Roger Nichols Digital plugins

reviewed by David Mondrup

Back in 2005 we reviewed the plugins then available from Elemental Audio Systems (EAS), namely Eqium (multiband equalizer), Firium (finite response graphic equalizer) and Neodynium (dynamics processor). However, no sooner was the reviewers text editor shut down than EAS was bought out in one of those industrial takeovers that seems to be so abundant these years. The buyer was famed producer Roger Nichols, who used the then available plugins, which now also included Inspector XL (multimeter) and Finis (brickwall limiter) as a stepping stone onto the software effects market for his new company, Roger Nichols Digital (RND).
Across international music producer www fora worldwide, this was widely regarded a pretty bad move. Especially since RND grabbed the opportunity to move the software licensing onto the much hated ilok key system, rename and modify the GUI of the plugins into something that is on the whole arguably a lot uglier, and, last but certainly not least, up the prices by as much as almost 200%.
However, 2 years have passed, and RND is by now moving into it's own direction. Still building a lot of it's reputation on the former EAS plugins, RND has now strained quite a bit to meet the expectations of former EAS customers, while also finding the time to deliver 2 brand new plugins; the Detailer, a mastering effect with a new approach to handling the stereo image; and the Uniquel-izer LE, as the name suggests, a limited edition of the Uniquel-izer (the plugin formerly known as Eqium). In this review I'll take a look at the plugins released since last time we revisited the bundle. I'll also look a bit into how the transition from EAS to RND affects you, the endconsumer. So, let's dive right in.

The plugins
Let's start out by taking a look at the newest offering from RND, and so far the only completely new addition to the package since RND took over:

Detailer
The Detailer is a multipurpose mastering tool. It is a software version of a hardware device that Roger Nichols has allegedly invented, build and used for his own mastering sessions for years, which gives the unique situation that we here have a new type of effects processor that has already been put to years of real life use. It includes a three band brickwall limiting section, a dithering section, and, as it's new invention to the world, also the detailer section.
The detailer section adds and enhances detail in the left and right sides of the stereo field. It works in the mid and hi frequency bands, and you can set each band from 1 (no change) to 11 (most change). If you feel that this description of what the detailer does and how it works is a bit unprecise, then I'm not the only one. Yet, this is pretty much the description RND offers. In order to find out what it means in real life, we have to listen, so let's do that.
RND claims that for virtually all situations, the detailer is best left at it's default setting, which is the detailer fader set to 3 on both bands. You can take a listen here to what this sounds like; it's a sample from a track from my upcoming album, first without the detailer, then with it. When listening, make sure to have optimal stereo listening conditions (sit in the hot spot of your monitors, use headphones or whatever works best for you), or you just might miss the effect:

detailer1.mp3

Pretty subtle, huh? One could be fooled to believe that nothing has actually happened to the audio, especially of you're a less trained listener than most pro mastering engineers are. Just to find out more precisely what it is we're listening for, let's try the same piece with the most extreme setting. I realize, of course, that this setting is not what is recommended for most purposes, so don't expect the result to be actually enjoyable. It still works well for illustrating what goes on in this process, though. Again, first dry, then wet:

detailer2.mp3

Suddenly, the attention is drawn so much to the sides that the center seems almost strangely absent. It appears almost to be a phase cancellation of the center of the stereo image, though it doesn't sound out of phase to me. Now, try to listen to the first sample again, and hopefully it will become clearer what actually happened to the dry sample.

The limiter section works reasonably well, and if it's the only brickwall limiting you have available, don't be afraid to use it. It's sound is more or less reminiscent of the Finalis plugin (which we'll get to in a bit), and it adds the extra benefit over Finalis that you can control the lo, mid and hi frequency bands independantly. Still, I prefer Finalis or other dedicated brickwall limiters over this one.
The verdict on Detailer; I like to know what I'm doing, and how things are working. Like so many others working with studio technology, I guess I'm a control freak, and as such, I don't much fancy the idea of a plugin that does something inexplainable to the audio, and the more you turn it up, the more it does what it does. I do feel a bit like I'm producing blindly, and that isn't a concept that I enjoy. Still, when it came down to it, I did end up using Detailer on all the tracks on the album that I mentioned before, and I even followed the recommendation from RND to use the default setting on all of the tracks. So it is after all a recommended tool, but if I were to pay good money for it, I'd probably ask for more control over the process, and a better explanation of what's really happening.

Inspector XL
This plugin was originally released as a glorified version of the EAS freeware teaser, the Inspector. While the Inspector is pretty much a spectrum analyzer and a level meter with a few numeric readouts to add, the XL version is in fact a whole series of plugins. None of these do anything to the sound directly, but merely monitors the sound from a whole range of views, giving the producer a set of invaluable tools for high precision analysis of the audio. Before looking at how these may be put to use, let's take a look at the contents of the package called Inspector XL.

Spectrum analyzer
The spectrum analyzer is in fact a 3-in-1 display, consisiting of an FFT Analyzer, a 1/3 Octave Analyzer and a Spectragram. These will show you the levels of the different frequencies in the incoming audio in different ways. The FFT analyzer (screenshot) gives you a readout that more or less resembles the graphic in a multiband equalizer plugin. The 1/3 Octave Analyzer (screenshot) shows you the levels of frequency bands, each of them (appropriately) spanning 1/3 octave. And the spectragram (screenshot) shows you the level of different frequencies as different colour representations along a frequency axis, recording these through time to produce an everchanging and very informative piece of abstract art. My only beef with these is that time rolls upwards in the spectragram part; I would like an option to rotate it, so that the direction would align to the direction of most sequencer's arrangement window.

Stereo Analyzer
The stereo analyzer (screenshot) gives you 4 different readouts on the relationship between the left and right channels of a stereo signal. These are:

• a balance meter to show the weighting of left vs. right.


• a phase correlation meter to show the overall level of difference between the channels


• a phase scope for a detailed view of the same thing, configurable for data density and 3 different display styles, and finally


• a mid/side meter to show the level of mid (mono) part of the signal and the side (non-mono) part of the signal, shown simultaneously as peak and RMS metering.

Level Meter
The level meter (screenshot) is pretty much a meter like the one you'll find on the channel strip in every DAW, though this one is extremely advanced compared to what you might find in Cubase or Logic. Besides showing you both peak and RMS levels, it can be configured in every conceivable way; there are controls for determining the range of levels displayed, the colors used for metering and levels for crossing from one color to another, and a whole host of numeric readouts.

Statistics Module
This display (screenshot) gathers data over time to show you the amounts of "clip"s and "over"s happening in your audio. You can set up how to define a "clip" and an "over", in terms of what level should be exceeded in order to constitute an "over", and how many "over"s in a row that goes to define a "clip". This allows you to distinguish between unimportant (ie, inaudible) incidents of crossing the threshold level from the ones that makes a real difference to the audio. Besides, the readouts give further info on the character of your overs and clips, such as measuring the longest running instances.

Multimeter
This serves as a sort of resume of the other 4, giving you the most important displays in one window (screenshot). The multimeter includes:

• a level meter


• a level numeric readout


• an FFT spectrum analyzer


• a clip statistic section gathering data for incidents of clipping


• a balance meter


• a phase correlation meter, and


• a phasescope

This is a whole lot of info to be found in one single window, and would be considered more than enough metering for most peoples needs.

All in all, plenty of metering opportunitues to keep everyone happy, whether you're a professional mastering engineer or an audio student aiming to practice your listening skills. To add, the whole suit shares a set of features, such as being customizable way beyond what I'd normally expect for a meter. You can set all colours of graphic readouts as you wish. And there's a fully customizable alarm systems, that let you set conditions for lighting up alarm buttons (again in customizable colors) for all important parameters of the audio.
The test for products like these must aim to determine if the meters qualify for real life work. Are they accurate? To answer that question, I produced a few test sounds tailored to make the meters read out in very specific ways.
First off, for the spectrograph meters; 2 sine tones at 100 hz and 10 khzz respectively, both of them playing at -6 db. See below how the meters handled the task of monitoring these:

Secondly, a mono signal played in both channels of a stereo track, but 180 degrees outr of phase in the right side. This ought to set off all alarms on the phase correlation meter:

And lastly, a signal designed to give exactly 10 clip incidents in the statistics module:

InspectorXL has been made to provide all the metering anyone could ever wish for. Not being a professional mastering engineer, I can't tell if they meet the desires of the most demanding specimens of that species. But I can sure tell that for production and mix work, I couldn't wish for more. The tests above here on the reliability of the meters included speaks for themselves. All those readouts and configuration options may prove confusing first time you open up the plugins, and it does take a bit of reading to get to know all the info available from the meters, but luckily, the manual that comes included in pdf format is thorough and concise.

Finis
Finis, originally released by EAS as Finalis, is a brickwall limiter. It includes 3 different modes, a new addition to the ordinairy metering features of dynamic processors and a few pretty extraordinairy controls (reaction). The heavy use of CPU cycles, and the latency that follows from this, makes it best suited for mastering purposes. This is also what Finis is intended for.
Finis sports the usual input gain and ceiling controls found in every brickwall limiter out there, and they work as one would expect. But to add to this, there are two other parameters that help shape the output.
One control is the option to choose between 3 different limiting algorithms, suited for different types of material. No. I is the more direct, to-the-point limiter, while no. III is the softer, rounder algorithm. This is for fine ears, as the difference is pretty subtle.
The other odd parameter is the one called Reaction, described in the manual as dealing with audio levels not exceeding, but approaching the ceiling level. I found this one to work well when trying to use the limiter heavily enough to cause audible distortion, especially using algorithm III; setting the Reaction value higher, often to the max, helped the problem considerably.

Here are a few samples; a snippet from my latest mastering session, with the limiter set to raise the original signal by 6 db

First, the unmastered audio:
finis1.mp3

Then, using algorithm I, Reaction set to 0.0:
finis2.mp3

algorithm III, Reaction 0.0:
finis3.mp3

- the audio is undesirably squashed to my ears, so let's try with Reaction set to max (1.0):
finis4.mp3

There you go, much better.

One other special feature of Finis is the Crest metering. This meter is more or less like an RMS meter, but aimed at describing the difference in perceived volume more than a scientifically measurable dynamic process. More of an intuitive meter, so to speak. It takes some getting used to, but is a fine help once you get used to it.

Finis is a fine limiter to my ears, but not the end-all limiter that will see you never having to use another limiter in your life. I try it out routinely together with the two or three other mastering limiters on my computer, and it does occasionally end up as the limiter of choice.

Uniquel-izer LE
The last plugin in this review is the lite version of Uniquel-izer, the RND name for what was previously known as EAS Eqium. What makes this version light is the lack of some of the features of it's bigger brother, but also the price, which is heavily reduced. In fact, "LE" is a bit of misnomer, as it implies a discounted version not intended for real life professional use; but what you get is actually a fully functional EQ with everything included you'd ever ask for from other EQs, only without the extra features that set Uniquel-izer apart from it's competition.
The strengths of Uniquel-izer are primarily the sound quality and the tremendous flexibility, with the possibility to combine virtually unlimited numbers of filters to create any EQ curve you could wish for. Back when I reviewed Eqium (the EAS predecessor for Uniquel-izer), I tried to reach the limit for how many filters the plugin would accept, or when the CPU would give up. I gave up at 200 filters, where neither Eqium nor the CPU showed any sign of giving up anything.
The audio guality of the filters in Uniquel-izer LE is intact, but realizing that very few real-life producers ever need to put 200 parametric filters into the same plugin, Uniquel-izer LE comes with a fixed number of filter and filter types, sporting 7 fixed filters in total. Those 7 filters are: Hi & lo pass, lo & hi shelf, and three parametric filters.
The result is a sort of bread'n'butter version of the Unquel-izer, giving you everything most producers would ever need to make those adjustments to audio that are usually called for in ordinairy studio work. All the common RND buttons are still there, including the preset managament and the A/B comparison functionality. The only thing missing from the full version are the creative possibilities of harmonic and bandpass filters, as well as unlimited numbers of filters, inherent in the full version.
If you're looking for an equalizer, with the audio quality generally found in RNDs other products, but without the RND pricetag, Uniquel-izer LE is a very fine offer.

And talking pricetags, it's time to take a look at the transition from Elemental Audio Systems to Roger Nichols Digital. As I mentioned at the top of this article, back when RND took over EAS, they took the opportunity to change quite a few things. For many EAS fans, these changes were not for the better; the GUI took on new looks that didn't appeal to those of us that had taken refuge from all the hardware-wannabe brushed steel GUIs out there in EAS's organic, completely computerized appearances. The copy protection went from the user-trusting password method to the user-mistrusting scheme of ilok or challenge-response. And, last but not least, the prices went way up, with the highest hikers being Eqium and Firium, that went from US$129 to US$249. 193% to be exact, no less. Sure, there were updates offered at reasonable prices, but few users expressed joy at the prospect of paying good money for a - to them - less appealing look, and a less flexible copy protection system.
In all fairness, it must be said, that even if almost all the plugins got more expensive, the prices differencies between the different plugins did get evened out. More importantly, it was a public secret that the EAS plugins were vastly underpriced, when looking at what quality the money bought. Having a price point that reflects the true quality of the effects more correctly might help to raise the public recognition of these products to the level they truthfully deserve, hopefully seeing more professional users taking them in.
As for the copy protection, in 2005 it was publicly accepted that not protecting software properly was the same as giving it away while trying to make money from it. In other words, a business plan tailored for failure. One can hardly blame RND for wanting to protect their product.
When saying that this was the state of affairs in 2005, this doesn't mean that it still isn't so, but the tide is turning. More and more digital intellectual property is being offered under more userfriendly conditions, starting out in small scale with download music stores introducing DRM-free music files to the customers. Time will tell if we will also see RND change to another, more user-trusting, approach to copy protection.
One thing that suggests RND is ready to move with the tide is the fact that they have been listening to their userbase when it comes to the GUI design. I'm one of those persons who'd rather live without emulated hardware surfaces on my computer monitor. And so, I didn't think that the RND GUIs were a welcome development. However, with the latest update, RND has started to introduce a tributal skin for their plugins called "elemental blue", which strikingly resembles the old EAS skins. This is a nice recognition of the userbase, in my opinion.

The final general verdict is, that RND offers a very fine selection of tools. Granted, they're more expensive than we, the former EAS users, like them to be, but if I hadn't had the old prices for comparison, and I'd only have to review if the plugins are worth their current asking price, the conclusion is clear; yes, the plugins are worth every cent. The new user need not worry spending the cash for this.
With a company dedicated to the future of their product line, and ready to move with the general development, I predict that RND will continue as an interesting companion for years to come.

Link: Roger Nichols Digital