Ableton Forum

on sound quality alone which is better - spending £500 on someting like waves ren. or on a hardware comp./eq./verb ?

hardware is in a different price range to software and at the higher price range is almost always better sounding...

but that depends how you interpret "better" sounding

Problem with software is, beside's it almost always sounds "thin" and clean.
That is has no character of its own, every plug u use will run trough the audioengine of your host, and your soundcard.
So no seperate colloring, like hardware has

Komplex wrote:hardware is in a different price range to software and at the higher price range is almost always better sounding...

looking at turnkey you can get a hard comp/eq/verb for £500 obv. cheaper brands but would you say the would give a better sound then waves ren. or is it all a matter of taste

to a certain extend it is a matter of taste, but for 500 GBP, i would go software... the only comp i know underneath the higher price range which i think is any good is the really nice Compressor RNC, but it's only a comp. no limiter nor eq / verb.

if you look for a (very) good verb / eq / multi efx but (very) average comp then the lexicon stuff is pretty good... mpx 1 or 500.

the best software solution is defenitely the UAD-1 Card, and contains some software with soul / character, nice comps / verbs and one of the best EQs the *Precision EQ* outhere (i think only the weiss 1 mkII is better!!!)

so a tough decision... i would look into UAD-1 stuff, unless you are on a lappy... then either urs / waves or waves art plugs or the RNC and a lexicon.

and if you want to have one of the nicest compressors with colour then check the Blockfish from the fishfillets bundle... it's free and amazing!!!

To be brutally honest if you where to want "Waves" plug in bundle quality or better from hardware you'd have to spend alot more than 500 quid on outboard IMHO.
My advice would be to use something like "Waves" and then record the finished master externally.
Personally I'm not a big fan of internal digital renders.
Different matter when I am consolidating / resampling etc etc as I work.
I find going from my sound card to desk to high quality stereo recording device more than sufficient and it yields very punchy clean results for what it's worth.

lola wrote:Problem with software is, beside's it almost always sounds "thin" and clean.
That is has no character of its own, every plug u use will run trough the audioengine of your host, and your soundcard.
So no seperate colloring, like hardware has

Many types of hardware today are 100% digital. Reverbs, synths, amp sims...

If they sound better than your plug ins, it is because they run better software, nothing else.

It's important to say that a software works just with hardware, and here you got the different.

Depends what you're after... personally I like analog synths and filters and a bit of valve processing to give an edge and character to my sounds. Something which is more difficult to achieve with all software, in my experience. Although there are many all-software producers making amazing music these days.

Its just my personal preference in terms of 'my sound'.

a good mic preamp only comes in hardware version .
why not putting your money in a preamp or a chanel strip .

If you are thinking of goign with Waves, I would recommend checking out other companies like Sonalkis and Elemental Audio Systems. They make better sounding plug ins for cheaper, and have MUCH better upgrade options.

Just FYI. I used to use Waves almost exclusively, and 3-4 years ago they certainly were some of the best sounding plugs. But nowadays there's many other options out there that are better IMVHO.

Tarekith wrote:If you are thinking of goign with Waves, I would recommend checking out other companies like Sonalkis and Elemental Audio Systems. They make better sounding plug ins for cheaper, and have MUCH better upgrade options.

Just FYI. I used to use Waves almost exclusively, and 3-4 years ago they certainly were some of the best sounding plugs. But nowadays there's many other options out there that are better IMVHO.

i got the diamond bundle ,it's expensive but the quality i get from the plugins is amazing .

The only thing I really dislike about Waves is how they charge you for almost every upgrade, even when the upgrades don't add features, just compatibility with newer systems or bug fixes.

Michael-SW wrote:

lola wrote:Problem with software is, beside's it almost always sounds "thin" and clean.
That is has no character of its own, every plug u use will run trough the audioengine of your host, and your soundcard.
So no seperate colloring, like hardware has

Many types of hardware today are 100% digital. Reverbs, synths, amp sims...

If they sound better than your plug ins, it is because they run better software, nothing else.

good point michael, I usually cringe when I see these 'hardware v software' threads, as an alarming amount of people debate moot points when you consider that 'hardware' doesnt mean 'analogue' .....the real debate would be better worded 'analogue v digital' ...baring in mind there is alot of digital hardware out there, as opposed to truely analogue hardware - which sounds better.