bos
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Slate FX-G
Wondering if anyone is using the Slate FX-G mastering plug? I am thinking of going that direction to get away from L3 MultiMax, but I was hoping to hear from someone who had used the FX-G before I spend the $.
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ltb
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Re:Slate FX-G
2011/01/09 18:52:05
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I have it & like it for the most part. There are a few bugs though. For myself (using X1, 8.5) the x64v doesn't show up, only x86. The preset manager is buggy & can crash. Supposedly there's an update to be released soon too, don't know what fixes though. Certain features like Transients/ ITP / Dynamic Perception are a bit tricky to get used to. I tend only to use the Dyn Perc set around 3-4, ITP 0 or lower on moderate pop/rock material. The metering is nice & I really like the comp. The best way to hear if it's suited to your material is to try demo. IMO it's better suited for rock than say quieter material. Check GearSlutz too to read a bit what's going on with it here- http://www.gearslutz.com/...igital-fg-x-1-1-a.html It's not the end all but works great in certain situations (like all tools)
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yorolpal
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Re:Slate FX-G
2011/01/10 18:47:10
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I've got it and like it quite a bit. Haven't had the troubles that Carl has. If you want LOUD and transparent...or to retain you transients...this baby will do it. Another limiter you might look at...which takes way less CPU and is VERY good is the new Pro-L from fabfilter. Have that too and it is my go to limiter. www.fabfilter.com
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Philip
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 00:10:37
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I have the Slate fxg demo and, per Yorolpal, the thing is seemingly the loudest most transparent limiter out there ... making it a must have for transient enhancement of bass and treble drums. I've tested it against some of my pro-mastered tracks and have been ashamed to discover that the Slate 1) exceeds in preserving transients ... for today's intensive dance paradigms. 2) wins the loudness race by a hefty margin Fabfilter, Elephant, Xenon, and Slate are perhaps the main contenders for MEs, I suppose. But Slate, TBH, will probably triumph once the 'conservative rock paradigms' die out. Today I listened to scores of 'classic rock and oldies' where bass-transients were necessarily ignored. I then listened to my pro-mastered stuff. Finally I listened to the Slate FX-G on my latest stuff ... and was repeatedly shocked! ... by how much fuller and clearer the Slate-Maximized the transients ... with 9dcbs of headroom ... glue-ing the masterbuss with loud transients. After 3+ weeks of experimentation ... I repeatedly concluded that the Slate is well ahead of its time for dance genres, and that I'd be a fool to expect Ozone 5 to come within 2-3 dcbls of Slate's dance clarity. The CPU strain (while equivalent to Ozone 5) is not as bad as the 32-bit Waves L maximizers choking within 64-bit Sonar. *If* I were to use the Slate on Drum busses or vocal-beatz :):):) ... I'd bounce the Slate(s) after maximizing the beatz to the upper realms ... that way I'd have just one instance on the master-buss. (Of course its a dangerous thing to squash things twice, and I'd probably proceed with caution) Because its $250 (everywhere) ... I'll try to wait for a price-break during this depression-season.
post edited by Philip - 2012/01/10 00:22:54
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inaheartbeat
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 07:36:54
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Philip
I have the Slate fxg demo and, per Yorolpal, the thing is seemingly the loudest most transparent limiter out there ... making it a must have for transient enhancement of bass and treble drums.
I've tested it against some of my pro-mastered tracks and have been ashamed to discover that the Slate
1) exceeds in preserving transients ... for today's intensive dance paradigms.
2) wins the loudness race by a hefty margin
Fabfilter, Elephant, Xenon, and Slate are perhaps the main contenders for MEs, I suppose. But Slate, TBH, will probably triumph once the 'conservative rock paradigms' die out.
Today I listened to scores of 'classic rock and oldies' where bass-transients were necessarily ignored. I then listened to my pro-mastered stuff. Finally I listened to the Slate FX-G on my latest stuff ... and was repeatedly shocked! ... by how much fuller and clearer the Slate-Maximized the transients ... with 9dcbs of headroom ... glue-ing the masterbuss with loud transients.
After 3+ weeks of experimentation ... I repeatedly concluded that the Slate is well ahead of its time for dance genres, and that I'd be a fool to expect Ozone 5 to come within 2-3 dcbls of Slate's dance clarity.
The CPU strain (while equivalent to Ozone 5) is not as bad as the 32-bit Waves L maximizers choking within 64-bit Sonar.
*If* I were to use the Slate on Drum busses or vocal-beatz :):):) ... I'd bounce the Slate(s) after maximizing the beatz to the upper realms ... that way I'd have just one instance on the master-buss. (Of course its a dangerous thing to squash things twice, and I'd probably proceed with caution)
Because its $250 (everywhere) ... I'll try to wait for a price-break during this depression-season.
Interesting analysis. Have you had a chance to compare head to head with the FabFilter Pro-L? I see you mentioned it. I was wondering if you thought there was that much of a difference. I have it and think it is awesome but it is always nice to know if there is something out there worth giving a look to. Ken
PC Audio Labs mobile i7 MC, 3.46 Ghz i7 990X, 12 Gb RAM, 3 750 Gb 7200 RPM drives, 3 USB2, 2 USB 3 ports, firewire, Windows 7 64 bit Pro, Sonar X3e Producer 64 bit,
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DeeringAmps
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 09:21:00
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I haven't had a chance to really "dig" into it but the FX-G is pretty easy to use. A little more "intuitive" for me at this point than the Pro-L (the Pro-Q just makes sense to me, but that's off topic). I would leave their presets alone, meaning don't try to rename and save; it crashes here!  So I do this instead  (I know that shot is not the FX-G, but I'm not in the studio) Tom
Tom Deering Tascam FW-1884 User Resources Page Firewire "Legacy" Tutorial, Service Manual, Schematic, and Service Bulletins Win10x64 StudioCat Pro Studio Coffee Lake 8086k 32gb RAM  RME UFX (Audio) Tascam FW-1884 (Control) in Win 10x64 Pro
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LANEY
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 09:49:56
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I LOVE the FX-G it is good and loud! Works on my x64 just fine.
i7/16GB ram Win 7 x64 SONAR Platinum Producer x64 VS-700 C&R Octa-Capture and VS-100 for live recording
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ltb
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 09:54:21
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DeeringAmps
I haven't had a chance to really "dig" into it but the FX-G is pretty easy to use.
A little more "intuitive" for me at this point than the Pro-L (the Pro-Q just makes sense to me, but that's off topic).
I would leave their presets alone, meaning don't try to rename and save; it crashes here!
So I do this instead
(I know that shot is not the FX-G, but I'm not in the studio)
Tom
Read my post above from a year ago, there still isn't a fix. You cannot enter text for presets in Slate's FG-X, VCC & SSD4 in Sonar (works fine in other DAW's though) You need to copy/ paste text in most cases.
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yorolpal
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 10:46:06
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Yup, while not a deal breaker of any sort, it's pretty annoying not to be able to enter text into the SS products. For me even copy and paste sometimes are balky. Hope they get this worked out soon!
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DeeringAmps
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 12:29:26
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That crash report was the result of an attempt to "Copy and Paste".
I've got more....
But like our Ol' Pal says; "while not a deal breaker of any sort, it's pretty annoying".
T
Tom Deering Tascam FW-1884 User Resources Page Firewire "Legacy" Tutorial, Service Manual, Schematic, and Service Bulletins Win10x64 StudioCat Pro Studio Coffee Lake 8086k 32gb RAM RME UFX (Audio) Tascam FW-1884 (Control) in Win 10x64 Pro
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ltb
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 12:50:14
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yorolpal
Hope they get this worked out soon!
Don't hold your breath, I first reported it to support in 2010 without any success. It's a Sonar specific problem.
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bapu
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 15:46:54
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bos
Wondering if anyone is using the Slate FX-G mastering plug? I am thinking of going that direction to get away from L3 MultiMax, but I was hoping to hear from someone who had used the FX-G before I spend the $.
This song was mastered with it, FWIW.
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Philip
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/10 21:07:52
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inaheartbeat
Philip
I have the Slate fxg demo and, per Yorolpal, the thing is seemingly the loudest most transparent limiter out there ... making it a must have for transient enhancement of bass and treble drums.
I've tested it against some of my pro-mastered tracks and have been ashamed to discover that the Slate
1) exceeds in preserving transients ... for today's intensive dance paradigms.
2) wins the loudness race by a hefty margin
Fabfilter, Elephant, Xenon, and Slate are perhaps the main contenders for MEs, I suppose. But Slate, TBH, will probably triumph once the 'conservative rock paradigms' die out.
Today I listened to scores of 'classic rock and oldies' where bass-transients were necessarily ignored. I then listened to my pro-mastered stuff. Finally I listened to the Slate FX-G on my latest stuff ... and was repeatedly shocked! ... by how much fuller and clearer the Slate-Maximized the transients ... with 9dcbs of headroom ... glue-ing the masterbuss with loud transients.
After 3+ weeks of experimentation ... I repeatedly concluded that the Slate is well ahead of its time for dance genres, and that I'd be a fool to expect Ozone 5 to come within 2-3 dcbls of Slate's dance clarity.
The CPU strain (while equivalent to Ozone 5) is not as bad as the 32-bit Waves L maximizers choking within 64-bit Sonar.
*If* I were to use the Slate on Drum busses or vocal-beatz :):):) ... I'd bounce the Slate(s) after maximizing the beatz to the upper realms ... that way I'd have just one instance on the master-buss. (Of course its a dangerous thing to squash things twice, and I'd probably proceed with caution)
Because its $250 (everywhere) ... I'll try to wait for a price-break during this depression-season.
Interesting analysis. Have you had a chance to compare head to head with the FabFilter Pro-L? I see you mentioned it. I was wondering if you thought there was that much of a difference. I have it and think it is awesome but it is always nice to know if there is something out there worth giving a look to.
Ken
Sorry, Ken, the only ones I compared to were Waves (L2), Ozone 5, and Elephant. TBH, the Slate fx-g made me 100% ashamed of these timid limiters: Ozone, Waves, and Elephant. OTOH, Elephant is priced at about $125, iirc, and has about as stout a reputation as the ancient Sonnox (another i-Lok2 loser) Another comparison might be the $250 PSP Xenox, which also employs transient workarounds :):):):). But I fear that even the venerable PSP limiter isn't going to win the loudness-glue race this round. Jeff Evans prefers the PSP limiter, iirc. Pro-MEs, like Jeff Evans and Danny Danzi, iirc: have been *un-happy* with the Slate fx-g. I suppose they don't use the Slate at all, iirc. I hope they chime. But also recall that these 2 MEs are ME's of elite genres. And Danny's masters are neither loud nor bass-intensive, IMHO. There are many reasons why loudness is not always goodness, per Katz and all, but, in song-sections and songs per se, the loudness-glue is a necessity ... it also seems excellent for my driving music, dance music, and skate music. Its too bad Slate is the winner, IMHO, for my roller skating and car-driving music in the highway jungle! Well, I've got to go roller skating!
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Philip
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Re:Slate FX-G
2012/01/11 12:53:07
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Hey! Maybe some of you (5-10) would like to try to get a group discount on the Slate fx-g.
Any of you interested? Any thoughts? $250 is a bit much for me right now.
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