the SSL DUENDE trial

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I met the force of nature that is Mr Paul Brewer tonight , to borrow an ssl duende firewire outboard ( so to speak ) for a few days and see how we get along.

I have been trialing the waves SSL vst's and have been amazed by them .

so far , the duende is up and running no probs , all updated .

the waves are sounding a tad better to me initially which is unexpected
but i plan to test a little more in detail , and match as close as possible.
so it aint over yet ;-)


any suggestions to test please post here - note its a home rig , not a full blown abbey road setup - but i am tracking full drumkit ( 8 mics )


also note ;

Paul Brewer is a lovely chap !

PaulBrewer

DaDumTish wrote: »

Paul Brewer is a lovely chap !

Cough .......Splutter ...:eek:

anders

Haven't tried the waves SSL plugs but the Duende is really good. Try on something that doesn't sound so good. I don't know if you'll hear such a big difference on stuff that all ready sounds really good.

Neurojazz

Does the waves version include the x-comp and x-eq? - they're awesome on the Duende... comparing it against Sonnox the Duende is much sweeter.

The only thing i've found with the Duende is that it doesn't like Wavelab (large pain in the arse, wavelab seems to have issues with hardware vst bigtime) the UAD also suffers as wavelab won't batch process UAD/SSL on the buss.

PaulBrewer

Neurojazz wrote: »

Does the waves version include the x-comp and x-eq? - they're awesome on the Duende... comparing it against Sonnox the Duende is much sweeter.

The only thing i've found with the Duende is that it doesn't like Wavelab (large pain in the arse, wavelab seems to have issues with hardware vst bigtime) the UAD also suffers as wavelab won't batch process UAD/SSL on the buss.

The Duende is based on the SSL Digital C200 console (I think) whereas the Waves aims at reproducing the Analogue 4000 series console so really they're entirely different both actually and by design - really the only thing they have in common is the SSL name.

So the Waves wouldn't have the X plugins - I like the look of the Drumstrip, well bangin' and the Listen Mic Comp included too.

Neurojazz

I've got drumstrip, it's good for mangling things up - which i'm sure it's not lol..

But the X-eq.... it has a realtime freq analysis button... awesome sauce, I'm a bit of a plum with ssl... i'd just got all the plugins without even bothering to check because their history and the x-eq and x-comp get used a fair bit... i cannot beleive the tightness of the Q can be set - for prescision surgical removal of frequencies (as put by the mastering mags) - can't be beat for the money i think - does the waves do all that asymetic stuff also?

As for compressors, i want Neve for my master buss in my future setup - totally sold on the sound.

There's a little 'E' switch on the Duende for E series... don't know if they are based on the C200 - have no clue.

PaulBrewer

Neurojazz wrote: »

I've got drumstrip, it's good for mangling things up - which i'm sure it's not lol..

But the X-eq.... it has a realtime freq analysis button... awesome sauce, I'm a bit of a plum with ssl... i'd just got all the plugins without even bothering to check because their history and the x-eq and x-comp get used a fair bit... i cannot beleive the tightness of the Q can be set - for prescision surgical removal of frequencies (as put by the mastering mags) - can't be beat for the money i think - does the waves do all that asymetic stuff also?

As for compressors, i want Neve for my master buss in my future setup - totally sold on the sound.

There's a little 'E' switch on the Duende for E series... don't know if they are based on the C200 - have no clue.

We use the SSL Bus comp on the main bus these days (the hardware one) or sometimes the Manley Vari Mu if the goal is more poshness.

I've never used a Neve on the master before.

PaulBrewer

Neurojazz wrote: »

There's a little 'E' switch on the Duende for E series... don't know if they are based on the C200 - have no clue.

Yes, but the c200 is based on classic analogue!

The E eq was considered the surgical accurate EQ where as the G (the other switch position) on boosting, for example, will place a small frequency dip before the boosted frequency and vice versa in cutting which 'smoothes' things over nicely.

It's a different sound. We find we use the G a lot.

PaulBrewer

Dancin' Jim at his best!

http://www.recordproduction.com/ssl-duende-video.html