Nebula

Freebird

Has anybody else ever jumped down this rabbit hole?

I've got multiple vintage Neve, API & SSL consoles wired into my DAW, along with various tape machines, EQ, compressors, and other kinds of harmonic colouration devices, such as tubes, filters and pre amps, etc.

On the positive side, it does appeal to the mad scientist lurking within me 

Stuckfast

I like some of the Aqua series of plug-ins, not sure I can be arsed to go the full Nebula though, and you need a very powerful computer to get the best from it.

Freebird

Stuckfast said:

I like some of the Aqua series of plug-ins, not sure I can be arsed to go the full Nebula though, and you need a very powerful computer to get the best from it.

This it true. My solution was to design a comprehensive DAW template with all initial plugin states set to offline (zero CPU overhead). I then have a methodology where things are done in a specific order, and then I "freeze and hide" as I go.  Reaper makes this a simple process, and you can easily undo steps if you want to edit them. It's not much different to how they used to do things back in the old days, i.e. tracking to tape, sub-mixing to group busses, before adding global fx and mastering the final stereo bus output. In fact, I believe some nutters are still using real hardware to complete these tasks!    Of course, the Acqua stuff is more user friendly, and some of it sounds excellent (Pink, Gold, Sand, Navy), but the 3rd party guys have really mastered the art of sampling old analogue gear, especially on the console and tape side of things.

mixolyd

I’ve used an old Nebula reverb based on an Orban(is that right?) stereo spring unit.  Forget using it in real time but boy does it sound magical - it makes algorithmic and convolution verbs sound like toys.

And yes Reaper is great for it as it makes switching the thing on and off very easy so it isn’t clogging up the CPU when it’s not needed. 

Freebird

mixolyd said:

I’ve used an old Nebula reverb based on an Orban(is that right?) stereo spring unit.  Forget using it in real time but boy does it sound magical - it makes algorithmic and convolution verbs sound like toys.

And yes Reaper is great for it as it makes switching the thing on and off very easy so it isn’t clogging up the CPU when it’s not needed.

Oh yeah, I forgot about reverb, I'm just getting around to this! I stumbled upon Room Hunters 'Theater of Life' which can be downloaded free. I'm definitely going to check out some of the plate and spring reverbs. Which ones do you recommend?

mixolyd

Freebird said:

mixolyd said:

I’ve used an old Nebula reverb based on an Orban(is that right?) stereo spring unit.  Forget using it in real time but boy does it sound magical - it makes algorithmic and convolution verbs sound like toys.

And yes Reaper is great for it as it makes switching the thing on and off very easy so it isn’t clogging up the CPU when it’s not needed.

Oh yeah, I forgot about reverb, I'm just getting around to this! I stumbled upon Room Hunters 'Theater of Life' which can be downloaded free. I'm definitely going to check out some of the plate and spring reverbs. Which ones do you recommend?

I’m the wrong person to ask as my machine is very weak so it can’t use the commonly recommended plates by Tim Petherick and Cupwise.  I think the Orban Spring I have is part of a Cupwise pack, has a whole bunch of settings that sound a bit rubbish and one that sounds like Heaven.

I also tried some other springs based on smaller units and was far from impressed.

IIRC I was recommended to try this one but couldn’t get it going on my old machine.  Anything EMT by TimP or Cupwise will be good I expect - EMT plates are what it’s all about IMO.

https://www.timpetherick.co.uk/downloads/vbp-reverb/

Freebird

mixolyd said:
I’m the wrong person to ask as my machine is very weak so it can’t use the commonly recommended plates by Tim Petherick and Cupwise.  I think the Orban Spring I have is part of a Cupwise pack, has a whole bunch of settings that sound a bit rubbish and one that sounds like Heaven.

I also tried some other springs based on smaller units and was far from impressed.

IIRC I was recommended to try this one but couldn’t get it going on my old machine.  Anything EMT by TimP or Cupwise will be good I expect - EMT plates are what it’s all about IMO.

https://www.timpetherick.co.uk/downloads/vbp-reverb/

Silly question, but are you using the reverb version of Nebula? Mine has two got DLL's, and one is optimised for reverb.

Thanks for the info, I will check out the ones that you mentioned, they say Tim does a mean SSL bus compressor.

mixolyd

@Freebird  yes the reverb dll is the high quality one.

Freebird

An unofficial list of gear sampled by Acustica Audio can be found here:

https://justpaste.it/AcusticaAudioAcquaMasterList

Freebird

I recently bought AITB Rooms for €24.99, and all I can say is wow! The unit sampled is a Bricasti Design M7.

Cirrus

I've had a look at the website out of curiosity a few times, but I'm not totally clear on how it works.

Is it a plugin within which you can load various pieces of gear? and are those pieces modelled or is it actually a series of IRs (dynamic IRs at different signal levels?) of the actual pieces of gear?

Freebird

Cirrus said:

I've had a look at the website out of curiosity a few times, but I'm not totally clear on how it works.

Is it a plugin within which you can load various pieces of gear? and are those pieces modelled or is it actually a series of IRs (dynamic IRs at different signal levels?) of the actual pieces of gear?

Yeah, it's some kind of dynamic sampling technology

The best 3rd-party developers have found new ways to push the boundaries even further, and the new stuff is top notch, although the old stuff still works well.

Here is an old SOS article that may make things a little clearer ...

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/sample-your-gear-acustica-audio-nebula

And some background info from Wikipedia:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volterra_series

If you ever decide to jump in I'd wait for the sales, and I think you can get N4 for around €79. The Acustica Audio Acqua stuff they produce themselves is standalone (no N4 required), but I prefer the approach taken by the 3rd-party developers.

There is a discussion thread on Gearslutz if you want to get into to the finer details:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/566552-nebula-must-have.html

WiresDreamDisasters

I'm not a fan. The UI+UX of the plugins are pretty woeful, and they don't sound any better than native plugins.

Freebird

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm not a fan. The UI+UX of the plugins are pretty woeful, and they don't sound any better than native plugins.

Can you point me to a reverb that sounds as good as AITB Rooms for €24.99?

Nebula is just another tool in box that some people enjoy using 

WiresDreamDisasters

Freebird said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm not a fan. The UI+UX of the plugins are pretty woeful, and they don't sound any better than native plugins.

Can you point me to a reverb that sounds as good as AITB Rooms for €24.99?

Nebula is just another tool in box that some people enjoy using 

Well Nebula itself is quite expensive no? $399?? 

If we're talking that kind of money, the Lexicon reverb plugin and Slate Verbsuite Classics.

Freebird

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Well Nebula itself is quite expensive no? $399?? 

If we're talking that kind of money, the Lexicon reverb plugin and Slate Verbsuite Classics.

They have regular €79 N4 sales, and I'm still on an old version. I'll try and do a quick demo of a Diva VST synth passing through a Nebula tube preamp (£8) 

BTW here is my UI which I have mapped to physical knobs that control the currently active plugin window.

https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/e7d0a345096415.58264e40cbcc6.jpg

WiresDreamDisasters

I've not used it in years to be fair. Is it still quite latent in the plugin? IE: When you turn knobs do you have to wait a long time to hear the change?? That was one huge issue in Nebula 3 for me.

Freebird

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I've not used it in years to be fair. Is it still quite latent in the plugin? IE: When you turn knobs do you have to wait a long time to hear the change?? That was one huge issue in Nebula 3 for me.

It's not so bad now with a modern CPU. In fact, I was trying to emulate that new C. Bliss pedal using a Nebula tube preamp in front of an amp sim, and I could play through it ok, but it's not recommended for mission critical applications. It sounded quite good too!  

WiresDreamDisasters

Maybe I will take another looksie.

Freebird

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Maybe I will take another looksie.

As you say a slight delay when changing parameters, but not as bad as it was! I haven't tried it on the latest machines, but I've got my eye on a 10-core 5.3 GhZ monster. You definitely need some kind of work flow though it you want to use it all over a mix. I like to freeze stuff as I go along anyway, so it's not a problem for me.

Stuckfast

Some of the recent Aqua plug-ins are great. You do need a decent computer, but response times are nearly as good as conventional modelling plug-ins, and I do often think they sound better. The two that I use a lot are Taupe and Diamond.