All user reviews of 4/5 for the Aphex Model 250 Aural Exciter Type III

The Aphex Aural Exciter III is a harmonic generating plug-in that is modeled after the classic Aural Exciter from Aphex. The Exciter has been used since the mid 70’s and has made some really good albums of our time. It was great to hear that they decided to bring this to the software realm so us engineers of today could still have access to such a great bundle. The Aphex Aural Exciter III is can be used on Windows and Mac systems. It works with any version of Pro Tools for either system including Pro Tools HD.

UTILIZATION

Installing it didn’t take long, but it was a bigger install than I thought that it would be. It took up more hard disk space than I thought it would. Using it as a plug-in for Pro Tools has gave me another useful tool to have for mixing songs. It does cost 495 dollars and that does seem a lot to pay for just one simple plug-in but you will have to try it to see how good it actually is.

SOUND QUALITY

I do wish that it had a demo download on it before we purchased it that way we could know if it was something we really wanted. We sort of took a shot in the dark when purchasing this off of word of mouth because we had no idea how good it was or how it was going to work with our set up. We just went ahead and purchased it and have been using it almost every single session since the time we purchased it (purchased it in the spring of 2010).

OVERALL OPINION

I highly recommend this to anyone who is a Pro Tools user, if you are a certified Pro Tools user I am sure you already have this plug-in or have used this plug-in. It is definitely a must have!

The Aphex Systems Model 250 Aural Exciter Type III is a stereo harmonic enhancer and noise gate.  It is a digitally based piece of outboard gear and I'm pretty sure it has XLR connections as well as 1/4 inch ones, but I can't remember exactly.  This is rackable piece of gear and will only take up a single rack space.

UTILIZATION

Using the Aphex Systems Model 250 Aural Exciter Type III is quite easy as everything is easily located and manipulated.  Each channel has parameters for noise threshold, tune, peaking, null fill, harmonics, timbre, and mix.  Both channels also have a slew of buttons to give you some further options and features.  I can't say too much more about the make up of this piece of gear as everything is self explanatory for the most part.  I've never had access to a manual for this so I can't say anything about its usefulness.


SOUND QUALITY

The sounds that are possible with the Aphex Systems Model 250 Aural Exciter Type III are pretty cool overall.  While this won't do anything too crazy to your signal, if you're looking for more clarity here and there this will definitely help you out.  It is also great at removing extraneous noise from your signal.  Since there are a good amount of parameters to work with on each channel, you can use this with just about any application where you would want to add a bit more life to your sound.  I've used it on everything from electric guitar to snare drum and find that it comes in handy sometimes unexpectedly. 


OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the Aphex Systems Model 250 for about a year and while it isn't the best exciter out there that I have used, it definitely gets the job done more times than not.  While this definitely isn't an essential to the home or professional studio, it is a nice extra to have around as I find myself using it strange situations sometimes where I wouldn't expect to use it.  It is probably not necessary for smaller studio owners to own something like this as you can replicate the sound with a plug-in easier, but for those looking to expand on their outboard gear I would definitely recommend checking out the Aphex Systems Model 250.