Silver Bullet hardware vs software

I've only briefly tried the original hardware on Access Analog. With the plugin I agree that I don't find the A and N very usable while I like the Hitmaker as Mojo C at the default level. My conclusion with the eq is that I didn't like boosting it more than 1-2 notches. Is Aspect Ratio mainly supposed to be for going across a whole mix? I tried using it on sub-mixes and then running that through Fusion with the stereo imaging on lightly and the VSM-2 in MS and didn't really care for the result. Went back and turned Aspect Ratio off and that came across better. I've not used the Silver Bullet plugin across a mix in a while. One day I do want to get the MKII hardware and try that across a whole mix. Currently I'm preferring the Silver Bullet plugin over my previous favorites for sub-mix saturation. Last two that I used were Black Box and Century Tube. Did not engage the saturation or air band on the Black Box because I thought they sounded bad. Just basically left it on default while turning off the TMT. Century Tube had me using a notch or two of the high and low eq at times, didn't drive it much.

I'm not even using a lot of saturation from any one plugin or hardware. With Satin I prefer it to occasionally peak into the red, not stay full red. VSM-2 I've got most of the controls at 12 o'clock after a lot of experimenting. Vintage Drive is off on the Fusion. Silver Bullet's default setting for Mojo C being four notches or whatever it is might be the highest setting I use for any saturation on anything. I'm pretty sure it was Bob who mentioned something in a post years ago about how engineers weren't trying to drive analog equipment to crazy levels in the days before digital. Very wise philosophy.

Same exact situation here, and I could not agree more.

Also, re: the hardware, I rarely hear folks talk about the metering, but I really love the metering, personally. 👍

- Yes / Yes

- That works.  SB hardware has ALWAYS been on my mix buss for well over 10 years.

- Yes, and yes, and yes.  Mk1, Mk2, Plug.  Mostly use the mk2 hardware, with mk1 hardware coming in second.  Nothing like the OG hardware.

OK cool - many thanks for the feedback.
As a sculpting device - this creative chain really stands out on it's own, a great polishing tool
I'll purchase the hardware, I can't live without it. (love the black version)

Congrats drbill and LTL > sorry I'm late to the party.
Plug ins sell hardware.

Ordered - hardware is on the way.

The plugin mode A sweet spot is small and best used in mastering. It hard clips after the sweet spot. I’d imagine the hardware is similar based on BradM posts to me about this but maybe people are not pushing it to where the transfer curve gets very cool and are probably complaining that the modeling is simplified to run on current cpus. Maybe people are complaining because the plugin is not that colored but neither is good recording equipment that doesn’t insist on being a clone of an early solid state device that was laid out like a tube amp, which is not API style anything, where the sound is the transformers in the low end, early discrete opamps slew limiting, and well chosen and cool filters and dynamics processors where most of the sound is in how it behaves other than the top and bottom end disappearing on the 2500.

Hitmaker 4000 has a wider sweet spot and is easier to mix into. It sounds cool.

N is a general warmifier and has a large sweet spot. It’s more colored than A and the 4000.

I mean it does create distortion. So if it were a pedal and not a rack mount box, you’d consider it more of a boost or overdrive pedal than a distortion or fuzz pedal? It is quite cool as an overdrive/distortion pedal, less futzy than decapitator, but nearly as good as a fuzz as something like psp vintage warmer. But it only feels unique when pushed like this. Otherwise just another flexible distortion plugin like decapitator, sdrr2, or tupe. Until pushed when it opens up like a few modes of decapitator.

Fun, but not really the appropriate (in my PERSONAL opinion anyway) use.  One does not consider an API or Neve console a "fuzz box" or a "distortion pedal" even though you can manipulate them in that fashion.  Use it how you like, but understand it's intended uses.  <<thumbsup>>

[quote author="drbill" One does not consider an API or Neve console a "fuzz box" ...[/quote]

It is if The Police used one.

we’re currently in an overdrive everyone possible era again because the younger people have heard the late 90s and 2000s records and want that sound. Oasis just came back. I’ve experienced this myself mixing. They want it do be distorted slightly or greatly so that it sounds bigger than that era but often want it so that it sounds only better on whatever their very limited playback system is and worse everywhere else and they don’t tend to want L1 and L2 on everything or the later “modern rock, make everything fart” era or current crop of silly multiband maximizers (many of them are quite ineffective limiters) like limitless and elevate so you’re left overdriving individual instruments, busses, and mixes to their satisfaction even though this hurts translation, kills clarity, and dates the music because obviously you can hit a a classic console circuit or a classic lofi piece of equipment so that it’s not that dirty, even cassette recordings if manipulated before and after, and will be accepted by the audience but will often not be distorted enough for the artist. So they expect some special effect and some of the silver bullet modes provide this where a lot of cleaned up versions of classic equipment do not.