AudioMedia - November 2008 - (Page 52)

TC ELECTRONIC P6000 DSP Plug-in System Is it a System 6000, or a Powercore pretending to be a System 6000? RICHARD WENTK checks out TC’s Powercore 6000 hybrid. C’s System has become a staple in post, so news of a version running on TC’s Powercore platform sparked serious interest. In fact this isn’t a new option – the plug-ins included in Powercore have been available separately for a while now. But this is the first time TC has bundled them together in a single product with a single price point, and comparisons with the older Powercore X and also with the original System are inevitable. T THE REVIEWER RICHARD WENTK is the owner of Skydancer Media, a digital production company providing s o u n d, i m a g e, d e s i gn and consultancy services to various clients in London and the West Country. First, the hardware, which is outwardly almost identical to an X . There are some minor differences in printed labelling – the P has a red flash logo, the X doesn’t The R esults Are I n – but otherwise they’re physically interchangeable, For music the DVR reverb gives better results. It’s a much with the same very bright blue LED power indicator simpler reverb with far fewer parameters and options, at the front, and a pair of F sockets at the rear. but during an extended try out it was excellent for filling According to TC they’re functionally identical too. out and adding gloss to a music project. The sound is Both units have the same eight DSP processors, and based on a recreation of the old EMT plate simulator, optional plug-ins are interchangeable between them. and it’s richer, sweeter, and less clinically accurate than Both include TC’s base plug-in bundle, which features a that the VSS . Both of these effects are ambient reverbs, wide mix of TC’s creative and surgical processors (see last and neither includes gated or non-linear effects. These July’s mini review in Audio Media for details.) are left to aptly named Nonlin . At first sight this is even A minor difference is that the P ships with more simpler than DVR with just a handful of parameters, up to date versions of both plug-ins and drivers, which including a simple envelope controller. Clicking the will also be made available to X owners. The bigger Modify button reveals an extended menu of preset base difference is that the P includes the series effects, with straight reverb models and a ‘twist’ that plug-in collection, which has been ported over from adds resonant or otherwise mutated special effects. The TC’s System flagship processor. It’s not easy to twists have names like Chicken, Kazoo, and Aircon and compare like for like, because TC splits seem to be short convolution sources the System into base Reverb and – so Chicken sounds like a chicken timeMastering versions, and then also adds stretched to infinity and put through optional processor packages. But the a sonic blender. But without the executive summary is that Powercore clucking. offers a selection of some of the If that doesn’t excite you, you can reverb and mastering tools from both remove this section from the mix and of these versions, doesn’t include the concentrate on the reverb models that high-end surround tools available on offer a selection of rattly, trashy, thrashy, the larger unit. The three most obvious and smooth effects. This is easily the MD - each of the group buttons hides  parameters. Yikes. omissions are the MDX . most fun and creative of the reverbs suround mastering add-on, the VSS here. It’s not lush, but it has plenty convolution reverb algorithm, and the surround reverbs. of character, and it’s gratifyingly easy to add sizzle to There’s also no option to buy the buy MDW Massenburg drums and to concoct strange sound effect spaces. EQ. However, the Unwrap . plug-in is included in Ambience is also a strong point, but it’s a forward effect, the collection. Otherwise the stereo processors are and VSS is a better choice for more understated results. identical to those in System , and Tap Factor y adds even more can even import the same presets. ambience, offering up to taps with Visually, with the exception of the individually programmable delay time, more conventional Tap Factory, the pan, feedback, phase, and EQ amount interfaces all follow TC’s minimalist for each. Taps can be synchronised to styling. These are based on the graphics tempo, or tapped manually with the used on the series Icon remote, big red Tap Pad. Sonically this is the with a lighter colour scheme. While most versatile effect of all, capable of they work well on a hardware unit with rattly reverbs or psychedelic earth-toa touch screen and motorised faders, parallel-dimension special effects. With Not so much ‘Unwrap’ as ‘spread around a bit.’ they’re not quite as enticing when hundreds of parameters, programming controlled with a mouse, although this isn’t fast, but the presets offer a very gets easier once you realise that you can click anywhere in healthy selection of starting points. This is also the only the grey boxes to change the settings. All of the Icon-style plug-in to include a randomise button for random effect plug-ins look very similar, and although eye candy isn’t generation. You can – and should – mask out feedback essential, some basic colour coding would help alleviate from randomisation, because otherwise Tap Factory goes > The Hard Stuff First the confusion that can happen when there are many windows open at the same time. Looking through the collection in detail, VSS is a source reverb with a monster-sized library of ambient spaces. The collection starts with toilets of all descriptions, before moving on to oil tanks, car interiors, train stations, and a snap of the AES show. More usefully there are also tens of rooms, halls, stadia, and large ambient spaces to choose from. This isn’t a convolved reverb so the names are slightly cheeky, but subjectively these are very smooth and believably realistic ambiences, and could easily find a home in film and TV sound design. 52 AUDIO MEDIA NOVEMBER 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - November 2008

AudioMedia - November 2008 Contents Recording News Post News Broadcast News Geofocus: Italy What's Up UK AES Review For the Record Studio Snapshot: Aquarium Abbey Road Plug-ins Brilliance Pack Neumann TLM67 Mercenary Audio KM-69 IZ Technology ADA Final Cut Special: Bond TC Powercore 6000 EP Productions Nagra VI Product Sampler: Location Tools Video Guide AMSR News Shure KSM9 Big Beach Boutique 4

AudioMedia - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.