Best price on Waves SSL4000 I ever saw!

[simon.a.billington]

Hans Zimmerman also has his own custom sampler which pretty much puts his own custom orchestra sample instruments at his finger tips.

It'll be interesting to know whether he uses that sampler for other instruments as well?!?

[Apostate]

Hans Zimmer also has his own custom sampler which pretty much puts his own custom orchestra sample instruments at his finger tips.

It'll be interesting to know whether he uses that sampler for other instruments as well?!?

+1

I read that interview, I think that whole idea is fascinating, personally.

[sonicpowa]

This plugin is so outdated (10+ years) and badly programmed. I compared it several times to hw version and other companies sw emus of ssl buss compressor and Waves always falls flat. Incredibly bad sounding compressor with loads of aliasing. IK, Glue and Slate wipe floor with it, dont want to mention how it sounded compared to hw ssl buss comp. People are fooled by its high price. Its not priced so high because its good, its priced so high because of SSL licenses Waves has to pay. Basically, you pay for a name. For a fraction of cost you can go with 10x better programmed competition emus. But have to say Waves did great job with API emu, its also very old but it really reminds of hw version, not 100% there but much closer than Waves SSL. And Waves SSL eqs are just another digital eqs with matched curves, nothing that you cannot get with other eqs, I also find IKs and Slates much much better.

I considered all of this before buying SSL4000, but it was still good and I preferred it to The Glue. Waves version is probably flat sounding compared to hw, but so is Glue and others.
If IKs and Slates eqs are "much much better" then you can´t get the Waves raw and edgy SSL sound out of them..

[Twrogstudio]

I couldn't comment on the authenticity of the SSL collection, but I like using it very much. It's not badly programmed at all IMHO.

[chokehold]

I don't recommend what I don't use, nor would most people.

I don't recommend what I chose not to use.
This includes Waves SSL.

All the other drawbacks of buying into Waves aside - has anyone actually tried the demo and compared it to other SSL emus? Just make the compressor(s) drive, that's all it took for me. Bzzzt. And that bus comp might be great as an automated fade-in/fade-out machine, but please tell me you wouldn't seriously consider letting it "work" a track...

Whenever there's something new and allegedly SSL-ish, I compare it to the Duende plugins as soon as I get a chance. I can only compare the Duende's EQ to my 500 series SSL EQ, not (yet) the dynamics. The 500 hardware EQ is a little more aggressive and "lively", but plugin and hardware do affect the sound in similar ways, so from my POV the Duendes are "reference". The only alternative I found that did something fairly comparable to what the Duendes did were the NI Solid Mix plugins; if I had to lose my Duendes forever, I'd get those as a replacement.

Around 2011 or so, there was a good (better than $299) offer for a used Waves SSL here at KVR, and I was so delusional to buy it which forced me into selling the Duendes in order to retroactively fund that purchase... Took me a couple days to figure out what a mistake that had been. Let's just say I owned the Waves SSL for a week or two, but I'm still using the Duendes after 5 years. To someone on the other end of the Internet cable that might mean nothing, but to myself that's actually quite impressive. The only other plugins I've consistently been using for that long are ReaEQ, Kontakt and SPAN.

[Apostate]

I don't recommend what I don't use, nor would most people.

I don't recommend what I chose not to use.
This includes Waves SSL.

All the other drawbacks of buying into Waves aside - has anyone actually tried the demo and compared it to other SSL emus? Just make the compressor(s) drive, that's all it took for me. Bzzzt. And that bus comp might be great as an automated fade-in/fade-out machine, but please tell me you wouldn't seriously consider letting it "work" a track...

Whenever there's something new and allegedly SSL-ish, I compare it to the Duende plugins as soon as I get a chance. I can only compare the Duende's EQ to my 500 series SSL EQ, not (yet) the dynamics. The 500 hardware EQ is a little more aggressive and "lively", but plugin and hardware do affect the sound in similar ways, so from my POV the Duendes are "reference". The only alternative I found that did something fairly comparable to what the Duendes did were the NI Solid Mix plugins; if I had to lose my Duendes forever, I'd get those as a replacement.

Around 2011 or so, there was a good (better than $299) offer for a used Waves SSL here at KVR, and I was so delusional to buy it which forced me into selling the Duendes in order to retroactively fund that purchase... Took me a couple days to figure out what a mistake that had been. Let's just say I owned the Waves SSL for a week or two, but I'm still using the Duendes after 5 years. To someone on the other end of the Internet cable that might mean nothing, but to myself that's actually quite impressive. The only other plugins I've consistently been using for that long are ReaEQ, Kontakt and SPAN.

I did a whole album of my music with that Waves SSL bundle, and it sounds pretty good, and a tiny portion of the music population liked it enough for it to (help) pay my rent for two years. Or maybe it would have sold five time the 5,000 it did if I'd have used the (also excellent) Duende

It's hard for me to criticize the Duende, I use it on all of my symphonic instruments and compositions. But for Metal, Dubstep, Kammermusik, Funk (though it needs more fooling with in that genre), Classic Rock (though not as much as the Pro C2) I'm using the Waves.

[chokehold]

Well, during those weeks in 2011 I used the Waves SSL to mix my last band's metal album. Maybe it would have sold 5.000 times the 5 it did (disregarding CD sales at shows) if I had been able to use the excellent Duende instead.

Whatever floats your goat, I guess.

Apart from maybe the huge difference between how electronic and acoustic instruments behave, I don't think the music genre has a lot to do with how well plugins perform.

[Apostate]

Well, during those weeks in 2011 I used the Waves SSL to mix my last band's metal album. Maybe it would have sold 5.000 times the 5 it did (disregarding CD sales at shows) if I had been able to use the excellent Duende instead.

Whatever floats your goat, I guess.

Apart from maybe the huge difference between how electronic and acoustic instruments behave, I don't think the music genre has a lot to do with how well plugins perform.

You are right, and DAMN you for mentioning sales at shows

(I don't tour...I know, I know I'm missing out on sales, I'm an idiot. I completely admit it).

[Ryan99]

australia means zilch.. you could be the aussie distributor, a rep here for them, whatever. No, your posts are only waves. I checked from page 1. No matter what the discussion, when you jump in it's to add something about waves. Anyway the mods will do an IP check and we will know from that, and if we are wrong, then, you will be apologised to accordingly. In other words, profusely.

Geeze man, what's with all the hate and the persecution. Just because my opinion and use of products vary.

I do use them and still despite those conversation I still recommend them depending on the context.

It's hard not to feel a little bit bullied and harassed. Do you really hate Waves that much that you would pick on anyone who uses their products and suggest it to others?!?

Do you want to bully me in to using the products you like?!! If so, the. How are you any different?!?

Do want to start telling me my choice of religion is wrong too?!?

Fact is, I don't recommend what I don't use, nor would most people. It is very hard not to take any of this offensively... But in order to keep the peace, I will try.

I don't think Waves has an Australian office. There's one in the US, one in England one somewhere else, I forget now Europe or something. It's super easy to look up though.

I will also say that this "witch hunt" is derailing the topic quite considerably.

Since I have nothing more else to add at this time with fear of retribution for saying anything positive about a Waves product that people are just happy to hate unconditionally, perhaps even irrationally, then I'm going to leave it here.

But please, everyone else, feel free to talk about the SSL emulation.

It's funny to see that you're getting watched by someone who owns the Waves Mercury bundle with almost all the plugins from that company.

[simon.a.billington]

Duende is a great piece of tech. Who better to do than their own emulations but SSL, right?!?

From their documentation...

Initially to bring Duende to life, we took the DSP heart of our acclaimed C-Series consoles and transplanted it into a hardware plug-in host. As native processing has become faster, the ability to run the sophisticated Duende plug-in algorithms efficiently in the host CPU has removed the need for additional DSP, while still leaving the DAW to deliver smooth workflow. Duende Native plug-ins deliver the same acclaimed sonic performance as their hardware DSP predecessors, but also offer the convenience and reliability of a complete ‘in the box’ solution.

The trouble is Duende isn't modelling the same tech so direct comparisons with a G or E emulation can't really be drawn fairly.

However, that doesn't account for opinion. If we all used the same plugins across everything in similar ways, than musical style withstanding, our productions will all start sounding the same too. Not the best outcome in my opinion.

I think it's great that some opt for Duende, others for Slate, or UAD music is the more richer for it.

I have the T-Racks plugins as well. I use them alongside my Waves emulations, sometimes I use them exclusively, sometimes I use Waves plugins exclusively. It depends on how I'm feeling at the time.

I really don't believe in absolutes. Although I'm starting to sense others do. If I did everything the same way every time with the same tech, how will I ever learn or evolve. In that sense changing things up is a quintessential part of growth in my opinion.

[BMoore]

Well, during those weeks in 2011 I used the Waves SSL to mix my last band's metal album. Maybe it would have sold 5.000 times the 5 it did (disregarding CD sales at shows) if I had been able to use the excellent Duende instead.

Whatever floats your goat, I guess.

Apart from maybe the huge difference between how electronic and acoustic instruments behave, I don't think the music genre has a lot to do with how well plugins perform.

No one is saying you would sell more albums, rather than some part of your mix might have sounded better.

[BMoore]

Hans Zimmer doesn't make money? Danny Elfman?

But do those guys use plugs and not the real thing?

Danny Elfman is seen endorsing EastWest libs on their website, but when it comes to putting out actual soundtrack recordings then he employs and records an orchestra...

Of course they use plugs and samples. Just because they record with an orchestra in the end doesn't mean they have one available all the time.

[simon.a.billington]

I've heard Danny Elfman admitting to supplementing the real orchestra with some samples when he feels it needs it.

The example he gave was pizzicato strings because he doesn't want to take any of the string players off of the part they were already doing.

I imagine most, if not all the contemporary film composers may not be purists in that sense. It seems that maybe they will do whatever it takes to get the right sound. Even if it means supplementing a real orchestra with a sampled one.

If it gets the job done...

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[antithesist]

People still make money doing music?

How to make a million dollars in music business?
Start with two million.

This.