iZotope Ozone and Alloy???

Any opinions / problems with Ozone 4 or Alloy as plugs for X1?  Anybody using XP 32 bit XP on a quad core with Sonar X1 and these plugs? Would running these be asking too much for an XP 32 bit Quad core system? It appears that Alloy is a “lite” version of Ozone 4 and more of a track plug, where Ozone 4 is more of a bus and final mix tool. Other than the plugs that come with X1, I really don’t have any pro level tools and was thinking about taking the plunge on these.
 
h

I have them both on a Quad Core AMD/X1/32bit/4G ram and I must say, I rarely use Ozone 4.  It is more of a mastering tool and I prefer to master with individual tools.  It is not meant for tracking and can be a system hog if you try to do so.

Alloy, on the other hand, is very cool.  It can be used for tracking and has very good options and settings within.

A lot of people here will go to bat for Ozone but it's just a matter of workflow, usability and knowledge of mixing. 

Try the demos and see if you like the results.

I have O4, running on an Intel i5 chip with XP/32 bit OS.  I don't hesitate to use O4 or O3 in a track. With a processor like i5, the plugs do not use that much CPU power. I have run several in tracks and O4 in the  master all in real time.

I looked at Alloy but O4 seemed to do the same thing already, so I just stuck with it. I set up custom presets for various starting points for Vocals, Acoustic, etc....

If you're just starting out with 3rd party plugins, I'd also suggest looking at TRacks 3 Deluxe.
The "single" plugins load individually into any host DAW software.
You get some really nice souding dynamics/EQ/peak-limiter/etc.
The Opto compressor, Pultec EQ, and Peak-Limiter are particularly nice.

If I had to lose my UAD Fairchild I would not hate having to use the T-Racks version.

 

I bought Ozone 5 a few months ago after demoing it.  I've yet to explore all this tool can do ... it's VERY deep, versatile, and runs fine under X1 / X2.  You do need a powerful processor to run it on multiple tracks, though -- it can be quite CPU-intensive.
 
During the demo, the first thing I did was slap it on a full mix I'd been working on.  I hit a preset (something like "Rock / Pop Master") and was immediately struck at the transformation.  A "Wow" moment.  The mix just came alive to a degree that I've rarely experienced from a plugin.  Digging deeper, I found that most of the improvement came from the Multiband Compressor section -- the most versatile compressor I've come across. 
 
Add to that the extremely versatile (there's that word again) EQ, complete with a fun "matching" feature, the very usable saturation tool, the stereo imaging functions, and the advanced limiter, and you have something that can do just about anything.  Everything, that is, except pretend it's a piece of vintage gear -- that ain't Izotope's thing.  Although it's certainly possible to get a "vintage" sound out of it, you won't see simulated VU meters or shiny knobs.  What you will see are straightforward controls and useful metering with simple graphics. 
 
I also demoed Alloy and Nectar, but didn't find them quite so compelling -- many of their features overlap, and I found that Ozone did everything that I was looking for.  One of my favorite tools -- if you aren't familiar with it, download the demo and look over the manual.  You may be glad you did.
 
Note: no affiliation, just a happy customer.
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 

I have alloy2 with Sonar X2 in 64 bit enviroment. Love it. Alloy is light on CPU but sound great. Alloy is basically a mixer strip with EQ, compressor + gate ,trancient shaper, desser, exciter, limiter. All of this effect in one plugin plus hundreds of instrument and genra specific presets make this very attractive to me.  I tried the demo for 2 days and was hooked.

You should buy them both. iZotope rocks... "HARD!"

Check them out here.. www.reverbnation.com/rockinrobby