Favorite Pre-Amp/Power Strip Plugin Emulations

[tommyzai]

I've been setting up some track and bus FX chains starting with a pre-amp/power strip type plugin (I initially considered the stereo mix bus). For hardware units, a pre-amp is a pre-amp (mostly), but plugins often have other features. Be that as it may, which pre-amp-ish plugin do you prefer? Do you use them in the first slot of your FX chain? I have discovered some intriguing options . . .

1. Pulsar Modular P42 Climax
2. Black Box Analog Design HG-2 (1st slot of mix bus?)
3. Neold V76U73
4, NEED Pre-Amps
5. Arturia Pre (they have a few)

[electro]

1. UAD-2 Helios Type 69 mkII
2. UADx API Vision Plus


Now test driving PSP BinAmp and Airwindows Mackity
https://pspaudioware.com/products/psp-binamp
https://www.airwindows.com/mackity/

[jamcat]

Pulsar Modular is way over priced. I don’t know anything about their plugins other than they want $300 or $400 a piece.

Arturia Pre-amps have built in automatic gain compensation that you can’t turn off. NoiseAsh preamp models don’t. So that’s something you need to think about before you decide on one. How the plugins after it in the chain respond will be very different depending on that. Auto-gain turns a preamp plugins into just another EQ, rather than something you can use to drive the level to other plugins that respond dynamically, like tape or a compressor.

The one I use is the Lindell Audio 80 series. It has an auto-gain button you can turn on or off. I also think it sounds better than either the NEED or the Arturia Pre-1973. It sounds very similar to the UAD Neve 1073. UAD is the gold standard, and don’t use auto-gain either.

If I had to choose between NoiseAsh and Arturia, I would choose NoiseAsh. Not just because of the auto-gain situation. NEED preamps just sound better and they have something very similar to TMT built-in, which does make a difference when you’re using one on every channel.

[tommyzai]

NoiseAsh makes some amazing plugins at very reasonable prices.

[jamcat]

1. UAD-2 Helios Type 69 mkII

You need a UAD-2 interface for that one right now. Lindell Audio has a new 69 Series plugin, which is a model of the Helios. Because it’s new, it’s still overpriced though. But it will probably be going on sale for $49 by Black Friday.

The one problem with the Lindell Audio is it doesn’t model the Helios’s 2dB bass bump. Tobias says it’s because you wouldn’t be able to use it on busses if it did. Personally, that sounds like bullshit to me, and they could have just included a setting to turn it off instead. But it is what it is, and Tobias says you can just add 2dB extra to the BASS and it will be as it should.

[kidslow]

Jamcat, I've seen you make that point about AGC on Arturia pre-amps previously, and I'll give it to you in one case. There are a limited number of applications for a software pre-amp but I do see them serving two somewhat different roles. One is driven, with instruments, where lack of gain control is a valid complaint. The other is to add slight saturation to the human voice: vocals, voiceover, podcast, etc. In the latter case, gain compensation is a lot less of a concern.

I suspect they get used more to drive instruments than saturate voice and some pre-amps are better in each role I've found. In either event I would want to put one early in the chain. Where I don't see a use for them is on the mix bus, but maybe a failure of imagination on my part?

Fuse Audio Labs has a few quality pre-amps that run the gamut, and can be priced quite low in BF sales. I haven't been so impressed by AnalogObsession's but he has a handful that are freely available to install. Acustica, love'em or hate'em, offers some pre-amp laden offerings like Amethyst and Blond, each with dozens of models to flip through if you are so inclined.

I assume the OP wants to know more about driven, instrument use cases, but I've found Arturia PRE-Trid-A is a pretty good vocal channel strip and lack of AGC doesn't much impact it in that role, although I guess it could depending on the nature of the vocals.

[tommyzai]

Some of the pre-amp/power strip options do seem to have a heavy overlap with channel strips . . . missing EQ or something?

[kidslow]

What is the difference between a power strip and a channel strip? Quick look and I see Pulsar Modular P42 Climax, which calls itself a power strip, has a low/hi shelf and low/hi pass plus whatever that air knob does. Are those not an EQ. Neither the NEOLD nor the Black Box HG-2 could be said to have an EQ, but they're not calling themselves power strips. When I hear that term I think of AC power from the mains. Is it just a Pulsar marketing term?

[jamcat]

Some of the pre-amp/power strip options do seem to have a heavy overlap with channel strips . . . missing EQ or something?

Channels strips should have a preamp if they are modeling the full console channel. Preamps can also be bought as separate stand alone units, or as part of a microphone system, like the old AKG 47 tube mic. Preamps usually include an EQ. Some, like the Neve 1073 can be either standalone or part of a console. The 1073 is often talked about in the plugin world as if it’s an EQ, but it is a preamp with EQ. It’s considered the best preamp ever made.

Some channel strip plugins don’t model the preamp because they’re intended for mixing, not emulating the input channel, so they’re really just EQ+Compression plugins. Though older consoles didn’t have compression on every channel, and instead had maybe 2 or 4 aux compressors that could be routed to. The Neve 80 series was like that.

Fully parametric EQ and compression on every channel didn’t really become a thing until SSL in the early 80s.

SSLs are primarily used for mixing, not tracking, so most SSL plugins don’t even model the preamp.

[jamcat]

Where I don't see a use for them is on the mix bus, but maybe a failure of imagination on my part?

In the real world, you wouldn’t use a preamp on a mixbuss because it’s already line level, so there is no reason for a preamp there.

But busses do have line amplifiers, such as the 1272 line amplifier in the Neve 80 series consoles. The Lindell Audio 80 Series includes a 1272 plugin for putting on busses. It’s just the op-amp model, no EQ or dynamics sections. I’ve done a null test of the 80 Series Buss plugin against the Channel plugin (with EQ and dynamics bypassed), and I can confirm the amp modeling is the same. So you could just use a preamp plugin as a summing amp.

I assume the OP wants to know more about driven, instrument use cases, but I've found Arturia PRE-Trid-A is a pretty good vocal channel strip and lack of AGC doesn't much impact it in that role, although I guess it could depending on the nature of the vocals.

Like I’ve said, it really depends on if you want gain changes made in your preamp to be passed on to the plugins after it. If you just want it for some “colour” then maybe AGC doesn’t matter or could even be seen as good by some, as there are some loud proponents of it like Wytse. But if you are using the preamp as part of a more holistic approach that treats everything as part of an interactive system (like the real world) rather than isolated processes, then ACG becomes a destructive obstacle to that way of working.

[idoru97214]

I own the Artiria collection, black box the oven, and Pulsar Modular P42.

P42 sounds the best to me. By quite a bit. It's expensive, yes. The circuit is alive. It's the most "real" sounding pre amp plugin I've ever heard.

He has a black Friday sale...

[tommyzai]

P42 sounds the best to me. By quite a bit. It's expensive, yes. The circuit is alive. It's the most "real" sounding pre amp plugin I've ever heard.

Do you use on tracks, busses, or stereo mix bus (master bus or whatever they call that final stereo stage).

[MogwaiBoy]

What is the difference between a power strip and a channel strip? Quick look and I see Pulsar Modular P42 Climax, which calls itself a power strip, has a low/hi shelf and low/hi pass plus whatever that air knob does. Are those not an EQ. Neither the NEOLD nor the Black Box HG-2 could be said to have an EQ, but they're not calling themselves power strips. When I hear that term I think of AC power from the mains. Is it just a Pulsar marketing term?

Pure marketing.

Behold, a real powerstrip:

[kidslow]

Behold, a real powerstrip:

Broken image.You mean this?

[kidslow]

But busses do have line amplifiers, such as the 1272 line amplifier in the Neve 80 series consoles. The Lindell Audio 80 Series includes a 1272 plugin for putting on busses. It’s just the op-amp model, no EQ or dynamics sections. I’ve done a null test of the 80 Series Buss plugin against the Channel plugin (with EQ and dynamics bypassed), and I can confirm the amp modeling is the same. So you could just use a preamp plugin as a summing amp.

Thanks for the explanations jamcat. Didn't realize the Lindell 80 had two different looks for Channel & Buss. Are those seen by the DAW as two separate plugins or is it a UI toggle? Unclear from the manual.

Interesting idea to use a preamp plugin as a summing amp. I like it.