Plugin similar to the Atomic Squeeze Box?

[copperx]

I am looking for something in the plugin world that does invisible level control. Something like the Atomic Squeeze Box. I don't want color, I just want the level to be controlled without any obvious audio effect/artifact.

Digital processing must be better for this kind of "invisible" stuff.

Any plugin suggestions?

[David Aurora]

[otek]

Originally Posted by copperx

I am looking for something in the plugin world that does invisible level control.

There is a recent thread about the Waves Vocal Rider, which fits that description pretty well.

Digital processing must be better for this kind of "invisible" stuff.

I haven't heard anything in the digital world do "invisible" compression quite like a really good analog Vari-Mu compressor, but the Waves plugin is apparently not doing compression in the traditional sense.


otek

[copperx]

The Vocal Rider sounds like the ticket, but I don't know if it would work with Bass.

What about the Elysia Plug-in?

[otek]

Originally Posted by copperx

The Vocal Rider sounds like the ticket, but I don't know if it would work with Bass.

Dead spots?




otek

[Slipperman]

I LOVE the ASB.

However... Call me crazy but: I would NEVER call that fucking box "invisible" or "uncolored" or anything LIKE that.

The ASB is WRONG.

WRONG in EE design(totally different activity below 150hz than above it [for starters]).

WRONG in build quality(I once had an early one BURN in a rack. FLAMES mind you. FLAMES). It was still passing signal as we sprinted to disconnect it BTW. Not kidding.

WRONG in operational control(bizarre, unpredictable, seemingly INSANE interaction between the slope, squeeze, hold, etc.).

WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.

And completely LOVED.

If you REALLY wanna get a compressor that's gonna be tougher than fuck to emulate in the realm of plague-ins... those things are gonna be the fucking champs as far as I can tell.

Across the channel insert of a great desk, you can get that thing to go places in a mix, in 90 seconds, that I have NEVER heard ANY plug take a vocal or bass guitar.


Not trying to be contentious in the least bit...

Just a thought or three on a TOTALLY NUTBAR piece of audio kit I have used incessantly for the better part of a decade.

Some guys I totally respect HATE them with a passion.

Which has admittedly also become part of the charm for me.


Best regards,

SM.

[otek]

Slippy, out of curiosity, do you know if the ASB is a Vari-Mu type of compressor or something else entirely?


otek

[Knastratt]

Originally Posted by otek

Slippy, out of curiosity, do you know if the ASB is a Vari-Mu type of compressor or something else entirely?


otek

I'm not Slippery - yet I found this:

TOP SECRET

InnerTUBE Audio declined to divulge what type of gain-control circuitry the Dual Atomic Squeeze Box uses, but the company told me it wasn't a VCA, opto-electronic cell, variable-Mu tube, FET — or anything else ever used before. As there is no owner's manual for the unit, a “cut sheet” and some chats with designer Stayne McLane were my only informational sources about the unit.
Octal dual triodes and nickel-core input and output transformers serve the Dual Atomic Squeeze Box's all-tube audio path. Attack and release times aren't titled with time-based references on the front panel, in part because they are program-sensitive. In fact, all of the rotary controls are titled with arbitrary numbers (1 through 10 or 11). The slope controls effect ratios from 1:1 to roughly 20:1, adjusted in equal steps. The unit can deliver more than 20 dB of compression and handle at least +20dBm input level (conservatively rated).

Cheers - Pär

[mixwell]

Slip killed it. End.

The Box is mad science.

Stayne McLane is mad science.

He breads alien concoctions in his kitchen.

Pay attention to the Release Pot if you ever see inside the "fire hazard".

The truth is the box is one of a kind, and there is nothing else like it. Period. Fire Bottles and mad science.

The fucking crazy shit you can do with the SB is unholy cool. Though, you gotta be bat shit nutz to know how to use the thing in the first place.

Long Live Tyrone.

[dvyce]

Originally Posted by otek

There is a recent thread about the Waves Vocal Rider, which fits that description pretty well.

or Wave Rider which is only $49 and, as I understand it to be, came out before Waves Vocal Rider... not that preceding it in the marketplace necessarily makes it a better product, but I'm just saying...

The thing that does seem better to me (as I understand it to be) about "Wave Rider" over "Waves Vocal rider" is that "Wave Rider" writes automation to the tracks' "volume" parameter... and "Waves Vocal Rider" writes automation to the plugin itself.

(disclaimer: I own a copy of Wave Rider but have not used Waves Vocal Rider)

[Bob Olhsson]

Vocal rider is tailored for vocals and intended to be used with the entire backing track feeding the sidechain.

[Toonman]

Originally Posted by Slipperman

WRONG in build quality(I once had an early one BURN in a rack. FLAMES mind you. FLAMES). It was still passing signal as we sprinted to disconnect it BTW. Not kidding.

"I.... will.... NOT... DIIIEEEE...!!!" - Famous last words.