Video recensione: UA LA 2A vs NI softube VC 2A Shootout

Paul Bissell on Jun 11, 2013 in Review 2 comments

Both the Universal Audio LA 2A and NI's Softube VC 2A are modelled on the original LA2A hardware compressor. Paul Bissell puts both to the test in this video review shootout.  
The VC 2A and LA 2A stack up very well against each other.

Il VC 2A e LA 2A stack up molto bene contro l'altro.


In qualità di proprietario e utilizzatore quotidiano di universale Audio LA610 pre microfonico (610 pre microfonico, compressore LA2A combinata) ho il suono LA2A ben radicata nella mia testa. Ho anche la UAD LA2A plug-in come prima chiamata go-to in molte catene vocali. Con Native Instruments e il rilascio di una versione nativa (non-hardware accelerato) Softube, ero ansioso di vedere come si confronta sia con l'hardware, e Universal Audio propria emulazione digitale.

Considerando che l'UA mantenuto la loro emulazione LA2A completamente fedele alla centralina originale, Softube aggiunto alcune funzionalità aggiuntive. Il VC 2A (VC = Vintage Compressor), comprende un controllo di mix / miscela consentendo compressione parallela, un circuito di sidechain per schivare o di effetti, ed un filtro passa alto nel circuito rivelatore. Ciò mantiene il compressore reagisca negativamente a basse frequenze.


Stacking Up - LA2A e VC2A

Così come ha fatto l'emulazione Softube stack up? Molto, molto bene. Entrambi si arriva quel suono. È possibile guardare e ascoltare l'audio sparatoria fra i due sotto e fare il vostro proprio giudizi. Ma ci sono un paio di cose che dovete tenere a mente. Non ci sono due LA2As hardware originali sono mai sarà esattamente lo stesso. Così, se le unità hardware sono diversi, quindi la emulato o modellato i plug-in stanno per essere diversi come bene, e questo è esattamente il caso qui.


Paul Bissell

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Paul has being teaching music technology since 1992. He's exhausted and getting older by the minute... His compositions have been published for a mixture of ensembles and solo instruments, and as a performer, Dr. Bissell has played with a variety of orchestras and ensembles. You can hear him on the Spy Kids 2 soundtrack and Eric Jo... Read More

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Discussion

shiftjam
Hi paul,

What about the waves plugin? I think is waves cal 2a?

I know the topic is little sensitive and depending on such factors as taste, sound... And asking which one is the best might sound a little bit strange, but which one you would pick?

How does the waves compare with the others?

Best regards,
Leonard
Jun 12, 2013
Paul Bissell
Hi Leonard,
The simple answer is that I don't have the Waves version :)
I just did a quite Google search for "UAD Waves LA2A" and I see many. many posts about this already. Softube and NI are pretty much new comers, and so to be honest, I thought it would 'sound like a compressor' and that would be that. I was surprised how it captured the vibe - which is what you want in the end - well, what I want at least. The polarity invert / sum to cancel thing was just to give some kind of objective measure to my subjective opinion.
There are quite a few LA2A emulations - or at least plug-ins that compress and put a "two knobbed, simple silver interface" on the front. Therefore, the comparisons and shootouts could go on and on.

I don't mean to push back on your question, but honestly, the term "best" is one that is completely contextual, and since the context is so different in every song it is pretty much impossible to quantify.
The LA2A does 'that thing' which could be characterized as a smooth, silky, and warm - BUT it also exacerbates sibilance in vocals and leads to a front end bump that can be so "wrong" in many situations. A fast attack 1176 wouldn't have those same issues - but would have its own.

My article was written to say that these plug-ins by Softube/NI that come as a part of the larger Komplete 9 Ultimate package (which is mostly about sample instruments - not plug-ins!) are of similar quality to those of UAD - who in this case also make the hardware units of this model. Waves is native as well so that would be another kind of shootout I guess, and then there are the CLA versions which have their own thing...Bombfactory.....etc

Paul Bissell
Jun 12, 2013

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