Off-Topic - Fabfilter Plugins in Nanostudio 2?!
(We really need an off-topic section here @dendy .)
I'll say this - the internal effects in Nanostudio 2 are so good, I never really needed Fab-Filter's plugins (save for Pro-L2 in Auria). I don't need Pro-C2 due to NS2's compressor for 98% of tasks and MagicDeathEye for mastering. I purchased Pro-Q2 last year due to not having NS2's EQ-3B. Saturn wasn't released, but Waveshaper gets me the fat sub basses I desire. Who needs Pro-R when you got algoverb?
However, I can't describe the pure joy I feel seeing my go-to mastering limiter Pro-L2 inside of Nanostudio 2!
It feels so good to finally divorce myself from friggin Auria Pro! Cheers! 😁
Comments
@jwmmakerofmusic Thanks for posting this here (saw you over on AB's forum)! I appreciate hearing how well NS2's effects stack up. You just saved me a whole bunch of money!
Nice to see you here mate. On the AB forum, I said I'll eventually get all the Fabfilter plugins, and perhaps completionism will get the better of me sometime in the distant future when they have a Black Friday sale. Trust me, it DOES feel tempting to buy them all, doesn't it though?
The only other plugin I'd really need is Pro-Q3 for the dynamic EQing function and the per-band mid/side adjustment option. (Dynamic EQing is like a combination of a multiband compressor and a static EQ all at once if that makes any sense. Mid/Side EQing means making the low end monaural and slightly widening the stereo width at the very top end).
This news made my day. It’s nice to see iOS getting such great assets for us producers. I’ll be able to mix in NS2 without needing to drop into Auria Pro just as @jwmmakerofmusic mentioned. Now I just need audio tracks and my life will be set
Wow. I missed this. That’s great news for the platform imo. https://appsliced.co/apps/dev/fabfilter
Saturn and Timeless are the two I’m most interested in. Hopefully the make it to the lineup eventually.
Though, to be honest, it’s a little hard to imagine buying a single plugin that cost more than the DAW!
Pro-R is amazing, it allows you to tune the tone of the reverb to the track/instrument, it's especially good on vocals as you can shape the sound of the reverb to the timbre of the voice. There's no other reverb like it.
This ! I really hope for Saturn !
So it looks like they have two bundles. This is for all the plugins... https://apps.apple.com/app-bundle/id1469377147
...and this is for upgrading Pro-Q2 to Pro-Q3... https://apps.apple.com/ca/app-bundle/fabfilter-pro-q-3-upgrade/id1469374654 Already done since it costed me only $15 to upgrade.
@richardyot I had no idea Pro-R could do that. Dammit. Ya sold me on it. :P I'm probably going to nab it in the bundle once I save up the $90 to get it. I may as well, lol.
With Canadian tax included if I buy each app separately the grand total is $367.25🤑😱 If I get the bundle the grand total is $203! I have all the plugins in Auria Pro so why did this have to happen for just to cause stress🤣😂🤪
Think I’ll get off line..out of site out of mind lol
What’s the CPU hit vs “comparable” NS2 fx?
I would be VERY interesetd in some comparison of PRO-R vs. NS Algoberb. Interested if there is major quality difference - when i compared Algoverb with rest of available AUv3 reverbs, i didn't found any other significantly better - there were differences - one was slightly better in long verbs, other in short verbs, but nothing generally significantly better.... So i'm curious if Pro-R dramatically better - in this case i would consider purchasing it ..
Im curious what how taxing the fabfilter auv3s are compared to the Auria ones. I wonder if there is any difference. Such a shame that I bought almost all the plugins for the same price inside Auria. Too bad they haven’t released any of their creative plugins as auv3 yet. Saturn is so good. Would be really cool to use Twin inside NS2 also. Im not going to hold my breath for more though since they had Pro Q2 on the app store by itself for i think over a year. This is big news for NS2 users. Pro R will be so nice to use inside NS2.
I’m in the same boat as you. I own them on desktop, Auria, and soon as an auv3. Im almost sure (in my head) that your mileage will be further inside of Auria because they aren’t constrained by auv3 memory limitations but I haven’t personally tested it.
I have Pro r on desktop and Auria but haven’t side by side with the auv3 yet. I will say this, NS2 internal plug ins are pretty nice and can mostly get you there, but if I were to buy 3rd party supplements they would be Pro-R, Pro-L, Pro-MB and I could probably manage with the rest being stock NS2 for beatmaking. I’d spring for the Pro-R (and i will too, soon)
So maybe I should wait for Auria to offer the pro q3 upgrade and I’ll have them all in Auria but than again I won’t have the fabs as auv3 for other hosts but there seems to be issues with that...Ow my head hurts😃
I don’t your workflow and budget but I’ll be honest on my thoughts for me. Even tho Auria is a mixing/songmaking (audio recording) powerhouse I really enjoy lightly mixing my beats in NS2 and just bouncing them out. It helps me work fast and grind out multiple tracks (beats/instrumentals) a day when I’m in a groove. So I personally will be grabbing all the AUv3 Fabfilters despite having them in Auria when I get a chance, because for workflow reasons alone (Pro-L / Pro-MB) on the master bus and reverbs (pro-R) for creative/mixing needs without leaving NS2 is something I’m looking forward to
I like and can relate to everything you’re saying and since I’ve invested quite a bit of effort in NS2 it does seem like a good move to get some of these fine Fab plugins to compliment NS2s’ fine toolkit and if I stumble across some unclaimed monies well ...you know😀
Thanks for your response I found it very helpful 👍🏻🎧🎹🎼
It really is stunning. I have been going over old tracks and swapping out the reverbs for Pro R and I keep getting smacked upside thinking ‘Aha! thats what I wanted it to feel like.’
Also it gives you so much variety of sweet spots and expressive potential that I can’t just dial in one setting and feel satisfied. Yah, I’m warming up to this —--> NS2 needs AUfx automation badly!!
after 2 hours of testing Pro-R i'm not that enthusiastic like you guys
It's not bad reverb, but i really don't hear anything special which i cannot get from other iOS reverb like Eos2, Kleverb or NS build in Algoverb when i put them to send bus wih parametric EQ after reverb (build in EQ is only one significant advantage of Pro-R if you want use it as insert fx, not send fx)
Yeah it's UI looks nice and it has a lot of fine tuned premium presets :-)
Anyway, as i said - based on hype all around i expected something like Lexicon PCM81, or Strymon BigSky - but it is "just" very good reverb, which belongs to group of probably top 5-6 iOS reverbs..
For me not significantly better than those i mentioned above....
in each of those 3 examples is Pro-R and other iOS reverb.. i don't think i would be able to distinguish, in mix with other instruments, which is which ;-)
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iba2vr0t0hd33xt/AADIWQY51amif998tqGckT7ta?dl=0
I have to disagree
EOS sounds horribly metallic to my ears, and Kleverb is OK but it's not as nice as Pro-R IMO. I actually think the Virsyn Audioreverb is the only other iOS offering that comes close.
The big advantage of Pro-R is the amount of tonal control it offers, which is much deeper than any other reverb.
^^ check my 3 examples in post above ;-)
Sorry those sounds are too dense and processed to helpfully compare a reverb, there's very little space in there for the verb to shine through. A sparse piano part would be much better.
Also not trivial to do a proper comparison, because there are so many parameters to take into account: can the plugin create a large warm space? A smaller but heavily modulated one? Does it sound natural (like a room)? Can it do otherwordly, strange reverbs etc...
I made a few comparisons when Pro_R first came out for Auria, it's not a blind test though so maybe it's not so useful, and it really only scratches the surface, but it does give some idea:
Dry sound:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/whnxxsinqy3kpcc/Reverb Testing - Dry.wav?dl=0
Pro-R:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0o8hmtzntyjkf0b/Reverb Testing - Pro R Default.wav?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rbtl6mmzz7b5guy/Reverb Testing - Pro R Piano Room Large.wav?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qqxq55qc33dkzts/Reverb Testing - Pro R Concert Hall Vienna.wav?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ax9ygwka17jkywm/Reverb Testing - Pro R Scooped Sparkly Space.wav?dl=0
DDMF:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tnhwj2hwl7fw7uo/Reverb Testing - DDMF Concert Hall.wav?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/larklmr56vf3yjy/Reverb Testing - DDMF Piano Hall 1.wav?dl=0
Virsyn:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l9n8ssy4rlntqgp/Reverb Testing - Virsyn Ballad Hall.wav?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4l4k8ge6tg0m5dz/Reverb Testing - Virsyn Acoustic Hall.wav?dl=0
ok i processed your loop with exact same settings ...
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8p9osc6ca3sqc89/AABIdFM9F4TPUqZNC4cyWy2Na?dl=0
for me result is very clear - pro-r doesn't have anything special compared to reverb i usually use, at last for types of reverb which i usually use, there is nothing i cannot reproduce with 95% same quality - which is great, i can save those money for other apps
))
Pro R is all I’ll use now......case closed🎧🥇🏆
I won't make any comment on subjective quality, but just on the actual differences I hear:
test 1: the first reverb has more modulation in the echoes (like a slight flanging or chorus effect), the second reverb is a little cleaner.
test 2: I didn't really like either of these, the echoes just became white noise.
test 3: There's clearly a longer tail on the first sample, so it's hard to make an exact comparison, but the second sounds slightly darker to me.
The main attraction for me of Pro-R (as I mentioned earlier in the thread) is how you can shape the tonality of the reverb to match your source material. You can do similar things with pre and post EQ in your signal chain, but it's slightly different since Pro-R also allows you to customise the strength of the actual reflections in the frequency range, which is pretty unique (with that level of fine control anyway). It's great for vocals for example, where you can tailor the reverb to the timbre of the voice in a very precise way, and that's difficult to do with other reverbs that don't have the very clear UI that Pro-R has.
For very long reverb tails (for ambient guitar for example, like in my example video) I prefer to use the Virsyn reverb, because it can do crazy long reverbs, so for reverbs that are 30 seconds or more it's my favourite option. I think that's the only iOS reverb that can really get into Big Sky territory with those huge reverb tails, but you really need to play very sparsely for that sound to work.
But of course there's a huge amount of subjectivity in these discussions, so in no way am I trying to argue with your opinion, everyone has their favourite tools.
Interesting! There are some iOS reverbs that people swear by that I find very “cold and metallic”. I don’t always like Algoverb but most times it works for me in the overall mix. It’s also way easy on the CPU of my old Air 1. I’m not in the market for the Pro apps because I can’t justify the price. I don’t do music to make money any more so it’s not worth the investment. If I was I would get them because you have to have a broad palette to work with. IMHO!
@anickt
in all those 3 examples always second loop is Pro-R, first loop is Algoverb followed by EQ-3B (on send chanel, so EQ is equalising just wet signal)
When i tested all other reverbs more deeply, i remember that i was most satisfied with Algoverb, Kleeverb and DDMF Envelope (of course Pro-R is good too, same league in my opinion)
So, my waiting for first-class algorithmic reverb with quality of Lexicon PCM81 or Strymon BigSky continues :-)))
AUFX:Space is still my go to for big swirly wash reverbs. Not AU so no NS joy but in AUM jams... still love it.
@jwmmakerofmusic
i'll go back to beginning of this thread... you mentioned Pro-L .. any chance you have also FAC Maxima ? How good is Pro-L compared to FAC Maxima ? Any chance of some comparision examples ?
I can defo do comparison examples, but first the answer while it's still fresh in my mind.
Short answer - I love both limiters. Pro-L2 is just a bit better though. Just get both.
Longer answer - Both seem to be somewhat similar in how they process a signal internally. Both seem to have almost the same threshold (-8dB RMS) before the signal becomes distorted from overlimiting. However, when I push the signal up to the threshold before overlimiting happens, Pro-L2 is a mite more transparent than Maxima.
First limiter used is Maxima, and the second is Pro-L2. Both set to a loudness level of around -8dB to -9dB RMS.