Afrodrum
Very interesting Dean, could you explain what you mean by "500Hz band two" and what is a Pultec trick?

Hi Afrodrum,
Sure, so the Bendeth EQ is a four band EQ. When I said "+20db at 500 in band one" I meant to set the first band of the EQ to 500Hz and increase its gain by 20db.
 
As for the "Pultec trick", it refers to a technique with the old Pultec EQ's where an engineer would both increase and decrease the gain of the same frequency. You can try this in the PEQ2B EQ that's included with Sonar (it's a Pultec clone). Just open it up, set the low freqency to whatever you'd like and turn up both the "Boost" and "Atten" knobs. While one would imagine that should result in offsetting changes, because the EQ curves on the Boost and Attenuation are different it ends up being like a low shelf bump with a dip just after it:
 
The same thing can be done in the Bendeth because, as in the Pultec, the width of the bands appear to be different.
 
Dean

I have had a little time to experiment with this plug in, both the VST and the ProChannel modules. 
 
I used it on a drum track today, and loved it.  At first it was a little too much, but when I dialled it back a bit (and used the parallel dry/process knob), it sounded fantastic.  The EQ does have a certain "Pulteq trick" about it.
 
I also got a nice bass sound, when used sparingly.  At first I used my usual 1176/La2a mix on the bass, but then tried out the PC +10DB compressor instead, and got a great sound.  You can add some "bite", without over compressing it.
 
I have yet to try it on a vocal.
 
I think the EQ will definitely be useful for certain "colours", more like a Pultec than a standard EQ, once I have played around with it enough.  Same with the compressor.
 
I would highly recommend it if you are looking for something a little different from the other Compressors/EQs available in Sonar.  I love the PC76, Ca-2a, 4K Buss, 4K Channel and the Softube FET compressors (and the Quad Curve EQ and Softube EQs), but really like the alternative sounds that I am getting with the +10DB.
 
I put off buying it at first, thinking that I didn't need yet another compressor, but am starting to see that this one is a different beast.  I don't think that I will use it all the time, but I will get sounds out of it that the others won't provide.
 
BTW, if you want a Pultec EQ, I HIGHLY recommend the Nomad Factory Pulse Tec EQs.  Fantastic.  The Blue tube one is nice, too, but the Pulse Tec EQs is/are TRUELY AMAZING, IMHO.
 
On a side note, I emailed Boz with a query, and got a response within a couple of minutes.  Now, that's great support.

I think it's a strategic mistake by Cakewalk to be pushing these expensive offers on prospective and current users. When I came to the site, I thought this would be the first set of "goodies" available to subscribers. I was excited...until I realized this is just $100 extra...so, I'm passing on Sonar and I'm passing on these "offers" for now. I own Sonar X3 Studio so it means a $360 upgrade to the latest version. Add a few hundred for a couple of "offers" and it's probably much better to just get Komplete plus Reaper.
 
One final point: if the plugins in Sonar are good, why should people want to buy these +10db products at their regular prices? Bizarre marketing strategy by Cakewalk... 

irvin
I think it's a strategic mistake by Cakewalk to be pushing these expensive offers on prospective and current users. When I came to the site, I thought this would be the first set of "goodies" available to subscribers. I was excited...until I realized this is just $100 extra...so, I'm passing on Sonar and I'm passing on these "offers" for now. I own Sonar X3 Studio so it means a $360 upgrade to the latest version. Add a few hundred for a couple of "offers" and it's probably much better to just get Komplete plus Reaper.
 
One final point: if the plugins in Sonar are good, why should people want to buy these +10db products at their regular prices? Bizarre marketing strategy by Cakewalk... 

The fact that you asked that last question means that these plugins are not aimed at you. Once you've been mixing for awhile, it becomes pretty clear that most every plugin brings something different to the table. Not necessarily better. Those differences are s.p.i.c.e.s. to be used by the mix engineer.
 
Regards,
Dan

Irvin,
 
The David Bendeth plugs are not something you're going to find included with ANY DAW. At least not currently. They are a completely different beast. Both the compressor and the EQ. These are not necessarily targeted toward the novice, who doesn't know the difference between compressor or EQ types.
 
This offering says NOTHING of the quality of plugs included in Sonar, which btw, ARE very good! It is simply something different to what's included.
 
In addition, the $99 price is NOT the regular price. It is, in fact, currently on sale.
 
No one is required to purchase this plugin. Sonar will function just fine without it. We can all make wonderful music without ANY additional plugs!
 
I don't understand all this animosity toward Cakewalk for offering us an optional piece of software! 

dcumpian

irvin
I think it's a strategic mistake by Cakewalk to be pushing these expensive offers on prospective and current users. When I came to the site, I thought this would be the first set of "goodies" available to subscribers. I was excited...until I realized this is just $100 extra...so, I'm passing on Sonar and I'm passing on these "offers" for now. I own Sonar X3 Studio so it means a $360 upgrade to the latest version. Add a few hundred for a couple of "offers" and it's probably much better to just get Komplete plus Reaper.
 
One final point: if the plugins in Sonar are good, why should people want to buy these +10db products at their regular prices? Bizarre marketing strategy by Cakewalk... 

The fact that you asked that last question means that these plugins are not aimed at you. Once you've been mixing for awhile, it becomes pretty clear that most every plugin brings something different to the table. Not necessarily better. Those differences are s.p.i.c.e.s. to be used by the mix engineer.
 
Regards,
Dan

C'mon...plugins are "aimed" at anyone who can pay the price tag...lol..don't be naive...
 
That said, a strong case can be made that the best engineers use a quite limited number of tools that they know very well. Only inexperienced users think that the best engineers are constantly trying or buying different plugins for their work. The most knowledgeable ones don't need a lot of "s.p.i.c.e.s." to serve a great meal...lol...but you are entitled to your opinion and I respect that.

joel77
Irvin,
 
The David Bendeth plugs are not something you're going to find included with ANY DAW. At least not currently. They are a completely different beast. Both the compressor and the EQ. These are not necessarily targeted toward the novice, who doesn't know the difference between compressor or EQ types.
 
This offering says NOTHING of the quality of plugs included in Sonar, which btw, ARE very good! It is simply something different to what's included.
 
In addition, the $99 price is NOT the regular price. It is, in fact, currently on sale.
 
No one is required to purchase this plugin. Sonar will function just fine without it. We can all make wonderful music without ANY additional plugs!
 
I don't understand all this animosity toward Cakewalk for offering us an optional piece of software! 

Relax, please. Don't go "fanboy" on me - there is no animosity toward Cakewalk. 
 
If you read my post, I never said anything about the +10db plugins (I'm a registered user of some of Boz's products, btw). I just offered feedback and you may or may not agree with it. No reason to take it so seriously. 

irvin
 
Relax, please. Don't go "fanboy" on me - there is no animosity toward Cakewalk. 
 
If you read my post, I never said anything about the +10db plugins (I'm a registered user of some of Boz's products, btw). I just offered feedback and you may or may not agree with it. No reason to take it so seriously. 

I'm not a "fanboy". I fully understand that Cakewalk AND Sonar have their problems, as does every DAW out today.
 
Perhaps I misunderstood(it can sometimes be difficult to interpret meaning by words alone), but I did read your post and you said:
 

irvin
 
One final point: if the plugins in Sonar are good, why should people want to buy these +10db products at their regular prices? Bizarre marketing strategy by Cakewalk... 

I simply pointed out that this set of plugs offers something different. 
 
Regardless, we may just have differing points of view. It's all good.

joel77
Perhaps I misunderstood(it can sometimes be difficult to interpret meaning by words alone), but I did read your post and you said:

irvin
 
One final point: if the plugins in Sonar are good, why should people want to buy these +10db products at their regular prices? Bizarre marketing strategy by Cakewalk... 

I simply pointed out that this set of plugs offers something different. 
 
Regardless, we may just have differing points of view. It's all good.

Fair enough. Perhaps my point was not as expressed as clearly as I thought: I was criticizing Cakewalk, not +10db, because it seems to me that we are still in the "honeymoon period", where people (specially new users) would most likely be enjoying the new goodies. Offering a product (regardless of how good or bad it might be) that almost rivals the upgrade price does not seem like a good marketing strategy to me. The timing is all wrong, I think.
 
That said, I also think any third-party product offered by Cakewalk to its users should come with some sort of incentive: additional features or lower price. That's another marketing mistake (once again, in my opinion, and I might be wrong!). Loyalty to Cakewalk should have a reward, even if it's a small one - we humans like to feel that something special is being done for us...lol...
 
Anyway, all's good here, too.

irvin
I think it's a strategic mistake by Cakewalk to be pushing these expensive offers on prospective and current users. When I came to the site, I thought this would be the first set of "goodies" available to subscribers.

 
You should probably wait to see what you do get with the membership before passing judgement on it. I expect the first monthly upgrade to be available before the end of February.
 
Note that this compressor is made by a third party. They have no incentive to give it to Cakewalk for next to nothing so Cakewalk can include it as part of the membership program. Think about it: If you were a Producer user who paid $149 for the upgrade, you're already getting all the difference between X3 and Platinum, as well as updates for a year. There's no way you can carve $100 out of that for a plug-in. That means all of last year's and the next year's updates are worth only $50...VocalSync alone is worth multiple times that.
 

I own Sonar X3 Studio so it means a $360 upgrade to the latest version.

 
I'm seeing $299 to upgrade to Platinum from any version of Studio.
 

Add a few hundred for a couple of "offers" and it's probably much better to just get Komplete plus Reaper.

 
But then you're stuck with Reaper However, I will say Komplete rocks.
 

One final point: if the plugins in Sonar are good, why should people want to buy these +10db products at their regular prices?

 
If Kontakt is so good (and it is), why does Komplete include a whole bunch of other soft synths? Why do guitar players use more than one guitar? Same principle.