Advice on last two plugins to get on UAD holiday sale; live old timey folk/ragtime through Twin X plus other

[SouthTwin]

Sorry if these "plugin sale advice" threads have been done to death, but maybe my situation is unique enough to warrant the annoyance

I recently got an Apollo Twin X Quad used on sort of a whim, now getting sucked into UADiverse but determined to not spend tons of $$. I've been a recording hobbyist for 27 yrs (41 now), mainly just record myself with not much interest in recording others/doing pro audio work. Windows with TB, Reaper and Ableton Live 11. I play a few pretty different genres (old time folk/ragtime, mix of indie/doom/sludge rock, and some dark synth/electronic), and I mainly got the Twin X to be a fancy live sound module for an old timey one man band thing I'm trying to do. My main interest in UAD plugs is for that, but would be nice to have them for when I finally get around to doing "serious" recording/mixing of my stuff (I have a good bit of prosumer mics, pres etc but stay too busy with work to hunker down and truly finish producing something). I also got the Waves Horizon and Black Rooster all bundles over a year ago for ITB mixing and still haven't really dusted them off.

I picked up the $49 UAD bundle (Century strip, Pulteq eq collection, LA-2A collection, Galaxy, Pure Plate, Oxide tape), then with a $25 coupon I got the Distressor and Capitol Chambers in the fairly limited 2 for $100 a week ago. Now they've opened up all the plugins for the 2 for $100 and I've got another $25 coupon, so I'm struggling on which two to grab. So far I've been really liking the Century+Capitol on vocals, and Century+Pultec on archtop guitar, I use some preamp overdrive on both, going for old timey but in a bit of a dirty/aggressive way.

I'm torn between C-Vox, Ampex ATR, Lexicon 480L, another preamp, or Autotune (lol). C-Vox gets such good reviews that I'm thinking maybe I need it even though I never noticed the need, and I wonder if it'd be useful in a live situation for removing unwanted noise. Ampex sounds cool for general tape goodness (I miss my Otari MX5050) but wondering if it's really worth it over Oxide. Lexicon 480L isn't super needed for this live old timey thing, but could be nice for weird/heavy rock and/or dark synth stuff, but I wonder if Valhalla Vintageverb which I've been thinking of getting might be just as good/better and cover same/similar ground. The preamps are a bit overwhelming, so many look interesting but A) I've been liking Century just fine so far, B) I have a lot of options already from those Waves and Black Rooster complete bundles for ITB, and C) I have a few decentish outboard pres (ISA One, GA Pre 73, WA12, Alctron MP-100 (UA 710 clone)). Autotune just because I've never used it but who knows what it might come in handy for, and ~$40 for a full pro autotune that can be used live with a Twin is interesting. Probably not for old timey folk/ragtime though

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[hotspot]

I would choose EP-34 and AKG BX20 and then go for it. You actually already have everything you need.

 

[Neotrope]

Tough choice. Speaking as long time user pre-Apollo days
For me, from your choices, I'd probably go with the C-Vox and Autotune (if tracking vocals; still useful for very minor correction and even vocal doubling trick - leave original track as is, then autotune clone track a little tighter).

My back brain, however says ATR and Lexicon

 

[SouthTwin]

I would choose EP-34 and AKG BX20 and then go for it. You actually already have everything you need.

Interesting, you think EP-34 is different/better enough than Galaxy to be worth it? Haven't found much use for Galaxy yet tbh..
Had never considered AKG BX 20 or come across it in threads, but perhaps.. I assume your thought is that it'd be handy for a live reverb vs Capitol? For purely ITB I'd be a little more interested in a similar offering from Valhalla, just since they're a smaller company and price is similar (assuming quality is on par). Also it's a little tough for me to justify those two since they're $60 right now vs the other ones that are $100+ each, just feels like less of a "deal" even if they were to be more useful haha

 

[SouthTwin]

Tough choice. Speaking as long time user pre-Apollo days
For me, from your choices, I'd probably go with the C-Vox and Autotune (if tracking vocals; still useful for very minor correction and even vocal doubling trick - leave original track as is, then autotune clone track a little tighter).

My back brain, however says ATR and Lexicon

Thanks, I assume Autotune could be used live for slight correction/doubling and not sound too obvious or autotune-y? It's true that I'm not always a perfect singer haha

Do you think ATR is significantly better than Oxide and useful for live, and/or significantly better than Black Rooster Magnetite for ITB? And I assume you mention the 480L for potential live use through Twin, just not sure how well it'd work for the old timey project and I wonder if it's "worth it" compared to other reverbs (e.g. Valhalla) for ITB and vs other UAD plugins for the bundle.. hmmm

Also one small clarification, when I say "live" I mean I would bring the Twin X onstage to a gig, have my mics plugged into it, send outs to FOH, with UAD plugs in Twin X initialized via laptop before going onstage, and Twin X is plugged into a battery with 110v the whole time

 

[Neotrope]

I usually err on stuff I can run live in console vs native for 'live' due to low latency. I'm using a Twin to take live virtual keyboards 'out' of the box to amp. But really up to you on how you plan to use this stuff. For live, I'd get the vocal stuff, if anything. The bundle you got (I already have) was such a smokin deal. Valhalla is more modern if you get the latest do it all reverb vs Lexicon, which is a bit more 'nostalgic' and not a 'shimmer' box really. Frankly, if you have time, run the DEMOs before sale ends (17th?) and *** TRY *** stuff out for your needs before buying.

 

[SouthTwin]

I usually err on stuff I can run live in console vs native for 'live' due to low latency. I'm using a Twin to take live virtual keyboards 'out' of the box to amp. But really up to you on how you plan to use this stuff. For live, I'd get the vocal stuff, if anything. The bundle you got (I already have) was such a smokin deal. Valhalla is more modern if you get the latest do it all reverb vs Lexicon, which is a bit more 'nostalgic' and not a 'shimmer' box really. Frankly, if you have time, run the DEMOs before sale ends (17th?) and *** TRY *** stuff out for your needs before buying.

For sure, hopefully I can knock out this massive load of work (consulting for big recycling/renewable fuel companies) in the next week to have a solid several hours to mess with all the options.. though I am starting to rethink the autotune possibility, since I'll never do "pop" music and don't like the idea of artificially fixing my stuff. Maybe I'd do some weird glitch vocals with it one day but it's a big maybe

Now the Neve 1084 is standing out a bit (mainly for the flexible eq), and wondering how I could really get a sense of how much C-Vox would help in a live setting without actually playing a gig with it.. hmm

 

[flandybob]

I wouldn't worry too much about c vox for live music use, there will be bleed & noise everywhere anyway

 

[klong]

I would choose EP-34 and AKG BX20 and then go for it. You actually already have everything you need.

AKG BX 20 is such a winner. Beautiful sound.

 

[SouthTwin]

I wouldn't worry too much about c vox for live music use, there will be bleed & noise everywhere anyway

You don't think it would help at all with feedback rejection, or any other "utilitarian" live functions? I know it's not really meant for that kind of use, just wondering if it might work in that way as a bonus

 

[flandybob]

Feedback I don’t think so, and in a live context I don’t believe it will make much of a difference. But I haven’t tried it for this and I’ve been wrong before

 

[CraigF]

I'd third the recs for the BX20, which I *love*. I'd also go for either Ocean Way or Sound City, just because those are so creative and do things that I don't think any non-UAD plugins can duplicate. I recently got the Korg delay and really like it, so if you're short on delays that could be an option.

 

[SouthTwin]

Dammit. Now I'm getting tempted to get a few 2 for $100 bundles just because so many things that people like would be so much cheaper than usual (Sound City, Neve 1084, C-vox and even C-limiter, autotune), plus the ones that are less of a steal right now but would likely be sweet (BX20, ATR and Studer, Helios).. but then I'm like what do I actually need?? What would actually make a difference in my live use of Apollo + my recordings, vs just practicing a lot and playing really well and freaking finishing things? ugh

 

[SouthTwin]

Ended up getting Sound City, Neve 1084, 480L, and BX20 for $133 after some coupons, could have done worse I reckon (won't all apply to the live sound thing of course)

 

[bellows and brass]

AKG BX 20 is such a winner. Beautiful sound.

I can’t play slow enough to find a good use for the bx20.
If only the developers put a X0.5 switch on the reverb time , it would be a whole different story.

 

[hotspot]

I can’t play slow enough to find a good use for the bx20.

Perhaps too much reverb mixed into your sources? Often less wet helps.