Abbey Road vs Waves plugins purchase

[sONIC_jUNKIE]

Hi guys,
I could use a little help .
I want to purchase a good plugin bundle.From the existing analogue modeling stuff,I ended up with two choices.Waves API stuff and Abbey Road stuff.
Now - I loved the 2500 on a female jazz vocal, and was wondering, if you would say that I can get similar colouring and thickness with the AbRo stuff.

Maybe sounds like a dumb question ,but for now this is a issue for me

Thanks a lot,

sj

[sONIC_jUNKIE]

Gentlemen, this is an important thing for me right now, so any opinion would be highly appreciated

thank you

SJ

[UnDeFiNeD]

I would go Abbey road for vocals, has a color on it rarely found in plug ins.
But The API bundle is perhaps more versatile...

Both great choices...so not much of an awnser is it

[dhiltonlittle]

apples and oranges. if you don't have a good bundle the api like undefined said will be more versatile across the board. that being said the abbey road/emi plugs are some of my favorites out there. if it were me, i'd grab the api and pick up the abbey road when you have some extra cash.

[feck]

They both certainly have their strengths, and here, they are both treated as specialty plugins. However, the EMI Mastering pack gets used ALL the time here. If I had to pick only one, I would probably do the EMI.

[hankdrummer]

whatever our opinion is, we're just a bunch of strangers, and one guy in the thread might be a mixing god, and the other an amateur who just got started.

you can try both of these collections, you just need an iLok. do it and compare them !

now for my 2 cents :

- from Waves, i liked the CLA 1176 compressors, and the PuigChild (although i wouldn't use it all the time)

- didn't really like the API 2500 nor the Abbey Road TG compressor

- there are a LOT of other plugins that do the job as good, without the shiny UI and the big name company. and they're cheaper !

Stillwell, PSP, Nomad Factory, Cytomic, Voxengo ... some of their new stuff is very good.

[spaceman]

Funny, i just bought these two bundles from Tony recently. They are both my favorite eq ever in the plugin world (and i have almost all the UAD stuff). The Abbey Road eq is one the few that keeps a tight bass when you boost it. Most other eq turns the bass into mudd. The waves Api is impressive too.
I'd would say get both if you can , but if you only want one, then yes the API is probably more versatile. It can sound smooth as well as agressive , and you would cover more situations with it.

As usual, YMMV , so try both and see..

[narcoman]

The abbey road stuff is awesome - but it is VERY much one flavour. I do find myself using them a lot less than the APi Waves plugins. Pretty much in the same way as I find myself using Chandler stuff less than my desk... beautiful on "when you need it" - but I don't need it every day!

[RTR]

Honestly..I don't really care for my abbey road plugs..nothing special!!

[FadersmakmeHappy]

The Chandler Plugs are awesome for some task! I can't imagine doing a whole project with them though. They are the closest plug to hardware that I am aware of. I think the waves API stuff excels in its eqs, which use all the time.

Try the Abbey limiter for that pumping room drum sound. The toms will be squishy and vibey. It also kills for pulling a vocal forward with some nice mojo.

[sONIC_jUNKIE]

So many great advices so far !

Well, for me will be the definitive point here ,how the compressor would behave to a female jazz vocal.
i really like what 2500 does, and dont really know if the emi limiter could mimick this kind of sound.Because I love the briliance pack

[Richierich]

Just picked up a TG-2 on Ebay cheap. Also have the Waves mercury plan. Love the API EQ's , and Compressor. However, I'd probably get the waves bundle,and save up for some real chandler gear. You don't need a lunchbox and it's getting cheaper by the day.

[gussyg2007]

Waves CLA 76/EMI comp
URS saturation
URS N12/waves V eq

works every time

[Richierich]

I find myself using the waves api 550B eq's over any of the others more times than not. Especially when I want to hype something that sounds boring. The comp is a bonus.

[Surbitone]

I've got both bundles, and the Waves API bundle gets used on nearly every track. Especially the 550a & b's. The 2500 is a really versatile compressor too....but the Abbey Road stuff sounds amazing too, just not quite as much of a workhorse. Btw, don't forget to look at T-Racks 3 670 & Pultec plugs. They are cheap as chips and I think that 3 for one offer might still be on!

[recall]

Can't you demo the chandler plug? I doubt you will be able to get the same sound as the api 2500 but you will get a different sound which would be equally as interesting.

I used to have te chandler plugs but traded them for the API bundle. The API is just more versatile for me. The Chandler was nice to have but I can do more with the API day in day out. I do miss the mastering pack eq's though, I loved the way you could set the shelf to be active from really low down.

Good luck.

[hankdrummer]

how the Waves API compared to the URS API ?

in the SOS review, it seems they were quite close

[Fabi]

I love the 2500 !!!! so good on a lot of things
But I cannot get these API EQs to work for me - for whatever reason, because I know a lot of people who love them.

My favourite bundle of all times is the sonnox oxfords - not a vintage sound at all though!! and that seems like what you are after but e.g. the deesser is the best thing i´ve ever seen so far.

[Mr.HOLMES]

Originally Posted by sONIC_jUNKIE

So many great advices so far !

Well, for me will be the definitive point here ,how the compressor would behave to a female jazz vocal.
i really like what 2500 does, and dont really know if the emi limiter could mimick this kind of sound.Because I love the briliance pack

Demo both of them and make your own decision.
Stuff you will buy always work with it a few weeks.

And if a Jazz vocal needs compression is another story maybe just for some color.

If you are making Jazz I would buy for example an SPL Charisma and give the vocals some vintage feeling during tracking much better as plug ins.

Give the vintage fell in the front end.
If you really want to do it during the mix I found the Waves Fairchild emulation very pleasing it had some saturation in an very old fashioned stile.

Just dreaming how the real nit would do it.....

[sONIC_jUNKIE]

Originally Posted by Mr.HOLMES

Demo both of them and make your own decision.
Stuff you will buy always work with it a few weeks.

And if a Jazz vocal needs compression is another story maybe just for some color.

If you are making Jazz I would buy for example an SPL Charisma and give the vocals some vintage feeling during tracking much better as plug ins.

Give the vintage fell in the front end.
If you really want to do it during the mix I found the Waves Fairchild emulation very pleasing it had some saturation in an very old fashioned stile.

Just dreaming how the real nit would do it.....

Thank you !
Exactly,I want to compress it for the color ,and the jazz thing isnt as much about jazz music,but more of a jazz esthetique of that voice and her way of singing.
Waves Fairchild ? thats the PuigChild,isnt it ? Ill try the demo...The thing is, I demoed both bundles some time ago,but now Im doing a bit special music,and I try to to find similar colours I remember from the plug demos I had back then...

[Surbitone]

Originally Posted by sONIC_jUNKIE

Thank you !
Exactly,I want to compress it for the color ,and the jazz thing isnt as much about jazz music,but more of a jazz esthetique of that voice and her way of singing.
Waves Fairchild ? thats the PuigChild,isnt it ? Ill try the demo...The thing is, I demoed both bundles some time ago,but now Im doing a bit special music,and I try to to find similar colours I remember from the plug demos I had back then...

Check out the T-Racks 3 670. Demo'd both of them and went with the T-Racks 3 version. They both sound absolutely brilliant, but the 670 has more of that dense transparency you'd expect, it saturates beautifully too.

[Analogue Nubian]

Originally Posted by Richierich

Just picked up a TG-2 on Ebay cheap. Also have the Waves mercury plan. Love the API EQ's , and Compressor. However, I'd probably get the waves bundle,and save up for some real chandler gear. You don't need a lunchbox and it's getting cheaper by the day.

word to that!
dunno bout the plugs but have processed a fender steelstring through my tg1. recorded with c214 thru daking micpre... the sparkle was unlike anything I've heard in my studio!

unbelievably yummie!

[everythinglouder]

To the OP,

I have both bundles. The Waves API is absolutely killer. It's my favorite bundle, and I've bought way too many plug-ins.

To be honest, since you've already sort of nailed the sound you want with the 2500, I'd say that's your indication right there of which bundle to get. So many times, at least for me, a piece of gear or a plug-in will look/sound so attractive simply because I don't own it. The Abbey Road plugs were that way for me. They're beautiful looking, and they carry that AR allure. But their flavor and that flavor's strengths are indeed limited. To me the AR plugs turned out to be great on drums, piano, & strings. But you'd be surprised how often they won't get you a certain sound you're after.

Go with the API, I say. It's a great bundle to own, especially with this month's 35% off discounts.

[unitymusic]

I've demoed the API and I loved it, just haven't had the chance to pick it up yet. Like other people have said... versatile. If you do rock music I would suggest these.

Personally I do a lot of acoustic/lo fi stuff. I own the Abbey Road plugs and I can do most of what I need with them. They do have some color which if used wrong and too much can make things muddy. [the brilliance pack being slightly different...it gets brittle IMO if overused].

So my opinion, which may be irrelevant to you... The Abbey Road stuff is more of a gem. You can do things with them you can't do with any other plug in. The API stuff on the other hand, may be overall "better", as in you can do more with them. So I second this:

Originally Posted by dhiltonlittle

if it were me, i'd grab the api and pick up the abbey road when you have some extra cash.

[sONIC_jUNKIE]

gentlemen,

im a nut.

I just ordered BOTH OF THEM

HOOOORRRRAYYYY

[unitymusic]

Originally Posted by sONIC_jUNKIE

gentlemen,

im a nut.

I just ordered BOTH OF THEM

HOOOORRRRAYYYY

Well at least you made the best decision.