UAD DBX 160 now native - $39 with coupon

[marcL]

I doubt that compression is that kind of magic! 😄 Although there is some difference using different compressors, IMHO it is possible to get very similar results with compressors of the same group (vca, fet, opto, ...). Maybe the settings of different makes are not exactly the same.

I still use my old DBX 166 from the 80s as recording input limiting/leveling. Frankly, the time when I purchased it I had no idea how to set it up! 😆

[chris.r]

I don't have the $25 Thanks coupon because for saving a few chips here and there I was always buying from discounters and not directly from UAD so for $39 I'm not going to buy this one. I could possibly shell out this amount (preferably less) for the Dytronics chorus even though technically it's not my preferred way to save a project with a cloud ilok plugin in it, nor with an unwieldy Amplitube, as it's still going to be a compromise for both scenarios. So anyway for now I'm staying with my Waves dbx160 that I got for free (FWIW)!

Chris:UAD = 1:0  

[Hurricane]

Buying from UAD and getting those $25 thankyous has really paid off.  Nabbing the dbx for $14 was pretty sweet.

I’m moving to UAD from Waves - I can’t believe I still have trust issues with Waves. They really screwed up.  Got UAD Diamond, and my only critique is that they don’t seem to add new plugins to the bundle like how Waves adds to Mercury. Other than that, I’m  team UAD all the way. 

[Bapu]

5 hours ago, Zo said:

so fav is ( in this exemple ) 

uad 

waves 

NI

Ditto

[MusicMan]

11 hours ago, Nick Blanc said:

I'm easily coerced into frivoless audio thingies. Gainmatching was a bit of a b*tch, but the UA and Waves sound very similar. The NA was the odd one out to me. That one sounds more compressed at exactly the same settings (besides output gain). 

Native Instruments:

 

Universal Audio

 

Waves

 

 You be the judge. I just made a percussion rich loop with some melodic elements and the DBX on the master (followed by a Pro L te prevent any peaks, but I don't think I overshot 0db.

Thanks! I'll have to listen to these when I have something other than my phone.

The one thing I would say is you definitely can't match them based on the settings, they just don't align. I got them to similar levels of compression and gain matched and I was surprised how different the settings needed to be. Even how they responded to input levels was different.

I did read somewhere that the attack and release times of the 160 changes based on the level going into it too which might play a part too.

[mibby]

8 hours ago, MusicMan said:

I did read somewhere that the attack and release times of the 160 changes based on the level going into it too which might play a part too.

[rant on]

I really wish plugin manufacturers would add modern settings like M/S, Dry/Wet Mix, Input/Output, etc.  to every plugin these days.  Much like Plugin Alliance does with their Toolbar thing.  There's really no excuse, especially with these big manufacturers.   A plugin of modeled hardware is great, but why not modernize it with features that every plugin should have available now??  I mean, come on, they obviously know how to do these things.

[/rant off]

That said, I put Blue Cat's Gain Suite plugin on either side of this last night to dial in the input/output level, and as @MusicMan said,  it makes quite a difference.  I didn't like driving this hard on this particular drum bus, but really liked what it did with the transients when I was just nudging the meter a little bit and blended it in. I typically hit the Waves version harder on my parallel drum bus.  But each song is different, right?  🙂

[TheSteven]

7 minutes ago, mibby said:

[rant on]

I really wish plugin manufacturers would add modern settings like M/S, Dry/Wet Mix, Input/Output, etc.  to every plugin these days.  Much like Plugin Alliance does with their Toolbar thing.  There's really no excuse, especially with these big manufacturers.   A plugin of modeled hardware is great, but why not modernize it with features that every plugin should have available now??  I mean, come on, they obviously know how to do these things.

[/rant off]

 

100% agree.  It's sad that UA a company once known for its innovation in the audio field has shown such a lack of it when it comes to their software products.

[MusicMan]

12 minutes ago, mibby said:

[rant on]

I really wish plugin manufacturers would add modern settings like M/S, Dry/Wet Mix, Input/Output, etc.  to every plugin these days.  Much like Plugin Alliance does with their Toolbar thing.  There's really no excuse, especially with these big manufacturers.   A plugin of modeled hardware is great, but why not modernize it with features that every plugin should have available now??  I mean, come on, they obviously know how to do these things.

[/rant off]

That said, I put Blue Cat's Gain Suite plugin on either side of this last night to dial in the input/output level, and as @MusicMan said,  it makes quite a difference.  I didn't like driving this hard on this particular drum bus, but really liked what it did with the transients when I was just nudging the meter a little bit and blended it in. I typically hit the Waves version harder on my parallel drum bus.  But each song is different, right?  🙂

As much as I'm not a Waves advocate, they extended on the original design/hardware quite well with this plugin in that regard. It just gives people choice.. keep it simple like the original, or use the extra stuff it it helps and works with the particular track.

Nice example with PA too. They do that well on their plugins.

I love Overloud and how the add more controls to their originals also.

Arturia is handy for some of their addional controls as well.

[TheSteven]

2 hours ago, MusicMan said:

As much as I'm not a Waves advocate, they extended on the original design/hardware quite well with this plugin in that regard. It just gives people choice.. keep it simple like the original, or use the extra stuff it it helps and works with the particular track.

Nice example with PA too. They do that well on their plugins.

I love Overloud and how the add more controls to their originals also.

Arturia is handy for some of their addional controls as well.

Another good example is PSP Audio, when doing hardware emulations - for example with their PSP FETpressor
Currently my favorite 1176 plugin.

Edited September 13, 2023 by TheSteven
forum glitched (again) while saving

[MusicMan]

19 hours ago, TheSteven said:

Another good example is PSP Audio, when doing hardware emulations - for example with their PSP FETpressor
Currently my favorite 1176 plugin.

I tried their FET Compressor in their InfiniStripWIND and loved it.

So much so, that when they're next doing their deep discounts again, so maybe Black Friday, I'll likely pick it up just for the convenience of having it in a separate plugin.