Hardware provides immediacy?

Even using something like Console Control 1?

I have Console 1 and the tactile feedback is very good. And the software is pretty good too, though not something I’d use on the stereo bus.


I might redo the ABX of setting up the STT-1 channel strip (solid state path) getting the very best tone out of a snare (for example) and then try matching it with a few of the strips on Console 1 then the truth telling double blind ABX test.

They both have a tactile surface to use, so then it’s a straight test of tone.

In a mix I’m not at all convinced there’s a difference to worry about when using clean solid state tools over quality digital save for the stereo mix bus.

In that respect I’m still very much hybrid in my approach.

What I’ve come to realize over the years is that I’m too much of a tinkerer to work ITB. As soon as I load a plug-in in my session I feel this urge to change things and try things. Same goes for midi. Change a note here, move a note there. An hour later you’re digging trough presets and not accomplishing much. I’ve wasted so much time messing around with plugins and VIs. That can be fun, but if I’m trying to get stuff done it just doesn’t work for me.

I bought a guitar amp a few months ago after 10+ years of using software emulations, and playing guitar became fun again. That led me into buying a stereo mic pre. It happens to be the first mic pre I ever bought and later sold when I got into the UAD Apollo Unison thing because the Apollo sounded close enough.

For me, the beauty of instruments, guitar pedals and hardware recording gear is not only the sound, but the way I can fully interact with it. Get a sound I like and move on.

From my perspective after doing a recent refit there's so many advantages to HW, especially with a small mixer in the loop. No issues with HW inserts, no latency concerns, no taxing my CPU, no plugin version 2 sonic "upgrades", no masses of the same plugin emulation with variable quality and I don't have to deal with a slurry of authentication systems. I can preview the mix as I go along without worrying about delay compensation or some sort of screwy timing problems. Also like others I find HW far more forgiving than plugs plus I can push them further as well.

I don't need HDX either and that's good because for the price of it I could buy another SSL Big Six, a 10 slot 500 chassis filled with top shelf stuff and maybe a couple of 2U rackmount comps as well. HW is only expensive dependant on what you need and what you're trying to achieve, I was looking for something inbetween an all HW 70's and modern production setup. That's a hybrid(ish) setup and yeah it cost a fair bit but this is my "final studio" so whatever.

On the other hand there's some plugs I couldn't live without, no 3 or 4 band will ever be as accurate as an ITB EQ, I went for mojo HW pieces only and to be fair it can be a bit overbearing at times. Lots of harmonic distortion, spillage, crosstalk and all that wonderful jazz we associate with HW accumulates into a big wad of wide sounding, loud, in your face big bass music that likes to make small speakers go what the? I've had to use ozone to reign it back in, also I do like my room sims and there's a few magical UA plugs I just didn't want to leave behind.

After going hybrid I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. Sure I will stick to the premise that a decent tracking channel strip with some good plugs is all you really need but all this "mojo" HW (which some of it hasn't even been modelled) does make life a lot easier.

Hailing from the era where CPU or DSP cards had to be economized, when converters were still a bit "not quite there" (Digidesign 888/24, I'm looking at you...), I'm completely absolutely unequivocally fine with printing analog eq, compression, what-have-you, on the way in. Same goes for guitars, I *could* just leave the DI'd tracks with sims running on them, but meh.... there is a lot to be said for capturing the sound of the performance, not just the performance itself. It'll never sound that way again. It may not be lightning, but keep bottling it - you never know.

Granted, if we're talking about something more corporate or "professional" (whatever that even means anymore), yes, make sure you're leaving options open. I'm thinking more about the projects we want to do, not the ones that pay the bills.

I mentioned a few ticks back in this thread that most of the stuff in my racks doesn't have a plug-in version. And even if there was....