D16 Group plug-ins vs. hardware. Phoscyon Nepheton Drumazon

[M3sslah]

Like most software they sound weak and muffled in comparison to the punchy crispy hardware, and I also enjoy the signalpath it has which also add to the character. VSTi's are clean, so clean I feel kinda bored listening to most of todays music. I for instance can hear pretty well when software is used, there is usually not that nice presence in the mix, something bigger punchier open sounds with life. And I am not talking about unison 20 and 128 polyphony. Not a bad plug though, nice work.

[module8]

Yeah its probably my POS dell laptop. Time to upgrade :)

[module8]

I'm going to be honest. I freakin love this plugin... it sounds almost identical to the 909 plus so many more great features (love the shuffle).

However, it is almost so CPU intensive that it will be difficult to even use. In a brand new Ableton project i loaded only this plugin and programmed a simple beat, looped this and hit play and it takes ~35-40% CPU by itself. When I disable the plug 3%. I've got dual-core 2.9 ghz processor with multicore support enabled and am using motu traveler.

[amrahc3232]

@module8 I'm using Nepheton in FL, and I haven't encountered any CPU issues.

[m0de]

look at how much more fun the hardware units are. it's obvious that that's the most important part about music. experiencing creation on the fly with dedicated instruments (at least to me) is the best way to go.

the sounds are better on the hardware across the board.

[ElasticMinds]

as a die hard hardware user, I must say D16 are doing something very right with their software recreations, esp the 808 clone nepheton. Sounds almost just like my actual 808. 

[Dazzystutorials]

Phosycon is in mho the best sounding 303 clone out there, great value for money, I use it all the time.

[aikighost]

The hardware 303 is a pain in the arse to program give me the plugin any day of the week.

[theyearoftheshnitzel]

hehehe i wonder how many times folks have stormed off the dancefloor because they realised it was...............A PLUGIN!!!! Felt the same way about santa when i worked that one out. Hasn't stopped me from enjoying christmas.

[orientalflux]

for market... nothing's different.. even I still like to have one of 303

[bobywaz]

Yah, well, I have to say that the true TB303 has a bit more of "sch" in its sound. Dunno if it's a bad thing though.

[peulpeulup]

your speakers, seem to be very good too! normal, that you do not really address the difference !!

[peulpeulup]

pffff  !! plug is realy a big shit !!! the sound is realy metalic and not expansive !!!!!

[pomfrit93]

The thing is that hardware is 100000000000 times more fun. i hate starring at screen while performing. and the whole process setting up the real deal is also what makes it fun to have analog hardware! so if you ask me - go grab the original instead of paying for something that kills hardware!

[pomfrit93]

quite good. but i could hear a lot of difference in the drums. the tb 303 absolutely no difference. but this is also youtube! remember. shitty quality, upload some sounds on soundcloud instead

[suckerprod]

Wow the sound of your plugin is realy close to the real 303. Maybe someone thinks he can find the difference, but they should close the eyes and then decide whats the original and whats the plugin... no way :)

Great work!

[09fod]

..... year well the 303 is still beater

[peterdotb]

this is amazing the sheer quality of the phoscyon vs the TB303

[petersedin]

the 303 is spot on.. downloading demo right now.. the 808 lacks of ..warmth? or something... bet it can be fixed with the right plugs thoe..

[audiofeen]

seriously there the best digital replica of the old roland tr series thus far...

great job d16 :P

[suffpapst]

good emulation or not: combining 909 808 and 303 sounds so cheesy and outdated ...

[quaestiosophisma]

its your face thats cheecy and dated

[suffpapst]

come on man! There is something else in the world than the village where you live! wake up

[suffpapst]

I can that shit! At least there is one real 909 in my room, homie.

[wrmusic]

Pretty good even though you can hear that Phoscyon lacks "presence/brightness" of 303 - well heard during filter passes.

[NatLife1]

listen one of my track - water whispers trance, i used phoscyon there ;)

[builder2000]

great emulation

[kolakube123]

My view on the software vs hardware thing.

1 - Hardware will always sound better than software, but only just.

2 - 99.99999% of the people listening will not have a clue if your using an emulation or the real deal.

[beatcounter]

Is it reverb effect used witb tb-303 and phoscyon?

[X820NL]

It's a very good emulation of the 303, no doubt :)

Listen closely though; the plugin sounds digital in comparison, expecially on the bass tones..

Still good job though :)

[megagavelli]

but doesnt that depend on the quality of the d/a converters sending the computer audio to the monitors? ... super high end converters like mytek & ua 2192 etc yield amazing results

[X820NL]

It doesn't depend solely on d/a converters.. This comes very close, but for sound purists it will always be an emulation of..... The real thing.

[maccagrabme]

Can't tell the difference, same as their drum machines which are also excellent. All they need to do now is get the Juno and Jupiters nailed and we can kiss goodbye to the ridiculous prices we have been seeing for kit that is nearly 30 yrs old. Its a shame that the likes of Roland didn't address demand for the older sounds but never mind. I think with the Juno its only the chorus that makes it sound so nice anyway and that shouldn't be too difficult for these guys to emulate.

[wilxl2]

The 303 has a slight brighter sound in the resonance end (it sounds a bit more open than the the Phoscyon in the higher frequencies-more drippy sounding). Still this is the closest I've heard anything get to the original 303!

[h4x0riz3d]

actually the resonance at the highest cutoff frequencies (which goes up to ~27KHz) varies too much between different units

not only because of analog components, but there is a resonance level adjustment knob inside the box (IIRC)

i have a lot of "dry" audio recordings of TB-303s from different sources, and i can tell

[TheRealCritique]

The 303's sound is a dated sound, so it's hard to say it's really worth 2k. THe original does sound pretty sweet in some examples I've seen, but very few.

[quaestiosophisma]

like saying guitars are dated..303 still destroys a club.

[pcpaulius]

bullshit I hear nothing it's youtube

[pcpaulius]

Every test I hear the difference at high resonant frequencies between 303 and phos favoring 303 myself

[Bluesage2009]

at 30sec.......

the ableton synth does not complete the timbre...... listen for the gaps in it's self resonance..... sounds like it's being muted on/off.

[Bluesage2009]

sorry at 40 sec

[mindvox626]

The software sounds exactly like the hardware-- it just doesn't feel the same. People who can't tell the two apart are thinking about it too much.

[303bassline]

Can't tell 'em apart!

[vj512]

Jestem pod wrazeniem - brawo!

[michal23pl]

zajebista robota panowie. pozdrawiam.

[sacredgeometry]

as near as makes no difference if anything its better because its more reliable you can have infinite polyphony if necessary, you can use it with midi and well its easier to use/more practical.

i still think theres a market in vsts specific controllers, and still want to make them (will start on vanguard first or phoscyon) Because no matter how awesome a vst is its still nice to have something to grab onto.

peace

brian

[ivikas123456789]

I don't really notice any difference.good work d16.for real,303 sounds the same.

I tought that software can't get there.

[HerrDooom]

best TR clones ever!!!!

[eeksta27]

what preset is being used in Phoscyon?

[SecondLifeSailing]

its a bit dull cmon lets get it going a bit :)

i would like to see these used with a pro musician jamming or something - as this just feels like a kid in his bedroom :)P

its a good demo dont get me wrong but you know what i mean - sex it up a bit ;)))P

[andersemil]

The emulation is very close, but there is much more punch and bottom in the analog circuits-- both 303 and 808. Still needs a good bit of research on how to get that groovy analog sound emulated.

[piracetam]

nonsense...this plugin sounds very, very accurate.

i've actually owned a tb-303 before.. the only thing this plugin lacks is the analog line noise and scratchy pots.

[sacredgeometry]

its not analog its solid state there is no reason why it cant be exactly emulated

[Hardstylerocka]

I've purchased Phoscyon some days ago and it's a very good emulator of the good old TB 303. I'll sure have some great times with this little devil. A satisfied user has written this comment. :)

"Dobry" work. Haha! :D

[kluczewsky]

Yeah - Mr Ropuch is in the best shape, as always:)

[Captnuendo]

add rso extreme punch... that always does the job.. or izotope vinyl

[thedarkspirit]

This old Roland x0x-Stuff still not dead, huh?

[d16group]

They are in quite good shape :) but 303 needs a new "tune" potentiometer.

[pocoko]

not bad at all

[thet180]

when you said you added effectsm was that devaster or some sort of distortion?

[d16group]

Yes - it was Devastor :)

[Cubik89]

Audio Realism Baseline 2 is indeed better than Phocyon, although Phocyon isn't bad.

[iodyn]

what :) Baseline 2 is alot more limited and doest sound like a tb303 at all... i dont see how its better... its still a nice app... just not better.

[Cubik89]

Phocyon and Baseline 2 sound almost the same, but Baseline 2 has a bit warmer sound. I have both vst's and i exactly know how they sound ;)

[corri303]

can i get this cool d16 shirt?

[corri303]

please sell me 1 of those shirts, they look good

[WARDISWARD]

audio realism is way better

The phoscyon's filter is to weak in the low end

Audio realism all the way yiehaaaaaaaaa ...jesus christ pinball wizard

[Capeau]

thats my weird, my ears tell me theres more difference in the high end, especially with a higher res setting.

[hellvines]

software can't touch the 808 unfortunately :/

[dailylifetube]

That's why I don't use plugins if I don't have to.

[BillyBatsonMarvel]

The software versions sound dead on for the most part. The hardware versions has a little more presence and crispness. Hard to tell with the drum boxes though, couldn't differentiate between the muted and unmuted one during the comparison.

[Fuber78]

stereotypes...

It's really the same sound.. It's time to sell those 303 and 909 !!! and 808 !!

[Capeau]

its not really the same sound, some differences are quite big to my ears. And no, i dont own hardware, in fact i love where software is going these days.

[juno6]

This is great!

[d16group]

It's a Novation Remote SL

[elastikvideo]

what midi controller use for control drumazon via midi at real time???

[klausnikski]

Really good comparison that. Just getting into the PC side this month but after getting a decent sound card. I still think it's more fun though to "mess about" with the real thing.

[jackmasterdick]

cool, had to judge on my crappy speakers. what's your opinion on the difference?