AlexB as well as other 3rd party developers create libraries in 96kHz so if you're working at 44.1kHz, 48kHz, etc., Nebula will convert these programs to your. Input (2) does a great job on vocals recorded poorly (I tried it with some vocals recorded with an USB mic/laptop and it helped a lot while mixing).

Hi, just wondering if anyone uses these. As i see he's just released an SSL Classic Console (most probably a 4000) library for nebula. Are they worth it? The differences in the audio demos on his page are very subtle. Was also considering the '4KG to heaven' preset in the nebula 3 free library until i heard it was captured using RME converters.(i use lavry blues for everything). Maybe im mis-informed.anyone have any more experience on this?

4KG To Heaven was sampled offline and deconvolved with old deconvolution method, Mackie HDR2496 at 44.1 kHz was used as DAW and for AD/DA. Last attempt is 4KG To Heaven IV (not released yet) and was sampled offline using PT HD 192 at 48 kHz and deconvolve using NAT platinum with 3 kernels. (better sounding in my opinion) For test those EPs use VST plugin analyser plus Nebula renderer, rendering all audio track with the same EP and make master buss AB listen test. I'm betatesting of Nebula. I can't release any EP done with NAT3 Platinum before AA OK. Check this: AwesomePreampTestMLKIII ) that will available with Nebula3FREE Complete DVDWOW!

You guys are gonna give them away for free!? Exept for the bitch'n part on how heavy people will find them on their computers I pretty sure eveybody will be floored by the sounds they get, nebula cought my love years ago even if I could barly open 2 eq instances heh thumbsup And I'm not saying that by looking at the graphs heh I actually bought some of those or know their cousins. With the new i7 and i5 Intels its not the cpu that is a problem at all. It's the memory if you are still 32 bit. With 10 to 15 instances with the newer programs you can be hitting close to a gig of memory used.

And the other big issue is latency.Seems I'm still going to stick 32 bit for a while though they're preparing a server app. And it looks promising (mac to win also supported). Not sure how cheap it will be but would probably solve many issue's for the pro's.

Running 2 new pc's is still luxury for me but I got used to freezing and randering over time, results are always worth it. So for an ssl faux console the AlexB library is the way to go? Over any of the presets?im currently in love with the colortone pro's 'SSL' presets on every channel for an ssl faux console, it's the closest i have heard, and then put some tape setting on the master buss, although i have not tried any of the new nebula3 ssl presets (as i dont think they are available yet) i am very excited to hear them, but for the moment colortone is really blowing my mind for this purpose. I just really wish it worked in audiosuite mode(pro tools) so i could just select all the tracks in my session and then offline process them to get the ssl color without loading it on every channel in real time, and then mix from there as all the plugins like this take a lot of power to run. Im currently in love with the colortone pro's 'SSL' presets on every channel for an ssl faux console, it's the closest i have heard, and then put some tape setting on the master buss, although i have not tried any of the new nebula3 ssl presets (as i dont think they are available yet) i am very excited to hear them, but for the moment colortone is really blowing my mind for this purpose.

I just really wish it worked in audiosuite mode(pro tools) so i could just select all the tracks in my session and then offline process them to get the ssl color without loading it on every channel in real time, and then mix from there as all the plugins like this take a lot of power to run There's a batch tool available to do this. Check the Nebula forums. Any word on this? I would love to know how the nebula faux consoles are sounding Okay the Alex B Classic Logic delivers that classic SSL sound The MWC console is like Silk The MBC is thick and rich The CLC is harder than the other two and punchier just like an old SSL 4000 and can get gritty as well if you push it hard. Out of them all the best all rounder ro me is the MWC console its not imparting to much of a personality but it just does something that works well on most types of music and makes mixing easier for me. If you want the most Colour and character then the MBC is the most obvious Its all gonna come down too the type of music you do and sound you want which will define what works console emulation works best for you.

If Im doing Rock or Hard Indy its gonna be the MBC Jazz Classical and Modern Pop production I'll go for MWC For synth Pop and more elctronic music and softer Indy the CLC is my first choice. You can 'push' nebula to start to saturate more? How exactly do you do that, is it a setting up the plugin or do you just somehow gain stage and hit the plugin harder? Also would you say the alexb stuff gives your mixes more analog style 'air' and 'sparkle'? Also what daw are you using them in?

To drive the console emulation harder push the input and lower the output The Console emulations defianetly make ITB more analogue In regard to Air and sparkle I would not really use those terms myself I would say more seperation and depth. Hey all, thanks for all the informative info. I was wondering if anyone out there could chime in about any experiences with Alex B's Modern Tube Console (MTC). The other consoles have been discussed but not that one. I am trying to decide on one to use as a goto for my own electro-techno orientated music.

I am interested in adding a bit of beautiful dirt to the texture of my music and wonder which of his consoles would be best for me? Of course I am interested in all positive traits like width, depth, forward midrange etc. Anyone have any thoughts? I personally only have experience with the free tft console, but i thought it sounded really cool(and i did'nt even drive the input) it had a lot of sparkle and color to my ears, also a light hi end boost, and i ran it as directed in the manual, very cool technology for sure, in fact i will probably never run a nekkid digital mixbuss again without things like this on it, although i used to run dad tape on every channel and analog channel on the master fader but this system sounds really good to my ears. And if you haven't tried the demo one i would suggest starting there as supposedly, the commercial ones sound way better.

(counting down the days till payday heh). In listening to the Classic Logic Console demo files (on my laptop with earbuds), the difference is subtle enough that I wasn't sure if I was fooling myself or not. I tried an ABX test (WinABX) and apparently I can hear an actual difference. The CLC processed mix has a sort of a euphonic spaciousness to it that is lacking in the regular mix. So my impression is that its sort of like the final 2% polish. (and my skills are nowhere near the 98% mark yet.) when I listen to those audio demos I agree they are subtle but when using it on my own stuff its not subtle.

I've tried Nebula (with Reaper) and, sonically speaking, I really like what it can do, but the best libraries have my computer creaking at the seams! What specification of PC do I need to use multiple instances of Nebula without having to worry about processing power? Jim Thorne, via email SOS contributor Martin Walker replies: There's no denying that Nebula has evolved into the enfant terrible of the plug-in world. Some users find it difficult to adapt to its careful gain-staging requirements, while others fall in love with the 'expensive hardware' sound it promises to give you at almost pocket-money prices. As you say, running multiple instances can bring even a powerful PC to its knees, but before you start looking to upgrade to a new PC, there are various things you can do to minimise the CPU and RAM drain.

First, by all means load your Nebula programs into the standard Nebula 3 plug-in for low-latency tracking purposes, but during mixdown use the Nebula 3 Reverb plug-in instead. Although it has higher audio latency (defaulting to an acceptable 26ms at 44.1kHz or 11.9ms at 96kHz, both of which are automatically compensated for by most DAWs), its CPU overheads are less than half, and it also offers slightly better audio quality.

Second, use your ears when auditioning the various quality options provided in many Nebula libraries. Although it's tempting to always choose 11-kernel versions that model the fundamental frequency along with the first 10 harmonics (each consuming its own portion of CPU), some developers are, in my opinion, too enthusiastic about capturing every last detail, even when the higher harmonic contributions are vanishingly small. High-end preamps, EQs and the like often rarely have much to offer above perhaps 4th or 5th harmonic distortion, so if you can't hear any difference between the five-kernel and 11-kernel versions of a particular preset, choose the five-kernel version — this one decision will halve your total CPU overhead. When it comes to the PC spec itself, Nebula 3 is now optimised for fourth-generation (Haswell) processors, so a machine based around an Intel quad-core 4770K is likely to give you better performance than a more expensive third-generation model such as the six cores of the Intel 4930 processor. As for RAM, 16GB is a sensible amount to install in a Nebula monster PC, as its libraries can be enormous, and they Well-behaved Nebula libraries (like this Fairchild preamp from the AlexB Preamp Colours & Saturation collection) keep CPU overheads down by only modelling those harmonics that can actually be heard (in this case it uses just six 'kernels').

In turn are best installed on a dedicated SSD if you want to minimise program loading times. Yet another approach is to buy the Nebula Server version, which spreads the CPU/RAM load across networked computers, or the Local Server version that offers a low RAM-usage mode if you want to run multiple instances of the same program across each track of a large mix — each instance of the same preset shares the same RAM. If you can't afford a PC powerful enough to run as many instances of Nebula as you'd like, a different approach is to use Franci Zabukovec's NebulaMan utility (), which is available for both PC and Mac. Effectively this stand-alone batch-processing utility lets you apply a Nebula program or FX chain (such as a channel strip) to each and every audio track in your project in off-line mode, to add (for instance) the cumulative analogue flavour of a large mixing desk. You can process many hundreds of audio files quickly, and then reload the entire project into your favourite DAW to hear the results. It may not be real time, but you can finally experiment with truly extravagant suites of analogue excellence even on a modest computer! SOS Reviews Editor Matt Houghton adds: As computing power grows, I'm sure thirstier Nebula libraries will consume it, and you'll probably never have quite enough power available to do what you want!

Martin mentions the NebulaMan utility, and for me that's the best way to save precious resources when working with Nebula. I've been doing a similar thing, but instead using Wavelab to do the batch processing. Your DAW, Reaper, also offers the option of applying whole plug-in chains as a batch process (go to File / Batch file / item converter), so you could easily give it a try. Use Nebula to process all the tracks in your project with your choice of preamp and/or analogue tape presets before you start mixing, and import the different treatments as different 'takes' to choose between in your DAW. It's very easy to apply, say, an API preamp to every track, then do the same with a Neve preamp, and leave the final choice for any given track between these two (as well as the unprocessed version) until you mix.

I tried this out on a recent project and was struck by the difference it made when changing the selection from Clean to API to Neve for all the drum multitracks — they all 'worked' but each had a certain character. Note that you'll need to have recorded the parts very cleanly to gain any real advantage from this approach. All contents copyright © SOS Publications Group and/or its licensors, 1985-2017. All rights reserved.

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