One of my favs is by AlexB for Nebula. Haven't used the real thing though, but the sound is *chef's kiss*

 

WAS protected!!! At least for the AU part.

In the end nothing can compare to real hardware...can go a bit close
No vocals for my 1073, I do use it on drum tracks mostly, it does the magic with the combo Roland TR plugins + UAD 1073.

 

UAD is not available in the native.

Hardware & all the clone hardwares are so damn expensive.


I am going to do further tests with Acustica Audio GOLD 5, Voosteq Model N, TBT BritN, Arturia 1973 & many others recommended here.

Wanted to try BBN73 but it's out of my budget.

Not a fan of Lindell N Console, It might give some Neve vibes but for vocals it's no where near close to "Real Neve 1073" Sound imho.

TimP is just hard to install. Also not available for mac on sister site.


Here is my ranking for now:
1) Acustica Audio Gold 5 (8/10)
(for extended Oversampling options)
This one is actually surprising, I watched the demo of this by the guy "Yish on the drums" on YT. It sounded like the real 1073.
The sharpness, the edge was quite close. Going to do further tests as he used the Pre Module + EQ Module and surprisingly the Comp Module too.

2) Voosteq Model N (8/10 but still testing)

Light Weight but has only 2x oversampling.
It's based on the Neve 1084 i think, similar to the 1073 but not quite, Also has 3 modes, It's really good, sometimes on par with GOLD 5 in my testing.

3) UAD 1073 (Not Available in the Native)
4) Arturia 1973 (Still Testing)
5) BBN73 (Surprised by the Videos, Downloading the demo)
6) BritPre73 (Downloading the demo)
5) Sonimus (Downloading the demo)
6) Lindell Console N (Not a fan tbh, The saturation feels Meh, also doesn't sound like the neve 1073)
7) Kush (Sounds good on drums but doesn't sound like the Neve 1073 on Vocals)
8) Nomad Factory (Emulations aren't based the Neve 1073, am I missing something?)

Do you guys know some online service like Access Analog which has a Neve or a clone Neve 1073 for rent online?

Access Analog doesn't offer Neve 1073.

Thank you so much guys for the recommendations! Still reading the messages.

This community is goated.

 

Last edited: May 27, 2025

Acustica GOLD5 and Cupwise CupTone Vol. 2

 

Would be interested in hearing your assessments from the demos, I agree with your verdicts on the rest. Everyone raves about the Lindell but it just does nothing for me idk. UAD 1073 is on native with subscription, but it's not worth salivating over- it's okay, you would probably rank it 7/10 based on my perception of your opinions.

I also don't really feel anything special on the Noiseash ones, but the Is It Shit youtube show (I like those guys) keeps bringing them back up so I may try them again. Tried them quite awhile back.

 

Analogx AI's Genesis profile of the 1073DPA.

 

GATEKEPT

 

lol ????

 

Why you write is not available as native WHEN IS NATIVE ALSO

I RUN IT AS NATIVE AND IS INCLUDED IN SPARK!

https://www.uaudio.com/products/neve-1073-collection

read at the end of the link page


Get this plus all UAD native plug-ins with UAD Spark. Start your free trial.

https://www.uaudio.com/products/uad-spark

 

Wow! Thanks! I wasn't aware that it's only available in spark as a subscription.
Still I don't think I will use it, I don't like subscription services! Subscription is not owning.
I would instantly buy it if they allow me to do so.

 

I feel the same about Noiseash & Lindell, It sounds a bit mushy in the highs. Don't know it just saturates different compared to others and a real neve 1073.

Sure, I will post the results soon. Not today or Tommorow. Give me some time like 2-3 days, I will get back with clear & final results. I really want to get the neve 1073 sound this time.

 

The comp module is actually the only thing i use on every project of mine from the Gold suite. Hands down the best 2254/33609 style compressor ITB, on my taste.


For 1073 i dig Sonimus for a zero latency approach or TBTech DV 1073 for more realism.

 

Here is my opinion as somebody who was previously obsessed with comparing all of these Neve Emulations to try to find the absolute closest to having the real thing:

Software can only get you so far. As other people have already said, by the time you apply the plug-ins to your tracks, they have already passed through the limitations of whatever interface and mic you have. I used to think I could record with an Aston Spirit into an Audient interface, run it all through the Lindell/Sonimus/Arturia emulations and it would get in the ballpark of the vibe, then I bought hardware.

I couldn't afford the real deal, so I settled on the Heritage Audio HA-73. It's not exactly cheap, but minutes into using it I heard the sound I had been chasing for years, and it did it effortlessly. Suddenly the muddy mids I always hated that were always present in every plug-in/mid-range interface were gone. I could record and stack lots of acoustic parts and it basically sounded finished going in, rather than needing these emulations to "repair" a subpar sound, which they never fully achieved for me.

Few months later I was able to save up to buy the new Warm Audio 1176a style revision, and had the same experience of hardware compression. It sounds SO much more natural and smooth then any plug-in, and has that depth and "3D" thing that plug-in hoarders seem to endlessly chase after in the box, hardware just does it naturally. I used to think all these mixes that had those characteristics were magic, and they are, but it wasn't some fluke that they captured it like that. It's because they tracked and mixed through actual hardware.

I know that isn't the answer the ITB people want to hear. A lot of people can't afford outboard, I barely can. I can't afford vintage gear or the modern UAD/Teletronix versions, so brands like Heritage/Warm etc it has to be. But even with this mid-range price stuff, the difference in sound going from that to hardware was greater than I expected, and this is coming from a person who tried for years to be ITB exclusively because it has tonnes of advantages (multiple instances, stereo is easier etc).

If I had to go back to being ITB now, I'd probably bite the bullet and get a UAD Apollo and do the whole tracking through plug-ins route, or failing that, probably just stick to maybe Arturia's emulation or maybe the Burnley, mainly because they sound decent and are quick to use. If you're currently endlessly searching threads and comparisons trying to find which emulation edges out the others, I'd personally say it's a waste of time. Every thread is the same: The usual brand names will be mentioned mostly (Arturia, UAD, Sonimus, Acustica etc) and then a few people will swear by stuff like Analog Obsession or throw out a few obscure plug-ins you've probably not tried. All of these plugins offer slightly different flavours and can be useful, but all of them also do fall short of the real thing, so just use the one you like the vibe of the most.

 

Basic clean digital parametric eq's like whatever Waves Q10 sound way better then the originals anyways.
I'd never buy hardware devices because of their sound ever again. Imagine buying a device for $3000 with the argument of some crappy THD and a noise buildup of every device of at least -90db.
It's technically completely unbearable.

 

Last edited: May 28, 2025

The UAD one is amazing

 

Rupert Neve (born Robert Schnee; July 31, 1926, in Newton Abbot; died February 12, 2021, in Wimberley) was a British audio engineer and entrepreneur. Neve was considered a pioneering designer of professional sound processing technology in the 1960s, such as microphone preamplifiers, equalizers, and compressors.

https://rupertneve.com

 

Sorry, but this is a terrible take in my opinion.

I don't want to drag myself into a pointless online argument with a stranger, but to diminish all hardware to being "crappy THD and noise" is such a ridiculously narrowminded opinion. A lot of this "noisy" outboard can actually provide cleaner gain to microphones than the large majority of "clean neutral" stock interface amps can.

As for digital EQ being somehow better than analogue, it entirely depends on the task at hand. Is something like Fabfilter ProQ a better tool for surgical cuts and precision? Definitely. But people don't use most outboard EQ to be surgical, they use those things because passing through the transformers and tubes imparts that "crappy THD" which isn't actually crappy at all, and can bring otherwise dull and boring sounds to life. Not to mention not having to deal with aliasing and all of the

There is a reason outboard is still found in nearly every major studio, and there is a reason brands like Behringer are now jumping on the clone train. People want analogue gear to be accessible because it offers something digital still can not. Just like how digital offers a lot of advantages analogue can not.

Not to be offensive, but I can never understand why people have such black and white opinions like this. Analogue is good, so is digital. They both offer advantages and disadvantages. Digital has come a long way and continues to develop, but these emulations are mostly still not yet at a point where most people serious about mixing are willing to go entirely ITB. The few people that now claim to be entirely ITB from what I've seen still get sent stems and audio that has been tracked through analogue outboard, why? It sounds better.

It's that simple.

 

This is true. And I also aim to buy Neve 1073 hardware one day with a CL1B Compressor.

But Right now I don't have an option to buy even a cheap hardware. I am broke af, right now it doesn't matter as i am quite young i think (24)

I found out that every digital plugin emulations or a hardware box has few sweet spots. I tried access analog stuff and they were good but they had sweet spots, it not like you just throw a hardware in a chain and do random settings.

When I started learning how to Eq or compress things, every online guy was like *don't compress too much, don't eq too much" then I watched CLA and all these legends, It was eye opening, they were boosting and cutting also slamming a 1176 on a vocal doing 20 db compression on a vocal to pin it.

Like twist the knobs until you get the sound. And it is true for digital too. Few years back I made a vocal chain personally tuned for me. Cause every ssl emulation has aliasing so I used the basic waves ssl ev-2 for the ssl curves turned off the analog saturation and threw in a melda msaturator for that single odd harmonic that all the plugin emulations gave but i oversampled this one 64x. I am using this chain to this day and this is the cleanest ssl emulation i could hear in the box.

There is a video of Josh Gudwin Mixing Dua Lipa doing very little processing with each plugin. But if we copy his process we will never achieve that sound cause his source was recorded through a neve 1073 with hell of a eq already done by his tracking engineer also compressed with a Tube-tech CL1B or something.

I tried his Dua Lipa Chain on my vocals which didn't have any pre-processing. I copied his chain, My vocals sounded dry & lifeless af. Then I threw in a pro-q before his chain & boosted a lot of top & also added CLA-76 Compressing 10 db. Added some spectre and it was golden. it's a petty it was one of my demos otherwise i would have sent here the audio itself. I am not bashing him, he did what was needed in that situation. His chain is quite good but it needed pre & post processing.

Recently, Michael Brauer implemented a hybrid mixing approach replacing every hardware of his with chain of plugins. That video was really cool. Basically he combined an emulation plugin + 1 or 2 support plugins to add things that are missing in that emulation. He knows the sound so it's not hard for him to achieve this.

I am an optimistic guy about digital world because I don't have an option to buy even a cheap hardware. Plugins work you just have to make moves no one thought or be creative.

Also I respect that guy Chris Gehringer a lot, People laugh at him cause he does 0.1 db boosts or 0.3 cuts. He is working digitally no wonder his moves are strange to other digital engineers.

Even in the hardware world, Many engineers stack 3-4 reverbs + delays and then send the delay to a reverb. Doing all sorts of moves which are not usual.

Also, Jaycen Joshua's 8 NLS bus trick.

 

Last edited: May 28, 2025

Yeah dude I honestly feel your pain! I wasn't able to afford any hardware at all for years and kind of prided myself of getting okay mixes ITB, but because I made acoustic music and use no samples, all of the issues with the room acoustics, cheap mic, cheap interface made it sound hard for me to get results I liked.

I would try plug-in after plug-in hoping to find "the secret special ones" that made finally make my mixes sound better, but eventually came to realise that all gear has a ceiling of quality you hit where the only real way to improve on it is to invest in better quality gear. That isn't to say you can't make good music people will enjoy, you can do that regardless, but when you start chasing the perfect mix in your head, eventually you reach a point where you have to start upgrading stuff.

My advice is to just use a mixture of the stuff you've found that you enjoy working with already, and plug-ins that also have a good reputation like UAD, Arturia etc. I really like the Arturia stuff, and I do think their 1073 is a good plugin. It's the one I used mostly before getting the hardware, even if I did find it never got quite dirty enough in the preamp section for my taste.

A mixture of the analogue emulations and stuff like Fabfilter with half decent mics/interface will get you decent enough results where if the music itself is good, 90% of listeners won't probably even notice the difference in quality. Music is just music to the average person, it's only mainly us producers and audiophiles that put a magnifying glass over it all.

I'd also say that those tutorials are a good starting point, but don't put too much stock into copying the top name producers settings or chains too much, or even using presets. That stuff can help as a starting point, but it's definitely better to find what works for your own music etc.

 

It's at the same state as when the Q10 came out 33 years ago. Back then it was also already way better then the Weiss eq. Software based processors are at the same state as 30 years ago soundwise. Maybe a bit less distortion, probably better cpu-wise. Whatever.

The digital equipment evidently is 100% transparent, way cleaner then everything out of the box. And because of the superb FIR filter implementation in the DMG Equilibrium it is definetely soundwise the best eq ever made - way better than neve or whatever. It's just the best emulation of any eq. Also in terms of the programming quality it's one of the better ones. At least way better than the FabFilter stuff.

 

Last edited: May 28, 2025