dubdisciple Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 One of the things that drives me crazy with plugins (particularly the emulations) is wondering if they are worth it. Like many of you, I bit on the UAD Pultec offer. It's a great sounding plugin...just like all the rest of my Pultec emulations. If I had to rank them, I suppose it has an edge on some, but I found some surprises. Although UAD version is conditionally free for now, it typically not. I recently remembered I have the Nomad Factory updated version , which, like UAD has multiple Pultec EQs. I started there and then added a couple. Surprisingly, the Nomad Retro version was not far from the UAD soundwise. There was a slight difference, but this sounded more like the difference between hardware units than a drastic change. I am attaching plugin doctor screen shots that show that each module in Nomad matched up well with UAD using almost identical settings. For comparison, I also compared IK EQ P1A, Melda TurboEQ and for kicks i attempted a super quick attempt to match using MAutodynamic EQ. Melda was harder to match up due to massive GUI differences, but it took less than a minute to come close. Attached are screenshots. Conclusions: Melda offers best overall value, but has bigger learning curve to use as a Pultec alternative. Experienced audio engineers with better ears than me can save by going that route. For those looking for a cheaper alternative Pultec to UAD that has same interface/workflow to dial in similar results, Nomad Factory is a hidden gem. 2 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last Call Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 Great homework mate! Thanks for sharing! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicMan Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 I always like seeing stuff like this and find Plugin Doctor quite an interesting tool. Pulse-Tec Nomad Factory V2 gets very close to the curves. It seems they use a HP filter on their V2 plug regardless of it not being enabled on the plugin for the HLF-3 section. Both UA and Pulse-Tec V1 use a sharp LP filter at around 20KHz which I imagine might be for aliasing, whereas V2 of Pulse-Tec doesn't. There is quite a bit of difference between all three when it comes to Harmonic Analysis though. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 20 minutes ago, MusicMan said: I always like seeing stuff like this and find Plugin Doctor quite an interesting tool. Pulse-Tec Nomad Factory V2 gets very close to the curves. It seems they use a HP filter on their V2 plug regardless of it not being enabled on the plugin for the HLF-3 section. Both UA and Pulse-Tec V1 use a sharp LP filter at around 20KHz which I imagine might be for aliasing, whereas V2 of Pulse-Tec doesn't. There is quite a bit of difference between all three when it comes to Harmonic Analysis though. I'm not one of those youtube guys like Paul or Dan lol. I did the quick and dirty. I'm sure much deeper analysis is to be had. Thanks for the added info ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicMan Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 4 minutes ago, dubdisciple said: I'm not one of those youtube guys like Paul or Dan lol. I did the quick and dirty. I'm sure much deeper analysis is to be had. Thanks for the added info ? Me neither, I'm very much the rookie when it comes to Plugin Doctor.. ? But I love using it to see what sort of curves etc some of my favourite, or raved about EQs use. It's quite an eye opener and not a bad learning tool. Sometimes I'm hearing something I think is happening and then it's useful to check if the plugin does work that way too. Thanks for you post too, lots of great comparisons and opening up Pulse-Tec V2 let me know there was an update, so that I just installed that as well 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleer Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 For me, it’s the Apogee one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude77 Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 @dubdisciple This was very helpful and informative. Plugin Doctor's All Seeing Eye tells the truth even when our confirmation bias doesn't! Thanks for posting. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 4 hours ago, pwal²³ said: If only we all had the hardware to compare The way my bank account is set up. ... Paul Third did do a hardware comparison and determined UAD was damn close. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 I found the Ruletec was almost identical too except for an analog emulation of instability that can be turned off. Ik has something similar 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicMan Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 2 hours ago, dubdisciple said: I found the Ruletec was almost identical too except for an analog emulation of instability that can be turned off. Ik has something similar I found that too and Ruletec has always been up there in my favourites for Pultecs. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Osterday Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 I have the T-RackS EQ P1A and Logic's Vintage Tube EQ along with the UAD one - all pretty good. I snagged the freebie to get iLok Machine auth. I really like using the UAD HLF-3C that the other two don't have. I do wish UAD made a wrapper to load all three together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 1 minute ago, Pat Osterday said: I have the T-RackS EQ P1A and Logic's Vintage Tube EQ along with the UAD one - all pretty good. I snagged the freebie to get iLok Machine auth. I really like using the UAD HLF-3C that the other two don't have. I do wish UAD made a wrapper to load all three together. Same. The Nomad Factory version does have them all together 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zo Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 The biggest mistake people do is to compare curves , the key is in pahse imho , curves are eazy to quit match ...be sure to check the pahse 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicMan Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 1 hour ago, Zo said: The biggest mistake people do is to compare curves , the key is in pahse imho , curves are eazy to quit match ...be sure to check the pahse Yes and no for me Zo.. If you do a 12dB boost on the high shelf on one EQ and a 1dB boost on the high shelf on another, but matching phase, it will sound dramatically different to both having a 12dB boost with different phase. I do think checking for the phase is good though. I have had some EQs where the curves match and they should sound the same by curve alone, but they don't. Both good checks, but I'd say curves most important, phase lesser but still good to check. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 (edited) 8 hours ago, Zo said: The biggest mistake people do is to compare curves , the key is in pahse imho , curves are eazy to quit match ...be sure to check the pahse I realize the curve is not the end all, but it has some use even if it is only a start point. If the curve was completely different, we already know they are vastly different without having to get into more detailed factors. Again, I am far from a pro. I just thought it was fun and interesting. Also, remember that this started with me noticing that they didn't sound that different. I wanted to peek to see if my ears were completely off. Edited July 25 by dubdisciple Typo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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