Ruby by Acustica Audio –  VT-5 Vacuum tube equalizer  plugin made under DW Fearn license

Acustica Audio marks a new milestone in the world of ITB mixing plugins with Ruby –  an outstanding emulation of the famous VT-5  vacuum tube equalizer made in direct collaboration with Mr. Fearn, the inventor of the hardware version (priced +9000 usd). At this time, Ruby is priced 199 eur, since it’s still in presale period, but the price raise to 235 eur after the pre-sale period ends, so make sure to grab your copy here: http://www.acustica-audio.com/store/products/ruby

VT-5 is the stereo version of VT-4, a famous equalizer with passive LC circuitry and class-A triode vacuum tube stages for the input and output, input and output transformers made by Jensen, with also the tube circuitry  being mainly derived from the VT-1/VT-2 mic preamps, world renowed for their state-of-the-art sonic quality.

Ruby is based on Acustica’s latest Core 11 technology, with the added advantage of using High Efficiency Symmetric & Asymmetric Saturation Modeling (SASM), a new high performance saturation/harmonic distortion modeling algorithm characterized by a much lower number of digital artifacts. Since we demoed and (ab)used each and every plugin made by Acustica Audio, after the release of Crimson ( and Diamond Lift we expected anything else but another eq plugin. That was until we actually inserted it in a project and mess around it for a couple of minutes – we were completely blown away by how  the boost & cut in the same frequency range pultec-inspired technique sounded on this beauty – instant gratification in the low end zone!

The Mid-Cut control starts with a low Q on discrete cuts, but the Q becomes sharper in direct relation with the amount of db that are cut,  and affects the selected frequency more narrowly. The higher settings would be recommended for a much clinical approach, for example, whan you want to null out undesired resonanting frequencies. The High Cut control does a wonderful job on diminuating digital harshness or noise, with its highest setting at 28 kHz  being a God’s send for digital recordings, since attenuation around this area may help avoid effects associated with anti-aliasing filters in A-D converters.

We were already amazed on how unbelievable good Acustica plugins could sound, but this particular plugin made us curious on the hardware itself – until we could add that to our tools, we are more than happy and almost feel like cheating when using the Ruby “Digital version” of the famous VT-5. Try out the 30 days demo trial available on Acustica’s website and prepare your wallet – more than probably, you won’t wait for the trial to expire until you would have add Ruby to your favorite mixing or mastering plugins.

As all of Acustica’s manuals, Ruby’s was a delight to read, especially since it was fallowed by watching this presentation of the hardware version by Mr. Fearm himself :

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Metropolis Ark 3

I remember buying Metropolis Ark 1 right after hearing it at their NAMM booth. We loved its user friendly-ness and also the huge sound. Ark 2 was more intimate, and it would have been a nice add-on , but Ark 3 is definitely something that we’ll dig in and out for its deeply cinematic pulses and accentuations, available as both loops and single articulations.

The submenus called “Districts” are present in this library, too, and there are four of them: District 1 – The Beating Orchestra ( String Quintet being a nice addition to String, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion Orchestras, also Taiko and Percussion ensembles), District II – Percussion Ensembles (Taiko, Percussion, Timpani), District III – Solo Percussion (Taikos, Percussion, Grand Piano), District IV: Orchestral Sections (Highs Strings, Low Strings, High Woodwinds, Low Woodwinds, Trumpet and Horn Ensemble, Low Brass). The articulations cover both single and triplet upbeats, with various lenghts of crescendo and diminuendo. The library was recorded at the superb sounding Teldex scoring stage in Berlin.

District 1 – The Beating Orchestra has plenty of rolls ( they are not auto-repeated) and it sounds nothing less than HUGE. Taiko drums are available as both ensembles and solo, the Grand Piano has a wide array of very interesting effects, while the Timpani section is definitely the best we’ve ever heard on a sample library!

Ark3 is an add-on to Ark1 and Ark2, rather than an upgrade

What we love the most at Ark 3 is the fact that it’s intended to cover arias complementary to those from Ark1 or Ark2,  like an “add-on” rather than an “upgrade” and it’s not intended for those looking for an “all around” orchestral library. One of our favourite articulation is the repetition ( of course, time-synched with the tempo of your project), available in various note denomniations, including triplets and single articulations, with keyswitches from one note duration to another in Multiple mode.

As for technical details, it would worth mention the fact that library has a whooping 111 Gb of samples, at 24 bit / 48 Khz with up to 47 articulations per section are covered, and the supperb percussion section includes Taiko drums. It is based on Capsule and requires full Kontakt or Kontakt Player 5.7.1 . Its introductory price is 399 Eur ( + applicable tax), or 299 eur for owners of Ark 1 or Ark2. These promotional prices are available until January 2018, 31.

Ark 3 is intended for those looking for cinematic pulsating rhythms and it’s one of the best for this purpose. Those that already own Sonokineticc’s Maximo or Cinesamples’ Deep Percussion Beds 1 and 2 will definitely love this one, too!

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