Favourite software for getting a warm "analog" sound

I know a lot of music producers now have no analog hardware (me included) for whatever reason. I only use software but I like my tracks to sound warm and analog'y, I've never liked very digital sounding music. My favourite software to use to achieve the warmer sound is Reason...I've used plenty of other software, I own Live, but I've always felt that my tracks using it sound more mechanical and digital. Same with Logic and Cubase (including various VST software such as synths, reverbs, distortion)...Maybe I need more practice I don't know, but I've always felt that I can detune and fatten things nicely with Reason.

The tape setting on Scream 4 is lovely (Scream 4 is a great distortion unit, still my favourite that I've used). Also the Thor synth is still amazing in my eyes. The oscillators are so nice and the filters sound lovely, it looks good and it's fucking easy as hell to use...I've always preferred lo-fi sounds in my productions (just an excuse?? ha) and I think Reason works best for me this way without simply sounding shit.

maybe it's just the look of Reason that makes me feel this way, not sure. Anyway, I know a lot of musicians here have used a lot of software and I'd be interested to talk about good software or techniques for achieving the kind of sound I'm talking about, only using a computer.

All DAWs work the same, so yeah, I guess you just find the effects/instruments easier to mix in reason? A lot of the warmth you get from analog equipment comes from the EQs built into D/A converters, and things like Dolby Noise reduction add to that effect. Dolby NR on wikipedia

In terms of getting warmth it's a matter of EQing things properly, and yeah, just widening some signals, and having some oscillators be slightly detuned like you said.

The thing that I like the most about the "analog" sound is the distortion, it sounds much nicer, and "warmer" like you said than digital distortion. You can find a lot of software effects that try to emulate the analog distortion sound, but I feel like a lot of them have too much aliasing (this'll be less of a problem when all music is recorded/rendered at higher than 44KHz) which gives the analog distortion a really obvious silibance that to me sounds like shitty FFT effects...

So yeah when I want to achieve that warm analog distortion, I actually send my signal through analog electronics. I boost the signal with a tube preamp before sending it into a VHS recorder, and then I transfer it back to digital but don't let the digital file clip.

  On 6/12/2011 at 9:55 PM, Tamas said:

A lot of the warmth you get from analog equipment comes from the EQs built into D/A converters

Brilliant.

  On 6/13/2011 at 2:10 AM, kakapo said:

  On 6/12/2011 at 9:55 PM, Tamas said:

A lot of the warmth you get from analog equipment comes from the EQs built into D/A converters

 

Brilliant.

Oops yeah meant the dolby NR, not the d/a converters, though some of them definitely have circuits that effect the sound, so it's not a completely pointless thing to mention!

Thanks for being such a helpful poster!

  On 6/13/2011 at 2:17 AM, Tamas said:

  On 6/13/2011 at 2:10 AM, kakapo said:

  On 6/12/2011 at 9:55 PM, Tamas said:

A lot of the warmth you get from analog equipment comes from the EQs built into D/A converters

 

Brilliant.

Oops yeah meant the dolby NR, not the d/a converters, though some of them definitely have circuits that effect the sound, so it's not a completely pointless thing to mention!

 

Thanks for being such a helpful poster!

Fuck off.

kinda figured this would at least get to reply #6 or so before it went sour

Yeah, was hoping for that too.

lol, kakapo schooled.

Ferox is pretty sweet

http://www.toneboosters.com/tb-ferox/

and you can do a lot with Frohmage..

http://www.ohmforce.com/ViewProduct.do?p=Frohmage

or maybe give some amp simulator a try..

http://www.voxengo.com/product/boogex/

..but at the end of the day, it's just down to mimic some key "qualities" of tape recording/early ADs..i.e. decrease in high-frequency presence, increased background noise (hiss), a kind of frequency modulation (caused by irregular tape motion during recording or playback) and some delay-based sound effect to cover the "tape echo", developed by the distance between the record and play heads..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel-to-reel_audio_tape_recording#Quality_aspects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow_%28recording%29

this better be a troll thread.

the topic title on itself. dayumn.

  On 6/13/2011 at 3:15 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

antares tube, TAL tube and TL's saturated driver are all great "analogue" distortion plugins in that they don't alias much.

 

but I mostly use a multiband distortion plugin i made in max (which also doesn't alias). <-PM me if you're interested in that one.

 

as for other ways for getting an "analogue" sound with software, try wow and flutter which will give you a very boc-y modulation on the pitch. also add in low amounts of noise (pink sounds best)

is there a flutter plugin for os x too? I remember some reaktor ensemble but I forgot the name

  On 6/13/2011 at 2:10 AM, kakapo said:

  On 6/12/2011 at 9:55 PM, Tamas said:

A lot of the warmth you get from analog equipment comes from the EQs built into D/A converters

 

Brilliant.

  On 6/13/2011 at 2:18 AM, kakapo said:

  On 6/13/2011 at 2:17 AM, Tamas said:

  On 6/13/2011 at 2:10 AM, kakapo said:

  On 6/12/2011 at 9:55 PM, Tamas said:

A lot of the warmth you get from analog equipment comes from the EQs built into D/A converters

 

Brilliant.

Oops yeah meant the dolby NR, not the d/a converters, though some of them definitely have circuits that effect the sound, so it's not a completely pointless thing to mention!

 

Thanks for being such a helpful poster!

 

Fuck off.

LOL

  On 6/13/2011 at 9:14 AM, futureimage said:

Oh yeah :sup:

i recently tried recording my stuff onto tape and then back

if I was really trying to go for some sort of lush, deep synth/ambient sound I would probably go with it.

actually, the coolest thing was that my 'orchestral' stuff, when put through the tape machine, sounded like really old recordings of an old jazz/orchestra playing weird music. it was a really nice effect

'Analog Warmth' in Ableton :P

I like the RS124 Compressor:

http://www.abbeyroadplugins.com/product_about_rs124_compressor_43389.aspx

Maybe it's just in my head but it seems to warm up tracks.

You could also get a mini cassette recorder and record your track then re-sample from the mini cassette recorder to use as a quiet layer underneath the mix to give it some more character, won't really be warmth but might get you closer to what you want.

Vintage Warmer ffs.

lol

Record from computer to tape, then tape to computer.

  On 6/13/2011 at 9:14 AM, futureimage said:

D16 Groups Devastor is the warmest software distortion unit I've heard (which apparently means it has little to no aliasing)((never understood what aliasing really was before I just googled it)

I just got their total bundle which has the Redoptor v1.2.0 - Vintage Tube Distortion. I'm really excited to hear these units.

The UAD's by Universal Audio have some really really good analog unit emulations.

  On 6/16/2011 at 7:21 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

D16 Groups Devastor is the warmest software distortion unit I've heard (which apparently means it has little to no aliasing)((never understood what aliasing really was before I just googled it)

Yeah it's a nice little plug-in that, first software distortion I've used that doesn't sound immensely fake.

I never liked the term warm...

I have nothing to add to this thread though, so I shall bugger off.

  On 6/16/2011 at 12:49 PM, futureimage said:

  On 6/16/2011 at 7:21 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

D16 Groups Devastor is the warmest software distortion unit I've heard (which apparently means it has little to no aliasing)((never understood what aliasing really was before I just googled it)

Yeah it's a nice little plug-in that, first software distortion I've used that doesn't sound immensely fake.

How does a distortion sound fake?

lol this thread's funny.

  On 6/16/2011 at 2:11 PM, Dan C said:

How does a distortion sound fake?

everything must sound real without the hassle of being real

**holds computer away from the cone so the feedback doesn't drown the VSTs**

if you set your thermostat to about 30 degrees or so, your ears' pinnae will warm up, and subsequently so shall your sound.

alternatively, you could put your genitals in a blender and switch it on. this will make the warmth of your 'digital-sounding' tracks seem FAR less important.

outside of that, u-he ACE is probably the most analogue-sounding synth plugin i've used.

  On 6/16/2011 at 2:11 PM, Dan C said:

I never liked the term warm...

 

I have nothing to add to this thread though, so I shall bugger off.

 

  On 6/16/2011 at 12:49 PM, futureimage said:

  On 6/16/2011 at 7:21 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

D16 Groups Devastor is the warmest software distortion unit I've heard (which apparently means it has little to no aliasing)((never understood what aliasing really was before I just googled it)

Yeah it's a nice little plug-in that, first software distortion I've used that doesn't sound immensely fake.

 

 

How does a distortion sound fake?

Amplification via analog electronics uses the rules of physics to amplify the signal, whereas if you amplify a digital audio signal you're just changing the value of the sample... I guess it really depends on the person and arguably it might not even be too likely that someone could tell the difference in a blind (haha) test, though I still think it makes a difference! I don't know if it's too important, though. Rendering at a different samplerate has more of an effect on changing the interference pattern of the resulting audio recording anyways in my opinion, and I mean, even in the physical world it's possible to witness the "resolution" of the universe, like the proof of light being a wave... It all comes down to resolution, and in my opinion the whole digital vs analog debate will be a moot point once we have way more processing power and we can render things at a resolution that's closer to the limitations of the physical universe. Which is why I can't wait for the advent of gigacore processing! :D