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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 7, 2021 10:51:24 GMT -6
I can’t tell you which is which here. but I can teach you how to hear where analog is required: A: notice how it’s tame and kind of boring? The highs kind of say nothing remarkable, the tone isn’t anything amazing. B: See how hard it grabs and tugs on the sound? It’s so 76 it’s like an exaggerated meme of one. C: Kind of grabby like B, kind of boring like A, but seems sort of transparent in the highs. D: Notice how flat and bland that is? It’s like the whole thing is one generic sound. Each are usable.. but they aren’t interchangeable. A: I want to control a wild source that is already painful to hear, this could get me to tolerable space where I will need to work more. B: I want exaggerated analog grabby feel, source be damned. C: I want the grabby feel but the source is pretty good and I don’t want to destroy it D: I need to glue the thing into one cohesive sound, even though end result will need more work unless I need it to be flat for some reason Great stuff here!
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Post by bgrotto on Oct 7, 2021 12:30:19 GMT -6
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 7, 2021 12:45:32 GMT -6
How about tomorrow. That will give everyone with an opinion to chime in.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 8, 2021 10:17:55 GMT -6
No more takers? OK, here we go: A-Universal Audio 1176 (low serial # with proper input attenuator)how many posts until someone says they have the REAL THING? B-Brainworx Purple Audio MC-77-pretty well regarded plug, but has it's detractors C-Analog Obsession Fetish-threw this in as a wildcard D-Hairball Audio FET blackface rack-pretty righteous clone
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Post by tkaitkai on Oct 8, 2021 10:25:26 GMT -6
Right on.
D and B were my favorites, and I'm not surprised by that. The MC77 is as good as it gets in plugin land. I very slightly preferred the Hairball over the MC77, but definitely preferred MC77 over the UA, which is awesome. I need to grab the MC77 next time it's on sale.
The Analog Obsession was my least favorite.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 8, 2021 10:31:33 GMT -6
Right on. D and B were my favorites, and I'm not surprised by that. The MC77 is as good as it gets in plugin land. I very slightly preferred the Hairball over the MC77, but definitely preferred MC77 over the UA, which is awesome. I need to grab the MC77 next time it's on sale. The Analog Obsession was my least favorite. The UA most likely needs calibrating. I calibrated the Hairball more recently. To get the two to have the same behavior, the knobs were in pretty different positions.
The MC77 does sound nice. Never used the AO, and after this test, probably won't.
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Post by bgrotto on Oct 8, 2021 10:44:10 GMT -6
Ha, fun! That MC77 sounds awesome. Worked at a studio that had the hw and loved them there, too. Might hafta pick up that plugin.
Never liked the UA 1176 hw reissue all that much (have two of em in my rack). Still, I'm surprised it sounded so lame.
One question comes to mind though: any chance your UA needs a recap? That might explain the 'smushiness'. Might also be fun to compare your unit to mine...if you share the unprocessed audio and a pic of the settings you used, I can run the track through both mine.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 8, 2021 10:51:08 GMT -6
Ha, fun! That MC77 sounds awesome. Worked at a studio that had the hw and loved them there, too. Might hafta pick up that plugin. Never liked the UA 1176 hw reissue all that much (have two of em in my rack). Still, I'm surprised it sounded so lame. One question comes to mind though: any chance your UA needs a recap? That might explain the 'smushiness'. Might also be fun to compare your unit to mine...if you share the unprocessed audio and a pic of the settings you used, I can run the track through both mine. The UA could need a recap, or it could be the internal distortion trimmer needs resetting. Both of those things could make it a little mushy.
I lined the settings up on the dots-input 21, output 15, attack 2, release fastest.
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Post by bgrotto on Oct 8, 2021 10:57:52 GMT -6
Ha, fun! That MC77 sounds awesome. Worked at a studio that had the hw and loved them there, too. Might hafta pick up that plugin. Never liked the UA 1176 hw reissue all that much (have two of em in my rack). Still, I'm surprised it sounded so lame. One question comes to mind though: any chance your UA needs a recap? That might explain the 'smushiness'. Might also be fun to compare your unit to mine...if you share the unprocessed audio and a pic of the settings you used, I can run the track through both mine. The UA could need a recap, or it could be the internal distortion trimmer needs resetting. Both of those things could make it a little mushy.
I lined the settings up on the dots-input 21, output 15, attack 2, release fastest.
Cool...if you wanna send me the unprocessed track to run thru my units, DM me or just post a link here.
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Post by christopher on Oct 8, 2021 11:14:58 GMT -6
Thanks for sharing. B seemed like a winner, but I worried about how those highs poke out so strongly. If it was analog I’d trust it, since it’s a plugin I don’t. I know that’s kind of silly, I’ve just been down that road so many times. The IK Black76 does a similar thing, is great for short listening, after a while of mixing my ears can’t take it anymore. C seems a cleaner more linear version, I might look into that. A and D both remind me how printing OTB can often be, seemingly boring and wonder if it’s even worth it. The nice thing is you get control and glue without the “everyone look at me” thing. And probably over time it will be easier to consume and trust, hopefully. Put a nice EQ after if you want to give some more color, it could be nice?
edit: I decided to download them and try EQ81 plugin with some dramatic high and low boosts. The plugins did not do well at all, both the hardware seemed much better
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Post by Blackdawg on Oct 8, 2021 11:45:55 GMT -6
No more takers? OK, here we go: A-Universal Audio 1176 (low serial # with proper input attenuator)how many posts until someone says they have the REAL THING? B-Brainworx Purple Audio MC-77-pretty well regarded plug, but has it's detractors C-Analog Obsession Fetish-threw this in as a wildcard D-Hairball Audio FET blackface rack-pretty righteous clone What about the first one? I didn't listen yet to the other batch.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 8, 2021 11:52:07 GMT -6
No more takers? OK, here we go: A-Universal Audio 1176 (low serial # with proper input attenuator)how many posts until someone says they have the REAL THING? B-Brainworx Purple Audio MC-77-pretty well regarded plug, but has it's detractors C-Analog Obsession Fetish-threw this in as a wildcard D-Hairball Audio FET blackface rack-pretty righteous clone What about the first one? I didn't listen yet to the other batch. They were basically the same thing, just less calibrated.
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Post by enlav on Oct 8, 2021 12:24:36 GMT -6
Interesting, I'll have to compare the mc77 plugin to the IK76 now...
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Post by mcirish on Oct 8, 2021 14:23:26 GMT -6
I use the Softube FET a lot for an 1176 kind of thing. The MC77 seems a little brighter in comparison so I tend to use the Softube more. I hate the interface but the sound works for me. It's funny, every time I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on more hardware, some examples show up that make me wonder why I'm doing it. Saves me money. :-) I have a number of 1176 type plugins. PSP Fetpressor, MC77, ST FET, Waves, etc. Each have their own thing. I don't use them exactly as I would use the hardware but the results come out about the same. I think for the most part, we are all that way. We have a sound in our head that we are trying to get. I'm sure I could take stock plugins and get about the same results. It might take a little longer but my goal doesn't change. I just work till I get it. But... I do remember doing ITB mixes in 2000. Wow! Those were amazingly bad. Plugins have come a very long way since then. Don't kill me but my belief is that if good hardware is holding you back from a good mix, you might be fooling yourself. Ears > Gear.
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Post by Blackdawg on Oct 8, 2021 14:56:21 GMT -6
What about the first one? I didn't listen yet to the other batch. They were basically the same thing, just less calibrated. Nice! i'll have to check out the brainworkx plugin. I liked it.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 8, 2021 15:43:15 GMT -6
I use the Softube FET a lot for an 1176 kind of thing. The MC77 seems a little brighter in comparison so I tend to use the Softube more. I hate the interface but the sound works for me. It's funny, every time I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on more hardware, some examples show up that make me wonder why I'm doing it. Saves me money. :-) I have a number of 1176 type plugins. PSP Fetpressor, MC77, ST FET, Waves, etc. Each have their own thing. I don't use them exactly as I would use the hardware but the results come out about the same. I think for the most part, we are all that way. We have a sound in our head that we are trying to get. I'm sure I could take stock plugins and get about the same results. It might take a little longer but my goal doesn't change. I just work till I get it. But... I do remember doing ITB mixes in 2000. Wow! Those were amazingly bad. Plugins have come a very long way since then. Don't kill me but my belief is that if good hardware is holding you back from a good mix, you might be fooling yourself. Ears > Gear. Like I mentioned in the first post, I just finished mixing my latest record, running 16 channels OTB and often through lovely hardware. This morning I realized the first track wasn't up to the standards of the rest of the album, so I've gone back and remixed it entirely in the box. The problem wasn't the gear, it was that I had the knobs and faders in the wrong place. Once I put them in the right place, the mix sounds fantastic, and blows away the original mix that was through hardware. This gets me back to this thread. Only one of those 1176s failed to me-the AO Fetish. It was the only one whose sidechain detection failed to do what is was supposed to do in further testing. I'm the faster drum track I posted in this thread, it was OK. But when faced with slower material with more varying transients, it failed compared to the others. I will say this-the release of the MC77 can't be dialed in to function exactly like either of the hardware units, but the attack was fine, despite what some might say. The UAD 1176 is the only plug I've owned that got the release darn near perfect.
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Post by svart on Oct 8, 2021 17:19:21 GMT -6
Cool shootout.
I especially love the part where nobody could correctly pick out the hardware from the plugs.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Oct 8, 2021 21:20:35 GMT -6
Well, I got one, and the other sounded really good, so I'll stand by my choices
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Post by gouge on Oct 9, 2021 0:16:39 GMT -6
I compared a and b and preferred b. Seems like a really solid plug. Great clarity but a little bright.
When comparing the two I was wondering what resolution were the files and were they all routed out and back.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 9, 2021 8:46:04 GMT -6
I compared a and b and preferred b. Seems like a really solid plug. Great clarity but a little bright. When comparing the two I was wondering what resolution were the files and were they all routed out and back. Great point, all files made a trip out and back in.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 9, 2021 8:46:59 GMT -6
Well, I got one, and the other sounded really good, so I'll stand by my choices I did notice, while nobody was exactly right, everyone had good taste!
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Post by gouge on Oct 9, 2021 13:56:26 GMT -6
I compared a and b and preferred b. Seems like a really solid plug. Great clarity but a little bright. When comparing the two I was wondering what resolution were the files and were they all routed out and back. Great point, all files made a trip out and back in. thx. and the track resolution?
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Post by craigmorris74 on Oct 9, 2021 14:27:12 GMT -6
44.1
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Post by svart on Oct 10, 2021 9:17:13 GMT -6
Well, I got one, and the other sounded really good, so I'll stand by my choices Eh, you hedged that bet pretty hard! Besides, 50/50 isn't acceptable as proof.. Lol
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Post by bossanova on Oct 10, 2021 11:54:14 GMT -6
I use the Softube FET a lot for an 1176 kind of thing. The MC77 seems a little brighter in comparison so I tend to use the Softube more. I hate the interface but the sound works for me. It's funny, every time I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on more hardware, some examples show up that make me wonder why I'm doing it. Saves me money. :-) I have a number of 1176 type plugins. PSP Fetpressor, MC77, ST FET, Waves, etc. Each have their own thing. I don't use them exactly as I would use the hardware but the results come out about the same. I think for the most part, we are all that way. We have a sound in our head that we are trying to get. I'm sure I could take stock plugins and get about the same results. It might take a little longer but my goal doesn't change. I just work till I get it. But... I do remember doing ITB mixes in 2000. Wow! Those were amazingly bad. Plugins have come a very long way since then. Don't kill me but my belief is that if good hardware is holding you back from a good mix, you might be fooling yourself. Ears > Gear. The Softube Fet was my favorite for a while because it came the closest to nailing the compression behavior if not the box tone. I eventually switched over to U76 in Nebula and I've been happy with that since.
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