The lack of phase issues with this makes this literally the best widening tool on the market. It sounds so good I'm having a hard time believing what I'm hearing.

@WilliamBeergerMusic

Жыл бұрын

Yeah. The fact that i couldnt tell if it was bypassed or not while monitoring the video in mono is pretty impressive. EDIT: oh, he did that test in the video.

@TH-gu4wj

Жыл бұрын

agreed, it's pretty incredible.

@MELOPSMUSIC

Жыл бұрын

but I heard demos with vocals in addition and i feel it makes the vocals diluted , less power, of course because it put things on the sides only. Thatn s the only pb i see. Perhaps mixing the instrumental part with it, and the vocals and elements that have to be in center separately ??

@hockeytalk6084

2 сағат бұрын

That’s true sometimes it takes certain material and pushes it too far to the sides and makes it kind of crispy sounding up the highs especially. But I only experienced that problem when I push it hard on a full mix. This thing really shines when it’s used to subtly

Often under-looked but the hand movements on this A/B are excellent, so many people flick switches and turn knobs and block the picture or your not sure what's happening as they jump around from knob to knob, this is super clear along with no speaking between A and B and on a loop so its consistent. Super duper.

@ColtCapperrune

Жыл бұрын

Really appreciate that! This is exactly how I would demo a piece of gear to wrap my head around it as fast as possible, I’m glad it translated to the video!

Finally an actual review on this unit, I’ve been waiting for someone to give this an extensive rundown. Thanks

Wow what a difference! I was just watching this on my phone and could hear the clarity of the mix just open up. Way to go SPL! Thank you for sharing this man

This would be a great addition to my workflow, now that I have heard what is happening. To me this sounded as if you were moving the placement of the instruments forward and back. I really didn't seem to hear any degradation of the instruments. This sounds fantastic. Thanks Colt.

This is absolutely mind bending how good that thing sounds! It makes the mix sound so clean and polished and powerful wow. Thanks for this video. Amazing.

It’s THAT sound! Wow! I bet this little magic box will change how the world perceives stereo sound. Thanks Colt! I can’t wait to watch my clients jumping around!

I have been anxiously awaiting this review. The sound examples are amazing. And compatibility in mono. Just wow!

So luv SPL... Crazy how even on Max it's still musical... Great piece of gear.. Great demo C.C.

Even on my laptop I could hear a difference. The mix REALLY opened the hell up.

I feel like the front to back treats your mix like it’s already back and the definitely brings some compressed shine to the two track to bring it forward. It’s awesome though. That mono demo!!! Wow!!!! 🤤

Amazing 🤯the front to back knob sounds to me like a subtle M/S tilter that's also boosting the midrange.. One of the most natural sounding stereo wideners I've ever heard for sure!

@aviatedviewssound4798

3 ай бұрын

It's not M/S-based; it's actually time-based, similar to Atmos.

Awesome review mate and it's great that you did one on this! Your quality on information and of course video qualitywise is amazing! Keep it going😎

It's crazy how the big knob "seems" to add so much gain to the stereo signal, but in mono you can see it's not adding any. It sounds really good. Amazing technology at work.

wow sounds so good. opens it up and gives it more clarity. Definitely sounds better when you up the open back to about 7.

you're pushing great vids man. thanks!

This sounds amazing! What a difference! Thanks for showing this Colt

@TheEaglesRage

Жыл бұрын

Nice try Satan. Go find a different group to scam.

What a great piece of gear. I love the fact that there’s a lot going on inside but there’s only 3 knobs. For me that’s the best kind of gear, I want one!

Thank you for this. Totally confirms that I made the right call going with Onthemoon Spacecraft for my mastering rig. This is closer to the Elysia Alpha hardware MS tilt eq I have. If they make a rack unit of this it needs a output gain to level match.

Great review! It reminds me of a combination of Leapwing Audio StageOne (bigness) and CenterOne (stage front/back) but without the possibility to compare I think this one sounds better. I think of it as a box to mix into it straight from the beginning of a mix because it also alters the perception of the spectrum balance in nice way.

Great review. I'd have loved to hear it on individual instruments. But yeah, I'm getting one. Thanks Colt.

Hey Colt… I was listening to this in the car and I could feel the Stage difference better… it might be cause of the extra speakers. What I kinda feel it does is give enphasis to the Mids or Sides… Anyways GREAT piece of gear. Thanks for your vids man. You give us great value with your knowledge. Blessings

It's an M/S processor using allpass filters. Which is very cool because there are very few allpass filters in the hardware world. This would be great for a mastering desk that uses an all analog workflow. Rupert Neve built a mastering desk called the Masterpiece for a company called Legendary Audio that had a very similar tool using allpass filtering. Sadly that it is no longer in production and fetches upwards of $12,000 when they come up on the used market. But congrats to SPL for making a great tool like the SPL BiG!! Now I have to buy one COLT Thanks for demoing it.

The plugin that can do this is from Acustica Audio Space Control developed with Luca Pretolesi and Hardwell It also has multiband phase limiters www.acustica-audio.com/store/products/spacecontrol

@ractorstudios

2 жыл бұрын

Nice !

Wow … SPL has made another great piece of gear … thinking I’d like to try this on my analog drum bus chain … thanks for sharing!

@ColtCapperrune

2 жыл бұрын

It would sound great there! Thanks for watching!

Incredible product. Thanks for the video.

Great video and great product. 9:29 When the signal is converted to mono and the unit is engaged, I hear the acoustic guitar move backwards in the mix and get a little smeared. When the unit is bypassed, you hear the acoustic guitar on the sides pop back into place.

I have a surround sound system (5.1) and it shifts a lot front the back. They are actually encoding data into the track for surround sound in a big way, plus it adds some front fill. Great product.

@ASJerrell

Жыл бұрын

This is an analog device, there is no data or encoding happening.

The track is pure magic to begin with . That steel guitar is so classy. That black box is incredible tho . Holy Shit . Opened up a whole new world of sound. Love it how much is it?

Finally a good video on this unit

Wow Colt! great demo! That thing sounds amazing! A few of my friends had told me I need to check one out. Unless I get lucky and win one I will be spending some dollars. Better than the plugins I use to do that from what I can hear.

It’s definitely some trickery going on and I’m here for it! I need this thing!

just got mine...amazing tool, very powerful and sensitive tho, less is definitely more, but, it truly is pure black magic

I've been interested in this unit for a while, and this demo excellently displays what it's capable of! I restore/master quite a bit of vintage tape recordings, and often reach for stereo imaging tools. This would absolutely make it into my daily work flow. Thanks Colt and SPL! Edit: I'd like to add, the mono compatability of this unit is a game changer!

@merisakila6805

Жыл бұрын

I bought one, MEH hahha, ruin my mix specially on vocal, high freq and reverb, so harsh, and the vocal gone away so so far

@savanaviolenta

Жыл бұрын

@@merisakila6805 really?

@merisakila6805

Жыл бұрын

@@savanaviolenta Just buy and try..risk on u , I had that for 24 hours only, can't stand for it

Damn this sounds amazing, gain staging could be used with other gear, so no big deal. I was thinking of an Fusion or even a MBP but prices are expensive - This unit is perfect! Tnx for the walkthrough of how it works

This sounds awesome. It sounds to me like the stage knob changes the focus from mid to side information.

nice pedal steel... the SPL unit seemed to compress instruments panned wide and also lift them less wide..min a good way... sounded epic!

Even listening on a Smartphone you hear it's opening up the sound! Definetely have to check it out in the studio! Now that I want to build my first 500 rack I have to take a closer look at this thing 🙂 Btw great showcase of this piece of gear! Your videos just have a great quality.

This is very cool. Would be interesting to put this next to the stereo image section on the SSL Fusion. I suspect there is a bit of sub harmonics that make the bass knob work.

I'm planning to get me a lunch box and this will be the first 500 series unit I will install. Sounds great and for a stereo processor, the price is great too.

Fantastic product and video about it! From what I heard here are some things I took away. 1. The Bass switch felt like Little Labs VOG, I wonder if it's analyzing root frequency and boosting based on that, so it boosts dynamically per the track 2. The front/back option, I really could hear it, felt like the sides become less pronounced through a form of gain reduction and maybe additional EQ boosting to compensate so it doesn't become quiet, but falls back into the mix in a musical way 3. You could achieve similar results with Ozone Imager, but likely not with the same quality These are just some takeaways I got from watching this! Great job once again.

@LeChapeauMusic

Жыл бұрын

tbh Ozone Imager sounds way worse

@MusicByDarcy

Жыл бұрын

@@LeChapeauMusic for sure, literally the only thing that I could think of that could come close. I wonder if they will drop a plug-in version (if that’s even possible).

First I heard it about my jbl flip4, cause of the mono issues you've talked about, 3 foot away and than further, just this was a hard "lifebringer". The guitar and cymbals were left and right out of the box! And after that with headphones, what should I say. BIG and smooth! Thank you for the review!

I love this little black box in my mix bus, it's wonderful. I used it at the end of my chain after: SSL UV EQ and SSL G Bus. It's magic.

@NOLASkaGuitarist

5 ай бұрын

Just add a pair of the Rupert Neve Designs 542's and you basically have one of my desert island mastering chains.

I remember seeing a meme involving an artist asking for a demo to sound bigger, and the engineer turning up the "Bigness" knob. And now it's real...

Okay, so....taking a guess. The big knob just adds side (as in mid/side). It would be cooler if it balanced between them rather than just adding sides. The range knob sounds like it could be a tilt eq, also just on the sides. Stage did work for me, and I think it's probably something like an all-pass filter trick that subtly delays either mid or side so that the wider spatial sound arrives at the listener a little early/late compared to the original. You won't hear it correctly unless your speakers/room/etc setup are damn near perfect and you're pretty close to the sweet spot. Or on good headphones/IEMs with a good HRTF crossfeed. All of those effects completely disappear in mono. The bass switch is the one that confuses me. And the YT app won't let me go back to the video while I'm writing a comment. There also wasn't a huge amount of low bass in that track to begin with and a lot of it was low end from panned instruments. So...wilder guess...it could just be a fixed elliptical filter. Maybe it depends slightly on the range knob. If I'm even half right, you can do all of that with plugins, just not really a single plugin. IDK. Maybe pro-q3 does all-pass filters too. It does almost everything else. I'm not aware of an elliptical filter plugin that sounds like that. Basslane Pro actually does that particular job even better though...again, if I'm right about it.

thank you for your useful demo !

What an amazing piece of gear! Thanks for the video bud 🙏

I have this piece of gear and quite frankly my summary of it is that it does something NO plugin I have does. It doesn’t just push things to the side…It does something intense and bizarre to the stereo image that is almost jarring. It’s easy to go too far with this thing, but whatever it does, it sounds absolutely crazy. The only thing I don’t like about it is it seems to take the highs and make them too wide and crispy if you smash it too hard. It’s also loud as hell. But If you have a 500 series rack with a couple open slots I wouldn’t think twice, there is definitely some secret sauce inside this thing that absolutely no widening plug-in I have ever used comes close to.

@hockeytalk6084

2 сағат бұрын

I read this over and it sounds kind of pessimistic lol…just to be clear, This is one of the coolest pieces of hardware I own. It has the most “3D” sounding stereo image of pretty much any other piece of gear I have. There’s nothing like it I’ve used. It is so epic and mysterious. Just saying sometimes you might have to wrestle with it a little bit and make sure you’re not pulling certain things too far to the sides when you use it on a full mix. The effect of this device is so audibly apparent. I can hear it on our mixes very very, very clearly on a cell phone. If you weren’t sure if this thing was worth the money it’s worth every cent.

My SPL Big just arrived and I was a little bit nervous regarding phase issues the might come to the fore as we know that stereo imaging plugins normally create problems. This is a truly awesome module - it doesn't introduce any correlation problems in the mixes (I measured it with the voxengo plugin - no negative correlations at all). It sounds great and I am very happy that I got it!

@ColtCapperrune

Жыл бұрын

Congrats on picking one up! That was my conclusion as well, and I truly don’t understand how they do it!

@ingver13

Жыл бұрын

@@ColtCapperrune haha, yes, it's a stunning device. Just compared it to the good ol' waves stereo imager and there are worlds apart. I also love the bass switch (apparently a design from the SPL Iron), which also does its job without the widening engaged. It really works wonders on the bass spectrum. Love it!! :-)

Just watched this again with a different set of headphones and this thing is WILD!

Absolutely a beautiful device !

There is some phase shifting going on when it is engaged. It is heard in the mids when it is dialed in at the higher values. I believe that this box is able to sense a mono input and ignore processing when it does. That is not very hard with today’s technology. For me to test the mono compatibility, I would have to test it with music that I know very well. That said, the stereo widening result does sound very pleasing.

Your channel has been invaluable in remodeling my studio. Thanks for the awesome videos!

The reason why mono stays the same because it raises the gain too, that is what I can hear from this video, it brings up the gain quite a lot in comparison with other software stereo imager.

Bravo! I hope someday might have a plug-ins version!

I may be imagining things, but I vaguely remember seeing a post that PA was working on a plugin version.

@ColtCapperrune

2 жыл бұрын

That would be wild, as this thing just started shipping like a month ago. But I’m never mad at plug-in versions of hardware!

Great review, thanks a lot 😀

Through headphones that was a genuinely impressive demonstration, I thought this thing was going to be super expensive, but it really isn't

Polyverse Wider plugin is amazing and it’s free. Also part of the Manipulator paid plugin. Anyone who knows Infected Mushroom knows Erez is the king genius of stereo widening (and so much more). Love SPL and module sounds great too 🖤

This is a great track and a nice piece of gear.

That’s sick it’s like a SC filter but for stereo imaging. I would use this in every mix

@ColtCapperrune

2 жыл бұрын

EVERY. SINGLE. MIX.

That’s a good piece of gear to have. You are hand modeling it well

Nice GMT. I have the same one. Nothing says success like a rolex.

It’s amazing how dull the mix sounds when he bypasses it. I thought the mix sounded great already, but once you hear the AB there’s no going back!! This is an awesome piece of gear!

@ignacedhont9816

4 ай бұрын

He made the mix deliberately dull, so that this gear shines. I own the SPL Big and it gives an unwanted high-mid range frequency boost on everything. Most of the time something you definitely don't want that. But he made this disadvantage an advantage.. Unfortunately people fall for it. I can tell you this unit is not nearly as impressive as Colt makes it out to be. He is very good at what he does though..

Holy crap! As soon as you began to touch the BIGNESS knob, I nearly spit my drink out! Incredible piece of gear.

And at a decent price! thanks for showing this thing off.

It is not affecting phase when collapsing to mono because it doesn't process mid signal at all, only side. Exactly what widening plugins does so. That is why I think they perform exactly the same when clicking mono button. I believe it does stuff like saturation side channel, eq, applying delays + allpass filter in relation to mid signal. Correct me if I am wrong.

I feel like this is similar to the Waves Vitamin Plugin. I like to use it on my master sometimes to achieve the same thing. Very Cool unit you got here

10:15 I think its not phaseshifting, it may work with saturation. I Know this kind of characteristics from the vertigo vsm saturation plugin. It goes from even to uneven harmonics ( with back and open it changes the character) and the bass ''umpf'' is like a hit of even harmonics with low character on the low end.. And the big knob controles the amount of all of that. So no phase problems and a richer imige. Actually super nice idea to pack this in such a small and simple device with limited controles. b'cause you can mess your master up if you do it wrong.. :P Love it!

@joesalyers

Жыл бұрын

It's an allpass filter similar to the mastering consoles Rupert Neve designed for legendary audio back in like 2005 which had an ambiance control. It is a relatively good idea since there aren't a ton of products like this on the market under 10 grand, but some mastering consoles do have this functionality just implemented I a different way. SPL make a mastering console with this type of processing but it's $12,000 and it doesn't have the detail and control this does. We need more gear using allpass or vari-phase filtering because it sound really good. Cheers

Check out the OnTheMoon SpaceCraft. This SPL unit is what I’ll be getting due to price for now but they are both useful. I love the Bass boost as well… it’s a great thing in the SPL Iron and it’s in this which is infinitely cheaper lol. I’ll, in time will be creating my own mixer with a MCM 20.4, two of these for the stereo buses would be perfect before the spacecraft on the master. What is great about this is it actually improves mono compatibility as well.

love the video!! could your please share with us a loop of the track with the spl bíg and without so i can compare it with my favorite widener plugin?

Great video 🔥 I was so focused on listening and watching the knobs I kept missing codewords

honestly it's the best widener I've ever heard

@ColtCapperrune

2 жыл бұрын

Same!

Hello Colt, I've got the BIG as well. I thing it just amplifies the volume of the sides. I tried to do it using M / S in the EQ - effect quite similar. BIG is just much smoother. That is why there is no phase issues when mono.

@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n

Жыл бұрын

i agree. to me it is kinda worrying that there are no phase issues in mono because it means it's mostly amplitude, and i hear this demo the gain is big and is very sugary which is a destroyer of a mix really

Just bought through your link, this is a very cool piece of gear!

@ColtCapperrune

Жыл бұрын

Appreciate it!! Hope you love it as much as I do!

Wtf the jump is so great that it feels like going stereo from mono to super stereo lol.. its so full.. pretty crazy.. never knew such a thing existed. Purely analogue? Thanks!!

Thank U 4 this review!! U helped a lot!! :o)

It's basically just a mid-side box with some added filtering. That's why it's mono compatible. Things may seem "wider", but the mix balance is also changing which is telling that it's a mid-side thing. A plug-in to try would be something like the Brainworx bx_digital. The bx_digital stereo width control would be the "bigness" knob. The bx_digital Mono-Maker would be the "Range". And then you could play around with the EQ on the side/stereo for the "Stage", although that's a little trickier. I'd guess brighten the top to bring it to the front and darken it to push it back. The presence shift might also work like the stage.

@ColtCapperrune

2 жыл бұрын

Be sure to check out the part in the video where I’m bypassing it in mono. In mono the mix does not change whatsoever. Thanks for watching!

@dstagl

2 жыл бұрын

@@ColtCapperrune Correct. That's mid-side all the way. I meant the balance changes in stereo. It's a cool little box. SPL make great stuff.

Ok this sounds incredible!

I honestly love how real and authentic you are with these reviews. So many people pretend to know every technical detail about the device and it just makes me dizzy. I love how you use real terms to describe what the device does.

Everybody overlooks the "plain Jane" of the plugin world - Melda Productions. They have a psychoacoustic plugin called MStereospreader that I'm guessing is what SPL has done in hardware. It works by splitting the entire signal spectrum with a comb filter - the +/- of the combfilter peaks are panned Left and Right... so increasing the amplitude of the combfilter spreads the entire signal. The range control is a highpass filter that reduces the combfilter so you can have less widening on the low end. I think the "bass" switch is summing your unaffected bass back in the Mid signal (like Drawmer's 1973 compressor). You are best using it on sub groups as it can start to smear the "phantom image" of your vocals, bass, kick etc. Ultimately, the quality of the result is down to the filtering - from this demo I'd say SPL has the edge (although a comparison would be cool!).

@Endless_Skyway_Adventures

2 жыл бұрын

Amazing, that’s what I was guessing it did. Pretty amazing since I can hear the width change even on an IPhone. Comb filter might be more phasey though.

great video and music!!

Just got this piece. It reminds me of the Base (Bedini) unit . . . but better (in some ways). The resolution between 0 and the onset of effect is VERY sensitive. Once dialed-in, it’s almost impossible to shut it off! Can’t see it used very often for mastering , as it REALLY affects reverbs and delays (I’d say, put it on the master buss at the start of a session, set very conservatively, and mix into it). I’m wondering about the possibility of using it with an Aux buss (in parallel). We’ll see. In any case, it definitely adds a 3D thing that is quite appealing. Thnx

Btw. Thanks for making this video! Probably the demo I’ve ever seen! I pretty much mix in-the-box currently. I once had a Sony MXP3000 console that I was able to track and sum through. I really miss that desk! I’m planning my attack on getting an SPL-Bigger Maker. I’m just curious … do you think the “Big” stereo technology is the same as what is in the “Vitalizer” and the “Iron” plugins? Both of these seem to “mono” pretty well too. Again thanks for all you do!!

I don't normally wish that a/b tests were volume matched but on this one I do for some reason.

I am very puzzled by this! I know what I heard, but I can't explain it. Incredible!!! Which plugin can even get closer to this??

I just checked and my Hughes AK-100 ($150) does the same thing. BTW...love SPL so no knock on them. Listening through my Phonitor 2 right now :)

Have you seen Mathew Lanes Space Control. It’s similar but has a few more controls I think. It’s hardware too

Seems like they have hit the nail on the head.. Price isn't horrendous either!

Great review!

Great review. Seems like it might be a bit too aggressive for mastering. Hopefully they'll make a 19inch rack version with a mix knob. Curious where you use this in your mastering chain and what the headroom is on this box.

This seems like something I would still rather do in the box though. As cool as SPL's products seem and make me drool.

@ColtCapperrune

2 жыл бұрын

Personally I like having physical knobs for as much stuff as humanly possible. But in addition to that, I’m not sure you can get these results from a plug-in as I discussed near the end of the video. Thanks for watching!

I can hear this even on my iPhone speakers. Would be a great tool in mastering.

@ColtCapperrune

Жыл бұрын

It’s crazy good man

Hello all! Great Great review and I'm definity lording one to try out based on this review! One question sir. where in your master buss chain are you placing this? Cheers

Thanks for pointing out that damn scammers cause last time it got really over the top

Great Demo! When you have it on your mix buss are you mixing into the SPL BiG or are you applying the SPL BiG after you've bounced the Mix Buss? I'm sure you can do it either way but just curious.

If you took a mono source, sent it into a stereo bus for a duplicated left and right channel, then tried to widen it, it should give a super clear picture of what it's doing 🤔

Split eq and Matthew lane ds type of stuff here. Mid/side and frequency widening going on here. would say is pretty close to this. You can widen any frequency across the eq spectrum with split eq. Matthew lane allows you do do all sorts of mid/side . Really cool box. I think this can be achieved with plugins but remember it can also not be god for a whole mix. You have to be careful when using mid/side and stereo imaging. It can make sub frequencies disappear and with no understanding of what you are actually doing is another challenge. You will need to meter the frequency changes. Never the less it being analog is really cool and does sound good.

I've found it frustrating that we have so many methods of EQ'ing based on measurable frequency but our stereo width and placement is much more arbitrary and often treated as "more/less wide." I'd love a vst that assigns values to placement in the stereo spectrum so I could, for example: cut X frequency at Y placement of the left monitor so the other instrument layers come through in that bubble of space

We all know Colt stands for "Children of Learners Teach". Colt you still hard . I'm smoking a big one bumping you found me by the fray. You found me Colt. Keep teaching Bless