Just had a bit of a play around with these. Knew about them years ago but only just recently installed them again and had a play around (now that I know a lot more I enjoyed it much more!).

Wow. Amazing. I love how far you can push these things! I smashed a drum bus with the different compressors and compared to the ProChannel comps and wow. They really do work a lot differently. I can finally start to hear it all happening! Completely different handling of everything. Transients, how it swells, how different frequencies pump in different ways. Amazing. I don't can how close they are to the real thing, but they sound really great either way.

That pultec copy eq. Damn.... I don't know what the hell it did to my kick drum but it sounds HUGE! The ProChannel eq couldn't get near it! Can't wait to experiment with that baby some more. It's a little weird to use, so still got to understand all the knobs, but I'm sure it won't take long. New favourite plugs. Sexy. Yum. I think the pultec was my fav so far..

And for those again that have not heard about them yet, they are FREE!!!

I say there are too many of them. I am always a bit wary when they offer so many plug-ins for free. It means they may be OK but they are more than likely not brilliant. I am confused anyway in terms of the download. I found a Zip file and after extracting that there was a RAR file and after that nothing so I could not even get them to work. What link did you use to get them?

That Pultec EQ may be all right but I would say it is no real Pultec. And it seems Matt that was really the only one you loved so why not do it properly and get this:

http://www.nomadfactory.c...ts/pulsetec/index.html

I have got this and it is very very good. I am amazed by it in fact. I was lucky to get t for $30 as a no brainer recently but I can tell you it will cream the Antress version for sure. 

I have got this and it is very very good. I am amazed by it in fact. I was lucky to get t for $30 as a no brainer recently but I can tell you it will cream the Antress version for sure.

Do you have any readouts of the filters in place to confirm that?  I use the UAD Pultec Pro if I need that 'push-pull' style of EQ but trust the Antress version of it is also pleasing.

There are some simplistic gems among the Antress plugs that use some pretty sound and widely available algo's.  Just because you don't have to pay for them doesn't mean you won't find some useful stuff there.

TBH I find most of the NF stuff pretty average too.

SOS seems to use the Antress Modern Plugs from time to time in there Mix Resque.  There are a ton of them and because of that, I have them all, and have not had a chance to try even half of them.  I used to use their version of the LA2A plug before I got the Pro Channel one and I thought it was an OK version.

I guess I need to try out the Pultec copy yet, Matt. 

Jonbouy


TBH I find most of the NF stuff pretty average too.

Ditto. Talk about a relatively small company which releases plug-ins by the dozen - always gave me the feeling that they might be cutting a few corners... 


I do have Magnetic (which at the time was a big improvement on my previous tape sim plug-ins), but compared to Waves MPX or McDSP AC202, it seems to fall in the category of plug-ins that put the emphasis on the most obvious characteristics but fails to nail the details. Good for exaggerated stuff/special effects. Same for the Analog Mastering Suite. 


So all in all, it is pretty much the same criticism that was voiced towards Antress. 

Of course, it can work - like any plug-in can work.


Can't speak of their Pultec because the 2 products I won and the few demos I've tried made me lose my interest in NF products. I highly doubt that it's be significantly better than the other Pultec models out there (IK, Waves, UAD, etc).

Jeff, just from their website - v4.95.

http://antress.blogspot.com/

It's a double rar but all the .dll's are inside the second rar. I didn't have any issues getting them out.


I'd be interested to hear you give it a try. I don't have any reference other than normal eq's I have used before, but it did amazing things that they couldn't do. Maybe it doesn't sound like the real thing, but it sounds good to me regardless!

I did really like the Fairchild, LA-2A and 1176 emulators too. They each seemed very different. Didn't really care too much for the Distressor emulator though.

All over I spent only about 20 mins play with those above plugs so I still really need to put some decent hours into them to see how they really perform but I'm happy with my initial response. I just don't have any 'pro level' gear to compare to.

But just cause it's free, doesn't mean it ain't good! I'd be really interested to see what you think of them compared to some of the stuff you have.

Haha, Rain, just saw you post on Pensado's Place link and I thought "hey! I recognise that profile picture!" You want a brand new C600 do you?

Thanks Matt. I did manage to extract the properly after a second shot, not sure what happened before. I will give them a shot for sure. I have got some mixing and mastering type situations that they could be tested in.

I am not familiar with much of the Nomad stuff other than the Pultec EQ and I only jumped in because it was so cheap but I have been pretty amazed at how good it sounds. I can highly recommend it. It sounds great. I might do some comparisons of the Nomad vs the Antress Pultec EQ and let you know what I find.

mattplaysguitar


Haha, Rain, just saw you post on Pensado's Place link and I thought "hey! I recognise that profile picture!" You want a brand new C600 do you?

Sure! It's got knobs and sliders and leds - who wouldn't? :P


Now you know why I use this nick name - besides the fact that it stuck to me ever since I was 16 - no one here would be able to pronounce my name. ;)

Just had another play around with my new toys. Tried the Distressor, 1176, Fairchild, LA-2A, SSL, Blockfish and Sonitus. On drums. Pretty heavily compressed so I could really hear the character of each. I'm now sold on compressors! Wow! Each one sounds just SO different. They treat each part of the spectrum completely different. Some make the kick draw out long. Some stay tight. Some keep a tight kick but bring out the verb of the kick. Not to mention the pumping in the higher frequencies, the feel of the attack, EVERYTHING!

For anyone who is struggling to hear one compressor vs another - DO THIS TEST! Each on has such a different character. I can really see a purpose for each one and when you might want to use it. I think I like the 1176 most on drums cause pushed hard it adds some nice grit (which the 'Distressor' also does) and adds a nice pumping and good tight but big kick sound. The 'Distressor adds a similar grit and dirt (a bit more edgy than the 1176) but without the super big compressed feel so much. Doesn't pump as nicely and recover as quick. Fairchild and LA-2A were pretty useless sounding the way I was using them at least. Not fast enough.

So if you're like me one week ago where I thought it was all a myth and different compressors didn't have a different sound, TRY THIS OUT!!!!!!



Sorry for all you folks who had the 'ah ha!' moment many ears ago and you got to listen to my drooling ;)