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Hatsubai « 5.1 surround dynamics processor »
Published on 07/17/11 at 16:17This is meant for anybody who works with 5.0 or 5.1 audio on a regular basis. One of the biggest issues faced with working with audio that's not stereo is trying to find plugins that can adjust every channel. A lot of times, you have to break every track down into one single buss for certain effects, and it becomes a huge pain trying to sort everything out with levels and volume. This is basically a bunch of independent compressors that can be applied to a mix and allow you to tweak the individual bands to you leisure. It has sliders for low threshold range, high threshold range, low volume range, high volume range, high level compression on/off, low level compression on/off, high level compression master control, low level compression master controls and a link selector. There are also a few other tricks up its sleeve that you can mess with. I never read the manual, but it really doesn't need one as, despite it looking a bit daunting, it's very easy to use.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
When it comes to things like stability and overall performance, Waves tends to be at the top of the totem pole. I've never experienced a single crash, freeze or hiccup while using any Waves plugin, let alone this one. They all seem to be super stable, which is a huge plus for something as critical as a recording environment. The plugin itself is cross platform compatible, so there is no issue when it comes to using this with either an Apple or Windows based computer. The biggest problem I experienced simply has to do with the recently technological evolution of OSes. My DAW and OS are now 64 bit. However, these plugins are still 32 bit. For Logic Pro to fully utilize this plugin, it needs to run a bridge application, unless I want to gimp down my DAW. It's a bit of a pain, but it works. I'm hoping they update these to 64 bit in the future. I've been using the Mercury bundle for the past half a year or so, and it's been working out great.
OVERALL OPINION
I don't use a lot of 5.0 and 5.1 surround stuff, but when I'm working with Final Cut Pro and have to do some complex audio work, I like to use this plugin. It's saved me a few times with adjusting volume levels and transients before. Keep in mind that I just mess around with FCP and plugins like this just to see what they're about. I'm not a big user of video based audio, so my opinion may be a bit skewed.
SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE
When it comes to things like stability and overall performance, Waves tends to be at the top of the totem pole. I've never experienced a single crash, freeze or hiccup while using any Waves plugin, let alone this one. They all seem to be super stable, which is a huge plus for something as critical as a recording environment. The plugin itself is cross platform compatible, so there is no issue when it comes to using this with either an Apple or Windows based computer. The biggest problem I experienced simply has to do with the recently technological evolution of OSes. My DAW and OS are now 64 bit. However, these plugins are still 32 bit. For Logic Pro to fully utilize this plugin, it needs to run a bridge application, unless I want to gimp down my DAW. It's a bit of a pain, but it works. I'm hoping they update these to 64 bit in the future. I've been using the Mercury bundle for the past half a year or so, and it's been working out great.
OVERALL OPINION
I don't use a lot of 5.0 and 5.1 surround stuff, but when I'm working with Final Cut Pro and have to do some complex audio work, I like to use this plugin. It's saved me a few times with adjusting volume levels and transients before. Keep in mind that I just mess around with FCP and plugins like this just to see what they're about. I'm not a big user of video based audio, so my opinion may be a bit skewed.