Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Tube preamp plugin? (Read 18124 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Tube preamp plugin?

How I wish there was a tube plugin for those Foobar users who like the way valves can sweeten the sound of digital audio.

One very fun VST plugin I've seen lets you choose which tube to emulate, what frequency bands to include in the processing, the 'Q' of the processing, etc. Amazingly, the emulation really does reduce the edginess of the sound. At the very least, I can choose from among various tubes to vary the music to taste. Would be great when coupled with my Prodigy 24-bit 192kHz card resampling cdda to 24/96kHz!   

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #1 –
Quote
How I wish there was a tube plugin for those Foobar users who like the way valves can sweeten the sound of digital audio.


Have a go with foobars convolver dsp. It might be able to do what you want.
no conscience > no custom

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #2 –
There seem to be some tube amp presets available for convolver here.

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #3 –
Quote
Quote
How I wish there was a tube plugin for those Foobar users who like the way valves can sweeten the sound of digital audio.


Have a go with foobars convolver dsp. It might be able to do what you want.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=289786"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Ah... so convolver may be the key   
Sorry for not figuring that one out, the name and description are quite vague.

Thanks for the lead!

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #4 –
Quote
Ah... so convolver may be the key  
Sorry for not figuring that one out, the name and description are quite vague.

Thanks for the lead!

It would be interesting if you could say how it compares to the other dedicated tube simulators you have used. Ive used it for making poor quality voice recordings more listenable, I understand it sort of re-equalises and adds harmonics according to the given impulse file.
no conscience > no custom

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #5 –
You can consider it a very general effect modeler (linear time invariant systems), which includes any combination of delays, reverb, equalization,etc.

The impulses are exact descriptions of how a certain environment or effect reacts to an impulse signal. This is all that is needed to exactly emulate the effect or environment.

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #6 –
Tube amps may have some ~nonlinear characterists, like overdrive distortion as an extreme example. I wonder how noticable the difference is.
no conscience > no custom

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #7 –
I used to use iZotope Ozone (I think that's the name) for Winamp. It was the only DSP I ever thought worked well. I am trying the convolver right now.

Can someone explain how convolver works? I didn't quite undersatand what Garf said.

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #8 –
Quote
I used to use iZotope Ozone (I think that's the name) for Winamp. It was the only DSP I ever thought worked well. I am trying the convolver right now.

Can someone explain how convolver works? I didn't quite undersatand what Garf said.


I dont know very well, but theres a decent applet illustrating what convolution maths is doing here;
German Electronics Site

I think x(n) is like the audio and h(n) is like the impulse response.

Having a record of what a simple impulse sounds like in an environment or after a ~linear time invariant' effect  , the convolution math can generate what any complex sound will sound like after the environment or effect.

So to use the foo convolver, you finds your impulse response files, load them in, set the mix between the convolved sound and the origional and listen 

I hope thats on the right track
no conscience > no custom

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #9 –
Thanks everyone, for your contribution to this thread! It's great to know that there are people interested in tube emulation. Does anyone know if the foobar plugin to run winamp plugins actually works? If so, we would be able to use the isotope.

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #10 –
Quote
Thanks everyone, for your contribution to this thread! It's great to know that there are people interested in tube emulation. Does anyone know if the foobar plugin to run winamp plugins actually works? If so, we would be able to use the isotope.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=290384"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I think the plugin is only for winamp input plugins, not dsp effects.  Can someone else clarify this?  I don't use it based on that since foobar seems to play everything.

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #11 –
Not sure if anyone cares anymore, but  foo_dsp_Foobar2WinampPlugin.dll successfully supports izotope Ozone (it breathed about as much life as i could hope for from my 16 bit integrated card).  I am intrigued about this convolver because again it would require less "bloating" of foobar 2000.
The DSP is available on one of the pinned topics of 3rd party plugins

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #12 –
Quote
I am intrigued about this convolver because again it would require less "bloating" of foobar 2000.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=320503"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


And it certainly is a better idea than using any kind of spoony Winamp plugin wrappers.

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #13 –
I've been playing with a few impulse files, but i am curious as to how one should develop a personalized one (no use in using something if you dont have a more than basic understanding of how it works)

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #14 –
Quote
Thanks everyone, for your contribution to this thread! It's great to know that there are people interested in tube emulation. Does anyone know if the foobar plugin to run winamp plugins actually works? If so, we would be able to use the isotope.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=290384"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]



It does, I am using it right now. Only I am using the DX version of Izotope with a DX sonic maximizer. It sounds pretty rockingly amazing.

Just get the winAMP DSP plugin and the AdaptX plugin from the winAMP site. You can try that free along with Ozone for a week. Give it a go, you won't be dissapointed (until your trial runs up, that is).

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #15 –
Way Cool!!! 
Thanks I'll get right on it!

Long live Foobar!

Quote
It does, I am using it right now. Only I am using the DX version of Izotope with a DX sonic maximizer. It sounds pretty rockingly amazing.

Just get the winAMP DSP plugin and the AdaptX plugin from the winAMP site. You can try that free along with Ozone for a week. Give it a go, you won't be dissapointed (until your trial runs up, that is).
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=320651"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #16 –
Lately, I've developed an interest in simulating tube-warmth and had a play with convolver with the impulse files on Garf's site.  Admittedly I am not too familiar with the sound I should expect from a real vacuum tube amp, so how do people rate the convolver method?  Does it replicate the "tube warmth" well?

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #17 –
I can't vouch for it, but Garf seems to like it!

Tube preamp plugin?

Reply #18 –
Spoken from someone who has a master's in Computer Engineering and has taken Image and DSP processing. I do not believe any "plugin" will be able to adjust the harmonics correctly to give the "tube warmth". It's like trying to reverse the very mechanism with DSP correction, it never works out.

You can bring up even or odd harmonics, or even to the 11th order but the bottom line is you are still going through transistors. I've tried many tube amp plugins and seen the harmonic distortion, but what comes out after an amp + pre-amp, that are solid-state, does not line up. If anything it sounds too smooth and dead to me.

These plugins are likely DSP gimmicks based on mathematical convolving the source signal with some type of Fourier transform, offset, from the original wave. It's still a giant matrix.

The prob is that even if you solve the harmonics with convolving, you still have the issues of inability of the transistors to replicate the transient movements of tubes. It's like having a bottle-kneck in the whole system.

Hope this helps!

JAG