http://resolution.nodecube.net/vote/nominations.php

Interesting, considering it is only 32bit and does not support midi/VSTi... 

Nominated, not won. Big difference. Also it is up against Nuendo 6 and Pyramix 8 too which are pretty stellar apps. Also you are only getting those readers of that particular mag (which I have never heard of either) opinion. Not a real or accurate representation in any form. I don't believe any readers polls on any of this really. It is about what you find real people using in real situations that count.
 
Mixbus is still an inferior app (to me just to qualify) so none of this makes any difference to me or many others too I would imagine.
 
But I have had an idea and I am going to buy it and try it and take Larry's advice. I think it is a good idea. Thanks Larry for bringing this subject up. It is all good as far as I am concerned. I may not mix entire projects in it but it might be excellent for mastering though. I have been doing a lot of mastering lately and yes I do remember how that real Harrison sounded and it was definitely fat.
 
BTW after they sold the Harrison and the 2" 24 track (for $10,000 and the guy was there at 7am in the morning with a crane!) they put in a Control 24 (old model) Pro Tools rig and I was in that control room for some reason after the Harrison was removed and what I heard was terrible. I could not believe how thin the sound was in there. It was an audio school that I was teaching at and I wanted them to keep the Harrison and the 2" 24 track and get the 24 channel PT rig in there as well. Harrison had the facility would you believe to connect another complete 24 IN/OUT recording device to the desk and switch between the two, dub from one to the other and have them both in the mix at the same time using the tape returns as well as the channels which are all active at once!
 
Update Have bought and dowloaded. For the price a definite no brainer as they say. I got the video tutorials too. They look good. As soon as I have finished some mixes I will put it into mastering mode and see how it goes. Looking forward to it. Will report back with some feedback.

Jeff Evans
I may not mix entire projects in it but it might be excellent for mastering though. I have been doing a lot of mastering lately and yes I do remember how that real Harrison sounded and it was definitely fat.
 
 

+1

Here's the Harrison MixBus Tutorial Page on YouTube...for those who desire to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtL1SAmjANxmLD_mILAx3Zg

Hi Jeff,
 
Definitely looking forward to your feedback and thoughts. If I recall correctly it would accept 3rd party 32bit plugs.
 
Kind regards,
Rick

OK, install is fine and it looks good. Bear in mind I am setting it up for a mastering chain first, not so much in a mix capacity. There are lots of things to fiddle with in terms of compressors eq's here and there which is nice. It is great that it scans and installs your plugins which is cool so you can set them up too as part of your signal chain.  It is very intuitive. I have not looked at the manual or the video tutorials yet but have found my way around easily. I like the K metering options.
 
It does sound nice but I have not done anything significant yet. Tape Saturation looks good too. I think you have to use that in just the right amounts.
 
I took the plunge and bought the mastering multiband compressor because that is what I need most right now. It looks cool. I have found my around it but not any specific manual. I have asked Harrison where the multiband compressor manual might be. (Larry any ideas? Do you have it?) But it is easy to figure out. What I do like is that while the multiband is compressing even hard it sounds like it is not which is very good. Very transparent operation.
 
I tried the demo for the Cytomic 'The Glue' compressor but was not overwhelmed at it's sound or how that worked over a complex mix. It might be a better buss compressor. Danny likes the API2500 and I am keen to get that one too but the Harrison compressor sounds pretty good so far. I have got a Pultec EQ and the Xenon limiter and will put that before and after the Harrison compressor. I like the concept of the multiple mix busses for mastering too.
 
 
 
 
 

The compressor does not have a manual but Harrison referred me to this video that covers a few things including that compressor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qma1dfLPRrU
 
It is interesting in how it can be setup. I will need more time with the compressor over a whole mix to really assess it.
 
With MixBus in general it certainly is laid out like a Harrison console. I like the way the built in EQ is organised. It is different EQ on the tracks (including a variable HPF)  busses and the master buss. The tracks have the most control with the busses a little different and simpler EQ and on the masterbuss there is a Low, Low Mid and high. That Low/Mid EQ is just the ticket for cleaning up low end energy build up in that 200-300 Hz area. The Low and High controls are nice for end of spectrum fine tuning.
 
The controls operate very smooth like and seem to have subtle amounts of effect at times rather than drastic boosts and cuts. Ideal for mastering situations. A lot of EQ control can be applied without any additional plugins. But obviously more if you involve your own plugins. The UAD stuff all scans in OK. There are some issues with some of your plugs but most all work fine.
 
There are dynamics processors on tracks, busses and the masterbuss too. I am not familiar with them yet but they seem like they can do quite a lot and have simple but effective controls to alter their settings.
 
The tape saturation controls seem to add something nice when used at low drive settings. The K meter seems to be calibrated to a fixed ref level of K-14 which is fine because I use that a lot. It would be good if that ref level could be switched to the other K levels, perhaps in an update.
 
 

Bruce and Quincy doing the Mix on MJ's Thriler...

I am really enjoying Mixbus a lot as a mastering tool. It sounds truly excellent. The Sonar LP64 won't work inside Mix Bus unfortunately. (The Sonar Multiband does for some reason though) Although I have got Pultec EQ I decided to take a second plunge and get the Mastering EQ and I must say it is very good tool. The way you can draw curves is very cool. Top marks for the way the windows resize to any size. You can have lots of windows open and move them around easily to show lots of things during a mastering session.
 
I am getting very nice results from using the Harrison Mastering EQ followed by their mastering Multiband compressor. I really like how this compressor works. Then I am using PSP Xenon to finish things off and it does that nicely. Tracks can be very punchy, quite transient yet loud at the same time.
 
I like the idea of going into a dedicated Mastering tool now for this process and MixBus is a great contender for this role. The track EQ is still there if you want it and the masterbuss eq too. I am going to master a few projects in it and see how they come out. The tape sim is quite nice although on some of the more modern sounding stuff it is easier to leave it off. It works with other things in small doses.
 
A Tip. If scan all your plugins you will end up with heaps being inside MixBus and some of them will crash it for various reasons. Many you won't need like virtual instruments (yet anyway) I found a good idea is to create a fresh new folder somewhere close to where your VST's are. Just copy any DLL's into that folder that you think you will need to work inside Mixbus. Leave them also in their original positions. Then get Mixbus to just scan in your new folder. It will do it in a flash and when you go to insert plugins you just get the Harrison choices and the plugins inside your new folder only. It ends up being much less cluttered. Also if you only have plugins in there that don't crash Mixbus then you will never crash it again.

Double Post