L2 hardware vs L2 software

[genki]

hi there,

maybe a stupid question, but i prefer hard to soft
i know the soft one but i may have a second hand gear for a good price..
does the L2 hardware sounds better than the soft version ?

anyway,
a lot of people here speak about the great oxford limiter
so i project to buy it for powercore.
it seems to be "the best" for sound and for $$$ under waves ones.

thanx for any infos

[Andy Krehm]

Originally Posted by genki

hi there,

maybe a stupid question, but i prefer hard to soft
i know the soft one but i may have a second hand gear for a good price..
does the L2 hardware sounds better than the soft version ?

anyway,
a lot of people here speak about the great oxford limiter
so i project to buy it for powercore.
it seems to be "the best" for sound and for $$$ under waves ones.

thanx for any infos

There was a thread on the PSW mastering website that specifically addressed the sound issue. Try a search there.

IIRC, some said the hard and soft nulled and other said it didn't. Again, its been a while, but my tests did not null. On the other hand, the sound is really close, if not almost identical.

My L2 Hardware used to break down regularly and so I had to buy the software for backup. Finally the problems were sorted out and it's been running fine for a couple of years but I would have no problem switching to software, if I had to...it's that close.

Since they don't make the hardware L2 anymore, you would have to buy used so beware of what I went through before the unit worked reliably. To Waves credit, they did all the repairs under warranty even though some of the problems happened after expiry.

I tried the one of the Oxford Limiters and thought it worked well. However, I have enough components to do what I need so I decided not to buy it.

[grandmasters]

i have the l2 hardware and software. never could really tell a difference but i prefer to run the hardware in realtime. HOWEVER, i have not used the L2 in a long time since running the Oxford Limiter. I use it real time via a dedicated protools system in record as I like to do all my processing on load in and not do anything after its in the computer.

[genki]

thank you andy,
strange problem on the hardware version,
i'll try to get more infos about this second hand unit.
benjamin

[Riccardo]

genki,
it has been discussed before here as well as over at Brad's forum as Andy Pointed out.
Besides the unliked mode only available on the hardware thy should be almost identical.
I have never found the time to do a null test myself.

Here are some past discussions:

L2 Hardware vs Software

Waves L2 Hardware?

Waves L2 Hardwave vs L2 plugin

Waves L2 hardware Vs Software - interesting!

[genki]

Thank you all
and for the links ricardo, it seems to be that's i was looking for.

[Geert van den Berg]

Originally Posted by genki

anyway,
a lot of people here speak about the great oxford limiter
so i project to buy it for powercore.
it seems to be "the best" for sound and for $$$ under waves ones.

I don't know which OS and software you're using, but the Sony plugins are now also available as Audio Unit plugins (native).

Only the EQ, dynamics and the limiter at the moment, but eventually all.

[genki]

Originally Posted by Geert van den Berg

I don't know which OS and software you're using, but the Sony plugins are now also available as Audio Unit plugins (native).

Only the EQ, dynamics and the limiter at the moment, but eventually all.

Geert,
i use logic pro 7 (so OSX) and a powercore.
i saw the AU version,
but i think i should choose the powercore version,
few more expensive than the AU but maybe better if the powercore run it instead of the mac.. ?
in the first time the limiter, then hope i could afford the EQ
just waiting an ilok to try the demo