Introducing Wine by Acustica Audio: Euphonize your master with a few simple tweaks
by AcusticaCM   2 weeks ago

No compromise always
Yeah an ultra option to follow up is always nice too.

But I don't care if people's RAM catches fire. Gimme!

I don't think I've ever heard anyone use the term euphonic to mean specifically "tweaking the stereo field for immersion".

If there are differences between left and right, that IS treating mid and side differently.

No compromise x 1000

Very CPU intensive. Not sure the result is worth the load... will keep demoing.

No, it isn't. There is no mid side, unless there is a mid side matrix involved. This may seem semantic, but it's actually decently important as we learned through the whole "side harmonics" debacle.

How loud are you hit Wine?

I confirm that it treats the mid and side separately in different ways and gives you control, especially over what happens in the side through the euphonic control. Both are treated differently.

Look, we're working on this. We've also received many requests for a lighter CPU version of Wine Strip, without modules that aren't necessary for everyone, such as the compressor and limiter. Used as a strip, meaning preamp, equalizer, and euphonic control, it can become quite lightweight. We'll show a render of the product as soon as possible, which some people have explicitly requested through DMs.

I hear what you did here, and I like it.

Always, no compromise! People can always bounce tracks. Wine performance on a full song master buss is less than 1% (0.45%) on my machine.

FiretheBlend... It's hard to find good tools that add depth and don't mess stuff up. Outstanding.

I anticipate future releases being quite irresistible. You guys have come a long way over the last year or so. Great Job.

Not chomping at the bit for this one. Haven't tried it yet tho.

What ballpark CPU should we see on the ZL versions?
I have a hunch that there is something buggy in Windows / Reaper.

I mean does 60% CPU for a single instance of the Blend sound reasonable to you?

Even the old times this would be crazy lot of CPU for an AA plugin.

It could be a memory leak bug. In the mean time, use the non-ZL version in REAPER and/or increase the processor buffer in REAPER preferences.

A few thoughts after playing with the Wine trial:

• The high pass, low pass and/or notch filters should activate when moved instead of having to manually turn them on first.
  
• Dither should light up when enabled. Bit Depth number should be displayed like Lace unless OFF.
  
• As others have mentioned, gainstaging between the processors would be very useful.

Although I think I have it figured out, a dedicated signal flow chart inside of the manual would be helpful.

As for the sound of Wine? Marvelous and better than expected. I already own an incredible amount of Acustica/Studio DMI plugins and no doubt there would be a lot of overlap if I picked this one up. Workflow-wise, it's very nice and the Alive technology (officially called "analog plus") is a very welcome addition.

The Tone control/Tilt EQ is a hidden gem. Employ it first before fussing with the four band EQ. You'll thank me later!
@ zaphod in the middle is a Mode control: Vari-soft and Tube. What does it do? It's not described in the user manual.

Is there a prize for decoding the name? I'm guessing you chose WINE as it contains 4 of the 5 letters in WIDEN. The missing D is the dimension the plugin adds. I'm reading too much into the name hey?

I am in a weird space atm. Probably all these solar flares. Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I thought it must be time for a new Acustica plugin to appear and honestly had the thought "I bet it's named after a wine". Claret first came to mind but then I thought "probably not that because Focusrite already used that". At which point I fell asleep. Sorry my ego needed an outing today and to share all that.

Would put Fire the blend on all tracks first or last ibsrt ? Same for bus/groups ?
And at which intensity ?
I would like to try your suggestions here.
By the way for this kind of plugin use a way to link and control all instances of such a plugin from one of its instance is a great way to set it up and use it : when linked, you can control the effect on a whole mix from one instance and one knob !
Like Heat in PT or Spice from process audio.
That would be a nice addition.

Hi Giancarlo!

I've tried it a bit on a nearly finished master, and although I can attest to the gentle expansion of the width which is cool, but the plugin seems to consistently take some of the edge off of vocals and whatever is at the center.

Is this intended? I somehow could get around this by increasing "harmonix" a touch, but the "grip" on my master was reduced to a point I disabled the plugin in the end.

Trying it now.

So far I like the EQ/tilt/filters the most. Very nice "auto" passive operation that provides a wide range of tonal options that is helpful on a stereo mix. Good job on that. I would like to see THAT as a separate plugin.

The resonance sliders are way too unsubtle. I would never notch one band that hard on a master. I don't get it.
The hi notch is unusable, and the low band doesn't go low enough.
I mean both of them need a gain control for a start. Dynamic operation would push the boat out though.

The pre is kinda meh. Reminds me of the old stuff. Struggling to hear a difference. Perhaps a slight "3d" effect. Same with "Harmonix" and very subtle overtones it provides.

The compressor is ok. Quite mild, which is probably the intention. Does provide a pleasing transparent glue, but nothing aggressive, which I am sure was the intent. Glad it's there at least.
The limiter, well, same as compressor.

The stereo imaging knob is pretty good, but I would just use Space Control if i need to get surgical.

I am using the clipper knob as output gain staging control. I can take it or leave it as a clipper, but definitely need it as output level control.
I Will use a separate clipper after for sure (Puff Puff these days!).

So yeah, mixed bag. The eq, though, Yes.

Well, you are an educated one. Their next release will be "holistic" processing. And the one after that will be called something like "meta" processing. And so on. You must get yourself in shape man.

I've noticed there's a lot of confusion about this topic because the alive+euphonic control is often mistaken for a widener or, even worse, a side control or something similar. Here’s how it actually works. Let's start with the idea that there’s a sort of preamp movement, or at least a preamp-like movement, that is applied over the preamp in use at the moment. This creates a dynamic, context-dependent movement that also changes continuously based on the incoming audio. This is somewhat the secret of the preamp and how some analog devices contribute to creating glue. Imagine it like a sort of wow and flutter or something similar, where part of the signal continuously moves dynamically and variably over time depending on what's happening. In the Wine product, this signal is around -60 to -70 dB.

We noticed that many analog machines have this sort of variability, which creates an unpredictable movement, almost like dithering but on steroids. We realized that the behavior on the mid and side was different. Speaking specifically about impulse responses, these were true stereo responses, meaning the relationships were multiple and different for identical signals, different signals, out-of-phase signals, and so on. In short, the model accounting for all the input variables can become quite complex.

We realized that we could separate the side part and emphasize it to create even more dramatic stereo effects. When you use Fire The Blend, or even Wine, setting the control to 25 percent, you get a consistent behavior between the mid and side parts of the preamp, so there's movement affecting both mid and side channels. This helps create a sort of glue without impacting the stereo field at all. Increasing the value tends to emphasize or dramatize the stereo behavior. Up to 50 percent, the effect is quite subtle, contributing to a glue and a characteristic stereo panorama typical of hardware devices or those mixed with creatively stereo-oriented devices like tape. The tape movement and the movement of the heads make these channels more interesting.

Increasing the control not only enhances the side effect but also randomizes the relationships between these two channels, turning it into a very flexible, chaotically beautiful effect. This is possible because we managed to achieve this type of reproduction sampled from real hardware with minimal artifacts, allowing us to highlight this effect at high values. Since it's a control we named "euphonic," we decided to emphasize only the side part, but this is very different from a processor that deals with the side or does phase limiting or side control effects. It's more like a preamplifier on steroids—very dynamic and mobile, impacting the stereo panorama until it starts to move temporally and create more pronounced wow and flutter effects. This exaggeration is artificial. To my knowledge, there isn't a processor currently doing this because it's like taking the summing part of analog channels from a summing mixer, extracting the side relation, emphasizing, and exaggerating it. It's a very creative glue effect and quite unusual—very natural. Of course, exaggerating it makes the side more prominent, though slightly, and you lose a bit of the mid. It depends on how much you want to dose the effect and where you want to stop. I hope this gives you a clearer picture of this unique processor.

Did something change with Aquarius? Trying to uninstall the vst3 Wine trial, but it's not showing up in the "updates" tab.

Would like some clarification on Varisoft vs Tube. Playing with them back and forth I preferred Tube on the current track Im messing with but not entirely sure what Im hearing other than a maturing of the sound or a little bit of added classiness to the sound.
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So far from the hour or so of playing with Wine, I personally would have called this release "Bowtie". Its not the whole pressed black suit, crisp white dress shirt, socks and shiny black shoes, but rather the finishing touch to make the whole outfit ballroom ready.

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I honestly was expecting monster tone or something super colorful based on the early leaks of information and pics. On the contrary it's quite vanilla sounding in the best way possible. It wont polish a turd or force its character like the Diamond series (Diamond 3 + Lift) does but it certainly adds that difficult to describe result one might get from a good mastering engineer. When used appropriately, the results sounds just like the mix but with all the mastering polish that is actually quite difficult to achieve ITB without a cleverly curated chain of plugins.

All of the modules to me are quite transparent (subtle) as in stays true and respectful to the source material. I also find it extremely intuitive and quick to get results from.

The most surprising aspects are the resonant cut filters. The resonant filters although visually seem like they would do too much, are extremely, extremely transparent. I was easily able to tighten the bass and cut some honking frequencies in the upper mids. The resonant filters leave me with an impression similar to how I think about the sharp settings on the Fairman eq in Indigo. I also love the choice of EQ options that all interact in a very musical manner. No need to chain two or three eqs. Its all in one interface with superb visual cues.

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I can tell that this is the culmination of the improvements made over the last few months of releases. I suspect Wine would be perfect for vocals or vocal bus as well. My creative juices are already flowing as I think about where it could be useful.

Placing Wine after Jam's (MAS2) is all that is needed to whip up a quick master. I'd also throw in Fire De-ess, Waves Vitamin, Dove, Sleek and Lace and tentatively Metric Halo Mixhead for good measure to deal with any issues.

Back to exploring further...

No changes; try doing a product re-scan from Aquarius settings (gear icon) > installation and see if it now appears on the updates tab.

Still not showing up. It's ok for now, I'll just leave it. If it still doesn't show up after a while I'll raise a ticket. Thanks!

Thank you for your feedback!

Using this technology, we're now able to achieve very colorful sounds. In this case, the goal was to build a processor for the master bus or, at most, for mastering. Therefore, we need to exaggerate the effect and manage the stereo panorama. We obviously avoided over-coloring the preamp. For example, we didn't introduce the ultra mode of the preamp. The combination of the current system, the ultra mode, and the new dynamic management we’ll introduce in upcoming products will certainly result in very colorful and noticeable effects. Just consider what we can do with the euphonic control—how cleanly you can hear it— to understand that we can now synthesize some elements with a sufficiently artifact-free sound.

about your question: varisoft is varimu, tube is a tube pwm one

Thanks for the awesome release, one addition that would make most complaints go away for this plugin are input and outputs for every gain stage, can you add them pretty please? (Perhaps in a separate wine comp/limit/clipper module, wine body hehe) It is a mastering tool so we need the control. And what's this wine strip you mentioned ? thanks

We decided to quickly respond to some of the observations made. One was about cpu load. The ZL versions now consume less and should have a fairly standard usage. We've also created a version called Wine Eq, which is pretty light and integrates the equalizer and preamplifier with the euphonic control. I believe it's an exceptional tool, very analog, and quite lightweight in this form, perfect for sculpting the mix.
It is available now, we’ll update user manual asap

Wine rel. A032 and Wine (trial) rel. A007:

• New Wine EQ module added, lower CPU usage in ZL mode for EUPHONIC and ALIVE modules

More time to test:

I must have potato ears. I had a mix I thought was good. Tried Wine.

After using Wine's EQ, which I'm liking more with each use, and using Euphonic -- suddenly, everything was "placed". Like setting a table. Instead of dishes and utensils spread everywhere, Wine set everything in its place.

When I bypassed, I was pretty dumbfounded how congested (almost constipated) everything sounded. Sonically, it's like listening through a tunnel (despite nicely panned elements). Wine has this ability, almost hard to describe -- like there's a frequency-dependent panning at play. Much stronger center with things place strategically/pleasantly on the side. A little more movement/3D side to side and front to back.. Guitar solos and horn stabs just pop out like IMAX.

This is something I notice with my digital/ITB stuff -- that congested, constipated sound with everything crammed up the middle. I suppose that means Wine is a laxative.

I kept thinking of Wine as something like the RND MBT but someone mentioned the SPL Vitalizer, and I think that may be closer. Sort of a MBT + VItalizer combo.

Euphonic can absolutely be dialed in too hard and make things "swimmy" for lack of a better word. Like a hamburger, you don't want a gallon of ketchup and mustard on the bun. Just a little.

I've been a big fan of TDR's new Elliptical and Infrasonic filters, and excited to try them in tandem with Wine.

Still haven't listened critically to the phase and haven't demoed The Blend.

I'm loving Wine so far. Can eventually see this as a summer -- using Blend on the individuals and Wine on the Mix Bus. Would love to see an additional pre or two, like how we have the vari and pwm for the compressor.

Thanks AA, really enjoying Wine!

test:
It add a little deep,a little warm,a little 3D
seems like I bought an magic tube and put the whole song in it

Or check some videos of the SPL Big module.

The EQ is a nice addition but due to its nature and all the curve-morphing and band interaction never before has an EQ needed an analyzer more than this one. That's a strange omission.

That was quick! Is there any chance that Fire The Blend will be offered standalone? I may regret this later, but so far I found one clear use for Fire The Blend: on FX sends or busses, where I do want the mids and center to recess a bit, and the liveliness it adds plus width, just seem to improve mostly any stereo effects.

But at the moment I see myself using only The Blend for this.

Btw, the plugin adds gain to the source, is there any way to have gain compensation on it?