to show how 'unique' the eq's are.. But I didn't which many could argue gave p42 a fair advantage as there was nothing to compare it to.
I do what I do and pulsar knew exactly what I do which is test marketing claims. They told me they were confident that I could put it up against anything.
Heres what I will say.. If they stop this 'sounds like rare transforner based gear' stuff which is nonsense as no compenents were modelled and they turn the p42 into its own plugin with clear marketing that states is its actual intended use then I'll make another video.
Until that day, this video will remain as a fair comparison of a transformer based line amp plugin emulation.
Simple
Plus I just gave them 5.5k views in 3 days. I edited the video to be the right length for watch time, monitored the title and thumbnail and tweaked till I had the right one. Commented on basically every comment to help engagement.
They wanted exposure and i did exactly what was asked of me.
Put them in front of an audience and got their name out there. That's what they paid for. Only thing they don't have a say on is the content and outcome of the video which is up to me and my honest opinion.
If pulsar modular wanted a positive video that would only show their plugin vs the original source and lick up their arse there were, and still are plenty of youtubers that would happily oblige.. But no.. They chose the guy that is a bit of a loose canon and compares plugins to hardware and other comparible plugins.
Give me sonething to compare and it's within my grasp then I'll compare it. Let me re-assure you pulsar modular are not idiots and wanted this video to coincide with their v3 release.
The white sea video wasn't positive but still gave them exposure and sales. I know cause they told me.
I'll take criticism on my opinion and my testing but in regards to being a youtuber I more than delivered the eyeballs they wanted on this product and in regards for payment for gaining exposure on my channel which is what I was paid for.. The video fully delivered.
What used to be an informative channel has unfortunately turned out to become more focused on clickbait material. So congrats on the 10k subs, but I’m unsubscribing, since there are better channels for comedy.
Hmmm... Informative intro about line amp vs mic pre and then show the harmonic strength of a real 1084 line amp via a printed sweep.
The channel format has never changed. Ever. Still doing the exact same videos I was last year. The titles have changed because that is what people click on for whatever reason. The original thumbnail and title tanked so I had to change it which worked instantly. If it didn't have such an impact on video growth then I wouldnt do it but I don't make the rules.
I also don't make the rules of psychology on youtube, I just have to follow them but I totally agree if you want a chimp that'll say anything bar his true opinions for money then yeah this is 100% not the channel for you and probs best Im not recommended in the future to you
200 quid. not a hope. it sounded nice on the mastering but I'd say 50 quid max and that's being well generous. i did like the AA one alot though. great work as usual Paul.
My hope is that they look at the comments and bring the price down as I agree. This at a competitive price would sell really well imo
Everybodys saying the same thing.. Sounds cool but too expensive haha
Keeping it on the NEVE family but now the 1073 EQ, any thoughts on the Burnley 73?
I'd like to see you compare the gold 4 with the new SSL fusion transformer plugin
I don't really agree with ssl's marketing and cashing in on splitting the fusion in the way they have so personally i don't want to give them any further advertising for any of their fusion plugs
Hey Paul. I bought the ABYSS MODULAR P11. You try it
ha I prefer the old gui, had a 90's website quality which I thought was really fun. Would have bought it for less money, I think it sounds good for super low cpu. And for more extreme manipulation vs matching hardware it had some cool sounds. I couldn't get a similar sound with Saturn when trying for just a bit. But I have gold so what evers.
I personally found i made stuff worse when I tweaked with it. Normally what happens when you Start mucking about with wide ass shelves though haha
I couldn't deal with the original gui though. Gave me such a sore head. This new one is MUCH better where I don't get lost using it 😅🤣
P42 v2 uses very little CPU, that's useful when track counts are high. Like the background photo. Cozy studio.
True but I suppose it depends on how you are using it. Personally if it's just an analog pass through sound I would just commit it whether it's hardware or acustica and mix on top of it. I treat that stuff just as if I was tracking
If you are using eq's and need to go back to tweak then that's fair enough and yes it's low cpu for that job 🤓
loved the lil intro bit, nice bit of context my dude!
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To my ears it sounds like P42 has a mid range clarity dip which makes things a little bit clearer. And maybe because of this, I’m hearing less weight in the P42 examples. Interesting comparison to say the least!
It uses a wide high shelf in the presets so what you will normally hear as clarity is simply brightness. Go back with fresh ears and you'll be like, yeah that's bright. Especially when you build instances up you'll end up making everything else bright to work with it. I couldn't mix with the presets personally, there's even a synth preset with like +12db high shelf haha it's still very smooth but still bright. No getting away from that 😅
@@PaulThird Was just suggested on GS you have to turn the filters and shelves off to get flat response. Even turned all way down will not be flat.
That's true but then it's just a saturation algorithm at the end of the day when it's flat. I personally think the reason that the wide high shelf is used so much in the presets is to make it sound like it has this perception of clarity.. And also make it sound better as when you brighten most things and bypass back and forth your first impression is that the original source sounds dull.
Simple psychoacoustic stuff
Genuinely I would have just scrapped all the options and went with a line amp transformer sound. No tweaks, just a simple plugin where you adjust the saturation and you could select from the 'modelled' presets. Basically copying the voicing format in kazrogs true iron.
Ditch the filters and eq's, simplify the USP and sell it for cheaper. Job done, less moaning online. They just listened to too many people and thrown in all these tweakable bells and whistles.
All the p42 needs to be is a plugin that emulates the sound of a certain transformer. It's a saturation plugin that emulates the sound of popular line amps. Auto gain, oversampling, quick easy to find voicings (Neve 1084, WolfBox, REDD, Studer, fusion etc).. £50-60. Sell like hot cakes.. No problem
@@PaulThird Agreed and Amen!!
Thanks for the videos Paul. And congrats on 10k Subs. 😇
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@@PaulThird Go to bed lol
Seriously though, this is where I come to find out about new plugs and what they do and how good they really are. Really appreciate the time you must spend on making videos and finding out information for us. It's a lot of time for not much dosh, but keep at it, your numbers will grow and you will reap the rewards, eventually! ha ha, have a great year! cheers!
But you’ll need very clean preamp to properly get the right sound of the plug-in , otherwise the hardware preamp will color the sound initially
Hey Paul. Hope you doign good man!
Have you tried their P44 Magnum plugin? Am looking for second opinions
Nah I dont bother with them. I'll look at the MDN at some point but only because Marc wanted me to try it out
Ah bloody hell, the only problem with your videos Paul is that i have to get up and go get me 'proper' headphones 😂
No matter, keeps me fit 😂 Super video. I thought the P42 sounded a little thinner, but i thought, still close. But when you played the kick or snare in the mix, the difference was put into perspective and it became apparent that the P42 is indeed thinner.
And that is still the problem for me, the subtleties amount to a grand finale. But, i am becoming swayed about when the traits of software can be used and provide a better outcome than the hardware. The P42 did sound nice on the final mix. Added some sparkle to it. Maybe that's why some mastering engineers like it.
I thought it worked nice on the overall mix but when I spoke to a few mastering engineers their reply was "well that's what happens when you add a wide high shelf with a bit of mild saturation". All 3 I spoke to won't buy it as they personally feel that it could be achieved with what they've got already.
But if it was like £40-60 would maybe try it out
Tbh I shouldve matched the curves with the curves with proq3 or kirchoff and compared instead of just showing them vs the original.
Bit annoyed about that now haha
@@PaulThird aye, the price is ridiculous. I understand the effort it takes and that maybe the developer feels they have made something as good as the hardware, but unless they can demonstrate that, then its too much money, especially that it's just a line amp.. and software..
I'm getting a hard time as a few guys are like 'it's more than just a line amp plugin.. It has eq's, & filters!!'
Really aye!? That's gonna get that wallet right oot the back hipper is it 🤣
Dunno if its a Scottish thing but when it comes to money I'm brutal as f**k hahaha honestly if this was like £60-70 and they ditched the whole "chameleon sound like various analog transformer devices" patter then I'd be WAY less critical
@@PaulThird lol, well money doesn't grow on trees, just- being Scottish means you're sure of it 😂
@@bontempo1271 am I right in the assumption that scottish people climbed on trees to check wether it's true? ahahahha, gotta love the scotts.
Great plugin that needs a revised price.
I will be buying it, because it’s useful, but the price is a kick in the teeth.
I mean, it’s a plugin, it’s copy and paste to make a another to sell, why not half the price at least and sell double the amount? Lol…
I do find plugin pricing mental, the other one you suggested that’s 20 squids I will try out also.
Yeah I'll never change my opinion on the price of the p42. It should be half the price.. At least
I agree that the developers should be approaching plugin design first and foremost scientifically, leave the subjectivity to the subjects😂
Subjectivity just leads to headaches haha much easier to blame science than yourself 🤣
The explanation at the beginning is stellar. Your best video so far I think.
I actually had to sit down with my dad during lunch and discuss transformers 🤣
Great vid, Paul. Have you ever used or thought to review True Iron from Kazrog? I used to use that pluging a lot before many other developers caught up with the tranformer emulations. Acoustica still sounds best to me in most applications that require weight and color.
Dunno why I haven't. Not really got a reason either. Planned on it loads of times as its highly rated but I think cause I've got so many saturators I just couldn't be bothered haha.. Man.. I've still not even tried saturn 😅😅😅
Problem with saturators in 2022 is that there is literally hundreds of them haha 😅
@@PaulThird I really do like Kazrog True Iron for transformer saturation.
YO CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT THE LITTLE 0 WITH A / THROUGH IT IS? ITS IN THE TOP LEFT CORNER BY THE OS BUTTON
Polarity flip
Great review and clear introduction in the beginning, Paul. Could also be interesting to hear how p42 compares to UAD Neve 1084 and/or PA Lindell 80. But you haven’t got any UA hardware have you?
I've got a uad pcie card but my 1084 demo ended a while back 😢
The Lindell is VERY different from p42. The p42 doesn't have much low order harmonics and has a lot of high order harmonics where the Lindell harmonics is super hyped in the lows and rolls off the highs.
In terms of level of saturation. P42 at +150% is about 30db on the lindell pre haha Lindell can get a lot more saturation than p42 which makes more sense as even though p42 is at 150% it's still a pushed line amp which won't distort as much as a mic pre.
The 2 will sound extremely different
@@PaulThird All UAD demos get reset each time we buy a plugin. So if you have bought a UAD plugin since the demo ran out, you're sorted to run the demo again.
Not gonna lie man I've not bought a plugin in like well over a year haha
i like your channel! what in your opinion, is the best neve 1073 plugin?
Emulating a preamp.. None really. A plugin can't properly emulate a preamp. It can emulate the distortion of the unit but that's it really.
In regards to 1073 eq, probably UAD, maybe arturia
@@PaulThird good point, I do like the distortion from the noisash preamp though
Agree on the pricing. Buuuut it completely creams the AA Gold - not even competitive imo. Yes, the gold has "more body" but it sounds disproportionate.. honestly, it made all the examples with exception of the kick sound worse to me. The P42 sounds really good to me (especially on snare and full mix) and if you want more low-end, just add it. That's the kind of Plugin that I may "mix into" if the pricing was sane. Compared to the Neve 1084 there are differences, obviously - and that's to be expected - but only in "character", not in "quality" (that I can hear).
I think - and that's just me thinking - you had the expectation of a certain sound and it just wasn't that. But I also think it really sounds great. But no.. I'll never pay 210 Bucks for that. I'm sorry Pulsar Modular. (I like the new look though)
I thought gold was near identical on the snare. I think many would really struggle in a blind test. I actually prefer gold lines to the hardware haha
Plus that's just the pre plugin, the channel strip has all the sampled eq's and also 2 compressors. In regards to value for money I just can't agree with p42. That's why I'm comparing it with gold as they are the same price
I'm a stickler for delivering what you set out to though. If you are going to sell a plugin and its main usp is the sound of a transforner line amp then it better sound like a transformer line amp haha
That's what I'm about though. When I compared the p42 instances with the gold I much preferred the gold instances. I can't hide from that. That's why I use the AA Brown pre in my mixing template, which I might compare to the gold lines now.
That low weight build up is one of the main distinctive sounds of analog. That's what timP nails consistently.
You know what I'm like. If your gonna claim
"Don’t get scared by the price tag- a comparable hardware unit for a single channel costs around $1,700. Check the Audio examples below as we compare P42 Climax plugin tone shaping against the Neve 1080, Studer A812 Tape recorder, WolfBox DI and other hardware devices."
Then I'm gonna expect what the others at that price range could do.
As always though. Subjective and just opinion.
However already the price is 100% the thing that's being agreed on thus far 😜
@@PaulThirdI do get that. I'm totally fine with you preferring the gold-one. But just like you can't hide from your personal truth, I can't neither - haha. Yes, I do notice that you'll criticize everything that doesn't do what it's "supposed to do" on the tin and I think that's good, because it "encourages" honest marketing. (That's why I commented on that Kush-EQ-topic, because I thought that might be right up your alley.)
Yes I think 210 Bucks is far too expensive for what it is for 99% of people.
@@PaulThird just a but caution: Gerhard Schröder may be "Nichtuntun"s alt persona online which is close (if i got it right a beta tester) to p42 and evangelizing all over its Gearspace threads. (Mods had to warn him to stop in the original p42 thread which is rare enough on Gearspace where mostly everything goes). As multiple people are aware by now he may use an alt. Not saying it as a fact, just a heads up. Thanks for the video & all the best.
Nah I know who nichtuntun is. He's emailed me personally before so I know who he is.
I can assure you that Gerhard is definitely not nichtuntun haha Gerhard is just extremely honest in what he hears which in this case is p42. I`ll do the blind test with him in private and he'll genuinely tell me his answers and then move on to my next video or discussion.
You'll find Gerhard discussing on multiple comments in all my recent videos. Gerhard, in my words.. 'just loves to get stuck in' 🤣
Nichtuntun will probably comment however. I am personally expecting it and we will most likely disagree as I know he has a very strong belief in the p42 but I personally feel I was very fair in my video and gave it a fair and level playing field.
I told him I'd look into it at somepoint months and months ago but from my perspective this will probably be a 5-6k video come next week or the week after so it's still gonna get the exposure that everybody was telling me it needed.
So from that standpoint as a youtuber it'll deliver as the stats are telling me it'll keep getting pushed by the algorithm. So regardless of my overall opinion, it'll get pushed out there and in front of the community.
@@woodsiee are you the same guy that wrote this once before? This is the second time someone "accuses" me to be a fake-account of nichtuntun. I take it personal when people call me an impostor. I assure you I am not the same guy like nichtuntun and I ask you not to assume, speculate and then talk about me. You do not know me and I don't appreciate this at all. Also, many words to the unwise: Witchhunts bring out the ugliest in people. IF nichtuntun is a bad person, he will show his true colors sooner or later no matter what pseudonym he is using, if he is using any at all. But just like not everyone who likes the sound of P42 is nichtuntun, not every german is nichtuntun. Don't speculate, let the reality unfold.
I feel like an apology is order. From where I am sitting you tried to be a snitch and became a defamer in the process.
PS: I'm also not evangelizing anything but truth and honesty. I have criticised the price and the look of the P42 multiple times. I don't even own this plugin nor am I doing the forum-business in audio. Never done, probably never will.
PS2: There is something I learned about fake people on the internet and people in general: 1. Nobody can hide who he is forever. 2. Many people, superficially look alike.
So if somebody is using fake-accounts and you are trying to identify them, you'll lose your mind. Other people WILL share some characteristics, because the internet is so vast. You WILL be seeing ghosts all over the place. However, if you simply don't look for them, they still feel the need to "hide" themselves. So the best thing you can do against fakers, is not to play their game. They'll play on their own and lose their mind instead of you. They'll wonder wether they were made, make new accounts, not say what they usually would say etc.
Thanks again Paul ! I Will take a look of that alboreal pimax plugin right now ! 😃
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When differences are this subtle, you are buying into something with almost zero bang-for-your-buck. Something like a tape emulation plugin is probably going to give you all the 'analogue' you ever need, this kind of subtly is just a distraction IMHO.
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Would this be a good plugin to start my vocal chain with as a preamp? Ive been using waves nls but looking for something in the box that sounds better
Plugin preamps are a myth. They never sound like an actual preamp. Plugins can replicate line amps well but preamps not so much
I don't really get why you would want a plugin emulating a preamp in your chain. What exactly are you wanting to get out of it?
@@PaulThird im using the preamp in my interface for level and gain. Then putting a plugin such as this in my chain first to give me color. Any thoughts on this?
Just use a colorful compressor or a pushed tape plugin
I personally advise to not over do saturation on vocals. Mostly all of my colour comes from the compressors. Add too much colour you'll just make the vocal sound smaller
Id advise investing in a colourful mic preamp over a plugin. That's why I use the golden age premier 73
what does the 3/4 signify?
Input at 3/4 or like 75% so it's the harmonic setting that's closest to the p42 setting
Analog Obsession even has a transformer plugin with oversampling for free. Still p42 Climax really does sound great but it's too expensive for my taste.
What is the Analog Obsession plugin called?
I think the price is gonna the biggest talking point with this haha
@@digitalmarketinghumans it's called Transature.
I really hope you disengaged the hp/lp filters for this test. Especially the hp.
I set it up the way that the developer intended as he created the presets and knows the plugins sound better than anyone. I can't remember if they are on or off but I stayed very close to his sound so I couldn't be told I didn't do this or that as I didn't properly understand how to get the best out of it
Cool... i only mentioned that because you directly compared the low end with acustica. It just didn't seem fair to have a hp filter engaged and then say it lacks low end
Hmm.. what you don't seem to mention is the actual negatives that the Acustica captures do to the audio. For instance, listen carefully to the bass example at around 7 minutes.. the Acustica Gold pre clearly changes the transients somewhat compared to the hardware (and P42). Yes, you get a bit more weight and tonally it's closer to the actual hardware, but dynamically it actually steers further away from the hardware as each note of the bass now suddenly has bit "clackier" transient. This can of course be abused to good effect but as you were so keen on matching the hardware, it's a bit annoying that you missed the negative parts of the Acustica plugin.
I don't see it as a negative though. I find the hardware personally too dark and rounded in the bass. In the snare it's near identical imo but yes there are differences in the bass but not in the lows which was where I was focusing on
@@PaulThird Fair enough, I just thought it's worth mentioning that the Acustica Audio plugins come with their own compromises when compared to hardware. They are thus not "perfect" emulations.. which sort of was how I interpreted your criticism of the P42. The differences are just in other parts of the audio (in AA's case, the transient response, which varies quite wildly in their plugins.. some better than others).
Paul, I enjoy your videos as it’s great to see a young man prove some of our industry Gear Emperors might have no clothes on. As a veteran of this industry, I gentle reminder that the record buying public, all three of them, don’t know the first thing about aliasing. They won’t pass in buying a record on which this phenomenon is apparent. An example Lady Gaga’s first album. Great conceptual ideas, executed well and a unique but attractive aesthetic married to a great topline, vocal performance, a compelling rhythmic structure are way more important. Maybe it’s simply the nature of your content that lends the impression that you’re becoming a bit obsessive about aliasing. Only you know if this imbalance require redress ( see what I did there ? ) Anyway wishing all the very best.
I agree from a producers point of view but if you put the mix engineers hat on then it's your job to project all of that magic. In modern day it's still relatively 2 seperate things. Recording engineer & producer works with the artist and a mix engineer mixes it.
If you think Serban Ghenea for example. 10 grand a mix or whatever he is. Many could say 'why pay for Serban when when you could pay a reputable engineer £500 to mix it?' still gonna sound great regardless as the production and performance is amazing.. But you'll find Serban still mixing a majority of the biggest hits.
Cause its about who can take those files and project them in a way that enhances the initial vision. Butch Vig vs Andy Wallace teen spirit mix is a good example of the exact same files but different projection.
Aliasing for me has an effect on the projection of the overall end result. Sure the songwriting, recording and performance is awesome, but if you take a finished record with a lot of aliasing and compare without aliasing then there's an audible difference.. Thus a different projection.
Billie Jean was mixed a ridiculous amount of times cause quincy needed the right projection of what they'd captured.. And still went for number 2 🤣
Lets dance and good times would have still sounded amazing if clearmountain hadn't mixed them but everybody still talks about how important clearmountains projection was.
So in my head anything that affects the overall projection of a track is important to think about in my book but whether you feel it affects your projection is entirely subjective and down to taste.
As you can see.. I think about these things in way too much detail 🤣
I downloaded the demo and created my own version using MWaveshaperMB by Melda Production
Can you null it or is it just close?
@@PaulThird not sure if it null (I don't have access to the P42 anymore) , it has the same behave using plugin doctor and sounds super close! And Melda Production fx can go up to 1024x 🤘🏻🙃
Interesting. I've got the whole free melda stuff but last I used it was when I did the inflator video. I know it won't do the randomness thing p42 has coded in where it alternates harmonic levels but it's hard to say how much of a sonic impact that actually has tbh
The real Neve pre is so much more smooth and it doesnt have those high-plastic-digital harmonics that sadly all the plugins have. I am a full plugin user and a plugin defender, but I think we gonna wait more time to have plugins that sound 100% like the real hardware. Btw is a really good plugin, I would use it a lot. Thanks for the video, an amazing comparisson!
The « TimP Blue 1102 » is the best neve plugin ive tried, what is your best neve plugin for you now?
Thanks Paul! In my very humble opinion GUI + Price tag should be enough, lol
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which acustica do u thinks sounds as good or Better than the P42?
Tbh most of it really. P42 is just a saturator with some eq at the end of the day. Acustica is full channel strips. Sampled pre's, console channels, eq's, compressors etc etc
Oh boy.. that change of title.. you're really playing games now!
And it really worked!! Haha the original title and thumbnail started to tank so switched it up and here we are.. Back in business 🤣
@@PaulThird I suspect 2 psychological mechanisms at work here, that are very "triggering". 1. Fear "DON'T do XYZ!" and 2. greed: implicit message being: "save 3500 Bucks!" Will Paul Third succumb to the benefits of misleading marketing? ..let's see what happens in this game you're playing with the devil 🤑
Oh I'm succumbing all right 🤣 +30% views just down to that title and thumbnail.. The baffling psychology of a youtube audience.
Tbh though I stlll deliver the goods haha I still wouldn't buy a neve 1084 😂😂
@@PaulThird Just promise me to never forget: When dancing with the devil, the devil will always be the lead - and you'll be thinking you're leading until he lets you see that you don't.
It's a similar process like with drugs. First you "use" them and are "in control" and all of a sudden you believe to need them or actually need them - and the drug-dealer is in control. Old Gerhard had a couple of dances with the devil, Paul - I regret every single one. In german we say "Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall" - roughly translated that means "pride comes before the fall". But "Hochmut" is not actually pride.. it's thinking you are superior/in control/untouchable/haughtiness/arrogance - there is no perfect word for it in english that I know. "Hoch" = high, "Mut" = "courage".
Don't mean to be overprotective or anything, just sharing my truth.
I'll only use stuff like that if absolutely neccisary which in this video it was as there wasn't enough interest in everything else I tried. Tbh it was pure luck and a genuine last throw of the dice and thankfully it worked as YT was about to shelve it
You've become the best plugin reviewer on RUclips! While we all are craving for perfect analog emulations, P42 does a usable job and seems to work right in a mix. Would be interesting to know how it sounds when pushed hard.
You'll definitely get a sound that'll work in a mix. It's a good sounding plugin it's just my job on youtube is to push it to its limits and see how close the claims they make are.
The original claim was basically and kinda still is 'why pay for a 3 grand line amp when you could pay £200 for this plugin' so.. I've gotta test if its actually similar to a 3 grand line amp as that's really where the price justification is in the marketing.. In my eyes anyway 🤓
In regards to it being pushed hard. The bass was like 50odd% saturation and even at 150% is comparible to the level of saturation in the Lindell 80 pre at 30db haha. So it can only be pushed so far, even when the dev has incorporated extra saturation to make the online moaners happy haha
@@PaulThird I had to think for a minute to realize what my issue with this marketing is. The issue is, that it is NOT hardware. It's not prestigous or impressive. It's nothing to impress clients with. So while yes, it should sound as good as hardware, as a tool, the pricing has to compare with software - not with hardware.
Software that emulates hardware needs to compete with hardware soundwise, but it's still competing with software pricewise. Because hardware IS hardware and thus there are production costs for every single unit, while software has only "one-time production costs".
So sure, it's game to say: It sounds as good as hardware and costs a fraction of the price. BUT that price has to compete with other software.
I had to read this twice to get you.. I think haha
Do you mean that it's the legacy and rarity of the physical hardware that constitutes a lot in the price. Plus the 1084 or wolfbox di is an actual physical line amp and can have an instrument plugged directly into it which a piece of software can't do. It needs to process after an already existing DI.
Is that what you mean?
So for apples to apples you need your price to correlate with that of another saturation/eq plugin of similar quality?
I'm trying to get in the Gerhard mindset 😂
@@PaulThird yes and yes.
Being hardware is different from software in many ways: Unique, touchable, visable when entering the studio, resellable at an (usually increasingly) high price, and yes, you can also plug-in instruments - all of which software can't do, because it's software.
So when you emulate the sound of one hardware unit, that is all you emulate. You don't emulate the material, the price, rarity etc. and thus you can not compare the price of a software-unit with the price of the hardware unit. You can only compare the sound of both, because that's the only thing that was emulated.
And that's exactly why the price can only be compared with software-units (preferably of similar quality). And that's where the conclusion:
"it's game to say: It sounds as good as hardware and costs a fraction of the price. BUT that price has to compete with other software." comes from. Sorry english isn't my first language, but I am trying! And I am making an effort not to write too much, because I don't want to be (too) annoying.
If you use the Pulsar in Mastering it probably makes sense. But in mixing it is simple too subtle and way too expensive. If you are willing to take time for tweaking, Melda MSaturatorMB or Voxengo Shinechilla a better choice because they are much more flexible. And their high quality is undisputable. Btw. Pimax is great. I use it a lot.
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Im a AA fan as well.....but.....Climax 42, Some
Wave
Plugin Alliance and IK Media.....plugins.... in different areas do actually sound better than acoustica audio in SOME cases....
Exp....
H EQ Stereo amd Dbx 160 Stereo.....sound better than the Honey Bundle....
Can you hear - 122db aliased in harmonic?
Leave aliasing, can you hear - 122dB sound only?
No human can accurately hear sound measuring -122dBFS, well nothing distinguishable anyway
@@PaulThird @4:01 You said
"all under audible threshold".
No human can hear that buddy.
Analog Eq, compressor like 1176 etc has noise floor of - 95dB.
Show a video where you could hear that noise even...
Also
That aliased partial is even below - 120 db.
Your aliasing is showing for that frequency's level near- 18 dB.
Which song, music or sound you hear with 15Khz onwards having - 18 or - 20dB level ?
So for their level, calculate their aliased harmonics, smthng below -144dB..
Will it be audible???
Also dbfs and dB are different things.
Educate yourself little first brother.
Dude.. UNDER the audible threshold means it's inaudible. I didn't say once the aliasing was audible here. I showed it in doctor incase anybody questioned the visable aliasing in the sweep.
Great presentation. I still prefer the hardware!
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Gold...is Golden!
Not on the Plugin Boutique website anymore?
P42?
@@PaulThird can’t see it!
Didn't even know it was on plugin boutique haha
Paul - for future videos , can I suggest you ask developers to provide hard evidence that they indeed have the hardware they're modelling in their possession - that they've actually measured tested A/B'd the hardware against their plugin in a controlled environment?
I am seeing a lot of new plugins that claim to emulate devices that are very very hard to get, and even if you can find a working one, buy or rent. I have the feeling that there is a massive money grab trend going on, and if one was so inclined it would be easy to think "hey who can compare it to an obscure piece of gear thats difficult to get anyway, we can just say it nails the sound of XXXX" and just put that in their marketing material. Afterall its not that difficult to analyze several other analog modelling plugins and build one that is in the ballpark and say "this one is the real thing".
IF I were developing plugins using the actual gear, doing all the meticulous testing and measuring that my marketing material would claim, that would be *the first* thing I'd put on my website and videos - a picture/video of me showing that I'm measuring, testing the gear against my plugin.
Exactly !
Emrah pretty sure we've already discussed this..
Can I folenteer to become your mastering engineer? And how about pre mixing?
I'm all sorted
@@PaulThird 😫
Man !!! 🤯 is it me ? Or the tb pro audio gsat sounds better than the P42 ?!?!??
That's what I thought 🤓
Plugins are perfect and "they" are designed with the computer that way, that's why people are loving it. But music or audio isn't about perfecting the sound, the impefections of hardwares makes it interesting and unique that NO Plugins can emulate. I still go with hardwares. I love turning knobs and faders vs just mouse and keyboard. Great video by the way.
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Have you really been paid to do such an incomplete "review"? You haven't checked anything in the plugin, you've just compared a preset to analog gear. This seems very, very unserious.
Who said it was a "review"?
I was asked to test a plugin and test it against anything I so wish.
Fuck the title even states.. "don't buy a 1084.. But this this instead".. Kind of already telling the viewer that its going to be a comparison of some sort.
Which was the developers own setting on a 1084. I went through the 1084 presets till I found the one that sounded the closest to the gear. Then compared that to the exact same 1084 that the developer used. Apples for apples.
That way nobody could use the 'Paul doesn't understand the plugin and tweaked it wrong' excuse as I've used the settings that the developer used which as I know was personally tweaked by the developer who understands the plugin better than any other user.
I compred a transformer based line amp plugin (Now remember in case anybody has forgotten.. P42 Climax LINE AMP.. its in the title) against a real transformer based line amp which isn't any different to any of my other videos where I compare the advertised sound of the Plugin to his hardware compatriot.
BUT... seeing as the p42 gang has been getting a bit pissy as they now know it doesn't like an analog transformer line amp I've decided to do another video..
I'll use the plugin the way I'd use it.. And this time I'll show the curves in doctor, what they are and how to match them with a digital eq.. And then what I'll do is I'll add a free saturation plugin on top of that eq (or whatever works) and see if I can match that sound I get.. And to add a bit more fun to it I'll do it all blind and at the end of it.. I'll let the audience and p42 gang show me they can pick out the glorious sound of the magic p42
How does that sound?
@@PaulThird Please "review" the developer's response and let me know what you think
ruclips.net/video/yq_zOF_G-TI/видео.html
@@PaulThird That seems perfect to me.
@@PaulThird I think a lot of people are still waiting for the new p42 video. I think that with Mo-Q you were right about that, although I would also like a review of their version 2 of bb n105, which seems to me that they not only fix it but also get a brilliant plugin in my opinion.
I think that make that type of test in this way is not correct. We can't just get the sound from the software emulation and the hardware and say: ok, the hardware sound better of different. We would must find methods for close to the hardware sound from the software.
We're talking audio being passed through a piece of hardware compared to a plugin. You match curves if you can or match harmonics where possible and then use your ear to compare.
The only variable I've got in both hardware and gold is the input level. That's it. No other variables. Fair a test as I can do.
I've done other tests and tweaked till death and managed identical or subjectively better results but in this case input level is all I have and doesn't matter how you tweak the p42 it's nothing like a 1084 so it's pointless
@@PaulThird By the way there would be well a link with the video for download the tracks of the comparation for listen in good conditions and not in youtube, and for make our experiments too with the audio material
Reaper DAW is fantastic for running acustica nebula programs. On my system anyway.
Thinking about it due to the new internal oversampling thing coming out
@@PaulThird I have the test version installed.
@@PaulThird
Yes its a good feature.
I make hip hop type stuff so a bit of grime here and there adds to the flavour.
If there are any meaningful differences between the processors, I, for one, am blissfully ignorant of them. Listening on my speakers or on any of my headphones these sound essentially identical. In solo and certainly when burred in a mix. Thank god for my aging auditory system.
Haha unfortunately I don't have that luxury and am plagued by those differences haha 🤣
@@PaulThird I was once like you and it was hell. 👹 In my twenties I could tell if someone was watching TV in the basement because I could hear the whine of the flyback transformer from across the house. In my late thirties I tested my hearing and found that I had attenuation beyond about 16k. Now I'm halfway through my forties and everything sounds so smooth... 😅
That's actually quality 🤣 I laugh at my wife cause she's so sound sensitive but can't understand accents.. She can hear them clearer than me which I thought would help but.. Nope.. Needs subtitles for any thick accent 🤣
@@PaulThird People and their delightful quirks amirite.
p42 sounds more natural than gold,i can feel that gold is tense and attacky compared to p42 and 1084,it sounds very good,especially on the full mix,more air and space,but it's to expensive,i won't buy it...ever....a price for this should be no more than 29$...
That's what I like about gold though haha I want to hear a difference. I want the low end to feel more solid and the track to have this real foundation that I can take into mixing and refine
Tbh in the snare I doubt most would be able to tell the difference in the gold and 1084. Way closer than you think when you do it blind. Bass yeah there's a difference in the mids but low end is pretty much bang on. I knew I should've done the low end test as a blind test to see what everyone thought without seeing which was which haha
In regards to the p42 price I'm hoping this video is enough for the developer to reconsider drastically reducing his pricing as I still dont think he realises how much harder me and everybody else is on this plugin when it's at that price tag.
To me it really puts it into context how people feel about what it offers as the most common theme in the comments is.. Sounds like a nice plugin. Not paying anywhere near that though
@@PaulThird nice mate,well it's a matter of taste,but I've noticed that when everything is more punchy it's sounds more like a demo than like a real track,maybe I'm wrong,who knows...i love acustica plugins,in fact i think that they r maybe one of the best 3 plugin developers on the planet,but I'm not using them often because of the dsp...Here in Macedonia the standard is very very low,so buying a new mac is a huge problem,and I'm using mac because of my uad apollo twin...anyway thanx 4 taking time to answer...c u
Totally. a matter of taste as always
gold sounds night n day better on the snare
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Paul, I'm always watching your vids with great interest and respect for your independent statements, but this time, in my opinion, your test was not correct and disappointing.
1st thing that caught me, is the direct compartment with the Neve 1084.
Is this officially disclamed somewhere at Pulsar Modular website or in the product manual, that this product pretends to be a 1048 emulation?
Quote from the product description: "It is chameleon-like, able to assimilate many different coloring hardware devices, but never intended to copy any single one". Yes, at its core it emulates the particular transformer (Triad A-12J), but even so, is this the transformer used for Neve 1084 line amp? Nope, Neve's used the famous Marinair transformers, which have their own signature sound. While Triad A-12J is known for its own signature sound - the "Motown sound", so they are obviously different from Marinair's by its nature.
2nd you stated in your video description this: "Does this analog transformer line amp plugin emulation recreate the classic transformer sound of a WolfBox DI line amplifier?", but I wasn't found an answer to this question in your vid. So to do a proper compartment you need to compare it with Triad transformer DSP emulation or with actual WolfBox hardware. At least with other similar transformer emulations like Kush Audio or Kazrog corresponding products.
3rd it was weird to me, you took the _preset_ as a master point for the test compartment. Presets are usually just helpers (set by dev ear), starting points for your sound shaping, they do not pretend to be an exact hardware emulation on their own, right?
And finally, you weren't mentioned that P42 isn't just a transformer emu, it's much more than that: 2 filters with 2 modes, 3 EQ shelves, mid/side processing, saturation with switchable routing, precise RMS, and Peak metering. It's a complex machine _based_ on Triad transformer emulation. I think it was fair to mention that, even if you don't aim at the product capabilities on your review/test, at least when you complained about the product price.
Interesting you are commenting just as I personally gave your details to the developer as I thought you'd be a good choice to modernise the gui. If you got the gig then sweet.. But I may just be wrongly assuming. If so and this is the reason for this comment then I'm personally the one who is a little disappointed
But how and ever..
1. In regards to emulating a 1084. In the developers own words
"You might not believe me but I tune it by ear. And I think we used the same 1084 hardware from MixAnalog :)"
So yeah.. Fair comparison as in his own words
"when trying to nail a sound P42 has all the needed tools to shape a sound"
"I spent the day tweaking by ear the Telefunken M15 preset for P42. But after I *nailed* the sound, I tweaked it a bit to feel more modern and fuller.“
2. The title thing in the description (which hardly anyone ever reads) are keywords for the YT algorithm. I don't have access to a wolfbass so but just for you I'll take that out the description.
3. The presets were specifically tweaked by the developers ear and he had already told me that they referenced the mix analog 1084 as he did for the studer and the m15.
Whats annoying me max is I know you know your stuff so I know you'll be aware the low harmonic content isn't right for an analog transformer. There's a lot of harmonic stuff happening in the low lows with transformers and you'll also know that they set the output saturation algorithm harmonics to follow the eq's which means to try and get the low harmonic response of a transformer you'd need to boost a ridiculous amount of low end.
I'm not the one stating that their product has the tone shaping tools to sound like other hardware.
I'm not the one saying it NAILS certain units.
In regards to the other features, come on max don't turn into the sales rep. I was paid for my review and was still true to me.
Gsat+ is free and you can add odd and even harmonics to taste and fluctuate to add randomness.
Msat is free and you can choose exactly how much 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th you add.
If we are gonna start going on about filters & inductor eq's and how that makes it worth €210.. Then come on man.. Really.
I even matched the level of saturation via the sweeps ffs.
Its marketed as a versatile transformer line amp that has the tone shaping tools to sound like other line amps and transformer based units. Dev said it himself.
Its fair game and you know it
If you didn't get the gui gig then I apologise but I'm simply puting 2 and 2 together here
@@PaulThird You are right, modern P42 GUI is my job (and I grateful to you as one of the guys who recommended my services to a dev).
Neitherless, I was surprised that you compared the "lemons vs oranges" assuming all the transformers should sound the same, which if objectively not real.
Ok, if developer said that he matched 1084 by ear, but this is not a point to judge whole plugin based on the specific preset, at least to me personally.
It's just superficial approach, if you get what I mean. The plugin based on specific hardware, not the preset) So to check the specific emulation authenticity, researcher should use the emulated hardware or other emulation of the same hardware, correct?
It's like you comparing the strawberry flavour tea with a real strawberry, instead of comparing it with another tea.
And since I don't see any official statement that presets 100% emulates the hardware, so this is the thing you assumed from the dev words, right? Which is possibly may be caused by misunderstanding or false assumption.
There are no audio examples comparing p42 to wolfbass or any proof that they measured the wolfbass transformer but there are examples of neve 1084 on their website and he told me that the mix analog one is the one they used and his plugin has the tools to recreate the sound so.. Its like for like
Essentially 'We made a plugin that recreates different line amps and an example we give is a 1084 and we even used the mix analog 1084 as a reference for our own preset'
I compared it with the exact same 1084... Fair game
Paul, Nebula is not Acqua, ok?. The audio engine of Acqua is something like a pseudo-engine of Nebula, but it's better Nebula, always. I can replicate the sound of that line pre of that 1084 with the library of that hardware of Cdsoundmaster in Nebula 3 without problems. I have done this with a Trident 80B, Trident A-Range, ... and other pre's of mixing console and not listened diference
Man I'm not interested in any nebula vs aqua stuff. Tool is a tool to me. If its close its close. If its not, its not.
I won't do much nebula stuff as its outside of most of my audiences reach.
To me it's not about the technology, its about the developer and how they understand the ins and outs of it. Just cause somebody uses nebula doesn't automatically mean it'll sound better than an aqua. There's a lot to it. You just need to speak to Tim Petherick for a while and you understand how there's more to it than capturing impulse responses.
@@PaulThird The audience wouldn't want a youtube channel saying that hardware sound difference that software and it's better, this is so easy and evident, the audience would want get the same sound of the hardware with software
And I've already done it on the channel. Acustica magenta twice, TimP dbx, la2a, ssl g bus etc.. Even the waves kramer pie did it haha the poll was over 300 odd votes and over 70% admitted they couldn't hear the difference.
The channels done the 'can't tell the difference' thing many times
@@PaulThird I understand
Very good video, Paul! I've tried the p42 when it came out, but I didn't understand it, I didn't hear something special, it was bloody ugly and way too expensive. I prefer tools that are absolutely non-subtle ... be it hardware or software ;-)
What are you using if you go for a neve/transformer weighty sound? 🤓
@@PaulThird I have a pair of JHS-500 colour boxes that add a nice transformer sound. CAPI VP28s give more weight ... ... or the Overstayer MAS. When it comes to software: AlexB's Fa-Ztu (with Max' new Nebula skin), Fabfilter Saturn2, Kazrog True Iron or the Kush Audio Omega Series! Also very cool: Airwindows Neverland! All go from subtle to distortion :D
I was actually considering buying the jhs color pedal just for puting stuff through haha sounds awesome in the demos I've heard. Do you know if there that much of an audible difference printing through a guitar pedal compared to a 500 series?
@@PaulThird Yeah, the JHS color boxes are great! Lots of character! As far as I know, the V2 version of the pedal is nearly the same as the 500 series box - just for half the price. The V1 pedal had a different circuit and no XLRs though.
Expensive stuff JHS but I trust Josh's work. He's a proper audio geek 🤣
Let's be honest - at this price it's snake oil 😂 Could you make a video comparing this and KazRog True Iron? It has one Marinar transformer emulation but has 5 others. It's really cool plugin and much cheaper. Anyway thanks for a great video!
I had planned on it a long time ago but tbh I got bored even making this as I've done so many saturation plugins in the past haha
Its a shame as I kept puting it off and it's highly rated but I have so many saturation plugs.. Like actualluy too many 😅
Transformers, not just a good cartoon.
OPTIMUS PRIME!!!!
The P42 made the sound definitely slightly duller and less 3D than the 1084. Also I did not really like its effect depth-wise on your rough mix, the "eq" instead was quite nice. If you listen carefully to the transients and the HF content, you can hear the differences.
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do you own a 1084?
No but I have a premium 1073 clone with carnhill transformers. However I do have access to the Access Analog 1084 & 1064 as well, as does anybody
Mojo is not in any box, it is in the person using the box! And yes im guilty of running parallel signal to outboards without returns sometimes just to make VU meters move on hardwares just so the client thinks there is analog mojo juice flowing in (for my own laughs). most premium plugins have great simulations of analog circuit behaviour nowadays, subharmonics, harmonics, analog fluctuations without the nasty noise and count limitations. surrounded by analog gear fills clients with confidence but any good mixer can mix with logic, pt or even fl stock plugins. @@PaulThird
So the acustica sounds more like the neve?.
More than the p42
@@PaulThird I was thinking that by listening to the comparisons, Thanks.
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Remember to check out my autism channel if you want to learn more about my life 🤓🤓
@@PaulThird No wonder I like your channel. I have no diagnosis because I only discovered the entire topic as an adult and it’s now really difficult to get one. But it’s pretty obvious to me and every autist I met. Definitely gonna watch a few videos on your other channel later this evening, I already subscribed.
You'll definitely get a better idea of what I'm like from those videos.. I'm not shy on that channel haha 🤓
None of them can really match the 1084
I actually prefer gold over the 1084 being honest but that's just me
@@PaulThird In many of your other videos I've preferred some of the plugins over the hardware. In this case though the 1084 sounded the most aggressive to me which I like. Especially on the snare example it has a snap to it the plugins just don't have.
@@PaulThird Same here, was surprised.
I thought it was near identical on the snare 🤣.. Knew I should've done a blind test 😜
@@mathyoooo2 actually I felt like the snap was really great on the P42, but I agree that the gold really messed that up. It added more body than the hardware, but lost the snap. The P42 added less body, but the snap is pristine imo. Adding body is easier than adding snap imo.
Sorry .. its agreat plugin but NOT worth $200. Maybe 5 years ago but not is 2022. There are too many options out there that can do the same thing.
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Sorry, but transients forever is win with analog
That doesn't make any sense. Most analog gear shaves off the transients the harder it's pushed. if you were to go completely digital clean there's no reason why you would lose any transient preservation
What a snake oil of a plugin...