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Post by Johnkenn on May 26, 2016 7:09:39 GMT -6
It's hard to get anyone to send you stuff to review if there's a 50-50 shot you're going to pan it...My personal strategy is not to say anything if I'm not totally enthusiastic about a product.
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on May 26, 2016 7:17:34 GMT -6
everybody who reviews products is makeing their money off of advertisers, so who's going to bite the hand that feeds them? The problem that creates is the perception that if there are no reviews that means a product sucks, when it could mean the vendor simply isn't sending samples out for review!
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Post by sozocaps on May 26, 2016 16:33:33 GMT -6
Honestly.. I have no idea how it compares to the original but I will say I like it MUCH more then I thought I would from the videos for numerous reasons. First 99% of the videos don't truly bypass the unit so you cant hear what the unit does to the signal just going through it. Second, I use it during tracking and WOW just the gain makeup I get is AMAZING!!! Third when tracking or mixing you can fit it in to shape what you are doing and its much clearer what it is doing to your signal. Lastly, I just love being able to grab a knob and listen and not look !!!
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Post by kcatthedog on May 26, 2016 16:51:40 GMT -6
Mine's supposed to be here tomorrow:)
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Post by thehightenor on May 30, 2016 9:39:04 GMT -6
And its built like a tank! I imagine it is.
To get the CE mark for the European market with all those internal high voltages running the tubes, I'm sure it's well up to spec.
I like the proper internal PSU - again essential for the high voltage stuff.
Now UA have stopped making 1176's and LA2A's for the UK/European market (as they lost their ROHS certificate) I think I'm am going to buy a WA76 and WA2A combo as a nice alternative to my Retro STA level to vocals and bass etc.
I like the look of the Splice MK2 but for some occasional tracking £1600 is a lot of money for me to spend.
The WA76 and WA2A together are a more reasonable £1300.
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Post by thehightenor on May 30, 2016 9:40:36 GMT -6
And its built like a tank! I imagine it is.
To get the CE mark for the European market with all those internal high voltages running the tubes, I'm sure it's well up to spec.
I like the proper internal PSU - again essential for the high voltage stuff.
Now UA have stopped making 1176's and LA2A's for the UK/European market (as they lost their ROHS certificate) I think I'm am going to buy a WA76 and WA2A combo as a nice alternative to my Retro STA level to vocals and bass etc.
I like the look of the Splice MK2 but for some occasional tracking £1600 is a lot of money for me to spend.
The WA76 and WA2A together are a more reasonable £1300 (although still a lot of money for my budget)
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Post by kcatthedog on Jun 3, 2016 15:33:21 GMT -6
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Post by wiz on Jun 3, 2016 17:29:12 GMT -6
Congrats...
when you get around to it.. post a vocal snippet with the pre emphasis control at 0 30 60 100 percent if you can.. even just loop a line 4 times and adjust the knob in the one pass.... The SA2A was originally going to have one, but doesn't.. I wonder what it does.. and if it reduces the highs a tad..
cheers
Wiz
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Post by jcoutu1 on Jun 3, 2016 17:43:06 GMT -6
Steaming logo is gone huh?
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Post by rowmat on Jun 3, 2016 18:07:31 GMT -6
Steaming logo is gone huh? I removed the Warm Audio logo completely from our pair of WA76's. To be frank the logo cheapens the product. I always thought it looked like a steaming pile of xxxx
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Post by M57 on Jun 3, 2016 18:24:57 GMT -6
Just got my WA-2A yesterday! So now my dream chain is pretty much ready to go - running out of excuses for not sounding good: Blackspade UM-18R -> Dizengoff D4 -> WA-2A. I also have a WA76 that I can add if necessary (before the WA-2A just to to take 1 or 2 db off the top, right??) but first things first. Mine is a home studio, and I don't have the ears you guys do so it's extra hard for me tweak things while being a performer. I guess it's a matter of guess and check until I find those recall settings. No doubt, I'll be asking for a little help from my friends here
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Jun 3, 2016 19:09:11 GMT -6
Just got my WA-2A yesterday! So now my dream chain is pretty much ready to go - running out of excuses for not sounding good: Blackspade UM-18R -> Dizengoff D4 -> WA-2A. I also have a WA76 that I can add if necessary (before the WA-2A just to to take 1 or 2 db off the top, right??) but first things first. Mine is a home studio, and I don't have the ears you guys do so it's extra hard for me tweak things while being a performer. I guess it's a matter of guess and check until I find those recall settings. No doubt, I'll be asking for a little help from my friends here track dry till you get a feel for it on tracks or split the signal and record a dry and a wet so you can see what it's doing.
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Post by kcatthedog on Jun 3, 2016 19:27:04 GMT -6
Here you go Wiz!
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Post by M57 on Jun 3, 2016 19:38:26 GMT -6
Just got my WA-2A yesterday! So now my dream chain is pretty much ready to go - running out of excuses for not sounding good: Blackspade UM-18R -> Dizengoff D4 -> WA-2A. I also have a WA76 that I can add if necessary (before the WA-2A just to to take 1 or 2 db off the top, right??) but first things first. Mine is a home studio, and I don't have the ears you guys do so it's extra hard for me tweak things while being a performer. I guess it's a matter of guess and check until I find those recall settings. No doubt, I'll be asking for a little help from my friends here track dry till you get a feel for it on tracks or split the signal and record a dry and a wet so you can see what it's doing. I've been tracking dry up until now. How do I split the signal? The D4 only has one output.
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Jun 3, 2016 19:42:44 GMT -6
track dry till you get a feel for it on tracks or split the signal and record a dry and a wet so you can see what it's doing. I've been tracking dry up until now. How do I split the signal? The D4 only has one output. Try a good old fashioned y cord!
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Post by ragan on Jun 3, 2016 22:53:04 GMT -6
Take a vocal you recorded, run it out through DA and back through AD. Blind test yourself on the two and see if you can pick out the one that has the DA/AD loop. Then stop worrying about hardware inserts forever
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Post by M57 on Jun 4, 2016 4:10:00 GMT -6
Take a vocal you recorded, run it out through DA and back through AD. Blind test yourself on the two and see if you can pick out the one that has the DA/AD loop. Then stop worrying about hardware inserts forever I've been thinking about this option for a while.. I'm pretty sure I would flunk the test, which you would think is good - My first thought is that I could bounce audio out in multiple passes and print on as many tracks as my heart desires - but what happens when all those AD/DA artifacts start piling up? Will I hear that? And even if I don't, I suspect others would. The reality is I probably would only do it on a few tracks here and there, or maybe a buss. As for the ericn's suggestion, same logic applies - Regardless, as a test and just to learn how to best use the equipment - these are both great suggestions. Thanks guys.
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Post by kcatthedog on Jun 4, 2016 6:59:33 GMT -6
Turning it on first time I am used to using the UA la2 plug so its always interesting to have a new piece of real gear and to get to know it. So, I hooked up my mk-u47 and a D4 as that is my normal vocal tracking chain and plugged the pre out into the WA-2a input, WA 2 out to track 5 in ,no fx ,of course. First thing I notice is that the controls all feel solid, high quality and seem subtle and that the sound is smooth and clear with enhanced presence. I set output Gain to 40 and Peak reduction to 50 and the meters to gain reduction and with a loud voice this registers maybe 1-2 db of compression and if I turn PR to 100 then I get about 10 db of reduction, always with a smooth clear sound. I understand the unit is program dependent but I like how it sort of finesses things and isn't dramatic. I'll keep playing with it today: more later.
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Post by ragan on Jun 4, 2016 8:42:16 GMT -6
Take a vocal you recorded, run it out through DA and back through AD. Blind test yourself on the two and see if you can pick out the one that has the DA/AD loop. Then stop worrying about hardware inserts forever I've been thinking about this option for a while.. I'm pretty sure I would flunk the test, which you would think is good - My first thought is that I could bounce audio out in multiple passes and print on as many tracks as my heart desires - but what happens when all those AD/DA artifacts start piling up? Will I hear that? And even if I don't, I suspect others would. The reality is I probably would only do it on a few tracks here and there, or maybe a buss. As for the ericn's suggestion, same logic applies - Regardless, as a test and just to learn how to best use the equipment - these are both great suggestions. Thanks guys. The "artifacts" have to be there to show up : ) I once bounced a "Come Together" WAV through 4 round trips of conversion and I couldn't pass a blind ABX reliably. I don't know what your converters are but I think that being an issue is way overblown as far as using hardware with a DAW.
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Post by M57 on Jun 4, 2016 11:09:51 GMT -6
The "artifacts" have to be there to show up : ) I once bounced a "Come Together" WAV through 4 round trips of conversion and I couldn't pass a blind ABX reliably. I don't know what your converters are but I think that being an issue is way overblown as far as using hardware with a DAW. Thanks, I'm using a Focusrite Liquid 56 - Just went out and purchased a couple of cables to try out both the split technique as well as a D/A A/D run from the DAW and back.. 1/4" to Male XLR was not in my box o' cables. If I figure out how to send things out for hardware processing then back in and keep it all aligned, my life may change, and I'll be holding you guys responsible.
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Post by ragan on Jun 4, 2016 15:37:31 GMT -6
The "artifacts" have to be there to show up : ) I once bounced a "Come Together" WAV through 4 round trips of conversion and I couldn't pass a blind ABX reliably. I don't know what your converters are but I think that being an issue is way overblown as far as using hardware with a DAW. Thanks, I'm using a Focusrite Liquid 56 - Just went out and purchased a couple of cables to try out both the split technique as well as a D/A A/D run from the DAW and back.. 1/4" to Male XLR was not in my box o' cables. If I figure out how to send things out for hardware processing then back in and keep it all aligned, my life may change, and I'll be holding you guys responsible. What DAW? You can just do a hardware insert, where it will be just like a plugin, workflow wise. I do it constantly.
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Post by M57 on Jun 4, 2016 15:52:03 GMT -6
Thanks, I'm using a Focusrite Liquid 56 - Just went out and purchased a couple of cables to try out both the split technique as well as a D/A A/D run from the DAW and back.. 1/4" to Male XLR was not in my box o' cables. If I figure out how to send things out for hardware processing then back in and keep it all aligned, my life may change, and I'll be holding you guys responsible. What DAW? You can just do a hardware insert, where it will be just like a plugin, workflow wise. I do it constantly. Logic Pro X - I haven't figured out how to do that.. All of the Focusrite outputs seem to pass the main mix. There is no plug setting for hardware insert that I can find. The Focusrite output configuration options for the Line outputs don't make sense.. (Inputs: Anlg In 1, 2, 3; DAW 1, 2, 3; Mixes: 1, 2, 3) There's something really obvious I'm missing.
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Post by M57 on Jun 5, 2016 6:04:52 GMT -6
OK, Once again I've been able to remind myself how stupid I am. The problem wasn't the DAW, it was the routing at the Focusrite. Anyway, now there are two ways I figured out to do this:
1. Send the track directly to the output - go out to the WA-2A and back in printing on a separate track. 2. Send signal to a buss - go out to the WA-2A and back in, printing on a separate track.
So now I've gotten things up and running, and I'm back to being stupid. There's some latency, but I'm pretty sure that can be adjusted in preferences because it's a bounce - or I could do it manually. The problem is I'm not at all comfortable with the levels I have to send to get the WA-2A to kick in. I'm tracking so that peaks on the original track are somewhere around -12 db. If I send directly out with the fader at unity - I have to crank both the output gain and the peak reduction to 100 just to get 0.5 db of reduction. Pushing the fader to +6 - I'm lucky to get 2 db of gain reduction at 100/100. If I use the buss (method #2) I can send a boosted signal and also boost the signal again at the buss for a total of +12 db - now I can get 5+ db of reduction at 100/100.
I'm not hearing any added distortion, but it seems I shouldn't have to be adding so much gain before the WA-2A. If my plan is to bounce and print and use the new track, is there any good reason for me not to track the original hotter? Of course, all this is moot if I'm planning on only using hardware on the way in and staying ITB from there, but I'm intrigued at the prospect of being able to do some hybrid stuff.
BTW, the WA-2A sounds beautiful to me. Just putting signal through it with no compression sounds ..I guess the word is "hi-fi." I don't know if that's what you guys call 'sheen' but it's putting a smile on my face.
When looking at levels during tracking (from the D4) - setting the meter at +4 feels right. When bouncing from the box, +10 feels right. Am I doing that right?
Also, can anyone comment on why it's called 'Output' Gain. It seems to me that the gain comes before the reduction.. I.e., if I don't have enough gain - I get no reduction. Isn't it really Input Gain?
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Post by kcatthedog on Jun 5, 2016 8:32:50 GMT -6
When you reduce the peaks you are compressing the original dynamic range therefor the peak level has also been reduced. Output gain is amplifying this compressed signal back up to the original level as an output from the wa-2a.
In logic you have a utility selection in your plug in drop down list. If you instantiate the i/o plug in on your channel you are setting up a software insert as described by Ragan.
There are videos on YouTube. You can also set up trad send/returns on your aux channel strips to send single or multiple tacks to the OB:like verb or mix buss comp.
I am learning this too and finding my Apollo software and hardware I/O are not aligned. I know how to offset in protools as apollo 1/2 are it's main outs,plus it's channels, still trying to figure out logic I/o.
Like you I am appreciating the sound of the wa-2a.
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Post by kcatthedog on Jun 5, 2016 8:35:11 GMT -6
Ps you can adjust output and input levels with sliders within logic utility i/o pop up. It also has ping test to confirm RTL.
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