Have you lately used a software compressor over a hardware unit ?

[clivek]

Who owns various hardware and software compressors here !! LOL

When did you prefer a software comp over a hardware comp !!?

What software compressor was it you preferred, over what hardware ?

So it sounded better, but in what way?. Or was there another reason you used software ??

Would be interested in your views on this one !! Cheers !

[NeoHippy]

Originally Posted by clivek

Who owns various hardware and software compressors here !! LOL

When did you prefer a software comp over a hardware comp !!?

What software compressor was it you preferred, over what hardware ?

So it sounded better, but in what way?. Or was there another reason you used software ??

Would be interested in your views on this one !! Cheers !

i just own a dbx266xl....(pretty cheap stuff)...i often prefer the bombfactory (1176 clone) over it!...

and the logic comps...i like those pretty much to!

i justed software cuase it sounds better than my cheap comp ...

if im doing live...i always have to use the hardware...so i use both!

[nooneimportant]

I just can't like the Logic compressor no matter how hard I try. I've got an EL8 and an RNC, and I like those WAAAAY more than the Logic compressor.

I'd like to get some more plugins, but don't want to drop all that money on a UAD card just yet.

[clivek]

Anybody else ?

[drBill]

Originally Posted by clivek

Anybody else ?

UBK-1. Do a search. For color, aggression, spank, and all around fun.

[DeadPoet]

Currently I own 16 channels of outboard compression but a lot of it is opto-style (4x diy la-3a, 2x UA610MkII and a RNLA). I'm planning on selling two of the la-3a's next year to fund for 2 diy 1176's but in the mean time I'm happy to use the UAD1176 instead.

I 'grew up' on plug-in compression and started to buy the hardware counterparts of the soft I liked most (33609J/D, la-3a and next year ssl buscomp and 1176).




Herwig

[narcoman]

UBK. Nice stuff. The new Vertigo plugin from Brainworx is great too.


I think, for me, it's more about the recall though. Given immense time and no recalls I'd use the hardware. Jobs don't quite work that way though SO the better of the plugin end gets used a lot more often chez narco....

[HomeProducer]

Originally Posted by nooneimportant

I just can't like the Logic compressor no matter how hard I try. I've got an EL8 and an RNC, and I like those WAAAAY more than the Logic compressor.

I'd like to get some more plugins, but don't want to drop all that money on a UAD card just yet.

Hm ... strange, I love it. Does transparent compression well and for sidechaining, its da bomb.

[RiF]

My Distressor is better on everything than every software compressor I've tried so far (including UAD-2). It controls transients, pins levels, adds distortion and simply sounds good like nothing else.
Even my dbx 166XL and Behringer Composers are maybe not better but not worse than about 90% of the plugin compressors. But plugins beat them due to total recall.
My Gyraf SSL buss compressor is slightly better than my Waves SSL buss compressor. The Waves does it's job but lacks some tonal character (it has like none) while my GSSL adds more boldness to the mix.

But the hardware / software difference gets smaller, if I work with well recorded tracks where the plugins do not need to work that hard.

The list of plugin compressors that I really like contains:
- PSP oldTimerME. Great control over everything, behaves and sounds very much like hardware.
- UAD 1176LN. Snappy, fast attack, can be the most aggressive 1176 of all 1176 plugins (BF, CLA, UAD, did not try the IK).
- Waves CLA-2A.
- Waves CLA-76 Bluey in all-buttons mode to really smash things (other than that the CLA-76's do not get me excited at all).
- Waves SSL buss compressor. Not the greatest but does it's job.

[newdigitaluser]

Originally Posted by clivek

Who owns various hardware and software compressors here !! LOL

When did you prefer a software comp over a hardware comp !!?

What software compressor was it you preferred, over what hardware ?

So it sounded better, but in what way?. Or was there another reason you used software ??

Would be interested in your views on this one !! Cheers !

software
quicker cheaper faster better
much better (if you know what you are doing with it)

i wrote my own

[nooneimportant]

Originally Posted by HomeProducer

Hm ... strange, I love it. Does transparent compression well and for sidechaining, its da bomb.

I agree that it does transparent compression, and side chaining very well, but I feel like that's ALL it does. I use it for dance music, but other than that I can't stand it. It has just about no flavor at all.

[u b k]

All day every day.


Gregory Scott - ubk

[Keire]

Originally Posted by u b k

All day every day.


Gregory Scott - ubk

would you use your plugs over your fatso?

[u b k]

Originally Posted by Keire

would you use your plugs over your fatso?

Without question, and I routinely do. On the flipside, the Fatso is already on a lot of my sounds because I track with it, something that can't be done with any plugin. Having a thicker tone and a fair bit saturation/harmonic juice loaded up on the front end makes life in the box a hell of a lot easier and more rewarding.

Hardware, plugs... these are all tools, they all have a purpose and sometimes my purposes --- music vs. sound --- can be at odds. I've whittled my 38 racks spaces of toys down to 12 in the past few months because I've come to prefer a hybrid setup that can switch seamlessly between songs I'm writing. The mostly-analog rig had tremendous balls, but it was constricting my creative flow. Now I have a few key pieces of outboard that pretty much stay glued to their settings, and the daw does the bulk of the work.

The sound is 92% as sweet, but the flow is 500% more open, so that's how I'm playin' it. That said, I'm prone to flights of fancy and am constantly evolving my process so all of this is subject to change without notice.


Gregory Scott - ubk

[vegasking-pr.]

Ubk. I would be curious to know what the 12 spaces of outboard are that you got down too? Btw. Just purchased a fatso and really look forward to using it soon!

[blacklight_uk]

I demo'd the UBK-1 recently and I thought it was fantastic. Lots of different colours in that thing and they all sound very impressive. It's next on my list.

The Abbey Road/EMI TG12413 lives on my drum buss at the moment. I remember hearing one once when assisting and never being able to find something that made drums sound so explosive! I'm not sure how it stacks up to the real thing, but the plugin sounds good to me so I don't really care.

I tend to use outboard less and less when in the studio now. More when tracking than mixing. It's not that I don't like using outboard, just that I find it more time consuming. A lot of studios have racks that are out of the monitoring sweet spot too, which can make it frustrating going back and forth.

There are a few pieces I love - the Massive Passive and the Distressor. I really hear a difference with the SSL bus compressor on the console vs. the Waves equivalent too. The hardware sounds a little more "sticky" to me. I haven't found plugins that can do what they do yet.

I also prefer the Waves CLA76 to the UA hardware. The UA sounds a little lumpy/tubby in the lower midrange to me.

[vegasking-pr.]

And by fatso. I mean ubk fatso.

[FreshSkweez]

I use Waves C1 for controlling transients on every mix I do even though I have plenty of fast compressors in my rack. It's just a lot more predictable and super easy to fine-tune. Duende buss comp or Waves API 2500 on the mix buss - mainly for recall reasons but also because both are perfectly fine tools for the job.

[Ward Pike]

No.

[Musiclab]

everytime I try a plug and a/b it with my analog comp's I wind up with the analog, everytime

[AllBread]

All the time. I keep my Retro 176 reserved for vocals or bass in a mix (although I was real close to selling it as some of my uad plugs were giving it a real run for the money but decided vocals were worth the extra $2600 for the added 10% improvement). I generally keep my hardware API 2500 ready for drums but otherwise I'm all in the box now - with my UAD-2 plugins, I would never purchase a hardware 1176 or LA2A and the Fairchild UAD plug totally kills on vocals and all sorts of other goodies. I'll keep my Buzz Soc 1.1 around as it's great when tracking and can handle some difficult/delicate tasks (like Guitar recorded with tremolo) like no other compressor can.

I also have the hardware Chandler TG1 and the Abbey Road software version. They both affect the sound in a similar manor but have slightly different characteristics - there have definitely been times when I've used the Abbey Road plugins on something while the TG1 sat unused for the mix.

That being said, when I was wondering if I could sell the TG1 I compared them and realized that for all out atomic limiting with tons of saturation the software can't compete with the hardware. The software is a tad more gentle and slightly more tweak-able though so I often prefer it for a more subtle touch.

Most importantly, though, is recall is tons easier the less outboard I use. If we lived in a world where the mix was a mix once every approved it I would use tons of hardware but, unfortunately, I find too many clients that want to continually tweak and tweak away at minor things and it sure is nice to open up the session, make the 30 second change and reprint (although If I told them that that tiny tweak that no one else would notice is going to cost them $200 with set-up and recall time I'd probably get a lot less minor tweaks)!

[filipv]

I have hw compressor DBX 1066A and I regulary ignore it over nice sw ones

[Trakworx]

One more for UBK-1.

It's the only plug-in comp that I (sometimes) prefer over outboard because it's capable of feats that I have never achieved with outboard.

[illnus]

I often find myself using McDSP AC1 instead of my outboard usual buss-compressors (summit tla-50's, GML 8900, AD 055, dbx166 blackface). Not as much fun, but many times more convenient and in many cases just as good, depending on the situation of course.

[broadscotch]

Originally Posted by u b k

Without question, and I routinely do. On the flipside, the Fatso is already on a lot of my sounds because I track with it, something that can't be done with any plugin. Having a thicker tone and a fair bit saturation/harmonic juice loaded up on the front end makes life in the box a hell of a lot easier and more rewarding.

Hardware, plugs... these are all tools, they all have a purpose and sometimes my purposes --- music vs. sound --- can be at odds. I've whittled my 38 racks spaces of toys down to 12 in the past few months because I've come to prefer a hybrid setup that can switch seamlessly between songs I'm writing. The mostly-analog rig had tremendous balls, but it was constricting my creative flow. Now I have a few key pieces of outboard that pretty much stay glued to their settings, and the daw does the bulk of the work.

The sound is 92% as sweet, but the flow is 500% more open, so that's how I'm playin' it. That said, I'm prone to flights of fancy and am constantly evolving my process so all of this is subject to change without notice.


Gregory Scott - ubk

This all day. My rig has shrunk considerably since a year ago, but has allowed me to move a lot faster (and purchase a few key synths in place of things).

I can say that using outboard going in and plugins with the occasional buss processing during the mix has made everything just lock into place with this rig. Although bass is, for the most part, permanently patched into the hardware 1176 during mixdown...

[Sean Sullivan]

We only have a few hardware pieces at the studio now...so 99% of my processing is done in the box. Recall and speed being a primary reason. If I have a client with the budget to go to another studio with more outboard, by all means I'll reach for it first. But, the gap between the two is shrinking.

[greatgreatriver]

I've been struggling in the box for a couple of years now. I have a rack filled with gear and I thought hardware insert would work but I hate it. I also think the software stuff Can't touch my real stuff. I'm going back to mixing on a console.

[u b k]

Originally Posted by vegasking-pr.

Ubk. I would be curious to know what the 12 spaces of outboard are that you got down too?

Nicerizer 16 (serial #001, this thing will never leave my racks)

Chandler TG1 Mastering Edition (my $4500 mix-distortion box)

2x UBK Fatso

2x Clariphonic

1x Peavey/AMR VMP2 (creamy tube pre's, also awesome for 'tubifying' thin/sterile tracks)

Burl B2

API A2d


Once in the box, almost everything happens with the UBK-1 for compression, Waves MPX Tape for smoosh and its awesome slap delay, and Fabfilter for eq. Occasionally, I must admit I find the Bombfactory 1176 to be very handy for vintage-style limiting.


Gregory Scott - ubk

[Trakworx]

Originally Posted by u b k

1x Peavey/AMR VMP2 (creamy tube pre's, also awesome for 'tubifying' thin/sterile tracks)

Interesting to see that pre included in such an illustrious list of gear. Is it modded? Did you shoot it against other tube pre's?

[VT-MHE]

In regards to the topic question no I havent.