API 5500 Analog Mastering EQ vs Plugin
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
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David please no more hardware!!!!!!! My wife will divorce me dude!!!!!
Anyway another super video, please keep up the good work!!
Mine have already goes ... And i will exchange easily a comeback for this beast ! Lol !
A wife for an api swap sounds like a great deal for me
@@superhadouken You speak wise!!!
Feed your need for hardware by using services like Access Analog and MixAnalog!
@@RealHomeRecording Thank you so much ! I visit a site some days ago but it was not good as these ones !! Fantastic !
It looks like a Waves funeral for me...
that's explain why we spend so much money in hardwares (for sure much more expensive) vs. plugins considering that high gap so amazing result in comparison with VSTs in the box treatments
@@ac7diffusion_mastering Of course. And what David teach me precisely , that is : yes we can obtain the same results ( some goods engineers do it ) with plugins for some treatments but he must use 3 or 4 treatments where he would use only one with a ( good ) hardware. So it is a choice of simplicity too .
@@ac7diffusion_mastering And some brands should be sanctioned because they use of false advertising to sell their plugins !! NO you don't have the same sound with a genuine API or SSL or NEVE hardwares than with their plugins !!
The difference at the beginning on those electric guitars was just shocking.
@@RonnieVaiArovo I'm listening on $4,000 monitors in a treated Studio. The difference seemed pretty massive to me.
@@DavidDiMuzio Lol listenning on $600 monitors with no treated room and crashed ears : i don't hesitate neither... Guitar & Kick not the same with the plugin..
What did you think of the drums? Plugin sounded pretty good to my ears there.
@@seenbelow And for David Gnozzi of MixBusTv who is a size in the field, WE should go on work with this plugin because it is still widely used at high level. ( by high grade engineers )
@@seenbelow I noticed a difference on the kick, but honestly on the drums I didn't notice a positive enough direction towards the hardware for it to matter much. The major difference when I feel like it would have made enough difference to really matter to a listener in the way the song felt was the guitars and the whole mix examples.
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After Extensive testing, this: bit.ly/2HSsA5U would be the best overall API Emulation plugin
API 5500 just sounds better. More open, more clear, is just perfect. OMG.
This plugin is not good. I knew it from the beginning. Waves in general are crap. Just few are good.
@@claudianreyn4529 IKR I wish I could sell most of mine and get my money back and purchase some Plugin Alliance or UAD plugins instead or better yet analog gear lol
@@DocKaosBeats if you subscribe to plugin alliance on their mix and master plan they start sending vouchers all the time and most of their plugins can be had for around 29.99 lol you also get 200 back in a voucher at the end of the year and after a year or 2 you won't need to subscribe anymore. It's a pretty good deal imo
@@fich1111 Yeah it's an amazing deal but the problem I have is not personally knowing what plugin to get or what I need
@@claudianreyn4529 i agree, AA PINK 4 is way better
On the majority of the examples the hardware was definitely better, but what surprised me is that on a few of them, I marginally preferred the emulation, only on a couple though
Like I said in the video, I love their API suite, and yes, on electronic music there have been cases in which I preferred the plugin. The hw is irreplaceable tho', one of those pieces
That's because the sound of the plugin vs the hw is just different. Not better not worse objectively. Some material will work better on one unit than the other
Surprisingly the analog eq gave the piano a whole other feel, it seems more real even though it is probably a plugin.
Best mixing channel on youtube!! I’d be very interested to see someone do this with the Acustica stuff. I know Acqua/Nebula plug-ins serve more of a niche crowd but putting the idea of Acustica stuff being comparable to hardware to a test would be awesome
streaky has a video comparing the maselec with the acustica version if you haven't seen it
Unless my ears are fooling me, it sounds like the hardware adds some depth, especially on the drums. It's like he highs and lows don't sound pushed, but lifted, more 3 dimentional in a classy way.
And I didn't have to pay attention to hear it, it was really obvious.
I'm actually having a "Bingo!" moment: that particular high and low lift, I've heard it many times, Now I know what it was. Thanks David!
I would love to see how the test would compare with UAD API plug ins which are modeled better than the very old Waves API
Here I was thinking : "I won't ear the difference"
Well, it's huge, especially on the hi-freqs. :O
no look at the lowssss too . . . the plugins sounds like a 4wkin joke and not even . . .
Why don't you compare Acustica's sampled emulations instead of that outdated one from Waves?
David got to step up is game and try some new acustica stuff.
I have hardware, I don't think plugins will "step up my game" :D
It doesn't have to be Acustica, but comparing to something released at least in the last five years would certainly make a difference in terms of emulation technology and quality. This gap has been closing year after year, and for some recent emus I have been having a hard time picking the best between plugins and hardware. Softube stuff has done an amazing job in that sense.
They are actually impossible to really be sampled. 100 positions of each knob will be 100^8 combinations which have to be sampled - it will take hundred years to do this
While analog hardware may still have an edge on software (for now), I think it’s important for people to remember, the decisions an engineer makes are FAR more important than the gear they use.
Point missed..
@@mixbustv How so? Maybe you missed my point?
My comment was directed at any new producers/mixers that think that the only thing stopping them from getting great mixes is the budget to have a lot of expensive outboard gear.
I think you if you were to mix a song and completely restricted yourself to software, you would still get better results than an amateur mixer that had access to all the analog equipment they wanted.
Do you disagree?
@@TjMoon91 I don't disagree, quite the opposite, it's kind of stating the obvious. We got said there's a reason as to why we use hardware
@@mixbustv Maybe I'm the only idiot out there. But I know when I first started it wasn't that obvious. It always felt the like there was another bit of hardware or software I needed in order to create a professional sounding mix. Just thought it was worth making that point.
Anyway... enjoy your videos, keep at it.
@Abhishek Srivastava Is it?? Sorry I had another window open with a review of the Ferrari Roma and I thought I was commenting on that. Apologies.
API is my favorite EQ. OOOH but sometimes it's a tie with Neve. I've never gotten a better bass guitar sound than I can with an API. Forget graphic eq's if you're not notching. Get the API.
Waves did a surprisingly good job on this, but I'm still sold on the real thing.
u can even hear it on smartphone speakers
Every time hardware wins , but waves API 500 is doing just fine ....thnx !
Acustica has a 5500 software emulation with Pink4, I'm surprised you didn't use that to compare
Hardware objectively sounds better but, I ain't got multi g's to drop on the hardware unfortunately. Gotta stick to mixing in the box for now. - Thanks for the comparison vid.
Waves did better than expected! The first example not so much. But the rest was ok. Not as much depth though. The hardware sounds best.
Hi. Very interesting video. Thanks.
I have the IKmultimedia version of this. It has the half db steps and their stuff sounds better then the wave stuff IMO. Less...tame and woolly. Also their LA2A and 1176 sound way better then the ones from waves .
I have to say i really enjoy your videos. hope more ppl are as generous as you in contribution to this community! Love the hardware, but i think plugin sounds close too which is great!
As usual... analog is a bit better and nicer and smother adding that rich tone in the background... it's a difference you have to notice and the difference isn't much with the price difference... analog is for when your craft becomes a very well-paid career.
There's no point getting a full analog setup until you really know how to mix, as you don't want this difference to delude you that it already sounds good...
The most important thing is your monitoring, and you need to be putting a lot of that money into your room treatment.
Spend £3000 on monitors, spend £3000 on acoustics...
Lower budgets are often best to obtain a very high-grade headphone monitoring setup... £1000 on headphones... £0 on acoustics.
I'll be starting soon and I have no idea what budget I will be starting with... could be £30,000... could be £5,000.
There is no analog vs digital war, there simply an individual skill, knowledge, and money war and no one is judging, that has any relevant judgments to make.
People like this give you insight for future ideas, where your setup might be taken if you get to take off in this as a career.
I have mine 12 years. Still going strong. There is no master I did without it
Donate your API 5500 to a starving brother 🙏
I need €3400 to buy this one... With 200 I buy the plugin and the rest a new guitar... No! No! Concentrate man! Wth.. :))
I'm totally there!
I'm not audio engineer but I may hear a huge difference between hardware vs plugin. 100% hardware team
I have trouble with this EQ for mastering or even 2-bus cause 0.5 dB increments are too big... I need something with 0.2 dB at least. I wish it had a x .1 range setting.
I was hardly using this API now I am hardly using the Curve Bender cause the 0.5 dB increments are too big.
The gain knobs are useless, I rarely use any other +/- gain value except 0.5 dB on these units and often that setting does not work.
Some of these EQs would be so cool if you could sculpt the sound with 0.1 dB increments.
Who could not listen to the big difference between real analog equipment and a virtual emulation? It’s like comparing a real girlfriend vs a virtual doll.
api rulez, the king of puncky drums!
Lets make a blind test then see half the cocky people in the comments get very confused which is which. Don't get all the shitting on waves plugins in here. They make great plugins.
It was especially noticeable on that last example, the plugin was definitely sort of floppy by comparison. But my question to you is: if you had to go in blind, do you think you would be able to tell which is which?
And while little differences obviously stack up to make bigger differences at the end, is using analog gear going to make it sound better, or just different?
Better.
Plugin will always sound the same it terms how "saturation" affect every sample of a given sound. Plugins are mostly code by C# or Python...
You can double it and reverse polarity, you will get perfect NULL because plugins are generaly "01010011 01001000 01001001 01010100" (use online binary to text converter to see what i wrote ;) )
On the other side, the real hardware has non-linearity. Just imagine all that components inside affecting each other by magnetic field, temperature, voltage changes etc...
All that special transformers and other components inside make a better sound, or lets say "More Listenable", pleasant to ears.
And now, time for answer:
* Yes, using the analog gear will make your mix sound better { if you know what you doing :D }
Kind regards!
@@entrancemusicofficial8550 except AA Pink
Massive difference BTW soft and hard.... Obviously Hardware is the winner by far !
The plugin Is boring 😄 The real api Is amazing
Wow on drums it was striking. Crisp and open at the same time. One more item to add to the gear list.
The hardware sounds much better to me. The plugin sounds brighter/harsh, and hardware sounds warmer/ richer. The plugin sounds fine though, and the average listener will never know anyways.
The average listener won't even do A/B, moot point. The mix will move them or not. And if one eq won't make much of a difference (which does) try 32ch of hw
@@mixbustv ya, avg. listener may not hear it, but they will feel it. I use to buy Fat Wreck Chords albums until around 2000. I loved all the records prior, and the ones after were good, but I was never as passionate about them. I recently learned Fat went digital at that time. I guess I just love analog.
Thanks for the video Dave, most of the people here saying that the hardware is way much better and bashing the plugins wouldn't even realize which is the software and which is the hardware if they blind tested the 2 units. In the end you can achieve the same results on the plugin because its not only about the tools, its about how you use them! 👌
The hw *is* better, now that doesn't take away that the plugin is good and it's a different tool that sometimes might be working even better on some things. The same? No you can't. Not the same, different, sure, there's not one way to mix a song, but never the same
I could hear the difference, but only sometimes. I think the hw sounded better too.
I live this plugin my mix sounds clearer and more punchy!!!
Appreciate the solo bus examples in addition to full mix examples. I haven't delved into hardware acquisition just yet, but API pre's and processing are at the top of the list if I manage to make recording/mixing a bigger chunk of my overall income. Curious where you would start with outboard if you were just now starting to make your living in this realm? Right now mine is almost all made in live sound and backline. Recording/mixing work is and always has been the dream though. Thanks for your work, David.
In a dream world with a thousand of members on this channel maybe we could have a giveaway like this !
A giveaway of an API 5500? Lol
@@pacman_pol_pl_polska Gluttonous ! .... Yep i'm a dreamer ... but hope brings life .
@@mixbustv But one in two members will have the plugin .... ! Lol
And one in three members will have just the box !
ffs now i want one..
Me dream eq...what are you gonna put it on?
Great piece of gear, it's on my list of gears to get. There's an openness to it that is very cool! Does it seem like the stereo image gets slightly wider as well?
Given the fact that the Waves plug-in is a fraction of a cost and the ease of use of a digital plug-in, it's doing pretty well considering. As another commenter mentioned he was listening in a treated room with $4000 monitors. I think most of us here use pro eqiupment to listen to these comparions, but the vast majority of listeners (99%) will not be in a treated room with $$$$ equipment and the difference would not be noticed. And they are definitely Not side-by-side comparing the music, so there is no point of refernce. But the fact is that this is a tool for the engineer to make good sounding records. The better the tool, the better sounding audio/music we will get.
Greetings,
This is an amazing video, but I have a question? Is the API 5500 your goto for mix/master bus? Also with did you have to swap out parts in your 5500?
No it sits on my drum bus along with one of my fatso's and I didn't "have" to swap things but I did prefer the scott liber opamps both for the sound and because they don't blow up. I do use it in mastering tho', probably 3 songs out of 10 (and mind you when I mean mastering I mean mastering, meaning client's mixes)
Feels like the plugin compresses the audio
Hello:-) Do you still have the API 5500? Or did you replaced it with the SPL PQ?
I have em all
Amazing comparison thank you so much David
The Waves stuff is so old. The Acustica API stuff and UAD Vision would be a much better comparison. Waves needs to improve their algorithms or stop charging customers for “upgrades”.
Really the comparison is ruthless . And i have no good ears... If there is good plugins i would like to ear .
Some 15+ years old Waves plugins are still the best and used in top charting records all day still. I promise you you'll hear difference with any plugin.
@@mixbustv I have tried loads of plugins and seen tons of people slag off Waves and I still like waves best overall (although the compressors don't come near Plugin Alliance for quality and variety). I'm curious, are the ones you see heavily used in the industry in the Renaissance bundle? I still find the Waves R..... are superb and go to them loads. My mixes are full of Waves R.
@@buddhabinaural definitely Ren are everywhere
Not even close. The hardware is warmer and more open.
They should update these old plugins. I would not use this one anyway.
@@claudianreyn4529 i agree 100%. Waves haven’t updated their plugins since they came out. The should revamp all the emulations and make them sound more honest. No way they sound like the hardware they was modeled after.
@@SupernovaSun77 yeh! And we have better CPU's especially the new AMD. I'd prefer plugins that eat more CPU but with better emulation.
Some plugins are way better already.
@@claudianreyn4529 bro I got all uad plugins and it’s so easy to pick those over everything.
@@claudianreyn4529 That' s what i think too !!! Totally agree with you!! But i start to wonder if any plugin can be really close to hardwares... it is only pale imitations .
If I could only buy one stereo EQ in this price range for mainly mixing and mastering purposes, would this be it?
Well, this one :D
hardware 200% plus
about the 5500 and 550... what a differences! waves lost too much lowend. the hardwares muck focused on punch, and more opened. waves sound is not so good like others emu. but u know better than me :). waves don t have good algoritm for its tools... the best Api u can find is fromm Acustica Audio. PINK4.
The dynamics on the hardware is what you have to focus on, not the boost in freq's. The hardware is punchy and has a great punch. Its like SSL but there is some meat on the bone. The plug in does not have this. It does boost the same freq;s and is more smooth and polite.
every boomer mixer ever . . . '' I couldn't hear a difference '' liars !
😂
I also really like the Waves plug-ins but this video shows how big the differences between hw and digital really is!
Depends on which digital one chooses to use...
in hi end is night and day
Good one! Thanks David! ✌🏼❤️
suprisingly, I liked the plugin more times thant the hardware
Let's face it! If the plugin was identical to the hardware? Api and others would be out of business!
fuck!! now i want one!!
Okay the recordings already sounds really good before mastering :D what was the signal chain for he second song?
Not sure what you mean with signal chain. That's a full mix and master I did, there's 60 chains 😅
@@mixbustvAaaah, so it is a 60 channel project where each channel has their distinct chains.. uff 😂 good sounding mix already nonetheless🤙
@@mixbustv in this please let me ask you what is your go to tracking signal chain?
those plugs have harmonics.. .of course they sound different :-)
Sigh, some day
In the guitar example, the boosts and cuts are not the same between the software and hardware eq's. Maybe that's the reason why they sound different?
Even in electronic music the HW just adds depth and doesn't kill the kicks.
API hardware just eats up live instruments period. nom nom nom delish
The hardware 5500 is a beast, comes with quite a price tag, though...
I am curious if compare to Analog Obsesion Merica. Love the silky sound of it and happy boosting on it. Hope you have a time to compare it to us 🙏
wow im surprised by how well does the waves plugin reacts to drums.... obiously hardware sounds way more real and transparent, but not bad for being an emulation
Could the amount of sound be because of which unit they emulated? All analog gear have different but similar sounds right?
Nope. The only gear that sounds different is VERY old gear, as in 60's and 70's. This is in production the units sound exactly the same with 0.001% of difference
@MixbusTv okay I didn't know just go off what I hear people say online
Thanks for this video!! Really helpful for me!
Wow... the hardware is noticeably more punchy.
Really off topic but... Where can I get some of those responsive lights you got on your monitors man
Api Apology Whets you Appetite Or Happy Harpoon to surf the Wave ?
Richard Kaplan is the go to on how to use the API, he's the man !!
Analog ♥️
This is night and day through all examples. Probably due to my simple brain I find myself more often using the 5500 than the SPL PQ - I love the API.
Thanks for -almost- proper level matching! I see oh so many "hardware vs plugin" videos where the level is always higher on the hardware when paid by the hardware industry, and vice versa when paid by the plugin developers. UA-cam should have an algorithm for that. For me as a customer it's so easy: EQ, saturation/distortion and compression are not subject to be done by plugins, all the rest is. Okay, except for Eventide where digital outboard beats digital ITB, but that's all.
Hardware is the winner for sure. Hearing the difference through youtube is proof of that.
David if you compare that plastic sounding plugin from waves with that classic api 5500 I'll slap you the harmonic and 3d openness of the hardware sounds so expensive and rich I Vann afford though thanks to acoustica audio to really rob that hardware of its natural Ness with nebula I don't need that 5500
No worries, I doubt anyone care if you do or don't need that 5500 lol
The plastic sounding plugins as you call em, are used by professionals daily on charting mixes btw.
Kick show really difference in this comparison. Thanks for sharing!
More sizzle on digital, more airy on analog. Think this one is the most felt
In my humble opinion, no comparison between the two. The hardware makes the source sound alive and the plugin boosts a frequency. Was really noticeable on the piano. Thanks for the demo. Pretty sure the 5500 will be my next splurge.
🙌 the 5500 is an amazing EQ
The analog version not surprisingly sounds more open and clear and more "3D"
Analog is never perfectly linear and any L/R-processing "widens" it because the channels differ just a little bit, and the difference does not stay constant but varies even on sub-atomic level. I don't think there's any other magic behind it.
oh.. there is A LOT more than that, and there's no "sub-atomic" anything, not even sure where you fished that. If it was just that, it would be extremely, emphasis on extremely, easy to replicate. Fortunately there's "thinking" and science.
The hardware doesn't hype the treble as much, so with the plugin you really need to use something after to tame the highs back to be more in line with the hardware. But yeah the hardware feels like its a compressor, very nice!
Thanks David!
why someone says api550b is not good for mastering while 5500 is called mastering eq? cause of 2db step in vst?
Who says that?
Please do plugin doctor analyses when testing gear. Check the harmonic distortion, phase and curves in an objective way.
ua-cam.com/video/evPK_liEK2k/v-deo.html
Man this is what I hear, they are kinda close but the bass just sounds harder on the hardware and there is this live quality to it I don't know, airy. The software sounds like I'm listing to something reproducing a sound and the hardware sounds like I'm in the room with the band, if that makes any sense.
Oh it does, very much so
Would the API be a good choice for someone who needs an first EQ for mixing/Mastering?
Sure, as long as you know it's quite colored and it's not gonna fit every song
Wow! Man you keep on selling gear to me. This is such a good comparison. I’m looking for a vocal eq for hip hop that could also be used for mixbus or drum bus with 4K-5k budget. Is this the best choice for that?
I think the 5500 is pretty perfect for what you just described 👍
Waves is the most overrated company. Harsh, thin, lowfi crisp sound 🤢
Must be why they're on every single record
Hi
The reference track that is played begins with ‘heal me’ {rock} who is this please?
Kaos India "Burning", mixed and mastered their album some time ago
Both sound good, but they are in different weight classes.
Other than the gain divider, is there any difference between the API 5500 and a set of two hardware 550B's? I've heard that its the same but from your unboxing video, the 5500 seemed to have a lot more heft than what two 500 series units would have.
5500 has balanced inputs, and of course the power supply
Wow Amazing device
Excited to see a good comparison of these because I know just how good the 5500 sounds compared to emulations. Awesome!
7:21 track ID in background?
Burning by Kaos India, mixed and mastered that record few years ago, cool guys
@@mixbustv thanks fam for replay, hope you doing well
One thing is: if the listener uses mid range headphones, there s no differences....
😂
Hi David.Thanks again for great review. I watched your another video where you mention a issue with API 5500 ( it had hum 60 Hz). How did you solve that? Can you share that story? I have the same issue with my API 5500) Thank you so much
I have a video coming up on that
👏🏻Great as always David👍🏻
Could you possibly do this same comparison with a Neve (or BAE) 1073 and the Waves Schoeps 1073?
Please understand that that's a preamp. You CANNOT compare an analog preamp connected to your mic affecting the very same track that you'd then compare. Even worse if you'd compare tracking with a different preamp. You cannot track with plugins
@@mixbustv Ah yes! That went right past me. Got it!
Grazie Signore!
#givethanks bro good looking out