Hey there, I'm François, product manager in charge of the software FXs at Arturia! Thanks a lot for this great demo, that definitely showcases the way Dist TUBE-CULTURE sounds vs. the real deal. Just a few things I wanted to add / clarify regarding the plugin, that may explain some differences that you'll hear in this video: For TUBE-CULTURE, we've decided to model a Thermionic Ultra Vulture, that has a fourth mode & a few other additions compared to the regular Culture Vulture. Curiously enough, this new mode on the Ultra is called P2. P3 on the Ultra thus corresponds to the P2 on a "regular" Culture Vulture. Yes, it is confusing, I know... So for comparison purposes, P2 on your unit corresponds to P3 on TUBE CULTURE. This may explain the differences you hear in terms of dynamics & gating! :-) Also, matching the knobs (especially the gain) between the plugin and the original unit can be a bit tricky. We've decided to include the gain boost of the Overdrive switch in the Drive knob's range, so it's easier to dial... And of course, automatic gain compensation is making a big difference as well! (gain matching on the original unit is sometimes... Painful to say the least) :-) I hope you enjoy this plugin. If you have any question, feel free to ask! :-) Cheers!
Thanks François - thaïs really useful. I tried to explain there were differences between the unit modelled and my original version in this video.. but good to point out from the start. Pinned. I'll also add something in the description.
Francois thank you and the team for doing a bangin' job, I couldn't live without the FX Collection. I only wonder why the Dist TUBE-CULTURE did not inherit the purple faceplate of its hardware counterpart. It would get rid of confusion as well as look much cooler!
Wonderful plugin! Way more useful than just a distortion box that can take you from really subtle to seriously mental and everything in between. LOVE IT on the main bus to spice things up a bit too.
I have the Culture Vulture Mastering edition for over a decade and I have to say I'm impressed by this plugin 👍 It's not perfect and can't do a few things the analogue version can but it sounds great
Love these new additions, especially the distortion plugins, which are just fabulous IMHO,! Great to see you extol the virtues of the Tape Mello, which I often overlook. :)
Other versions of the Culture Vulture are from UAD (Thermionic Culture Vulture (blackface)) and Overloud (Sculptube (also blackface)). The UAD still requires Hardware afaik maybe you can get it in Spark too - idk. A shootout would've been great, but this still was helpful. I always have the vulture on the back of my mind, I'd like to eventually get one. Pretty pricy: Arturia: Dist- TUBE-CULTURE: 99€ Overloud: Sulptube: 109€ (I've heard it went for ~20 Bucks on sale at one point) UAD: Thermionic Culture Vulture: 299€ (currently on sale for 34% of the price (99€))
I have the UAD and a mastering plus vulture. Kind of close but not. With certain settings for sure u can’t tell then u move the knob a bit more and it’s not even close. Hardware is more forgiving but less flexible.
Yeah I have the UAD - but needing the hardware is very limiting. I’ve just realised I picked up the SKULPT tube a while back but it hasn’t made it into my new M1 macs yet. I’ll have to give it another spin.
@@StarskyCarr I have no comparison, but I started a Sculptube demo yesterday. It does alias when you push it harder - workaround via metaplugin works, but I don't like workarounds, so that'll probably be a "no" from me in the end. But it does distort/shape the sound in a way that is not easy to recreate with other plugins. Tried it on guitars instead of an amp. Gonna try it on Drums and Bass today.
@@producermind9030 yes, I noticed that in this video too. Sometimes closeish, often completely different. I tended to prefer the hardware, because it sounded less harsh - but I know that I often prefer the plugin.. so I'm kind of hoping another emulation pleases me more.
@@StarskyCarr I don’t mind the limitations. I treat my UAD like it’s hardware and bounce everything straight away. It helps me commit. I some times bounce out a few different versions just to be creative.
Arturia is really knocking it out of the park, as they say. I used to say that distortion, saturation and fuzz were best done in analog hardware, but no more. I’d probably choose the plugin over the hardware if I was just presented with this audio comparison.
@@zerocrossing you can laugh all you want if you like the sound. I know its not there as I work with guitar amps every day. those who think digital modeling is a good alternative simply don’t have enough experience with the real thing. Been there done that. no satisfaction until you get to use the hw and know what to listen for
First thing I noticed straight away. The plugin seems flatter, the hardware has somewhat more depth ( how much more? not sure... ). Feels like the distortion is "behind" the sound with the hardware..... with the software feels like its all on the same level depth wise. Both sound great. Different uses I suppose. Edit: After watching this.... I ended up buying the Arturia FX 3 on sale.... They sound really good a lot of good stuff in there.
What I like with your demos is we can actualy hear the difference. This is not "a great sound engineer" stuff with: "yes, it's realy subtle...". And you feel stupid and deaf as you cant' hear any difference, too subbtle for you , poor mortal. Mate, you're relaxing, actualy 👍🏻
I find Culture vulture works best on a paralel channel then blended in to taste, its very level dependent, sometimes its really tempting to smash everything through it but a little can go a long way, i like it on drums gets the hats and snares to cut through it can also sound good on the master channel at milder settings, ive got the black mastering version and still get hum when i crank the gain
May you please add the Sculptube by Overloud to this comparison? If I don’t mistake it emulates the same unit. And for me it’s my go-to tube saturation, it sounds incredible.
Its good, but it doesn't replicate the CV as well as this. The distortion harmonics are nowhere near the same and the bias doesn't act quite the same either. Don't get me wrong its a nice enough plugin, more based on the concept than an out and out emulation. A but like someone else making a hardware versions using the same concepts but not making a clone.
interesting to have the hardware going back in through the 8816, which has transformers and is not exactly transparent, could be contributing to a brighter plug-in.
I don’t think it’s going back into the 8816 but can’t remember. I normally take stuff from the 8816 direct to the UAD. Not sure why I’d have done it differently here. But the 8816 is pretty transparent anyway - it doesn’t impart a Neve transformer saturation in the tone, at least nothing that would make a significant difference here.
The plugin has this horrible digital clicky-attack most plugins still have, while the hw sound is all about smooooothness, without getting rid of the transients.
It does the valve distortion (very well) but doesn't have the sound processing/compression style effects from the bias knob. So in comparison its a very limited range of tones. A bit like leaving the bias at the midpoint on this.. you miss all the other stuff.
@@StarskyCarr I can use other compressor and filter plugins…with black box…what gives me even more possiblities in shaping tone. Having lots of features in one plugin is cool but usually it mimics basic fx chains…which I think I rather keep unique. ;) Just wondering! ;)
@@amazeus1980 There's loads of ways to get similar results. The way the CV squishes the signal is unique - so you'll only get exactly the same results with a CV. It sounds different (not better or worse) than a distortion with compression, EQ, gates and limiters - BUT - whatever you find most controllable, easy to set up or gets you the best results is best for you.
usually i like your review but here you used the culture vulture like you are not familiar with it? it can sound a lot better than what you exibit here, also maybe adding a tb303 and some synths would have made things easier to listen the distortion.
I was trying to show how it worked rather than show it off.. if that makes any sense. I wasn't demoing the CV but rather comparing the interactivity of the various functions. Arturia will most likely have something with it sounding nice - I wanted to show if it acted like the hardware. But point taken. I actually did some 303 stuff with it, but using the Roland Cloud, which wouldn't work on my other machine so had to drop it. Decided to use the Arturia Wurli instead.
@@StarskyCarr i see, i was hoping for more sounds examples cause i found it hard to judge but it's really not easy to compare with gain matching ,slighty different unit ect but it was informative :)
I'd say Decapitator is great for flattening something you need flattened and this is great for less subtle, raunchier distortion. You can of curse still destroy stuff with the Decapitator but this will retain detail and dynamics better
@@StarskyCarr I think it incorporates it into the PUNISH part of the algo. kinda sounds like they have some bias involved, but it's variability is based on the drive and PUNISH. bias doesn't sound all that useable on this anyways
@@johnisrael5183 on the drums smoked the hw badly the hw sounded like shit.Acustica saturation sounds like fart Nebula is not that great anymore as used to be when others was bad
![“อ.เบียร์ คนตื่นธรรม” มาตามคำเรียกร้อง แหกศาสตร์ฮวงจุ้ย เตือนสติอย่างมงาย | แฉ 7 พ.ย. 67 [1/3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5fc4S3xBNfc/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey there,
I'm François, product manager in charge of the software FXs at Arturia!
Thanks a lot for this great demo, that definitely showcases the way Dist TUBE-CULTURE sounds vs. the real deal. Just a few things I wanted to add / clarify regarding the plugin, that may explain some differences that you'll hear in this video:
For TUBE-CULTURE, we've decided to model a Thermionic Ultra Vulture, that has a fourth mode & a few other additions compared to the regular Culture Vulture.
Curiously enough, this new mode on the Ultra is called P2. P3 on the Ultra thus corresponds to the P2 on a "regular" Culture Vulture. Yes, it is confusing, I know...
So for comparison purposes, P2 on your unit corresponds to P3 on TUBE CULTURE. This may explain the differences you hear in terms of dynamics & gating! :-)
Also, matching the knobs (especially the gain) between the plugin and the original unit can be a bit tricky. We've decided to include the gain boost of the Overdrive switch in the Drive knob's range, so it's easier to dial... And of course, automatic gain compensation is making a big difference as well! (gain matching on the original unit is sometimes... Painful to say the least) :-)
I hope you enjoy this plugin. If you have any question, feel free to ask! :-)
Cheers!
Thanks François - thaïs really useful. I tried to explain there were differences between the unit modelled and my original version in this video.. but good to point out from the start. Pinned. I'll also add something in the description.
Francois thank you and the team for doing a bangin' job, I couldn't live without the FX Collection. I only wonder why the Dist TUBE-CULTURE did not inherit the purple faceplate of its hardware counterpart. It would get rid of confusion as well as look much cooler!
That's useful to know. Thanks
This has been the best demonstration of this plug-in I’ve seen. Just showing what it did to a sine wave was so useful! Thank you.
Wonderful plugin!
Way more useful than just a distortion box that can take you from really subtle to seriously mental and everything in between.
LOVE IT on the main bus to spice things up a bit too.
I have the Culture Vulture Mastering edition for over a decade and I have to say I'm impressed by this plugin 👍
It's not perfect and can't do a few things the analogue version can but it sounds great
I agree... its not a perfect emulation of this one here - but those additions are fantastic - they make it so much more useful.
@@StarskyCarr Totally agree, I'll be using it for sure, the soundtoys version never did it for me
Love these new additions, especially the distortion plugins, which are just fabulous IMHO,! Great to see you extol the virtues of the Tape Mello, which I often overlook. :)
Other versions of the Culture Vulture are from UAD (Thermionic Culture Vulture (blackface)) and Overloud (Sculptube (also blackface)). The UAD still requires Hardware afaik maybe you can get it in Spark too - idk. A shootout would've been great, but this still was helpful. I always have the vulture on the back of my mind, I'd like to eventually get one.
Pretty pricy:
Arturia: Dist- TUBE-CULTURE: 99€
Overloud: Sulptube: 109€ (I've heard it went for ~20 Bucks on sale at one point)
UAD: Thermionic Culture Vulture: 299€ (currently on sale for 34% of the price (99€))
I have the UAD and a mastering plus vulture. Kind of close but not. With certain settings for sure u can’t tell then u move the knob a bit more and it’s not even close.
Hardware is more forgiving but less flexible.
Yeah I have the UAD - but needing the hardware is very limiting. I’ve just realised I picked up the SKULPT tube a while back but it hasn’t made it into my new M1 macs yet. I’ll have to give it another spin.
@@StarskyCarr I have no comparison, but I started a Sculptube demo yesterday. It does alias when you push it harder - workaround via metaplugin works, but I don't like workarounds, so that'll probably be a "no" from me in the end. But it does distort/shape the sound in a way that is not easy to recreate with other plugins. Tried it on guitars instead of an amp. Gonna try it on Drums and Bass today.
@@producermind9030 yes, I noticed that in this video too. Sometimes closeish, often completely different. I tended to prefer the hardware, because it sounded less harsh - but I know that I often prefer the plugin.. so I'm kind of hoping another emulation pleases me more.
@@StarskyCarr I don’t mind the limitations. I treat my UAD like it’s hardware and bounce everything straight away. It helps me commit.
I some times bounce out a few different versions just to be creative.
dude, great comparison. proper.
Arturia is really knocking it out of the park, as they say. I used to say that distortion, saturation and fuzz were best done in analog hardware, but no more. I’d probably choose the plugin over the hardware if I was just presented with this audio comparison.
Yeah it’s a lovely bit of software. The EFX fragments is superb as well.
still not there honestly. that being said arturia is pretty good. the difference is still really big if you’re used to how the hw distortion sounds
@@kimseniorb 😂
@@zerocrossing you can laugh all you want if you like the sound. I know its not there as I work with guitar amps every day. those who think digital modeling is a good alternative simply don’t have enough experience with the real thing. Been there done that. no satisfaction until you get to use the hw and know what to listen for
@@kimseniorb With all due respect, I believe that psychological biases affect our perception and decision-making as well.
Really great and informative vid. You're one of the few audio TH-camrs that actually knows what they're talking about.
Haha I’m not sure I do! But thanks that’s appreciated.
I’m really not hearing any similitudes, the hardware sounds much richer and warm.
soon as I heard culture vulture I knew I hadn't heard that sound from my plugs. Seems cool, dont have it on a project yet tho
First thing I noticed straight away. The plugin seems flatter, the hardware has somewhat more depth ( how much more? not sure... ). Feels like the distortion is "behind" the sound with the hardware..... with the software feels like its all on the same level depth wise.
Both sound great. Different uses I suppose.
Edit: After watching this.... I ended up buying the Arturia FX 3 on sale.... They sound really good a lot of good stuff in there.
100% agree
What I like with your demos is we can actualy hear the difference. This is not "a great sound engineer" stuff with: "yes, it's realy subtle...".
And you feel stupid and deaf as you cant' hear any difference, too subbtle for you , poor mortal.
Mate, you're relaxing, actualy 👍🏻
Indeed, the immediate A/B is great
This is great, thanks!
I find Culture vulture works best on a paralel channel then blended in to taste, its very level dependent, sometimes its really tempting to smash everything through it but a little can go a long way, i like it on drums gets the hats and snares to cut through it can also sound good on the master channel at milder settings, ive got the black mastering version and still get hum when i crank the gain
I agree… the It’s annoying that the Cv doesn’t have a blend knob. A cause of minor frustration!
May you please add the Sculptube by Overloud to this comparison? If I don’t mistake it emulates the same unit. And for me it’s my go-to tube saturation, it sounds incredible.
Its good, but it doesn't replicate the CV as well as this. The distortion harmonics are nowhere near the same and the bias doesn't act quite the same either. Don't get me wrong its a nice enough plugin, more based on the concept than an out and out emulation. A but like someone else making a hardware versions using the same concepts but not making a clone.
@@StarskyCarr Thanks for this man. I’ll keep that on mind. Now wanna check the Arturia version. 🤙🏼
interesting to have the hardware going back in through the 8816, which has transformers and is not exactly transparent, could be contributing to a brighter plug-in.
I don’t think it’s going back into the 8816 but can’t remember. I normally take stuff from the 8816 direct to the UAD. Not sure why I’d have done it differently here. But the 8816 is pretty transparent anyway - it doesn’t impart a Neve transformer saturation in the tone, at least nothing that would make a significant difference here.
The last song - just wow…
The plugin has this horrible digital clicky-attack most plugins still have, while the hw sound is all about smooooothness, without getting rid of the transients.
How does it compare to the UAD version?
The UAD is much closer to mine - but then it’s modelled in the same unit.
Sounds interesting on my iPhone…but I think I can use alternatively PA black box if I want to achieve the same effect…
It does the valve distortion (very well) but doesn't have the sound processing/compression style effects from the bias knob. So in comparison its a very limited range of tones. A bit like leaving the bias at the midpoint on this.. you miss all the other stuff.
@@StarskyCarr I can use other compressor and filter plugins…with black box…what gives me even more possiblities in shaping tone.
Having lots of features in one plugin is cool but usually it mimics basic fx chains…which I think I rather keep unique. ;)
Just wondering! ;)
@@amazeus1980 There's loads of ways to get similar results. The way the CV squishes the signal is unique - so you'll only get exactly the same results with a CV. It sounds different (not better or worse) than a distortion with compression, EQ, gates and limiters - BUT - whatever you find most controllable, easy to set up or gets you the best results is best for you.
usually i like your review but here you used the culture vulture like you are not familiar with it? it can sound a lot better than what you exibit here, also maybe adding a tb303 and some synths would have made things easier to listen the distortion.
I was trying to show how it worked rather than show it off.. if that makes any sense. I wasn't demoing the CV but rather comparing the interactivity of the various functions. Arturia will most likely have something with it sounding nice - I wanted to show if it acted like the hardware. But point taken. I actually did some 303 stuff with it, but using the Roland Cloud, which wouldn't work on my other machine so had to drop it. Decided to use the Arturia Wurli instead.
@@StarskyCarr i see, i was hoping for more sounds examples cause i found it hard to judge but it's really not easy to compare with gain matching ,slighty different unit ect but it was informative :)
I think my speaker ripped
Close enough cause I can’t rent to own a piece of hardware lol
Nlogax is increasing!
The actual unit has so much more headroom.
So is this better than decapitator, that has a culture vulture, hmm.
I almost put decapitator in this - but it only emulates the distortion not the bias so is very limited as a digital version of the CV
I'd say Decapitator is great for flattening something you need flattened and this is great for less subtle, raunchier distortion.
You can of curse still destroy stuff with the Decapitator but this will retain detail and dynamics better
@@StarskyCarr I think it incorporates it into the PUNISH part of the algo. kinda sounds like they have some bias involved, but it's variability is based on the drive and PUNISH. bias doesn't sound all that useable on this anyways
non esiste far sentire una saturazione monofonica!!!
Why not just make 10 better?
Because 11’s always better than 10
Analog version has more dynamic
I have to say they are not close enough
The harware sounds...90 times better
I use Analog Units and Console, with Acustica Audio and Nebula...man....Artuia...sounds Horrible...LOL
@@johnisrael5183 on the drums smoked the hw badly the hw sounded like shit.Acustica saturation sounds like fart Nebula is not that great anymore as used to be when others was bad