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Damn You Abynth 5! Is There An All-Out Grand Slam VST Synth?

brandondrury — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 04:32:53 GMT

I've got a bunch of fun hardware synths. I'm finding VST synths to be more fun. I set aside two hours per day, each and every day this week to get a handle on Native Instruments Absynth 5. Stephen Ambrose, I can't remember which book it was, mentioned that one of Hitler's flaws in terms of the military machine was he'd assign two different groups the same task. (He believed in competition....rather strange for a guy who hated capitalism.) Anyway, when two competing isolated groups were doing their thing, in many cases 80% of what they were doing was redundant. If the two groups would have worked together, they could have just invented the wheel once and spent the rest of their time on V2 rockets.

I get the feeling that Native Instruments is also divided up into two or more isolated groups.

Massive is a hell of a VST synth. If you like the "metallic" nature of the synth (bright as hell would also describe it if you are lazy with the filters)....and I do, the possibilities in this synth are HUGE.

Absynth 5 is also a hell of a synth. People like to use it for evolving atmospheres and such. Admittedly, there's something about it that just pulls you into that world. Unfortunately, I don't always need a pad that sustains for 12 seconds or has some kind of slimy reverb that takes on a life of its own. What if I just want a good ol' supersaw lead? It can do that very, very well....and then you get to the effects. They are very strange (which is good) but they don't include any of the "classic" stuff you'd expect to find. They don't have any of the effects Massive does.

The Dimensional Expander in Massive is AWESOME. I love it. It's actually the closest thing (at least in spirit) that I've heard to my Eventide H3000. I don't have anything else like that in my arsenal in the box. There are times in Absynth where I'd REALLY like to have that Dimensional Expander. Native Instruments already invented it. Toss it in there under some menu.

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The review for Sylenth1 will go up for this week's newsletter. It's an outstanding sounding synth and really makes me wonder why I keep the Moog around. (Seriously.) When you look at the routing options for LFOs and Envelopes, you are stuck with the same limitations of the old late 70s / early 80s synths. (Note, this was back in a time when the designers wanted to do more with voices, routing, modulation, etc but the technology was too expensive.) Just to give a frame of reference, this would be like intentionally (and artificially) setting a 3 day waiting period on email within the US and an 8 day waiting period on email to the UK from the US. Uh, it's new technology. Let's just make it instance and enjoy all the creative options! There WERE NO "good ol' days". Fuggetaboutit.

In reality, I have no idea what it would take to add the ability to send LFOs and Envelopes to just about anything, but I know it's not limited by hardware.

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In all these synths (Absynth 5, Massive, and Sylenth1) there are some kinds of limitations placed on great sounding tools that simply make each tool less effective for what I'm doing. I can understand to a degree why one synth or another has character. (That should be a sonic thing within it's oscillators and such.) To actually deny features that are right there on the table simply for the sake of "uniqueness" strikes me as silly. Just jam 'em all into one mega mega synth....an All-Out Grand Slam synth and I'll gladly buy it.

If anyone knows of an All-Out Grand Slam synth, please let me know.

Brandon

10db Snare Overload Into 2bus Brickwall LImite: Metal and Dubstep Snare Mixing

brandondrury — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 03:55:55 GMT

Edit: Well this is cute. My video isn't showing up. Hmmm.

I started a thread where I discussed this concept http://forum.recordingreview.com/f8/...limiter-46447/ , but what I�m up to is so foreign that I�m not even sure I get it. ;) I went ahead and made this video to explain myself a little more clearly.

-- I do feel that I�m on to something and a certain segment of my clients would dig this kind of sound. (I�m also aware of clients who�d hate it.)

-- There�s something that feels a little wrong about the technique as if it's not technically appropriate to trash the 2bus in this fashion.

-- You may be as modern as it gets and think the tactic is stupid. To each his own. I�m not necessarily condoning it. I�m just discussing it. ;)

-- Because it�s more of an experiment I have on the side, I decided to put it here in the blogs section as opposed to making a full blown article about it.

Brandon

The New UAD 1176 and the Excessive Cost Of Plugins

brandondrury — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:30:24 GMT

I want to point out that in my situation I have a pretty "mature" collection of gear and plugins. This is an issue of having more than enough food in the fridge and then still deciding to go out to eat. I don't NEED any new toys.

UAD released it's new and improved 1176s http://www.uaudio.com/store/compress...ollection.html. I had no intention of even trying them but I succumb to the temptation. They are better. How much? Well, I can tell you for sure that the weakest link in the last 20 mixes wouldn't place the UAD 1176 (the one I already own) in the top 1,000 of problems I need to solve/improve. If I posted an Audio Skeptics Society post with both compressors in a totally blind test, no one would care about the difference. No client would go YES!!!.

New shoelaces would probably make a greater impact on my life in the big picture even if focusing on the microcosm that is A/B ing 1176 plugins pleases those having "Hear The Difference" contests. It is possible that extra little chracter MAY give a track that one thing it's missing. In those cases, that extra 1% is hard to put a price tag on. That's they way they sell these things, I guess. (I have 200 plugins that all give you that extra 1%. When does my recording quality double? :epiphany)

I was deeply affected by paul999's post a year or two ago about his view that plugins were more expensive than hardware. It's a slightly crazy point of view. How can a $300 plugin that you can use on 100 channels in your mix cost more than a $1,200 (used) hardware compressor that you can use one 1 channel?

The difference is there are 6 F*CKING $300 plugins that come out every F*CKING month all claiming to be some freakin' holy grail...or at least implying it. Even if you bought into the hype only once a month, that's a $3,600 /yr plugin bill. Ouch!

The thing that sucks about this is you won't be finished at the end of the year. Going down this path you will NEVER be satisfied because they will always half the distance between the plugins and the hardware. A hot new MUST HAVE thing WILL come out in the next 4 days. I guarantee it!

A person doesn't have to necessarily spend $3,600 per year on plugins, but at some point they will have to abandon this "subscription service" and simply stick with their tools with the inferiority implication. The marketing machine will continue. For some this will be easy. They never played the rat race to begin with. For others who are willing to bleed a little bit for that extra 1% it's HARD to stay disciplined.

Waves, UAD, Slate Digital and a dozen other tip top companies have new stuff coming out every week.

Example: UAD Studer A800 was all the rage about a year ago. Waves now has their tape machine emulator. UAD adds the Ampex (which people are all talking up now and seem have kinda forgotten about the Studer). The Slate Digital tape emulator comes out soon. Then what? What do I do with that $300 UAD Studer A800? I can't sell it, really. Not for any real money.

Example2: UAD makes a big splash with the EMT 250 Plate. It's a hell of a reverb. I'll give 'em that. It's a "must have" according to the marketing. Then their Lexicon 224 comes out. It's now a "must have". It never really ends. There will be a new "must have" reverb soon. I'm positive of it.

So anyway, I was wondering what it would cost to buy 10 1176s used. I figure if I'm a smart shopper I can pick up 10 of them for $14,000. Expensive? YES! That means I simply need to avoid 46 months of the $300/month plugin subscription. If I can manage that, at the end of the 4 years I will have $14k in hardware that I can sell for $14k.

I'm not sure if I'll do this. Hardware is a pain in the ass when you need to tweak it a lot. (An Eventide H3000 makes sense...at least til the VST version comes out). One thing is for sure. Buying "hot", "new" plugins every 10 minutes is a pain in the wallet and I'm not sure if it's really all that easier on the ears. ;)

Brandon

Rode NTG-2 Shotgun Microphone and Movie Scoring

brandondrury — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:23:26 GMT

I wrote this last July and never posted it. :confused:

This weekend was the annual 48 Hour Film festival. The idea is you have 48 hours to make a movie 7 minutes or less starting from scratch. You don't know the genre, required props, or required character names beforehand. At 7:00pm on a Friday night there is a huge rush to toss together a story, locations, cast, etc.

I brought out my sorta-portable recording rig (which isn't) and setup in a spare bedroom (probably 10'x10' with no acoustic treatment). My role was to score the thing and do the final mix of the film.

Rode NTG-2 Shotgun Microphone
I have to say that I was VERY impressed with the Rode NTG-2 Shotgun Microphone, which was recorded with a little portable recorder (I can't remember if it was a Zoom or Tascam...sorry). The mic has almost zero sibilance. I probably could have knocked a dB off here or there with a de-esser, but it was, by far, a kick butt mic for the film sound gig at this price range.

Due to time limitations, all the voiceover work was done with the Rode NTG-2. I would have preferred to use my rig, but the shotgun mic sound actually turned out pretty damn well in that fashion, too. Totally usable. I had a full 7 minutes to mix this thing due to getting a late start on the score and me underestimating the amount of time it takes to score a horror film, but the natural sound of the Rode NTG-2 didn't require much more than a UAD 1176 and a slight notch at 400Hz and 5k.

Before the 48 Hour film festival I was doing some homework trying to find a mic that I could use in the studio that I could swap to shotgun capsules. I didn't want to shell out big cash for a shotgun mic I'd use once per year. I was eyeballing the AKC C451, which is a prime time SDC, but could never find any sound examples. Now I know that if I really need to shell out the bucks for a kick butt shotgun mic, the Rode NTG-2 is what I'll get. I seem to be impressed more and more by this Rode company and I'm a guy who is used to using mics that are well over $2,000.

At $270, the thing is a steal. If I would have been told we were using Schoeps shotgun mics when the tracks were handed to me I would have believed it although I do not have any experience with tip top shotgun mics. (Because I'm used to having a fancy tube LDC in the front of a singer in a controlled environment that I've placed exactly where I want them with no stupid cameras to worry about, I kinda believe that film sound is never exactly ideal. I'm sure there is a healthy difference between a Schoeps and a Rode.)

Rode NTG-2 @ Musician's Friend --- Rode NTG-2 @ ZZounds.com --- Rode NTG-2 @ Ebay.com --- Rode NTG-2 @ Amazon --- Rode NTG-2 @ B&H

Portable Vocal Booth
For a few little things I did use a Gefell m930 in the untreated room. The Editor Keys portable vocal booth thing - which I'm finding more and more uses for even in my controlled environment - was absolutely critical. I still believe that really treating a room is better than relying on one of these and I still hear the same not-so-desirable room character with the portable booth in place, it's just nice having that room sound reduced considerably.

I didn't have my trusty Ninja Turtles blanket with me unfortunately.

Score Sounds
Stormdrum 2, Absynth, and Massive made up the score entirely. Stormdrum has some AMAZING sounds for this horror genre....and just about any other genre that needs percussion. There were quite a few disturbing noises that were very useful as well that I didn't expect.

I found the browser feature on the Native Instruments synths, Absynth and Massive, to be absolutely essential. There were times when I needed a metallic ringing sound. I just clicked on �metallic� and �sustain� and all the patches that fit the bill popped up. That is the ONLY way to work. I wish Stormdrum had something like that because I know there were certain sounds buried in that thing I needed, but I just didn't have the time to find them in the context of this contest.

I totally overdid the score. It's clear that I'm a Type A person with a caffeine problem. The final scene was RUINED. I had it fully scored and I LOVED it. Then they changed the edit at the last minute and I had literally 3 minutes to fix it. I was not happy with it, but the time element is what makes these 48 Hour Film Festivals so fun.

Conclusion
I highly recommend anyone in need a great shotgun mic for the money take a look at the Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic.

For those so inclined, try to get involved with these 48 Hour Film festivals. They are a lot of work, almost no sleep for 48 hours, but there's something very rewarding about working hard and fast and knowing that you simply don't have the option to go back and �fix� it. It takes a lot of the pressure of perfection off and just lets you have fun.

BTW, I pushed HARD with what little clout I had to make a movie about a modern-day witch warlock that had a broom and flew all around the city. I was shot down and we made a �serious� movie. Simply put, you can't make Shawshank Redemption in 48 Hours. Oh well.

Here's the movie:

I'm Delaying The Super Studio

brandondrury — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:14:53 GMT

I've decided that I'm gonna wait on the Super Studio.

I started with nothing and still have most of it left. My current �house� would not meet HUDs standards (American free housing for the poor). However, my gear racks would almost satisfy Mutt Lange. Well, maybe not. You get the point. I get the feeling from a housing standpoint, that my situation isn't much different than some of the rougher portions of Poland...or Detroit. I've invested my cash in my craft and not luxuries most Americans take for granted.

There's a reason you don't see pics of my facility and I'm very careful with my camera angles when doing videos.

The plan from Day #1 has always been to have a super studio. Just imagine a studio with an SSL, but subtract anything that looks like a woman or a drug dealer with white pants decorated it and put up a bunch of swords and knight armor. 30' ceilings in the live room sounds about right, for example.

The only problem with the super studio is the one thing it does right. It solves almost all of my home recording problems. Low ceilings and small rooms are the killer of the home recording world. I'm trying to avoid these challenges by building a monstrosity out in the country where soundproofing isn't much of an issue, either.

That's the sissy way out of the home recording problem.

My RecordingReview Responsibilities
My job, here at RecordingReview.com at least, is to solve home recording problems and pass that info on. We get tons of threads in the http://forum.recordingreview.com/f73/ Acoustics and Studio Construction forum where people are working in not-so-ideal conditions. Most people are working within limitations carefully devised by the wife and enforced with an authoritarian hand with crying babies and restraints on cranking 4x12 cabinets....maybe even on 1x10 cabinets.

It doesn't do anyone here much good to see how I'd mic up a drum kit at Ocean Way. What does matter is if I was forced to record in a basement, what would I do to solve my problems? How much would it cost? What would be a total waste of money? What was that one $100 thingy I can't live without. How would I get my monitoring accurate?

I've taken on the role of guinea pig with my gear purchases so I could report back to you guys what's important and what isn't. At present, I can't really do that with my current facility because the damn thing is in use too much.

I think by going through the hell of setting up a studio that meets my standards and documenting every decision, hour, and dollar I put into it including the wife bitching and moaning, I'll have something that could do an enormous amount of good for my fellow home recorders. The �how� and the �why� will be just as important as the �what� in my usual excessively thorough style.

I could see myself using more electronic drums. That might suck, but it doesn't have to. That may lead to me commissioning my �smart gate� MIDI plugin I've had on the brain that will pretty much perfect triggering electronically. Not sure. There may be a market for $1.30 piezos on a stick.

The point is I'm a more potent helper here at RecordingReview when I'm stuck in the same lion cage everyone else is.

Not Rushing The Super Studio
I've decided that it would be cool to have the best damn drum room in between Memphis and Chicago. Going �pretty good� is expensive. I think I could muster up all-out-mega-sound for maybe 50% more. I think fixed costs like HVAC and concrete are a bigger issue than getting the room right when dealing with 30' ceiling conditions.

I'm a bit nervous that all that would go into a super studio may be more demanding on the wallet than I expect. So it makes sense to build this Super Studio with money I don't need. By taking my time, I may be able to further exploit "economic uncertainty" for my financial benefit.

I'm not gonna rush the Super Studio. Instead, I'm gonna jump face first into totally unideal home recording facility situation and put my brain to work making it as ideal as possible and somehow keep the wife from divorcing me.

ISA428 or True Systems

brandondrury — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:28:57 GMT

Paul999 sent me this via PM and I figured I'd answer in public.

You've said several times that you really like the true system pre's and that they are very clean. I've always thought you were crazy for this because I was underwhelmed when I tried the solo. You've also said that you bought the focusrite 428 because it is so clean and does nothing. *sidebar. I always thought the 428 was quite colored especially in the high end so now I really think your crazy(thats okay I know I'm crazy).

So the question. What made you choose the 428 over the solo?

Cheers
Paul

Great question. I love being called out on this sort of thing because it illustrates just how damn illogical we are even when maybe we rank logic high on our list of priorities.

It's funny you ask this. I had a short little blog topic in mind where I was just gonna tell everyone to say screw the high end gear and find that just-under-high-end price for toys with personality. I was just gonna tell people to get the 8 ch True Systems box, a Kurzweil Rumour, and get to work. Most of this was motivated by the PCM90 which I played with for hours last night. That's a differ story for another day.

First off, the ISA428 and the True System P-Solo do sound quite a bit different. In my head all clean preamps should sound pretty much the same. If they are not, than they are obviously doing SOMETHING. So my views of the ISA428 being clean were based more on a certain idiot forum than anything.

I remember the True Systems P-Solo not being particularly hyped at any frequency. It certainly didn't any do anything bold or sexy in the way a Neve or API does. What I remember about the P-Solo, particularly on acoustic guitar was it sounded more like being in the room than any other preamp I put it up against. This was for the KHR Interrogator Sessions and I had some awesome preamps in the test (Great River, Manley, Martech, Presonus ADL600, Vintech). I don't know what makes a preamp make a source sound "more real" or more "3D", but to my ears it definitely did. With that said, on sources that I generally want a colored preamp to do some of the heavy lifting, I wasn't as thrilled with the P-Solo. I attribute this more to the lack of color than anything.

When I bought the console I debated many options. I decided I wanted to only purchase 4ch preamps that were once much more expensive, but also had probably hit the floor of their price. I don't expect ISA428s to drop under the $1,200 mark anytime soon. I decided I wanted a few options so I picked up the API3124, Wunder Pa4, and ISA428. I expect to profit a few bucks when I sell these.

My experience with the P-Solo was positive, but I had no luck finding a 4ch unit that met my resale requirements. I could have sprung for the 8ch but didn't need it. So that was the main reason.

Another reason is I look at myself as a human guinea pig. I prefer to test on myself (wasting my cash) so I can report personal experience back to others and I wanted to know what the ISA428 sounded like. (I have a natural tendency to want things that people both love and hate.) I didn't really take the purchase of the ISA428 too seriously because I knew I didn't have to. I'm not sure I'd call it an "impulse" purchase, but I had the cash and inclination to buy a non-API, non-Neve preamp and there were no GMLs on Ebay that week. So I bought it.

The way my patchbays are setup, I can switch preamps by moving one cable to a different hole so I don't think about the preamp thing too much. If the sound isn't feeling right, I switch. I've got a ballpark idea of what to expect from each preamp, but I'm often surprised, too. I think it's more an issue with the source than anything, but sometimes the API sounds way more "hi-fi" on an acoustic guitar than the ISA428. Sometimes the opposite is true. I can't answer why. I'm gonna have to get better ears for that.

Brandon

November Highlights At RecordingReview.com

brandondrury — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:53:38 GMT

I was having problems getting my reamped tracks to sound as good as the real thing. I was beginning to wonder if reamping was fundamentally flawed until Rockerdude made this awesome post.

We had a diffusor discussion that really took off.

Venuestudio tells us the best way to clean scratchy pots

DanTheMan tells us an AWESOME trick on sub positioning he learned from Mr. Pape from Gik.

Quote of the month from Danny Danzi in regard to the Neumann U87

As a matter of fact, the damned thing only sounds good when I sing in the key of G.

paintballnsk had a studio monitor that didn't make it through his loudness war.

Richiebee posted an awesome clip showing what the Cubase Logical Editor can do.

Paul999 did an awesome little comparision between API, Focusite Audient console, and his D&R console preamps.

Bholst has stayed on top of numerous gear giveaways and contest.

More Highlights?
If you see anything that you find really awesome that you want to make sure the entire community knows about it, send me a PM with a link to it. I'd love to include it!

Last Day To Enter ADK Mics Metal Mayhem

brandondrury — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:29:30 GMT

Hey dudes/chicks,

Today is the last day to enter the ADK Microphones Metal Mayhem contest. :beerbangX:
http://forum.recordingreview.com/f137/

Grand Prize: ADK TC-47Au tube condenser
Second Prize: ADK S-51 Mk 5.2 (See my review...http://forum.recordingreview.com/con...ne-review-147/)
Third Prize: ADK S-7B

Get on it! :D

Brandon

The Significance of Bumping

brandondrury — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:35:00 GMT

The correct spelling is probably bumpin' or bumpN or something like that. I'm white. I look white. I dance white. I'm calling it bumpING.

Once upon a time I was into to the rather progressive stuff and rarely listened to a song that was shorter than 8 minutes. I took the cerebral side to the music I made and recorded very seriously and avoided anything that wasn't up to �my standards�. I went through the same thing with movies. If the movie was something the �popcorn crowd� would get, I didn't want anything to do with it. There was a certain lack of mental stimulation that seemed almost immoral at the time.

When it came to social events and weddings, I had a conflict. My personal reservations had trouble letting go. The issue of stupid pop music was one I tagged with write and wrong and I ended up being the guy sitting in the corner with my beer watching everyone else do their thing.

Fast forward a few years. Last night the woman's best friend got married. It was non-stop bumpin. I was out there shakin' my ass, stomping to kick drums, and convulsing my body in ways that mothers were covering their 8-year-old girl's eyes hour after hour. I was completely covered in sweat. I can say without reservation that it was 100% fun non-stop bliss. You don't get to have 100% fun when you are over 30 too often. You can't leave those opportunities behind....EVER. I'll be dead soon.

Not Mutually Exclusive
A big thing I've learned is there is no �us vs them�. By shakin' it LMFAO, you aren't dumbing down music. You aren't taking away from �serious music�. You aren't a part of the problem. You simply aren't wasting a night that could be used to perfect your Johnson Windmill (I'm not sure I want to imagine that particular dance move) to sit on the bench only scratching the surface of life.

Paper Plates vs Fine China
Last week Dave Pensado was pressed on this issue of art vs pop. The question to him was implied as to mean that pop music was somehow inferior. Dave immediately (and rather forcefully) jumped in to say that you've got paper plates and you've got fine China. It would be hard to live without either and you SHOULDN'T live without either. The notion that pop music fills a certain indispensable role is not something you hear much in recording land, even if that role is more on the �disposable� side.

The Real Smart
If you REALLY want to test your intellect, subscribe to Scientific American or read a book on Special Relativity. You'll suddenly realize that the kind of smart it takes to understand the relation of gravity and time has ZERO business in our irrational world of noisy emotions. Gravity leaking into another dimension has nothing to do with song arrangements, note choice, and song length. Apples n bowling balls. In other words, you should be making artsy, progressive music because it gets your rocks off and not because you have a 4.0 grade point average.

Us Recorders
If we are really music people, we should try to �get� Pink just as much as we �get� Mars Volta or Dream Theater. There are huge musical lessons that all three can teach and all of them can make us better producers, engineers, and songwriters regardless of whether we are using 4-on-the-floor or 15/16.

On a more personal level, don't live your life on the sidelines. Chug half your beer so you don't spill it, and get in the game. Your intellect has betrayed you otherwise. Get out there, show your ass, and have a blast doing it. When you get home, pull out the fine China is you are so inclined.

Party On!

Finished With 2-bus Compression Plugins

brandondrury — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:05:59 GMT

I remember on a Pensado's Place ITL where Dylan Dresdow (Black Eyed Peas, Usher, etc) stated in a Batter's Box that he doesn't like any plugins when it comes to 2-bus compression, but he mentioned he liked XXXXXX (STC-8?) hardware.

For the past few months I've been forcing myself to mix with plugins for 2-bus compression. I've mostly been using the UAD SSL Buss Compressor for this. My general feeling was it wasn't doing anything. Don't get me wrong, it's doing something, but compared to my hardware Chameleon Labs 7802 compressor, it WASN'T DOING ANYTHING. I guess I'm saying that the 7802 does A LOT.

My main reasons for staying ITB was to simplify my setup. I hate doing recalls of any kind. I'm always trying to squeeze every last second out of each day and that's a few minutes spent doing recalls is always a few minutes I'd always like to have back. Previously, I wasn't too disciplined about forcing myself to not touch the compressor and that caused me to spend 30 minutes trying to match my compressor settings on one session. I never wantd to have to do that again.

After using plugins on the 2bus, I was always missing that forward mid thing with the low mids tightened tremendously. Even with no reduction on the 7802, it does something that makes me say, �YEAH!!!�. It's not even subtle. It's just good. I didn't get that from one plugin I own.

You guys may remember a while back when I was on fire for 2bus compression. Most of you don't have hardware compressors (or the exact 7802 I own) and most of you weren't remotely impressed by your trials with plugins. I can say I 100% agree with you. None of the plugins I used did a damn thing for me in this 2bus compression business. They didn't suck. They just didn't do anything that made my life easier. They didn't kick the mix in the ass in a way that I said, �Yeah!�. I'm starting to think that maybe this 2bus compression stuff is more about vibe than the actual control of dynamics.

From here on out I've decided that I will never touch the controls on the Chameleon Labs 7802 again and I'll either use it or I won't. I can control how much level I send to it via the �External Effect� plugin in Cubase. That's just as good as a threshold for me. That solves the recall problem.

Now I'm curious what a high end 2-bus compressor like the API 2500, Alan Smart C2, or Crane Song STC-8 would do. My gut says that I've stumbled upon a particular compressor that has VIBE VIBE VIBE. I don't expect a clean hardware compressor to do anything too much different from what the cleaner plugins were doing. There is probably some $200 compressor out there with bold mojo that may be incredible for this application as well. In the mean time, I'm sticking with the 7802 as an indespensible mixing tool in my control room.