Nevana or Duende?

[stevenlibby]

Haven't purchased it yet, but as soon as I find the right deal, it'll be a Benchmark DAC-1... High quality stand-alone converter, especially for the money... You'll have to ask Marty what he thinks of his. As for some of the real tech-heads on Gearslutz, everyone loves it... I'd posted a thread asking about Benchmark vs. the RME Fireface, and ADI-2... Hands down everyone said Benchmark.

[admin]

The Benchmark is supposed to be very nice.

Still I'd take a lot of these comments with a grain of salt. I've seen it many times over at GS and other forums where reports were greatly exaggerated.

Bottom line, if people don't do double blind tests I don't much stock in their comparisons.

I'm sure the manufacturers of gear aren't complaining though ;-)

PS. I agree though that an upgrade in monitors is where you will find a truly enhanced mixing experience.

[T-Lectual]

hey guys sorry for the late response...finally got the new computer up and running with everything...and finally got to play with my Duende and I am very pleased with it...the mix buss comp is pretty amazing...it fattens everything I put through it very nicely...does wonders on the kick...and I also put it on some of my older tracks and they instantly punch so much better...great investment

Upgrading my monitors are probably next on my list...those new Mackies look very nice...but that new DSI Evolver looks very tempting as well

[admin]

Tony if you could why don't you put up a short clip of a before and after using the mix buss comp. I'd be very curious to see how it stacks up against the Waves one (although they are different models).

Be careful with the output control on the comp. Make sure your output peak is the same for both on/off positions when comparing.

[Bitfiend]

so far i've got that UAD cards aren't worth the money, correct?
So this Duende is better? and URS no one has actually tried out?

[admin]

so far i've got that UAD cards aren't worth the money, correct?
So this Duende is better? and URS no one has actually tried out?

Bill,

The UAD stuff is nice but now native plugs (such as the URS) are catching up or overtaking them in some respects. A lot of it comes down to which emulations are you interested in. The UAD has some models that no one else has specificially done etc..

I use the URS but the older ones, the Neve and API. They do the job in certain instances. The older ones don't do saturation though like the new strip which I'm interested to hear.

Duende is from what I've heard very high quality. I've gathered its a bit cleaner than say the Waves emulation but that makes sense as they model different hardware (Waves being the 4000 series which is grittier)

Thing is you can't really look at it as which is "better". They all do and model different things. So it's largely down to a matter of taste.

I the end you could make a very nice mix with any one of these choices.

That being said if the URS is as nice as I think it will be I'd take that just so I don't have to deal with a DSP card which can have issues with latency/compatibility etc...

Also a lot of people miss out on the Oxford (now Sonnox) stuff. It's been around for a few years now but is an overall excellent choice.

[T-Lectual]

Jesse, you want it over a drum sample or a whole mix?

[admin]

Jesse, you want it over a drum sample or a whole mix?

Either whole mix or drum group, but not a sample. You want to be able to hear how multiple tracks interact and get glued. You could do both just to cover all bases.

In fact we can do a little shootout. Send me the uncompressed version of the clip (can just be like 8 bars) and I'll run it through a few comps here including the Waves SSL and an analog compressor or two I've got here.

[admin]

Any luck on getting a sample? I actually heard the Duende comp in action at a clients studio the other day. Seemed to sound pretty nice. We actually ended up using it over a hardware Alan Smart C2.

[T-Lectual]

sorry for the late, late...very late response... but I finally sent you a raw drum file and compressed file using the Duende SSL Stereo Buss Comp. Settings I used were:

THRESHOLD - 14.5
MAKE-UP GAIN - 1.7
ATTACK - 1ms
RELEASE - Auto
RATIO - 2

Raw File:
http://download.yousendit.com/BEAF14756DBCAEEE

Compressed File:
http://download.yousendit.com/D93AC03A47FE2F01