Effects • Re: Acustica intros Teal: Your go-to palette for rich tube saturation.

Is there a plugin for AA that you prefer?

There are many that I really like the sound of a lot. Here is just a short list of the AA tools I use when needed.

ASH
Lemon (totally unique sounding delay. Very easy to sit within a mix, probably due to the smearing)
Mystic (unique sounding thing. Very hit and miss where and when it works though)
Sunray (absolutely adore this ones compressor as it's so good at softening things)
Tulip (again a very unique sounding compressor. GR meter is buggy as hell so ignore it and go with your ears! Also has a bunch of really good sounding and unique preamps).

In general, I do not use any AA plugins for heavy saturation as they just simply do not work correctly for that task (other than the clipping ones). They just don't sound "correct" in my opinion. I also do not use Acustica Audio plugins for basic tasks any more. They don't have the audio quality advantage over other companies any more.. so for mojo, compression, EQ and other basic mixing tasks I never use any AA plugins any more. I only use them when I am absolutely sure that it fits perfectly and is the only option. I don't even keep them installed most of the time (except ASH which is indeed my go-to clipper as it's proven to be quite reliable). This forces me to only use them when absolutely necessary and when I feel like a particular plugin could benefit the piece of music I'm working on currently.

You keep saying negative things about AA, but seeing that you keep testing it

It's the same thing since more than a decade going back. They put almost zero effort or emphasis on usability and making things feel like a solid, working, professional product. Compressors gain reduction metering is always all over the place and never seems to work reliably. Input/output metering, same problem and keeps varying from product to product. Basic controls are all over the place and there is very little consistency from one product to another. It's just all very scatter shot all over the place. In some plugins mouse behavior is completely different to another plugins mouse behavior. etc. etc. It's just all very inconsistent and not at all thought out.

It always feels like walking on egg shells when using AA plugins. Thus I tend to avoid using any whenever possible. But like I already said above, I do use them when I'm absolutely sure that the tool is right for the job. But I use them "like hardware".. I install the plugin, then open the plugin, set it to do what I want it to do and then I immediately hit render and remove the plugin (and usually uninstall it too).

Another issue I have with the company is the way they are sort of like a sampling company.. they've developed this awesome back-end technology and are just pumping out product after product, seemingly at least one every month (though lately it's been like 2 or 3 per month!!) which completely bloats their portfolio and thus makes it increasingly difficult to support the previous products. It just doesn't feel reliable to use their tools in actual paid work, the way I'd use more traditional plugins from well established companies.

This is why I always render any results as soon as I use a plugin from them and why I try avoiding using them in difficult mix places like busses or aux sends. I try to stick with the plugins on inserts while mixing and almost never use them during production/composition phase where things can still change.

It's better if it's a plugin recommended by someone I trust.

Keep in mind that ALL audio processing, be it software or hardware, is always a subjective thing. There is no "better" in art.. at least not in terms of audio fidelity. Which is why it's so important to learn what YOU yourself like and stick to it. Don't let your own opinion get disrupted by what other people think.

Statistics: Posted by Zaphod (giancarlo) — Sun Oct 27, 2024 7:16 am