Analogues outboard vs PC Plug-ins

[Max Dread]

Hi all - long time no see!

Been busy acoustically treating my room and setting up my room/studio.

Anyhow, I've recently bought the following outbaord gear:

Lexicon MPX100 Multi effects
Digitech Quad 4 Multi effects
TL Audio C5021 Valve Compressor
Behringer MDX2200 Compressor
DBX 266xl Compressor
Alesis 3630 Compressor
Behringer XR4400 Multigate
SPL Vitalizer 9736
Slapback Audio Scintillator

(I also got some pre-amps, a headphone amp, etc. but they are less relevant to the thread).

This week I have been trying to get my head around patchbays, and how I will set up the gear using ADAT from my EMU 1820M soundcard, an ADDA unit, and probably several patchbays! How confusing?!? I'm also trying to work out all the leads I'm going to need and the list seems to be growing astronomically (as well as expensively).

I'm quite new to recording, and certainly very new to using outboard gear. I bought all the gear quite cheap in a job lot and thought that along with my recent new build quad core PC I'd be set up for some years to come....

But the more I think about it all, the more I wonder whether I'm doing the right thiing seeing as most people seem to be getting rid of hardware in favour of going all in the box with plug-ins and all.

I'd appreciate any views people care to share, or if you havent got the time, I'd really appreciate a quick tick in the box of which route you would go down.
If people reckon "a mixture", saying what I should keep and what I should sell would be a great help.

Many thanks

Max

 

[antichef]

No help from me , but in my very limited experience, I've found that outboard *digital* effects generally are not worth my time, since the in-the-box (and therefore also digital) effects available to me are just as good or better. I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule, especially some high end units that combine high quality analog processing with some digital processing.

Outboard *analog* signal processors stand a better chance of holding their own against the PC, in my opinion. That's just a general rule, too, and merely being analog doesn't make them good . For instance, I have an outboard IC-based graphical EQ that I picked up for cheap just to try and use something outboard, but it has been kind of waste of time so far and pretty much makes my stuff sound yucky[er than it does to begin with].

One tip you'll read on here is to minimize the outboard presence on the way into the PC -- you can still run the signal at mix-time through those units after you get the patchbay puzzle worked out. For instance, unless you absolutely need a compressor on the inbound signal path (due to certain clippage in your A/D converter, I guess?), it's better to preserve the original dynamics in raw digital form, since you can always run the compressor later (or not, or try out different settings, etc.)

If you don't need the money, don't sell -- work with what you have, both plugins (including ones you can easily get) and outboard stuff, until you know what to do. Then, a couple of years from now, when someone posts the same question, you'll be able to give a better response than I just did

 

[rockerdude]

Hi all - long time no see!

Been busy acoustically treating my room and setting up my room/studio.

Anyhow, I've recently bought the following outbaord gear:

Lexicon MPX100 Multi effects
Digitech Quad 4 Multi effects
TL Audio C5021 Valve Compressor
Behringer MDX2200 Compressor
DBX 266xl Compressor
Alesis 3630 Compressor
Behringer XR4400 Multigate
SPL Vitalizer 9736
Slapback Audio Scintillator

(I also got some pre-amps, a headphone amp, etc. but they are less relevant to the thread).

This week I have been trying to get my head around patchbays, and how I will set up the gear using ADAT from my EMU 1820M soundcard, an ADDA unit, and probably several patchbays! How confusing?!? I'm also trying to work out all the leads I'm going to need and the list seems to be growing astronomically (as well as expensively).

I'm quite new to recording, and certainly very new to using outboard gear. I bought all the gear quite cheap in a job lot and thought that along with my recent new build quad core PC I'd be set up for some years to come....

But the more I think about it all, the more I wonder whether I'm doing the right thiing seeing as most people seem to be getting rid of hardware in favour of going all in the box with plug-ins and all.

I'd appreciate any views people care to share, or if you havent got the time, I'd really appreciate a quick tick in the box of which route you would go down.
If people reckon "a mixture", saying what I should keep and what I should sell would be a great help.

Many thanks

Max

I have a hybrid studio.www.sterlingsoundstudios.com and I use lots of outboard gear and some of the best plugins.I am running pro tools on a mac pro.I have lots of high end preamps(Api,Avalon,Melcor,Millinia,Robbie,Velvet tone,Vintech)And a Eventide H3000,Dbx166&266 compressors,A distressor,Midi verb 4,antares vocal producer,TC helicion voice works plus, and a Avalon737sp.I use apogee converters through a 24 channel Carvin board.With all this stuff linked together you would think there would be some cable noise or latencey but this system is super clean and quiet.I use mogami cables for everything.I would recomend this set up because of the control,the warm sound,and the old school flexibility plus my clients like all the lights,knobs and switches.It is much cheaper and easier to stay inside the box but who the hell wants that.Get a eventide h3000 if you can find one(ebay)this is a workhorse in my studio and also the distressor is the fattest comp I have used.Good luck with your studio,Rob

 

[MOFO Pro]

This one here:

1. TL Audio C5021 Valve Compressor

Stands out in that crowd... talk about slumming

 

[superspit]

I reckon he should give it all away..................











to me.