Plugin Comparrisons (not a VS thread)

[Dingo]

I’ve just tested the CLA 1176 (blacky) plugin next to the UA 1176 plugin. They do both sound pretty different from each other! The CLA definitely has a warm character to it with a sticky sound, where as the UA version sounds more open & clear, the low end seems to pop out more too. Which is supposed to sound more like the hardware unit I don’t know… Both sound great though!

Has anyone had the chance to test the SSL sets by Waves & UA? Be interested to know how they sound next to each other & what characteristics they have.

Regards, Marcus.

Topic

[VOLiTiAN]

Honestly…. I wouldn’t use either, unless you’re using their metering systems (dorrough etc which are excellent) they are not great sounding plugins at all IMO, what they lack for in transparency (across therir products) they make up for with a shudderingly amazing way of sucking the life out of a mix… classic e.g. would be the L2++ maximiser. Waves users, really need to check out crysonic, fabfilter, soundtoys, image line, nomad factory, PSP & Voxengo etc etc ad etc etc …. don’t believe the hype 🙂

Kind regards

David

www.myspace.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundclick.com/VOLiTiAN www.reverbnation.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundcloud.com/VOLiTiAN

[Dingo]

Not a huge fan of 70% of the waves plug-ins. The only one’s I find my self using are the SSL, API, V-Series and the H-Delay. I like using Sonalksis stuff mainly, they sound great and are very flexible. Blue tubes by Nomad Factory is another great set but I don’t use them that much because they don’t sound great on everything.

It’s not about believing the hype it’s about using your ears and what suits your taste. There’s only a couple PSP products I like, the XENON and some of the the vintage stuff the rest leaves with little desire. Another good company to check out is Tone Projects, formally known as OptiumFX.. They make a GREAT compressor and Texturing product. Always loved the Image line plug-ins! You can get such a decent sounding mix with those within minuets! Fruity Loops FTW 🙂

Regards, Marcus.

[Jackyl]

Since it’s a plugin comparison topic, i’ll ask here. It’s been 3 years i’ve been using Superior Drummer 2 and have come to a tormenting question. Why is it easy to mix a good sounding kit in the built-in mixer, but so difficult in a DAW mixer (using multi-output)? And nearly impossible when mixing bounced wavs. It feels like the built-in Sonalksis plugins behave in some special way or smth like that. Anyone has the same sentiments?)))

And one more thing. Is there any statistics on how S2 users mix songs? Is it multioutput+DAW mixing or using built-in S2 plugins or bouncing to make it like a real studio work with live drums?

[VOLiTiAN]

Multi out setups  tend to be more flexible, as although the inbuilt plugs have their uses, for anything truly unique, you need to go out of the box so to speak.

You tend to find people do a combination of both for most setups, eg basic mix inside superior (bleeds etc) then bus out to say between 6 and 12 channels to the host and then the engineer gets to use all his fancy plugs, fabfilter etc to get the sound he’s looking for with the plugins he know best/favours the most, as you can’t do mid/side eq’ing internally kinda like pre-mastering the drum mix before it hits the rest of the project.

If toontrack could at least give better metering/plugin gridations etc so you can *see* the physical adjustments and the inpact they have that would be useful, meters showing just random activity are not helpful IMO.

Mixing bounced wav’s is normally tougher because any idea’s you have for mixing will rely soley on the source, hence why SD is so flexible, you want a different snare etc, then just swap it out on the fly, it’s a nice fluid way of being able to suss out the potential source issues in your mix rather than trying to overcome samples that tonally won’t suit.

Hope that helps in someway. If I can go out on a limb, the chances are the presets are working well for you, to buss out-board you really want to have a handle on the limits of your own toolset and know the foibles of your reference environment etc.

Kind regards

D.

www.myspace.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundclick.com/VOLiTiAN www.reverbnation.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundcloud.com/VOLiTiAN

[Jackyl]

Thanx a lot for a quick answer. Very helpful.

[stubsound]

The Waves 1176 blacky plugin sounds more aggressive than the UAD equivalent, and with a tad more distortion. I love them both, but had to leave UAD TDM behind for obvious reasons. I also have a hardware UA 6176, and to claim that the plugins doesn’t sound good, is pretty surprising to me. Don’t believe the hype, that’s fine, but I trust my ears. And Waves SSL bundle and the CLA compressors bundle sounds great to me, and I use them on every song.

Stig-R. Eliassen

Master - PT 7.4.2 HD3 Accel/ G5 Dual 2.3/ 6.5 Gb RAM/ OS 10.5.8
Slave - VE Pro 5/ 6-core Westmere/ 24 Gb RAM/ OS 10.6.8/ Superior 2.3.2, dfh Superior, C&V SDX, NY vol. 2 SDX, Roots Bundle SDX, Twisted kit, Drumtracker/ TD-15K

[VOLiTiAN]

Out of interest stubsound, what are you reference monitors?

Everyone always talks about things sounding good or not, but no-one ever makes mention of what their respective listening setups are.

No personal dig, just curious, because frankly compared to ALOT of plugins and hardware we’ve we’ve had the pleasure to use, waves is really only a bundle I’ve found to be useful for their metering plugins. Don’t even get me started in the slate VCC

Kind regards

D.

www.myspace.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundclick.com/VOLiTiAN www.reverbnation.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundcloud.com/VOLiTiAN

[VOLiTiAN]

And once again, the mention of reference speakers, the thread goes silent….

Regards

D.

www.myspace.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundclick.com/VOLiTiAN www.reverbnation.com/VOLiTiAN www.soundcloud.com/VOLiTiAN

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