Kniferide wrote: Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:07 pm As far as Landr, based on the results I heard, i'm not even sure that is AI involved. Probably just a comparative algorithmic mathy math that just forces your sounds to fit the signature of referenced examples. That's not AI. It's not even Machine Learning. It's just an algebra problem. But someday it probably will be.

I think that's what they call AI. Honestly, most of the AI isn't really AI, just exactly what you've described.

The machine learning is implemented in the process of determining the reference curves (in my understanding).

If A.I. can make programming drums less arduous for me I'd let it kill a whole Texas county

TylerDeadPine wrote: If A.I. can make programming drums less arduous for me I'd let it kill a whole Texas county

The newer FabFilter stuff looks amazing, for Pro-C3 and Pro-Q4. They deliberately have not put any AI in, just improvements on already amazing plugins. The biggest new feature is being able to edit your instances of both the compressor and the equalizer in a single plugin. It's like having a FabFilter DAW... in your DAW. Imagine, in the near future, being able to edit your entire mix in a single plugin window. That's fucking amazing.

If I could do everything all over again, I would just buy all the FabFilter plugins and be done with it. I actually don't own any FabFilter plugins, because they are expensive... but if you look at Pro-C, for the cost of having every possible compressor algorithm, it's not that expensive.

I demoed the Relab 176. I really loved the Color Box, a saturator that just clicked with me and it's extremely useful. I have a Neve-style console plugin, but for different punch, I could add some tube saturation to track or just use it on other stuff. I have a bunch of other saturators, but some of them aren't like a swiss army knife, or they are like a different kind of knife. It's pulled from the 176 and it got me wanting to see what all the hype was about it. I don't have experience with the hardware unit, but what I found is that it was easy to dial in what I wanted and it sounded great no matter what I was doing. I compared it to the AnalogObession 176, and there's just no contest. There's that extra oomph of clarity and depth that seems to get lost in the AO one. I have not used the UAD version, but I might just get a demo of it to see the difference. The AO one sounds good, but it never blew me away.

I do have the Pulsar VM-Comp, which I love. It's based off the Manley, with some faster attack and release options and their sidechain panel. Again, I don't have experience with the Manley hardware unit. All I know is that the VM-Comp sounds good and is really clean. I compared it with the Relab. It can come close, because it's a similar kind of compressor, just cleaner and has that incredible sidechain EQ panel. I got them to sound close and added the Color Box to give it similar color. I would say that the Relab was easier to dial in, whereas the VM-Comp is kind of hard to get what you need and the sidechain filter adds a level of complexity that can steer you off course quickly. I also don't like the way the clipping sounds, but I guess that's a good alarm bell to tell you to dial things back.

Anyone else try the Relab 176 or have used a 176 hardware unit? I'm curious what others here think.

cakes wrote: Fri Jan 16, 2026 3:36 pm Pro-Q4.

I upgraded to Pro Q 4 from V1 (which to me was always kinda a better looking stock Reaper EQ in functionality) and there is no real reason to buy any other EQ plugin. It does everything easily and well. I was never really interested in Pro C or Pro L because I have a tone of dynamics and they are spendy, but I can see a world where i do a whole record with only those 3 plugins aside from fun stuff like delays and stuff. If someone starting from scratch asked me I would say buy those 3 plugins and never buy another Comp, Limiter, or EQ again because anything else over marketed horseshit.

I like the UAD 175/176, especially for pedal steel.

The 176 works on everything, but I find the 175 to be extremely hit or miss. Maybe its a tone thing.

Either way, not as useful as a good Fairchild emulator but a fun alternative to putting a 1176 on everything.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Sun Jan 18, 2026 10:22 pm I like the UAD 175/176, especially for pedal steel.

The 176 works on everything, but I find the 175 to be extremely hit or miss. Maybe its a tone thing.

Either way, not as useful as a good Fairchild emulator but a fun alternative to putting a 1176 on everything.

Seems like the Relab version is good on everything. It's got some nice, modern features.

I went down a rabbit hole of resonance filter plugins, using Soothe2 as the baseline, since it's everyone's favorite. Really, I was having trouble removing a really nasty snare ping from a recording and the transient designer and compressors I was using just were ruining the snare sound too much before removing the ping. I even tried dynamic EQs, which is similar, but still having trouble with it. Maybe that's just me and I don't have the skills to really carve those out, but anyway, I was able to remove it completely and with very little effort using a resonance plugin, particularly Smooth Operator Pro. I ended up getting a license for it, because something about it just felt as utilitarian as Pro-Q or Kirchoff.

Anyway, I ended up using it on a few other things, like acoustic guitar, guitar busses and the mix bus. With very little effort, and using some excellent presets, I got some of that 5% juice that just put all my mixes over the top. I love finding tools that are intuitive and easy to use. It can be so easy to get lost in the weeds--like removing an annoying resonance--that having a tool that can get you in and out quickly with good results is a must-have.

Anyway, count me in on the resonance control train. Has anyone tried any plugins like these and if so, has it changed the way you mix or master?

cakes wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 12:01 pm I went down a rabbit hole of resonance filter plugins, using Soothe2 as the baseline, since it's everyone's favorite. Really, I was having trouble removing a really nasty snare ping from a recording and the transient designer and compressors I was using just were ruining the snare sound too much before removing the ping. I even tried dynamic EQs, which is similar, but still having trouble with it. Maybe that's just me and I don't have the skills to really carve those out, but anyway, I was able to remove it completely and with very little effort using a resonance plugin, particularly Smooth Operator Pro. I ended up getting a license for it, because something about it just felt as utilitarian as Pro-Q or Kirchoff.

Anyway, I ended up using it on a few other things, like acoustic guitar, guitar busses and the mix bus. With very little effort, and using some excellent presets, I got some of that 5% juice that just put all my mixes over the top. I love finding tools that are intuitive and easy to use. It can be so easy to get lost in the weeds--like removing an annoying resonance--that having a tool that can get you in and out quickly with good results is a must-have.

Anyway, count me in on the resonance control train. Has anyone tried any plugins like these and if so, has it changed the way you mix or master?

I have Eventide Split Eq and have played around with Soothe. On the fence. When they work thy definitely do a thing but it is so so so easy to push it too far and make stuff sound weird. I've have better results just using Dynamic points in Fab Filter, Nova Eq, or Izotope. Actually "Better" isn't the right word, just maybe mor subtle. Soothe gets really weird and plasticy when over worked. Dunno. all of these things usually sound best in bypass to me, but I know it is because I'm doing it wrong. They take finesse. I am super digging the ProQ 4. I upgraded from V1 so it feels like a lot of new stuff and it is nice to get like3 plugins worth of functionality in a single insert of ProQ. It can do it all.