Hardware VS. Software Pre AMps

[A McLoughlin]

Hi Folks-

I have been getting more and more serious about the music production/ creative process and would appreciate some input from the community:

I have been coveting $900 - $2,500 hardware Pre-amps/ compressors on Ebay and have been shy about pulling the trigger on any of them, especially in this economy.

I recently discovered that there is a product by Universal Audio UAD-2 Solo that comes with a PCI Card and some pretty sweet looking (and decently reviewed) software emulations of pre's and compressors as well as other sought after hardware.

It seems to me that even with my average to decent interface (Motu Ultralite MKIII) and a decent speec'd PC tower and available PCI slots, that this would be a prudent and cost effective route to go, seeing that it is less than $500 for the UAD-2 SOLO.

Are there any/ many flaws in this logic?

Thanks for your feedback.

[String7th]

It's designed to take processing power off your CPU so you can run more instances of compression and reverb with out crashing.

I've got a similar computer to your with a quad core AMD, but only 2 gigs of ram. I love to run 4-6 plug ins per track and 2 reverbs. I've never had a crash and still exports faster than real-time.

For you, this UAD card seems like more of a toy rather than a needed upgrade. And we can all use toys. So if you are up, running, and content in your studio and got cash for toys, I envy you.

[A McLoughlin]

Thanks for the feedback.

Well, at this juncture I definitely do not need any additional "toys" to stay interested/ inspired. NI KOMPLETE 5 and SONAR 7 Producer is pretty comprehensive with plug ins and emulators, etc.

But my real concern or question is would the UAD-2 Solo PCI card/ software emulations be a good alternative to physical hardware to "**** up" and/ or colorize/ master sound (vocals, guitars, Basses) in the DAW environment?

[String7th]

Sure, it's great to have a lot of options of EQ, colored compression and master busses.
And if I can get a whole bunch for $500, I'd jump on it. Way cheaper than buying a single LA-2A for a few grand.

The only direct comparison from software to the hardware it's emulating is Focusrite's Preamp and compression "phase test"
In a nut-shell, if you take an audio track and run it through an API512 and 2500 hardware, and a emulation of the same settings, it should be the exact same sound wave. To test if they are equal, they reversed the phase on 1 of them and see if they created a zero signal.

I would assume it's pretty darn close if they freely advertise what it's emulating and not get sued.

[paul999]

I recently changed my view on the whole preamp thing. The basic way over simplified version is this. A good mic pre makes things sound like they are in front of the speaker. Sort of 3D. A stock mic pre can sound good but it sounds like it is coming from inside the speaker. Sort of 2D I know this is a bad description. With one or 2 instruments a cheap pre isn't bad but when you start piling in a dense mix you need to work extra hard to scrap away the mud. The best value for the dollar is an API 3124 IMO $2400.00. I learned that I can use my hardware compressors as mic pre's and they do an awesome job on certain sources. When I did a test of my manley variable mu, wavesmaxbcl, distressors, UA-610 and the profire2626 as pre's the profire pre's came in a distant last IMO. I have since bought a shadow hills 500 series micpre and I can say the compressors keep up nicely to it as pre's. I have old recordings that are recorded with my stock pre's. When I run them through the shadow hills it "fixes" them buy about 30% as compared to going into the micpre first and sending a good signal to the stock pre. In my experience software is a distant 2nd to most hardware so you will likely get something less then 30% of the benefit of the pre through software because it is sullied buy the stock pre to begin with.

I would buy 2 hardware compressors and a phantom power supply like 2 of these Inward Connections VC500 Discrete VCA 500 Series Compressor | VintageKing.com. IMO there is no plug in the world that will keep up to these plus in 5 years it will be worth 80-90% of what you paid for it. How much will the plugs be worth in 5 yrs. and how much will you have to spend on them again instead of getting sweet outboard gear. Oh I'm ranting again sorry.

Cheers

[rockerdude]

I have the UAD-2 and a ton of their plugins and some outboard stuff.I like the sound of the UAD stuff but I don't use it much.All these gadgets have their own color/flavor.
Yes you will get more bang for your buck with the UAD-2 but some of the hardware just can't be duplicated,IMO.

If your stacking 30+tracks you will hear the difference between a budget pre and a high end pre.

In the end it all gets squashed down to mp3 format and gets listened to on a laptop,earbuds so who is really listening.........

Sterling Sound Studios

[A McLoughlin]

Thank you for the feed back. Well, that's a lot of information to consider. Minimally, I think I really do need to invest in a decent entry level mic pre, perhaps a UA 610 solo or a Focusrite ISA ONE, see what kind of difference it may make on vocals.

Most of what I do is in the box, but I do want to **** things up in the vocal area prior to hitting the DAW, and I thought that the UAD plug ins might be able to do that.

So, I just upgraded to Sonar 8 for $99, to get some additional synths and plugins, and will postpone on the hardware while continuing my search for a future outboard gear purchase(s).

Much appreciated, truly.

[A McLoughlin]

Not sure why the word "****" always comes out in four stars(****) when I place an entry on here, it's a bit odd to me.

[A McLoughlin]

HA! did it again ... anyway the opposite of cool

[rockerdude]

The word w-a-r-m is baned from the site.