Sample clips of Slate Virtual Console Collection

[nightflameauto]

Just had time to mess around a little bit with Slate Digital VCC tonight. Took a tune I'm working on at the moment and made a "sounds alright" mix and then did the exact same mix with VCC Trident channel applied to every audible channel and Trident Mixbus applied to every aux and master. The difference is subtle, but noticeable, especially on good speakers. All I did was set every channel to the Trident and turn the drive up to get some saturation going on each channel. I'd imagine with some patience and actually taking time to dial things correctly this could be a very useful tool.

No VCC applied.

VCC applied.

Pros: The instruments do seem to gel together a bit more coherently with VCC turned on. Like everything is actually part of a whole rather than sitting there individually struggling to be heard without drowning something else out. The biggest difference is with "airy" sounds like delay and reverb. They really gel into the mix rather than sitting above it with VCC running.

Cons: It introduces a bit of noise and even with the noise reduction turned on there is still some noise from "silent" guitar tracks if the noise gating isn't working absolutely perfectly on that channel. Probably something I can get past. There is a slight CPU hit as more channels are hit with VCC. That was expected.

Not a bad experiment, but I'll need more time with it to really get a feel for it. I do think it'll be useful, but it's not a cure-all if you don't have a decent mix to begin with.

[nightflameauto]

Listened to them again this morning and . Clipping to beat hell during the intro harmonies. No idea WTF I was doing there.

[newholland]

hrm. the VCC'd one it sounds little softer, but y'know-- it hurts my ears. theres something that's really buggin' my ears out, and i dunno what it is. it's like a shrill digital artifact when the dirt comes in- especially the high harmony. it could just be v30's? it's rounder, but it ain't doing anything net plus for the thing.


honestly, i think i prefer the un VCC'd. it's less blurry, and seems to suit the idiom better.

EDIT: ah-- you got it already. yeah, ditch that-- those harmonies are painful!

[nightflameauto]

Yeah, something somewhere in the chain during those harmonies is slamming the wall. The five minutes I had to look there's nothing even close to -18 in the line, so I'm thinking I hosed up with the mic and pre during recording.

[Sex Panther]

Marked. Really interested in the Slate digital stuff.

[Ostinato Rubato]

I hear the issues, but underneath some of the issues I hear the effect that the VCC is having on making the mix more cohesive as one.

It's actually pretty cool and you bastard now I want it. You need VMR. And VTM. And VBC.

[nightflameauto]

I hear the issues, but underneath some of the issues I hear the effect that the VCC is having on making the mix more cohesive as one.

It's actually pretty cool and you bastard now I want it. You need VMR. And VTM. And VBC.

Yeah, when it's not clipping it really does glue everything together.

And VTM is still next on the list. VMR is long down the line right now though.

[Ostinato Rubato]

At least get the free Revival plugin. You might find it useful.

FWIW, the VBC has a slightly similar effect in that it helps the mix sit better as a whole... but not like that VCC. It's a different sound. I liked it.

[nightflameauto]

At least get the free Revival plugin. You might find it useful.

FWIW, the VBC has a slightly similar effect in that it helps the mix sit better as a whole... but not like that VCC. It's a different sound. I liked it.

VCC has six different "desks" modeled and I've only tried the one so far. There's some people that recommend doing sub-groups through certain desks and then piping them all through a different main desk. Like the bass & kick through the desk with the biggest bass response, the cymbals through the desk with the sweetest highs, the guitars, snare and toms through the desk with the punchiest mids, all routed through their own aux mixbusses and then piped into a "main" desk that adds just a little shine over the whole thing. Could be interesting.

And all the plugins are already installed. VCC installer installs all the VMR plugins and gives you a trial period with all of them. Revival gets a permanent license along with VCC. I do want to use that on some vocals to see if I can get clearer top end without getting the harshness. So I'll probably experiment with the others before the trial runs out, but don't want to let myself get too deep with them because I just won't have the moola for a while.

[nightflameauto]

Updated the links in the OP with new mixes/masters.

Spent quite a bit more time remixing and actually fiddling with VCC. There's two ways to get saturation, and the two ways are noticeably different. Way one is driving the input. There's also an overall output and you can link them so as you bring the input up it lowers the output by the same amount leaving you with exactly the same level. Way two is the "Drive" knob which is supposed to emulate actually pushing the channel on the mixing desk being modeled. I found way one to be less pleasant on the ear, but could see it being useful if you had a really dull source without much going on in the higher registers. The Drive knob is far more musical, and gives a very natural saturation that, until you REALLY push it hard, doesn't cause actual distortion so much as just smooth out harshness and add a little polish.

I find the most noticeable difference is when the layers really add up or there's something harmonically complex going on. The section in my clips where the bass isn't following along with the guitars right after the main riff kicks in sounds quite a bit more cohesive to me with VCC than without.

These clips were mixed and set up to sound about as good as I could get them to sound with VCC on and set to the Trident desk. Then, without adjusting any other levels or faders or anything, disabling VCC everywhere it was in the chain and re-bouncing, so it's literally the exact same mix.

It's really easy to push the inputs hard enough to cause that weird clipping that was going on in the originally posted version of this. It's not a normal type of "over compressed" clipping, but a whiny, high-pitched digital sounding clipping that just holds onto notes and makes everything sound . MUCH happier with the Drive knob being pushed.

One other secret for noisy sources: There's a noise suppression button on VCC. VCC naturally adds just a tiny amount of noise as part of its algorithms as that's part of the magic of the desks it emulates. This noise is present anytime it detects a signal. The recommended usage for VCC is to put it first in the plugin chain on each channel and aux. In the case of a distorted guitar where you've done your noise gating in the DAW rather than at the source, this doesn't work so well as any signal at all (the shhhhh of a dirty guitar without a gate on it) cause VCC to add its noise to the signal flow causing the line between gated and not gated to be just that much harder to detect. Leaving some odd scritches and sshhs here and there when there should be silence. Move the noise gate to the first in line, and put VCC directly after it, and the problem disappears. I did the same with the bass despite there being very little noise in the signal as even the slight hum of the active pickups was causing VCC to add noise to the bass mix.

And I've STILL only experimented with one of the six desks emulated. I feel like there's tons of potential here. It's a subtle effect, no doubt, even at extreme settings, but it does add a bit of something. I really want to do up a mix and then run through a test of the various desks it emulates with it and see what the differences are when I have some more time. That should be interesting.

[Ostinato Rubato]

I thought it sounded great man. The second clip sounds more cohesive but I did hear a slight loss of bass. The first clip had a little bit more bottom and and bump but the second clip sounded more like one whole piece of music.

[nightflameauto]

I thought it sounded great man. The second clip sounds more cohesive but I did hear a slight loss of bass. The first clip had a little bit more bottom and and bump but the second clip sounded more like one whole piece of music.

Yeah, man. I started with the desk they call "the aggressive one" that's used as a rock, hip-hop and metal mainstay, so the bass probably isn't as prominent. The big bragging point of the Trident desk is supposed to be mid enhancement and enforcement. I want to compare it to the Neve and the other one they say are massive bass enhancers just to see if a metal mix can hold together on them.

[Ostinato Rubato]

Welcome to your skate digital addiction.

[newholland]

will haveta give a listen tonight!

[nightflameauto]

Welcome to your skate digital addiction.

I honestly have wanted to get into the Slate stuff for quite a while at this point. Seems like every example clip I hear makes it seem like the Slate stuff really has something special as far as digital plugins go.

Luckily, I'm too broke to go whole-hog and jump on it all. I do wish they'd get that damn subscription service going. Access to the entirety of Slate's library for a few bucks a month? That I could afford. They had a banner advertising it a month or so back, now even that's gone. Wonder if they gave up on the idea?

[Sex Panther]

Welcome to your skate digital addiction.

I honestly have wanted to get into the Slate stuff for quite a while at this point. Seems like every example clip I hear makes it seem like the Slate stuff really has something special as far as digital plugins go.

Luckily, I'm too broke to go whole-hog and jump on it all. I do wish they'd get that damn subscription service going. Access to the entirety of Slate's library for a few bucks a month? That I could afford. They had a banner advertising it a month or so back, now even that's gone. Wonder if they gave up on the idea?

http://www.slatedigital.com/mixmaster.php

Like that?

[nightflameauto]

Welcome to your skate digital addiction.

I honestly have wanted to get into the Slate stuff for quite a while at this point. Seems like every example clip I hear makes it seem like the Slate stuff really has something special as far as digital plugins go.

Luckily, I'm too broke to go whole-hog and jump on it all. I do wish they'd get that damn subscription service going. Access to the entirety of Slate's library for a few bucks a month? That I could afford. They had a banner advertising it a month or so back, now even that's gone. Wonder if they gave up on the idea?

http://www.slatedigital.com/mixmaster.php

Like that?

Right, but how the fuck do you actually sign up for it? TURN IT ON, BASTARDS!

[Sex Panther]

Right, but how the fuck do you actually sign up for it? TURN IT ON, BASTARDS!

It's still in progress I believe.

Here's a ridiculously long thread about it.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... undle.html

[nightflameauto]

OHGAWD! GEARSLUTZ!

Before I click, let me guess. 50% of the board went full potato over subscription being possible without reading about the fact that you get a $200 coupon for full purchase after a year, and believe that they will get locked out of the things they've already got a permanent license for and the other half is just flipping shit and tossing feces.

*CLICK*

First page confirms. Even Slate himself pops back in to say they should actually read the damn post.

[Sex Panther]

OHGAWD! GEARSLUTZ!

Before I click, let me guess. 50% of the board went full potato over subscription being possible without reading about the fact that you get a $200 coupon for full purchase after a year, and believe that they will get locked out of the things they've already got a permanent license for and the other half is just flipping shit and tossing feces.

*CLICK*

First page confirms. Even Slate himself pops back in to say they should actually read the damn post.

Spot on. It's a hilarious read so far...still no date yet that I can see. I'd have no problem with a $20/mo subscription for endless updates and no $800 initial out of pocket cost.

[Sex Panther]

Actually just saw Steven said the subscription launches in about 40 days. Dated Jan 25th, so it should be shortly...since that was more than 40 days ago.

[nightflameauto]

Actually just saw Steven said the subscription launches in about 40 days. Dated Jan 25th, so it should be shortly...since that was more than 40 days ago.

Based on Slate history - October 5th is approximately 40 days after January 25th. Fuzzy math.

[nightflameauto]

Afternoon bump for the fixed mixes:

No VCC applied.

VCC applied.

[Ostinato Rubato]

bump for post count

[nightflameauto]

bump for post count

Bump for being in such a shitty mood I don't even feel like picking on Mike for poast counting in my thread.