UAD Studer A800 vs. Nebula R2R & TP+(drums shoot-out)

[Plec]

This is a demo of the overdrive characteristics that I called "turning into a digital mess" in my review.

The point of this test is to get more meat and body into the sound without having it sound overly distorted while keeping transients as intact as possible while doing so.

The playlist in the audio file feature 8 bars each of...

1. Original (control file)
2. Nebula with CDSoundmasters R2R Studer and Tape Booster + libraries
3. UAD Studer A800

The settings are 15ips, 456 tape, +6 calibration with EQ curves matching as close as possible.

Please enjoy.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2604641/UAD Forum/Studer A800 vs R2R/DrumsOnTape_Ctrl_R2R_UAD.wav

 

[pipaguapique]

404 man...

 

[Plec]

Fixed...

 

[LydonB]

imo the R2R sounds better here.

 

[Ermz]

The Nebula shatters everything, it's not even a contest.

 

[Zombietakeover]

It's fairly evident on the kick...Nebula wins that

 

[syns]

nebulaaa


edit:
just bought nebula r2r & tB+

 

[fistula]

hm
you've distorted UAD too much - unfair comparison

thats the greatest feature of uad plug - but you need to control it - you can distort room mics in a really pleasant way

 

[dcb]

well the uad distorts really in an ugly way.
so how far can you push the uadstuder before it starts distorting?

 

[Skaldir]

The original track played louder sounds the best

 

[phisk]

original + nomads' magnetic please redo the uad studer take, i guess it can sound a lot better!

 

[Plec]

hm
you've distorted UAD too much - unfair comparison

thats the greatest feature of uad plug - but you need to control it - you can distort room mics in a really pleasant way

Oh... so why doesn't the Nebula version distort as much? They're being hit just as hard.

How would you suggest getting the same average level out of the UAD if you hit it 6db softer than this to avoid distortion.... ?

 

[phisk]

just use more common settings for both plugins. :Smokedev:

 

[Plec]

That's not the point here...

 

[phisk]

then you got to compare nebula to a real studer and see what happens. :Smokedev:

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

The original track played louder sounds the best

That

 

[Plec]

This happens with ALL software tape/saturators when being pushed hard. Similar effect to comparing hardware and software FATSO. Software breaks up while hardware takes a lot more beating before sounding bad.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Anyway besides this comparison, when you try to make Nebula and UAD A800 Studer sound good on their own, without the same settings, do you think the UAD plug is worth it or is it total crap?

 

[Plec]

It's extremely flexible, easy to use and will get you a good result pretty quickly.

IMO the overdrive characteristics sound just like any good saturation plugin on the market and you can affect it with the Bias control quite a bit. But truth be told... if you eliminate the harmonic generation all together then all you're left with is a preset EQ curve basically, and I think that is what most people react to as a positive when using the plugin and not the harmonic generation and dynamic behavior per se. I think it wouldn't be too hard setting up an A/B test where one would be the UAD Studer at nominal settings and one being just a replication of the EQ curve, deliberately made .5db louder, and the majority of people would get it wrong in choosing which is the tape emulation. A moot point of course but I think there's quite a bit of relevance to it.

I for one wouldn't be that much up for buying an EQ preset for $349.
When I'm looking for tape compression I want to be able to abuse it and have it hold up. The software FATSO can't touch the hardware in this regard and even though I don't have a real Studer A800 right here I suspect the effect would be quite similar to any software/hardware test in comparing the two.

 

[phisk]

It's extremely flexible, easy to use and will get you a good result pretty quickly.

IMO the overdrive characteristics sound just like any good saturation plugin on the market and you can affect it with the Bias control quite a bit. But truth be told... if you eliminate the harmonic generation all together then all you're left with is a preset EQ curve basically, and I think that is what most people react to as a positive when using the plugin and not the harmonic generation and dynamic behavior per se. I think it wouldn't be too hard setting up an A/B test where one would be the UAD Studer at nominal settings and one being just a replication of the EQ curve, deliberately made .5db louder, and the majority of people would get it wrong in choosing which is the tape emulation. A moot point of course but I think there's quite a bit of relevance to it.

I for one wouldn't be that much up for buying an EQ preset for $349.
When I'm looking for tape compression I want to be able to abuse it and have it hold up. The software FATSO can't touch the hardware in this regard and even though I don't have a real Studer A800 right here I suspect the effect would be quite similar to any software/hardware test in comparing the two.

agreed