Re:Vintage digicams aren't just a fad. They're an artistic s...
by louthy on Tuesday December 03, 2024 @11:25AM
(#42307915)
As an owner of a UAD Octo and plenty of their plugins, but also lots of analogue hardware [1], including valve based compressors, EQs, and distortion units that are emulated by UAD. The plugins still aren’t there.
Especially for anything that needs harmonic distortion. I get the impression they use regular random number generators for some of the random variance, rather than trying to emulate the physicality of a valve. They just don’t quite have the mojo. For some things it doesn’t matter, but often music production is about a 1% improvement here, a 1% improvement there, which sums up to a lot. It’s still easier to get those wins with hardware. Like ‘mojo’ is the default setting.
A really good example is the Chandler Curve Bender [2]. I have the real hardware. A new one will cost you £6,700 - so it would be insane to buy one when UAD have a plugin version for £179. I have the plugin too. The plugin is my favourite digital EQ. It sounds great. But the hardware does things that the plugin just doesn't touch. The hardware is all discrete circuits (with massive transistors). I think the slight latency difference between the left and right channels gives a 3D-ness to the sound that the plugin doesn't even attempt. Anyway, this demo [3] really shows what it can do and why hardware is still in the game.
In many areas plugins are good enough, but there’s still a ways to go to until there’s parity with the hardware.
That doesn’t mean you need the hardware, plenty of successful artists use digital. Just it’s easier to get ‘the good stuff’ with hardware.
Especially for anything that needs harmonic distortion. I get the impression they use regular random number generators for some of the random variance, rather than trying to emulate the physicality of a valve. They just don’t quite have the mojo. For some things it doesn’t matter, but often music production is about a 1% improvement here, a 1% improvement there, which sums up to a lot. It’s still easier to get those wins with hardware. Like ‘mojo’ is the default setting.
A really good example is the Chandler Curve Bender [2]. I have the real hardware. A new one will cost you £6,700 - so it would be insane to buy one when UAD have a plugin version for £179. I have the plugin too. The plugin is my favourite digital EQ. It sounds great. But the hardware does things that the plugin just doesn't touch. The hardware is all discrete circuits (with massive transistors). I think the slight latency difference between the left and right channels gives a 3D-ness to the sound that the plugin doesn't even attempt. Anyway, this demo [3] really shows what it can do and why hardware is still in the game.
In many areas plugins are good enough, but there’s still a ways to go to until there’s parity with the hardware.
That doesn’t mean you need the hardware, plenty of successful artists use digital. Just it’s easier to get ‘the good stuff’ with hardware.
[1] https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9swzlgk3wszeq6jfjxmw1/IMG_141...
[2] https://www.thomann.co.uk/chandler_limited_emi_tg12345_curve...
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUv9GtMlUwA