MOTUnation.com

Sonnox is one of the companies I avoid as a matter of course. I got burned by buying a bundle I can never sell, despite the fact that it's on iLok. They are just under Waves in the "scary corporations" list in my book.

- c

David Polich wrote:I think some of their reverbs made it to Powercore. After all,
they started life as the "other" reverb company.

Yes, there are other reverbs in this world besides Lexicon, and
they do sound good, and for less money. Apparently the marketing mavens at Lexicon have overlooked this.

I think a few of those TC 6000 plugs may have gone from TDM-only to PowerCore and maybe even native, though, other than the EMT plate, I'm not sure I dig or even understand some of their porting choices for reverbs (though a lot of it has to do with competing against their own hardware processors and the stuff to be found on the PowerCore, I'm sure).

The Works stuff existed during the tail end of Classic, just before the PowerCore came out, all native effects. The Reverb Master plug was a pretty decent workhorse reverb, though it was a bit dark for me (I don't think it sounded much like a TC unit, either), and they had several other effects, most notably a couple of great Qs and the single best vocal strip I've ever used, De-X. They ported a few of the effects over to OS X as VST plugs, De-X among them, but they vanished from the face of the Earth before they could be updated to UB. I always assumed they got ported over to the PowerCore, which makes a great deal of sense. Dunno if I want to buy a PowerCore just for that, though.

I have Fabrik R on my Konnekt 24D, and while it's not a bad reverb, fairly dense without a lot of air (which seems to be the rule of thumb for TC non-6000-emulating reverb plugs), I like CSR a lot better. Another plug that I used a lot as a reverb, especially on clean electric guitars and pianos, were the plate reverb presets in the original Amplitude. The "warm plate" preset especially sounds amazing on pianos. It also had a spring setting that was great for twangy or jangly electric guitars. The plate algorithm in CSR doesn't sound quite the same, but I guess it's usable in a pinch. I haven't tried using the plate settings in Amplitude 2 yet (does it even have non-amp-related effects anymore?) to see how they stack up against the original.

Armageddon wrote:Also, you might wanna do some research, because I believe Lexicon has a variety of hardware processors out now, in varying price ranges, that direct-link to a computer via USB or FireWire and enable you to use it in much the same way as a PowerCore.

Well, its not as simple as that.
I have an MX400, and while I am quite happy with its sound, the plug for it is flakey flakey flakey.

Its been a couple of years since they released this thing, and they still have not put out a release version of the controlling plug with UB support. They have a beta, but that is all.

I won't ever buy anything from them again - they lied (and still lie) about their MX series software in all their promotional material.

BKK-OZ wrote:Well, its not as simple as that.
I have an MX400, and while I am quite happy with its sound, the plug for it is flakey flakey flakey.

Its been a couple of years since they released this thing, and they still have not put out a release version of the controlling plug with UB support. They have a beta, but that is all.

I won't ever buy anything from them again - they lied (and still lie) about their MX series software in all their promotional material.

I wasn't aware of that, yikes! It sort of lends credence to being concerned about this $1400 native plug, though -- what kind of support are they gonna give that?

I think we're talking more about the PCM96, though, which is actually a "powered plug", or supposed to be, anyway. However, if I dropped three grand on a PCM96, only to discover that it didn't work as advertised, I'm afraid lawyers would be involved.

Armageddon wrote:

BKK-OZ wrote:Well, its not as simple as that.
I have an MX400, and while I am quite happy with its sound, the plug for it is flakey flakey flakey.

Its been a couple of years since they released this thing, and they still have not put out a release version of the controlling plug with UB support. They have a beta, but that is all.

I won't ever buy anything from them again - they lied (and still lie) about their MX series software in all their promotional material.

I wasn't aware of that, yikes! It sort of lends credence to being concerned about this $1400 native plug, though -- what kind of support are they gonna give that?

I think we're talking more about the PCM96, though, which is actually a "powered plug", or supposed to be, anyway. However, if I dropped three grand on a PCM96, only to discover that it didn't work as advertised, I'm afraid lawyers would be involved.

Anything with the prefix "PCM" is going to be well above average.
They will support it well because I made some calls and talked with a few people about it and they have a dedicated group just for it. I just checked out the XVERB for my SSL Duende and man... that thing is really sweet! $400 but it is like a Lexicon as far as the modulation's are concerned... plus a bit of UA's Dreamverb in there too!

BKK-OZ wrote:Its been a couple of years since they released this thing, and they still have not put out a release version of the controlling plug with UB support. They have a beta, but that is all.

Ummm, tiny little question, but does the beta version WORK? I mean, if it does, then the fact that it's not the release version is just a label. I'm using a beta version of the LiquidMix software which seems to work better for me than the release version.

James Steele wrote:

BKK-OZ wrote:Its been a couple of years since they released this thing, and they still have not put out a release version of the controlling plug with UB support. They have a beta, but that is all.

Ummm, tiny little question, but does the beta version WORK? I mean, if it does, then the fact that it's not the release version is just a label. I'm using a beta version of the LiquidMix software which seems to work better for me than the release version.

Well, I guess it depends on one's definition of 'work'.

It causes crashes in DP repeatedly, so in my book, it ain't working.

For me, its unfortunate, but I can live with it - I just have to do everything on the MX 400 itself, staring at that tiny little LCD. I do regret not having any of the parameter automation that I could get thru the plug tho - that is a bit annoying.

BKK-OZ wrote:

James Steele wrote:

BKK-OZ wrote:Its been a couple of years since they released this thing, and they still have not put out a release version of the controlling plug with UB support. They have a beta, but that is all.

Ummm, tiny little question, but does the beta version WORK? I mean, if it does, then the fact that it's not the release version is just a label. I'm using a beta version of the LiquidMix software which seems to work better for me than the release version.

Well, I guess it depends on one's definition of 'work'.

It causes crashes in DP repeatedly, so in my book, it ain't working.

That's my definition too... so I agree with you. You didn't say this in your first post, just that it was beta. Beta doesn't always mean that it crashes repeatedly.

newrigel wrote:I just checked out the XVERB for my SSL Duende and man... that thing is really sweet! $400 but it is like a Lexicon as far as the modulation's are concerned... plus a bit of UA's Dreamverb in there too!

Wow, so they make other kinds of powered plugs for the Duende?!? I was under the assumption it only powered the compressor/EQ/channel strip that comes with it. I imagine that reverb's got to be pretty nice. I wonder if they're planning on making plug versions of all their outboard gear, like the stuff in XRack?

So I made the critical error of demoing the Lexicon Native Reverb bundle... Unfortunately for me, it's pretty amazing sounding. The only thing that comes close are some of the Altiverb hardware impulses, however to my ears they don't quite envelop the source material like these plugins do. The plugins load very quickly, are light on resources and they sound like silk.

Armageddon wrote:

newrigel wrote:I just checked out the XVERB for my SSL Duende and man... that thing is really sweet! $400 but it is like a Lexicon as far as the modulation's are concerned... plus a bit of UA's Dreamverb in there too!

Wow, so they make other kinds of powered plugs for the Duende?!? I was under the assumption it only powered the compressor/EQ/channel strip that comes with it. I imagine that reverb's got to be pretty nice. I wonder if they're planning on making plug versions of all their outboard gear, like the stuff in XRack?

Yep. SSL may be a little slow with the add-ons, but they're adding options gradually. It comes with a channel strip and the bus comp, but there's also X-EQ, X-Verb, Drumstrip, Vocalstrip, and X-Comp. Hopefully, there will be more (and soon!).

Yes, I caved as well. When a good friend of mine told me he was beta testing for these plugs and that they sounded amazing, I took him at his word as he has great ears and is very picky about sound. I got them, and I too love the sound. I think these will make a real difference in my mixes. I really love Altiverb but the Lexicon is dramatically richer and more.... how do I say it... Lexicon-sounding!!

frankymax wrote:Yes, I caved as well. When a good friend of mine told me he was beta testing for these plugs and that they sounded amazing, I took him at his word as he has great ears and is very picky about sound. I got them, and I too love the sound. I think these will make a real difference in my mixes. I really love Altiverb but the Lexicon is dramatically richer and more.... how do I say it... Lexicon-sounding!!

Yeah, it became instantly apparent to me that having this level of sound on call in this way is really spectacular. It's definitely dramatic. I'm looking at it as a killer deal on a PCM96

We have owned big lex hardware for decades. This plug is truly amazing. Sorta does for reverbs and ambiences what echoboy et al does for delays and mod.

labman wrote:We have owned big lex hardware for decades. This plug is truly amazing. Sorta does for reverbs and ambiences what echoboy et al does for delays and mod.

+1

I agree. Great analogy!