hard or soft? help me invest 500$

[leonard]

Hi

basically I have just sold some gear so I want to invest in fx:

until now I have been using the excellent freebies we got.
I recently bought Voxengo Marquis and Filterbank2.

Now I need in this order:

1 good reverbs
2 mastering fx
3 some eq stuff
4 one more comp to complement the Marquis

Right now I could get

- CSR as a crossgrade, that's 199$
- T-racks at 140$

I am also considering Trackplug+Masterverb, Elefant Limiter from Voxengo, Eqium, Ozone for mastering. What I usually take into account when shopping is "value for money" and usability, for one I feel a bit intimidated by Kjaerhus excellent stuff. And chose Marquis also based on the fact that it had many presets that I could use as startpoints.

On the other side, I thought that I could go hardware, get a good multi-fx like the Lexicon MPX-550 and use the Spdif i/o, and the FMR compressor, which would probably grant great results, spare me for dongle crap and have some resell value like 2-3 years from now, which sadly can't be said about soft.


thank you in advance

[seamoss]

On the other side, I thought that I could go hardware, get a good multi-fx like the Lexicon MPX-550 and use the Spdif i/o, and the FMR compressor, which would probably grant great results, spare me for dongle crap and have some resell value like 2-3 years from now, which sadly can't be said about soft.

I brought this point up the other day and got flamed all to hell.

I personally think that hardware can **sometimes** be the better investment but it all depends on what it is.

the one thing I do like better about software effects is that you can automate them.

[mammath]

Well, before I submit my personal opinion (and potentially get flamed), are you looking for usability in regards to bathing your mixes with instances (without significant CPU hit)? If so, some 'mastering' plugs are going to take a big chunk out of your resources (cpu wise).

Now, for $595 (US), you can get the UAD-1 card (flexi pack) from Eric at JRR Shop. You have a $500 voucher with which to spend. All processing is done within the card.......leaving your cpu to handle other things.

Here are your options:
http://www.uaudio.com/products/software ... index.html

Here are the prices (as this relates to the voucher) until the end of this month:
https://my.uaudio.com/store/

Most of their plugins are vintage emulations except for the mastering line and the Cambridge EQ. If you're looking for tone and character, they've certainly got tons of it! The UAD-1 plugs are truly awesome (you won't be disappointed) and complement voxengo's and Kaehur's offerings. What are your specs. BTW?

Ok, I am now suited up to be flamed!

Here a another link of discussion:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... hlight=uad

[leonard]

On the other side, I thought that I could go hardware, get a good multi-fx like the Lexicon MPX-550 and use the Spdif i/o, and the FMR compressor, which would probably grant great results, spare me for dongle crap and have some resell value like 2-3 years from now, which sadly can't be said about soft.

I brought this point up the other day and got flamed all to hell.

I personally think that hardware can **sometimes** be the better investment but it all depends on what it is.

the one thing I do like better about software effects is that you can automate them.

thank you for chiming in.
Well, I'm just considering the available options, kinda thinking out loud: I would LOVE doing everything in the box. As you also mention, the automation features you got in the host, the fact that you can add as many instances and flavors your pc can handle and the list goes on. But....then I recall that I usually get 60-70% of my investment back every time I sell a piece of (carefully chosen hardware) even five or more years later and it makes me think twice before I invest more than 100$ on a vst counterpart.

Then of course we got the UAD and Powercore thinks, the best of both worlds. Thanks a lot to mammath for bringing this up, what was I thinking? Great option.
By usability I meant userfriendly, moderate learning curve.

How much are the bigger UAD packs? And how do I sort out what to pick in the Flexipack, if I buy that?

[leonard]

What are your specs. BTW?

P4, 2.6 Ghz, 2 Gb DDR ram, 2x160 Gb Sata HD, Windows XP
Echo Layla 24
Cubase SL2 (soon SL3)
etc....

[mammath]

How much are the bigger UAD packs? And how do I sort out what to pick in the Flexipack, if I buy that?

First, you are more then welcome!

To answer your question, you sort out the plugins to add up to $500. But more importantly, according to your (mix) needs. If your picks go over the amount, you pay the difference. BTW, the plugins are purchased on UA's site (link provided above).

Only the Plexi comes with the $500 voucher. Two cards translates to more processing power.

Here's a link to JRR Shop (I'm not sure if those prices reflect the real costs......as the Plexi goes for $595 (according to Eric):
http://www.jrrshop.com/advanced_search_ ... ords=uad-1

Care to enlighten us Eric?

manimal

[sounddesigner]

I don't know all your wants and needs, but from my eyes if i had $500 to spend there is either of two main ways i'd go. 1. i'd by CSR wich covers reverb needs well because it is 4 different verbs and the sound quality to me is unmatched amongs plugins.With CSR i'd buy soniformer.thats a total of $250 with the other $250 you can wait on a sale at wave arts for they have them all the time. you should be able to get trackplug and masterverb aswell.To me this is the best route because i don't personally believe the hardware you get for $500 will match sound quality (subjective ofcourse),diversity,flexibility,and oneness (everything in the box).
My second route would be a UAD-1 Flexipack wich you'll need close to $600 for. with your flexi voucher you can get dreamverb,plate 140,fairchild compressor and have over $50 left on your voucher twards the purchase of another plugin of your choice,plus you get all the standard plugins that come automatically with the card (pultec and 1176se are the best of these to me).After going this route you can always expand your uad arsenal and buy more plugs at good price, once you have the card doors are opened.And the card saves cpu power. plus if you decide to sell your card you can get a nice amount of the money back on ebay because people are fighting hard for them.
now is the best time to buy uad-1 because their plugs are on sale so your voucher would go further.
Wich ever route you choose you may want to make sure the purchase you make is of higher quality sound then all other options. Get the best and you won't regret!

[leonard]

thanks for the input and the good advice, guys.

I am more and more leaning toward Uad. The deal on the Flexipack at JRR Shop is nice, but....I live in Europe, which means I'd have to pay custom fees. I can get the Studio Pack for approax. 900€/1050$ . Not that cheap, but that'd get me set for quite a while.

If I opt for CSR, then I'd still want something for mastering. Here it is like T-Racks vs. Izotope: only T-Racks is vst and can be used on tracks as well as for mastering. I think I need to check out the Voxengo offerings for mastering purposes. I guess it goes: Elefant-Soniformer?

I think you can get 2 plugs for 279$ at Waves Art. Not that bad, granted the high quality of the products. Or do they use to have better deals than that?

[sounddesigner]

thanks for the input and the good advice, guys.

I am more and more leaning toward Uad. The deal on the Flexipack at JRR Shop is nice, but....I live in Europe, which means I'd have to pay custom fees. I can get the Studio Pack for approax. 900€/1050$ . Not that cheap, but that'd get me set for quite a while.

If I opt for CSR, then I'd still want something for mastering. Here it is like T-Racks vs. Izotope: only T-Racks is vst and can be used on tracks as well as for mastering. I think I need to check out the Voxengo offerings for mastering purposes. I guess it goes: Elefant-Soniformer?

I think you can get 2 plugs for 279$ at Waves Art. Not that bad, granted the high quality of the products. Or do they use to have better deals than that?

wave arts have better deals quite frequently.They just had a deal where if you did a survey with some colledge kids you get 25% off their plugs if i remember. I think i bought masterverb and trackplug for slightly under $250 at the end of last year.Multidynamics 5 however is there best compressor and they do custome bundles.
If your looking at studio pack then you may wanna consider flexipack and CSR wich will be about the same price.And you still would have the uad card to further build your arsenal later. The flexipack has one thing over the studio pack and that is choice. you get to demo all their plugins and choose the ones you want wich the voucher covers.The studio pack offered a total of 10 plugins (standard included), you could come out with 9 plugins with flexi if you choose right and you'd only have to pay an additional $25. so you can get 9 plugs (with non standards of choice) for $625 or 10 plugs for $800-$900 and no choice if you choose studio pack.Do to choice and pricing system set up i believe flexi is the better buy.for you can get 3 $149 plugs of choice and pultec pro for $79 (you'll need to put an additional $25).

I don't believe uad-1 reverbs are as good as CSR but they still are great reverbs and amongs the high quality level.I don't even need to speak of the high quality of their non standard compressors and eq's their reputation says enough.The CSR uad combination is a great one, i'm sure in the end your arsenal will have many different name brand plugs (they usually do). The search for high quality plugs usually will lead you to the door steps of several different developers for several different plugin types.
Heres a list of uad plugs in each of their packs, that will help you figure out wich pack is the best choice for you.Also go to the online shop to see their prices. http://www.uaudio.com/products/digital/ ... index.html

[sounddesigner]

also you can do price matching with some stores, so the $599 flexipack deal at JRR can be matched by other stores.

[Uncle E]

A nice thing about the UAD-1 LA2A, Precision Limiter, & Plate 140 is they sound great almost no matter how you set them. I'm perfectly comfortable working with more full-featured compressors than the LA2A (aside from the Fairchild, that thing's weird) but usually turn to the LA2A first because it's so quick to set up & often times sounds better than anything else, anyway. The 1176LN has great presets that are well-suited to the tasks people normally use an 1176 for (drums, guitars, etc.). If you need more EQ control than you'd get from the included Pultec (amazing sounding but not super accurate), you could go for the Precision EQ (sounds excellent for both mastering & mixing) or the Cambridge (nothing special sound-wise but is extremely flexible & CPU-light, probably only useful for mixing).

The Flexi Pak is $594.15 when you enter the 'group' coupon code. That price expires on May 31, the day UA's Roland bundle deal ends.

[mammath]

I am more and more leaning toward Uad. The deal on the Flexipack at JRR Shop is nice, but....I live in Europe, which means I'd have to pay custom fees. I can get the Studio Pack for approax. 900€/1050$ . Not that cheap, but that'd get me set for quite a while.

Wait a minute.......here's a quote from Eric:

Shipping is around $35 anywhere in the world. We use Fed Ex or USPS (USPS for Slovenia) for International shipments & those are both a lot cheaper than the UPS rates quoted on the site.

Eric, help this guy out!

[loomchild]

now add VAT to that price(approx 20%).

[leonard]

hey, thank you for the help, Mammath.

[leonard]

now add VAT to that price(approx 20%).

not sure it's like that. I do have a business and an european vat number. Worst case I'll get that 20% refunded.