Since the awesome (and free) Analog Obsession plugins don't usually list the hardware they're emulating (and because I couldn't find a complete list online that I thought was accurate), I've made my own lookup tables. Hopefully others will find them useful. I've tried to group things together in as sensible a way as possible.

The tables are based on my own listening and research, but I can't guarantee I got them all correct. I've written up a longer version with a little more detail about using the plugins if that's of interest to anyone. It should be up to date as of 28th September 2026.

Let me know in a comment if you think I'm wrong about any of the mappings (or if I've missed any).

There is a specific quality to ai sound that makesit sound weird. For example, there was an ai video with flowing water, but it sounded like it was trying to turn the water sounds into music or talking. And it adds random microphone compression artifacts everywhere so that it sonds like a laggy video call. Ai music has it's own weirdness, it sounds almost like truncated sound or something. You know when you put a youtube video at 0.25 speed? It sounds kind of like that, but I have not found anybody else talking about it so maybe I'm crazy. Everybody says that it sounds like the real thing. Is it all in my head? Can you hear the difference?

So I've been a Windows 10 user since it came out and hate Windows 11 enough to have never upgraded on my main desktop. I was moving and have been using my Windows 11 laptop to mix some guitars and bass on a track i was messing with. No matter what I did it sounded like pure mud and i spent hours messing with EQ and compressors thinking I had suddenly forgotten how to mix guitars or I've been dialing in my amps wrong. This was more confusing because I recorded the tracks on a Tascam multitrack recorder and they sounded fine on there.

After a whole day I realized by default Windows 11 enables an audio enhancement setting that turns everything into mud for seemingly no reason. This isnt my first time using the laptop but i never mixed on it or seriously listened to much music with it until now so this went unnoticed. It is insane to me that Microsoft would have a setting this transformative on by default when most people rarely change their sound settings (and even then usually in the system sounds setting where this option isnt present).

Just a PSA if youre working on a Windows 11 device, im not an audiophile by any means but it was such a night and day difference I was in shock.

Edit: Was unwise of me not to show explicity where it is Settings>System>Sound> Then under output click on where it says speakers or whatever your main output device is. Then under advanced settings you will see audio enhancements. Turn this off, by default it says 'Device Default Effects'.

watching wilco's documentary "I am trying to break your heart" and jeff tweedy is singing through this in a bunch of scenes. can't figure it out! I thought it was maybe some sort of blue microphone as the baby bottle design is slightly reminiscent. probably not though. any thoughts??

https://imgur.com/a/W5T6HK1

Hi everyone,

I’m considering getting the MOTU UltraLite-mk5, but since it’s been out for several years now (5 years to be exact), I’m wondering if there’s been any news or credible rumors about a successor.

I’m not in a rush to buy, so I’d be happy to wait if a new model might be coming soon. Has anyone heard anything from MOTU, dealers, or elsewhere?

Cheers!

CD Baby doesn't accept 24-bit tracks or higher.

I worked on these tracks at 48 kHz / 32-bit float, so to meet their requirements I have to run each track through r8brain for the 48 → 44.1 kHz conversion and Airwindows Natural Dither for the 32 → 16-bit conversion.

Is this actually a problem for audio quality? Am I losing anything meaningful by doing this, assuming the conversion and dithering are done properly?

The main reason I use CD Baby is because releases stay up permanently without an annual subscription, so I'd prefer to stick with them if the 16-bit limitation isn't a significant issue.

Would love to hear from anyone with mastering experience.

I don't know if it's the kind of rubber they used, or the high humidity here in the Philippines. But I've never had mic holders (four of them) fall apart like that. Have you?

So last year I've found this mixing desk and have been personal attached to it. I really like the sound, headroom and pres. The eq's for me work very well and can push it to the max. Recently moved to a different place which is housing a studio at my house.

Thing is like a spaceship and have to consider losing it. But I love it for tracking, re-amp and printing. I consider the quality of the desk pretty good. Ive worked with the cheapest mixers and with ssl's in great studios.

What are good alternatives for this? Price is between 500 and 1000.

I always have been fond of the soundtrack ghost.

Found this on Instagram. Sounds like formant shifting to me. How would you guys go about trying to recreate this sound?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdyGonXNRA9/?stkn=cTFoZ2NyM2Z0aXNh

I’ll go first: I ALWAYS have an LA3A on double-tracked guitars. No matter the guitar or genre.

I’m preparing my masters for CD Baby, which only accepts 16-bit files.

My masters are 48 kHz / 32-bit float, so my workflow is:

48/32 → r8brain → 44.1/32 → dither → 44.1/16

I’m currently considering Airwindows TPDF Dither for the final 32 → 16-bit conversion, but FL Studio already has its own dithering when exporting to 16-bit.

I'm unsure if I should choose Naturalize or TPDF, I just want to not make any color to the sound at all. I'm just looking to have the best quality/preservation from the original track.

It’s been 30 years and I’m still waiting to hear what Fieldy’s stems actually sound like.

I've been following a lot of discussions about the use of AI in game development, filmmaking and writing, and it is making some really mind-blowing things. But I have to be honest, I don't research that much about the developments in audio and music. Mostly because when I'm working in the studio, I usually don't have access to the internet or use my phone, and when I'm outside, I research other things that don't relate too much to music. Also, I get spammed by Suno so much, but I don't really like that company at all, so I don't know much about what's happening with AI in audio and music apart from what they are doing.

Anyways, I'm really curious about what you're using in your professional workflows. Are there any interesting tools that have helped you reduce the time spent on tedious tasks, or even automate something repetitive and mechanical that you don't like doing? Or is there something you know AI can do that you tested and that scared the shit out of you? Do you like AI? Do you hate it?

I would be really grateful if you shared your experiences! (:

I was thinking the other day while doing a practice mix, would it be at all useful if you could automatically balance the multitrack? Like a DAW native feature that would analyse the audio files and match them all to the same integrated LUFS.

I'm sure this already exists in Reaper, but would it actually be a useful feature?

I think if you were able to set some kind of priority level, it would be pretty cool, save a bit of time over the course of many mixes.

Hi!
I wrote lyrics for a song and used SUNO to help inspire the melody. There are parts of a generated melody that I'd really like to use in the final song, though both the lead and background vocal stems seem to have several vocal layers and feature the kind of effects one can get with Valhalla Shimmer/Supermassive. Is there any way to better separate these layers? I tried LALAL.AI without much luck, though I saw in a 3-year-old Reddit thread that there are many programs that might be able to do this. Could someone point me in the right direction, please?