Damn, fusion seems rad! Bit too rich for my blood, perhaps some day though, gonna keep an eye on these
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Anybody here tried Celestial from acustica audio? It emulates the fusion and is supposed to come really really close
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Nice, and not only the āmasteringā sideā¦
But the ātextureā of sound is also really warm and organic which adds a lot to the perception.
Would be interesting to hear same track/mix without Fusion, but I guess you just record it as it is and itās done
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So itās a audio plugin based on a hardware unit made for enhancing plugin-based audio? 
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Does that really matter? If people like what fusion does to a signal, why wouldnāt they like a free plugin based around some impulse response technology? Donāt really get your point.
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Hey, thanks 
yep, no A / B-testing here. I donāt usually even save my stuff, so Iām not sure I could recall this one even if I tried.
Itās not made just for enhancing vst-sounds and includes some of their iconic circuits in a compact and v flexible format. It is great for that too but thatās just one of the many uses for the unit.
Ive been looking at this. Is it still free though? All I can find its now part of one of Acusticas bigger packages which is 200 euros.
I donāt want all the other stuff just the Fusion element.
SSL also provide plugins that model the Fusion. Three separate plugins: Vintage Drive, Stereo Image, and Vintage Compressor. $200 each so for all three you are halfway to a hardware unit. They do specials from time to time, and they also offer a trial so you can try it out before buying.
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I actually donāt know. Maybe not anymore. If you got the free plugin back then you got the whole package later at some point.
I canāt compare it with the hardware, but it sounds really good imo.
Unfortunately, no. Every holiday season (at least the past several years) Acustica has been releasing a plugin for free as a gift thatās available for like 30-60 days. Celestial was the offering a couple years ago and very generous overall. Sometimes the gift plugins are a limited feature set of a larger yet to be announced product, but some of them are a full item that are later sold as such once the giveaway period is over or made part of a bundle.
Regrettably, if you miss the initial giveaway period theyāre not available later on unless purchased. Some of the free ones never got released/sold after the fact at all.
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I havenāt demoed yet. Was reading a gearspace thread the other day. Someone did an a/b test for comparison. The results were a 50/50 split which is always a good sign.
I do really want the Fusion. Money aside I really like recallability at the mix stage so a VST which is close enough is good for me.
Thanks. Yes, thats how I read it. Just thought Id missed something.
Acustica does significant sales throughout the year, so itās best to be patient and hold off even if it means waiting until the end of year holiday sales. Since Celestial was originally free, it wouldnāt surprise me if it went for a substantially lower price. Iāve seen some plugins go for 70-80% off.
That said, itās a pretty great plugin and thatās coming from someone who already has a couple nice outboard pieces. I plan to get one at some point even if itās just āslightlyā better than the plugin, but Iām constantly chasing that last 5%.
If youād like to hear the difference between the plugin and hardware yourself on your own material, then I believe itās still possible to do so for free or at least at very low cost. Get the trial of Celestial which should be good for a couple of weeks (no restrictions) and then sign up for Analog Access. Itās either them or Mix:Analog that were offering āfreeā access to a Fusion that you could book a limited time slot for ā at least they did previously. If thatās no longer offered, then you can at least book 30-60 minutes at a reasonable cost to try on your own material. No relying on someone elseās songs or settings.
Hope that helps.
Cool. Thanks for all that much appreciated. I will get all that checked out.
Nice one 
All I know is that when I turn the fusion off, everything feels a little lifeless and dull. The fairy dust and Unicorn semen in this thing is damn good stuff.
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Exactly!! 
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I just recently got mine and with the right settings itās almost like someone is taking a wool blanket off of my monitors. I even ran a bunch of unmastered professional mixes through it to test it with a variety of stuff and I could always get a big improvement. Loving it so far.
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How you guys using your Fusion with the SSL SiX? Iāve had my source material run through the Fusion for mastering and then onwards to the SiX for the g-bus compressor, but Iād like to get back into summing my mix in the SiX again.
So Iām thinking -
Mix goes into the SiX. All six channels are active. A little CXM Reverb on one of the sends.
Where would you use the Fusion in this? I previously had it on the other fx channel, but was told by some mastering engineer that I shouldnāt be doing that, but rather put the SiX last due to the compressor and go through the Fusion first.
But I donāt know. The summing adds a lot of headroom to the mix, so ideally thatās the sound Iād like to master. But where do I put the Fusion in all this, if the source goes into the SiX first?
Main insert! Perfect! Need some dsub cables made up though.
Thinking of getting a SiX again, and the fusion will go back into the main insert
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