Their Duende plugins are no exception. When these plugins were first realised it was required that any users also had a powerful DSP card to go with them; such were the processing requirements that would have strained computers of that time to breaking point without ever hitting useful numbers of instances of the plugins. With the power of modern computers SSL have completely revamped their plugin offering over the last few years so that they can all be run "Native", which means without additional DSP cards or boxes.
The SSL Duende Native Essentials bundle brings you together with two plugins that will give you the core of that unmistakable SSL sound, in the heart of your chosen DAW. They are based on two bits of hardware which are ubiquitous with SSL as a brand. A Channel Strip and a (arguably THE) Bus Compressor. Here's what SSL say about them:
Duende Native Channel:
A classic SSL console channel strip ported directly from their top end C200 console.- Separate high and low pass filters
- Four Band parametric EQ (switchable E and G series characteristics)
- Compressor/Limiter (with "over-easy" soft ratio)
- Gate/Expander
- Variable process order routing
- Dynamics side-chaining with independent chains for compressor and gate
- Mono and Stereo versions included
Duende Native Bus CompressorA classic analogue stereo (or mono) bus compressor fully modelled in digital
- Based on the bus compressor from a 1980's SL 4000 G Series analogue console
How do they sound?
I was in the camp that asks "how can it sound much better than any other retro modelled channel strip?" and probably had fairly low expectation of it; but they sound really great. They have all the features you could want and more than the analogue hardware versions can easily offer you.
The Channel Strip just works and is so ridiculously intuitive that you get results straight away, whether you're taking cymbal crashes or nailing down the guitar tone. I found it handling my drum tracks really nicely, giving me punchy transients and really smooth high end with tonnes of headroom.
The Bus Compressor sounds just how you want it to and does exactly what you need it to, while imparting that classic SSL character. I compared it to the Glue bus compressor that now comes bundled with Ableton Live Suite, which is modelled by Cytomic, and found they certainly aim at the same place. They certainly take the same functions and do both sound great, but the SSL really does sound nicer for whatever reason.
Negatives?
Well, for one the price is pretty high. Outside of any special offers and deals the essentials bundle is $475 (!!!). So there's that...
The other thing I noticed was that they do tend to eat a little bit more processing time than many of my other plugins. Not quite as much as my Mastering plugins but still more than you would expect from a channel strip and EQ. So you probably couldn't use them much while tracking. If you wanted to do that you'd have to go with an actual SSL console; which would set you back some £40,000 or so to get you started.
Round-up
I picked these plugins up during a special offer on the SSL store when they just put out the AAX versions of the plugins for ProTools 11. I paid less than half price and can say for that money they are stunning value. But these are still stunningly good sounding plugins and have real utility in them that can be applied to basically any mix session you do in your DAW.
I have no doubt that these two will become staples in my audio arsenal, whether that me mixing music, dialogue for film/TV or sound design. If you can afford to splash the cash, these are well worth considering alongside anything from the likes of UAD or Waves, but without the hassle of adding yet another piece of hardware to your system.
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