[LAU] Mixbus 32C (based on Ardour) and Reaper shootout

Ralf Mardorf ralf.mardorf at alice-dsl.net
Fri Oct 28 21:10:05 UTC 2016


On Fri, 28 Oct 2016 16:28:50 -0400, jonetsu wrote:
>On Fri, 28 Oct 2016 19:52:34 +0000
>Fons Adriaensen <fons at linuxaudio.org> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Oct 28, 2016 at 08:18:12AM -0400, jonetsu wrote:
>>    
>> > Criteria: warmth and cohesiveness.
>> > Not impressed by separation and loudness, which would be trademarks
>> > of a 'transparent' DAW.  
>> 
>> Define (in the context of audio quality):  
>
>> - warmth  
>
>Sounds warm.

A sound is warm, if it provides lower middle and deep frequencies
without being muddy and at the same time higher middle and high
frequencies without sizzle. Assuming the source signal has got this
quality, the equipment should bias the signal as less as possible. This
is what I call transparent sound. Cheap gear, especially build with
non-discrete circuits, but especially build with older integrated
circuits make the sound less transparent, IOW the frequencies are
biased with spikes and gaps. So the definition of "warmth" is not
adding spikes and gaps within the frequency range. This is caused by the
interaction of many factors, even the design of the conducting paths
could be important. However, while even professional gear isn't
perfect, it does minimal bias the signal, but the amount is that
marginally, that there is no difference in mixing with the EQ of what
ever expensive mixing console. If emulations of analog EQs bias the
sound, then they either emulate crappy EQs or they don't emulate an EQ
at all, but are just bad programmed things. Good gear doesn't bias the
signal, just cheap gear does. You don't need to emulate an EQ circuit,
you just need to program an EQ that does what it should do. Emulations
of guitar gear are something completely different. While a mixing
console should not bias the signal, guitar gear should do so. But even
if you emulate your favourite wah pedal's circuit absolutely perfect,
you still need the pedal that allows to use the emulated wah circuit in
the same way as the original pedal. I own an Ibanez Blubber and a
Behringer V-AMP LX1-X. The peal of the Behringer is that bad, that it
doesn't matter if the wah effect is good or bad, since it's a PITA to
use this pedal. An emulation doesn't gain much. Before we could copy
software, we already could copy analog circuits. If you make a 1:1
copy of the analog circuit of a wah, we still need the pedal.


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