Classic / vintage plugin emus

[DCrown]

What are your fav classic/vintage emus of

1176
LA2A
Distressor
Fairchild compressor
Pultec eq
Lexicon reverb
EMT Plate Reverb
Tape emu
SSL console
API console
Neve console

Please let us know why you consider
something best

[funky lime]

antress

[DJDJ]

These days, I’m generally liking UAD for compressors and Acustica for EQs & consoles of classic studio gear. For tape, the IK tapes are great. For classic reverbs, I tend to go for IRs, but the UAD stuff I’ve tried is pretty damn good too

[Uncle E]

The Softube Console 1 stuff is great, in no small part because it's so much easier to set EQ's with physical knobs.

[electro]

Every plugin the OP listed is UAD domain. UAD 1176 mkII raised the bar for ITB compression around 2011.

[musicproducerdee]

Save your money bro, don't invest in plug-ins, it's a direct depreciation. If you want to buy something, get the FabFilter Total Bundle, or the plug-ins you require. They're very well optimized, and future proof, and can practically do anything these emulations promise to do. Of course, there are good plug-ins every now and then, but most of these analog emulations are bad debts and a rabbit hole where you keep putting your money in, and it never reaches the brim. There will always be another emulation and you will never be satisfied.

As for analog emulations, get UAD Spark and forget the rest. I'm not saying others are bad, I'm saying UAD are pretty good, and work as intended. They don't cause load on your CPU or make your DAW crash or anything of that sort, and the installation is pretty straightforward.

I'd even argue, forget about the money, you will waste countless hours trying to get the new/perfect/closest/precise/best analog emulation there is, it's a never ending process. I am so angry at myself for wasting countless hours behind the very same thing. Eventually, I settled on UAD and forgot about the rest.

To each their own though

[FapFilter]

disappointed to find out that it's not about how to achieve that sound of Cubase VST 3.0 or Rebirth!

[musicproducerdee]

PS: if anyone interested, I'm selling my IK Multimedia account with tons of analog emulation plug-ins for $65. Check out my thread in the buy & sell forum

[funky lime]

that totally violates IK's license agreement, but good luck!

[DCrown]

IK Multimedia has a 1176 emu, Arturia, Waves has and some more and they are all inferior to UAD?
What exactly is the difference?
There must generally be a difference,
if the reference is a real analog 1176,
because every 1176 sounds a little different. UAD always had the best analog unit to emulate it? How do you know?

[El°HYM]

Dictaphone emulations.

[electro]

IK Multimedia has a 1176 emu, Arturia, Waves has and some more and they are all inferior to UAD?

Yes.

Good: IK/Waves
Better: UAD
Best: Analog Hardware

I'm satisfied with the high price/performance UADx delivers ITB and not spending thousands of dollars on hardware or needing higher latency for Nebula. Their Minimoog and B3 organ edges out all competition.
IK's strength lies in their ToneX integration with Amplitube 5 and they are also killing it with the most advanced PM synths. IK Tapes are heavily oversampled and may be closest to proper emulation of Analog Tape Machines but will destroy your modern CPU running multiple instances at any decent latency. I would only put IK at the top of the pile for Tapes. Never tried Slate VTM.

[heyheycnv]

As for analog emulations, get UAD Spark and forget the rest.

If you want a popup telling you to authorize your UAD plugins every single day they are used get Spark. I get it on both W10 and Mac Book. Then wait 5 seconds for it to reauthorize. The best is when Im told I need to reopen Connect to do all that.

Great plugins. Terrible frame controller for them. Makes you long for Waves Central.

And yes Ive done the couple of suggestions support bot sent to me on this issue.

So I went to go mix and received a message I have yet to see before:




This one I see all the time.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

What are your fav classic/vintage emus of

1176
LA2A
Distressor
Fairchild compressor
Pultec eq
Lexicon reverb
EMT Plate Reverb
Tape emu
SSL console
API console
Neve console

Please let us know why you consider
something best

1176 - UA, DMG Audio TrackComp
LA2A - UA, DMG Audio TrackComp
Distressor - UA, Empiral Labs Arousor
Fairchild compressor - UA
Pultec eq - UA
Lexicon reverb - Relab LX480, Arturia LX-24, UA
EMT Plate Reverb (assuming you mean the 140) - UVI Plate, Valhalla Plate, Artura Plate-140
Tape emu - IK Tape Collection
SSL console - UA, SSL
API console - UA, Softube
Neve console - UA, Lindell

...I have a lot of plugins, many are emulations of those hardware pieces that I didn't list here. The ones I did list are the ones I'd reach to first.

Note: I don't think the UA tapes are all that amazing. Their Plate-140 plugin sounds good, but not for accuracy. I prefer the other Lexi's to UA's.

[musicproducerdee]

As for analog emulations, get UAD Spark and forget the rest.

If you want a popup telling you to authorize your UAD plugins every single day they are used get Spark. I get it on both W10 and Mac Book. Then wait 5 seconds for it to reauthorize. The best is when Im told I need to reopen Connect to do all that.

Great plugins. Terrible frame controller for them. Makes you long for Waves Central.

And yes Ive done the couple of suggestions support bot sent to me on this issue.

So I went to go mix and received a message I have to see before:




This one I see all the time.

Yeah, their licensing can be a hassle sometimes, it's annoying. Sometimes, the plug-ins also load up with a blurred UI, till they authorize the license. It's very annoying and sometimes takes forever. I would gladly replace them. Actually, I'm constantly trying. I have the SSL Bus Compressor 2 directly from SSL now. I'll probably get the Purple Audio MC77 or the SA76 as my 1176 compressor. Still figuring out an LA-2A. I'll get Minimal Audio Rift for Distortion/Saturation and a good limiter/clipper, and I think I'm sorted. No more subscriptions, ever.