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Compressor Shootout: Ableton/T-Racks/Waves SSL
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| Beatflux |
This is kind of what I expect now. It's the same with the EQs.
Unless the compressor or EQ has some kind of saturation that adds color, or it adds on a new feature its a bad choice to buy a new compressor or EQ thinking you are upgrading. |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beatflux
It's the same with the EQs. |
There's a thread over on KVR right about how many EQs people are using in their productions and it's pretty shocking to hear how many people are using 3 or more different "high-end" software EQs in their productions.
| quote: | Originally posted by Beatflux
Unless the compressor or EQ has some kind of saturation that adds color, or it adds on a new feature its a bad choice to buy a new compressor or EQ thinking you are upgrading. |
I generally agree - when it comes to EQs, compressors, limiters, etc., the difference in sound is so minimal that it's not a good enough reason to upgrade, IMO. Personally, I think the best reasons to upgrade are for features and workflow, rather than subtle flavor. it's a case of YMMV.
OTOH, this shootout could/should have been better. First, they didn't provide the original sample, nor did they provide the settings, so it's hard to know how much compression is being added and it sounds pretty moderate. You wouldn't expect to hear much difference there. I own the SSL and it doesn't really start to show its character until you push it. |
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| Sean Walsh |
| Nice article. The waves one definitely had the "hottest" sound to it and felt like it slammed the mid-highs more than the other two by a long-shot. I'm not saying this is a good thing btw; guess it just depends what you're after. |
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| Beatflux |
| quote: | Originally posted by cryophonik
I own the SSL and it doesn't really start to show its character until you push it. |
Good call. |
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| jayxthekoolest |
he didn't even use remotely the same settings on the compressors. lol. the author of the article is an idiot.
additionally, if the author of the article has more experience with ableton's compressor (which is likely), then of course he's going to get a better sound out of it. i mean if he is just demoing the waves plugin, he's not going to make it sound as good as something he's been using for say, three years. this is just a pathetic display of ignorance, nothing more. |
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| J.L. |
Finally, a decent comparison.
I've always been a fan of using stock compressor/eqs. Do they sound different? Yes? Better? Not necessarily. The only plugins worth thinking about are ones that add a certain coloration to the sound or give you more/better controls for the settings that you need, which are useful to have if you want your sounds to have a certain characteristic. IE. PSP Vintagewarmer, Sausage Fattener (yes...), waves C1, etc...
On the other hand, I find very useful to have a wide array of filters, as they give you noticeably very different feels to them, especially when you have a prominent sweep going through the track. |
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| wayfinder |
| quote: | Originally posted by jayxthekoolest
he didn't even use remotely the same settings on the compressors. lol. the author of the article is an idiot.
additionally, if the author of the article has more experience with ableton's compressor (which is likely), then of course he's going to get a better sound out of it. i mean if he is just demoing the waves plugin, he's not going to make it sound as good as something he's been using for say, three years. this is just a pathetic display of ignorance, nothing more. |
What you're saying actually supports his summary:
| quote: | | If there is anything to learn from this experiment it’s this: Spend less time drooling over the gear you can’t afford and more time critically learning how to work with the gear you have – it’s probably better than you think it is. |
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| Richard Butler |
I've often had the sense the differnces are fairly minimal.
As a pertinent analogy, there was a chap on BBC Radio extoling the virtues of vinyl and analogue record players over CD and MP3's played on digital players.
Anway after 5 minutes rambling on the presenter then did a blind test and asked the guy which was whihc, and I kid you not he didn't know. In the end he made his choice and got it arse about face, by voting for digital. Says it all really.
I guess with hardware outboard, studios ended up with thier own particular signal chains which in turn gave thier output 'a sound'. Software simply does not have the definition to emulate the exact nuances of hardware, afterall each valve compressor from the same batch had a slightly differnet sound to one another. |
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| Raphie |
What did they expect? it's SOFTWARE, an ALGORITM and it has nothing to with traditional compression techiques.
The difference is in the plug&play and presets that come with these
people tend to cycle through presets find the sound they like and then suddenly that's there new "go to compressor"
It's a sign of the times, people don't learn how to use a compressor anymore, they get dickhard on a gui and just mix and match presets until they have lucky shot and stick with that.
So ITB i stick with DAW plugs (in my case Cubase6) and I'm very busy selling all my other plugs (sold SSL duende already, WAVES API Collection and SONNOX are next)I've stopped with the VST rat race last year and will not be sucked into it again. |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by Raphie
What did they expect? it's SOFTWARE, an ALGORITM and it has nothing to with traditional compression techiques.
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Care to put your credibility behind that statement and take a blind test? I'll gladly post examples of my Drawmer vs a handful of plugins. And, no, I'm not going to use any presets. I don't think you give us much credit - many of us have been using compressors for years and have a very good handle on how it works. It's pretty damn simple, really. |
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| Beatflux |
| As far as compressors and EQs that add color, I think I like softube the best. |
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