[LAU] About some plug-in quality

[Joe Hartley]

On Tue, 4 Mar 2008 19:56:03 +0200
"Arda Eden" <ardaeden at gmail.com> wrote:

> When it was with windows  i tried too many high quality VST plug-ins like
> URS, McDSP and etc.
> These plug-ins engaged that they simulated some analog systems like SSL,
> Neve and others.
> I wonder,
> 1) Is that really true ? Can they really do it ? if they can how far can
> they ?

I'm skeptical that a plugin, no matter how good, can really model a piece
of vintage gear.  As an example, Universal Audio has a plugin that models
their famous LA3A compressor.  This is a piece of gear that has an almost
mythic standing in the world of analog audio processing, and not without 
reason.  I've seen them in use, and it really was a nice compressor.  But
can you get that buttery compression goodness replicated in a digital mode?
I tend to think not.  I believe there's a lot of subtle stuff happening in
the analog compressor that just isn't going to make it into a digital model.
That said, UA's plugin might be very, very good, but is it $149 good?  It
isn't likely to be for me.

> 2) They are really expensive software. Is that because they are paying to
> the consumers of the analog products for the algorithms of their system's
> simulation ?

More likely they're paying to license the use of the original product's
name and add an aura of authenticity.  If you've ever looked at a Line 6 
modeling guitar amp, they'll have names like "Brit" to refer to a model of 
a Vox amp.  I imagine some lawyer would get rather testy if they came right
out and labelled the model as "Vox".

> 3) What about the LADSPA plug-ins like CAPS, TAPS ? They really work great i
> guess. At least they satisfy my needs. Especially with TAPS reverb i liked
> it very much.

I've been really happy with the assortment of LADSPA plugins available.
The SCn compressors are very nice, and I can't see myself getting $149 
worth of value out of an official L3A3 compressor plugin.

That's my take, anyway.

-- 
======================================================================
       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh at brainiac.com
Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa