this is pretty awesome >>> Retroband

[makinghits]

today I was fiddling around with the Retroband trial after having been intrigued by retroband light. I have to say, holy cow, I have found my analog mojo. I bought this thing immediately. for anyone who is looking to find that analog warmth and character and is patient enough to play around with this plug for a while I can highly recommend it. I've used colortonePro quite a bit but to me this thing is in a different league. put this in a chain with the 1073 and you get the real character of a 1073. sweet!

 

[digitalson]

how bout a link.......

 

[Akis]

http://www.michaelkingston.fi/retroband/

I've bought it, though I haven't had time to experiment with it much, yet. What strikes me is that people in this forum keep asking for such a plug-in by UA, yet only 2 people have mentioned this one thus far (living sounds and makinghits). If it had a UA logo on it, it would have sold by the bucketloads, me thinks.

 

[makinghits]

you are very right akis, that's why I posted this here also. this is the kind of plugin that should get snapped up by uaudio and integragted into the sound of every one of their plugins

 

[Kingston]

Hi all,

I was prompted here by Akis. Thought I'd start by mentioning RetroBand and RetroBandLite will soon see a major update and an OSX VST version with AU version to follow later. Expect announcements and links in about a week. We're in the final beta testing phase and everything seems to work.

as it's a big update, windows version will see new features as well:

-64-bit internal processing in all signal paths. It sounds even less digital now.

-massive CPU optimisations. in mono mode it takes so little CPU that one can actually use it everywhere now. Of course in the oversampled mode it's still a bit of a hog, but you get what you pay for with that mode.

-There is also a new noise mode that I haven't seen anywhere else. Noise is introduced to the processing \"circuits\", but it's also removed in a clever way so the user hears the effects of noise on the circuits, but not the actual hiss and rumble.

Regards,
Michael

 

[Akis]

Glad to see you accepted the invitation, Michael. 8)

Feel free to start a new thread, with a clear title when the updates are ready and talk a bit more about the plug-in and what it does.

BTW, great news about the CPU optimisations - can't wait!

 

[mm-pro]

What will the upgrade path cost be for those that buy the plugin now?

Thanks!

Regards,

MM

Hi all,

I was prompted here by Akis. Thought I'd start by mentioning RetroBand and RetroBandLite will soon see a major update and an OSX VST version with AU version to follow later. Expect announcements and links in about a week. We're in the final beta testing phase and everything seems to work.

Regards,
Michael

 

[beubbo]

Hi,

Is it the kind of plug-in that could emulate analog console saturation (ala McDSP AC-1) ?

Is it really possible to insert it on DAW's master bus and get the «...with some luck, it makes things sound \"larger than life\"» type effect ?

Really ?!?

Thanks
B

 

[Kingston]

What will the upgrade path cost be for those that buy the plugin now?

there's no upgrade costs for anyone, no separate OSX version milking of existing customers. you bought it, you have it. expect mail next week.

Hi,

Is it the kind of plug-in that could emulate analog console saturation (ala McDSP AC-1) ?

Is it really possible to insert it on DAW's master bus and get the «...with some luck, it makes things sound "larger than life"» type effect ?

Really ?!?

well first of all, be warned, this is not the easiest plugin to use. Too many frigging parameters, and rather subtle results when you land usable settings.

and then again, don't take this from me. as the designer I'm disqualified with my opinion on the sound, but I *did* design this process for my personal use because I had seen no plugins doing what you describe of, not with great sound anyway.

so yes, depending on your dedication on finding usable settings, you might get lucky and end up with a sound that resembles the characteristics of subtly driven preamps on a good console.

then again, you might also completely destroy all that was good with your existing set up. there's no instant gratification with RetroBand.

 

[fishkid]

.....so yes, depending on your dedication on finding usable settings, you might get lucky and end up with a sound that resembles the characteristics of subtly driven preamps on a good console.

then again, you might also completely destroy all that was good with your existing set up. there's no instant gratification with RetroBand.

Word.

You mean we're going to have to listen critically and learn carefully how to use this tool? 8)

I like how you think Michael and so I'm going to go try this plug right now.

Scott

 

[Ashermusic]

http://www.michaelkingston.fi/retroband/

I've bought it, though I haven't had time to experiment with it much, yet. What strikes me is that people in this forum keep asking for such a plug-in by UA, yet only 2 people have mentioned this one thus far (living sounds and makinghits). If it had a UA logo on it, it would have sold by the bucketloads, me thinks.

If it were UA it would also run on a Mac.

 

[Akis]

http://www.michaelkingston.fi/retroband/

I've bought it, though I haven't had time to experiment with it much, yet. What strikes me is that people in this forum keep asking for such a plug-in by UA, yet only 2 people have mentioned this one thus far (living sounds and makinghits). If it had a UA logo on it, it would have sold by the bucketloads, me thinks.

If it were UA it would also run on a Mac.

According to Michael, it'll run on OSX in a week or so.

 

[taylor]

can't wait for the mac version/demo!

sweet acid track on the site, too..

 

[Ashermusic]

http://www.michaelkingston.fi/retroband/

I've bought it, though I haven't had time to experiment with it much, yet. What strikes me is that people in this forum keep asking for such a plug-in by UA, yet only 2 people have mentioned this one thus far (living sounds and makinghits). If it had a UA logo on it, it would have sold by the bucketloads, me thinks.

If it were UA it would also run on a Mac.

According to Michael, it'll run on OSX in a week or so.

Cool. I will look forward to trying it.

 

[mangel1234]

http://www.michaelkingston.fi/retroband/

I've bought it, though I haven't had time to experiment with it much, yet. What strikes me is that people in this forum keep asking for such a plug-in by UA, yet only 2 people have mentioned this one thus far (living sounds and makinghits). If it had a UA logo on it, it would have sold by the bucketloads, me thinks.

I've actually never heard of this vst before, but if it does a good job, it should help to show that it shouldn't take an entire UAD card to simulate good transformer, class a/b amplification as mentioned in other threads.

I'm looking forward to testing this out!

 

[DAWgEAR]

I will not pass judgement on the plugin since I have not tried it, but the demos did not impress me.

Hoping to hear about others' experiences.

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

I've actually never heard of this vst before, but if it does a good job, it should help to show that it shouldn't take an entire UAD card to simulate good transformer, class a/b amplification as mentioned in other threads.

UA plug-ins are component modeled, Retroband may model transformer saturation but that doesn't mean it's component modeled. Something doesn't have to be component modeled to sound good - Line 6 doesn't component model yet still make a few great sounding products - but you have to appreciate that the algorithms required in component modeling are far deeper & more power hungry, & ultimately have the potential to be more accurate (the UAD-1 1176LN component models transformers &, though excellent sounding, is not as accurate as the UAD-1 33609 is).

 

[mangel1234]

I've actually never heard of this vst before, but if it does a good job, it should help to show that it shouldn't take an entire UAD card to simulate good transformer, class a/b amplification as mentioned in other threads.

UA plug-ins are component modeled, Retroband may model transformer saturation but that doesn't mean it's component modeled. Something doesn't have to be component modeled to sound good - Line 6 doesn't component model yet still make a few great sounding products - but you have to appreciate that the algorithms required in component modeling are far deeper & more power hungry, & ultimately have the potential to be more accurate (the UAD-1 1176LN component models transformers &, though excellent sounding, is not as accurate as the UAD-1 33609 is).

I understand that.
I tend to be in the camp that is happy for them to go as deep as they did into the processing for the 33609. If I need more processing from the UAD it doesnt bother me to render sections of a mix off the mix busses. I actually like the finality of working that way.
I am curious what you mean when you say that Line6 doesn't component model?
From what I have seen and read, Line6 uses a room full of the actual amps and the literal microphone recording chain for amps, gain stage, mic placement for settings on all of the guitar amp sim gear they make.
I don't know what their final process was for the Toneport pre/eq's and tape sim, but they should put it to the test since they are offering it now as a dongle plugin. No point in using multiple instances of poorly modeled API & Neve eq's.
Unless you mean that convolution is a vital part of how they arrive at their sound, which is different from much of UA's approach, and LiquidMix as well, in that it isn't dynamically changing in time.

 

[Kingston]

I've actually never heard of this vst before, but if it does a good job, it should help to show that it shouldn't take an entire UAD card to simulate good transformer, class a/b amplification as mentioned in other threads.

UA plug-ins are component modeled, Retroband may model transformer saturation but that doesn't mean it's component modeled. Something doesn't have to be component modeled to sound good - Line 6 doesn't component model yet still make a few great sounding products - but you have to appreciate that the algorithms required in component modeling are far deeper & more power hungry, & ultimately have the potential to be more accurate (the UAD-1 1176LN component models transformers &, though excellent sounding, is not as accurate as the UAD-1 33609 is).

I haven't heard the UAD-1 models in question but I'm willing to speculate we're talking about a whole different level of modeling (to my disadvantage).

RetroBand, at best, is a trace model. It means I observe the input and output of a device I only know somewhat. I then do my best to replicate what this black box does, based on selected analysis material. I used a few old - no, ancient - white papers on class A/B gain staging as a reference and tried my best to put back in what the old time gurus tried so hard to remove.

UA on the other hand, create algorithms based on the actual schematics, and I suppose attempt to model as many of even the secondary distortions they can think of. I have a whole lot of respect for them for going as deep they do.

RetroBand models just two secondary distortions: transformers (and this in a rather broad sense, not just saturation) and class A/B switching distortion, and doesn't touch any particular piece of equipment that exhibits those characteristics. For sound shaping purposes I exaggerated the parameter ranges to ridiculous extent, so when you ever get to tweak it, and when it starts to sound bad, you're listening to either broken, or badly biased gear, or something closer to a stomp box effect (or a discrete part of it).

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for taking my message in the spirit in which it was intended. I definitely was not attacking you in any way, shape, or form & plan to buy RetroBand as soon as the CPU optimizations have been completed. Although oversampling mode will still be a hog after optimizations, will it be less of hog than currently?