Ok straight up Poll... Ik White VS Native instruments VCA2A

[@midnight]

DCAM Dynamics Bundle. the 1176 doesn't have the sidechain. but the 1176 isn't a great sidechain compressor like an SSL comp is.

the bundle also includes the SSL bus comp (which has sidechain), cross comp, and envelope shaper. all circuit modeled stuff with oversampling and optional saturation circuits.

huh?

there is no LA2A in the Dcam bundle.

Not interested in an 1176.. i've got the softube, which as i have said in the *1176* topic, is in IMO the very best available by far (i.e i prefer it to the dcam 1176)

whoops, read the thread title too quickly and thought this was for the 1176's

for LA2A, I would get the Waves CLA-2A

[ObsoleteAcc99]

You do this repeatedly. Checking through your posts, there are alot of "whoops", where you have not read the topic properly and reply inappropriately.

Why not start reading people's topics or not replying at all? It's a fairly common occurrence with you to do this. In fact, i think you are the only one here that does it so often.

Friendly advice. Cheers

[bmanic]

My guess: these are like baby-Softube plugins that don't go the whole 9 yards (haven't tried the Premium Tube series, but considering how highly regarded those are, I doubt that NI repeated the mistake).

My guess is that you were biased by this guess.

The softube standalone FET compressor is NOT an emulation of the original 1176 hardware. It's an emulation of the much newer UA 6176 channel strip thing which sounds nothing like the old revision E 1176 compressors with that juicy output transformer.

My guess is that they finally got around to model the real deal as it sounds much closer to the real 1176 than their own FET compressor does, at least to my ears.

There's no doubt that it's way more authentic sounding than the IK black model. You can actually decide how hard you drive the plugin and it makes a difference!

Same goes for the LA2A. It's a tube unit so it makes a MASSIVE difference how hard your input signal goes into the plugin. Drive it with an extra 20dB of gain and you get into smashed tubes territory.. drive it with -20dB and it cleans up nicely, becoming almost sterile. Same applies for all the softube emulations.

In short: In my opinion, Softube rules and completely outperforms most of their competition.

Theo: Get the NI LA-2A. It's way more flexible than the IK multimedia one because you can actually control the tonality of the unit with your input levels (or the output gain on the plugin). It behaves differently depending on how hard you drive it. Same goes for the Waves one. It's also a much more complex model than the IK version but in my opinion it isn't as good as the softube.

Cheers!
bManic

[3ee]

Both the IK and the NI sound good to me...

but I voted for the NI because I like it's, a bit more punchy character and it seems slightly overall better sounding IMHO.

also... for better GUI and better CPU performance on my system.

I'm considering to get the whole bundle for this 50% off deal... but I have to make some heavy tests to make up my mind what would be the best option with these facts... like .. no dongle and price

[Aiynzahev]

My guess is that they finally got around to model the real deal as it sounds much closer to the real 1176 than their own FET compressor does, at least to my ears.

bManic

I will just repeat that FET and NI 76 according to Softube are "mostly the same. There are some minor differences, but nothing that should impact the sound in a very noticeable way"

That wouldn't indicate to me a completely different model for both plug-ins.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

Thanks bmanic, since i plan to eventually ket Komplete (just waiting to see if version 9 is close), i will end up with the NI one way or another

I've decided against the IK definitely finally, after weeks of deliberation!

[@midnight]

You do this repeatedly. Checking through your posts, there are alot of "whoops", where you have not read the topic properly and reply inappropriately.

Why not start reading people's topics or not replying at all? It's a fairly common occurrence with you to do this. In fact, i think you are the only one here that does it so often.

Friendly advice. Cheers

How many "whoops" did you count while you were going through my post history?

Heh... seriously ttoz. Get some help man. You clearly have emotional issues.

[4damind]

With my comparisons IK is the last I would recommend, it's only half emulated thing missing input transformers and stuff (all this non-linearity/distortion which is a part of the sound).

Softube/NI is great and very cheap this days (99€ the complete bundle with 1176/LA2A/DBX 160) till November 26.
Waves CLA is great but it's iLok2 and more expensive (but there are often specials so eventually in a short time it's cheaper than NI... I expect the full NI bundle will be about 200€?)

Taking all this into account, NI/Softube!

[maxxxter]

DELETED

[4damind]

Waves CLA is great but it's iLok2 and more expensive...

Waves iLok2? Did I shift into a parallel universe just now, or you've been living under a rock for the past year or so? lol

Nevermind,... to my ears the NI plugs sound better, but in the FET department I prefer Stillwell's The Rocket.

Uups... My mistake It's true they moved away from iLok2.. so this part is wrong No iLok2...

[antithesist]

If we're going to be correct, Waves never required ilok2, only ilok.

While I'm here, I have to admit to going off-topic in my previous post. In fact, by the time I got to the end, I'm pretty sure I thought I was posting to the NI VC thread.

Theo*, I seem to remember you saying that you had the McDSP Ultimate Compressor, but I can't remember your comments about its LA2A emulations.

*Is that better? I have to admit that I do things mostly by my own protocol, which makes you theom here since I go by usernames and when something has modern InterCaps (unlike McDSP above), I lower-case the whole thing, unless it's the first word in a sentence. So, pardon me if I go back to theom after this. I've been thinking theoz or The Oz, as in The Wizard of, though. Before, I thought T Toz, for some reason.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

My guess: these are like baby-Softube plugins that don't go the whole 9 yards (haven't tried the Premium Tube series, but considering how highly regarded those are, I doubt that NI repeated the mistake).

My guess is that you were biased by this guess.

I actually demoed the NI GR version well before I ever tried the Softube F.E.T. compressor. At the time I thought the NI version was ahead of the original UA release, but just didn't handle transients as well as the IK version. And when I finally got around to demoing it, I thought the Softube F.E.T. Compressor was better than what I remembered of the NI version. I never had a chance to compare all three at once, nor do I print effects when demoing for later reference (which isn't a bad idea now that I think about it) so I'm just going off of memory and initial impressions.

I'd also question why Softube still sells and charges as much for the F.E.T. Compressor alone as the entire NI pack, unless it's not as good a model as anyone is letting on. Otherwise, it would completely cannibalize the sales of the F.E.T. Compressor. But as you point out, this is just a guess, and it could entirely have biased my opinion of the NI comps the first time round.

And with all that said, the new UA 1176 Collection are hands down the best 1176 plugins out there, but that's not going to help Theo right now. And in all honesty, be it Softube, Waves, IK, NI, UA...they're all pretty damn good 1176-style compressors. I'm not sure you can go too wrong with any of them.

[@midnight]

I always thought the Softube FET was kind of meh. Can get better sounds out of a lot of freeware, I don't care how many resistors they modeled.

[penguinfromdeep]

Yes, there's something strange with the attack of the Softube Fet imho....

[takeabow]

I like the NI version a bit more. Always has felt a bit more 'punchy'. Adds more character in a good way.