R/E/P Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Down

Author Topic: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)  (Read 9207 times)

Alécio Costa - Brazil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 791
ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« on: June 20, 2008, 07:02:13 PM »

Has anyone hadthe opportunity to use one of this?
http://www.altamodaaudio.com/unicomp.html
Logged
Alécio Costa Studio
High-end Mastering, Music Production
http://www.aleciocosta.com

Listen to my album at:
http://www.audiostreet.net/aleciocosta

MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/aleciocostamasterizacao

TotalSonic

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3728
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2008, 07:05:57 PM »

I believe Chad Clark who uses one at Silver Sonya - http://www.silversonya.com - was highly complimentary of it - maybe you could email him for his thoughts on it.  The NYC dealer for them is Joel at Ecstatic Electric - if you get in touch with him perhaps he can arrange for info or if come to the States even a demo - http://www.ecstaticelectric.com

Other than that I've never heard the unit.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Matt_G

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 648
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2008, 07:59:17 PM »

Yep I've got one sitting in the studio on demo right now. I'll paste the review I did for the distributor.

Quote:


Firstly it’s very well made, the look & feel of the unit is first class & gives you a sense of confidence in it’s build quality. It is a nice sounding unit & offers a wide range of options making it very versatile (like the swiss army knife of compression options!). I like the blend function (parallel compression) this to me was the most transparent way to use this unit for mastering. I also liked all the S.C. filter options & the soft/hard knee switch was very useful as was the f.fwd & f.back modes. Ok so there was a lot to like about this unit now onto the things I disliked...

For mastering I found the compression quite obvious even with light gain reduction. Without the blend function I wouldn't find the Unicomp suitable for mastering. The drive function which adds 2nd order harmonics to the signal I could see as being a useful function for tracking or mixing if you wanted to dirty up the signal or add some distortion to drums etc. for mastering it wasn’t subtle enough to be useful, even only adding a little was obvious & the character of the distortion isn't a pleasant affect so this limits it's usefulness.

The other issue I had was the amount of infinitely variable pots, which wouldn’t make it practical for recall in a mastering environment. Even if all the pots had fine resolution steps or switches it would be very time consuming to document all the various settings & options that are on this unit. As for the sound I found it a little time consuming to dial in & the results were satisfactory but mostly a bit too obvious for mastering use.

In conclusion I feel that this would make an excellent tracking & mixing compressor. Having the dual mono controls allows you to have 2 totally independent compressors for tracking or mix down. The options would all be very useful & would make it a very versatile choice if it was to be your only compressor. The blend & drive functions would make for a killer drum bus compressor & a nice bus compressor to mix into. For mastering I think there's better options.


Logged
Matthew Gray Mastering

Brisbane Australia

masterhse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1059
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2008, 06:44:49 AM »

I have one in the studio now for evaluation. Will post my observations/opinions if anyone is interested ...
Logged
Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
CD Mastering and Media Production Services

Alécio Costa - Brazil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 791
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2008, 07:47:09 PM »

Cool.
Using Alta Moda, (In portuguese means High Fashion) you may become a model.
Surprised
Logged
Alécio Costa Studio
High-end Mastering, Music Production
http://www.aleciocosta.com

Listen to my album at:
http://www.audiostreet.net/aleciocosta

MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/aleciocostamasterizacao

djwaudio

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 263
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2008, 07:54:59 PM »

masterhse wrote on Mon, 08 December 2008 03:44

I have one in the studio now for evaluation. Will post my observations/opinions if anyone is interested ...


How are you liking it Tom?
Logged
Respectfully submitted,
Dana

Dana J. White
specializedmastering.com



masterhse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1059
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2008, 09:10:52 AM »

djwaudio wrote on Wed, 10 December 2008 19:54

masterhse wrote on Mon, 08 December 2008 03:44

I have one in the studio now for evaluation. Will post my observations/opinions if anyone is interested ...


How are you liking it Tom?


There are some very cool features with this comp.

I was initially thinking that it might replace my STC-8 mainly due to the versatility of the unit over what the STC-8 is capable of and that they are both basically transparent types of compressors, so why have two of the same? Instead I've found this comp to be very useful being used in tandem with another comp. For example using the blend feature and turning the Alta Moda into a parallel compressor (small ratio maybe 2:1 and attack/release to taste) subtly bringing up the lower level of the music while letting another comp take care of the upper transient portion.

Some other very nice features are switchable RMS/Peak modes, threshold knee control, feedforward/feedback, several built-in filters for sidechain control, and a drive feature (2nd harmonic distortion) similar to the color control of a Crane Song Ibis in purpose, though it sounds very different.

Initially I wasn't planning on using this unit for a real session because it was only on trial, but the results that I was getting made me reconsider as I'm convinced that I will be adding this unit to my collection.

The only bad thing that I can say about it so far is that the only knob which has detents is the output. I had my dealer speak to the designer about this but he is reluctant to adding them. I feel that the knobs are very wide however (unlike the variable threshold control of the STC-8 which I can't move past 1) and do not feel that it's a major issue given the benefits of the unit. Some may find the unit a bit more "tweaky" than others because it is so feature rich, but once you get used to how each function sounds it's what makes it so versatile and powerful.

I recommend that anyone looking for a new comp check it out:
http://www.altamodaaudio.com/unicomp.html
Logged
Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
CD Mastering and Media Production Services

masterhse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1059
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2008, 09:17:09 AM »

Al
Logged
Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
CD Mastering and Media Production Services

Alécio Costa - Brazil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 791
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2008, 12:10:10 PM »

I don't remember about this Chevy Situation. Rolling Eyes
Logged
Alécio Costa Studio
High-end Mastering, Music Production
http://www.aleciocosta.com

Listen to my album at:
http://www.audiostreet.net/aleciocosta

MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/aleciocostamasterizacao

djwaudio

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 263
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2008, 02:28:06 PM »

Hey Tom,
Care to post a sound sample comparing some of your other compressors and the Alta? Wink
I've always used opto & VCA  compressors for mastering, but have wanted to try a FET. Thanks for the review.
Logged
Respectfully submitted,
Dana

Dana J. White
specializedmastering.com



masterhse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1059
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #10 on: December 14, 2008, 09:13:42 AM »

Al
Logged
Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
CD Mastering and Media Production Services

masterhse

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1059
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2008, 09:24:18 AM »

djwaudio wrote on Sat, 13 December 2008 14:28

Hey Tom,
Care to post a sound sample comparing some of your other compressors and the Alta? Wink
I've always used opto & VCA  compressors for mastering, but have wanted to try a FET. Thanks for the review.


Dana-

I would be happy to but I'm not sure how to conduct a demo like this. There are soo many variables it's difficult to create A/B comparisons with a comp like one may do with a microphone. For example how do you setup an STC-8 and LTD-2 to have the same ratio? If you have any ideas on how a comparison can be done let me know.

If interested, PM me and I can hook you up with my dealer so that he can send one out to you for trial.

Best,
Tom
Logged
Tom Volpicelli
The Mastering House Inc.
CD Mastering and Media Production Services

tom eaton

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3640
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2008, 02:05:16 PM »

Off topic, but there used to be yearly "Nova Awards" for products with the worst names when translated.  My favorite, back in the day when Pepsi was "the choice of a new generation," was a particular translation (Japanese, I believe): "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave."

Back to your regularly scheduled compression.

t

djwaudio

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 263
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2008, 03:03:02 PM »

Hey Tom,
There's no way that I know of to isolate all of the variables when comparing devices, including the not so trivial issues of how gear interfaces in a chain. As you suggest, getting a demo is the way to go. I'm not ready to start bringing gear in at this point, since I spent the kings ransom on Prism converters last week. Wink Thanks anyway.

For a little compressor wine tasting, however, it needn't be totally scientific. Dial up a little tasty compression on a track that you think sounds good, with each box, level match as close as you can by ear, then print. The goal being getting the gist of the box's characteristic sound.

I would think a key in the sample making would be using only one box in line at a time to get a sense of the sonic footprint of the path.
Logged
Respectfully submitted,
Dana

Dana J. White
specializedmastering.com



Alécio Costa - Brazil

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 791
Re: ALTA MODA (yes, it is audio....)
« Reply #14 on: December 14, 2008, 10:40:29 PM »


off-topic:
Tom, probably this Chevy issue was more related to spanish spoken countries. But we have a soda called Pitchulinha, which would never be released in chile, where it means "little dick". Smile


Adam indicated this model:
One more for the road!
http://www.vertigosound.com/
Logged
Alécio Costa Studio
High-end Mastering, Music Production
http://www.aleciocosta.com

Listen to my album at:
http://www.audiostreet.net/aleciocosta

MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/aleciocostamasterizacao
Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Up