La3a and Neve channel strip opinions

[dusty]

Hell yeah!! I've just bought la3a+neve channel strip for very good price, tnx to some flexipack \"left over\" and all the vouchers! I will put the Neve CS against my trusted SSL 4000 CS. I'll keep you guys posted!

PS: At least seems like the NEVE CS is dsp efficient. Though is 300 bucks! I wonder if the next plug in will be 350

 

[ambrose]

slightly disapointed by the 88rs - i'm not sure why, but it's definately something to do with the eq.

the la3, i like.

 

[kleinholgi]

I was also a little bit disappointed by the the channel strip first.
The longer the tweaking lasted, the more I liked it.

So my first impression go like this :

Channel Strip Concept : ++
Sound : 0/+
Coloration, \"Tape-, Transformer & Tubifying\" : 0
Price : - ( although O.K. if you have a voucher)
DSP ressources : ++ ( very nice !!)
GUI Graphics and overall programming : ++
Usability : +

 

[Macc]

After about 40 minutes with the new plugs;

I wasn't that impressed by the LA3A to be honest - I was SPANKING things through that and the LA2A and it just didn't grab me (nice as it is) enough to fork out on top - just not the kind of thing I'd use enough on top of the LA2A.


Now this 88RS -


Just done some null tests etc and it adds a smooth fat cream at about -40ish dB without you touching anything. I'm going to go right in on the eq now, but I am initially very very impressed.

A long night ahead!

 

[djsynchro]

Didn't even try the LA3A as I've budgeted for a 3rd card and the Neve88rs.

After just a bit of tweaking: Wow. I love the dynamics section how the expander/compression thing works on drums. EQ seems very nice but it's late and I need to crank it a little bit tomorrow when the neighbours are out working.

 

[A Gruesome Discovery]

The LA-3A is everything I was hoping it would be, and eases the tiny bits of regret I've had from choosing a hardware 1176 over the LA-3A. Awesome!
I'm not so interested in the 88RS, but it is pretty sweet. I've already got some transparent-yet-still-magical comps and EQs by way of a Sonalksis bundle, but if I didn't have those then this would be a no-brainer. Of course, 13 days and 21 hours may change my mind.

 

[Paul Woodlock]

I love the LA3A. I was never that keen on the LA2A despite lots of people creaming over it. But for me the LA3A is something else. Much better attack and relase times for me.

 

[azulay]

88rs: Well.. if you judge it soundwise, you'll be
better off with a 1073 -> 1176 chain, but if
you look at it as a channel strip you can throw
on every track in your mix, at least tracks which aren't center focus. (wouldn't
put it on a vocal track) it's a nice thing to have.
I don't know I'm not a big fan of the plug-in channel strip. If nuendo/Pro tools could somehow put this into the DAW mixer channel strip now that would be something (imagine really USING that horrible nuendo eq...)

NOW THE LA-3A, this is my thing!
Transperant yet colorful, delicate yet aggressive at the right spots, Opto with a punch to it, etc, etc.
what a tasteful piece of gear.
Going 10dB of compression and almost
unnoticed. And it's got that high mid thingy
just right. AMAZING on bass guitar!
Makes me wonder how that hardware one sounds. I can't decide LA-3A, 2LA-2, LA-2A...
I will get one of them soon.

 

[bedhoe]

I'm glad i am not alone Paul. The LA2A never really did it for me. But the LA-3A is just what i wanted in the comp world....

But never mind that...

My world is rocking because FINALLY we have an absolutely awesome channel strip that has a EQ-sidechain feature!!! This is big news guys.

You might not recognize how useful this is yet but once you do...

To me the channel strip sounds totally awesome... Faaar above the waves SSL....

I was dreading it but the truth is i have to spend more money on this latency driven DSP monster.... Just wish they could do this Native!!!

I am very sick of the latency... There i said it!

 

[wishingwell]

I love the LA3A. I was never that keen on the LA2A despite lots of people creaming over it. But for me the LA3A is something else. Much better attack and relase times for me.

I am really diggin this la3a plugin. Don't even need to demo it anymore, it's a 'must have'. UA needs to shorten the demoing time to 5 minutes on this one cause thats all it takes to know you want it, the other 13 days 23 hours and 55 minutes is overkill .. I don't think the 88rs is what i'm looking for right now, but i will further demo it to see.

 

[electro77]

Comparisons between 88RS gate and Nigel Gate?

 

[dusty]

Agreed. La3a is cool. I'm still trying the strip. I don't wanna judge a book by his cover but i agree with you guys... I;m not impressed either.

 

[Eurocide]

The LA3A is a compressor I was always looking for: a \"fire & forget\" missile!
Better than the LA2A for me and let the sound image jump right onto your nose. Will be bought right away!

The channel strip, hmmmm, still don't know. It is excellent but with combinations of the other UAD Neve EQs together with the 1176 or LA3A I get better results for me - with more DSP consumption of course. I see the 88RS as the big brother of the often underestimated EX-1.

 

[Fairlight]

I thought the initial response would be MUCH better for the 88RS. I bet as time goes by, this will change. I recall the same with the 33609. I too was unimpressed when I first demoed it but now I can't live without it.

Although I aint yet demoed the new plugins I'm going to buy both (and the Precision Limiter) in anway. As I buy three plugins I get 20% discount, PLUS I have a $75 coupon. So, that's $442.60 for three awesome plugins.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[ambrose]

I don't think the 88rs is bad in any way, it's just that for me i'd rather use the 1073/81 combo with an 1176 upfront as people mentioned above. In my view, the 88 has a kind of cold 'digital' quality (how ironic) to the EQ, which i haven't heard in UA's most recent EQ offerings and it was a bit of a shock to get this back in a neve strip.

For my utility channel eq, i'll stick with the wonderfully detailed and smooth a0 parametric (uses 80bit math) for now. http://www.a0audio.com/
don't be fooled by the interface, the dsp is first-rate: i put this up against my pay-for plugins and cried.

I suppose thought that you've got to remember that the neve 88 series is quite a modern desk (last ten years sometime?) so i wouldn't expect it to sound as vibey as the 10 series stuff.

 

[lux]

It seems that the UAD La3 is a hit with almost everyone

I think it rocks and bass and on some vocals it sits them with an upfrontness that is magic.Now the Neve 88R this thing is seriously impressing me it has an instance analogue flavour to my ears and Im finding I get get things to sit just right in a mix with the eq and dynamics.Ive been extensively comparing the 88R to the SSL E strip and the Neve 88R is winning hands down for me on sound but on sheer speed the SSL E strip is very quick to get a good sound.I lvoe the UAD 1073 and Helios / Pultec eqs which I own but theres something about the 88R that is justt right for me.TH eauto release ont he compressor works so well and the sidechain was able to tame some nasty fret buzz very well much better than the Waves SSL E strip.Anyway I was really hoping that I would not like either of these plug ins as money is tight as always but its looking like I may have to brake down and buy them both.I suppose I will test them both more and then see if my reactions are the same in a few days or so.

 

[Macc]

In my view, the 88 has a kind of cold 'digital' quality (how ironic) to the EQ, which i haven't heard in UA's most recent EQ offerings and it was a bit of a shock to get this back in a neve strip.

I dunno man, it sits somewhere in between the '100% character' 1073/81 and the rest of the digitial crowd I reckon. I did a lot of testing and comparison yesterday, and it's not as nice as the 1073 for example, but the highs beat the Sonalksis eq (only version 1, but it's all I have) easily. It's not as 'nice' as the 1073/81, but it's 'better' than the usual plugin

Besides which it imparts a nice creamy character just running stuff through it 8) I imagine there'll be arguments about this , but null tests left something that I would be more than happy to add to my tracks 8)

Thanks for the 80-bit eq tip too!

 

[Macc]

Ive been extensively comparing the 88R to the SSL E strip and the Neve 88R is winning hands down for me on sound but on sheer speed the SSL E strip is very quick to get a good sound.

I think it will get quicker as we use it more, like anything.

With regards to the sound, do a null test with both of them on the same source material (with blank/default settings, all at zero etc). The SSL leaves what sounds like an extremely ugly harsh bit-crush-sounding version of the original, with of course that 'analogue' noise. The 88RS leaves a (IMO) gorgeous thick version of the original. So very very very different, a really pleasant surprise.

 

[Arys Chien]

I've noticed that, both the 88RS and the LA3A have a \"ROUNDER\" sound than the previous UAD-1 plug-ins. I guess UA had some secret breakthrough during this release.

I too prefer the LA3A over the LA2A. It's more focus, and less dirty.

About the 88RS, at first I wasn't too impressed. The EQ sounded less exciting than the 1073/81, and the Limiter/Compresser was really blank comparing to the new LA3A.

Yet after I played with it for a while, my started to hear something happening.

The first thing to notice was that I worked faster. It gave me a feeling like working on a console's channel stripe. I don't have knobs to turn with my fingers of course, but it's really fast. Click, then drag and listen and \"hmmm, this is it.\" Within 30 seconds I got all the EQing done the way I want it to be. Then some tweaking on the L/C section and it's done.

The difference was that, I didn't want to go back and check anymore. Strange. I don't understand why, but it's a good thing.

Then it's the sound. They sounded really blank at first, especially the L/C sectoin; yet when I got the settings right, it sounded more like from a console than any other plug-in combination.

Now this is where I'm amazed by UA's emulation ability. Plug-ins are still more boxed and sterile and plastic than hardwares, and still compressor plug-ins cannot compress more than 6dB without muffling the sound, yet besides these \"universal weakness of all plug-ins\", the 88RS really has a console sound.

I'm seriously considering doing one mix mostly with the 88RS (with \"major tracks\" using my precious outboards, of course) and see how it'll sound like. Maybe we ARE starting to have a virtual Neve Console inside our DAW eventually.

Last but not the least, great work UA! b 8) d

 

[bulls hit]

I too prefer the LA3A over the LA2A. It's more focus, and less dirty.

You mean less coloured? Haven't tried the la-3a yet but I wouldn't call the la-2a dirty. The 1176, now that's just filthy