Thanks, that's a good idea!

Yeah - I have deleted my post as "erroneous" - sorry for that.

What I was thinking late last night was automating the drive which can be done in cubase along with automating the width which is only ostensibly available with Console Fader but can be done via automation in Cubase granting access to the drive and width parameters even if you only have Console 1.

You are correct that the best way to select a CS for customisation is to pick the filters and drive you like the most first and then customise the other sections - shape, eq, comp.

I know that

I finally got around to trying Tape in the Shape section. I’ve not yet tried Harmonics, which I also own. Treating the Shape section as a general “color” section is super useful. I tend to prefer using Softube’s Transient Shaper ahead of C1 when needed anyway. I’ll do more experiments including Harmonics in the shape section, but on an initial pass I was REALLY enjoying Tape in the shape section set to type B at 30 IPS and fully stable. From there it’s just a matter of tweaking the color knob until it’s the vibe for the track.

I have a hunch that my default setting for C1 is now going to be the BCA strip with the drive section defaulted to 5, Tape in the shape section set as described above, ACA EQ defaulted to bypass, and TLA-100 compressor defaulted to bypass. For me this is an excellent starting point with just the right amount of my preferred color to start a mix in the right place.

Really disappointed to see that the SSL9000 strip has the smallest discount of all the channel strips in Softube's Black Week sale that started this morning. Most of the others are down to $99, but the 9000 is way up at $219.
Boo.

Gang-

I just picked up the Weiss Gambit for $89 which I'm very stoked about. I had posted this question in the Weiss MP thread, but for those of you that have both the MP standalone and the Gambit, are there any major differences in the sound when using the MP in the Console One? My guess is that it's just ability to fine tune the curve on the high and low bands.

Edit: Managed to get a new Weiss MP demo. The high and low shelf is actually more exaggerated and you cannot change the Q in the Console One with the MP on those bands.

Going to pass on this one, for now.

How do you go about adding Tape to the Shape section?

Update to the most recent version of C1 and own s copy of Tape. Hold shift and press the shape button to change which module is loaded into that section of C1.

Ah nice, missed that update! Downloading that immediately!

Yeah I wondered about that too. Is the 9000 that much more superior than the stock 4000.

Yes. It is, in my opinion.

Not superior, just different. They have different characteristics, both sonically and functionally.

i figured they were different i guess what i'm trying to say in response to earlier question is why is the 9000 more expensive then the others and that Softube barely gave it a discount on their black friday sale, at least in comparisons to others which were discounted much more... from this my impression seems that the more sought after plugin that may be superior in some way would have less trouble selling hence wouldn't need to be discounted.
Like i said that's the impression not sure if it holds any real validity but in sales they tend to discount items that need help moving or those that are in over supply as we all know plugins are always in stock so i figured that the 9000 is selling just fine for them without discounted which may have one conclude it's more desirable then the others.

I’ll put it this way: If I had to choose between the C1’s 4000 and 9000 strips for making a record from front to back, I would pick the 9000 for hiphop, modern RnB, modern gospel and other similar genres, and then the 4000 for literally everything else. For the record, I currently own both and use neither in favor of a different strip and modules.

I can’t speak to Softube’s logic in discounting some strips more than others, and some not at all. I’m sure they put a great deal of thought into it and I don’t think we as consumers should expect them to discount their entire lineup in a single sale. I would guess that the 9000 will be discounted separately during a different sale later this year or in 2022. To your point, that strip does seem to command a higher price consistently which may be due to perceived value or market demand, or it could be higher licensing costs to SSL compared to the 4000. Only Softube can fully answer this, and it’s not something they’re likely to do.

Yeah, I've seen the 9000 discounted when others weren't too. I think it's strategy, like people are going to grab the Weiss cause it's never this low, so it's grab the opportunity when you can. When the 9000 goes on sale again, maybe more people will be sure to grab it because it wasn't on sale this go around. It's like what Disney did with releasing movies.

I don't think any of the strips are necessarily superior FWIW. I use the 9000 more than all the others but I find a use for all of them somehow. I recently really started to appreciate the Zener Bender channel, it's like 3 different compressors, all of them good. I wouldn't want to only have that one or any of them, personally. I'm like this with 500 series stuff too, I like the Frankenstein mixing approach, different colors and textures. I think the 9000 is more universal than most of them, if I had to have just one, that'd be it. But I don't think the compressor thickens or has weight, for that I go BCA or Chandler, and it doesn't do smooth leveling, like for voices or pads, for that I go Summit or CL1B.

At this point, I would love it if Softube would move into the UAD model and make accelerators for their plug ins. Some kind of hybrid system where you wouldn't need the accelerator to run the plugs, but if you needed the power you could do it. I'm using the Weiss Console One on every track now in combination with the Weiss DS1 on a few tracks and it really does tax my iMac Pro pretty heavily. It sounds GREAT, but I'd love to have some extra dedicated power for this stuff. Or maybe Weiss just needs to do it since they're the hardware guys...

I'm going to try re-formatting my system disk this weekend over the holiday while I have a break and re-installing everything. It's been awhile since I've done this and I'm hoping that will free up some CPU.

So how many tracks are we talking before your iMac Pro gives up?
I'm considering getting the Weiss Gambit strip this week with the discount, but I'm worried I won't be able to run many instances on my ancient 2013 iMac!

I had around 28 tracks with the Weiss but I was also using 4 instances of the Weiss DS1 along with a few instances of the Sonnox Suppressor --- both of which are huge system hogs.

Get the Weiss. It's very good and it's a steal at $89.

DONE!
And I grabbed Tape Echoes while I was there because... why not?

Regarding the Weiss there's a big difference in how you use it and what options you have. If you have the Weiss Complete bundle, you can exchange the EQ to the MP EQ which is way way more efficient and for standard track-work just as fine. As I remember then the drive/limiter is also a hog, but a limiter shouldn't really be necessary on each track, so if you can substitute the drive with another, it should be possible to use the Weiss in most tracks.

OOOF, that is a hard no. I have a couple of softube UAD plugins that i can run 100+ of on my 7 year old native system that i can run like 8 of on my quad sharc UAD apollo.

In 2021, the only good thing for DSP is securing track counts and recording latency. Mixing is much better done natively and much cheaper. DSP is essentially the world's most expensive dongle.

This is why I suggested some kind of hybrid system where if you need the extra juice you can get it. I agree that they should not go full UAD with dongle to run their plugs. But I don't know of any system that can handle running full sessions with a few instances of the DS1. I have a buddy who has a brand new Mac Pro souped up and that thing has issues running the DS1 on big projects.

I don't think the DS1 was meant to be used on single tracks, but ofc why not, when the quality is there and a plugin can be utilized as much as one wants. I've never tried it, but Audio Gridder, should be able to offload some CPU. IMO having a modular Mac Mini setup is much more attractive than any DSP solution... if it works ofc :D

So what your saying is I should be able to run more instances if I load the 4000 channel strip (with its Drive, which I like) and then substitute the Shape and EQ from Weiss?

i own gambit but not any of the stand alone weiss plugs, which I'm guessing are a different animal. While I'm not refuting it, I do find it hard to believe that a 20-30 core mac pro would struggle to deal with a few DS1's, even with a full mix. the DS1 is almost 15 years old. the processing power inside the physical box is mice nuts compared to even the worlds most basic smartphone, let alone computer, by today's standards. And as someone pointed out, the DS1 is not intended to be a mixing duty plugin, so there's that. But still, I'm a little shocked it's not functional as a mixing plugin.

LOL. I don't know anyone who owns a $30,000 24 Core Mac Pro. Do you? And, yes, I'm sure it would run multiple DS1's but that's another level of processing and money that my original Softube DSP farm solution would solve at a cheaper price. I would get a few Mac Mini's and chain them before I spent that kind of money.

My buddy has a basic 8 or 12 core - still expensive - and he said the DS1 was slowing his mix down. And remember, people are using it across big sessions with multiple VST's so it's not far off to think it would eat CPU the way it does.

well when you say your buddy has a souped up mac pro, i'm assuming that means a highly spec'd machine. Frankly, for audio purposes, a $1000 m1 mac mini is probably a more capable machine than an 8 core mac pro.

Hello Console 1 users,

Any of you own the Empirical Labs package for console 1?

How do you like it ?

Does it contain also a Fatso emulation?

Thanks for sharing your experience
Cheers
Sergio

Not really a fatso emulation. The de-esser can operate a little like the hf “warmth” compressor on the fatso but it’s not the same. There’s drive but I haven’t heard it sounding like driving a fatso. There’s also no tranny function. But I love it, the compressor is by far my favorite one of the C1 strips for general mix purposes. Sound a lot like a distressor and that’s a good thing.

In high end hybrid studios you’ll see at least a couple distressors. You’re not likely to see outbound api, ssl, Neve, etc. compressors unless you’re taking about the mix bus compressors like 2500, diode bridge, g buss, etc. Distressor is a super versatile sound that can add punch, add energy, catch peaks, whatever you need. EQ is also very easy to dial in, but it definitely has a sound.