réactions à la news Steven Slate se met au casque à modélisation avec le VSX

Une question : es t'il possible d'utiliser le soft en stand alone, afin de pouvoir l'utiliser en écoutant Deezer ou autres?

génial ... j'ai pas capté si la modélisation est dans le plug-ins ou dans le casque en hard. enfin ça a l'air d’être un peu des deux en écoutant Mr SLATE

I was able to spend a long night with VSX, then revisit this morning.
This is a long post, but wanted to cover everything I could for those wondering:

First impression - shocking honestly. Your team did great Steven, and I'm sure that has to do with all these jaded, and skeptical beta guys

Aesthetics:
1. Packaging was sleek and standard for upper-end phones these days. Reminiscent of the Beats line. The headphone adjustment design also has me recalling the original Beats Studio's without the folding capabilities, and without puling my hair lol. SOUND NOT LIKE BEATS THOUGH

2. I like the look and they aren't too tight on my head on my head at all. This was a concern. After 4-6 hours ears, jaw, head were all fine.

3. Earpads are soft and "buttery" I like the feel of them. The pads are memory foam type soft.

4. I didn't like the cord (like some others) when I first opened it, it's a braided material type. It's extremely thin, almost to the point of not enough weight to straighten/unkink it. BUT according to the tech notes, it's meant to be a lighter cord that transfers signals without degradation. So if they did it to conserve a bit of weight for transport, or long sessions I can understand that. Not a big deal.

5. Also didn't initially like the fact that the 1/4" adapter wasn't a screw on, I tend to like those better. (Personal preference and harder to lose.) But the connection seems really snug, and the connection to my D/A was tight and solid as well.

6. Also with the cord for some reason personally I don't aesthetically like where the cord attaches to the phones, just seems like there should be a gold connector there. Also not a deal breaker.


Unboxing, registering, hooking up, and starting to work with these in your DAW of choice should be pretty much a no-brainer. Yes the software is iLok authorized, and takes place via the Slate Audio Center.
(*I know they're diff companies, but I wish there was one slate login instead of I think 3 now for all my various products.)


Emulations:

1. NRG - My 2nd favorite room, using the near fields. Although slightly more room reflection than I would usually prefer in my mixing environment, this sounds like a acoustically tuned wood-floored commercial facility. I have a room in mind locally, and this brought me that vibe immediately. Also didn't mind flipping to the midfields in this emulation for a quick change of "view". I will definitely use this emu to test mids/saturation.

2. Archon Studio - My #1 . As some others have said the Midfields in this room just sound right. They don't sound like my Barefoot MM's, they are ATC's I believe, but the vibe of mixing on top end speakers in a top end room is definitely there. Archon's room is pretty dry with just enough touch of room ambience to not sound sterile. The Amphion near fields are great as well, but I seem to prefer the NRG NS10's more for the virtual Near-Field purpose. I will definitely gravitate towards Archon Mid's for full mix work.

3. Howie's Room ---- This room seems to be getting to some people. I had a bit different experience. I felt the room was a great addition to the package. It seems like it can work to tune your upper high's, and to get an overall picture of the mix as a whole in a pretty big/sterile environment. I didn't hate this room at all, I'd do some final touches here. One thing though to my ear..something in the left speaker or left side of this room, somewhere in the low mid one frequency seems percent off for some reason.

4. Electric Car & Luxury SUV - both gave that "car" perspective at a click of a button. I have an Audi with the B&O which doesn't sound like the Tesla per se, but I definitely got that car vibe in perspective, eq, and bass response. Then you get in the SUV and you can hear the bass building up in that big cavernous back storage area. That made me

5. LA Nightclub sounds like a PA/Speaker Stack venue system in a large concrete floored warehouse. It feels like an empty nightclub so the reflections are quite heavy... I'd love to see a "Packed Saturday" club emulation added in the future with a bit more muffled floor / less reflection. Great for quick-testing venue bass though. I think an artist could throw on the cans and do a quick test how their vocals will sound live.

6. Audiophile Room - I really liked this room for listening to reference music. I think this will be a good emu for listening to your final mastered mixes, and to just take a break in a virtual environment while mixing.

7. Boombox - One thing I'm seeing as a missing feature is a way to collapse a mix to full mono easily as a quick-test. Obviously can do that with the DAW, but it would be nice to have an Auratone single mono emu like some others have mentioned. With that being said, boombox is as close as you can get to a mono test. It's also one of my favorite non-room emu's. It does feel like a small boombox or blue tooth speaker sitting on a table in front of you. Great for hearing how harsh those mid's really are, or how weak that bass really is. I think this emu can also help people quickly add distortion/fx to 808/subs so they make more of an impact on small speakers

8. Headphone Emu's - I felt the standard AirPod was really scooped sounding, but then plugged in an old wired pair and it was scary close. I hope in the future Slate decides to model the AirPod Pro as those are what I use, and wanted to see how close they came. I don't really get using the other Headphones, unless you're already extremely used to using one of them, and have a reference point you're familiar with. For me I just switched to my K7XX, or actual Airpods when I wanted to get another headphone perspective. BUT I get it, it's easier to just click a button rather than taking the phones off, and level matching the other Headphones, etc. So I will probably click the pods button for a quick test here and there.

9. Linear - Loved it. I know some people don't like listening to "flat" Headphones, but imo these are flat without sounding sterile. I have yet to track using these, but I'm definitely going to give it a shot with this model. I can also just listen to music with this emu when I don't want the room ambience of the audiophile room.

10. Phones by themselves no software... Not as good as listening with the software, but definitely no slouch. I say they lose the quality in the whole image, especially the bass when using standalone.


Comparison:
I think VSX is a step up from NX/AbbeyRoadStudio, which I never really got along with 100%. I'd say where NX can be used as a quick reference check for large speaker/room sound...VSX can actually be used for all parts of a mix. I also have been getting tired of using Sonarworks/ARC type stuff on my Barefoots lately... it's ear fatiguing to me. I really think I will now work more just out of my raw speakers, and use the VSX for those critical tweaks where I would rely on the room-correction.

Slate Audio has made a product that can definitely help a variety of engineers, in a variety of situations. If you work in non-treated home studio, you can really get confident mixes despite a less than adequate listening environment. If you work on the road a lot, you can be confident those mix tweaks you did on your laptop will translate to the studio when you get home. If you work in a commercial facility, these can help get real-time environmental references, that would otherwise be impossible. I was VERY skeptical as well, as I never got along with NX/Abbey Road Studio. To me these don't sound fake, or phased, or forced.

SO THE $1,000,000 QUESTIONS:

Could it replace my Barefoots?

I'm not going to put my Barefoots on ebay/Reverb tomorrow. That's not the point, those are $6000+ monitors. The fact that a $500 headphone/software combination could even bring me in the realms of that confidence is an engineering feat. These are such great technological times we live in! So no, it won't replace my $6000 monitors, BUT I guarantee VSX will get used right alongside them, complement them, and make my mixing process faster.
If I didn't have monitors and was wondering if I should spend $500 on some cheap ones, or get VSX....I'd get VSX. Because $500 monitors (at least for now ) without treatment/correction software/etc. aren't that great of a value. VSX IS!

Could I do a whole mix on them?

I believe very soon 100% yes. I've already heard things I need to change in mixes I loved, where I'm like how did I miss that. LOL
Like any monitor/headphone/room you have to get used to it, so I'm not sure I'd do 100% mix on one tomorrow, but soon YES! Even if just to test it out



BOTTOM LINE -
******I think VSX ABSOLUTELY SHINES in the referencing/translation department, and now the marketing makes sense. I took one of my favorite mixes lately, put it through 3 rooms, 2 Headphones, and the cars. I thought the mix was perfect but it pointed out two things that now I don't like. I have no doubts once I apply those tweaks I'm going to be grinning ear to ear. ***This song isn't released yet, but due to the requests I'm going to see if I can get a snippet of the mix pre-VSX, and post-VSX. I will post them in this thread blindly and see if you guys think VSX did it's job. (Immediately out of the box.)



Few Requests/comments:
-somebody asked me if it sounds different 1/8" from a MBP vs my Apogee D/A. Yes there's obviously some difference, especially in volume/power if nothing else. I'd recommend some sort of interface (Dragonfly/etc.) if you are going to go that route.

-these rooms/emu's will expose bad mixes (even professionally commercially mixed ones from your favorite engineers/artists.) Yet I also heard some great mixes translate across every emulation. That's just mind-blowing to me in a single pair of phones.

- they are comfortable, and i'm sure will loosen up over time. I didn't have the ear-fit/frequency issues some people have mentioned. Mine seemed to fit right, and I could hear great. They do seem to have a sweet spot though fwiw.

-I found myself often adjusting the physical Headphones on my head as I switched through the emu's. Not sure if that' psychological or auditory, but it was like it helped my ears reset.

-Don't fire your mastering engineer -- BUT I think a really cool thing with this software is the ability to get a different room/speaker perspective in order to master your own mixes. I'm looking forward to mixing a full song in NRG/Archon. Then waiting a few days, and going into Howie's room with my mastering software and make final adjustments.

-You will have to get used to a few workflow things, routing/no easy mono, also a lot of warnings to only bypass from within the VSX. It turns off whatever emu you're using and level matches the software into the linear emu so you don't blast your ears out. (don't bypass plug in your daw)

-Plenty of bass in these. I do a lot of sub heavy music, and didn't find myself questioning sub sounds. I think this is another area these will shine for people. We live in great times! With things like VSX, Bassroom, Tonal Balance, you can mix the low-end in untreated rooms, or Headphones like never before.

-For those curious, the emu's didn't work/translate near as well out of my AKG phones, nor my Barefoots. ( I just played around just to see.)

-Another cool idea is playing with these as sound design effects to emulate being in some of those rooms/cars/earpods.... you can do some trippy things to the listener... like going further in the ear after you're already in the ear...or taking them to the car real quick. Just have to work around the levels and put on a separate track/buss.

-If you're a producer/artist/engineer just starting out recording, these will shorten your learning curve when it comes to mixing....I'm actually kind of jealous I didn't have these when I started. Would've probably saved me 100's of hours and 1000's of $.


Suggestions:
1. Aforementioned Mono switching capability/Auratone single speaker type emu
2. AirPods Pro & Beats By Dre Studio Emulations please!
3. Ability to swipe left and right on the Raven between favorite rooms while listening
4. Resizeable window
5. I'd love see a Barefoot room with Footprint MM45 MM27
6. I'd love to have Colin's room at Sing Mastering or Joe LaPorta's.
7. Posted before but wondering if these could evolve into virtual surround/atmos setups for those who don't have the capability.
8. Value displays for all the adjustment knobs in the interface
9. Although I don't use it that way, I can see a lot of people wanting a systemwide headphone option. Which does help to ref all you music in same environment.
10. I really wish the case had a fabric or metal loop on it. I attach carabiner's to my headphone cases and hang them below my studio desk, or in storage.

To sum up VSX in couple sentences: Pick your 4 favorite room/speak emulations. If you can get your mix to sound good on all of them, I'm confident that your mix will translate to the real world.... possibly better than it ever has before! IF your mixes don't sound good on multiple VSX emu's then might be time for some changes.

je le trouve un poil cher quand même par rapport à d'autres produits Slate où ils arrivaient (en plus) à être compétitifs

Une question : es t'il possible d'utiliser le soft en stand alone, afin de pouvoir l'utiliser en écoutant Deezer ou autres?

Je n'avais rien acheté de chez Slate, mais pour le coup, casque commandé, les premiers retours (hors beta-testeurs qu'il faut prendre avec d'énormes pincettes) sont assez pertinents pour tenter l'aventure. On va donc écouter par soi-même avant d'applaudir ou de tirer dans le tas. Si ça tient le coup, ce produit va faire exploser un paquet de choses car répondant à un besoin réel (casque fermé pour mixer - pièces non aménageables ou sans possibilité de faire du bruit).