Slate Digital VCC Plugin | Critical Listening Experiment | Can You Hear The Difference?

[@Av414ncheTMC]

I feel like Trident was the only emulation I was able to confidently distinguish and hear those highlighted high frequencies. I don't think I heard any significant difference in those other emulations, but maybe I wasn't listening right or just did not know what to listen for. Wish I knew how to learn to listen to these things and hear the difference... Thanks for the video!

[@AudioSorcerer]

Thanks for checking out the video! Yes, the Trident one definitely has some noticeable characteristics! 🤘🤘🤘

[@JordanNexhip]

The brit 4k E sounds slightly louder to me compared to the others, maybe just my imagination?? Nice song btw :)

[@AudioSorcerer]

Thanks! Which is your favorite console model?

[@JordanNexhip]

@@AudioSorcerer I think the brit 4k E but honestly its hard for me to tell the difference between them

[@youngflamez4206]

Brit4kG sounded the best 🔥

[@AudioSorcerer]

That's definitely one of my favorites! 🤘

[@adijames]

Would have been good to hear each console disabled/enabled during the audio to get a better feel for what each was bringing. Also did you have the meters switched off as I couldn’t see how much your were driving them. API and Trident sounded brighter - were any other plugins active further in the chain?

[@AudioSorcerer]

All the VU meters were hitting 0 per track. There was further processing down the chain.

[@contraspower6302]

Can i use this as a send so that i can save some cpu? Or i have to use it as an insert?

[@AudioSorcerer]

This should be used as an insert.

[@crawlingman7003]

For character, shouldn’t the meter be bouncing into the red?

[@AudioSorcerer]

Those were static pictures as I was demoing it. 0 is the optimal level on the VU meter, but if you want some extra console saturation you can drive it into the red.

[@crawlingman7003]

@ ah- static photo. Got it.

[@TsosmiLosGizmoXou]

which of these emulation do you think is the best for a hip hop vocal verse?

[@AudioSorcerer]

Use API 👍

[@TsosmiLosGizmoXou]

ty@@AudioSorcerer

[@MadDogE134]

why didn't you sum them into their respective buses? the VCC has both channel and bus components and in my opinion to get the most out of each variation one should use the matching summing component. cheers

[@AudioSorcerer]

I might have had the bus versions on also but didn't display them in the video. I made this a while ago so I can't remember off the top of my head.

[@sozbeat]

Thanks for this lesson ... Where should I add this vcc plugin ?

[@AudioSorcerer]

It should be the first plugin in your chain or the second if you are using the Slate VTM.

[@kingtrevi]

i really only heard the tridant it sounded the cleanest, I think it would have helped a bit to be changing them live, because by the time the next one started I already kind of forgot what the one before sounded like lol

[@AudioSorcerer]

That's fair, I was debating about how I wanted to go about doing it lol. The trident definitely has a cool sound to it. 🤘🤘🤘

[@michaelcosstickmusic]

I liked the Trident the best followed by USA

[@AudioSorcerer]

The Trident is definitely dope! 👍

[@davidlingard7369]

The reason I checked out this tutorial is because I’ve just got the slate all access bundle which I’m very pleased with,except for this virtual console which to my ears doesn’t seem to be doing a great deal to the point I was wondering weather I had it installed properly,your video seems to confirm this as I can’t tell much of a difference between any of the settings,I have noticed on the video your plugin seems to have little blue lights lit up which mine doesn’t seem to have,hence why I was wondering weather mine was installed properly,could you confirm this? Thanks,great vids by the way.

[@commonsense5188]

To be honest, I was messing around with it earlier and threw it across several tracks in a current mix that I have yet to start. I selected the different modules and even pushed them as hard as possible and I hear just about nothing. Perhaps one of the console choices had MAYBE a little more "depth" but I'm reaching even claiming that but overall, it was essentially nothing in the grand scheme of things. With that said, I expected at least SOMETHING to be even subtly different when flipping through the consoles and even driving the hell out of them, considering a decent amount of hype online for the VCC. Nope, nothing. Yes, I am experienced and I have what I like to think are great ears and I can hear very minute changes in things, but this really left a LOT to be desired.

[@davidlingard7369]

@@commonsense5188 Yeah seems a lot of people don’t hear much of a difference,snake oil maybe?

[@commonsense5188]

@@davidlingard7369 That was my initial thought. However, seeing as how I never really messed with the VCC since I've had slate plugs I just threw them across 12 tracks in a mix that I've yet to start as I previously mentioned. I heard nothing remarkable. After I wrote that message last night I went back and looked at that session and realized I made an error in my test as I was just trying to get a quick feel for VCC. That error was not gain staging as I usually do. I gain-staged those 10 or 12 tracks, (no vocals have been laid yet) and left the settings at default and threw one instance of VCC mix bus on the master out since I don't even have individual busses set up for that mix yet. Just a kick, snare, hi hat, 808, ambient background noise track, a one shot drone horn sound, and some one shot sounds here and there in the beat for texture. That's all the track consists of. Sure as shit, when I A/B them back and forth, there most certainly is a difference. It wasn't night and day, but with just the default VCC across all tracks, the mix did, to my surprise, sound more alive, full and had far more depth. I figured it was just placebo, but that wasn't it, as I was expecting to hear nothing as I did in my initial test. I certainly wasn't biased in a the respect that I was EXPECTING something magical, because I certainly wasn't. But every time I bypassed VCC, the mix did in fact, feel flatter, lost that perceived "depth" and sounded far more digital. I'm still on the fence, but I plan to lay vocals for this track tonight and I'll keep playing with VCC more in-depth on this mix before I make my final decision on this particular aspect of Slate plugs. Interesting to say the least.

[@davidlingard7369]

@@commonsense5188 since I’ve been using the slate plugs I must admit my mixes do sound a lot better and I’m really pleased that I went for the all access bundle,it was just this one plugin I was struggling to hear what it was doing.

[@commonsense5188]

@@davidlingard7369 I suggest playing with it some more. I was quite shocked last night.