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For one, most of their products are fantastic sounding and innovative and have opened up new worlds for me in the studio. And number two, I like the way Steven relates to his customers. He's absolutely brilliant at it, and I think sincere.
Case in point. I've been kind of pissed off about FG-X for about a year. I bought it late, on sale, without knowing it wasn't 64-bit.
Today this was in the Slate Digital Christmas letter:
FG-X is being completely rewritten and recoded. It will have an even better algorithm that will be more effortless to get results, easier to use, and it will do its job better. It will be a free update for all users. I plan to have it by early March, and I assure you it will be amazing. I know many of you will be upset about this delay, but please note that I am still actively hiring new developers to help speed it up, so there is a chance it can come sooner. It is an extremely complex code structure and unfortunately, it takes a lot of advanced code knowledge to do it properly.
Let me also be clear about something: New Product releases do NOT interfere with legacy product porting. We have a dedicated team who is working on the legacy ports while Fabrice and I work on the new products such as Virtual Mix Rack. Coding new products directly into the 64bit framework is a lot easier than recoding older products into the framework.
Well, now that we've gotten the elephant out of the room, I want to thank you again for being part of the Slate Family. I wish you and your family an amazing holiday with lots of love... and music!
Wait... what does (32bit plug-in only) mean? It's right next to VST, so I figured that meant it was 32bits only for VST... wait, why include it at all in "Intel Mac 64bit". This is very confusing.
Mac Minimum requirements for FG-X:
Dual Core Intel Processor, At Least 4 GB of RAM
Mac OS X 10.6 or later
AU, RTAS, VST
32bit only for Mac OS X
(iLok1 or iLok2 Required)
Yep... love me FG-X. I don't think I got this letter though and I'm a registered user. I better check the spam filter. Steven Slate just amazes me. I don't know when that guy sleeps, but he's got a line of speakers now too. I'm in awe.
Just got FG-X for Christmas with an ilok2 (I only had an iLok1 before). I've got both jBridgeM and 32Lives, so I'll be fine until March.
BTW: I've been having a weird issue with 32Lives since the update a few weeks ago. Plugins running under it will lose the window frame and can't be moved/closed. Double-clicking the insert, though, pops the frame back up again, so it's not serious, but a little annoying. Anyone else seeing this?
Prime Mover wrote:Just got FG-X for Christmas with an ilok2 (I only had an iLok1 before). I've got both jBridgeM and 32Lives, so I'll be fine until March.
Can't help you with 32Lives. I don't have any bridges. When I want to use FG-X I run DP in 32-bit. I'm really looking forward to the new version, as long as they don't screw it up. I'm pleased they won't be charging for the upgrade.
Dan Worley wrote:I don't have any bridges. When I want to use FG-X I run DP in 32-bit.
I'll pass this along for whatever it's worth: Get jBridgeM for what? 13 bucks? Run FG-X VST in DP8 in 64-bit mode and enable "Performance Mode" in jBridgeM. Now enjoy FG-X with significantly lower CPU hit than running FG-X normally in DP8 in 32-bit mode.
Wait... what does (32bit plug-in only) mean? It's right next to VST, so I figured that meant it was 32bits only for VST... wait, why include it at all in "Intel Mac 64bit". This is very confusing.
That is some confusing language and now that you have pointed that language out, I realize why I just bought it on sale to no avail. It does indeed lead one to believe it is currently 64 bit. Steven should have that re-written to be clearer and I bet if I write him, he'll fix that. I am surprised I didn't get that same email as I have complained to tech support about buying at the recent sale and being stuck without 64 bit. It is good to know they are working hard on it. For now, the product is invisible to me. Sounds like it will be a fantastic addition to the tool box in march.
Mac Pro (Late 2013
2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5
64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
Mojave
DP 10.13
MOTU 8pre, MTP AV, 828 mkII
Tons of VIS and plug ins. SSD hard drives etc
Dan Worley wrote:I don't have any bridges. When I want to use FG-X I run DP in 32-bit.
I'll pass this along for whatever it's worth: Get jBridgeM for what? 13 bucks? Run FG-X VST in DP8 in 64-bit mode and enable "Performance Mode" in jBridgeM. Now enjoy FG-X with significantly lower CPU hit than running FG-X normally in DP8 in 32-bit mode.
I always worry about the long term "health" of my master recordings, hoping they will move into the future for as many yrs as possible whilst remaining sonically perfect and unchanged from the day the mixes are approved. WHile your idea of 13 bucks spent to use jbridge sounds attractive, hearing that Slate is modifying the FG-X to "improve" it makes me wonder about the sound of it changing in march. Even if ever-so-slightly. Thus, nice advice James and I agree that many should utilize Jbridge. But for now, I will not. To me, let them FINALIZE FG-X before I start to use it.
Mac Pro (Late 2013
2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5
64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
Mojave
DP 10.13
MOTU 8pre, MTP AV, 828 mkII
Tons of VIS and plug ins. SSD hard drives etc
Oh, and one more important reason why I like Slate Digital: Fabrice Gabriel is an absolute meticulous genius when it comes to designing algorithms that faithfully replicate analog characteristics.
Yeah Slate rules. I've been using FG-X in BIAS Peak for the time being. Will get back to using it in DP when they're done with the 64bit conversion.
I appreciate and certainly share the notion of trying to make sure a DP Project is as long-lived as possible, so it can be simply opened and played back - but to be honest, I think the concept of a DAW Project being a "master" just sets you up for endless disappointment and frustration (my guess is, it probably already has with regularity over the past years, yes?)
Just like it has always been impossible to exactly re-open a mix in the analog days (you could get fairly close with meticulous notes, but you'd inevitably still have to fine-tune by ear), the same holds true for a DAW setup… very different reasons, but the same effect.
I don't see that changing, ever. Part of running complex systems in dynamic times.
Kubi wrote:Yeah Slate rules. I've been using FG-X in BIAS Peak for the time being. Will get back to using it in DP when they're done with the 64bit conversion.
I appreciate and certainly share the notion of trying to make sure a DP Project is as long-lived as possible, so it can be simply opened and played back - but to be honest, I think the concept of a DAW Project being a "master" just sets you up for endless disappointment and frustration (my guess is, it probably already has with regularity over the past years, yes?)
Just like it has always been impossible to exactly re-open a mix in the analog days (you could get fairly close with meticulous notes, but you'd inevitably still have to fine-tune by ear), the same holds true for a DAW setup… very different reasons, but the same effect.
I don't see that changing, ever. Part of running complex systems in dynamic times.
Just my very subjective five cents...
I definitely agree with you that it is difficult. But, if one focuses on it, one can get pretty far in ensuring one's masters stay solid. 1st off, record all VIs to audio before mixing. I make 2 mixes, one an exceptional MIDI mix, then I bounce to audio, and two, notch it up to final mix quality from there. Now I am only left with audio to ensure future master quality. Then I print safeties in case things change. Back up plug ins in various manner. One thing I learned is that storing plug in presets in DP's pre set menu is somewhat risky. A manufacturer might go to great extent to ensure there future iterations of a plug in stay the same sound-wise, but I had one case were the pre set protocol was changed and I had to go back to 32 bit to retrieve and store the pre sets in the plug ins own preset bank. So now I store plug in settings in both DP and the proprietary plug in preset menu. There are many things to lear over yrs of experience to help ensure a master lasts. NOT using FX-G when I hear it may be changing is another way for me to ensure future compatibility.
It is also a matter of how one works. I have some records that get worked on for several yrs. In those events, future stability of a master isn't some "nice idea", it is necessity. And thus, I push for daw files to be real masters whenever possible.
Mac Pro (Late 2013
2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5
64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
Mojave
DP 10.13
MOTU 8pre, MTP AV, 828 mkII
Tons of VIS and plug ins. SSD hard drives etc
I'll probably sit on it until they come out with the 64bit version, though. I don't plan on doing any final mastering anytime soon. For dirty masters I'll continue to use L3 until then.
I'll probably sit on it until they come out with the 64bit version, though. I don't plan on doing any final mastering anytime soon. For dirty masters I'll continue to use L3 until then.
Congratulations!
I didn't like FG-X at first. It took me a while to get comfortable with it. Then it started clicking. Sometimes I get better results with other limiters, depending on the genre and song, but it's the first mastering limiter I reach for now.
Once I realized that you have to set FG-X's parameters to the loudness range in which you're working, I found it to be an amazing plugin. At first I wasn't getting much out of it, because I simply didn't know to set the dB ranges. The knobs are for fine-tuning, so you have to start out in the ballpark. That took me a week to figure out (duh!). But since then... man! What a monster plugin!
Don't be afraid to use it just because the upgrade might not recognize your user-presets. First of all, I'd be very surprised if it does NOT recognize your previous settings. Secondly, when that happens, I view it as a 2nd chance to get things even better than before, and it always seems to work that way.
In fact, I prefer dialing in my own settings in each project over using my saved presets. I think it helps you become familiar and confident in your ability to imagine an outcome and visualize the settings that will realize that outcome. I only make presets when I have to spread them out over dozens of instances, as in the mastering of an album's worth of material, or a lot of fiddle tracks, and that sort of thing. But from project to project, I tend to dial in all my settings at least once, before saving them and spreading them around.
And I think that's important enough to say again in another way: stay familiar with the interface, the controls, and always... always... the acoustic reasons for moving any control, any amount. It's easy to become dependent on a preset and forget even what it does or how you came about those settings. For example, it took me a long time to really and truly wrap my head around what's going on in Waves L3 MultiMaximizer. I finally set up a simple mastering situation and spent a couple of hours just setting things to extremes, then backing off and gradually learning exactly what result is going to come from each action in those controls. My mixes got a lot better when I did that. Now I use FG-X for most things, but I know when and why I reach for the L3 from time to time.
Don't let any plugin intimidate you. They are all learnable from an acoustic/physics-based approach, and almost always use pre-visualization to guide your hands on the controls. You hear what you want it to sound like, and you set it to sound that way. I said "almost always" because there's something to be said for the random results from playing around with the controls, but underneath it all should be a solid grounding in reality and the cause/effects of audio alterations in acoustic, analog, and digital settings.
That said, FG-X is one of the most fluid tools I own for getting whats in my mind's ear to come out my speakers. It seems to know what I want. That says a lot about its designer(s).
Shooshie
|l|OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0|l|2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012|l|40GB RAM|l|Mach5.3|l|Waves 9.x|l|Altiverb|l|Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l|Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes|l|Garritan Aria|l|VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l|Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller|l|Roland FC-300|l|
I'm pleased they won't be charging for the upgrade. 
