SSL-4072 G+ Series VS. VCC, NLS and Buss Compressors!
Here it is... The massive shootout of an analog monster vs modern digital plugins. First let me start off by saying I was surprised how well Slate and Waves did, now lets get to business
The console: SSL 4072 G+ Series console, formerly owned by George Lucas, in fact Star Wars was mixed on this very board. It sounds beautiful. I don't feel like anything in the world can ever truly replace the feeling or sound you get sitting behind this beast. It's going to go up against the Waves NLS and the Slate VCC.
The Buss Compressors: SSL 4072 G+ Series Compressor, The Waves SSL Comp, and last but not least The Glue.
A couple of other thoughts... I feel like summing in the box is certainly possible now. However, once you start using the EQ on the real SSL vs plugins the difference becomes very apparent, especially on vocals. No plugin has the sound of a real G series EQ, there is just something truly spectacular about it. It's that sound that you've heard on all your favorite records. I've tried painstakingly to get it out of my plugins at home. I just can't get it to sound like the console. So slate give us an SSL EQ!
I included a bit of a random video of some behind the scenes footage in the studio on the console I'm using for the shootout as well as session footage of a hiphop artist im producing for and also allot of my solo project stuff. I produce and engineer my own stuff.
The Files: Includes VCC with The Glue, Waves NLS with Waves Comp, Original uncompressed ITB, and The Real Console with Real compressor. NOT IN THAT ORDER! The files are matched in level as closely as possible.
The Compressors are set at Attack 10, Release 1, Ratio 10. 4 to 5dB gain reduction.
So let's hear your thoughts! What sounds best to you and why?
Mix C is very nice too, softer than A, but still with a nice low end
Mix B is brighter and more hyped in the high mid/low highs. Initially, I was lured by this sound, but eventually got tired of it. :-=
Mix D needs at least 1.4 dB of gain to be in the same ballpark as the other 3. Even then, it has the weakest low end and the dullest highs. The mids aren´t all that great either. My least fave one. I enclose a file with gain +1.4 for you folks with no DAW at hand. :-)
My uneducated humble guess is that Mix A is Slate. Mix B is Waves NLS, C is SSL Hardware and D just has to be ITB
The bottom line is that for summing alone, these plugins ROCK. Slate VCC eats about one third of the Native DSP on my rig, so that alone means IT gets used... :-)
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Johan Bejerholm
World Studios
Malmö, Sweden
I'll listen tomorrow, my copy of VCC should be here tomorrow and I'm interested to hear the differences between it and my summing desk. Is your console the one Slate or Waves modelled? If no, it's probably going to sound different. I'm by no means doubting what you hear and if you already own the desk with the recall and automation and if it's what you're used to working with then that's the way to go. If we compared your SSL to say Bob Clearmountains we'd probably hear some slight differences. What I'd really love to hear is the SSL that was modelled vs. The plugin. That would be a better indicator of how close some of these plugins are to their counterparts. If you're saying the plugs are very close that's about what I'd expect in a comparison to your hardware. I'll listen tomorrow and I'll get to try them as well.
I'll listen tomorrow, my copy of VCC should be here tomorrow and I'm interested to hear the differences between it and my summing desk. Is your console the one Slate or Waves modelled? If no, it's probably going to sound different. I'm by no means doubting what you hear and if you already own the desk with the recall and automation and if it's what you're used to working with then that's the way to go. If we compared your SSL to say Bob Clearmountains we'd probably hear some slight differences. What I'd really love to hear is the SSL that was modelled vs. The plugin. That would be a better indicator of how close some of these plugins are to their counterparts. If you're saying the plugs are very close that's about what I'd expect in a comparison to your hardware. I'll listen tomorrow and I'll get to try them as well.
That would be Spike Stent's SSL then I believe....can't see anyone arranging a test like that somehow.
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have confidence in your ability to rise above the foam - crufty
I am pretty sure Steven Slate posted a few (a lot) of comparisons before the launch of VCC. Comparing his chosen ssl desk and the models of that desk side by side.
I would very much like to hear any comparison you would be willing to make between the am summing box and some VCC instances.
My summing buss is the Rascal Audio Tonebuss, it's supposedly based on Neve consoles, which one I don't know but I absolutely love the thing. It has an incredibly deep, thick bottom end. Part of it would be the fact that there are custom Carnhill's on the input and output but Joel Cameron would tell you this better than I can. I'm expecting it to be different from VCC. What I'm hoping is that they're all of equal quality to my ears and different. I don't know why but I find the Waves NLS kind of a "me too" product and I don't care. The MPX tape I really like though.
The console is the same one modeled in VCC and NLS. It's a 4K G Series... I have to note though, the differences are much much more drastic than the Slate comparisons.
I would very much like to hear any comparison you would be willing to make between the am summing box and some VCC instances.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaron Rash
Hey everyone,
The console is the same one modeled in VCC and NLS. It's a 4K G Series... I have to note though, the differences are much much more drastic than the Slate comparisons.
Because the Slate comparisons are comparing the actual desk modelled. Your desk is a 4k G series but not the one used to model the plugins after. I'm suggesting that there are probably some pretty substantial differences between each console. They're pretty old and complex machines.
To me B sounds the best. I must admit this is one of the toughest comparisons I've heard. They all sound so similar. For buss compressors I think you should really be using the SSL Duende as the software compressor. It sounds more real than The Glue to me, and the Waves one sounds like shit.
To me B sounds the best. I must admit this is one of the toughest comparisons I've heard. They all sound so similar. For buss compressors I think you should really be using the SSL Duende as the software compressor. It sounds more real than The Glue to me, and the Waves one sounds like shit.
Both the api 2500 and the SSL comps sound horrible to me. I hate the sound of them, very hard and plastic sounding.
Few more hours and I can have a go with this plugin.
Does anyone use it on input during tracking and then use a different setting at mix? I usually track with the Tape plugins on input and I think tonight I'm going to give it a shot with the VCC. Should be interesting. I'm also going to listen to this test and see if I can hear anything. My bet is I can't.
Found the licence in the trash folder, got it running.
Good ****ing god, the time I would save from an analog desk would pay for itself damn quick. On a 32bit machine this takes forever to load even a single instance of the plugin. Waste of time.
Cool guys, keep the opinions coming! To me it's very very obvious witch one is the console but I've been working on SSL's forever. Listen to the snap, tightness, and punch. Listen for the low end!
Seems to me that, whatever you use, its close enough to the real thing by these examples.
I liked B, then A then C then D.
Not sure which is which. I think C is Waves.
I think D is ITB.
A & B are so close that, it doesn't really matter. B seem to have a little more bottom and a little more fullness but, I'm listening on some Sony wireless headphones so, don't quote me on these.
I will take this to the studio on Sat to give it a real listening test and then give my thoughts.
Sorry in advance for any misspelled words, phrases or not using the right meaning/s at the right times. So get over it and back to the post at hand!!! Thanx....
Hey everybody!
To my mind A is the best, then C, and then B. D is much worse and has wrong dynamic.
At an assessment I paid attention to dynamics preservation, transients, color,tightness, afc.
On my KRK A and B with more low end than the rest.
I agree with marchhare, probably
Quote:
Originally Posted by marchhare
"A" is the console
"B" the NLS/Waves SSL
"C" VCC/Glue
"D" ITB.
Aaron, what's track played in the first part of the video?
Nice stuff, I would like to listen full one.
Thanks man! It's a unreleased track from a solo album I'm working on. It's funny though because when I do the indie rock thing allot of people tell me I sound like Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie.
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