UAD SSL 4000E vs SSL native 4ke

[sergiofrias]

I was planning to adquire SSL native 4k,but i already had the UAD version,so i made a technical video between the two,hope this can help others.here it is:

[jamcat]

I don't like how the Solid State Logic plugins have forced automatic gain compensation that can't be turned off. So if you want to use the console channel's input gain to drive your signal level to tape (which is literally the way it is done with a real console and tape machine), you are just shit out of luck.

Bottom line: The UAD 4000 E plugin works correctly. The SSL plugin doesn't.

[bmanic]

Purely sound wise I do prefer the Universal Audio version to practically any other SSL channel strip out there (though I do also like the quirkiness of the Plugin Alliance various versions).

The thing to remember with the Universal Audio SSL strip is that they model a lot of things. Most parts of the system are gain stages and subtly change the tonality and sound of the succeeding section. Even the main level slider (output amplifier), is a highly non-linear system. Even switching EQ and Compression sections on and off can change the tonality very subtly..

Whatever they've done with the modeling, is great. It's perhaps a tiny bit on the "soft" side of things. It's more polite than many other 4k models.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

UAD SSL 4000E compared to Brainworx SSL 4000E is more bright and i am not sure which one i like better.
Brainworx SSL 9000J to my taste is best.

[jamcat]

I use an SSL 4000 channel strip on every mixer channel. I used to use the Brainworx SSL plugins. I liked that they gave you all the different EQ options between the E and G. But at some point I did a direct comparison between the Brainworx 4000 E and the UAD 4000 E. Not just one instance of Brainworx vs one instance of UAD, but the entire mixer, around 24 channels. Each channel’s EQ and compression settings were copied exactly from the Brainworx channels to their UAD counterparts. Then I compared the full mix with all Brainworx to the full mix with all UAD. And it wasn’t even close. The UAD model blew Brainworx away. The Brainworx mix just sounded cheap and flat compared to UAD. Brainworx EQ has that grainy nasal digital quality to it that became so obvious when switching over from UAD. UAD just sounded clean and natural. So much better sound quality on a fundamental level. There was no going back after that.

Also, unlike UAD, Brainworx doesn’t even model the SSL preamp. But, that said, switching all channels to UAD took a considerable toll on my CPU, vs Brainworx. Still, it is well worth the CPU hit.