Ii. t – Slate Digital The Virtual Console Collection User Manual
Page 5

5
Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection
In order to precisely reproduce the dynamic nonlinear characteristics of the analog
desks, Slate Digital CTO Fabrice Gabriel has developed innovative new analog modeling
techniques
that
combine
circuit
path
modeling
with
actual
hardware
response
testing.
The
result
is
a
digital
plugin
that
recreates
the
analog
properties
of
the
consoles
in
an
extremely realistic fashion.
ANALOG
VS
.
DIGITAL MIXING
Despite the digital revolution in the pro audio industry, many of today’s top albums are
still mixed on analog consoles. When we asked some of the world’s top mixers why they
still preferred to mix into an analog console rather than have the ease of digital mixing,
the
responses
we
received
were
universal.
“Mixing
into
an
analog
desk
just
sounds
better.
Everything
sits
better
in
the
mix,
there
is
more weight to the bottom, and the overall sound is more three dimensional,” says
Grammy
award
winning
producer
and
mixer
Jay
Baumgardner.
After
hearing
this
same
answer
from
so
many
mixers,
our
first
assumption
was
that
there must be something “wrong” with the summing of a digital mixer. So, we built
several digital mixers so that we could test them. We also ran some tests through analog
consoles
in
order
to
test
hardware
summing.
The
result
was
surprising.
What
we
found
was
that
there
was
absolutely
nothing
wrong
with digital summing. In fact, it was fairly straightforward math. The problem was in the
analog summing. In all cases of analog summing, we noticed that the analog circuits
imparted nonlinear artifacts to the audio such as harmonic distortion, noise, crosstalk,
and
component
saturation.
However,
we
soon
realized
that
these
nonlinear
artifacts
produced
a
sound
that
was
sonically
pleasing.
The
Virtual
Console
Collection
plugins
recreate
these
analog
nonlinearities,
giving
your
DAW the classic “vibe” of the real desks. You may notice that when using the Virtual
Console Collection, your mixes take on a subtle enhancement in punch, glue, and
dimension.
II.
T
HE
V
IRTUAL
C
ONSOLE
C
OLLECTION
The Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection reproduces the sound of classic recording
consoles using a dual plugin package, consisting of the Virtual Channel and the Virtual
Mixbuss. Each plugin allows you to choose from five modeled consoles.