
There is some notion that all digital eqs are more similar than different and actually people are simply buying pretty GUI's. The vocal rider, the L1 these are clever wonderful plugs that do what plugs do.best. They like any other plug can have the eq curves used in original hardware.īut the key feature of hardware is depth harmonic richness and complexity varying responses at different levels and settings non linear behavior saturation, and particular saturation and distortion which varies across levels frequency as well.as combined signals saturating differently then.individual signals frequency response changes distortion accrued in an electrical analog signal is vastly more complex and subtle then a blanket algorithmic response with noise. I have worked with these plug ins and if they were not SSL branded I dont think I would be as dissapointed. The fact that I had to rely more on my ears was a great eye opener, and my mixes were instantly better because of it. But if you mix in the box and have been missing that bite and color than these are WELL worth the cash. No because you are still mixing, they are not a magic wand and you still have to turn the knobs and make them work. Will these plugs make your mixes better? Yes and no. The mixes done with the SSL channel strips had more space around each track in the final mix than I was used to, which is a good thing in my mind. They make you rely on your ear instead of your eyes and your ears to mix. My first mixes with the SSL bundle were in some ways the best I've ever done. The SSL Master bus comp is included and is a fantastic sounding compressor on anything you throw at it.Īt first I was a little taken back by the fact that there was no graphic display of the EQ curve that was effecting the audio, but then I realized that I had been partially relying on my eyes to mix. The G Channel is more or less the same setup, with a much cleaner, un-colored sound. Adjustable Q on the mid filters, and bell or shelf settings on the high and low filters make it even more usefull. Sweepable high, and low pass filters, along with sweepable high, high/mid, low/mid, and low filters make for a powerfull EQ all in the same plug. There is an input and output gain controls and a phase switch. The compressor on the E Channel is very handy and easily dialed in, as is the on board gate/expander. The EQ in the E Channel is very aggressive, almost adding a hint of pleasant distortion when the highs or mids are pushed. All that bite and color that I never had was instantly there. After installing the bundle I opened up a session that was waiting for me to mix and slapped a few E Channels on the Kick and Snare top channels, and fell in love. I decided to pull the trigger and buy the 4000 bundle out of frustration, not that my mixes were not good, but they never had the flavor that I was looking for. SSL 4000's have an aggressive quality that in my opinion nothing else has, And thats where the waves bundle comes in. The only thing that I can think to call it is "bite". Having been a studio owner for about 7 years now and having a good number of my mixes commercially released, it has always frustrated me that I could never get "that sound". And it never fails, if in the first 30 seconds I think "wow that sounds good", it is almost always mixed by someone like Ben Grosse, or CLA who use an SSL. Like so many other people that are into music production, when I buy a CD (yes it sounds better than iTunes so I still do it), the first thing I do is pop it in my car stereo and read the liner notes while listening to the first few songs.
