I made a plugin called Gear Capture. Anyone want to give it a try?

[PineappleKing]

Hey everyone,

We just finished up a new plugin called Gear Capture, and it’s now in closed beta. You can probably guess what it does from the name. We’ve noticed that the current options out there still feel pretty rough around the edges, with a lot of common requests and issues left unresolved. So, we decided to take a crack at it and offer our own solution.







Just so you know, this is an invite for a private test. It is not the official launch yet, so everything is free. Honestly, most features will likely stay free even after we go live.

Now Supported

- Ultra Oversampling. We didn't just implement oversampling, we took it a step further than the standard implementations out there. You can check out the tech page at https://deepsoundlab.com/tech to see exactly how our Ultra Oversampling works.
- Lower CPU usage, higher precision. It runs more efficiently while giving you even better audio quality.
- Precise system response. I think we are all realizing that a null test isn't the whole picture. Matching the impulse response and harmonics is just as important. Gear Capture delivers a more accurate system response. It brings a sense of realism to those subtle details and honestly just feels better to play.
- Flexible settings. You get to decide how to balance capture quality against CPU load based on what your project needs.
- Compression capture support. The precision here is leading the industry right now.
- Accurate GR meter display. When you are using compression capture, the gain reduction reading is spot on.
- Low Latency. Getting captured data to line up perfectly with the original audio is usually tough, but thanks to our unique phase alignment tech, Gear Capture has lower latency than anything else out there.
- Amount and Mix Knobs. Because we’ve got such a precise handle on the phase of the capture, the Amount and Mix features on Gear Capture work exactly the way they should.

Coming Soon (We have the tech ready, we just need a little time to finish the engineering)

- Full sample rate support. You will be able to train once and run it at any sample rate. Just to be clear, this isn't simple resampling back to the capture rate. It is genuine, native support for any sample rate.
- Full single knob capture. This allows you to sample the entire range of a single knob yourself, rather than just capturing a static snapshot.
- Side chain compression.
- Stereo support for mono compression captures.
- Mid-side support.

Like the title says, this isn’t an official launch yet since we are still in the testing phase. If you want to chat more about it or give Gear Capture a spin, come hang out with us on our Discord channel.

Join the DeepSoundLab Discord Server!

Check out the DeepSoundLab community on Discord - hang out with 9 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

discord.com

 

[[Nathan]]

Is there examples of it working? Is it geared to amps or studio hardware (or everything)

 

[PineappleKing]

Is there examples of it working? Is it geared to amps or studio hardware (or everything)

We haven't had a chance to make a demo yet, just some files comparing the theory. But you can join our Discord to download the plugin and capture files to try them out. They are all free. Right now our capture files include the list below, and we are constantly collecting more:

- Four captures from two of the most classic clean amps.
- Two captures from that classic green overdrive pedal.
- A capture of the Little Fuzz E prototype
- Vocal settings from a rack compressor used in studios everywhere.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

You can probably guess what it does from the name.

I know it sounds daft, but I actually can’t really tell THAT much besides it’s some kind of capture plugin. Does it use proprietary files, or pre-existing ones? Can users make their own? When you are looking for people to test, I would very strongly advise making it explicitly clear what the plugin is, not to just expect users to figure it out.

We’ve noticed that the current options out there still feel pretty rough around the edges, with a lot of common requests and issues left unresolved. So, we decided to take a crack at it and offer our own solution.

Can you explain where other options are rough around the edges? Without knowing what this is exactly, I could easily assume it’s also rough around the edges. My biggest gripes don’t appear to be solved here, and some functionality I like in other capture options isn’t available here. More info needed.

The new features above focus a lot on null tests, oversampling, matching distortion etc. I get that there are some pretty big drawbacks with compression so far. It would be cool to go more in depth on what the existing problems are and how this solves them.

The biggest red flag is I have no idea what systems you even support, nor can I find that information on your website or discord.

There’s so many hoops to jump through here in order to test your software. IMO there is just some information that you absolutely must make explicitly clear - you can’t just rely on users to wing their way through.

 

[2dor]

A YouTube video showcasing the thing in action would help.

As interesting as it sounds, I'm not joining any Discord channel to get this thing. Not to be rude but a showcase by its author would go a long way.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

 

[[Nathan]]

A YouTube video showcasing the thing in action would help.

As interesting as it sounds, I'm not joining any Discord channel to get this thing. Not to be rude but a showcase by its author would go a long way.

I wrote something along these lines and deleted it cause I didn’t want to be a buzzklill
But yeah agreed, kind of need to see why it’s worth trying something new. We don’t have endless time to try and test and feedback everything that comes along. If there was a compelling and exciting reason to use this that would be cool but just little to no info so far.

Happy people are working on things but I’m not curious enough to join a discord server and wade through chats when the website could just have the info and a video or two showing the tech.

 

[Orvillain]

I also don't want to be a buzz kill... but I cannot tell what the plugin does either, and your description of oversampling versus "ultra" oversampling leaves a lot to be desired.

And if you are going to say things like this:

Standard Oversampling:

• It can reduce aliasing, but it often changes the feel and harmonic balance.

Then you really need to back it up with some evidence. The page is called "Our Technology" but it doesn't describe the technology in anything but the most high level and basic way. Not very useful.

I'm also not joining a Discord to get a plugin.

 

[Lorne Malvo]

If @PineappleKing doesn't provide more information and some sort of easily viewable demo that doesn't involve having to join Discord or software installation, then I will have to mark this thread as spam and close it.

A YouTube link to a demo would be fine.

 

[PineappleKing]

If @PineappleKing doesn't provide more information and some sort of easily viewable demo that doesn't involve having to join Discord or software installation, then I will have to mark this thread as spam and close it.

A YouTube link to a demo would be fine.

So sorry for the trouble. Please give me a little time. I'll make a quick demo video for you within 24 hours.

 

[PineappleKing]

I've seen all your comments, and I'm really sorry for any confusion. I'm going to go make a quick demo video right now, and once that's done, I'll reply to everyone one by one.

Please bear with us for a bit. It's just two of us indie devs working on this, not some big company. We know there are things we can do better, and we're working hard to fix them as fast as we can.

 

[Orvillain]

I've seen all your comments, and I'm really sorry for any confusion. I'm going to go make a quick demo video right now, and once that's done, I'll reply to everyone one by one.

Please bear with us for a bit. It's just two of us indie devs working on this, not some big company. We know there are things we can do better, and we're working hard to fix them as fast as we can.

All good dude. We're not trying to be unwelcoming or hard arses about it. It's just a bit odd when someone rocks up and introduces their software in this way. Kind of an optics thing I guess. Food for thought.

Look forward to the video!

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

I gave it a go. It wasn't an enjoyable experience, honestly.

It took 2 hours between uploading the audio file to getting a model trained.
That's pretty much a waste of a Saturday morning.

The model sounded off, so I decided to look at it a bit more detailed:

Null test was approximately -16 LUFS, which is pretty bad compared to what this is up against, not that it really matters if there's something else happening such as heavy oversampling.

My main concern here isn't even that, but everything else about the venture feels off (lack of solid technical information / snake oil vibes / chatgpt-esque descriptions and responses in the forums / a lack of transparency of who the real person(s) are behind everything / the discord funnel / the email funnel ... the bragging without real information to back it up).

It's a bit of a nightmare to me.

I was approached on Facebook by the same person(s) before this new capturing direction a few months back, when it was just about the component modelling, begging me to allow them to post in a facebook group I run (which I declined for the same reasons and gripes).

It's all a mystery to me how people lap this up (or perhaps they were born yesterday?).

---------------

Emails showing evidence of the time it took:

Some pretty pictures that probably don't really matter, comparing a NAM model here to this new tech:

LUFS: -16.4
EQ and Phase look very different.

Meh.

 

[ejecta]

I gave it a go. It wasn't an enjoyable experience, honestly.

It took 2 hours between uploading the audio file to getting a model trained.
That's pretty much a waste of a Saturday morning.

The model sounded off, so I decided to look at it a bit more detailed:

Null test was approximately -16 LUFS, which is pretty bad compared to what this is up against, not that it really matters if there's something else happening such as heavy oversampling.

My main concern here isn't even that, but everything else about the venture feels off (lack of solid technical information / snake oil vibes / chatgpt-esque descriptions and responses in the forums / a lack of transparency of who the real person(s) are behind everything / the discord funnel / the email funnel ... the bragging without real information to back it up).

It's a bit of a nightmare to me.

I was approached on Facebook by the same person(s) before this new capturing direction a few months back, when it was just about the component modelling, begging me to allow them to post in a facebook group I run (which I declined for the same reasons and gripes).

It's all a mystery to me how people lap this up (or perhaps they were born yesterday?).

---------------

Emails showing evidence of the time it took:

View attachment 57957



Some pretty pictures that probably don't really matter, comparing a NAM model here to this new tech:

LUFS: -16.4
EQ and Phase look very different.

View attachment 57956

Meh.

Wow… couldn’t ask for better feedback than that.

Seems this right now is a….

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Wow… couldn’t ask for better fed back than that.

Seems this right now is a….

I mean, I could be wrong. . . but yeah basically.
I implore the more tech savvy members amongst us here to do some of their own testing, because I'm sure it could be more thorough.

 

[ejecta]

I mean, I could be wrong. . . but yeah basically.
I implore the more tech savvy members amongst us here to do some of their own testing, because I'm sure it could be more thorough.

Better feedback than I could have given. Kudos for the effort. I’m sure it helps them even if you’re the only one so far.

 

[PineappleKing]

I gave it a go. It wasn't an enjoyable experience, honestly.

It took 2 hours between uploading the audio file to getting a model trained.
That's pretty much a waste of a Saturday morning.

The model sounded off, so I decided to look at it a bit more detailed:

Null test was approximately -16 LUFS, which is pretty bad compared to what this is up against, not that it really matters if there's something else happening such as heavy oversampling.

My main concern here isn't even that, but everything else about the venture feels off (lack of solid technical information / snake oil vibes / chatgpt-esque descriptions and responses in the forums / a lack of transparency of who the real person(s) are behind everything / the discord funnel / the email funnel ... the bragging without real information to back it up).

It's a bit of a nightmare to me.

I was approached on Facebook by the same person(s) before this new capturing direction a few months back, when it was just about the component modelling, begging me to allow them to post in a facebook group I run (which I declined for the same reasons and gripes).

It's all a mystery to me how people lap this up (or perhaps they were born yesterday?).

---------------

Emails showing evidence of the time it took:

View attachment 57957



Some pretty pictures that probably don't really matter, comparing a NAM model here to this new tech:

LUFS: -16.4
EQ and Phase look very different.

View attachment 57956

Meh.

We definitely need to get those videos out faster, but there has been some confusion I would like to clear up first.

The reason for this closed beta is to help us prepare for the official launch. We mainly need to figure out how much server power we are going to need. Right now, things are pretty tight on the server side. I am really sorry if that gave you a bad impression, but it will be much better once we officially launch.

Regarding the training results, we saw that you used the smallest model size. If you check the performance difference between that and a full-size NAM, you will see a huge gap. Our optimization is great, but there is always a trade-off between speed and accuracy. If you really want to compare it with NAM, just send us a DM. We can send you a NAM file so you can hear how similar they are. We will definitely do comparisons with the state-of-the-art tech. We have to. But usually, we try not to mention other products publicly, so we cannot post those comparisons right now.

There is also a big misunderstanding about the null test. To get the Amount and Mix features working, we had to correct the phase. Unfortunately, the file you captured just happened to have the phase flipped. You should try the null test again without using the phase flip button.

Alright, it looks like making some videos is totally necessary. That should help clear up a lot of these misunderstandings.

 

[PineappleKing]

I mean, I could be wrong. . . but yeah basically.
I implore the more tech savvy members amongst us here to do some of their own testing, because I'm sure it could be more thorough.

I quickly checked the training process. There are definitely some unusual stats appearing. It seems like the latency calibration is having a problem. That is really rare. We have trained dozens of files, and this is the first time I have seen this. Please give me a little time. Let me finish this video first, and then I will go look into what exactly happened.

 

[PineappleKing]

Hey everyone, I just uploaded a demo video. I hope it helps you get a better idea of what Gear Capture is all about. If there's anything else you want to know, please feel free to ask. We promise we aren't scammers. We're just engineers, so we admittedly aren't very good at marketing ourselves. Thanks for bearing with us.

It's getting pretty late here, so I'll reply to some of the comments a bit later.