SSL Plug In Waves/UAD/McDSP etc

[theresbuzz]

Hi,

I´m in the midst of buying some classic studio plug ins. I´m wondering which of the choices out there are more to the original console. Are there any differences? Unfortunately I can´t compare this stuff to a hardware model.

[JFreak]

I haven't compared but have been very satisfied with the Waves plug.

[mesaone]

UAD aren't AAX yet, if that's a concern of yours.

Edit: beta is out, apparently. But I often use UAD, actual hardware, and Waves. They're all different, and both plug-in varieties are equally far from the actual hardware.

[JFreak]

UAD also don't behave nicely with the PT11 dual buffer so it's close to impossible to track with those plugs active. They're always using the large buffer for mixing.

[theresbuzz]

What about CPU usage? Does one plugin eats more power?

[JFreak]

Don't know about the other ones, but the Waves AAX-native behaves rather nicely on my system. I can blindly instantiate a SSL channel on all tracks if I want to, something that was unheard of in TDM sessions.

[VRW]

The Waves SSLs are highly renowned by many of course.
I have 2 other SSL variations here which are not too bad
either as there are the IK British Channel, the IK Bus Compressor
and the original Duende Native Channelstrip.
The IKs are nice and of good quality, working well in PT11 AAX and
quite affordable.
On the other hand it doesn´t sound cheap. It does sound like a SSL
(compared directly to the SSL Duende). Worth giving it a try.

With the Duende Native you definitely get the closest approach
sound wise to the original hardware, even closer than with the Waves.
The Duende got this "tightness" of the hardware which even the
Waves are missing, on the other hand you also get more kinda
"old-fashioned"/80s-kinda vibes than with the Waves.

Anyway, what´s cool about the Duende Channelstrip is that there is
absolutely 0 latency even when hosted by Blue Cat´s Patchwork.
This combination can definitely be used for recording.


Cheers, VRW


MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.1, Apogee Quartet, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10, Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP,
Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

[TOM@METRO]

Just be aware... Waves Plug-ins will not properly function with multiple video cards.