Xenon for $69 or less?

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bayswater
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Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by bayswater »

I've sworn off all these no brainer deals for the umpteenth time. But this is on sale for $69 for 120 hours. Additional discounts apply for users of other PSP plugins, and its 58.65 at JJRshop. Is it all they crack it up to be?
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by BKK-OZ »

Same email, same question.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by mikehalloran »

A 6 year old review:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/a ... pxenon.htm

It's basic task is to squeeze the last bit of fidelity out of a signal while crushing it to death. I've demo'd it before and it does that pretty well. I don't like to do that if I'm not mixing for KLOVE and I have other tools so I'll pass.

If you're into loud at all costs, you probably want this in your toolbox.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by Michael Canavan »

mikehalloran wrote:A 6 year old review:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/a ... pxenon.htm

It's basic task is to squeeze the last bit of fidelity out of a signal while crushing it to death. I've demo'd it before and it does that pretty well. I don't like to do that if I'm not mixing for KLOVE and I have other tools so I'll pass.

If you're into loud at all costs, you probably want this in your toolbox.
Uhm... that's not really the case. It can crush your audio if you want it to, but if Bob Katz approves then for certain it can also do great transparent mastering as well! It's one of about five software mastering limiters you hear about with reverence, this and Elephant, Pro L, and the Waves ones etc. $52.50 in my case, tempting as all hell. Love the A/B ability at similar volumes to hear if you're losing transients etc.
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bayswater
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by bayswater »

The SOS review cited says:

"... blind tests against a selection of other mastering limiters, comprising Izotope's Ozone 3 Loudness Maximiser module, Voxengo's Elephant 2, Waves' L2 and L3 Ultramaximisers, and Wave Arts' FinalPlug 5. All were adjusted to provide around 6dB of peak limiting. All plug-ins provided good results across a range of audition material, but there were definitely differences between them. I was intrigued to find that even on first listen I picked out Xenon as providing greater clarity and front-back depth than any of the others ..."

That suggests Xenon's not only for crushing the life out of a mix. I can already do that with what I have.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by supersonic »

I use it, like it, as well as a few other plugs from PSP. Also these Guys are really friendly and will answer questions if you send them any. When the old PSP84 delay installer stopped working on Mavericks they have prepared one for me just after a single mail. As a side line, I have onced stumbled across their advertising gift that was in form of a tiny Vodka Bottle with a Vintage Warmer label on it :)
Polish tradition at its purest ;)
I would say it is well worth it but then again - I do have virtually all their plug-ins :D
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by James Steele »

I really think Slate FG-X belongs in the list of really great mastering limiters. :)
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by Shooshie »

James Steele wrote:I really think Slate FG-X belongs in the list of really great mastering limiters. :)
Ditto. Once they finish the rewrite, it's very likely to be even easier to use, while maintaining its greatness with even less CPU draw. That's what I'm gathering from the intentions indicated by Stephen Slate in his numerous updates on their latent progress. With luck and a lot of hard work, they just may achieve that. Just knowing that they want to gives me hope that we're looking at the future gold standard in mastering limiters/compressors.

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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by ronjams »

I went on and made the purchase and bought xenon and I also have the F-GX by Steven Slate which I've used since 2010. There is no question after being influenced by James Steel that this plugin is the loudest limiter out there. I'm not sure I agree with the SOS article regarding this plugin being limited to certain styles of music or maybe I should say this plugin is best used on rock or metal or only on aggressive music. In my mind the loudness issue is conquered with the F-GX but now how should I go about making an intelligent decision on what should be used between these two limiters now that I have more options? Please feel free to mention any other limiter types.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by BobK »

mikehalloran wrote: It's basic task is to squeeze the last bit of fidelity out of a signal while crushing it to death.
If you're into loud at all costs, you probably want this in your toolbox.
The Xenon is absolutely not designed for such limited use (pun not really intended).

I bought it last year (during one of PSP's sales) and have used it for my last two mastering projects (see my web site for links), which are Latin/Brazilian/contemporary jazz CDs by respected artists. In both cases the goals were clarity, cohesiveness, appropriate track-to-track volume levels, and a little volume boost if needed to be in the ballpark of what I considered a reasonable contemporary standard.

I like Xenon and expect to keep using it. I can't say how it compares to the others listed above because I haven't used them.

As always, YMMV.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by Tritonemusic »

BobK wrote:
mikehalloran wrote: It's basic task is to squeeze the last bit of fidelity out of a signal while crushing it to death.
If you're into loud at all costs, you probably want this in your toolbox.
The Xenon is absolutely not designed for such limited use (pun not really intended).
That's for sure. The PSP team did not create it for that purpose. Not sure where that idea came from.

Also, the SOS link says this in the final paragraph:
I loved Xenon's acoustic transparency, its ability to preserve delicate transients and its ease of use, which should make it appeal particularly to those involved in mastering classical, jazz, folk and other acoustic material.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by Dan Worley »

For those who use it or are demoing it, how hard does it hit the CPU? When I demoed it some years ago, it completely humiliated the processor in my 1,1. That and the cost of it kept me from buying it at that time.

But this price is terrific! and I now have a computer with more processing power. I'm sure they lowered the load on the CPU through the different versions, but I'd like to hear from those who use it or are demoing it.

Thanks!
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bayswater
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by bayswater »

If used as advertised, Xenon would be on the master bus with a couple of other plugins at the end of a project, ideally on two tracks, so CPU load would not be that important. And if this is as good as they claim, I'd expect it to use a lot of CPU like Ozone -- it chews up a lot of CPU, but that's OK.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by BobK »

Dan Worley wrote:For those who use it or are demoing it, how hard does it hit the CPU? When I demoed it some years ago, it completely humiliated the processor in my 1,1. That and the cost of it kept me from buying it at that time.

But this price is terrific! and I now have a computer with more processing power. I'm sure they lowered the load on the CPU through the different versions, but I'd like to hear from those who use it or are demoing it.
No problems with CPU load here with Mac Pro 4,1, 16GB RAM, OS 10.9.5.

I master with each song on a separate track in DP; each of those tracks starts with a Masterworks EQ and Waves Renaissance Compressor. The Master bus has Xenon, of course, and usually Sample Magic's 'Magic AB' in the last slot. If I add a little reverb, it's usually Altiverb either on the master bus or an aux track.

There would be something seriously wrong if a load this light caused any significant strain on a Mac Pro. I remember in the G5 days one of the music magazines did a stress test in a DAW with over 20 instances of Altiverb along with many other plugins, and the computer handled it just fine.
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Re: Xenon for $69 or less?

Post by Dan Worley »

All right, thanks for the info, Bays and Bob. I appreciate it. I'm going to get it. I've been wanting it for a long time. I can't pass at this price.
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