32C Channel Plugin

[madmaxmiller]

It doesn't SOUND analog. It adds no harmonics, distortion or character to sound. Not in the filters, EQ or the compressor-modes. It's suuuper clean. Like a digital channel strip. And while I DO trust the people at harrison I don't believe that a brand new 32C would sound THIS sterile. Also, not being able to push into it and get some of that juice is a missed opportunity.

And that's exactly the problem in understanding the product. If you take the channel strip in Mixbus32C it sounds exactly the same as the plugin. That's what my experiments above show.The actual "analogue" sound in Mixbus happens in the summing engine.
If you don't believe in null tests, please conduct a double blind listening test with someone who ideally has never used Mixbus and just ask them which of the snippets played are sounding "more analogue". I'm happy to develop a test scenario (as I know from former discussions here that people tend to spoil method).
MMM

[Dingo]

I think that the 'sound' of Mixbus and 32C comes from a combination of the 32C EQ and how its gain/Q factors are interlinked, but most of all it is the tape saturation section found on the Master and Mixbuses and the Limiter settings found on the Master Bus that make that analog fuzzy warm thing.

[Overmann]

Yes, madmaxmiller, I'm not comparing the plugin to the DAW. I have no doubt that the DAW sounds good and that it's perfectly possible to drive into it and get some sweet analogue saturation going. I've been using it for years. The thing is that, mostly due to the marketing, users are expecting the same thing from the plugin. And with good reason. And the plugin does nothing of the sort. The plugin has no tape or analogue saturation or no other means of getting that pushed sound, and it should have that.It's not so much a problem of users not understanding the product correctly, but a problem with Harrisons marketing of it. Saying that this is a faithful digital recreation of a console strip is simply not accurate. The filter curves and compressor parameters might be more or less correct, but this plugin does not model every component in the circuit, at least not accurately. If it did then this plugin would behave very differently.

If what they have done is take the EQ and Copmpressor code out of 32C and put it in a plugin then that is clearly not sufficient. Having these plugins inline in the mixer strip, along with tape saturation on the busses and a great summing engine make them serve a completely different purpose. They are right there! Just grab a knob and move on! If this EQ and compressor came in the form of a traditional plugin in mixbus then I would never use them.

I have a 32CS channel strip and while it's not an actual strip from a console it's as close as Harrison has released in a 19" rack form, and it sounds AMAZING! And I can tell you that running a signal through this thing does a lot more to it then add some digital EQ-curves. The signal has to run through all those transistors and what-have-you, and it colors the sound. Running in hot adds saturation. It behaves like a channel plugin should (but without the compressor).

[madmaxmiller]

Anyone discussing here is invited to read the thread completely first.
MMM

[sunrat]

Anyone discussing here is invited to read the thread completely first.
MMM

Yes indeed. Thread has become ouroboros.

[madmaxmiller]

Anyone discussing here is invited to read the thread completely first.
MMM

Yes indeed. Thread has become ouroboros.

Haha I had to look up that one. But true.
MMM

[Dingo]

] L