The general issue with plugins on the master (not just the ssl bus comp, but others as well) is that they don't have the widening and brightening effect of hardware. That leads to more work to get to a similar end result.
It's virtually the same every time you or anyone else does these comparisons. Hardware is always going to sound, and this is the point, 'CLEARER' than the plugin emulation. And that means we'll hear more punch, sheen, silkiness, everything!...especially depth! Great shoot out, Mitch!
The SSL plugin has much better transient response in 8x Oversampling, yet you didn't switch in on bro so not a fair comparison. P.S I made my own SSL 500 series (and rack years earlier) using Gold Can DBX VCA 202s and I still use the SSL plugin alot as it's easy and sounds good.
Someone was getting pretty close with software, on a hardware vs software comparison. Using two plug-ins: Sand 4 by Acustica for character and just a little compression to add a little more irregularity and aliveness to the compression... Mixed with a pretty clean algorithmic SSL bus compressor plug-in with some compression, to get more consistent compression going. The Sand was getting the character right, put the compression wasn't consistent enough by itself. The trickiest part to dial in was the release
Owned the Mynx version, the x-Link 19’ rack and now the 500 format. I think the best own. was the Mynx. But the 500 with its new hp side chain is really cool. What I do find regarding the SSL plugins is that it accentuates the high freq. The bass is also passing thru more easily than the hardware. In my studio at 96khz in 2x oversample the SSl plugin is quite good.
I have a hardware ssl clone, and everytime I do these A/B comparisons the plugins seem to do the ssl thing very well, but the hardware grabs everything better, smooth everything out better, and adds nice harmonics, it's just not the same.
Hello, great video. Regarding saturation and compression. I have 2 questions for you. I am running Cranborne 500r8 with 2 Capi Heiders, Serpent SB4001, and a pair of neve 542’s. So my question is; should I take the time to run each track through this chain and back into the daw before mixing even begins? (Speaking of programmed drums, vocals etc..) or would you just run your busses through? I was thinking of running literally every track from GGD through it individually, every cymbal, everything before mixing. I guess that’s all 😂 thank you for your wonderful content.
You can definitely do that. My process is I get stems, clean up with fan filter and other transparent plugins like gates or filters. Then run tracks into hardware. Then I do any final touch ups with fab filter if necessary then everything goes through a hardware buss for final mixing, drums, bass, vocals and the final mix. I have a lot of pieces to make that happen however even just doing the master buss or group busses makes a massive difference.
Ok thank you. So running each drum through and back into daw, then processing stems,(after mixing ITB) through this setup and back into daw, followed by running the entire stereo mix through it as a bus is not too much processing in your opinion? Thank you for your knowledge 💪🏼 (what I outlined is sort of my plan) thank you
Great question, unfortunately this unit, like all the original ssl bus compressors does not have a hpf in the chain, however it does have a "Key" input where you could setup a filter bus send to go to it to only trigger from the mid and high end information. You could do it, just in a workaround kind of way. You can also use it to duxk or de-ess the signal that way as well.
This the 1% of refinement, an average listener would never know the difference. I think this hammers home that the cost difference isn't worth it. What is worth doing is making sure source tracks are pristine, that's the hard bit and the bit we all strive to get better.
I recorded this locally and did painstaking A/B tests between hardware and SSL plugin (considering buying it) and I noticed the reverb tails on the hardware are considerably wider and more defined. The vocal seems to have more spread and overall just more dimensional space. Also takes the edge off as well and sounds smoother even with the YT compression on top. Kind of annoys me, but then again the plugin is on sale for $30 right now so maybe I win anyways.
Yeah absolutely, I use both all the time. The hardware I will always use, bu I only have 1 so if i want the same on drums, well, it's gonna be the plugin.
These youtubers cater to nube producers with potato computers and they think it's a cardinal sin to suggest oversampling because it makes their windows 8 crackhead computer crash
@@diyrecordingstudio I have started from Sound Skulptor MP599 (x2) and I'm summing my mixbus through it. It crazy how everything reacts more organic. I feel like I'm giving more importance to the relations between instruments and pure music, than chasing digital gremlins offphase problems etc. And it's only a summing, I can't wait to buy their SSL bus comp from Sound Skulptor. Which one you have?
I have an actual ssl bus comp that’s powered in a mynx rack. I could always use another one on drum bus though. Haha I love it. That sound Skulptor one looks and sounds excellent.
@@diyrecordingstudio I was thinking it to be my next buy. Have you tested it or heard from anyone close you trust? Would love a comparison with the Original SSL. There are only two videos online but the material is really mediocre to understand better the qualities. For sure it does a great work. I don't know if it gives this satin open high-end like the SSL one you demo here
The differences!! You’re finally converting me to the dark side lollll (It’s Caleb) Ableton - Glue Compressor by Cytomic vs these three would be amazing!
Dude!!! How’s things? Yeah it’s crazy hey. That ssl bus comp I got for a steal from musos after Andy sadly passed. It’s hard to get them for cheap but there’s good options out there. Stay away from the ssl 500 bus comp though. Weirdly enough that thing does not sound good. I’d rather use the plugins. What in particular are you looking at gear wise?
@@diyrecordingstudio Good man!! Working hard on djing, loving your vids! True, sorry to hear about Andy Definitely don’t have the funds for anything non digital at the moment, would love a portable 500 series one day though!
Hello. I have also tried different SSL plugins vs hardware clones of SSL Bus Comp. I find the SSL Native plugin very close but as you also highlighted its missing some punch, slight less clarity on high end and narrower stereo image compared to the hardware. On the hardware I have tried the Warm Bus Comp which has punch but lacks a bit the other 2 (clarity and wide stereo image). It is a good compressor for the money but I would use it more on a drum bus and not on the master bus. Besides it can be used as a color box, not compressing and engaging transformer for some color ;-) Then I gave a try on the Bettermaker Bus Comp which for me is doing same SSL thing, it is more transparent, some are saying it lacks personality, the stereo image is great and on top of this is controlled from the plugin so recall is a dream in each session. Also it includes analog saturation control + PEAK/RMS detection. Similar bus compressor is the Wes Dione which has a lot of fans. A total killer for the future would be the SSL Bus+ with plugin control .
Yeah that ssl bus+ looks mighty tasty. Those compressors you mentioned all have their place. I’m sure they can all be useful. All just different tools. You have some great pieces by the sounds of it.
Finally someone who can hear clear differences between hardware and plugins. The examples weren't volume matched correctly however (the hardware was tiny bit louder every time that's why the "wow" effect was bigger than in reality - I was reaching for a volume knob while you was playing examples and there was a difference but it was way smaller)
Thanks. FYI The hardware was level matched to the the plugins within 0.1 or 0.2dB. The only part that wasn’t gain matched was when the plugins were off vs on. That’s because with all Ssl bus compressors the magic comes from pushing the the output gain.
@@diyrecordingstudio youtube tends to make the differences in audio smaller so I can believe that the differences are bigger than on the video in real life but on the video hardware examples were like 0.5-1dB louder, definitely more than 0.2dB from what I could hear
@@huberttorzewski I recorded it locally and they were pretty much perfectly matched. I'm pretty OCD about these things and it would have driven me nuts if they weren't matched.
Why would you compare a uad plugin that runs at a higher sample rate with the ssl native and not use over sampling? The waves is trash. Sounds so digital and dated.
The general issue with plugins on the master (not just the ssl bus comp, but others as well) is that they don't have the widening and brightening effect of hardware. That leads to more work to get to a similar end result.
Completely agree.
It's virtually the same every time you or anyone else does these comparisons. Hardware is always going to sound, and this is the point, 'CLEARER' than the plugin emulation. And that means we'll hear more punch, sheen, silkiness, everything!...especially depth! Great shoot out, Mitch!
The SSL plugin has much better transient response in 8x Oversampling, yet you didn't switch in on bro so not a fair comparison. P.S I made my own SSL 500 series (and rack years earlier) using Gold Can DBX VCA 202s and I still use the SSL plugin alot as it's easy and sounds good.
the waves sounds distorted, love the SSL plug in though, use it quite a bit
Someone was getting pretty close with software, on a hardware vs software comparison. Using two plug-ins: Sand 4 by Acustica for character and just a little compression to add a little more irregularity and aliveness to the compression... Mixed with a pretty clean algorithmic SSL bus compressor plug-in with some compression, to get more consistent compression going. The Sand was getting the character right, put the compression wasn't consistent enough by itself. The trickiest part to dial in was the release
Owned the Mynx version, the x-Link 19’ rack and now the 500 format. I think the best own. was the Mynx. But the 500 with its new hp side chain is really cool. What I do find regarding the SSL plugins is that it accentuates the high freq. The bass is also passing thru more easily than the hardware. In my studio at 96khz in 2x oversample the SSl plugin is quite good.
I have a hardware ssl clone, and everytime I do these A/B comparisons the plugins seem to do the ssl thing very well, but the hardware grabs everything better, smooth everything out better, and adds nice harmonics, it's just not the same.
Hello, great video. Regarding saturation and compression. I have 2 questions for you. I am running Cranborne 500r8 with 2 Capi Heiders, Serpent SB4001, and a pair of neve 542’s. So my question is; should I take the time to run each track through this chain and back into the daw before mixing even begins? (Speaking of programmed drums, vocals etc..) or would you just run your busses through? I was thinking of running literally every track from GGD through it individually, every cymbal, everything before mixing. I guess that’s all 😂 thank you for your wonderful content.
You can definitely do that. My process is I get stems, clean up with fan filter and other transparent plugins like gates or filters.
Then run tracks into hardware. Then I do any final touch ups with fab filter if necessary then everything goes through a hardware buss for final mixing, drums, bass, vocals and the final mix.
I have a lot of pieces to make that happen however even just doing the master buss or group busses makes a massive difference.
Ok thank you. So running each drum through and back into daw, then processing stems,(after mixing ITB) through this setup and back into daw, followed by running the entire stereo mix through it as a bus is not too much processing in your opinion? Thank you for your knowledge 💪🏼 (what I outlined is sort of my plan) thank you
Nice comparison! Can the XR626 do sidechain high-pass filtering?
Great question, unfortunately this unit, like all the original ssl bus compressors does not have a hpf in the chain, however it does have a "Key" input where you could setup a filter bus send to go to it to only trigger from the mid and high end information. You could do it, just in a workaround kind of way. You can also use it to duxk or de-ess the signal that way as well.
This the 1% of refinement, an average listener would never know the difference. I think this hammers home that the cost difference isn't worth it. What is worth doing is making sure source tracks are pristine, that's the hard bit and the bit we all strive to get better.
I recorded this locally and did painstaking A/B tests between hardware and SSL plugin (considering buying it) and I noticed the reverb tails on the hardware are considerably wider and more defined. The vocal seems to have more spread and overall just more dimensional space. Also takes the edge off as well and sounds smoother even with the YT compression on top. Kind of annoys me, but then again the plugin is on sale for $30 right now so maybe I win anyways.
Yeah absolutely, I use both all the time. The hardware I will always use, bu I only have 1 so if i want the same on drums, well, it's gonna be the plugin.
The best SSL bus compressor I have heard to this day is the one in the Kiive Audio NFuse.
Tried that. Not for me.
Why OS disabled on SSL plugin? This is the most important control on that plugin
These youtubers cater to nube producers with potato computers and they think it's a cardinal sin to suggest oversampling because it makes their windows 8 crackhead computer crash
do you use the g bus hardware on the master bus in daily use, or just on stems, or on everything if it calls for it?
the hardware is not only better in quality but also in depth, stereo width. Both plugins sound close, hardware is a different league
highs, lows, mids are better. Espacially highs and lows
Yeah it’s a pretty crazy difference. I find when I do a full hybrid mix engaging lots of hardware at multiple stages, the difference is quite drastic.
@@diyrecordingstudio I have started from Sound Skulptor MP599 (x2) and I'm summing my mixbus through it. It crazy how everything reacts more organic. I feel like I'm giving more importance to the relations between instruments and pure music, than chasing digital gremlins offphase problems etc. And it's only a summing, I can't wait to buy their SSL bus comp from Sound Skulptor. Which one you have?
I have an actual ssl bus comp that’s powered in a mynx rack. I could always use another one on drum bus though. Haha I love it. That sound Skulptor one looks and sounds excellent.
@@diyrecordingstudio I was thinking it to be my next buy. Have you tested it or heard from anyone close you trust? Would love a comparison with the Original SSL. There are only two videos online but the material is really mediocre to understand better the qualities. For sure it does a great work. I don't know if it gives this satin open high-end like the SSL one you demo here
The differences!! You’re finally converting me to the dark side lollll (It’s Caleb)
Ableton - Glue Compressor by Cytomic vs these three would be amazing!
Dude!!! How’s things?
Yeah it’s crazy hey. That ssl bus comp I got for a steal from musos after Andy sadly passed. It’s hard to get them for cheap but there’s good options out there. Stay away from the ssl 500 bus comp though. Weirdly enough that thing does not sound good. I’d rather use the plugins.
What in particular are you looking at gear wise?
@@diyrecordingstudio Good man!! Working hard on djing, loving your vids!
True, sorry to hear about Andy
Definitely don’t have the funds for anything non digital at the moment, would love a portable 500 series one day though!
Hello.
I have also tried different SSL plugins vs hardware clones of SSL Bus Comp. I find the SSL Native plugin very close but as you also highlighted its missing some punch, slight less clarity on high end and narrower stereo image compared to the hardware.
On the hardware I have tried the Warm Bus Comp which has punch but lacks a bit the other 2 (clarity and wide stereo image). It is a good compressor for the money but I would use it more on a drum bus and not on the master bus. Besides it can be used as a color box, not compressing and engaging transformer for some color ;-)
Then I gave a try on the Bettermaker Bus Comp which for me is doing same SSL thing, it is more transparent, some are saying it lacks personality, the stereo image is great and on top of this is controlled from the plugin so recall is a dream in each session. Also it includes analog saturation control + PEAK/RMS detection. Similar bus compressor is the Wes Dione which has a lot of fans.
A total killer for the future would be the SSL Bus+ with plugin control .
Yeah that ssl bus+ looks mighty tasty. Those compressors you mentioned all have their place. I’m sure they can all be useful.
All just different tools. You have some great pieces by the sounds of it.
Finally someone who can hear clear differences between hardware and plugins. The examples weren't volume matched correctly however (the hardware was tiny bit louder every time that's why the "wow" effect was bigger than in reality - I was reaching for a volume knob while you was playing examples and there was a difference but it was way smaller)
Thanks. FYI The hardware was level matched to the the plugins within 0.1 or 0.2dB. The only part that wasn’t gain matched was when the plugins were off vs on. That’s because with all Ssl bus compressors the magic comes from pushing the the output gain.
@@diyrecordingstudio youtube tends to make the differences in audio smaller so I can believe that the differences are bigger than on the video in real life but on the video hardware examples were like 0.5-1dB louder, definitely more than 0.2dB from what I could hear
@@huberttorzewski I recorded it locally and they were pretty much perfectly matched. I'm pretty OCD about these things and it would have driven me nuts if they weren't matched.
Why would you compare a uad plugin that runs at a higher sample rate with the ssl native and not use over sampling? The waves is trash. Sounds so digital and dated.