UAD Luna now has API summing

Where did you see that?

Drew paid me with the API X, as a gimmee just for you !

API summing. Nice!

Is this "API Summing" hardware or software?

So summing "emulation" in reality.

An emulation or a software model of any piece of gear?

Proof is always in the pudding: 14 day demo.

Btw: 33609 update is free, you pay $149 for the new 2254 comp, as part of the package so half price if you own 33609.

This is the live video they just did, it’s just under an hour: a good watch.

The hardware inserts thing is a big one. Well that, and Luna for Windows. Once they have both of those, I could see myself possibly switching over to use it as my main DAW.

Even if I still ultimately went OTB for the mix, having Neve/API summing on busses during tracking could still potentially prove useful for providing more of a "finished sound" context during tracking.

Nothing on the schedule. 

Bookmark this page:

www.uaudio.com/live

Isn’t that an SSL in his room at Sputnik? Or maybe it’s Neve.

Just spent about an hour with 33609, 2254 and API Summing. Damn.

I dragged in files from the PTs session I just tracked. Created busses for Drums, Bass, AG, EG and Keys...put API Summing on each...started with the drums...I usually replace to get the kick thumping and supplement the snare...didn’t bother for this, but more on that later. Initially just solo’d you can hear the API maybe tighten the bottom and accentuate it as you crank the headroom knob. You also have the option of pushing the faders into the “summing”...that’s really where it performs like the real thing. Giving you more headroom and adding body and punch. All the differences between the Neve and API hold true IMO here. The Neve seems to be softer and have a bigger bottom...Of course the LoQ Neve option is killer to get harmonic distortion... but n the API, I would call it more “crunch.” Anyway, the API is airy-er and seems like it’s more punchy farther up the low end spectrum. I find the API more subtle, but after going back and forth on this particular tune, I preferred it over the Neve...and missed both when they were gone (and yes, I volume matched)...and it’s definitely a cumulative thing.
But then adding in the 2254 on drum bus after that just brings the punch out like a MFer. I usually use the SSL on drumbus, but if that thing is smack, this thing brings roundness and punch with control...I will use the Zener or 176 in parallel if I need to mix in some whoosh and distortion, but the 2254 adds some of that if you need it.
The 33609 with the Mix and SC hpf is just killer too. I’ve been using the Vari-Mu in M/S on the 2 Bus for a while now - I liked having the ability to use it for slight control and to create width...but I always felt like it was on the bright side. Dropped the 33609 in the VM spot, selected the first Jeff Balding preset...alowed the attack down a little and adjusted the threshold and its even more control and adding just a little more of that Neve punch while pulling out that room sound a bit and making it sound more alive. Now - I can still see places where I would need the VM and SSL and Zener and 176...but that’s the problem...they all do different things extremely well.
So...I could see dropping some money. But to me, these are the “better-izers.” Oh - I also dropped the ATR 102 on the master...and even more glue and punchiness...Can you do all of these things in PT or Logic? Yeah (with other summing plugs)...but it’s the workflow and setup of Luna that just makes sense to me. I guess Cubase and Mixbus are setup like this on the mix page - like a real console - but for some reason Luna has made it more intuitive to me...I don’t know if it really would have occurred to me to try the ATR if I had been in PTs...but there’s the “tape” slot. I tried it and damn if it didn’t bring an positive audible difference to the table. It’s also all the gain staging ability - push the drum faders into the bus, into the the Summing with a headroom knob to adjust headroom then output into compressors with headroom and mix knobs then finally the Bus faders into either another bus or 2 Bus to repeat the process. Endless sonic possibilities. I like it.