4>>3>2>>>>1 for me

 

1 sounds much more aggressively compressed than the others. Are you sure they are the same settings? Cause it's massively different.

Anyways, I chose 4. Very clear, natural, energetic.

 

4th one sounds best and 2nd one is also good. 2nd one needs some more work on attack/release and it'll definitely sound better, I guess

 

in fact each compressor have it's parameter so same parameter for different plugin manufacturer have not the same reaction... And no need example Best 1176 comp is bad one like all comp

 

UAD Sorry

 

I guess no reveal :D

 

Reveal the results man, I need to buy the 4th sample plugin ASAP !

 

i like 2, phat, thats what a 1176 is for

 

no one is good, for me 1 is better, more slap feel, better dynamics, compresser effect than others.
and more, personally I hate all emulation effect, these vendor, just a money maker. don't care which is better.

 

Thank you sooooo very much mercurysoto for spending your precious time and energy in bringing us here at AS this wonderful contest of compressors.

Not #1, no way. I could work with any of the others, voted for #4 because it reminded me of my Warm WA76. I never have used any of the plugins that you provided for the test so it will be revealing to me to see which I thought matched and models the clone of Rev D that I have in hardware. The clone of my clone is my friend.

 

No. 4 is the built-in Reaper compressor, ssshhh, don't tell anybody

 

3 is my 1st choise.
4 is my 2st couse it sound similar to the 3 but have less wide.
The sample 1 don't match the others. Settings seems to be very different. Not comparing...

 

Last edited: May 11, 2016

I think after coming back here, i like one the most now, it was two, but one is cleaner, but still phat, think its the UAD, when do we get the results?

 

Alright people, without further ado...

Sample 1: Bomb Factory BF-76
Sample 2: UAD 1176 rev. AE
Sample 3: VMR FG-116
Sample 4: Waves CLA-76



After reading people's preferences and input, the clear winner of this shootout is Waves's incarnation. The runner up is Slate's version. Funny from a UAD owner's perspective that the only officially licensed 1176 plugin ended up third. However, let's not just call it a day there. Any of those four plugins can deliver if tweaked accordingly. My test was simple: One setting for them all and fire away, but as stated before, these plugins are emulations from four different units. It'd be great for someone to use the original test sample and run it through a hardware unit, but that is out of reach for me. One more thing to add: the actual UAD 1176 release is a bundle of 5 plugins including the legacy one. For this test, I just picked *any* one and put it here without much thought.

Maybe a follow up might the to subject my five UAD versions to the same familiar test to see how they fare among themselves and against the other samples presented in this test. If you think this might be of any interest, I'd be pleased to oblige.

I have to thank Von_Steyr who inspired me to do this as a response to a thread of his and all the follow-up opinions about Slate Digital Plug-ins. Of course, thank you all for paying attention and all.

Peace

 

Last edited: May 1, 2016

i like it mercury. a suggestion, possibly for the mods,..i wonder how much someone's choice is influenced by a trend (its not a fault) ie if everyone is voting 4 do people actually start to hear it differently because they see that the poll is heading that way..how about putting up the option of a blind poll so people wouldn't know the voting results until the end?

 

Waves winner ?
Well, I won't buy a UAD Card today !

Thank you Mercury for the comparison ! It would be fun to make some others, like SSL emulations, or LA2A

 

I don't want to repeat what more than a few people here said like: mild pump milk, lexeed, and h3v... so I voted for nr.4 but I would certainly be satisfied with nr.3, too. I would ditch nr.1 and nr.2 into the garbage bin. I'm really curious what plugins are nr.3 and 4.

btw. I listened to the samples first and then read the forum posts.

edit: holy shit I liked the Waves and Steven Slate plugins best?! I hate Waves and SS! Now I wonder what IK Multimedia 1176 emu that I like to use sounds like with this sample. I am honestly and completely surprised by the results. And UAD sounding like crap? [which is subjective of course] Very interesting.

 

Last edited: May 1, 2016

One thing is for sure, it was a very nice thread Mercury Soto!
Maybe it would be cool to do some other tests like this, say weekly or monthly, as The Koala suggested...

maybe include in it some freeware emulations

NB: Glad than UAD sounds not that good... I was craving for test it, but do not have the money for it, so...

Another thing BTW, I'm curious about your own preference mercurysoto 1-2-3 or 4 ?

 

Last edited: May 1, 2016

Can't stand either also. But my comments were in context of the comparison of the four choices presented to us, not in the context of something I would prefer to use.
What would have been embarrassing would be if I chose them over something I liked (if it were included). But none of the above are "favorites."

 

Last edited: May 2, 2016

You're right. It never crossed my mind. Once a trend is set, we grow a bias. Anyway, this test was as unbiased as I could think of. Since an 1176 lacks as many parameters to tweak as an SSL, for example, I felt it was easy to relate to sound qualities, manufacturers, and differences. Anyway, a totally blind test can be done the next time, just without a poll. That kind of makes it a little boring, though.

I wish I had the money to own all of UAD plug-ins to do more shootouts, but I don't. Even after the results of this experience, I'm not a bit disappointed in my UAD 1176 plugs. The 1176 Legacy plug-in is free with your hardware, but I completed the bundle with only $25 after using some coupons, and the one thing that beats the competition is using the plug-ins while tracking and committing the sounds to file. I know not everyone will see this as a plus, but it fits my workflow.

My preference? Bias is a crazy thing. I couldn't posts results earlier because I was busy with work. After reading so many comments and all I forgot what the answers were. I voted for number four and I really thought it was the UAD sample. Funny thing. I will do another blind test comparing some UAD stuff to freeware. It may prove useful.

Thank you all. I was a great learning experience.