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Vintage Amp Room
Metal Amp Room
Bass Amp Room
Amp Room Bundle
Valley People Dyna-mite
Tube-Tech CL 1B
FET Compressor
Trident A-Range
Passive-Active Pack
Tonelux Tilt
Tube-Tech PE 1C
Spring Reverb
Tube Delay
Acoustic Feedback
Acoustic Feedback Deluxe
Effect Bundle
Reviews
Here are some excerpts from reviews from around the globe.
Trident A-Range"I have evaluated the Softube Trident A-Range equaliser plug-in at my studio with some very experienced recording engineers. After exhaustive listening tests with many different instruments and vocals, I am pleased to say that we all agree this is an incredibly accurate software recreation of my original A-Range design from 1971.
Professor Malcolm Toft "The A-Range plug-in captures all the tone and energy of the original modules. The Originals are hard to find and maintain but the plug-is easy to use. It's the perfect go to effect for an instant '70's Classic Rock Guitar Tone. This is the perfect solution to the unstable gear of that era. It's easy to use and doesn't go snap crackle in the middle of your session. It seems that the noise and artifacts is the only thing they left out of the plug-in. It works great on Snare Drums and Toms. The Saturation controls add even more tone and circuit compression color for drums. The filters are perfect for getting aggressive with the Eq and then cleaning up the ends of the spectrum. It's not hardware but it's certainly the way I remember these modules." Joe Chiccarelli "3k on the A-Range is God's gift to rock guitars!!!" Bob Kulick and Brett Chassen "When I tried the Softube Trident A-Range equaliser plug-in for the first time, a big smile came upon my face.
It was just like getting my desk back again. It sounds exactly as I'm used to hearing the eq. Flemming Rasmussen "As ever, the engineers at Softube have applied their usual meticulous approach, so if you're a fan of the original Trident EQ, you're sure to like what they've done." Paul White, Sound on Sound "Softube has done an excellent job here, and its emulation sounds the part while being easy on the CPU. The EQ itself is great, while the inclusion of a saturation control adds a desirable extra dimension." Computer Music "...the experience of using this plug-in is like snuggling up in bed with your waveforms and massaging them into shape." Resident Advisor "Softube's Trident A-Range is a huge winner for me because of its super versatility and Rock N' Roll sound and vibe." "The Trident A Range is absolutely amazing! The best EQ on guitars HANDS DOWN! It's so hard to get bite out of a distorted guitar without having it be too abrasive, but with the Trident it's smooth and warm but cuts through perfectly. I'm blown away." Jeff Pilson "I was actually boosting the 5-6 kHz range (which is associated with harshness) but I wasn't having any harshness or weird mud competing with the vocals. Why? Because this EQ is just musical and beautiful. After that, I started using it on individual instruments and it works like a charm on everything. It makes EQing easy! [...] This is a must-have!" Delicious Audio, Michael Vecchio Vintage Amp Room"Sound-wise, the emulations should hit the spot for anyone looking for utilitarian and authentic amp sounds in the three favourite flavours." "Vintage Amp Room is one of the most accurate amp emulations we've come across and certainly sets the benchmark for quality over quantity." MusicTech Choice "Convincing 'real amp in a studio' sound" "Tonally, the amplifiers do sound very much like amps miked up in a room and, just as with the real thing, you have to work at the controls and mic position to get the best sound out of them." "[...] if you want a plug-in that gets very close to the sound of that are unarguable the three A-list classic amps, Vintage Amp Room does a great job in a very easy-to-manage way." Paul White, Sound On Sound (Nov 2007) "The tones here are among the best modelled amp sounds we've heard, with loads of tonal detail in the crucial midrange and a crisp high-end chime [...]" "Vintage Amp Room is as uncluttered and straightforward as this sort of thing can get while, sound-wise, the emulations should hit the spot for anyone looking for utilitarian and authentic amp sounds in the three favourite flavours." "Extreme ease of use, high-quality authentic amp emulations"
Sound Test Result: 5/5 "I'm impressed overall with VAR's ability to faithfully re-create identifiable amp tones, and moving the microphone around to find just the right placement is a lot of fun." "Softube did a great job creating a useable tool that will save a lot of time and effort for computer-based producers working with re-amping and songwriters looking for classic tones." Asher Fulero, Remix Mag (Nov 2007) "[...] the starting sound and tone produced by either Vintage [Amp Room] or Metal [Amp Room] are some of best I've heard." "If you want to recreate the sound of a vintage Fender, Marshall or Vox, you gotta go with Vintage Amp Room. The tones this plug-in is capable of are mind-blowingly great, at least to my ear." "Until you consider the magnitude of discipline exhibited by VAR's coders, which is akin to that of a monk, Trappist-style, or a SEAL. Seriously. The guys who developed VAR could have headed down the Easy Street and put every feature under the sun into VAR, but instead, they controlled their urges of want and focused on doing a few things very, very well." Jeff Shattuck, Cerebellum Blues (Oct 2007) "Softube has succeeded so well with the sound and the direct play reaction that you can put 'Vintage Amp Room' into the highest class in the 'Vintage Amp Modeling Software Plug-ins' category." White Amp: "It's really amazing how authentic this stuff is, whether it's a clean sound or the whole pallet of rock sounds or anything else you might expect from a Marshall JCM800." Brown Amp: "Everything is exceptionally emulated." Thomas Jeschonnek, Gitarre & Bass (Nov 2008) "Vintage Amp Room is an extremely powerful plug-in for the guitar player that really wants to enhance his guitar sound. [...]" In Swedish: "Vintage Amp Room är en oerhört kraftfull plugg för den gitarrist som verkligen vill förfina sitt gitarrljud med klassiska gitarrljud för pop, rock, jazz och blues. Det här är en helgjuten gitarrplugg som dock kostar en del. Men smakar det så kostar det som bekant."
Sound Quality: 5/5 "Vintage Amp Room is obviously not for everyone. It is for people like me who really like the sound of old blues and rock records, or for people just liking the sounds of these three amps. After all, they're in themselves timeless." Stefan Hedengren, Slapdelay (Oct 2007) FET Compressor"Throughout my career I have evolved the way I work to incorporate working within both the analogue and digital world. I own around twenty outboard compressors, but the Softube FET Compressor offers another way to warp a sound which the hardware units don't." Steve Fitzmaurice "Softube is so good, after using it the first time, I could speak french. Mainly because I kept saying: Pardon my french, but these plugins are Fucking unbelievable! The FET Compressor in particular is probably the warmest, fattest compressor plugin on the market."
Tony Shepperd "The FET Compressor can convince with the looks as well as
with the sound."
Christian Preissig, Keys Magazine (03/2009) "It is a very versatile and creative tool that cannot be mimicked nor matched by any other plug-in as far as I know."
Niklas Silén, Pro Rec (10/2009) "the FET Compressor from Softube is an all-around winner here at my Tones 4 $ Studios. It performs amazing on bass guitar, snare drums and the best, so far, on lead vocals!" Passive-Active PackFocusing Equalizer: "This EQ is the missing link! I love it. It is simple, easy to use and in the 'passive' position it creates a richness like nothing else. Absolutely wicked!" "[Passive Equalizer is] a clear, musical EQ which sounds especially pleasing on program material. The bandwidth (q) is really nice in the midrange (presence) section. Just a little can go a long way. I really like it!" Rob Chiarelli "Focusing Equalizer nevertheless brims with character, making most other EQ plug-ins sound boring and dimensionless by comparison." "[...] Passive Equalizer gave me absolutely magical results on bass guitar, snare drum, and lead vocals." "At $179.99, this bundle is an outrageous steal. High-quality equalization doesn't get better than this." Rating 5/5 "Overall, the Passive-Active Pack is a great piece of work from Softube, designed with vision but also with full regard for the sound of some pretty rare kit. What's more, the price tag is considerably more modest than comparable top-flight analogue emulations." Computer Music, Computer Music, 2/2010 "I may go out on a limb here, but I claim that the Swedish define the standard of what is possible in today's native DAWs regarding 'Analog-Processing' with these processors. Although I feel a bit sheepish by pushing Softube this hard: but you only have yourself to blame if you don't grab it." Hannes Bieger, Sound and Recording, 9/2009 Audiowerk, our German distributor, says that this Passive-Active review is fantastic. But we don't speak German (kein Deutsch, por favor) so we just have to trust them on that. But check it out yourself (if you speak German): Keys Magazine (2009/12)! |
Valley People Dyna-mite"I'm very familiar with the Dyna-mite, having owned a stereo unit for many years. They were basically the "Distressor of the Eighties." I used them all the time as a Drum Crusher. They could pump and breathe like crazy and put a great attack pop on a snare drum. Yes, even in the mid eighties I was using them as parallel compression on drums and synths. They also worked well on Electric pianos and room mics. In the Eighties I used them on albums for Oingo Boingo, The Stranglers, and even Pat Benatar. One trick I used back then was to put a shotgun mic 8-10 up over the snare drum gate it and compress it with the Dynamite... Joe Chiccarelli "There is always the debate if plug-ins sound close to the original. With the Softube Dyna-mite I hear absolutely no difference, those guys nailed it."
Michael Wagener
"Softube seems to have genuinely unearthed and rejuvenated a cult classic, ready for a new lease of life." Mark Cousins, Music Tech Magazine (August 2010) "Dyna-mite excels in those situations where you need crack and snap." "Wonderfully arcane and quirky recording/mixing gear is my bailiwick so know that Dyna-mite doesn't disappoint me at all. I like it as much as Softube's brilliant Tubetech CL1-B Compressor plug-in. Dyna-mite promises a lot and delivers more! A big winner here at my Tones 4 $ Studios!" Tube-Tech CL 1B"One of warmest, natural and most musical compressors I've ever heard. Buy it." Jono Buchanan, Future Music, March 2010 "The CL 1B is a true compressor for all seasons. I found it perfect for any individual track from bass to vocals to drums because it is precisely adjustable and able operate perfectly for any kind of dynamic control from transparent and subtle to more typical compression chores with 2 to 6dB of peak compression and then all the way to major audio clamping with a striking, and colorful character. It's a big winner for me and is a major player in all my mixes from now on!" "A truly faithful and very exact replica of the hardware CL1B. Finally it's possible to experience natural musical compression in a plug-in" John G. Petersen "Overall, the CL 1B really is a fantastic compressor plug-in that's capable of both subtle containment and excellent audible colour."
Computer Music "There are barely words to describe what I think about the CL1B plugin. The sonics are outstanding. The GUI is awesome. I thought it was just a picture until I started turning the knobs. I own hundreds and hundreds of plugins but... the CL1B plugin is the most accurate representation of a hardware that I have EVER seen." Tony Shepperd Metal Amp Room"The range of sounds that you can get from changing the mic setup and tweaking the controls is surprisingly wide, and unlike many of the amp modelling plug-ins currently available, this one really manages to convey a sense of power and weight." "...you get very accurate modelling of real amps in real rooms." "As with Vintage Amp Room, you get the sound of real amps in a real room, warts and all. Softube excel at this, but it's down to you to add any effects and processing -- just as it would be when working with a real amp in the studio." Paul White, Sound On Sound (Nov 2008) "Dead easy to use; excellent metal and classic rock sounds." "MAR excels at a full-on aggressive metal sound with a smooth high-end that responds particularly well to a palm-muted playing style."
Guitarist Choice "[...] the starting sound and tone produced by either Vintage [Amp Room] or
Metal [Amp Room] are some of best I've heard. "Metal Amp [Room] is long on authenticity and short on tweakiness." "When you can't afford the real-deal metal amp [...], Softube Metal Amp is your best bet."
Read
the full review "Metal Amp Room proves that you don't necessarily need ten amp models or more to underline your market position and prove that you are one of the key players in that market." Thomas Jeschonnek, Gitarre & Bass (Nov 2008) "...sounds really good and have a great playability."
Studio Recommends "Metal Amp Room resides squarely in the 'quality over quantity' category. Softube chose to dispense with the fluff and concentrate all of their dark wizardry on crafting solid extreme metal tones that would satisfy even the most discriminating ears." "Pitted against its closest direct competitor, Amplitube Metal, Metal Amp Room trumps it quite easily in pure tone. [...] Metal Amp Room was superior in capturing the essence of extreme metal tone. [...] Metal Amp Room can't be beat." Ben Bowen, Audio Midi (Dec 2008) Spring Reverb"Spring Reverb is by far the most authentic-sounding spring emulation I've heard so far." "For recording those reverb-heavy Peter Green-style minor blues or just for a bit of real amp vibe added to a DI'd guitar, Spring Reverb is quite excellent. And the simulated 'kicking the amp' sound is scarily realistic!" Paul White, Sound on Sound (Dec 2009) "So what's the sound like? Dead gorgeous. Not a hint of pretty wimp-reverb at all." "Spring Reverb was just what we needed right now as we've been flooded with bright reverbs for years now." "Even a reverb skeptic like myself can now without doubt insert two reverbs in a session as long as one of them is Spring Reverb. +1 for Softube!" "Spring Reverb stands in contrast to almost every other reverb released in the last years [...], and what's even more important -- it sounds great." Stefan Hedengren, Pro Tooler (Oct 2008) "This Spring Reverb beats all others heard before." Thomas Jeschonnek, Gitarre & Bass (Jan 2009) Tube Delay"In action, the plug-in produces a very usable and musically solid sound, [...]" "The delay also sounds very 'real' when used in conjunction with the Spring Reverb plug-in." "Even when you set the feedback control right on the edge of building up into feedback, the background mush created by the recirculating delays sounds exactly right." Paul White, Sound on Sound (Dec 2009) "I think it's a very worthy delay, grit monster, and hair-grower to complete your delay collection and you should check it out if you're looking for a new delay." "Tube Delay is a unique delay that basically goes from warmth to brutal with the help of drive and feedback knobs. It's design makes it interesting for use even practically without any delay at all, just to add some grit to the signal." Stefan Hedengren, Pro Tooler (Oct 2008) "The manufacturer has really succeeded in the combination of tube-preamp, tape-delay and equalizing in a virtual but absolutely realistic way [...]" Thomas Jeschonnek, Gitarre & Bass (Nov 2008) Acoustic Feedback"With only a few adjustments you really have a tool that can reproduce realistic feedbacks." Thomas Jeschonnek, Gitarre & Bass (Nov 2008) General"The guys from Softube really know what they are doing! And they are guitar fanatics that put their hearts and soul into their stuff -- that's apparent by their website, manuals, background info, support, and of course the software itself. Amp sounds in perfection -- pure, straight-forward and without 'schnickschnack'" |
