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Powerup advice needed
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| vccv |
Was thinking of buying some new toy to myself as christmas present. What I want is something that gives me more processing power. Im thinking of these options:
- UAD-1 + Cambridge EQ
- New CPU AMD X2 4800+ to replace my X2 3800+
- Hardware VA like Xiosynth or SH-201 or something similar.
What would give me most value for money? Or is there any other option to free power for fx processing and vsti:s. My budget is about 450 EUR.
And yes im a sad person having to buy my own presents :) |
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| Derivative |
I think you will get the most bang for buck for the UAD-1 card. That way you will be able to shift most of hte effects onto the DSP in future which is great because some of those UAD-1 effects sound quite good.
I doubt you will get more mileage from a processor upgrade. You will get your CPU load down a bit but that means what? You can add like 1 more instance of SIR without destroying your PC. Whoopdy do.
Hardware VAs...Meh. Im starting to go off them. Unless you use it as your primary instrument in every track, you won't save a whole lot of CPU cycles. It probably depends on the type of softsynths you are used to using. ImpOSCar is probably the closest I have ever heard a softsynth come to sounding like an analogue monosynth. Hardware or Software. And it doesn't munch CPU cycles.
So if I were you, I would get the UAD card and ImpOSCar and you get a great non CPU raping synth + you get to move all your EQ processes onto a card. Bag the UAD-1 compressor at some point and you can move all of that onto the card too. Overall I think it would work out the best because I end up burning the most CPU on post processing.
Also, the only non DSP, non hardware compressors and EQs that I have ever liked have been Voxengo Crunchessor and GlissEQ. All of that Waves stuff just sounds to me. I haven't used a free compressor I didn't hate and Crunchessor costs like 35 bucks.
If you can't afford the UAD compressor get Crunchessor because its almost as good. However - it tends to rape your CPU when you set it on high quality. :( |
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| vccv |
| Thx for reply! That was my main option, just wanted to know if I could gain by upgrading processor. Since my last upgrade from 1800+ to X2 3800+ made it possible to run more than twice as many plugs. |
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| ASFSE |
| personally i would go for the sh-201 just cause i don't have any hardware and i'd like to try it out. |
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| Fatboy |
I agree with Derivative in that the cpu upgrade you suggest wouldn't change things significantly. It should be said that from experience most people I know tend to end up buying at least a second UAD card when they realize that they need more power. For some of the more complex plugins, the added power can be a bit underwhelming, although they sound amazing.
It looks like it's a bit out of you budget, unless you can find a secondhand bargain, but the Liquid Mix looks like something that could help you a lot. I've used the Liquid Channel a lot and the compressor section sounds absolutely stunning. It should be identical in the Liquid Mix and it also comes with eqs modeled in the same way.
I agree that Voxengo has some of the better native compressors and eqs. I particulary like the Marquis compressor a lot. The URS stuff is for me though probably the very best there is at the moment, but when it comes to value for money, Voxengo is hard to beat! |
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| vccv |
Basically what I would like to achieve is to make room for more vsti:s or add more demanding vsti:s like Legacycell. Atm I can use Battery + 5-10 V-station + a couple of vst:s.
I would like to be able to run like two delays and reverbs as sends + some eq:s and comps as FX tracks for instruments groups and som more eq:s and comps as inserts on separate instruments. And it would really be nice to run all those FX on a DSP card and leave CPU for vsti:s. From reading the specs on uaudios webpage that will be almost doable. So im hoping to manage with just one UAD-1.
The only problem with the UAD-1 project pack is that the Pulteq EQ that comes with it has to few freq bands and the comp im not to fond of, so I need to get me the Cambridge EQ and the LA-2A. Happily tho both are dicounted till last of dec. Bit tempted by Dreamverb to but I think realverb suffices atm. |
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| Derivative |
| quote: | Originally posted by vccv
Thx for reply! That was my main option, just wanted to know if I could gain by upgrading processor. Since my last upgrade from 1800+ to X2 3800+ made it possible to run more than twice as many plugs. |
Yeah sorry, I was thinking about bang for the buck. You can spend over 130 quid on an X2 4800+ but I reckon you could get a better performance boost for the money if you sink it into a UAD-1 card.
Also I tend to think of CPU upgrades in the following terms:
If you have got the CPU cycles to burn - you will burn it.
After a while it almost doesn't matter what CPU you have got. You will just find some other monster plugin like SIR or if you already have one, you will use more instances of it and end up basically where you were before - edging on 100% CPU load anyway. |
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| s-cube |
I've been hearing a lot of praise about the UAD-1..Just wondering how good are the plugins compared to the expensive plugins like the Waves SSL series or the URS plugins..
I was also reading that with some of the newer plugins for the UAD-1 you can easily max out the card with a couple of instances running..Is the card itself outdated & will receive an upgrade sometime in the future?
I'm just wondering if the benefits in the sound quality achieved from the UAD-1 plugins is worth the investment considering what other stuff could be bought at the same price..For example the TC powercore stuff? |
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| vccv |
TC Powercore is somewhat more expensive and from what ive heard not so happy about running on AMD X2 systems atleast not internally. When people talk about the sonic qualitites of Powercore and UAD. They tend to say that Powercore FX has a clean surgic transparent sound while UAD has a bit more colored warm sound. And depeending on what type of music or preference u have u should make ur choice based on that.
Here is a link to how many of each FX u can use for the UAD:
http://www.uaudio.com/products/digi...tpak/specs.html
Sure the Neve ones require lots of power. But i guess its like Derivative said. No matter what u buy something new powerhungry softthingy will always make u run out of power and onceagain ure on the prow for more DSP. But the question is what u really need to produce nice sounding music and ofc how much money ure willing to spend.
How they sound well take a listen at:
http://www.uaudio.com/products/soft...LA-2A/demo.html
There are such demoes for almost every PLUG. |
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| vccv |
| Thought a bit of the Liquid Mix to, seems very tempting but its about twice my budget and about the same price as two UAD-s then the choice gets a bit hard. And almost the same price as a Yammy Electric Piano which ive been dreaming of for a couple years now since my old piano got broken. Maybe a lottery ticket is the right investment right now :) |
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