Which SSL 4000 emulation plugin is CPU friendly yet good sounding?

[simmo75]

Acustica Audio Sand is incredible, it’s on sale too.
It’s the best sounding SSL IMHO.

[escalona]

By all means, the Acustica Sand 3 is the best sounding of them all.
The OP also asked for CPU friendly and the truth is that Sand is not CPU friendly. It's the only one I use and my computer is fine but you need a pretty strong machine to run multiple instances of Sand.

Sonimus may be the best sounding one while being light on the CPU. I don't think anyone has mentioned yet the McDSP Channel G yet. I have it and it's a ridiculously good channel. Not an SSL per se (tons of SSL features) but also with the possibility fo turning the EQ section into an API or sorts. It does sound really good. The SSL Native (Solid State Logic Oxford) I think is the one that sounds best after Sand. It's expensive. I have the $149/year sub and I am extremely happy with it. Last but not least (there are much worse ones), I'm not a Waves enthusiast by any means, but their SSL channel is pretty decent and it's usually $29.

There are some IK plugins that I really like but the SSL (British channel) is not it. Not a bad one, but compared to the ones I mentioned above is not worth mentioning. The PA ones... well, it's PA. Buy it for $29, keep it in the vst folder until they collect enough dust and then sell them for $10. Very few PA things sound good to me.

My 0.02 bitcoins.

PS. As other said, if you don't care that is an SSL, forget all the above and get the Boz plugin.

[perpetual3]

I own both the IK British Channel and the Slate FFG-S in VMR.
They sound pretty similar and I like them both.
Slate sounds a little more hyped than IK.

I use the IK as my goto strip on every channel right out of the box (or in the box, I should say.)
The reason comes down to preferring a standalone plugin to the virtual rack, and because for a while iLok was acting very fiddly for me on Windows, I think because a Windows 10 update broke ipv4, because Microsoft.

I've testdriven Waves and Brainworx. Didn't care for Waves compared to the others. Brainworx is also good, but doesn't bring anything new for the price of admission. TMT is cool in theory but negligible in practice. The one SSL emulation I haven't tried that I would really like to is the one from SSL.

CPU hit from Slate and IK emulations is pretty minimal.

TMT works, you just have to hit random until you find the right channels.

[jamcat]

The PA ones... well, it's PA. Buy it for $29, keep it in the vst folder until they collect enough dust and then sell them for $10. Very few PA things sound good to me.

By PA you mean Plugin Alliance?
As in the Brainworx bx_console SSL 4000 E?
Because they want $350 for it.
Show me where I can get it for $29 and I'll be all over it.

[jamcat]

I own both the IK British Channel and the Slate FFG-S in VMR.
They sound pretty similar and I like them both.
Slate sounds a little more hyped than IK.

I use the IK as my goto strip on every channel right out of the box (or in the box, I should say.)
The reason comes down to preferring a standalone plugin to the virtual rack, and because for a while iLok was acting very fiddly for me on Windows, I think because a Windows 10 update broke ipv4, because Microsoft.

I've testdriven Waves and Brainworx. Didn't care for Waves compared to the others. Brainworx is also good, but doesn't bring anything new for the price of admission. TMT is cool in theory but negligible in practice. The one SSL emulation I haven't tried that I would really like to is the one from SSL.

CPU hit from Slate and IK emulations is pretty minimal.

TMT works, you just have to hit random until you find the right channels.

Yes, it works, but it's just different, not necessarily better.
The plugin sounds good, no doubt, but there is no epiphany with it, which is what I need if you want me to part with $350.

[fcamp]

The PA ones... well, it's PA. Buy it for $29, keep it in the vst folder until they collect enough dust and then sell them for $10. Very few PA things sound good to me.

By PA you mean Plugin Alliance?
As in the Brainworx bx_console SSL 4000 E?
Because they want $350 for it.
Show me where I can get it for $29 and I'll be all over it.

jamcat, I have sent you a pm.

[Dombaeb]

The PA ones... well, it's PA. Buy it for $29, keep it in the vst folder until they collect enough dust and then sell them for $10. Very few PA things sound good to me.

By PA you mean Plugin Alliance?
As in the Brainworx bx_console SSL 4000 E?
Because they want $350 for it.
Show me where I can get it for $29 and I'll be all over it.

Actually, you can check Sell/Trade topic and you will find it for $30-$50 pretty often... PA "official" prices are nothing but a business move. I doubt that someone on earth will but anything for this listed price.

[zadillo]

PA was just running a promo where you could buy any plugin for $49.99. Then they sent out a $25 voucher usable by anyone.... so could get almost any of their SSL’s for $25 as an example

[melantronica]

PA version is really to recommend. They frequently have them on sale for 49.99, but occasionally there are some better deals.

Waves version is also really nice, but they only offer 1 activation simultaniously, so you always have to have internet connection when swapping computers.

About Acustica Sand: Best sounding plugin emulation, but keep in mind that these do not emulate saturation. Also the CPU consumption is so high that I would not use it while having unfrozen softsynths running.

[escalona]

The PA ones... well, it's PA. Buy it for $29, keep it in the vst folder until they collect enough dust and then sell them for $10. Very few PA things sound good to me.

By PA you mean Plugin Alliance?
As in the Brainworx bx_console SSL 4000 E?
Because they want $350 for it.
Show me where I can get it for $29 and I'll be all over it.

I gave them two tries (all PA consoles) and tested them throughout. Bought them and sold them twice. Last time (a few weeks ago) I sold here the Lindell/Neve one, the N console, G console, E console, Maag console and focusrite console for $60. I'm sure if you do a quick search in the buy & sell you'll find a couple of dozen sellers selling any of them at $29 or below. If you pay more than $29 for any PA plugin you're overpaying. If you don't have anything else, at that price I'd say go for it. If you can afford something else, do. But that's only my opinion, you'll hear many different voices here. You may just want to download a couple of different trials from different companies and make your own comparison.

[lonnyman]

The PA SSL is a good option. I just got tired of their marketing tricks, but the plugs are solid

[dickiefunk]

I’ve been doing some comparisons with the Waves CLA MixHub and Plugin Alliance SSL E with as closely matched settings as I can get and can hear a clear difference. The CLA MixHub seems to sound clearer with more separation between the instruments? Also it has lower cpu hit than the Plugin Alliance SSL E?

[goldenanalog]

...

[Patapoo]

I have both and think both are great, and if I could only choose one it would be the CLAMixHub in part for the reasons you mentioned. But as far as CPU hit MixHub is 10 times worse the bx_SSL_ Console.

[dickiefunk]

I have both and think both are great, and if I could only choose one it would be the CLAMixHub in part for the reasons you mentioned. But as far as CPU hit MixHub is 10 times worse the bx_SSL_ Console.

What computer spec/DAW are you using? I found CLA MixHub to have lower CPU hit to bx_SSL_ Console!?