Topic: Is this the real deal?

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • July 22, 2007 at 21:09 #1361
    Conquistador
    Participant

    Nebula 3
    http://www.acusticaudio.net/

    I have tried the version that came with CM magazine as was very impressed. I am amazed it is so cheap.

    It is basically a hardware FX sampler. So you get high end Hardware FX… sampled.

    I think 80 Euros gets you…

    Preamps

    Compressors

    Equalizers

    Filters

    Tape Machines

    Mics

    Amps

    Chorus, Flanger Phaser e.t.c types of FX

    Reverbs

    Have any of you tried it? 😉

    July 23, 2007 at 01:58 #10380
    sam c
    Participant

    i have been using the free nebula and it is pretty cool!

    July 23, 2007 at 08:50 #10383
    Conquistador
    Participant

    @sam c wrote:

    i have been using the free nebula and it is pretty cool!

    I did some comparisons and I was amazed at the depth and clarity of one of the EQ’s on a drumloop. I have never heard any plug sound that good. Of course there are many more Hardware EQ’s, Compressors e.t.c in Nebula 3 that I have not even tried yet.

    If you did not know already the 747 compressor in Nebula3, Nebula CM and maybe the free version, apparently and incredibly (you will see what I mean when you click on the link below) is sampled from this hardware FX!!!!!!!!! 😯

    Scroll down for the 4 figure price!
    http://www.avalondesign.com/vt747sp.html

    Nice image…
    http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/4963/747spixc5.jpg

    No wonder so many people from what I have read like that compressor. 8)

    It makes Nebula 3 truly astounding value for money. 🙂 It was a nonsense to expect that kind of quality for so little money just a year or two ago.

    I also read that some of the Nebula FX are even hybrids of two hardware FX!!!

    No idea where it is all going but the price will surely rise at some point. I currently use the CM version but I think at some point (before the price goes up) I will likely get the full version. 8)

    July 23, 2007 at 09:12 #10385
    rinxai
    Participant

    Certainly interesting and excellent value yes, however i’ve only tested Nebula2, and my pc struggles to do the math, to the extent that i’ve put it aside until next upgrade. Wondering if Nebula3 more efficient?

    July 23, 2007 at 11:20 #10396
    Conquistador
    Participant

    @rinxai wrote:

    Certainly interesting and excellent value yes, however i’ve only tested Nebula2, and my pc struggles to do the math, to the extent that i’ve put it aside until next upgrade. Wondering if Nebula3 more efficient?

    CPU usage is defintely the downside of Nebula and the price for such high quality, but Podium has an interesting way to get around it IMO. 😉

    I have only tested Nebula 3 CM so CPU wise it might be better than Nebula 2.

    Some CPU saving ideas in Podium…

    1.Realtime bouncing.
    Realtime bouncing to get around it I think it pretty much eliminates the CPU issue.

    For instance you load up the 747 EQ it uses 20% of your CPU, solo the track you want to process before you add Nebula 3. Podium will to a degree if not completely disengage the CPU load from the muted tracks, this should free up the CPU for just that track IIRC.

    Choose your Nebula FX, tweak to taste and bounce to another track in realtime. That way you can keep the *dry* original if you need to go back to it.

    Now mute the track with Nebula on it to avoid hearing both tracks (dry and wet)…also do this to immeadiately bring the CPU load back down.

    Just working this way one could even work with a 50% or more (extreme example) CPU load, per Nebula track just by making sure you solo the track for processing before you add Nebula.

    2.Econo mode
    Use the Econo mode (accessible in the KERN and PROG areas) when mixing with other active tracks. This uses about half the CPU of the normal mode. Simply solo the track when you are ready to bounce and then choose the Normal mode to bounce at the highest quality.

    Also in the MAST section

    (At the bottom of the interface there are)

    PROG FAST KERN MAST MIDI DISK buttons click on MAST…from what I have read increasing the Quality setting gets even better quality bounces.

    From their PDF…

    “Quality
    This is used by Nebula at rendering time, when the user exports audio tracks or bounces them. This
    feature only works if the host program (VST Host) provides notification of its internal status
    Increasing it Nebula will be more accurate. The actual program rate will be the result of the division
    between PROG RATE and QUALITY. Rendering process will be slower.”

    After you have done that mute that track to remove Nebula from CPU usage.

    Slightly confusing….about suggestion 2…

    I think if the Econo text is visible, CPU usage is higher (confusing I know) test it anyway so perhaps having the Normal text visible means the reverse.

    It seems that way on my PC. Podium seems to have less of a load if the Normal text is visible. When Econo is visible CPU rises a bit. I guess the buttons should be reversed.
    HTH.

    July 24, 2007 at 10:59 #10433
    rinxai
    Participant

    Thanks for the informative reply, will give it another go.

    July 24, 2007 at 21:13 #10454
    Klemperer
    Participant

    I had tested the CM 3 – version and couldn’t resist buying (and got some brainwashing from friend that now in turn I’d like to “brainwash” for Podium…) the Nebula 2 as it is just 20Euro. I didn’t use the reverbs much up to now but am, even at the start (it is a HUGE library!) really glad I bought it. Some are just subtle additions so that I asked myself if I did anything at all, some are not subtle.
    At the KVR thread the guys themselves adviced to do rendering and bouncing often, even for machines with much better specs than my poor 4 year old PC.

    The “3” version is 80$ I think (or Euro, forgot) and gets further updates whereas 2 as a cheap version won’t get updated (but I think the library will be available in the future too.

    Thanks for the hints, Conquistador! I knew some of the stuff as I read the Nebula-manual, but the special things for Podium are much appreciated here! People who buy Podium should be aware that they get power-users like you, Podianer and acousmod too if they got questions, always a great thing.

    August 14, 2007 at 19:40 #10581
    sam c
    Participant

    My computer is a P4 – 3.4 gHz, 2 gig ram, and it cannot handle the verbs. too cpu intensive.

    anybody else?

    thanks

    August 16, 2007 at 10:00 #10596
    Conquistador
    Participant

    @sam c wrote:

    My computer is a P4 – 3.4 gHz, 2 gig ram, and it cannot handle the verbs. too cpu intensive.

    anybody else?

    thanks

    Hmmm, maybe the CPU requirements are just too high for your system.

    I used a dual core system (4GB or ram) when I played around with the CMN3 version. I somehow doubt though that your system is really not capable of running those verbs. But I do suggest you post on their forum as you will surely get a much better answer from them…

    http://www.acusticaudio.net/modules.php?name=Forums

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