No win situation around here, I'll just stop wasting my time posting actual professional advise and opinions.

Best of luck to you all in your emulation search.

 

Spend some time and test for yourself, as EVERY pro does.

 

For what it's worth, I appreciate your posts here.

 

I am a pro.

And of course I test stuff.

I'm not testing Access Analog, as I don't have the need for it myself personally right now, nor desire to sign up and install whatever, as I thought it would be easy peasy for you to post a "before and after" portion of 'something' as you are giving continual testimonial to it.

I'm not writing it off, I'd just like to hear what you hear in it, and how it works for you. Fair enough right?

 

It's someone actually losing something if they were not given something that they didn't asked for?

You never searched? That means a lot about your opinons on digital audio.

 

While it should be easy for someone to just post raw/unprocessed stem and then processed, it would also be just as easy to add "that missing 10%" using other plugins and gear like we all do in our chains anyway. The difficult part is trusting someone to do something straight up, when they already know it is possibly going to disprove what they have been saying for however many pages now on a forum. It's easier to just pretend to be such a busy pro to not have time for such things.

Snake oil does not always arrive with separate hiss and rattle stems. This is the problem with obvious shills.

 

agreed. I was being "nice" and trying to be open-minded even in the blowback mist of sailing into the wind and cresting waves... ;)

If someone wants to slip out back with the Irish goodbye after spending enough time s̶h̶i̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ recommending a product or service, I think it's fairly safe to call it as it is...

 

i admittedly have zero clue about access analog, so bear with me here, but doesnt that sort of service require extra digital steps? Bounce, send through the computer somehow, then converted to analog, and back to digital. I vaguely remember hearing something about offline processing, where a 3 minute file would be processed in a minute. IDK, the whole thing seemed a bit gimmicky to me hence why i never really looked into it and never tried it. I also own most gear i want, as well as every single plugin ever released (lol) , so don't really need it.

 

Im a fan of many Acustica plugins, and do think R2R did a favor for them inadvertently. Its been a slow process, but since release of R2R, they have actually been removing the bloatware, as well as fixing many of the bugs. His attitude on GS has also changed. He's still often times defensive, but much less so, and Acustica has done a fairly decent job at implementing requests, and fixing bugs on newer plugins almost immediately. His marketing nonsense is still ridiculous, but i guess that's to be expected from most dev's.

 

Lots of pages of opinions, but... Never any examples of people who also own the hardware!

ps: I like the acoustica audio gold..

 

Last edited: Jun 3, 2025

Still here for this myself.

 

Takes maybe a minute to run a 30 second guitar loop through their hardware and as you would expect, no one posts it. Just a bunch of people afraid their hardware purchase that gives that extra 10% is more like 1000% more expensive for just an extra 3% sound...

 

3% from a Neve? C'mon man. You have used a Portico before for bus compression? Does someone with remote hardware charge you per individual stem you have to upload? But how much am I going to hear this +10% you get out of a pre-amp on an already recorded file when in any project? Maybe 3% is closer in the end.

I think the whole 10% randomly selected number might even be on the low side. But when you already have a magic "API box sitting in front of you", I think it would be a moot point anyway. I certainly would not entertain paying someone to work on my tracks who has to pay per track to use someone else's gear remotely. Isn't that just double dipping? lol. Why am I paying you and for your expensive gear if you do not have the things required to do the work?

I've said this before so many times you could probably call it Clone's Razor by now. When someone has to say things to support their point like " I've been doing this for 50 years" or god forbid have to start name dropping other people; even if true, they are avoiding something so simple as just posting some wav files. If it so obvious, I do not need to read your CV. This is what developers do when they include celebrity mixer endorsements in their marketing, ( or some paid product placements in someone's MWTM video). Show us the numbers or let us hear the damn thing. Is that really so hard? If this remote hardware deal is such a secret weapon, why would you even bother to tell anyone? I certainly wouldn't.

Is there some kind of actual video of my audio file feeding into whatever the "robot sets up during configuration"? Or am I paying for another IR and a picture. What resolution files is it even sending back? There is so much room there for you to be paying good money for very little.

Here's a little interesting math to consider, courtesy of everyone's favorite AI. (any above errors are mine only) Obviously this is variable depending on what plugins you use the most often, etc:

My question is about the cost per hour to use the UAD Neve 1073 plugin which is part of the Spark subscription. if the plugin is part of a $30 spark subscription and 79 other plugins are included, how much does it cost me to use the 1073 plugin per hour? (Algebra 1 refresher time). Maybe we even adjust it to only factor in the 160 hours per month that is a normal persons "work hours"? It dramatically increases the cost per hour of availability to the outrageous sum of 17.3 cents per hour, per plugin. Ouch. Waiting around in a queue for offline processing sounds much cheaper and a great time for another extended coffee break. I could use their 80 plugins for 100 months just to pay for your 1 magic preamp; meanwhile you only have this thing setup remotely available to make money from it. Good math?

Spoiler

My question is about the cost per hour to use the UAD Neve 1073 plugin which is part of the Spark subscription. if the plugin is part of a $30 spark subscription and 79 other plugins are included, how much does it cost me to use the 1073 plugin per hour?
ChatGPT said:


To estimate the cost per hour to use the UAD Neve 1073 plugin as part of the UAD Spark subscription, here’s the breakdown:

Assumptions:

• Subscription cost: $30/month
  
  
• Number of plugins included: 80 total (including Neve 1073)
  
  
• Plugin usage share: We're treating the cost equally divided across all 80 plugins unless you give more specific usage weighting.
  
  
• Usage time: Let’s say you use the 1073 plugin for X hours per month

✅ Step 1: Allocate cost per plugin
Per-plugin monthly cost=$3080=$0.375\text{Per-plugin monthly cost} = \frac{\$30}{80} = \$0.375Per-plugin monthly cost=80$30=$0.375
So the Neve 1073 "share" of your monthly subscription is $0.375.

✅ Step 2: Cost per hour (you must specify usage)
Let’s say you use the Neve 1073 plugin for 10 hours per month:

Cost per hour=$0.37510=$0.0375 per hour\text{Cost per hour} = \frac{\$0.375}{10} = \$0.0375 \text{ per hour}Cost per hour=10$0.375=$0.0375 per hour
Or in more general terms:

Cost per hour=$0.375hours used per month\text{Cost per hour} = \frac{\$0.375}{\text{hours used per month}}Cost per hour=hours used per month$0.375
Examples:
Hours used per month Cost/hour
5 hours $0.075
10 hours $0.0375
20 hours $0.01875
40 hours $0.009375
100 hours $0.00375
Bottom Line:
If you divide your plugin subscription equally, using the UAD Neve 1073 costs you 37.5 cents per month, and depending on how many hours you use it, the cost per hour drops to just a few cents.

Let me know if you want to factor in weighted usage (e.g. you only use 10 plugins, or you use 1073 50% of the time)

 

Last edited: Jun 4, 2025

Hey there guys! Sorry for this much delay. I am thinking of cancelling this test as we don't have access to the hardware to match the plugins to it cause the hardware reacts to every audio differently, if we want 100% accuracy this is the only way imo.

Even if we do the test without the hardware version. Everybody gonna part ways with their favorite plugins, instead of really matching the tone. So imo it's not worth it to do this.

Me just asking the question made 6 pages of discussion & quite many arguments. There was no one way. Everybody chooses their opinion to be the best & their fav plugin to be the best emulation instead of matching the hardware.

For now, I am going to settle with Acustica GOLD 5 & Voosteq Model N as they are close enough for my Vocals.

As for how I chose these to be the best?
I found out this video:

Basically Plugin Doctor analysis of the Neve 1073 Hardware vs Waves Scheps 73 & UAD 1073 Plugin.

This video helped me shape the tone better in Gold 5 & Model N and understand the hardware behaviour better.

Also One important thing I did was Once I was able to hear the saturation in GOLD 5, I immediately Stopped & If I needed more saturation I tried Duplicating that instance of gold 5. Which Doubles the effect & you can reduce the effect in the 2nd instance. I am able to achieve the results I needed.

Also, If UAD allows me to buy their 1073 plugin as a native without any subscription. I will take that. As I also have concerns with long term compatibility of GOLD 5 as it's quite unstable in the long run for serious projects.

Once Again, Apologise for the delay guys! I really fkd up my promises here. I was out of town for a week. Came back and did all this & texted you guys straight up.

 

Last edited: Jun 4, 2025

Haven't read the whole thread, but I have two original 1073s and could run some audio through it if helps someone for testing something, let me know. Will probably be able to do so next week.

 

AlexB Vintage 73eq Pro for Nebula.

The AlexB Vintage 73eq Pro is one of the most sonically authentic Neve 1073 emulations ever created, especially if you mix offline, value analog accuracy over speed, and already use N4.

If you can deal with the slower workflow, it’s arguably the closest you'll get to real Neve gear without spending thousands. It’s a best-kept secret among analog purists and high-end mixing engineers.

 

you mean this one? its been updated to legacy recently. its the eq not the preamp https://www.alexb.eu/nebula/equalizers/neev_73_eq.html

 

That one is from 2014, unless it has been updated. Usually Legacy does not mean "updated", it means more "not being worked on again".

It was released in 2014 with title: AlexB Vintage 73eQ PRO For Nebula-MAGNETRiXX

The only way you can get a native UAD version of it without getting Spark is to have a registered UAD interface or other device (satellite or pci card maybe) and to buy their hardware DSP version. At which point they will give or sell you the native copy. This is the thing you have seen many people complain about before so call it a spade.

 

Last edited: Jun 5, 2025

In this case it means “updated” though.

 

yeah, that's they way UAD are clinging on it to now right? Still trying to sell that extant hardware/dongle ... afaik, nothing in that one that requires their sharc chips. (well duh, obviously it works with a Spark subscription)...

I don't know if it will be next week or next year, but I imagine it's gonna show up native without that unless they are really going all in on selling Spark subs, but I don't know, it seems other than that and a few other coveted gems, most of their products they should be proud of are available native without their hardware or sub if my memory serves...

I'd like to get their Oceanway, Marshall Plexi stuff, Capital rooms, Ocean Way etc... (as I do like the Sound City Studios plug I bought last year on sale a fair amount more than I thought I would)...

but whatever... I can understand perhaps maybe why they are keeping stuff tied to their hardware, as while their hardware isn't ~bad~, it's certainly nothing special, outside of the use case scenario of unison recording etc.... unless that was something I desired, there are many interfaces I would get in front of that stuff for sure... again, not that they are bad, just not above the leveled playing field outside of that particular functionality imho.... despite some possible hiccups with macOS Seqoiua (edit add: apple silicon with that afaik) with drivers etc, I would personally go RME or even MOTU for value and price over their hardware...

 

Last edited: Jun 5, 2025