Are SSL Native plugins any good?

Discussion in 'Mixing and Mastering' started by yabiss, Oct 1, 2018.

  1. yabiss

    yabiss Platinum Record

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    hi everyone
    The title said it all. I'm wondering how these plugins compare to UAD and others...
    I'm being proposed the bundle at 50% off so i was wondering...

    https://store.solidstatelogic.com/catalog/31#4
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2018
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  3. 5teezo

    5teezo Audiosexual

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  4. The-RoBoT

    The-RoBoT Rock Star

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    I love working with them but .... what i love and how i work and approach things may not suit your needs :cheers:
     
  5. ZUK

    ZUK Rock Star

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    SSL Native Complete Bundle
    Price: US $1,479.00 :woot:
     
  6. Ballz

    Ballz Producer

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    BX SSL4000 sounds better imo...You can get any 10 of their plugins for 29$ a month, pay for 24 months and own all 10. I'd suggest getting SSL4000E and G, Vocal enhancer, Dynamic Spectrum Mapper V2 for De-ess(works way better than a deesser to me), Townhouse Buss Compressor, Digital V3(EQ)...I'm not sure what could replace the drum strip and x comp but maybe a spl transient shaper plus for the drum strip. Black Box is a really nice saturator and so is VSM. Metric AB is THE best reference plugin on the market and it has really good analyzers for correlation, stereo image, RMS, spectrum, lufs, dynamics...
     
  7. quadcore64

    quadcore64 Audiosexual

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    The SSL Native plugins do what you would expect. My personal choice

    The advantage of the UAD system is the on-board processing. Especially the newer devices which have 6 internal procressors.
     
  8. Baxter

    Baxter Audiosexual

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    Aren't these just the old Duende ones with a fresher GUI? I wasn't impressed.
    But then again I have daily access to a real SSL 4000G.
     
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  9. yabiss

    yabiss Platinum Record

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    Yes i know but i was planning to buy them for much lower...:bleh:
     
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  10. yabiss

    yabiss Platinum Record

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    Lucky guy ! Do you have the UAD by any chance too?
     
  11. yabiss

    yabiss Platinum Record

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    It's an advantage as you can spare a little power (not really true on very fast cpu) but also an inconvenient...you're stuck with a "dongle" that limits the number of instances you can run... things that a normal dongle does NOT...:(
     
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  12. quadcore64

    quadcore64 Audiosexual

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    For those mixing ITB or hybrid, the choice of what gets the job done fast & correctly is the mus we have to clear.

    Yes UAD hardware vs dongle. Prefer the dongle because of portabilty.

    UAD requires at least the Apollo Twin (899 - 1200 US) plus the plugins.

    Both SSL & UAD offer hardware & software solutions to complement your unique workflow.
     
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  13. Popotan

    Popotan Guest

    They are all really clean if that is what you are going for, a bit overpriced in my opinion though.

    I didn't really like the compressors (the Bus Compressor was decent though), or the vocal and drumstrips. The basic channel strip and equalizer were usable though. It is based on newer and cleaner digital consoles so it doesn't have the vintage flavor of most 4000/9000 console emulations. On that note I would personally go with Wave's SSL bundle as I like the channel strips and bus compressor far more on those plugins and it is only $129. Slate Digital's Virtual Mix Rack, Softube's Console 1, and Native Instrument's Solid Mix Series are all good emulations as well, and I would prefer any of them over SSL's Native Plugins.

    If you you just want the equalizer and console sound I also recommend the Nebula libraries by AlexB. You will get the best representation of the gear with these plugins at the expense of a heavy CPU usage.

    AlexB Classic Logic Console (SSL 4000E)
    AlexB Modern Logic Console (SSL 9000K)
    AlexB 4KD Dynamics Collection (SSL 4000E GComp)
    AlexB Classic Logic eQ (SSL 4000E Brown 02 eq)
    AlexB Modern Logic eQ (SSL 9000K)

    ...these sound way better than most of the plugins out there but they take so much work to get setup that I often find myself just using plugins instead.

    All that being said, unless you are planning on pirating the plugins from the sister site, I think your money would be far better spent on something like Fabfilter's Total Bundle. SSL just doesn't flavor the sound enough (like Neve, Pultec, or API does) to warrant an emulation of the hardware in my opinion. Fabfilter's Total Bundle would serve your mixing needs far better.
     
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  14. Old X

    Old X Guest

    How much lower, if that's not a secret?
     
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  15. yabiss

    yabiss Platinum Record

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    50% off
     
  16. The-RoBoT

    The-RoBoT Rock Star

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    New engine, take them for a spin you might be surprised.
     
  17. Rudy Manterie

    Rudy Manterie Platinum Record

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    not a new engine afaik, still they are and have been very good...
     
  18. quadcore64

    quadcore64 Audiosexual

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    A simple test for available SSL emulation plugins.

    Source: any decent sound without exagerated tones. I used the Camco kick from Superior Drummer Custom & Vintage rendered to a track (1 bar loop).

    Copy track as many times as needed for each plugin.

    Set each plugin to the following:
    Threshold= -10, Release= 1.20, Ratio= 4.0

    Now solo each track to compare.

    My comparison was done between T-racks British & White, SSL Duende 5, Waves SSL (E) & (G).
    Test machine is offline so, not able to compare BX_Console.
     
  19. The-RoBoT

    The-RoBoT Rock Star

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    This information may shed some light


    “Is SSL Duende Native the same as SSL Native?”


    “SSL Native v6 is the result of our software engineering team re-building the Duende Native v5 plug-ins from scratch using a new coding framework (JUCE). JUCE is now an industry framework used by many other leading plug-in manufacturers. This change of framework will future-proof our plug-ins so they can continue to be used and enjoyed for years to come. Along the way, we've been refining the underlying DSP algorithms and making a series of changes; the most obvious improvement being the enhanced GUIs optimised for HD and Retina screens.

    These new plug-ins will install alongside v5, so you can use both versions in a DAW session. Other improvements include the addition of preset management to the Channelstrip and Bus Compressor plug-ins, which we hope you will enjoy. One thing to note is that the X-Verb will not be making it's way over to v6.”
     
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  20. Old X

    Old X Guest

    In nutshell, same stuff, new framework, new GUI's, new preset browser.
     
  21. Old X

    Old X Guest

    If anyone wants to throw Logic stock comp into it:
    https://www.gearslutz.com/board/mus...00-g-presets-logic-8-compressor-download.html
     
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