We also found the method for loading different banks of programs to be unclear, and we experienced the occasional lock-up when loading large programs. And when the display reads ‘Econo´, Nebula3 is actually in Normal mode, not Economy mode (and vice versa). There are a few genuine annoyances, though. The Economy mode helps to alleviate CPU usage, affecting the sound only a little. Some programs can be up to 150MB in size, using about 50% of our (admittedly not so cutting-edge) test machine´s CPU cycles. These chameleon-like capabilities come at the cost of a hefty chunk of system resources. Yet by inserting such a model on all the channels of a mix, the overall effect can be greater than the sum of its parts, and this does hold true with Nebula3´s preamp simulations. Some of the preamp programs seem underwhelming and too subtle to be of use at first but, as Acustica point out, a mixer preamp would, of course, be pointless if it coloured the tone strongly, and the effect on a single channel is therefore often negligible. The time-variant effects can sound a bit ‘stepped´, depending on the settings used and the source material, but they don´t lack in tone and variety. The emulations of the PCM70´s factory presets in particular are fantastic - we compared these VVKT-powered efforts to standard impulse responses of the same programs in a regular convolution plug-in, and there was a marked difference in some cases, with the impulse responses sounding flat and almost mono in comparison! The reverbs offer a selection sampled from Lexicon´s PCM70, as well as Kurzweil and Digitech units, and more (spring and plate reverbs for instance). The mic and amp emulations are right on the money (though very CPU-intensive). Similarly, the EQs do more than just equalise they can introduce colour and texture, sometimes subtle, sometimes not so. We´re now quite in love with the ‘Boeing 747´ and ‘Do U Wanna Comp?´ programs.
The compressors, for instance, can impart a wonderful character that we´ve rarely (if ever) heard in software compressors, and we could easily get them pumping and squeezing in very musical ways. So what you want to know is: How does it sound? We´re pleased to report that Nebula3 really is able to bring something special to your mixes. The emulations don´t necessarily give control over every parameter of the original hardware either, so many EQ emulations, for example, have low, middle and high bands as separate programs. Confusingly, many of the effects that aren´t compressors have controls for attack and release - these actually fine-tune how quickly Nebula ‘reacts´ to the incoming signal.