Slate FG-X update

[scooter]

I don't know why i would post this, because anyone who bought this plug will be getting notified by email.
But...... Steven has posted various improvements which might change some minds if anyone was sitting on the fence about this wonderful plug in. The FG-X is always on my master insert.
It is the most CPU intensive plug in I have. Using 2 instances for me can bring D.P., for me, to a crawl. But maybe not so anymore:

I want to thank you for being a valued customer. The FG-X is like my first
born child.

It was the first plugin that Fabrice and I collaborated on, and I'm so
proud to say that
it is now one of the most used loudness enhancers in top mastering
facilities, and has also
helped thousands of audio engineers deal with the often troublesome issue
of LOUD!

Some of you have had bugs with the FG-X over the years. Its been extremely
CPU hoggy, has
had GUI issues with double monitors, and has had other minor issues that
people have reported.

It's taken us a long time to fix these problems.. too long. I apologize
for this. We've increased
our development team so that we can fix problems faster, more efficiently,
and update plugins in
an easier way.

We have a new update to the FG-X, that we call 1.3, ready to release.
Windows users will find that
a new 1.3 installer is in their ACCOUNT right now. Mac users will find the
update coming in about a day
or two (we are fixing one last bug that was found this morning).

LIST OF FIXES
FIXES:
1.3 (4142)
- Fixed AU Plugin Latency bug.
- Fixed Exporting Preset Bank Crashes Host bug.
- Fixed Noise Burst When Bypassing/ Unbypassing FG-X.

1.3 (4066)
- Fixed Pro Tools HD CPU bug.

1.3 (3969)
- Fixed the "Max Level" not saved in Metering Settings bug.

1.3 (3953)
- Fixed ballistics bug (needle speed not coherent with previous versions).
- Fixed instabilities that occurred on Mac in build 3891.
- Fixed a metering bug when using Constant Gain Monitoring.
- Fixed GUI bug for the Value popups.
- Overall CPU usage improvement on both platforms.

1.3 (3891)
- Optimizations to code, which should slightly lower CPU usage on most
DAWS.

1.3 (3580)
- 64bit for Windows VST
- Fixed bug where text in the settings panels was drawn in bad quality
after reopening the GUI.
- Fixed graphic glitches on popup menus (they now all use the same style).
- The L/R stereo bug seems to be solved.
- The delay induced by FG-X on bounced tracks can (and should) be
compensated by the host's latency compensation engine (that's the host's
job).
- Fixed some instabilities in the algorithm (bad response to changes in
sample rate).

1.3 (3575):
- We've corrected some instabilities in the audio and the host interface,
which should solve most of the crashes and audio bugs!
- Fixed the Dual Screen bug.
- Now working with Sadie and Pyramix.--

[James Steele]

Ahh good to know. I rushed over to the Slate site before reading that the Mac version wasn't up yet. I guess I'll check back in the next couple days. I didn't get an email about this yet.

[David Polich]

I downloaded and installed the Mac update version yesterday. Working fine
in DP 7.24. You don't have to bother with a new i-Lok license either - I do
recommend removing the old version from your components folder (and your VST
folder, and Digidesign folder, if you need to) before running the installer.

New version seems to sound a tad better, too.

[kgdrum]

Hi David,
Is the new version less resource dependent?
I've always wanted to add this to the arsenal but reports of it being too CPU hungry has kept me from taking the plunge.
Thanks,
KG

[mhschmieder]

As a new bunch of presets is only a week away, I'm holding out on the upgrade to save time doing it twice. The 64-bit updates are coming fast and furious from all vendors now though (Xils-Lab just today!). I will probably thus feel compelled to do the DP8 upgrade as soon as it is available.

[David Polich]

Hi David,
Is the new version less resource dependent?
I've always wanted to add this to the arsenal but reports of it being too CPU hungry has kept me from taking the plunge.
Thanks,
KG

Yes, it is a little less resource-hungry. On my Quadcore Mac Pro, one instance of FG-X takes up about 20-23% CPU. That's still a little steep,
but certainly less than the previous version.

I don't use FG-X in DP anyway, I only run it in Peak, as I never master in
DP.

[scooter]

I don't use FG-X in DP anyway, I only run it in Peak, as I never master in
DP.

I'd love to know why. Not to challenge you but for knowledge sake.

scooter

[David Polich]

I don't use FG-X in DP anyway, I only run it in Peak, as I never master in
DP.

I'd love to know why. Not to challenge you but for knowledge sake.

scooter

I master in Peak because a) it's easier to run a real-time mix in DP, then
export that soundbite out to my "mixes" folder and master in Peak.

b) Peak will use less resources and CPU, because it's only a 2-track program, and thus I can run CPU-hungry plugs like Slate without taxing my
computer as much.

c) For an album's worth of tracks, I can master each one of them in Peak,
then use "Command-T" to "tile" all of the mixes across my screen. Then I can
click around on each mix to set my levels for the tracks so they all match.
Can't do this in DP.

[James Steele]

Just opened a project that had FG-X in it. I know the 1.3 version is supposed to be lighter on the CPU. It was the first time I opened the project since upgrading FG-X and I did get a little drop out during an over. Don't know if it was FG-X or not, but I did find that I could take FG-X out of realtime mode and let it run pre-gen and it seemed to handle it okay, FWIW.

I think MOTU has ironed out many of the issues that first appeared with pregen mode in DP6.

[scooter]

Hey James and all.

The update is finally here.
I just checked their website about a half an hour ago.
I'm in the middle of working on something and haven't tried it out yet.
But I'll get back when i do.

scooter

[scooter]

Now there's a new update to the new update. From 1.3.0 to 1.3.2.

Some extra info:

Over the years I have learned a lot about the FG-X, and the presets I've made are how I have used it with extreme success.
You'll notice that in my presets, I don't overdue the transient controls, dynamic perception, or push the ITP up. I find
that if I want a transparent master that can peak at -8.5 RMS on the loudest passages without any distortion artifacts, keeping
these controls at moderate levels works best.

You'll also notice that on my presets, you will hear NO change until you increase the threshold on the compressor and gain knob
on the FG-Level module. Without knowing how loud you want your masters, or how loud your mixes are originally, it's impossible
to PRESET the gain and threshold. So once you pick my preset, start to move those parameters as you listen to the mix.

scooter

[James Steele]

That's weird because the installer I saw looks exactly like the one I downloaded a few days ago. I'll run it, but what I'm assuming the "build" number is, 4175, is exactly the same.

0 FG-X_1-1.3_(4175)_Installer_Mac.zip

[kgdrum]

James- I seem to remember Slate revising an update to VCC and they didn't change the ver. #
maybe more of the same?

[stephentayler]

This is the new one

1.3.2 (4341)

Slate Digital - FG-X Installer - 1.3.2 - Mac

It's confusing because it is not at the top of the list on the downloads page

Stephen

[James Steele]

This is the new one

1.3.2 (4341)

Slate Digital - FG-X Installer - 1.3.2 - Mac

It's confusing because it is not at the top of the list on the downloads page

Stephen

Oops!! Thanks Stephen!!!