The Sound Board

TC Electronic has ported the algorithms of its award-winning System 6000 hardware over into a set of 5 native plug-ins: the MD3, the MD4 HD, the NonLin2, the VSS3 and the VSS4 HD. If you ever had a Powercore (or maybe still have one) and/or if you're familiar with the System 6000, you know what all these abbreviations stand for and you'll also know why the tools that carry these names are considered among the very best for mixing, mastering and post-production in top-class studios the world over.

The question for many people will be: are the plugins as good as the hardware? (Personally, I'm not interested in that, but I have a feeling that will be the central subject of many a review.) We don't really know yet as the first serious reviews still have to be written or video-taped (there are already a few first impressions online though), but what we do know is that, in the realm of plug-ins, it doesn't get much better than this.

You can download 14-day versions of the plugins.
The complete bundle costs $699 at the moment. (The regular price will be $1.095, but when the change will occur is unclear.)
Single plugins range from $199 to $249.

And, on a personal note: TC's website is still as dreadful and annoying to visit as ever.

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Was just demoing some of these today on a mix I finished yesterday, specifically MD4 and VSS4. Still early, but VSS4 has a “sound” to it I instantly liked. Still figuring out the algorithms (particularly like Castle Hall and Church) but so far it lends "polish" to the mix.

MD4 seems like a great dynamics processor but I did recently invest in a few of the Weiss plugs, and those are stellar. Different thing, so maybe there’s room for all. Really like that DXP mode, M/S and the thoughtful layout of controls. Looking forward to trying it on more aggressive tracks.

One thing springs to mind, the plugins are stereo whilst the hardware is multichannel.
I don’t really think this is a dealbreaker for most, but in a post-world that are more and more going for Atmos this feels a bit 1990-ish.
A guess would be that they don’t want to rival their own hardware products.

I wish I had time to AB the plugins with the software, but deadlines are flying by so fast it hurts.

Best,
/Anders

Did anyone demo the VSS4 HD, and the MD4 ?

Would be interested in feedback about your thoughts about them.

Anyways.. I might grab the demos and test them for two weeks.

Spent a few days with both and decided not to buy either. Nothing wrong with these plugins, to be sure, quite the contrary, they’re fantastic and highly desirable tools, but I already have more than I really need in both areas of music production and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to explain to myself why I would buy more.
Came *very-very* close to buying the MD4 though. Crazy-good plugin. The VSS4 was an easier decision, because it generates a sort of reverb, I find, which, for lack of a better description, insists that you notice it. A bit obtrusive, to my ears. A reverb that likes to show off how opulent it sounds. And it is spectacular piece of reverb software, no doubt about it, but I prefer my reverbs, at least the functional reverbs in a mix, to be a little more inconspicuous. To “not be there”, so to speak.

But yeah, the best idea is to do some thorough testing yourself.

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I had the TC5000 hardware but it got lost in a repair years ago. Maybe I should try the TC plugins just for nostalgic reasons. So many stuff, so little time...

The Saxer wrote: ↑Apr 05, 2021 1:39 pm I had the TC5000 hardware but it got lost in a repair years ago. Maybe I should try the TC plugins just for nostalgic reasons. So many stuff, so little time...

That's painful, losing a TC5000 Reverb HW in a repair shop

Hope you were able to recover some compensation from the Repair shop back then.

I plan to demo the TC Electronics VSS4 HD, and MD4 Native Plugins, to see if any of them is worth buying. Although I already have quite a few mastering plugins, including Ozone 9 Advanced, and other high-quality Reverb Plugins, and a Bricasti M7 HW Reverb. So, they have to be super special for me to buy either one of them. I think TC Electronics is a bit late to the party. They should have released them a few years back.

Hi,

OK, I installed the demos of both the VSS4 HD, and MD4.

I really liked the MD4, but I'm not sure if it is a must have plugin, I have two weeks to test it, and see if it is worth buying.

I also tested the VSS4 HD very briefly on some perc. it is a very good sounding reverb, the problem is it's a Huge CPU hog. One instance of the VSS4 HD Gobbled up 44% of my CPU. So the quality comes at a ultra high CPU cost.

Does anyone know if the VSS4 HD is meant to be used for Mastering more than during production ?

Thanks,
Muziksculp

It seems like they have something buggy with their VSS4 HD plugin which might be causing the high CPU consumption, I'm also unable to access the VST3 versions, of both the VSS4 HD, and MD4, although they seem to be installed. So, something is buggy with their plugins. Someone mentioned on another forum, that they will be updating their plugin to fix the issues, they are aware of the issues.

Muziksculp wrote: ↑Apr 07, 2021 12:58 am(...) Does anyone know if the VSS4 HD is meant to be used for Mastering more than during production ?

Me, I don’t differentiate between reverbs based on where and when in the mixing process they might be most useful. Any reverb can go anywhere in the chain, or be used in whichever way makes the most musical sense, as far as I’m concerned.

If you like what the VSS4 is capable of though, it would be a shame, it seems to me, to limit its uses to the final stages of a mix.

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When I do orchestral work in stereo I’ve got VSS-es on the instrument groups.

When I work in surround I’ve got one on the master.

When I mix jazz/pop/rock I use the limiter and sometimes a delay and whatever is left of the resources ends up as a reverb.

I know most might think of the 6000 as a “orchestral” unit but the different room/studios are great.
I’ve got the “film” version with plenty of skywalker sound presets in it.
They sound amazing on dialogue.

Way back when the pack was available for TDM they were my go to plugins for audio post work.

Best,
/Anders

Piet De Ridder wrote: ↑Apr 07, 2021 1:53 am

Muziksculp wrote: ↑Apr 07, 2021 12:58 am(...) Does anyone know if the VSS4 HD is meant to be used for Mastering more than during production ?

Me, I don’t differentiate between reverbs based on where and when in the mixing process they might be most useful. Any reverb can go anywhere in the chain, or be used in whichever way makes the most musical sense, as far as I’m concerned.

If you like what the VSS4 is capable of though, it would be a shame, it seems to me, to limit its uses to the final stages of a mix.

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I don't differentiate either.

I was just asking because of the super high CPU usage of the VSS4 HD. It seems this is a bug they are working on fixing, so hopefully they will fix it soon.

I might end up getting the MD4, but passing on the VSS4 HD in favor of the Lexicon PCM Native Bundle. Which is very popular, quite pricey as well, but gets a lot of praise. I could wait until they have a nice discount on the PCM Native Bundle.

Hi,

I installed the TC Electronics VSS4 HD Demo, and did a comparison test with the Relab Development VSR S24 Reverb, focusing on the quality of their reverb tails when set to a long value (7.0 Seconds) in this test. I tried to get most of the parameters to be set equally on both plugins, and used a custom percussive dry sound using AAS Chromaphone.

This might not be the most accurate comparison, but it shows how close the two reverbs are in terms of quality. I'm not sure I need to buy the VSS4HD, since I already have the Relab VSR S24. Although, I like both, and find the VSS4 HD has a bit of a fuller sound to it.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

two different "algo" verbs, the TC VSS4 well is the TC S6000 VSS4 and the Relab VSR-S24 is a "stereo" recreation of the TC S6000 VSS6.1.

yes two very good verbs....

Home Studio 87 wrote: ↑Apr 11, 2021 8:59 am two different "algo" verbs, the TC VSS4 well is the TC S6000 VSS4 and the Relab VSR-S24 is a "stereo" recreation of the TC S6000 VSS6.1.

yes two very good verbs....

I really like the TC VSS4 HD, but the very high CPU usage is an issue, I hope they fix it soon via an update. I will not hesitate to buy it once it is fixed. I'm just using the 2 week demo for now.

I didn’t realize finalize or was out as well. I used to use that hardware I’m really curious as to whether the software is even close. I have VSS3 (bought at the last sale -30% off?) and I’m interested in VSS4 but I think I’ll wait for a sale since I have lots of verbs. MD4 looks interesting but between all the Fabfilter plugins and Ozone Advanced I feel like I’m covered.