nice (& cheap) new restoration plugin bundle

[TotalSonic]

Just a heads up for those who like me are always on the lookout for affordable but good sounding audio restoration plugins - I just found out about the Acon Digital Studio Clean suite -
www.acondigital.com/us_StudioClean.html

It's a bundle of 4 DX plugins - broadband noise reduction, a click/crackle remover, a clipped peak restorer, and a high harmonics generator - all for $69.

Another mastering engineer whose ear I respect gave a lot of praise to the DeClipper so figured it was worthy trying them out. I just tested the Acon DeNoiser and for this specific track I was working on that had lots of broadband noise on it worked out better (i.e. less artifacts with just as effective reduction) than either of the older DX plugins I have - Sony NR2 and Virtos Noise Wizard.

Works great and seems stable in SAWStudio and uses a reasonable amount of cpu - the guy just got my $69 just for that. Looking forward to testing the other 3 plugins out - particularly the DeClicker. Frankly the Sony activation scheme annoys me so I've been trying to find a substitute that works just as well for their click/crackle remover for a while - so hoping that this also is good on the Acon - I'll post on my results after I get done testing.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[bcorkery]

Thanks Steve.
This is worth a look-see.

[sebastiandybing]

Thanks

It looks good...and he got a pitch shifter,
need also to try that one.

Sebastian

[Bill Park]

I don't know if you noticed, but he shows a number of different plugs on his "Products" page, and you can buy all of the studio plugs (except Audio Lava) PLUS his audio editor for $129.

Bill

[Angie]

Interesting. I'll give it a try. Steve, I'm anxious to hear further thoughts on it when you've had a chance to play with it a little more.

[studio-c]

One of the four effects in this bundle is called Studio Rebirth. It says it adds synthesized high frequency harmonics to add life to old or dull recordings. I'm wondering if this is an Aphex Aural Exciter type effect. There has been interest in these kinds of plugins here in the past few months.

[TotalSonic]

ok - just tested the DeClicker that comes in this bundle and it works great! - haven't tested the other 2 plugins in the bundle yet - but based on these two I'm definitely recommending this stuff.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[MikeDee]

I went with the Power Bundle, which includes the pitch shifter.

Unfortunately, the pitch shifter crashes SAWStudio. :mad:

1. I add a sound file to the MT, Track 1.
2. I patch in the Acon Digital Media StudioPitch (pre or post fader...makes no difference).
3. I hit play and modify the plug-in's settings (or I can modify, then hit play).
4. I hit stop.
5. I hit play once again...and the plug-in causes SS to crash.

I have attached screenshots of the two error messages that pop up during the crash (which happens whenever the plug-in is added...it is not an edl issue, since I didn't begin with one).

Oh, well...let's hope all the other Acon plug-ins don't cause SS to crash. :eek:

Best regards,

[TotalSonic]

Hey Mike -
I didn't test (or recommend!!) the Pitch Shifter - it's always best to demo plugins out before purchasing them!

fwiw - Sonoris PitchTime (for when I want a "quality sound"), Delay Dots freeware DX Pitchworks, and some freebie VST stuff such as the Toby Bear ShivaShifta (for when I just want a weird effect) all do pitchshifting chores in SAW well.

Anyway - on my relatively modest systems (Win2k, 3GHz P4, 1gig RAM) both the DeNoiser and DeClicker have worked well without any crashes.

Best regards,
STeve Berson

[MikeDee]

Hi, Steve -

I usually don't let things like that bother me...I always manage to work around 'em. :)

I discovered that the crash occurs only when pitch-shifting DOWN.

In any event, I found a way to tame the beast...right-click to start and stop in the plug-in's [SAWStudio] "frame," up in the gray area, where the triangle is. (It's the only place within the plug-in that right-clicking will work.) Doing so avoids the crash.

Fortunately, this appears to be the only plug-in that appears to crash SS.

Best regards,

[TotalSonic]

Hi, Steve -

I usually don't let things like that bother me...I always manage to work around 'em. :)

I discovered that the crash occurs only when pitch-shifting DOWN.

In any event, I found a way to tame the beast...right-click to start and stop in the plug-in's [SAWStudio] "frame," up in the gray area, where the triangle is. (It's the only place within the plug-in that right-clicking will work.) Doing so avoids the crash.

Fortunately, this appears to be the only plug-in that appears to crash SS.

Best regards,

That's good to know! Sorry you're having a headache with that plugin anyway. Maybe send Acon Digital a note regarding this (I'm sure no one using SAW has ever sent him feedback before!) and maybe their developers will be able to fix the problem.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[MikeDee]

Just saw your post, Steve. I had already sent an email to Acon support to inform them of the issue. I hope they'll be able to post a fix soon...it looks like a fairly simple one (probably an out-of-range subscript or something similar).

I like the way the StudioPitch sounds on some material...a little different from Sonoris PitchTime, which I have for some time. I also have delaydots PitchWorks...but I'm not too fond of it. Maybe one day I'll go with Melodyne...but actually, I'm waiting for iZotope to license its technology or come out with its own plug-in. Here's a link to to the SSF thread:

http://www.sawstudiouser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4881&highlight=pitch+correct

It's the best pitch-shift algo I've heard thus far, bar none. (Of course, YMMV.) But who knows if and when it'll be available in VST, DX, or (dare I wish) SAW-native format?

For now, I'll just have to keep on my toes and dance around the Acon StudioPitch issue...I'll save often, aware that a crash can occur at any time.

Thanks for your help! :)

Best personal regards,

[Carl G.]

Hi, Steve -

Fortunately, this appears to be the only plug-in that appears to crash SS.

Best regards,

Yep, I think it was this one that crashed SS for me too.
No warning... just crashed & closed SS faster than I could bat an eyelash -
Which is NO biggie since I use PitchTime (and occasionally delaydots), which both work perfectly.

[MikeDee]

Stian from Acon replied to my email. Since he is not familiar with SAWStudio, he needed my crash-producing steps, which I provided.

Subsequently, I informed him that I further discovered that the crash occurs when the following two conditions are met:

1. Pitch-shifting DOWNward; AND
2. MAINTAINing DURATION.

I also noted that if I pitch-shift downward but do not maintain duration, the crash does not occur...even if I maintain timbre. The above two conditions must be true simultaneously ("AND") for the crash to occur.

Let's hope he can duplicate the crash on his end.... <Fingers crossed>

[Carl G.]

Stian from Acon replied to my email. Since he is not familiar with SAWStudio, he needed my crash-producing steps, which I provided.

Subsequently, I informed him that I further discovered that the crash occurs when the following two conditions are met:

1. Pitch-shifting DOWNward; AND
2. MAINTAINing DURATION.

I also noted that if I pitch-shift downward but do not maintain duration, the crash does not occur...even if I maintain timbre. The above two conditions must be true simultaneously ("AND") for the crash to occur.

Let's hope he can duplicate the crash on his end.... <Fingers crossed>

I found that not using the plug causes no crash to occur :)

[sebastiandybing]

It looks like the plug need a big buffer,
Bob once in a while chance the buffer size a
plug can use in saw.
So maybe the problem is that the pitchshifter needs
a bigger internal buffer size in saw.
Sebastian

[sebastiandybing]

Hi Mike

Have just tested the pitch plug,
it did not crash on my laptop using
the setings you desripe.

I tryed with "maintain" +1oct and -1 oct.
and all different setings.

Sebastian

[MikeDee]

Interesting...I tried the same settings on three different machines (with different sound cards)...same crash.

I doubt there's a "Bob's buffer" issue, since the crash does not occur when I pitch-shift upward (even as far as an octave).

I just tried my settings again...down an octave...maintaining duration...CRASH! I dunno...for now, consider yourself blessed, Sebastian. :)

Carl...LOL! :-D

Best regards,

[TotalSonic]

Further update on this - I had actual occasion to use the DeClipper in a recent job for a live recording of accapella Gospel recorded in various churches and homes in Como, Mississippi - pretty amazing performances - but a couple tracks were marred by a few spots of distortion from clipping. The DeClipper actually did an amazing job of fixing some of this - particularly in a place that would have taken easily an hour to redraw. Cool stuff.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Dave Labrecque]

Further update on this - I had actual occasion to use the DeClipper in a recent job for a live recording of accapella Gospel recorded in various churches and homes in Como, Mississippi - pretty amazing performances - but a couple tracks were marred by a few spots of distortion from clipping. The DeClipper actually did an amazing job of fixing some of this - particularly in a place that would have taken easily an hour to redraw. Cool stuff.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Steve,

Was this analog or digital clipping? In either case, how squared-off were the clips?

[MikeDee]

Interesting...I tried the same settings on three different machines (with different sound cards)...same crash.

I doubt there's a "Bob's buffer" issue, since the crash does not occur when I pitch-shift upward (even as far as an octave).

I just tried my settings again...down an octave...maintaining duration...CRASH! I dunno...for now, consider yourself blessed, Sebastian. :)

Good news, All!

I received two replies from Stian of Acon Digital regarding the StudioPitch (part of the Power Bundle). Here's the first:

Hi Mike,

I am sorry for my late reply. After some problems, we can now reproduce the problem here and are working on a solution. The error seems to be related to the buffer size used by SAWStudio and I believe the problem is on our side. I'll write you back when we know more.

Stian

Before I could even acknowledge, I noticed a second reply:

Hi again,

I have just uploaded a fix to <unsure as to whether I am permitted to post the URL...so I won't:p>

Please download, install the version and let me know if it works.

Best regards,

Stian Aagedal
__________________________________________________ __
Acon Digital Media GmbH - http://www.acondigital.com (http://www.acondigital.com)

I did a quick test on my office machine...looks good! I'll put it through the ringers on my Fujitsu tonight (hopefully)...but I'm already confident that all will be well.

Nice to know that it's not always me when there's an issue. :cool:

Best regards,

[Craig Allen]

It's hard to believe there are still companies left that will admit to a problem, and then fix it...

[bcorkery]

Seems another company believes in SAW style service!

I could get used to this.

:D

[CurtZHP]

I tried out the Declicker on an LP transfer I'm doing. I usually use Diamond Cut's Audio Restoration Tools.

In terms of sheer speed of workflow and ease of use, this plug-in ate Diamond Cut's lunch!

And it sounded good too!

I think this guy is my new friend!!

[Demodave]

I just checked out Studio Time. It does a nice job....except it seems to add some crazy phasing on a stereo track. My VO sounded like I added a chorus effect to it.

[MikeDee]

Good news, All!

I received two replies from Stian of Acon Digital regarding the StudioPitch (part of the Power Bundle). Here's the first:

Hi Mike,

I am sorry for my late reply. After some problems, we can now reproduce the problem here and are working on a solution. The error seems to be related to the buffer size used by SAWStudio and I believe the problem is on our side. I'll write you back when we know more.

Stian

Before I could even acknowledge, I noticed a second reply:

Hi again,

I have just uploaded a fix to <unsure as to whether I am permitted to post the URL...so I won't:p>

Please download, install the version and let me know if it works.

Best regards,

Stian Aagedal
__________________________________________________ __
Acon Digital Media GmbH - http://www.acondigital.com (http://www.acondigital.com)

I did a quick test on my office machine...looks good! I'll put it through the ringers on my Fujitsu tonight (hopefully)...but I'm already confident that all will be well.

Nice to know that it's not always me when there's an issue. :cool:

Best regards,

StudioPitch is working great on my Fujitsu as well...I like it as much as Sonoris PitchTime.

I just got word from Stian that v1.5.2 (the "fix" I had downloaded previously) is available on the Acon web site.

Best regards,

[Perry]

Well LOL.... :p

This bit of spam that bumped this tread up actually did me a favor!

I had forgotten about this noise reduction plugin suggestion and I'm in the market for something... I'll check it out! :)

If anyone has anything to add.. good or bad... please add to this post. Hpefkully this is still working well for everyone.

Thanks,

Perry