Check out the real mike-e hardware here :) www.thomann.de/gb/empirical_labs_el9_mike_e.htm?partner_id=94442 www.patreon.com/mixingwedesdays?fan_landing=true Remember to check out my patreon if you want to join the community across there to help invest in hardware to unbox & shootout for future comparisons 🤓
Paul-Thanks for all your "tweaking" so the rest of us can benefit from your findings! I got the Mike-e plugin, I'm selling my mint Distressor EL8X. My HW 1073 front end is all the hardware I need (w great mics) You provided me with a solution that my UAD Apollo does not. I Beyond appreciate ya!
It took me some time, but I finally reproduced this comparison in my own studio. The Mike-E compressor is on sale, so this was the moment to check if the plugin is indeed better then the hardware. Which would be great, because then I could sell my 2 hardware Distressors. So I really hoped for the best. I compared the plugin with the hardware on vocals, piano's, drum bus and on bass. But how hard I tried, I could not make the plugin sound better then the hardware. Only on the drums there was a little bit of doubt. But that was due to the fact that the plugin created sharper transients then the hardware. The hardware Distressor is a soft knee compressor, so it would not be my first choice for the drum bus. Maybe that's why I had some trouble to make up my mind, which of the 2 compressors I prefered in that situation. The biggest difference I noticed on bass. With the plugin some bass notes were nice up front, but other bass notes did not manage to cut through the mix. With the hardware all bass notes stayed in place, which is very important for bass of course. On the piano the same story, but a little bit less obvious. What I did not like on the plugin is the pre-mic. Especially when listening in context of a full mix. The hardware is much cleaner. With a comparison like this, you do not only want to listen to the instrument itself, but you also have to listen to the impact of the processing on the definition of all the other instruments in the mix. That's where the hardware won every comparison I did. The plugin did get more in the way of other instruments then the hardware. Even in clean mode. Then there is the difference in attack and release times. The plugin has fixed times so it is a lot less flexible then the original. Which I don't understand is that the plugin and the software are much closer in your comparison then in my studio. I also experienced that with your Pultec comparison. How is that possible? Are you geeky enough to investigate? 😋
Hmmm.. How do I say this without coming off like an arrogant prick. Long story short, I would say you are just not A/Bing as close as I am. I spend a very long time with the files. Hardware gets the first pass. I set everything with hardware first and then tweak plugins until I get as close or better. Are your AB's properly level matched? Both to short term lufs on small audio examples? Is the pultec properly curve matched using software like plugin doctor? Any eq match is only as good as the curve match. Are both files receiving the exact same input level? Compressors... Are the compression envelopes bang on? Can be checked with really old but good measurement plugins. Doctor can even do it as it has the hardware mode. If you are simply matching settings.. No chance. Will never work. I use to do mines by ear that's how anal I was. I'd sit for hours till I got the plugins right and then I found out more efficient and quicker ways to do it If you are gonna do proper A/B's then you have to be very nit picky and ensure everything is as close as can be measured
@@PaulThird Good point. And I don't think you sound arrogant at all. We are just geeking;-) I always use the AB_LM plugin when I set a compressor or an equalizer. That does a great job to keep the volume steady while adjusting your settings. It adjusts the volume very quickly when you tweak a plugin or a hardware device. But when I find the settings I like, I always adjust the output gain to match the input level. I want to be a 100% sure I don't fall into the loudness trap. When I'm comparing the two, I never use the same settings. I set the plugin or the device by ear. And in that I experienced that with the hardware I got better results then with the plugin. Did not matter which settings I used on the plugin. And it did not matter which settings I used on the hardware. The bass was always consistent with the hardware and with the plugin it never was. The difference was always there. But maybe you succeeded where I did not, by investing so much time. That could be. I once asked the following question to Wessel Oltheten (athor of the book Mixing with impact): "is hardware better then software?" His answer was: "it's not better, but you get better results more quickly". Maybe that's what I experienced in my studio. 🤔🤔
Mike E wow !!! They certainly crafted this well, I was sceptical after hearing the news of the release but not only did they achieve the sound but maybe exceeded it with the extra functions.
Great video, Paul! I've already been trying out the Mike-E for a few days. I was pretty sure, that I had enough compressors, but I had to buy the Mike-E (used it in two mixes and it was soo good, that I didn't want to redo the mix with another compressor. Note to self: don't try plugins in actual projects). What I like so much about the Mike-E: it evens out signals very smoothly. Try the NUKE mode on vocals! Works in the plugin like on the real thing. The analogue Distressor might have a little more depth and 3D, but the Mike-E is the best ITB-Distressor I heard up until now.
Can you please do a shoot out between the Softube Mike -E and the Kush Audio Deflector?. I have the Deflector and it sounds close to the hardware where the Slate Digital isn't as close as the Kush Audio version. I have both but I want to see a shoot out of the 3
Great video again Paul, thanks mate! I'm definitely going to invest in it now....Dammit spending money I don't really have on plug ins again haha🙄. Just a note that this is an emulation of another hardware unit that Empirical Labs make called "Mike E". It's a pre-amp unit that features the comp / sat and it uses Distressor circuitry but with differences. This is the reason for the "extra features" above a standard Distressor and also the reason for the fixed attack times matey. :-)
Ive been told by a few people now haha would be interesting to see if the hardware mike-e is better than the softube. Now that would be a game changer!
@@PaulThird Thanks so much for the reply Paul. Hope you're doing well. Loving the new vids and laughed at the studio chair - brilliant mate! Just to clarify I honestly wasn't trying to critique the review (which was great and immensely helpful) I was just being a bit of a perfectionist gear nerd haha 🤓 But yes mate - that would be an absolute gamechanger! If you can get a Mike E from somewhere that would make for a great video at some point. I've been using the Softube plug in on a few of my recent mixes and it's great. Super effective for getting slamming drums - the only negative for me is that they didn't include a side chain filter, to stop it reacting to the low frequencies, as it does tend to neuter a kick drum when used on the drum bus (even when you use the mix knob to give you a parallel comp) to achieve a nice fat punchy drum mix. I've had to resort to bussing out my kick to another sub to compensate as I do like what it does overall to the rest of the kit.
I actually preferred the Mike E on HF emphasis mode over the 76 on this vocal, which surprised me a lot. The 1176 sounded great though, they always do on vocals haha. Depends on what you’re going for and what the mix needs.
True man.. Always dependent.. But it'll probably win 8 or 9 times out of 10 😜 I'm away to compare it against the neold privately and I think I may have to go back to the 76.. Maybe.. Maybe haha
No need. Honestly it batters slate out the park when I tested it and if I prefer the Mike e over the hardware I would just assume that I'll still prefer it over the arouser to be honest
@wesley wild That's the old version 2, which is included with the actual version "Disto-S" which is just the compressor I'm happy with it, tested the Mike-E as comparison and found no reason to buy it!
I can just picture a mad inner city pub with the usual down at heel boozers, the karaoke machine blaring away. A shifty, skinny fella walks over to your table, and instead of offering to sell you razor blades, easter eggs or batteries, he's got a couple of Softube licenses in his Berghaus fleece robbing pocket. I downloaded the demo and instantly regretted not having the funds to buy the bundle.
I think the Distressor mix sounded better. The Mike-E elements in that mix were louder, but they just sounded more out of place and didn't sit as well in the mix IMO.
Where the Distressor wins for me is the faster attack time, I have a hardware mike-e and I still compress my vocals with uad 1176 or Distressor, considering getting a second mike-e for stereo though but I could also get a Distressor and use them m/s
@@PaulThird apart from the attack times I find that I can push the Mike-e hardware harder into saturation while still sounding good. This is something I've been finding to be true about all the analog saturation I've tried thus far. Also since I work in 48k I get the added bonus of having lower peaks since there's no antialiasing downsampling filter at the end of the processing. But the true biggest benefit for me is the super ultra low noise and amazing clarity of the preamp and being able to track through the saturation and compression. It has been a real game charger for me when it comes to recording, specially vocals with my SM7b!
Interesting, I found that the hardware made the kick sound a bit better (brought up more low end punch by controlling the high freq transient to a slightly higher degree). On the snare, I actually preferred the bite of the Mike E, but the hardware kept more of the snare's body in again. In the mix I preferred the Mike E in that case though. On low end heavy material I'd definitely prefer the hardware, but the plugin's still got a killer tone to it! Might have to get it.
Yeah totally the Mike-e is a beast of its own and on the bass I had to work at it as the distressor was so good. The distressor has been one of the most purchased hardware comps for a reason so its always gonna be a tough match up 🤓
Dam it, hardware mix sounds more glued, like a warm bed and breaths musically. Even though the plugin makes that snare sound really nice, better than the hardware perhaps, it's not doing what the hardware is, and for a musical result it's the hardware everytime. Timing is SO important !! We are so sensitive to it. Isn't it strange that all this old hardware just happens to be so musical and beds the tracks together so well. Brings it all together, places it nicely in time, and fills in the gaps with harmonics. These are traits they wanted to get away from back in the day. The digital platform we have today would have been their dream. Perfect reproduction with no colouration.
@@PaulThird hah yeah man I don't blame you. Goal is to find tools that are good enough and then rely on skills, more than “the next thing”. I’ll be remarkably bored of virtually ALL new plugins on the other side of the 25th too!! :-) You don't have a discord group yet do you Paul?
As always great video. I was worried before watching it that if Mike-E will sound as great as I expect then I'll need to buy it... And a nightmare for my pocket came true... Especially when I've heard the last comparison (3 tracks Distressor vs Mike-E)... It was like heavens opened each time you switched to Mike-E 😂 BTW Paul, have you noticed there's a Mike-E hardware made by Empirical Labs? That's what Sofube's Mike-E is modelled after. And it's not exactly a Distressor, it's a mic pre with Distressor style comp section and with some clipper.
See I got really confused on the softube website. "Precisely modeled in close collaboration with Dave Derr, Empirical Labs Mike-E Comp offers high-caliber, one-of-a-kind saturation/compression based on the famous ELI Distressor The core of Mike-E is its class-leading CompSat. The bones of the compressor are those of the legendary ELI Distressor, one of the most-beloved contemporary compressors in existence" That read to me that it was just a modded distressor but I didn't actually know it was a hardware model until you said just there. So from the looks of it, even the Mike-e hardware is essentially just a modded distressor?
@@PaulThird Yes. Empirical Labs tells about it on their website, but they’re not telling any specific information on the differences to Distressor. I guess Mike-E comp section can be cleaner sounding (since there’s separate clipper) and with fixed values of attack and release. But over all it’s crazy how close Softube Mike-E sound to hardware distressor, even better actually. I was really skeptical at first, but hearing it in action really made me think of buying it. And to my ears Mike-E plugin has this extra warmth that original hardware Distressor has and Arousor has not
Exactly it turns off oversampling, because Mike-E is 4x internally oversampled at 48KHz sample rate and it brings it to 0 latency (it uses IIR low pass filter for oversampling, so only 4 samples of latency which is close to almost 0.0ms anyway but as we all know that oversampling eats up some transients and bit of let's call it bite and life of the plugin) If wish my CPU could handle mixing bigger sessions at 192KHz sample rate though... :-( I would never look back...
Hello Paul! Just thought of an re-occurring video idea you could implement if you like it.. Paul's Current Top Recommendations where you have a reoccurring video where you give your current favorites like, Top Three Drumbus Compressor, Top Three Vocal Compressor, Top Three MixBuss Compressor, and then same EQ wise. Just a thought! I would like it anyhow as you have some nice golden ears :)
anybody else disappointed that he didn't use the cringey vocals rambling about some priest, some kids, somebody forsaken at our peril and vanishing into the night via a ship?. Or something along those lines.
I had to stop using that multitrack. The day my dad asked me why I wrote a song about offending catholic priests .. and I had to tell him it wasnt my song or me singing was the day I stopped using those vocals. Not worth the hassle haha
@@PaulThird I tried the Mike E plugin too and loved it. I tried the Arousor v2 a while back ago and never fell in love with it tbh. People say it sounds more like the distressor than mike e but in that case maybe I prefer the Mike E to the Distressor. Anyway! Thank you for great content! I enjoy your videos! 🤓🙏
Nice review Paul. Is this worth considering or should I just cave and buy the hardware? I have a hybrid workflow but could use a bit of a break on the I/O front (running low). I tend to find most plugins are brighter and they make things brighter. Hardware doesn't really do that.
@@PaulThird Wow. That's fightin' talk mate. That good huh? It would definitely save me a bunch of I/O headaches so this is a bit of good news before the weekend. What do you prefer about it over the hardware if you don't mind me asking? Apart from the workflow I guess (which is a big deal of course).
Paul thanks for this shootout! To me this sounds just as good as the hardware. Do you feel this is the first plugin to really take on the hardware? Any other compressors that might be on the same level as this softube offering. Thanks for any input!
th-cam.com/video/Axs9ynopWsM/w-d-xo.html That's the SSL gbus comp shootout I did a while back. Check the TimP comps out. He's the only plugin developer that can consistently better or closely match the hardware. His gbus and la2a & 3a I actually prefer to the hardware. Only downside is you need nebula to run the TimP comps but all his comps are outstanding. Great bloke as well. Unbelievablely knowledgeable.
The plug-in sounds like a plug-in. Doesn’t “shape” the transient like the hardware does… though a transient designer plug-in can get you there. Besides that, it doesn’t “hug” the signal the same as hardware, it removes the dimensionality (sense of 3D space) and it doesn’t tonally cut a bit of annoying/trashy mids like the hardware does in a subtle but tasty way. Still could sound decent in a mix on certain sources. Hardware is still king… though Tim P is frightfully close.
The tightness you are referring to with Mike E and Bass is actually just the typical one dimensional thinness of a plugin compared to the warmth, punch, ans sustain of the hardware unit.
I've not tried the arouser but I don't think I need to now tbh. Slate distressor has been retired for me.. Until I actually have the money to pay for softube plugins 😂
Mike e hardware is essentially a modded distressor. If a plugin can get subjectively better results than one of the most sought after hardware compressors of all time then why not test that out?
It's a video to see how the Mike e plugin compares to a hardware distressor. Mike e hardware's compressor is based off the distressor hardware. Emperical labs say so themselves.. COMPRESSOR - based on ELI’s world famous Distressor, but with other characteristics (including a much longer attack time). Preset ratios include: 2:1, 4:1, 8:1…and, of course, Nuke. So if the compressor in it is based off the distressor and made by the same company, why not compare the plugin to the distressor hardware and see how it compares
th-cam.com/video/095VannurMI/w-d-xo.html Interesting... same gear. Big difference. So I don't think that Acces Analog is a suitable tool for comparing hardware vs plugins.
Or isn't it more possible that the A/B was done poorly? There's a difference between a guy comparing hardware he has in the studio to hardware paid by the minute on a time slot online. He said it himself that he "got it close by ear" when in reality the 2 sound completely different. Your showing that to a guy that used to spend hours getting them right by ear to where differences could he indistinguishable. He also said he couldn't judge the compression going by the meters, and also that he was using different converters as well as possible different gain staging. His hardware sounds louder to my ears and the access analog sounds overly compressed. Way too many variables for me. Put it this way.. Both are Rupert Neve masterbus processers. Be made in the same factory with the same parts. There are analog tolerances in unit to unit but not night and day differences like that. Were talking big difference in transients there. Access analog is using prism converters streamed lossless online. Actually he used the offline mode so it's rendered the audio at access analogs end and then essentially sent the file over the Internet on a server. Think of it this way, if that was 2 units side by side going through the same chain and you got those differences you'd think 1 of 2 things 1. The calibration and QC at the factory was shocking which with neve and that price tag I very much doubt it Or 2. User error matching both units 99% of people would go with user error. Theres ways of checking this shit out. You can use plugin doctor and other compressor measurement plugins to get both compressors bang on. You can use metaplugin and bertom curve analyser to ensure the curves are bang on. You can check thd via a sweep to ensure the harmonics are equal. There are a ton of factors that can affect an AB but theres no science to show that access analogs streaming online has any real negative impact to the audio signal. You would need to have both those files used in the video and compare their loudness as well as a null to see where the difference is. That's the issue with AB's like that. The more variables you give yourself the more you leave yourself open
@@PaulThird let's agree to dissagree.I don't think there is anything that could change your minds about the comparisons with analog acces. I know for a 100% certain, that if you were in my studio and you could hear the difference between the hardware Distressors vs the Mike-E plugin, you would change your mind. But I respect your opinion of course.
I'm a skeptical man of science. I need solid evidence haha its just happened to me a few times where I've been told it's not possible and then I've done it. I tell everybody. Send me your files and your settings and I'll see if I can match them and most times I can. The vari mu test I did on the channel for example proved that. First test with access analogs vari mu and the next with a subscribers own vari mu. "I tried everything Paul and I just can't get magenta as close you, not even close".. Gave me dry and processed files along with the settings. Same result as access analog and it turned out it was user error on his part. Theres just so much psychologicaly around this stuff. The plan is to do more actual analog tests without access analog now I've got the apollo x6.
@Paul Third I understand. Our ears, our eyes and our mind can trick us. I have been tweaking plugins, hearing an improvement only to discover that the plugin did nothing because it was bypassed in the AB_LM chain;-) therefore nowadays I'm always closing my eyes, hit the bypass a couple of times so I don't know if the plugin is on or off. After I made up my mind, I open my eyes. It often happens I prefered the unprocessed signal. So I do everything I can to make an honest judgement. I'm comparing the hardware with the plugin in Plugin Doctor. I the graph I see that the Mike E plugin has a low cut filter which start at 7 Hz and only reaches zero dB at 100 Hz. The hardware only has a little shelve tilt around 5Hz. It doesn't has a low cut. I think this is the reason why my bass is more consistent with my hardware distressor. In the high end the plugin has some ripples were the hardware is almost totally flat. On the harmonics graph, the hardware only shows 2nd and 3rd harmonics. The plugin shows non musical harmonics in between. Even in clean mode. I think that is the reason that I experience that the plugin is more 'in the way' with my other instruments. I think I also see a little aliasing on the plugin when using the preamp distortion. I'm not as technical as you with this sort of things. But I think the doctor confirms what I'm hearing. Enjoy your Apollo and have a nice weekend!
Check out the real mike-e hardware here :)
www.thomann.de/gb/empirical_labs_el9_mike_e.htm?partner_id=94442
www.patreon.com/mixingwedesdays?fan_landing=true
Remember to check out my patreon if you want to join the community across there to help invest in hardware to unbox & shootout for future comparisons 🤓
Yeah, man!!!
I love how you found it before I made it public haha
@@PaulThird, quite scary, isn't? :-D
What you make of the Mike-e then?
@@PaulThird, I discovered Access Analog from your link, checked it out and discussed it with a friend on the phone. I still need to watch your vid.
Paul-Thanks for all your "tweaking" so the rest of us can benefit from your findings! I got the Mike-e plugin, I'm selling my mint Distressor EL8X. My HW 1073 front end is all the hardware I need (w great mics) You provided me with a solution that my UAD Apollo does not. I Beyond appreciate ya!
🤜🤛
Nailed the helllloooooo!!!!🔥🔥
YES! My week is complete 😉
Thanks, Paul, for the comparisons!
🤓🤓
It took me some time, but I finally reproduced this comparison in my own studio. The Mike-E compressor is on sale, so this was the moment to check if the plugin is indeed better then the hardware. Which would be great, because then I could sell my 2 hardware Distressors. So I really hoped for the best. I compared the plugin with the hardware on vocals, piano's, drum bus and on bass. But how hard I tried, I could not make the plugin sound better then the hardware. Only on the drums there was a little bit of doubt. But that was due to the fact that the plugin created sharper transients then the hardware. The hardware Distressor is a soft knee compressor, so it would not be my first choice for the drum bus. Maybe that's why I had some trouble to make up my mind, which of the 2 compressors I prefered in that situation. The biggest difference I noticed on bass. With the plugin some bass notes were nice up front, but other bass notes did not manage to cut through the mix. With the hardware all bass notes stayed in place, which is very important for bass of course. On the piano the same story, but a little bit less obvious.
What I did not like on the plugin is the pre-mic. Especially when listening in context of a full mix. The hardware is much cleaner. With a comparison like this, you do not only want to listen to the instrument itself, but you also have to listen to the impact of the processing on the definition of all the other instruments in the mix. That's where the hardware won every comparison I did. The plugin did get more in the way of other instruments then the hardware. Even in clean mode. Then there is the difference in attack and release times. The plugin has fixed times so it is a lot less flexible then the original. Which I don't understand is that the plugin and the software are much closer in your comparison then in my studio. I also experienced that with your Pultec comparison. How is that possible? Are you geeky enough to investigate? 😋
Hmmm.. How do I say this without coming off like an arrogant prick.
Long story short, I would say you are just not A/Bing as close as I am. I spend a very long time with the files. Hardware gets the first pass. I set everything with hardware first and then tweak plugins until I get as close or better.
Are your AB's properly level matched? Both to short term lufs on small audio examples?
Is the pultec properly curve matched using software like plugin doctor? Any eq match is only as good as the curve match.
Are both files receiving the exact same input level?
Compressors... Are the compression envelopes bang on? Can be checked with really old but good measurement plugins. Doctor can even do it as it has the hardware mode.
If you are simply matching settings.. No chance. Will never work. I use to do mines by ear that's how anal I was. I'd sit for hours till I got the plugins right and then I found out more efficient and quicker ways to do it
If you are gonna do proper A/B's then you have to be very nit picky and ensure everything is as close as can be measured
@@PaulThird Good point. And I don't think you sound arrogant at all. We are just geeking;-)
I always use the AB_LM plugin when I set a compressor or an equalizer. That does a great job to keep the volume steady while adjusting your settings. It adjusts the volume very quickly when you tweak a plugin or a hardware device. But when I find the settings I like, I always adjust the output gain to match the input level. I want to be a 100% sure I don't fall into the loudness trap.
When I'm comparing the two, I never use the same settings. I set the plugin or the device by ear. And in that I experienced that with the hardware I got better results then with the plugin. Did not matter which settings I used on the plugin. And it did not matter which settings I used on the hardware. The bass was always consistent with the hardware and with the plugin it never was. The difference was always there.
But maybe you succeeded where I did not, by investing so much time. That could be. I once asked the following question to Wessel Oltheten (athor of the book Mixing with impact): "is hardware better then software?" His answer was: "it's not better, but you get better results more quickly". Maybe that's what I experienced in my studio. 🤔🤔
@@vicneve1169 better results more quickly with hardware sounds about right.
Mike E wow !!! They certainly crafted this well, I was sceptical after hearing the news of the release but not only did they achieve the sound but maybe exceeded it with the extra functions.
I was skeptical as well and so pleasantly surprised when I heard it.. Then I remembered the price and cried a little 😂
Great video, Paul! I've already been trying out the Mike-E for a few days. I was pretty sure, that I had enough compressors, but I had to buy the Mike-E (used it in two mixes and it was soo good, that I didn't want to redo the mix with another compressor. Note to self: don't try plugins in actual projects). What I like so much about the Mike-E: it evens out signals very smoothly. Try the NUKE mode on vocals! Works in the plugin like on the real thing. The analogue Distressor might have a little more depth and 3D, but the Mike-E is the best ITB-Distressor I heard up until now.
Im actually considering puting money aside and saving for it haha 😅.. Or continue begging softube to help me out 😂
Can you please do a shoot out between the Softube Mike -E and the Kush Audio Deflector?. I have the Deflector and it sounds close to the hardware where the Slate Digital isn't as close as the Kush Audio version. I have both but I want to see a shoot out of the 3
I'll check it out😉
Great video again Paul, thanks mate! I'm definitely going to invest in it now....Dammit spending money I don't really have on plug ins again haha🙄. Just a note that this is an emulation of another hardware unit that Empirical Labs make called "Mike E". It's a pre-amp unit that features the comp / sat and it uses Distressor circuitry but with differences. This is the reason for the "extra features" above a standard Distressor and also the reason for the fixed attack times matey. :-)
Ive been told by a few people now haha would be interesting to see if the hardware mike-e is better than the softube. Now that would be a game changer!
@@PaulThird Thanks so much for the reply Paul. Hope you're doing well. Loving the new vids and laughed at the studio chair - brilliant mate! Just to clarify I honestly wasn't trying to critique the review (which was great and immensely helpful) I was just being a bit of a perfectionist gear nerd haha 🤓
But yes mate - that would be an absolute gamechanger! If you can get a Mike E from somewhere that would make for a great video at some point. I've been using the Softube plug in on a few of my recent mixes and it's great. Super effective for getting slamming drums - the only negative for me is that they didn't include a side chain filter, to stop it reacting to the low frequencies, as it does tend to neuter a kick drum when used on the drum bus (even when you use the mix knob to give you a parallel comp) to achieve a nice fat punchy drum mix. I've had to resort to bussing out my kick to another sub to compensate as I do like what it does overall to the rest of the kit.
I actually preferred the Mike E on HF emphasis mode over the 76 on this vocal, which surprised me a lot. The 1176 sounded great though, they always do on vocals haha. Depends on what you’re going for and what the mix needs.
True man.. Always dependent.. But it'll probably win 8 or 9 times out of 10 😜 I'm away to compare it against the neold privately and I think I may have to go back to the 76.. Maybe.. Maybe haha
I use the distressor plugins while on the go or away from the rack mount hardware. but when at my home studio I am using the EL8X
Hi Paul. Great video as always! How about Mike-E vs Arouser vs Slate?
No need. Honestly it batters slate out the park when I tested it and if I prefer the Mike e over the hardware I would just assume that I'll still prefer it over the arouser to be honest
@@PaulThird Sknote Disto
@wesley wild That's the old version 2, which is included with the actual version "Disto-S" which is just the compressor
I'm happy with it, tested the Mike-E as comparison and found no reason to buy it!
I can just picture a mad inner city pub with the usual down at heel boozers, the karaoke machine blaring away. A shifty, skinny fella walks over to your table, and instead of offering to sell you razor blades, easter eggs or batteries, he's got a couple of Softube licenses in his Berghaus fleece robbing pocket.
I downloaded the demo and instantly regretted not having the funds to buy the bundle.
and I would buy those licenses at the right price!! haha
Have you tried Comprexxor by IK Multimedia?
Nope
I think the Distressor mix sounded better. The Mike-E elements in that mix were louder, but they just sounded more out of place and didn't sit as well in the mix IMO.
🤓🤓
Where the Distressor wins for me is the faster attack time, I have a hardware mike-e and I still compress my vocals with uad 1176 or Distressor, considering getting a second mike-e for stereo though but I could also get a Distressor and use them m/s
How different is the hardware Mike-e to the distressor in your opinion?
@@PaulThird apart from the attack times I find that I can push the Mike-e hardware harder into saturation while still sounding good. This is something I've been finding to be true about all the analog saturation I've tried thus far. Also since I work in 48k I get the added bonus of having lower peaks since there's no antialiasing downsampling filter at the end of the processing. But the true biggest benefit for me is the super ultra low noise and amazing clarity of the preamp and being able to track through the saturation and compression. It has been a real game charger for me when it comes to recording, specially vocals with my SM7b!
Interesting, I found that the hardware made the kick sound a bit better (brought up more low end punch by controlling the high freq transient to a slightly higher degree). On the snare, I actually preferred the bite of the Mike E, but the hardware kept more of the snare's body in again. In the mix I preferred the Mike E in that case though. On low end heavy material I'd definitely prefer the hardware, but the plugin's still got a killer tone to it! Might have to get it.
Yeah totally the Mike-e is a beast of its own and on the bass I had to work at it as the distressor was so good. The distressor has been one of the most purchased hardware comps for a reason so its always gonna be a tough match up 🤓
Dam it, hardware mix sounds more glued, like a warm bed and breaths musically. Even though the plugin makes that snare sound really nice, better than the hardware perhaps, it's not doing what the hardware is, and for a musical result it's the hardware everytime.
Timing is SO important !! We are so sensitive to it. Isn't it strange that all this old hardware just happens to be so musical and beds the tracks together so well. Brings it all together, places it nicely in time, and fills in the gaps with harmonics. These are traits they wanted to get away from back in the day. The digital platform we have today would have been their dream. Perfect reproduction with no colouration.
i'm still gutted I cant compare it against the hardware mike-e haha
@@PaulThird haha, funny enough me too xD
Any thoughts on the new Kiive audio distressor Paul?
Not tried it. Bit bored of distressor plugins tbh
@@PaulThird hah yeah man I don't blame you. Goal is to find tools that are good enough and then rely on skills, more than “the next thing”. I’ll be remarkably bored of virtually ALL new plugins on the other side of the 25th too!! :-) You don't have a discord group yet do you Paul?
Nah never even thought of that haha
As always great video. I was worried before watching it that if Mike-E will sound as great as I expect then I'll need to buy it... And a nightmare for my pocket came true... Especially when I've heard the last comparison (3 tracks Distressor vs Mike-E)... It was like heavens opened each time you switched to Mike-E 😂
BTW Paul, have you noticed there's a Mike-E hardware made by Empirical Labs? That's what Sofube's Mike-E is modelled after. And it's not exactly a Distressor, it's a mic pre with Distressor style comp section and with some clipper.
See I got really confused on the softube website.
"Precisely modeled in close collaboration with Dave Derr, Empirical Labs Mike-E Comp offers high-caliber, one-of-a-kind saturation/compression based on the famous ELI Distressor
The core of Mike-E is its class-leading CompSat. The bones of the compressor are those of the legendary ELI Distressor, one of the most-beloved contemporary compressors in existence"
That read to me that it was just a modded distressor but I didn't actually know it was a hardware model until you said just there. So from the looks of it, even the Mike-e hardware is essentially just a modded distressor?
@@PaulThird Yes. Empirical Labs tells about it on their website, but they’re not telling any specific information on the differences to Distressor. I guess Mike-E comp section can be cleaner sounding (since there’s separate clipper) and with fixed values of attack and release. But over all it’s crazy how close Softube Mike-E sound to hardware distressor, even better actually. I was really skeptical at first, but hearing it in action really made me think of buying it.
And to my ears Mike-E plugin has this extra warmth that original hardware Distressor has and Arousor has not
I genuinely believe that it's going to be the biggest plugin of 2021. Its an absolute monster!
@@PaulThird Totally agree
Rendering the mike-e at 192khz really totally change the game for me.
I still wish my demo never expired haha 😢
Exactly it turns off oversampling, because Mike-E is 4x internally oversampled at 48KHz sample rate and it brings it to 0 latency (it uses IIR low pass filter for oversampling, so only 4 samples of latency which is close to almost 0.0ms anyway but as we all know that oversampling eats up some transients and bit of let's call it bite and life of the plugin)
If wish my CPU could handle mixing bigger sessions at 192KHz sample rate though... :-(
I would never look back...
Any experience with Sknote Disto? Wondered how you rate it on sound quality and aliasing!
Never tried it tbh. Don't know anybody that uses it either so can't comment
Hello Paul!
Just thought of an re-occurring video idea you could implement if you like it.. Paul's Current Top Recommendations where you have a reoccurring video where you give your current favorites like,
Top Three Drumbus Compressor, Top Three Vocal Compressor, Top Three MixBuss Compressor, and then same EQ wise.
Just a thought!
I would like it anyhow as you have some nice golden ears :)
I'll make a poll and see how the results pan out 🤓
anybody else disappointed that he didn't use the cringey vocals rambling about some priest, some kids, somebody forsaken at our peril and vanishing into the night via a ship?. Or something along those lines.
I had to stop using that multitrack. The day my dad asked me why I wrote a song about offending catholic priests .. and I had to tell him it wasnt my song or me singing was the day I stopped using those vocals. Not worth the hassle haha
how do you like the arousor v3 vs mike e Paul? :)
Never tried it tbh. As soon as I preferred the Mike e to the distressor hardware I didn't bother to try another distressor based plugin
@@PaulThird I tried the Mike E plugin too and loved it. I tried the Arousor v2 a while back ago and never fell in love with it tbh. People say it sounds more like the distressor than mike e but in that case maybe I prefer the Mike E to the Distressor. Anyway! Thank you for great content! I enjoy your videos! 🤓🙏
I prefer my mike-e over my distressor. Even prefer this plugin to the hw distressor.
Nice review Paul. Is this worth considering or should I just cave and buy the hardware? I have a hybrid workflow but could use a bit of a break on the I/O front (running low). I tend to find most plugins are brighter and they make things brighter. Hardware doesn't really do that.
Definitely. I prefer this way more than a hardware distressor
@@PaulThird Wow. That's fightin' talk mate. That good huh? It would definitely save me a bunch of I/O headaches so this is a bit of good news before the weekend. What do you prefer about it over the hardware if you don't mind me asking? Apart from the workflow I guess (which is a big deal of course).
Well whatever I said in the video seeing as it's a hardware distressor I compared it against haha
@@PaulThird Haha fair play. I've not seen the video yet. It's office hours on the west coast.
Hey Paul, what's your thoughts on Xtressor by kiive?
Don't really have any interest in kiive plugins tbh. Way too late to the party for me
How is the cpu usage?
Wasn't too bad if I recall
@@PaulThird and do you think this would be a better pick up for a vocal chain instead of something like ssl E from bx
Personally I use 1176 and combine it with either titanium 1b, TimP vari level or his opto 2a dependent on the vocal
Great video! Thank you for the excellent work as always! Would love to see UAD make it into your shootouts!
Just need to save the pennies for an apollo haha 😅
Bro can i have that ? Pls
You can have what I had.. the demo 😂 an endorser of softube even tried to see if I could get it to include in my new session.. No reply 😞
@@PaulThird pls brother 🙏
@@PaulThird pls
@@PaulThird pls
Bro I got you..
www.softube.com/empirical-labs-mike-e-comp
Press the 'try now' button and you can have what I had 😂
Paul thanks for this shootout! To me this sounds just as good as the hardware. Do you feel this is the first plugin to really take on the hardware? Any other compressors that might be on the same level as this softube offering. Thanks for any input!
th-cam.com/video/Axs9ynopWsM/w-d-xo.html
That's the SSL gbus comp shootout I did a while back. Check the TimP comps out. He's the only plugin developer that can consistently better or closely match the hardware. His gbus and la2a & 3a I actually prefer to the hardware.
Only downside is you need nebula to run the TimP comps but all his comps are outstanding. Great bloke as well. Unbelievablely knowledgeable.
@@PaulThird Awesome thanks! I will check that out. Worth buying the softube as well? Or just stick with TimP? Thanks again for your help
There's no distressor in nebula land so still worth a purchase if you desire that distressor sound 🤓
Tim Peterick identical or better than hardware units his nebula libraries mimic real high end hardware units
The plug-in sounds like a plug-in. Doesn’t “shape” the transient like the hardware does… though a transient designer plug-in can get you there.
Besides that, it doesn’t “hug” the signal the same as hardware, it removes the dimensionality (sense of 3D space) and it doesn’t tonally cut a bit of annoying/trashy mids like the hardware does in a subtle but tasty way.
Still could sound decent in a mix on certain sources. Hardware is still king… though Tim P is frightfully close.
I just dont really like the sound of a distressor tbh. Id take that plugin every day of the week.
The tightness you are referring to with Mike E and Bass is actually just the typical one dimensional thinness of a plugin compared to the warmth, punch, ans sustain of the hardware unit.
Subjective
🤓🤓🤓
Remember to check out my autism channel if you want to find out more about my life 🤓
hello
What you think?
Afraid I have to retire my Arousor for it.
I've not tried the arouser but I don't think I need to now tbh. Slate distressor has been retired for me.. Until I actually have the money to pay for softube plugins 😂
@@PaulThird Yes, if not TimP drops the Distressor bomb.
Softube's Mike-E should be compared to the original Mike-E not the distressor
Mike e hardware is essentially a modded distressor. If a plugin can get subjectively better results than one of the most sought after hardware compressors of all time then why not test that out?
@@PaulThird I thought the video was a comparison of Softube Mike-E to it's hardware counterpart to see how close they are
It's a video to see how the Mike e plugin compares to a hardware distressor.
Mike e hardware's compressor is based off the distressor hardware. Emperical labs say so themselves..
COMPRESSOR - based on ELI’s world famous Distressor, but with other characteristics (including a much longer attack time). Preset ratios include: 2:1, 4:1, 8:1…and, of course, Nuke.
So if the compressor in it is based off the distressor and made by the same company, why not compare the plugin to the distressor hardware and see how it compares
man the real distressor sounds way better....LOL...ill stick with nebula
th-cam.com/video/095VannurMI/w-d-xo.html
Interesting... same gear. Big difference. So I don't think that Acces Analog is a suitable tool for comparing hardware vs plugins.
Or isn't it more possible that the A/B was done poorly? There's a difference between a guy comparing hardware he has in the studio to hardware paid by the minute on a time slot online.
He said it himself that he "got it close by ear" when in reality the 2 sound completely different. Your showing that to a guy that used to spend hours getting them right by ear to where differences could he indistinguishable.
He also said he couldn't judge the compression going by the meters, and also that he was using different converters as well as possible different gain staging.
His hardware sounds louder to my ears and the access analog sounds overly compressed.
Way too many variables for me. Put it this way.. Both are Rupert Neve masterbus processers. Be made in the same factory with the same parts. There are analog tolerances in unit to unit but not night and day differences like that.
Were talking big difference in transients there. Access analog is using prism converters streamed lossless online. Actually he used the offline mode so it's rendered the audio at access analogs end and then essentially sent the file over the Internet on a server.
Think of it this way, if that was 2 units side by side going through the same chain and you got those differences you'd think 1 of 2 things
1. The calibration and QC at the factory was shocking which with neve and that price tag I very much doubt it
Or
2. User error matching both units
99% of people would go with user error.
Theres ways of checking this shit out. You can use plugin doctor and other compressor measurement plugins to get both compressors bang on. You can use metaplugin and bertom curve analyser to ensure the curves are bang on.
You can check thd via a sweep to ensure the harmonics are equal.
There are a ton of factors that can affect an AB but theres no science to show that access analogs streaming online has any real negative impact to the audio signal.
You would need to have both those files used in the video and compare their loudness as well as a null to see where the difference is.
That's the issue with AB's like that. The more variables you give yourself the more you leave yourself open
@@PaulThird let's agree to dissagree.I don't think there is anything that could change your minds about the comparisons with analog acces. I know for a 100% certain, that if you were in my studio and you could hear the difference between the hardware Distressors vs the Mike-E plugin, you would change your mind. But I respect your opinion of course.
I'm a skeptical man of science. I need solid evidence haha its just happened to me a few times where I've been told it's not possible and then I've done it. I tell everybody. Send me your files and your settings and I'll see if I can match them and most times I can. The vari mu test I did on the channel for example proved that. First test with access analogs vari mu and the next with a subscribers own vari mu. "I tried everything Paul and I just can't get magenta as close you, not even close".. Gave me dry and processed files along with the settings. Same result as access analog and it turned out it was user error on his part.
Theres just so much psychologicaly around this stuff. The plan is to do more actual analog tests without access analog now I've got the apollo x6.
If you wanted I'd actually help you with your comparison.
@Paul Third I understand. Our ears, our eyes and our mind can trick us. I have been tweaking plugins, hearing an improvement only to discover that the plugin did nothing because it was bypassed in the AB_LM chain;-)
therefore nowadays I'm always closing my eyes, hit the bypass a couple of times so I don't know if the plugin is on or off. After I made up my mind, I open my eyes. It often happens I prefered the unprocessed signal. So I do everything I can to make an honest judgement.
I'm comparing the hardware with the plugin in Plugin Doctor. I the graph I see that the Mike E plugin has a low cut filter which start at 7 Hz and only reaches zero dB at 100 Hz. The hardware only has a little shelve tilt around 5Hz. It doesn't has a low cut. I think this is the reason why my bass is more consistent with my hardware distressor. In the high end the plugin has some ripples were the hardware is almost totally flat.
On the harmonics graph, the hardware only shows 2nd and 3rd harmonics. The plugin shows non musical harmonics in between. Even in clean mode. I think that is the reason that I experience that the plugin is more 'in the way' with my other instruments.
I think I also see a little aliasing on the plugin when using the preamp distortion.
I'm not as technical as you with this sort of things. But I think the doctor confirms what I'm hearing.
Enjoy your Apollo and have a nice weekend!