It's official and after all this time it deserves it's own thread.
You can hear it in action in this post. I think we all would love some more sound clips as well, feel free to attach lots of examples!

Also showing up on the web page is an empty tab reserved for "Channel Amplifiers", as mentioned in the interview with Jeff in this thread.

I'm ordering one the second the price is up!

i've been long wating for this

My mouse button finger has cramped from constantly hitting refresh on the Overstayer website for the last few hours. Please delete this thread before anyone else sees it. Advertise the arrival ... AFTER you have a confirmed order in hand.

Website payment button is functional. Ordered at 10:32 CST 10/16/2011. Price of US$ 549. Hot diggity.

whoa i'm gonna be ordering this soon
but just a question: what's the dimension of the units?
is it full rack or half rack?
if it's full rack then it looks to be higher than 1U ... how high is it?

thanks!

Half rack 1U

Just ordered

I've been using one for a month as an insert effect. ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE!!! I'll post a couple clips.

I posted drum audio files using the Line Driver here:
https://gearspace.com/board/7070315-post182.html

Honestly, this is one of those completely killer boxes that are completely underpriced.

Here's a quick synth clip too:
Over synth1 raw.mp3
Over synth1 ID4.mp3

hey michael,

i've listened to the demo (through iPad ) but it sounds nice and not so subtle (enough to hear through an iPad)

anyway, i'd like to know whether you could give your impression comparing this to:

1) soft saturator: esp. the more "extreme" ones like the soundtoys, etc. and also how the overstayer acts when using it more subtly

2) other hardware: from what i understand the overstayer seems to be more "extreme" saturation as opposed to subtle tape effect and what not. how would this compare to say the culture vulture and maybe subtler stuff like the fatso, hedd, portico, etc. etc.?

thanks!

Hi Tonnu,

I made the clips on the extreme side, because I thought most people will be listening to it via a computer speaker.

ID4 is entirely level dependent. Like a guitar amp. If you put loud signal through it, it will distort A LOT... if you back it down, it will fatten and warm up the signal. If it's really quiet, it will be difficult to get any distortion.

I found a pretty sweet spot putting it after a compressor (actually the Overstayer VCA) so I can adjust the level going into the ID4, and have a little EQ on tap.

I love Decapitator, and Devil-Loc, and Phoenix and all of the over-driver/sat plugins. This is similar in function. But different in reality. Put it this way...I use guitar simulators all the time. But never as a replacement for a real mic'd up guitar amp. They don't sound the same to me... EVER! They both are cool and great, but I don't generally find them interchangeable 1:1. There's a similarity with the way the ID4 works.

To my ears, the ID4 overdrives warmer, and clearer, tighter and deeper (on a 3D plane) than the plugins generally do. Again... I'm not saying better/worse. I'm saying DIFFERENT.

Uhhhhh... I have a Culture Vulture, and there are WAAAAAY different than the ID4. The CV is cool, but it's waaaaay more tricky to dial in a good sound. The CV has some amazing sounds in it, but it makes you work for it... and it's generally more of a top end or hi-fi-ish distortion (to my ear) than the ID4.

The ID4 definitely can go extreme, but it doesn't have to. I use it as a harmonic / fattener / slight driver mostly.

It's not a tape effect, or compressor, so it's difficult to compare to those type units. I would say that it's closer to running it through some cool old mic pres to impart some vibe to the sound.

I don't want to pigeon-hole this box... This is just how I use it. I think it's original intent is to get keys, synths, guitars, basses, etc into the box sounding great, and fat. It just happens to do something that I LOVE when applied as an insert effect too.

I quickly through together some files. These are much MUCH on the subtle side. Actually, it's hard to hear the difference between 1-3.

Here's another drum file. It's a really crappy drum stem. Just trying to make the most of it.

The "2Overs" file is the Stereo VCA into the ID4.

Here's a bass file. Sorry, all of these test files are pretty wonk to start with... but it's all I had lying around that I could post.

Again, the 2Overs is the StereoVCA into the ID4. The Stereo VCA has a nice little 2 knob low/hi EQ that just works.

thanks for the samples, it sounds good, really good
the synth line example it's lovely

thanks that's a great comprehensive answer!
my appetite is whettteedddddd

hey man, thanks for all the info, its really been awesome. in regards to decapitator, would you say this box replaces decapitator in every and all saturation situations, or are there times where decapitator shines more? or does this decapitate decapitator? also, have you applied both at the same time, if so how was it?

Hehe...SHEESH! Saturation showdown!!!

Really, they are both cool. I love having the blend feature on Decap, and it has the extra controllable EQ, and you can have a 20 of them on your mix, all with automation.

To my ear, hitting even just a few tracks with cool outboard can really make a track pop out, and help make an instrument sit better in a mix, and just feel more lively.

For instance, the Massive Passive UAD plugin is great. BUT, I doesn't really sound like a real MP. It's closer than other plugins, but it's not the real thing by any stretch. Even still, there are times where I prefer the plugin. Or a touch of the plugin and also the real thing.

I have a Culture Vulture which I think 2 of the Decapitator models are based on. To me... they sound nothing alike. Which is all good. It's ALLLLL different flavors.

I love ALL of these great tools. The REALLY NICE thing, however, is that the ID4 is super super affordable. I have 2 and will probably get another once I rewire my rack.

So in plain language, what is this?
DI?
Pre?
Pre/DI?

DI
Super clean Line Driver
Super dirty Line Driver
Saturator
Distortion box
Filter
Tortilla folder
Stocking stuffer
Awesomerizer


not a pre

Very interested in this unit. Been watching Overstayer for a while, but the German tax system has kept me from grabbing a unit or two. Maybe it's time.

filter? how so?

It has a nice smooth high pass filter, and low pass filter. But, to be fair, it's not the kind of thing that you'd patch in like an EQ. BUT, the filters ARE there.

Just to clarify, as this question has come up, the ID4 has a balanced line level output, so it does not require any sort of preamp after it. It actually can eliminate the need for a DI and pre for synths etc., as when the pre boost and saturation are not engaged, the 1/4" input is essentially a high impedance direct input to a discrete amplifier (the MASTER amp) with more than 30dB of gain.

To explain the box a little further, the signal flow is this:

di/balanced input-->PRE BOOST amp-->SATURATION amp-->MASTER amp

Engaging the SATURATION is when things get fun, but you can also use just PRE BOOST into the MASTER (not SATURATION). This also engages a pad on the final output, so the MASTER amp can be driven to the point of clipping (and beyond) without overloading the converters or device following.

Thanks! Jeff

Sounds great!

Thanks for the clips! I downloaded the drum and bass files so I could play around with them a bit, and here's what I found:

- The Instrument Driver, even on the most subtle settings that were posted (drum/bass 1 - speaking of which, I'd be curious to know what settings were used on the device to produce those clips) adds a ton of sub-audible energy (<20Hz). This can be both good and bad: on the plus side it'll definitely give you a nice beefy kick drum, but on the minus side it's an extra step of annoyance on pretty much anything else. I don't know if the HPF was engaged or not when this clip was made; if not I'd be interested in seeing what sort of effect it has.

- I performed some normalization and high-pass filtering so that I could compare the clips on an even playing field, with equal rms levels and roughly equal levels of sub-audible energy. Even after these changes, the difference between the raw and processed clips was still quite noticeable. Again, I don't know what settings were used on the device, but I certainly wouldn't call the effect in these clips subtle. And as before, this can be either a good or a bad thing depending on what you're after.

- So let's get down to the important part: how does it sound? Well, I wasn't a big fan of it on bass, as I found the clipping to be a bit spitty and harsh. Still, sometimes that sort of thing can be perfect in the context of a mix, so I synched the bass and drum tracks together as best I could and gave it another listen. Still not a fan. That said, it's certainly possible that that sound might work better when guitars are added, and with some additional EQing.

- On the other hand, I really liked it on drums. I especially liked the effect it had on the hi-hat - it took a rather weak sound and gave it some balls. The kick drum was also greatly improved, and by adjusting the amount of high pass filtering I was able to leave in just enough sub-harmonics to give it some extra beef without turning into mud. The snare got just a bit too beefy, but that could easily be solved by simply applying the device to the close mics individually and following it with EQ where necessary.

Overall, while it's difficult to draw any real conclusions from such a limited test case, I'm quite impressed with what I've heard of this thing so far as a drum processor. It adds thickness and a subtle compression, and seems as though it would work perfectly for those times when you don't want an overtly compressed drum sound, but still want to beef things up a bit. I'll be looking forward to hearing more of this thing. I'd also be curious to hear how closely the FET compressor can come to matching this device on its more subtle settings.

Hey Tim,

I didn't really spend more than 4 seconds dialing in each sound. It REALLY was a super quick and dirty demo to show some sounds that weren't totally blown out with distortion, and I'm pretty sure that the drum and bass weren't from the same song, it's funny if they actually worked together.

Oh, I'm certainly not bashing your demo and apologize if it came across that way. On the contrary, I'm very grateful that you took the time to make those clips for us. I was just making sure to point out that my opinions were based on a limited sample and that I'm not making any sort of definitive statement as to what the device can or cannot do.

That said, I would love to know what (if anything) you remember about the settings you had on the device when you produced those clips (especially the drum and bass "1" clips as those were what I focused on the most). For instance, roughly where were the saturation/master controls set? Was the HPF in or out? How about the pre boost? If you can remember any of that stuff, it would really help give an idea of how subtle this thing might be able to get.

Thanks again!

Hi Tim, OH... NO, there was no offense taken . I was just trying to clarify.

I think I probably started all of the clips somewhere around 2.5 on the saturation, and 3.5 on the output. That's where I default it back to usually. No filters were activated. The HPF will cut too much bottom for bass guitar, but it can be really nice for some synth parts. The HPF can be pretty subtle on the bass. But I'm pretty sure neither were pushed in. There definitely was no PRE-BOOST on these, since I was trying to show the lighter shades of saturation.

I've been lucky enough to have had the ID4 since Jeff started working on the prototype after we discussed how great it would be to have a dedicated stereo instrument to line level driver so we could send keys and bass and guitars direct to pro tools without having to use a mic pre. The speed that this device allows is astounding, but the saturation circuit is why this unit is so amazing. When engaged it imparts the phatness and depth of a mini moog to any keboard or bass you run through it. It's the kind of effect that makes something jump out in a mix. It's the magic that you hope for after hours of tweaking and it is all in the touch of a button and a knob that when you turn it to the right makes it awesome. I have the decapitator and it is great at what it does. The ID4 is something different. It doesn't just tear stuff up or make it sound like a distorted boombox (which I love) it makes things huge first and then you can add distortion and crunch to taste. It's the depth and phatness that makes the ID4 truly unique.
I have been using it lately on an NS-10 speaker in front of the kick drum with saturation in at about noon and going directly into pro tools. It's the greatest "fits right in the mix fat and tight sub" I've ever heard.

Did you ever try running it through your 2buss ?