• Welcome to the General Discussion forum for UAD users!

    Please note that this forum is user-run, although we're thrilled to have so much contribution from Drew, Will, and other UA folks!

    Feel free to discuss both UAD and non-UAD related subjects!

    1) Please do not post technical issues here. Please use our UAD Support Forums instead.

    2) Please do not post complaints here. Use the Unrest Forum instead. They have no place in the the General Discussion forum.

    Threads posted in the wrong forum will be moved, so if you don't see your thread here anymore, please look in the correct forum.

    Lastly, please be respectful.

$48 alternative to Townsend Sphere and Slate VMS

Eric Dahlberg

Eric Dahlberg

Purveyor of musical dreams fullfilled.
Antares Mic Mod EFX on sale for $48 + extra discount in cart at JRR Shop

Mic Mod EFX makes the microphones you own sound like the microphones you wish you owned.

Using our patented Spectral Shaping Tool™ technology, we've created precise digital models of over 125 historical classic and exotic microphones. Simply tell Mic Mod EFX what microphone you are actually using and what microphone you'd like it to sound like. It's as simple as that..

If you've ever wished for an extensive collection of exotic mics (but shuddered at the cost), then Mic Mod EFX is the plug-in for you. Not only do Mic Mod EFX's models reproduce all of the subtle sonic characteristics that make each microphone unique, but they also give you control of each mic's specific options. Does the mic have a low cut filter? If so, it's in the model. Wind screen on or off? Close or far placement? Each option results in the same sonic effect that it would have with the actual modeled mic.
 
Matt Hepworth

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
Pretty much identical. They had a hardware unit back then too.

Honestly, it's a bit useful as a tone shaping tool.

I've used it before to help guitar tracks separate stereo-wise. Back in the early 2000s I used to use the saturation control on it on various tracks with the mic modeling bypassed. There wasn't really anything that added a bit of harmonics in old digital land at that time.
 
R

Rokatansky

Member
"This product is not guaranteed to produce, and will not necessarily produce, audio results that are consistent with or match audio results that could be achieved using any of the referenced microphone models."
 
Arionas

Arionas

Established Member
Sarcasm or not, with his post Eric made me buy it and I can say that this plug in can have a lot of use for some applications.
For example I can save a vocal track which mistakenly I had choose to record with a Royer 121, it was too dark in the mix and none of the eqs could work to brighten right the track.
Also, experimenting yesterday a U87 vocal track, transforming it to telefunken U47 the result was a nice warm fat track, much better than the original.
Also, a little amount of proximity and tube harmonics helped the track to sit better in the mix.
These are my first impressions, I have to go deeper into this, but for $40 I think it is a no-brainer.
 
Y

yluko

Active Member
Having used it in the past, I would say for the price its decent for a tone shaper. I wouldn't consider it a real alternative to the others. Well I guess maybe in the way your daw's stock compressor is an alternative to your 1176 hardware compressor.
 
Eric Dahlberg

Eric Dahlberg

Purveyor of musical dreams fullfilled.
Scotty_123 said:
Eric, with your expertise, I can't believe you would post this unless in complete sarcasm.
Click to expand...
I've never used it, I just thought someone might appreciate a $40 alternative to the $1,499 Townsend or $999 Slate.
 
S

Scotty_123

Member
Understood, thanks. I have it already, picked it up used on KVR and it is useful but not likely a serious alternative to the VM by Slate or the Saphire which I have ordered and expect in December.

Eric Dahlberg said:
I've never used it, I just thought someone might appreciate a $40 alternative to the $1,499 Townsend or $999 Slate.
Click to expand...
 
Don Schenk

Don Schenk

Administrator
Forum Admin
Moderator
Rokatansky said:
"This product is not guaranteed to produce, and will not necessarily produce, audio results that are consistent with or match audio results that could be achieved using any of the referenced microphone models."
Click to expand...
Exactly, but as Matt said, it's a tone shaping tool. and at Eric's price of $40 and change, I figured I'd try it. A couple of years ago, Musiciansfriend, put a cheap mic on sale at an even cheaper than cheap price. The mic was an MXL 990. It turned out to be a real POS, but does function well as paper weight. (It is too light-weight to use as a door-stop.)

I found a couple of settings in the Mic Mod that make this mic actually usable!

I run REAPER, about which Antares says the Mic Mod is "Possibly Compatible" but only as an AU. I could not get the AU version to work in REAPER, but the VST3 version is fine.

:- Don
 
Serenity

Serenity

Hall of Fame Member
ronmac said:
SOS just released their magazine review and video on the VMS

Slate Digital Virtual Microphone System | Sound On Sound
Click to expand...
Yeah it sums up what I've been hearing in various reviews so far. Compared to other mics in that price range it doesn't perform that well in my opinion. But it does have the tone shaping trick up its sleeve and I'd think that's worth the price for a lot of people.
Of course Steven will bring up the old argument that every mic sounds different and the ones they modeled are in much better shape than the ones SoS used. But that doesn't change the fact that VMS does not have that smooth velvet sound that those high end mics have. And that's partly why they are so highly valued.
 
Last edited:
Serenity

Serenity

Hall of Fame Member
Alright, so Matt kindly hooked me up with IK Mic Room. Decided to run the raw Slate ML-1 file from the recent SOS shootout through it just to see how it compared against VMS. Quite well I have to say, especially for $20.

Which one do you think is the VMS and which one is Mic Room?

Jules U67 A
Jules U67 B
 
Matt Hepworth

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
That can't really work as a comparison, though, since the key to making it work correctly is to have a known source to extrapolate from.
 
Serenity

Serenity

Hall of Fame Member
Matt Hepworth said:
That can't really work as a comparison, though, since the key to making it work correctly is to have a known source to extrapolate from.
Click to expand...
Yes, it would be ideal to have the ML-1 as a source to select in Mic Room. But I think it did surprisingly well despite not having that. I think it's an interesting comparison and the best I can do without having access to VMS.
 
D

DJ Hellfire

Established Member
I have this Mic Mod plugin and wasn't really impressed. I think I got it for like $25 or maybe even $48 several years ago. Don't remember, but it was cheap. Anyway, it's pretty useless as it makes Pro Tools throw weird errors and not function properly and there has not been an update since I bought it, last I checked. What's worse, I can't even use it as a paperweight! :eek:(
 
D

DJ Hellfire

Established Member
Serenity said:
But that doesn't change the fact that VMS does not have that smooth velvet sound that those high end mics have. And that's partly why they are so highly valued.
Click to expand...
To this day I still have not heard a single emulation or physical replica that gives that buttery smoothness you speak of, like is present on the U87 for example.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
UAD Bundle Month
Top