Arturia Bus EXCITER 104 plugin review

[@misterleif]

Thanks for this! I would have liked to hear the effect of changing the Harmonics knob, but all-in-all a quite thorough walk-through.

[@tecraven]

Darn, there is always something that gets missed with these things - sorry about that. Glad you enjoyed it though. Harmonics knob works rather well, it's quite subtle compared to the other knobs.

[@garyking4032]

I had that 104 mark 2 until recently. This confirms that software can replace outboard rack mounts. It's bittersweet, as I loved those 19 inch attacks of fun.

[@DerekPower]

The one used in the 1970s was actually the 402 model. It was also to solve a problem of bringing back high-end character lost during overdubbing (see Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours). The 104 came out in the 1990s and it introduced the “Big Bottom” feature. Of course, the Vulture Culture actually went to 11 but that’s another story 😉

[@tecraven]

;) Good point. I could not remember the model of the original, but I know (and mentioned on this video) that the 'later' model had Big Bottom. I think the way I worded it in the video was that the original Aphex Exciter came out in the 70s and the later one introduced Big Bottom circuitry, which they had to as the competition started to add bass stuff so Aphex followed.

[@sparella]

Thanks for the demo. Maybe you could re-upload it in stereo?

[@MarkyGoldstein]

Any type of such processing also plays with phase, and definition might suffer. Use it, but use it with caution, one some tracks. In any case, use your ears.

[@tecraven]

Agreed, I grossly exaggerated the settings for the purposes of the video, in reality it would be very subtle to the point of being barely audible. I’ve always said that if you do A/B switching and it is obvious then there is way too much dialled in.

[@SamuelWebster]

Is this process similar to what a BBE Sonic Maximiser does?

[@tecraven]

Samuel, I'm not familiar with the BBE Sonic Maximiser, but just Googled it and read a few answers about what it does. One person says 'It re-eqs your signal and does some phase change on some frequencies. Basically it removes mids and emphasizes highs and lows. It's a tool to make your signal sound like car stereo after loudness button. ' So this gives me an idea and if this is accurate then, no, the Bus Exciter 104 works differently. I havn't heard the BBE so can't comment on how similar the final results would be compared to the Exciter.

[@sparella]

No, not similar. Sonic Maximizer has a low shelf EQ control, an always-on all-pass filter, and a dynamic high shelf EQ control.