[leeperry]

nice, at some point I liked that one:
 
I also tried the SPL you mentioned, yes it sounds very good! their Vitalizer plugin also adds a nice touch.
 
but tbh, they all color the sound...it's funny for a few days then it gets kinda odd. I prefer to listen to my LT1363 opamps "color", they sound so amazing on a good PSU

 

[ironmine]

TubeSaturator is a very resource-hungry plugin, my computer is not strong enough to use it real time. Got to try it though by pre-processing the tracks first.

 

[leeperry]

I think my fav tube plugin is still OzoneMP:
 
It has a parametric EQ section so I can kill my middle ear resonances...this plugin just sounds great, and in 24int it even makes foobar sound fairly acceptable, who would have thought \o/
 
And it also has a room simulator that works great for xfeed, much like Isone Pro.

 

[Argyris]

I hate having to necrobump (well, it's a few months ago), but I'll put in another vote for the Crow Preamp Emulator. It's interesting to see, now that I've searched, that other Head-Fi'ers have tried this before me. I've known about this VST for a long time. It's excellent for recording, and I use it on every vocal track I lay down. It never occurred to me until just yesterday to use with Foobar. It's too early to say for sure whether I like it, but with a DT880 it really takes the edge off, at the expense of the airiness (perhaps an artificial quality, anyway) these headphones are known for. The soundstage might have collapsed somewhat, or that may just be a trick of perception. Overall I'm enjoying the sound so far. I'll test for a while and see if that holds up. I'm hoping it will make listening sessions less fatiguing. Early indications are promising.
 
I'm just curious as to how accurate an emulation of tubes this VST is. (Or at least some tubes, as I know that's a blanket term). If the answer is "fairly accurate" or "with the right setup it would sound similar" then I'll seriously consider purchasing the real thing.

 

[germanium]

While I'm not posting about tube DSP's I would like to make note that tube & solid state sound has been coverging slowly for many many years to the point that some tube designs sound so close to solid state & visa versa that one can easily be fooled by some designs. I had a friend build such a tube amp that was extremely transperant & sounded very much like a outragiously well done solid state amp but with a few notable exceptions.
 
1. the bass even though was extremely articulate (more solid state like) still had some vestiges of tube roundness to its sound.
 
2. The mids & highs were far better than any vintage tube amp & much more like solid state but much better even than that as there was a new found sense of dynamics that even the solid state amps lacked. This was explaned to me as it is because of the lack of of any negative feedback in this amp. Everything was crystal clear like a well designed solid state but without harshness of early solid state & without any sense of constriction present in even good solid state to this day. 
 
Anouther demonstration of this fact was given by one of our club members Victor Tiscareno at the time who was a manufacturer (Audio Prism) who was later bought out by Mark Levinson & became part of Mark Levinsons Red Rose line of tube amps. These amps in thier original state could be used with or without feedback. Without feedback they sounded glorious but with negative feedback they sounded more constricted, like everything was flatened like a pancake, much like even much of todays solid state. Note that these amps actually had more power available with feedback than without but sounded more robust in every way without the feedback.

 

[westsounds]

Just giving an old thread a bump here. Anyone know of any modern tube (valve) amplifier software simulators around, and free would be nice? Just want something simple to use with a media player. Looking for that warmth lush sound without dragging any tube amps around with the PC

 

[ironmine]

Just giving an old thread a bump here. Anyone know of any modern tube (valve) amplifier software simulators around, and free would be nice? Just want something simple to use with a media player. Looking for that warmth lush sound without dragging any tube amps around with the PC

Waves Arts Tube Saturator Vintage

Klanghelm SDRR

 

[westsounds]

Waves Arts Tube Saturator Vintage

Klanghelm SDRR

Thanks very much for that, just looking into those now. Hopefully I can apply them in my media players, not sure if the paid one was worth the cost over the free though, but at least its not expensive.

Despite purists who say that nothing emulated will ever come close to the real thing, I actually don't think its going to be long until it can be done possibly identically by means of software. Things are advancing in programming all the time and even though I see the theory of its impossible to replicate something physical, if the programs are advanced enough I cant see why it cant, even down to the individual tubes used. All I want is something valve'ish anyway to perhaps make audiobooks sound more pleasant or warmer from the effect or even some music.

I did try the ozone thingy that was the Winamp plug-in, a nice attempt I thought, but it gave a bit too much of a reverby type effect for my liking.

 

[ironmine]

Thanks very much for that, just looking into those now. Hopefully I can apply them in my media players, not sure if the paid one was worth the cost over the free though, but at least its not expensive.

Despite purists who say that nothing emulated will ever come close to the real thing, I actually don't think its going to be long until it can be done possibly identically by means of software. Things are advancing in programming all the time and even though I see the theory of its impossible to replicate something physical, if the programs are advanced enough I cant see why it cant, even down to the individual tubes used. All I want is something valve'ish anyway to perhaps make audiobooks sound more pleasant or warmer from the effect or even some music.

I did try the ozone thingy that was the Winamp plug-in, a nice attempt I thought, but it gave a bit too much of a reverby type effect for my liking.

I am not sure what you mean by "media player", but you can use VST plugins (individually or as chains) with Foobar or any other software player that can accept VST plugins.

 

[westsounds]

I am not sure what you mean by "media player", but you can use VST plugins (individually or as chains) with Foobar or any other software player that can accept VST plugins.

I meant a media player within windows, as in Windows Media Player, VLC Media Player, or Foobar etc. I can see they have plug-in options, not quite sure how I get these VSTs to 'plug in' yet so the effect is in place though. I managed with the winamp ozone, but that was relatively straight forward.

 

[ironmine]

I meant a media player within windows, as in Windows Media Player, VLC Media Player, or Foobar etc. I can see they have plug-in options, not quite sure how I get these VSTs to 'plug in' yet so the effect is in place though. I managed with the winamp ozone, but that was relatively straight forward.

For Foobar, I use George Yohng's VST Wrapper + any VST chainer/VST host (I prefer ART Teknika Console).

 

[westsounds]

For Foobar, I use George Yohng's VST Wrapper + any VST chainer/VST host (I prefer ART Tekhnika Console).

Thanks very much for that, I got the tube saturator working with Foobar with your help there. Its not bad, it does add a little something to the sound I think. Using the presets on Warm-a-mix its ok, very subtle but ok.

I appreciate your help.

 

[ironmine]

Thanks very much for that, I got the tube saturator working with Foobar with your help there. Its not bad, it does add a little something to the sound I think. Using the presets on Warm-a-mix its ok, very subtle but ok.

I appreciate your help.

I found this one also to be very good: TDR VOS SlickEQ – Gentleman’s Edition

Seven output stages: Linear, Silky, Mellow, Deep, Excited, Toasted and Funky

You can use this output stage modes in conjunction with EQ options or without them.
Here's an excerpt from its manual (page 15):

 

[westsounds]

I found this one also to be very good: TDR VOS SlickEQ – Gentleman’s Edition

Seven output stages: Linear, Silky, Mellow, Deep, Excited, Toasted and Funky

You can use this output stage modes in conjunction with EQ options or without them.
Here's an excerpt from its manual (page 15):

This looks very good, I will check it out, thanks