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VCC Pro User Manual 1.5

1. AY E DIGITAL VCC Virtual Console Collection User s Guide Version 1 5 gt MIXBUSS Pe Advanced Algorithms By FABRICE GABRIEL ae CONSOLE Se vE Brit N o Discrete x o CONSOLE N c a Bri L rit N US A Y 3 3 Discrete 7 dE 7 E e US gt A 4 y F k m e Discrete Brit 4 RC Tube j 6 dB A ON Brit kd RC Tube GROUP 6 s gt ote INPUT O 3 3 6 6 dB DRIVE O e 3 A 3 f 5 dB A x croup E 2 hs G OFF Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection Slate Digital VIRTUAL CONSOLE COLLECTION Version 1 5 Advanced Algorithms by Fabrice Gabriel Fabrice Gabriel Steven Slate Vincent Travaglini Yannick Bonnefoy Denis Rolland Algorithm Design amp Tuning Plugin Design GUI amp Feature Design Plugin Design Algorithm Design amp Testing DSP Coding Plugin amp GUI Development GUI Design 3D Modeling amp Rendering Metering and Panels Development Slate Digital Thanks the amazing designers who made these legendary consoles Deborah Lintz Ross Hogarth and our fifth Beatle Jay Baumgardner User Guide by Steven Slate amp Fabrice Gabriel Slate Digital LLC All rights reserved Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection TABLE OF CONTENTS L Ta ase 7 ra s Tc TO 4 ANALOG VS DIGITAL MIXING eesis s dd 5 ll The Virtual Console Cole cOn A it 5 THE CONSOLES maissin
2. GROUP 8 GROUP _ CONSOLE Brit N Diserete j gt y OUP INPUT L TRACK AS GROUP AUTOMATION MASTER gt CALIBRATION 4 gt OUTPUT S VU 4 gt OVERSAMPLING 4 gt DISPLAY 4 X A E Vey GROUP BYPASS gt Group Bypass You can bypass the Virtual Channel Process on any group by selecting the group via the red Display Group Settings and then hitting the GROUP BYPASS on the GROUP CONTROL PANEL GROUP 3 gt OFF 13 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection Assigning The Mixbuss To A Group You can assign the mixbuss plugin to a group by enabling it to GROUP ON When you assign the mixbuss to a group its main panel controls are disabled and it slaves to the selections on the group panel NOTE THAT THE GROUP PANEL INPUT DOES NOT AFFECT THE MIXBUSS SINCE THE MIXBUSS DOES NOT HAVE INPUT CONTROL CUSTOMIZING A CHANNEL WITHIN A GROUP Sometimes you will want to customize the settings of a particular track within a group For instance you may have your drums in a group with your drive at 1 However you want to add extra coloration to just your snare By opening the snare channel you can CONTROL CLICK the main Drive parameter of the Snare and add to its drive level without affecting the other drums in the group You ll see the added value of the group drive and the main drive in red For instance if your group panel drive is 1 and you CONTROL CLICK the main pa
3. l l Brit N Brit N Increases the input gain Discrete Discrete Settings when the Group which will drive the channel USAS y S As 1 mode is enabled harder both raising the level td Jisorete of the output and increasing the nonlinear characteristics RAC Tube Bri RC Tube OUP NPUT INPUT U U Drive Increases the nonlinear d J K 3 Settings response of the selected i i So caueRation lt Using the settings you can console without increasing l gt OUTPUTS VU lt access controls for Group the output level Drive can adaz To gt OVERSAMPLING lt Automation Calibration add more analog response E gt aaa Console Drift Output and VU R 7 7 without altering balances A J o gt 3 Oversampling and Display OFF GROUP BYPASS Group On Off Group Bypass Enables the group mode In Allows you to bypass the group mode you can control Virtual Channels in the multiple Virtual Channels selected group with any one channel Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection IV VIRTUAL MIXBUSS AT A GLANCE Ea A a pala Advanced Algorithms By FABRICE GABRIEL GROUP 2 gt a i l 1 GROUP 4 au w BS x y TRACK LIST GROUP 5 Du A E E k a 1 Te K E F CONSOLE DRIVE GROUP 8 Brit N GROUP __ Discrete a CONSOLE i N Diserete 4 eM Console Select Selects the desired mixbuss console emulation 4 RC Tube p RC Tube OUP
4. iLok License Downloading e Before downloading the iLok license for VCC make sure you have installed the latest iLok drivers for your system You can download the latest installers here o iLok drivers for Mac OS http sw ilok com macextsx dmg o iLok drivers for Windows http sw ilok com DriverSetup exe In order to download your iLok license to your iLok 2 dongle please visit the link that was given to you in your email receipt and enter the required info including the issued pass code This will unlock your iLok redemption code Use this code via your iLok account s Redeem License Code Enter the iLok code and then download the license on your iLok 2 dongle Installing the VCC Click on the INSTALL icon Choose your designated VST AU or RTAS folder usually the default location that the installer insists will be best 21 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection X 3RD PARTY ILOK LICENSE TRANSFER FEE When reselling any Slate software product there will be a 30 License Transfer Fee in order for us to process the new customer into our USER system It is the responsibility of the seller to inform the buyer of this fee at the time of sale 22 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection XI CONCLUSION MAKING THE VIRTUAL CONSOLE COLLECTION By Steven Slate One of the first studios that worked at when was about sixteen years old was a two room facility that had two vintage consoles remember that we began to th
5. Collection GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 Group 1 11 GROUP 4 TRACK LIST GROUP 5 GROUP 6 Track GROUP 7 m N N N N N iB G GROUP 8 c A GROUP _ CONSOLE CONSOLE Brit N Brit N Discrete RIT 19 OUP INPUT hd lt Y 3 SETTINGS e 2 TRACK AS GROUP AUTOMATION MASTER gt CALIBRATION 4 K OUTPUT S VU 4 PAM gt OVERSAMPLING 4 gt DISPLAY lt GROUP GS N gt OFF GROUP BYPASS Virtual Channel with GROUP ENABLED This channel is assigned to GROUP 1 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection 12 Controlling Channel Groups from the Mixbuss Plugin Once all channel plugins and groups have been assigned on your tracks you can control all of them using the Mixbuss plugins Channel Group Panel Controls Simply select any of the red DISPLAY GROUP SETTINGS buttons and use the CONSOLE SELECT DRIVE and INPUT to customize a particular group s settings Mr R SLATE VIRTUAL MIXBUSS ptm Advanced Algorithms By FABRICE GABRIEL CONSOLE Brit N Discrete a GROUP ty OFF You can edit all of the channel group parameters from the Group Panel of the Mixbuss plugin Select a group by hitting the red DISPLAY GROUP SETTINGS Then you can edit its Console Selection Drive and Input Settings DISPUAMIGROUP SETTINGS GROUP 1 HE GROUP 2 S GROUP 4 TRACK LIST GROUP 5 GROUPG6 MO GROUP 7
6. INPUT Mixbuss Drive Increases the nonlinear response of the mixbuss without altering the output level aaie o a SETTINGS a Group On Off Activates the Mixbuss Group Mode allowing the user to use the group controls for both the mixbuss and channels gt CALIBRATION 4 K OUTPUT S VU 4 K OVERSAMPLING 4 gt DISPLAY lt E E GROUP BYPASS Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection V QUICKSTART 1 Place a Virtual Channel Plugin on the first insert of one of your track channels Enable the GROUP mode by enabling GROUP ON This will disable the main channel controls and activate the group panel controls 2 Copy the first Virtual Channel Plugin to your other channels putting each one in the first insert 3 Using any of the Virtual Channels select a console from the group panel All Virtual Channels will slave to the chosen console GROUP __ CONSOLE Brit N Diserete 4 Place the Virtual Mixbuss Plugin on the first insert of your Master Fader track 5 On the Virtual Mixbuss select a desired console from the console selection CONSOLE Brit N Discrete RC Tube 6 Mix your song 10 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection VI ADVANCED USE ENHANCING NON LINEAR RESPONSE WITH DRIVE CONTROL By increasing the DRIVE on a channel the nonlinear characteristics of the selected console will increase without increasi
7. group You can set the group calibration to relative if you want the calibration to follow the whole console calibration or to absolute if you want to keep the same calibration level independently from the rest of the console 17 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection OUTPUT amp VU SETTINGS S DUTPUT 8 VU K CURRENT TO DEFAULT X SETTINGS A HISS AUTO MUTE CONSOLE OUTPUT LEVEL SSB 4K na Hiss Auto Mute Removes the console s hiss characteristics when there is no audio present on the track Console Output Levels Controls the overall output level of each desk allowing plus or minus 1db Clip LED Threshold Controls when the CLIP LED lights up from Odb to 6db Default is Odb Clip LED Sensitivity Allows you to choose how easily the LED will represent the clipping Choose Low Mid or High settings VU Ballistics Chooses the speed of the VU Meter needles The Fast mode will react very quickly and precisely to oncoming audio where the Slow mode will react less precisely to individual audio pieces 18 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection OVERSAMPLING OVERSAMPLING Y a y SETTINGS ae The Virtual Console Collection allows a variety of oversampling options Even with no oversampling the Virtual Console plugins have very minimal aliasing and will sound very good However using the oversampling you may hear a more realistic emulation of the analog desks when driving the consoles hard or clipp
8. aa dado 6 BEC IN DISC rOle rer arree a As 6 PACAR E A E A A E cts 6 USADIO OTE a E A oi 6 A 6 III Virtual Channel At A Glance iaa 7 Group Assemand DEPAY raaraa a A a uoreacaneee 7 Ana o o AA O II A 7 SOU MOQUE a ac 7 E STs BYDASS A A A AE 7 SOU ES a A a cme eo 7 SOU ON OR A 7 A O O E A 7 A ia anid are da Saeed he dec nein a awe dns ek A A Rd a Aa GAA nS en DEN Saeed 7 IV Virtual MIXDUSS At A Glance iii A iii 8 MISA A A IR A Rew eR Be ee 8 Console Selene a de dd te a io ere dd dd a e de dd 8 GO Olarra aia la 8 Vs QUICKSTA ia 9 WE S gt Ts Le USE cr alcise 10 ENHANCING NON LINEAR RESPONSE WITH DRIVE CONTROOL ccccccsccccsccccccccccsccsccccccceces 10 USING GROUPS lt a is az 10 Controlling Channel Groups from the MIXbuss Plus 12 Group BYD ASS dd AA ia 12 Assigning The IW XDUSS TO ARO DA ia 13 CUSTOMIZING A CHANNEL WITHIN A GROUP 20 sas aia cs 13 Ville COMMON IVIIKINE QUESTIONS aiii ea 14 Vill Customizing the VCC Using the Settings ccccscsccsceccsceccscsccccsccccsccscsceccsceccecsceeces 15 TRACK AS GROUP AUTOMATION MASTER ccccccccsccccccccccccccccccccccccscccccccccccccccccscceccecceccecce 15 CALIBRATION o ias oo 15 OUTPUESVU SETTINGS ona A Adi 17 OVERSAMPLING lt a E 18 DISPLAY SETTINGS oaran Aa 19 Group Panel RI el U TT 19 A A ete Ce Oe er E eee ee eS 19 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection IX System Requirements amp Installation cccscsccsccccs
9. an still benefit from the digital flexibility e The global calibration level adjusts the working level of the whole console It s set on 18 dB as default value as in a real console When increasing the global calibration level towards 12 dB the input level has to increase accordingly to obtain the same processing effects When decreasing the calibration level you can use lower level signals as the VCC input and you will still have the console effect as if you were using a higher audio signal level e Each group can have its own calibration level relatively to the global calibration level or independently o Click on the group calibration level led to activate the calibration for the corresponding group o Click on the Abs led to activate the absolute calibration level for the corresponding group This way the calibration level of the group will be set independently from the global calibration level o Click on the Rel led to activate the relative calibration mode This mode will allow you to set the calibration level for each group relatively to the global calibration level All these options allows you to very quickly and easily adjust the color and working level of the whole console or just a group For instance it is very useful if you want your drum tracks to hit the console harder without changing the level of your tracks Group all your drum tracks in the same VCC group and decrease the calibration level of the drum track
10. can add some classic vibe to your mixes Brit 4k The most popular mixing console in the industry this desk has a clean punchy wide and slightly aggressive quality that has made it the go to desk for rock pop metal and hip hop Push it hard to get some extra grit to the transients US A Discrete One of the most sought after desks in the industry this American made discrete console is known for a thick and fat tone with lots of vibe and midrange punch y Another classic British console this desk is known for being the ultimate rock desk with a wide soundstage smooth highs and fat low end Push it hard for some extra fatness RC Tube The RC Tube is based on a 50 s all tube broadcast desk It has a super thick midrange smooth high end and fat and warm bottom end Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection Hi VIRTUAL CHANNEL AT A GLANCE Group Assign and Display Group Assign allows you to assign any number of Virtual Channels to a group For instance the drums can be assigned to a Virtual Channel group and the guitars can be assigned to another group Group Display allows you to display and edit settings for any Group Console Selection Allows you to select the desired console channel mulation DIGITA y GROUP 2 l TRACK LIST GROUP 3 S VIRTUAL CHANNEL GROUP 4 GROUP 5 GROUP 6 GROUP 7 m Group Module CONSOLE GWA Input CONSOLE Controls the Group
11. csccccsccccsccccsceccececcscescecsceccscesescecs 20 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTION S aaa A a 20 LGR LICENSE DOWnto adinerada 20 TG g lt TTT GG VE ios leido 20 X 3RD PARTY ILOK LICENSE TRANSFER FEE cui is 21 XI Conclusion ins 22 l INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the Slate Digital VIRTUAL CONSOLE COLLECTION This plugin suite brings the sound of four legendary analog consoles to your digital audio workstation 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 ou
12. f the crop Once found Fabrice would come in and do a series of custom tests using specialized techniques that he developed for analog modeling Fabrice s Los Angeles office would soon become a fury of schematics console components test equipment and dozens of papers filled with hand written algorithms and French words The very first versions of what would become the Virtual Console Collection were already very impressive to me would test them by comparing the processed digital files with the same audio files that went through the actual desks From start to finish Fabrice and both would do hundreds of listening tests to ensure that we were replicating the exact sound of the analog consoles dynamically Many analog desks have a certain sweet spot a point of gain structuring in the desk where the console would exude its most pleasing character This type of sweet spot would have to be duplicated in the algorithm in order to properly have the console modeled The goal was not to simply claim that this plugin could recreate the vibe of analog mixing but to prove it by showing how close the sound of a digital mix that had been processed by the VCC plugins was to the same mix summed through the relative analog desk We began to post some of these comparison demos on the web in the spring and luckily we were reassured that the Virtual Console Collection was something special Months later we are proud to release what is t
13. he result of countless months of hard work and dedication must give credit where it s due This project has been spectacularly executed by the most brilliant and revolutionary algorithm engineer in pro audio Slate Digital co founder Fabrice Gabriel It is Fabrice s amazing skill and expertise that has allowed this remarkable plugin to exist Fabrice and genuinely hope that the Virtual Console Collection will help give your music that special vibe and tone that is reminiscent of mixing on a classic vintage console Thanks for your purchase and we look forward to you making great music with this and other Slate Digital plugins Steven Slate
14. ing the mixbuss Real Time Rendering Setting the Channel and Mix Buss real time rendering oversampling will cause the plugins to actively oversample in real time in your project Be aware that oversampling will increase the CPU amount of both plugins Choices are 2x 4x and 8x Offline Rendering For DAW s that have an offline rendering option you can choose to only have the oversampling active during offline render This is beneficial when you do not want to over tax your CPU by making the plugins oversample in real time Choices are 2x 4x and 8x Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection DISPLAY SETTINGS DISPLAY a 2 A i A E an gt PANEL DISPLAY Kc C ee C y AW Display E viet Pp ds HL OSS a a vel Display pum B es L E x w brp x A y aa Y A Group Panel Display Always Display allows to open the VCC with all the panels open Display if grouping is activated Track List Display Display with Group Panel Display on Edit Group Never Display 19 20 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection IX SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS INSTALLATION PC Requirements e Hardware any Intel or AMD processor with SSE2 support 1 GB RAM iLok2 e Operating system Windows XP Windows Vista 32 64 Bit Windows 7 32 64 Bit MAC Requirements e Hardware Mac with Intel processor 1 GB of RAM Lok2 e Operating system Mac OS X 10 5 or later INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
15. ink about the desks in regards to their tone One desk was the one that sounded fat and warm the other was the bright and punchier of the two We d choose which room to mix in based on the sound of the band The more modern bands would always get mixed on the brighter punchy desk and the more old school bands would get mixed on the fat and warm desk Given these experiences I ve always thought of analog consoles as part of the sound of the mix This is why things started to get odd for me once began mixing digitally The digital mixes didn t add any of the nonlinearities that my ears grew to love from the analog desks started experimenting by running my mixes into my mic preamps in order to get some color But because my mixes were line level and the mic preamps were not this was not a match made in heaven needed someone to design a mix system that would allow me to use my mic preamps for tone and gain in a more intelligent way In 2001 was introduced to an extremely talented tech named Justin Ulysses Morse of Roll Music of Minnesota Justin and got to talking and he quickly understood my goals He designed a 16 channel passive summing mixer that would require a mic preamp for make up gain The unit was called the RMS Folcrom and became one of the best selling analog summing solutions in the industry Years later when teamed up with algorithm guru Fabrice Gabriel to start Slate Digital asked him if it would be possible to re
16. nel drive and set it to 2 then the total amount of drive on that channel is 3 The channel to the right has its input CONTROL CLICKED so that the user can customize the input level without affecting the input level of the rest of the tracks in the group a MN GROUP CONSOLE CONSOLE Brit N Brit N Discrete Diserete T 14 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection Vil COMMON MIXING QUESTIONS What is the proper amount of level to send through the channel and mixbuss There is no right answer Any signal that travels through the plugins will gain the nonlinear response of the particular channel On some desks you can experiment by sending all your channels to a few stereo busses and then using those busses to send to the mixbuss This way you can hear the effect of driving more level into the virtual mixbuss You may or may not like the sound of the modeled mix amps as they reach their threshold and start to saturate Use your ears to judge Can I put the channel plugin on the last insert to simulate going through outboard gear before the console There is no rule that says you must put the channel plugin on the first insert The last insert will work fine We do recommend putting the mixbuss plugin as the first insert on the master fader for most authentic replication of the hardware 15 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection Vill CUSTOMIZING THE VCC USING THE SETTINGS Using the settings you can access contr
17. ng the output level This type of effect is not truly representative of a real console but it can be useful when you want more of the console s nonlinear vibe without altering the channel s levels USING GROUPS Groups make using the Virtual Console Collection very simple quick and intuitive At its most basic use you can just set all channels and mixbuss to the same group and use the Virtual Console Collection to emulate mixing through one console Or you can use several groups and make your own hybrid console For example you can use a group of slightly driven Brit N channels on your drums a group of US A Discrete channels on your guitars and bass a group of Y channels on your vocals and then sum them all through a mixbuss with the Brit 4k The Virtual Console Collection contains 8 groups that enable you to slave multiple Virtual Channels together This means that using one Virtual Channel you can control the console selection input and drive of all other Virtual Channels in that group To start a group simply enable the GROUP switch to ON This will disable the channel s main controls and enable the GROUP PANEL CONTROLS The channel will automatically default to GROUP 1 whose green LED will light up Assign the channel to another group by selecting the group s green selection button Using the red DISPLAY GROUP SETTINGS buttons you can edit any group from any Virtual Channel Slate Digital Virtual Console
18. ols for Group Automation Calibration Console Drift Output and VU Oversampling and Display gt CALIBRATION lt 4 Fr OUTPUT S VU 4 K OVERSAMPLING lt 4 gt DISPLAY lt TRACK AS GROUP AUTOMATION MASTER By selecting this check box in any channel s within a group you effectively make that particular channel the master when writing automation All other channels in the group will follow the plugin automation of the master CALIBRATION The calibration settings allow you to configure how your console will react to the input level of your track EER RRATION YR SETTINGS e GLOBAL CALIBRATION LEVEL GROUP CALIBRATION LEVEL o e 0 Group 1 e o 0 Group 2 1 DH Group 3 o cro a 16 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection In the analog domain you usually have to adjust all your signals to maximize the signal to noise ratio while not overloading the electronic circuits This means finding the right input and working audio level In the digital domain this is usually not an issue so the internal working levels can be pretty quiet or loud For instance if your original track is quiet the VCC models will react like if you were using a low level input with an analog console At the opposite using a too high audio track level will overload the VCC model The calibration settings allows to set the working level of the whole console so you don t have to change the actual levels in your current projects or you c
19. plicate the sound of an analog consoles sound After doing a few tests on a famous British vintage console his first answer was No The reason he said was due to the nonlinear dynamic response of the desks While many plugin companies have reproduced some simple static nonlinear characteristics and some even have algorithms that are somewhat dynamic in their response none had gone into the detail that would be needed to reproduce the dynamic nonlinearities of a vintage analog mixer It would take up too much CPU and be unusable he said to me in his classically French accent So we put the project on hold and kept developing our flagship mastering processor the FG X But as the FG X algorithm came to a close my analog fever would return With a vengeance 23 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection dragged Fabrice to a famous Los Angeles recording studio so he could do some complex testing on their vintage desks He reluctantly obliged and then requested that get him the schematics of the desks for him to study Then didn t hear from him for a week was beginning to wonder what was happening but then got a call sometime in the middle of the night It will be very very difficult but think it can be done he said And thus was born the Virtual Console Collection Over the next six months would travel around Los Angeles listening to dozens of classic desks in an attempt to find the cream o
20. r 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 THE VIRTUAL CONSOLE COLLECTION 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 Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection THE CONSOLES Brit N Discrete This classic desk has been a staple of the recording industry for over thirty years Known for a rich fat and warm sound it

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