Solid State Logic UF1 Advanced DAW Controller

I agree the problem is what Behringer / TC ran into with their plugins and controllers, awesome but if I need a separate controller for every plugin I’m going to need a bigger desk. When Avid and Mackie first came up with HUI we were promised plugin controllers that would be plug and play, when HUI was cracked they went silent.

Dan, the funny thing is if all these plugin vendors only stepped out of their world and realized if you make it easy for people they will buy for the ease. I was talking to a lighting DR for a major tour and he was telling me how he pissed off the rental house because he wouldn’t take a single fixture on tour that wasn’t mapped for his favorite controller.

You may be right about API not allowing that, which is why I had said that, absent a dedicated controller like the UC1, I want to find the next best thing, which at this point seems to be the UF8 or possibly the MP Midi. Maybe that new Nektar thing that was just released.

I'd just get whatever would work best for my needs and really spend some time getting it mapped to control that one plugin really well, and then get the muscle memory going so I don't have to think about which knobs control what.

Either way, I'm just increasingly into the idea of picking a channel strip that I like the most, and using it everywhere, all controlled by a controller of some kind that I have set up in a set and forget manner to exclusively control said channel strip plugin.

That's the reason that the UC1 impresses me, regardless of what you or I may think about the tone of the plugin that it is controlling. The concept is very appealing.

If Softube/UA ever get Console 1 figured out to control plugins in Luna, the Console 1 would probably jump to the front of my list, but that hasn't happened yet, and I don't know if it ever will. The relationship between those two companies seems to have cooled, and I suspect that it's because UA has gone native.

You need to stack up the non-linear inserts. Measure and abuse everything you can!

I could lick the pack on Tesla while in rainbow road mode😁

it doesn’t exist. All channel strip plugins pretty much suck for utilitarian use. Including Slate, the psp Infinistrip, console 1, mcdsp, everything ssl and brainworx, etc. they’re not flexible enough or have digital artifacts, poor control, phase shift, cramping or numerical errors.

The best single plug is probably Nova GE as a crazy parallel eq / dynamics processor when you truly understand it. Otherwise the best are things from 90s digital consoles like The Oxford and SSL Native or you now just use an eq and a compressor that you like.

The Massenburg and Tokyo Dawn stuff is amazing
the UAD is cool for what it is.
The old Sony Oxford six pack and Waves Renaissance Maxx plugs are still pretty good and decramped
Fabfilter is okay. Cool zoomer workflow but sound isn’t great on anything.
The SSL Native stuff is okay and makes sense but the dynamics are rank. Now with oversampling and decramping.
Console 1 has minimum phase anti alias filter oversampling thus phase shift.
McDSP has big time aliasing and dc offset in the dynamics.
PSP Infinistrip is mega distorted usually if you like that. I do but it’s not a go to.
The brainworx strips are pretty rank

UAD API Vision. Have you tried it? I would disagree that it doesn't exist.

Also, though I've mentioned channel strip plugins, there's no reason that you couldn't assemble your own channel strip from various eq and comps that you prefer, provided you can find the right generic controller that will map things the way you want. Either way, my point was simply to say that I just want a dedicated eq and comp (the SAME eq and comp) on each and every channel, with a dedicated controller to run them all, for all of the reasons I already stated.

But have you tried the UAD API Vision?

I quite like the API Vision and I think, at least from my experience, that it meets those criteria you mentioned. Now that it's available natively, yeah, you should try it. You might like it.

Also, to be clear, all of this sort of stuff always involves compromises. There will never be a channel strip that is perfect in every way. People always did and still do have to make compromises when they make a decision on which kind of analog console to use to mix a project. I don't really see this as all that different.

However, I think the UAD API Vision comes pretty close to that ideal, as far as channel strip plugins go, certainly at least close enough that I would be willing to live with those small compromises if it meant I could just use one controller like the UF8 to do 90% of my mixing. Something like the UC1 for the API would be even better, but it doesn't exist, so that's why I'm looking at the UF8.

The ultimate in sound quality doesn't mean as much to me these days if it's such a pain in the ass to achieve that I get lost in the weeds trying to get there. That's why something like the UC1 appeals to me. Granted, I'm not necessarily a "SSL guy" (from a tone perspective), and I can't even really speak to the sound quality of the Channel Strip 2 (9000k) or 4000k or bus comp plugins that ship with the UC1, but the concept of one hardware knob, one function, is VERY appealing.

Also, maybe I'm wrong about this, but I thought that these particular SSL plugins were recently updated, and therefore may sound better than the old ones you may or may not be exclusively familiar with? If they were recently updated, I could potentially see myself coming around to the idea of just going with the UC1 and getting used to using these SSL plugins. I mean, a TON of records have been mixed on SSLs, so it can't be THAT bad...

I've heard of decramping, and I know that it's supposed to be good, but I don't know much beyond that and I'm also not sure what you mean when you refer to "caveman digital". However, from the context of your comments, I feel like we are veering off into philosophical arguments about old school versus new school, and there's not necessarily a right or wrong with that, provided that the digital models of analog hardware are up to snuff and meet your needs.

I know that you tend to veer towards modern digital, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm kind of the opposite and prefer some of the limitations of the older analog hardware (and sound), in at least certain if not most instances, this search for a channel strip being one of those instances.

But to not get off track, because I'm not trying to argue for one philosophy over the other, I'd like to keep the discussion centered around what might be possible with a channel strip of your liking and a hardware controller adequately mapped to provide one knob/one function capability, or at least as close to that ideal as possible, because that's what I'm really focused on here.

Also, to be clear, I don't care about any of the other SSL plugins. I'm only interested in the three plugins that ship with the UC1. Those are Channel Strip 2 (9000k), the 4000k, and the bus comp. Also, the 4000k IS mapped to UC1, as far as I'm aware. So I'm really just interested in how much better those three plugins may sound after recent updates. Though even that is a specific tangent to the broader conversation about channel strips and controllers.

Now that SSL bought Harrison, I could get on board with a UC1 style dedicated controller for a Harrison channel strip, if/when that ever came out.