Steven Slate Audio VSX 3.0 + VSX Essentials Bundle
by Steven Slate   25th November 2022

To me the Zuma mids sound closer than the fars, just as intended

Same here. Zuma Fars sound "Bigger" and somewhat "in your face", but Zuma mids sound like a smaller speaker, closer to you, as opposed to huge on the wall things... just as intended

This is a useful video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Bduqqnr9g&t=854s

I also had some random nasty volume spikes recently in StudioOne 6 and was about to investigate further. I first thought one of my VSTi's don't like working at 96 Samplerate. But now that you pointed it out I noticed that these spikes started occurring since I updated VSX to 3.0.

Steven, thank you for not making Steven's room way louder than all the other rooms anymore .

Yup - same here in FL Studio 21.

24 series can set their mid band back to normal, correct?

Also, holy hell. This sounds excellent. Noticeable improvement everywhere, to my ears. I was really having trouble with your room after the last update and it's pretty bangin' now. And Dean's NS-10's are killer.

Man, now we REALLY need more than 5 favorite slots. Just make it 10 buttons (2 rows each 5), which we can easily pin somewhere on the screen to be accessible the time. I wouldn´t need the big GUI /studio pictures at all for the most time.

But also: let me thank you from the bottom of my heart, Steven! Nothing helped me getting better mixes during my more than 20 year music making career, than VSX. What you achieved with this nothing short but astonishing.

Yup!

Steven, I just wanted to drop in to say that this new update sounds KILLER! I’ve been on board and have loved the product (and used it on tons of movie trailer/tv film mixes), but this new version is a noticeable level-up. I didn’t need it - but I’m very happy to have it!

Amazing update, Steven and team. Beyond useful. I do hear a couple of oddities though. Just using a microphone and saying "TEST" (in an extremely dry room) I hear:

1. A very audible and distinct echo on the Zuma mids. Not a decay, but more like a delay. The Zuma mains also have a very long decay (does the room actually sound like that?) but do not have the distinct echo like the mids.

2. On the Archon mains I hear a distinct resonant "honk" around 280hz.

Both of these things are barely audible (to me anyway) when listening to music but become apparent using spoken word on a mic. Does anyone else hear this stuff, or is it just me??

Thanks everyone for checking this out.
Regards.

Ha, credit to my guy Alex who did the level matching. He's great.

Yes, 24 can disengage that M band, and thanks so much for the great feedback!


You're so very welcome on behalf of my insanely talented and hard working team! Make some killer mixes!


Means the world to me. Thank you!


I'm so glad as well!


Ooooh which DT songs? Lot of great DT mixes that will sound amazing on the virtual speakers.

Howie Engineer is so plain and honest now. A true mastering speaker.


YES! Now that the ole "sound" thing is on par to where it has been in my head, it's time for utility stuff! We're working on it!


Thank you!!

No 2.0 legacy. We were gonna wait to see if it was still needed after this update. Still possible of course.


Thanks! Gonna look into both of those things. I'm hearing the Farfields as what I would expect a farfield to sound like. The RT60 on them was not exactly super tight on the lows but it was exciting sounding. EDIT: Please make sure that you are definitely on 3.03 because there was a slight resonance that was fixed in the previous version. This one is super tight now actually.

For midfield delay, I'll check again.. maybe I missed a bug. But it's an easy fix.


So happy to hear that. It's a great day over here!

Steven

Yep : I hear the delay on the Zuma. I didn't use this room before, so I don't know if it was there on previous versions.

Regarding the "honk" in the Archon mid, I don't hear it. If you use a synth playing sine wave, and go from 200 to 600 Hz, you'll hear a distinct dip around 510 Hz, but it's quite flat on the rest of the spectrum...

Update is incredible. Thanks to Steven and his hard working team!! Archon mids sound incredible and NRG feels wayyyyy more usable now.

This sounds so much better to me than 3.0.1. Thank you, Steven! I'm still keeping my 2.0 components/vst files, so I'd love to see a legacy mode implemented.

I'm looking forward to some kind of Ear Profile wizard. I was a clear Profile 1 on VSX 2.0, but on 3.0, I legitimately can't decide between Profile 1 and Average.

Clicking on the link included in todays email - which is advertising 3.0.3 - for the 'newest SSAC' downloads 3.0.1 to me...

This shouldn't be, right?

I see no link for a 3.0.3

After downloading and installing this is what I get - marked 3.0.1

And going to the website for the installers (where it is, more confusingly, marked as 3.0.0) - also gives this 3.0.1 file...as shown.

So not sure where any mac users are getting this 3.0.3 from!

Hey Steven, yes, I'm definitely on 3.03 (and love it).

And thank you for looking into these two things:

"Just using a microphone and saying "TEST" (in an extremely dry room) I hear:

1. A very audible and distinct echo on the Zuma mids. Not a decay, but more like a delay. The Zuma mains also have a very long decay (does the room actually sound like that?) but do not have the distinct echo like the mids.

2. On the Archon mains I hear a distinct resonant "honk" around 280hz."

That’s not VSX it’s the SAC which you use to download the updated VSX.

Ah...I see...

My struggles are also tied in with my problems with SSAC generally - I have to run it through terminal to get it to work at all...which makes checking versions and updating a slog...

And now that I've run it again - it's giving me iLok issues...saying I have no available licence...sigh...

(all fixed now - and sounding great...)

You can do in between by selecting neutral and increasing the LH knob halfway up

The same goes for me. Everything sounds great, but I definitely need a legacy mode, if only because of Howie's engineer. It was so brutal before, some mixes totally fell apart while others were perfect. And it was great to judge vocals. I really want that back.

Yes, true. I just did a real car test to try to set my ear profile based on vocal and snare level in an emulated car. Talk about inception!

Hi! Not hearing a long decay on Zuma Mains on voice. Here is a file printed with 25 calibration:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X9R...ew?usp=sharing

You can hear a little low end blossom as you'd expect from a big farfield soffit mounted speaker but I wouldn't call it a long decay.

Can you click the VSX logo in top left and make sure it says 3.03? There was a bug in the previous version, maybe something happened with your update.


Please hit up support! We want less struggles and more great mixes.

Steven

Starting to feel like a little dr Frenkenstein here. Keeping vsx v2 for cars, howie engineer and sonoma nears. Then vsx v3.0.1 for howie client (the best room to hear the shape of a 808 techno kick so far - not perfect by any means but the best of everything released so far). And vsx 3.0.3 for sonoma
nears. (Again, 3.0.3 sounds so different it should have been a full 3.1 release.) The rest, at a quick listen, are either redundant either too forgiving (scooped low mids and thumpy lows). Generally since v3 the entire lineup became way more forgiving than v2. Remains to be seen if the change is for the better

Hey Steven, thank you for your reply regarding the decay on the Zuma mains. The issue most audible to me (and confirmed by Calagan above) is the echo on the Zuma mids. Maybe you're already looking into it. Don't want to bother you! And yes, I'm on 3.03.

I had this as well as an echo in Howie but the echo and long decay all seemed to go away after I restarted the computer. VSX said it was version 3.03 even before restart.

yeah I can add a +1 to DavidJay's observation about Zuma mids -- definitely an artifact and not a feature -- easily reproducible by slate team though, but i'll print it and post it if it would be helpful

On the Archons I don't hear the 280 honk but the phantom center on the fars pulls slightly to the left

overall the best release from any vendor in the game that most closely resembles real rooms to my ears and physiology -- howie client is absolutely stellar, when previously it was the worst offender from a long list of bizarre sounding environments (to me). but that begs the question, v1 and v2 had leagues of users proclaiming audio nirvanna and i always felt like a leper for not hearing it -- if it is changes in the binaural guts that now fools my peculiar physiology, where does this leave all those who have been mixing with it successfully for over two years now? sincere question, (no snark or holier than thou intentions and nothing on SS who's work ethic is at least the equal of his showmanship)

I described it as going from 1080 to 4k.
I'm an early adopter and got on fine with it the whole time, but it's just more clear and the transients are better now.

hi LASTLAVGH, not sure what you are referring to in your first line, but that is good to know that it is a progression for you, not an entirely new animal

i should clarify that v1 was a phasy mess to my ears, and no amount of adjusting the depth or changing the eqs ever changed that -- in v2 with the inclusion of the ear profiles, that went from one kind of cranial confusion to another -- in 3.01 -- for the first time, the ear profiles had a predictable and useful increase in treble response and the effect of the depth control became apparent -- in 3.02 -- eq off and depth at 12:00 sounds spot on, and flipping through all the rooms with no palette cleanser felt like an actual virtual ride to different environments

what i particularly like about this for my own uses is the ocd and idiot-proofing of the vsx experience 3.02 brings to the ballgame -- i was endlessly twiddling with realphones and never got to the point where my fomo would quiet down and let me work in peace -- oy