[esteso]

Well I'm looking seriously at the Duende but I'm going to want to hear it first. It's probably great, but too much cash to assume anything, no? I already have the Waves SSL bundle and it's quite fabulous as well, in fact it's really great. Hate the WUP and the iLok but I like to move the plugs so better than C/R for me.

Duende, another color (I hope) If so, another sale. Love to hear some detailed reviews too.

Rock on

[Lloyd_Murphy]

Ok, so this thing is rather nice. There were some teething difficulties due to a dodgy FW card, but taking that out of the equation has helped things settle down. It all seems stable thus far.

The box packaging is no prize winner. This isn't Apple packaging, so no unpacking porn.

The package comes with a wallwart with an international interchangable plug attachment, which is a great if you're all international and jet settery. The unit can be powered by the Firewire Buss, which is great for travel. The only thing that makes this a less than ideal travel box is that the rackmount lugs aren't the removable type, so you're stuck with them. Unless you have a saw. I mean, of course it's still portable, but it would be nice to have just a box, instead of a box with ears. But, I'm not planning on travelling, so...

The unit itself is fairly heavy and seems to be solidly built. The front panel appears to be cast aluminium. The little light is white and bright. It'll burn your eyes off, but it will look super high tech as it does it. This unit would look great sat next to an Apogee Ensemble. The software installation is simple. No authorisation required due to the big hardware dongle this thing comes with. The plugins are all installed automatically (You have to take them all, no choice in the matter) but you have to install the documentation PDF by dragging and dropping. The install CD also contains a firmware updater, which just tells me that the firmware is up to date when I launch it. I guess this is just there as a backup in case you fry your unit. The firmware updates will probably be just an app containing the firmware, rather than an application that allows you to select a file to plop into the unit. Should be clean, I suppose.

One nice little thing that is installed is a little app in the System Preferences panel. Opening the SSL Duende tab reveals a little monitor that shows you which slots in the DSP are taken up. 4 DSPs in all. The slots fill up as you drop plugins into Logic, so this is nice to keep track of how many you have left. The panel also shows your driver version, the firmware version and the serial number of the unit. Turning off the unit makes the firmware and serial number show up as n/a, so this is a cool way of seeing if the unit is connected and functioning properly.

Ok, onto the sounds...

The plugins pop up nice and quickly when inserted into a track. Good start...

The Mix buss compressor is really, really nice. It's hard to describe it in terms of other plugins because it does remind me of a nice HW comp, which I supposed it's meant to. It's somehow transparent, yet adds a certain magical something. It just sounds 'right'. It's capable of making a mix sound soft and silky by gently slapping your transients into submission, or turning it into a pumping or punchy monster with an aggressive sound. Aggressive, yet pleasant. It's not like a lot of other plugins that claim to add analogue colour, yet just add crunch. I'd describe Duende as smooth and silky, yet punchy and aggressive if you push it far enough, yet it's always somehow pleasant, which other comps don't seem to be able to manage. It's fun and I spent a good 2 hours trying to make the needle sit still. Almost too much fun. Is it glue? I think it will be with a little more playing and a lot more learning.

I haven't messed with the channel plug as much as the mix buss comp, but I'll have to say that so far, the EQ and filters sound really nice indeed. It's got that strange lively and almost fizzy quality to it. Something really hard to explain and I probably sound mad describing it as that. Sucking top and bottom out with the highpass filter is smooth and almost eerily transparent. You have to double check to make sure it's working. I'm so used to something undesirable being added, but this doesn't seem to add that weird harmonic distortion (or whatever) that causes cacky peaks around the cutoff point that you often hear in some other plugs. Nice.

Cutting nicely hacks into sounds, but it doesn't have that hard sound that a lot of EQs tend to have. It's strangely smooth and doesn't feel like it's leaving a clinical emptiness behind. The overall effect is quite odd and something I'm not entirely used to. Maybe I'm hearing things and need to test further.

Boosting feels coloured and the high end actually sounds good when boosted. So, what is good? It's like it's actually adding top like it's supposed to do. It doesn't get unpleasant and bite your ears off. Maybe there's extra harmonical magic being added or something clever, but whatever it is, it's nice. Maybe I'm totally wrong and need to listen more, but after quick messing around, this initally sounds like a good EQ.

I didn't get to engage the 'G' mode much, but when I did, it made things sound a little more aggressive. Harder character? More bitey? I need to play more, but that's the initial feeling with around a minute of messing around with it.

I only messed with the comps a little, too. What I did hear was a nice, subtle workhorse sound. I didn't push it hard yet, but it seems to have a fairly clean sound. Something that doesn't mess the character of what's going through it too much. Adds a nice thickening. I really need to mess with this more. The limited controls are actually rather cool. I'm used to compressors with a crap load more knobs, but just having the 3 knobs is may seem limiting, but just a few moments with it told me otherwise. I think I'll be able to get a good sound of it it, whatever. The attack is a toggle that is either fast, or not. 'Fast' is smooth and 'Not fast' adds a snap, as you'd expect.

The Expander? What does an expander do again? And why do I need one?



Ok, all in all, very nice. I'm more than happy with the sound that's coming out of these plugs. I'm going to have to learn some new stuff here and I'll do that by mixing with them this coming week. The lack of digital readout and lack of presets is actually rather awesome. It forces you to explore and learn how to get the best from the box. The Channelstrip does have a digital readout display that appears at the top, but I cover that over with any other floating window. I quite like the idea of just knobs without number displays.

Ears, not eyes!

Good stuff.

This post has been edited by Lloyd_Murphy: 06 July 2006 - 03:59 AM

[Jim F]

Lloyd,

Thanks so much for taking the time to give your first impressions. Your descriptions of what the compressor and EQ sound like are how I would describe what the hardware sounds like. So this is great news... it means they got it right!

O.K. this thing just got bumped up in my priority list...

[muleskinner]

Thanks very much for that review.

Mmmm - gearlust

[jbmix]

Lloyd,

Thanks a lot for posting that great review. As Jim F. says, it sounds as if SSL may have successfully captured the analog hardware, and that's exciting! One day, I'll own one.. can't say when though.

[Lloyd_Murphy]

You're welcome, chaps! Happy to share. I never usually adopt something as early as this, but damn, SSL in a 1U rack to hook up to your DAW?... I just had to

I messed with the Duende again this morning and finally screwed it into the rack. I never put something into my rack until I'm happy with its performance, so I guess I'm pretty stoked with it.



That buss comp sure is nice. It sounds like a good natured giant riding the gain. Even if he decides to ride it quickly, it's always smooth. I'm currently of the feeling that you almost couldn't make it sound unpleasant even if you tried. Even with the ratio whacked up at twenty the results are still listenable. Squashed as hell, but so smooth and nice you don't care. It squashes softly rather than crunch it flat. I'd be interested to hear how it sounds on individual channels. Drums summed together into a buss, in particular. I'm going to enjoy learning how to get the most from this comp.

Great stuff.

[PaulyD]

Lloyd,
thanks for that review. That's very helpful.

Question: if a track in Logic with Duende fx applied to it is frozen, are the fx applied to the frozen track a la UAD-1 or are they lost?

tia,

Paul

[jbmix]

Question: if a track in Logic with Duende fx applied to it is frozen, are the fx applied to the frozen track a la UAD-1 or are they lost?

Good question, Pauly! And Lloyd, I would add this one to that: when you freeze a track, assuming the freeze file does include Duende's processing, are Duende's resources freed up for that track (which UAD finally does now)?

[Lloyd_Murphy]

Hey chaps...

Hmmmmm. I haven't tried this yet. I'd give it a go, but the Duende FAQ states that you can't do an offline bounce at the moment, so I'm guessing it's the same deal with freeze functions...

Duende FAQ

They state it rather non-commitally by saying 'does not currently support', so your guess is as good as mine. But, if UAD does this, I'd guess that SSL might at least try and match the features people find useful. Do any other DSPs boxes work with Logic freeze?

The single nagging doubt in my mind is that there are persistant whispers that later Duende updates will enable people to daisy chain several units together. This would be a great feature, but if SSL got an attack of the greedys, they might rather you bought another hardware box from them for more channels, rather than make their plugs play nicely with DAW freeze functions...

Just a thought...

But damn, I'm hoping it will be an upcoming feature! If you could automatically free up DSP when you freeze, you would essentially have virtually unlimited channels of SSL processing!

This post has been edited by Lloyd_Murphy: 10 July 2006 - 01:31 AM

[PaulyD]

Thanks again, Lloyd.

I sure hope SSL sees the wisdom in adopting freeze compatibility. The more seamlessly Duende integrates into a DAW the more appealing it will be. They would make it up on volume. It was only after Universal Audio put freeze compatibility into the UAD-1 that I started to consider a second card. The only thing that has kept me from doing it is knowing my next Mac won't have PCI-X slots...I'm starting to see the appeal of a FireWire device... Even without freeze compatibility it would just be dead sexy to have SSL EQ and compression available for those otherwise low-overhead channels or where you can't freeze, like busses and aux channels. Oh, to sub-mix drums to a bus and use that bus compressor... Freeze compatibility and phase reverse switches and SSL could rule the DAW world...

Cheers,

Paul

[PaulyD]

An Email I sent to SSL tech support:

"Hi,
I am very interested in Duende and will almost certainly buy one (or
two... or...).

Are there plans to put phase reverse switches on the plug-ins a la
URS Classic Console EQ plug-ins?

If a track or instrument channel with Duende fx on it is frozen in
Logic Pro are the fx applied to the frozen track a la UAD-1? If so,
does that free up some of Duende's resources?

Thanks so much for any information you can provide,

Paul"

Their reply:

"Hi Paul,

Thank you for your interest in our products.

Our upcoming 1.1 software release will add phase reversal and input gain
adjustment to the Channel Strip plug-in.

The 1.1 release will also support the Freeze function in Logic, however,
Freezing a Duende track will not free up any of Duende's resources.

For more information about Duende, please visit our online support site at:
http://solid-state-logic-en.custhelp.com/

Cheers,

Quinton

Product Specialist
Solid State Logic, Inc."

My credit card feels awfully warm all the sudden...

Paul

[Lloyd_Murphy]

An Email I sent to SSL tech support:

"Hi,
I am very interested in Duende and will almost certainly buy one (or
two... or...).

Are there plans to put phase reverse switches on the plug-ins a la
URS Classic Console EQ plug-ins?

If a track or instrument channel with Duende fx on it is frozen in
Logic Pro are the fx applied to the frozen track a la UAD-1? If so,
does that free up some of Duende's resources?

Thanks so much for any information you can provide,

Paul"

Their reply:

"Hi Paul,

Thank you for your interest in our products.

Our upcoming 1.1 software release will add phase reversal and input gain
adjustment to the Channel Strip plug-in.

The 1.1 release will also support the Freeze function in Logic, however,
Freezing a Duende track will not free up any of Duende's resources.

For more information about Duende, please visit our online support site at:
http://solid-state-logic-en.custhelp.com/

Cheers,

Quinton

Product Specialist
Solid State Logic, Inc."

My credit card feels awfully warm all the sudden...

Paul

Well, input gain sounds rather nice! I don't have much use for phase reversal, but good to have it, I guess. With input gain, I wonder if you can overdrive the channel input slightly...? Hmmmm...

And freezing (+ hopefully, offline bounce!) will be nice, but the fact that it won't free up Duende resources...? Ick. That's the only disapointing thing, I guess. But, SSL implementing freeze already is great news indeed! It's nice they're catering to us Logic folk - perhaps it's because Mr Gabriel is a Logic user himself?



Looking forward to that 1.1 update. 2 weeks away(ish), according to a post over at Slutz...






By the way, the unit is behaving itself wonderfully with only it and my 828 plugged into the G5. Powering on the 828 before the Duende is the way to go. Powering on the 828 afterwards causes some probs, such as the clock not being able to figure out what speed it should run at, or no sound at all. I ran Duende with Logic last night for 4-5 hours without a glitch.

This post has been edited by Lloyd_Murphy: 11 July 2006 - 04:49 PM

[Geoff Grace]

Sound On Sound has a full-fledged review of Duende, written by Paul White, in the August 2006 issue. If you have an eSub, follow the link below:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug06/articles/sslduende.htm

Oh, and according to the review, while the unit is based on the algorithms in SSL's digital C-series console, SSL engineers "revised and tweaked" them for Duende to sound even closer to SSL's analog boards.

Best,

Geoff

[JulianM]

Just wanted to add my thanks for the time taken to provide all this valuable info! Especially to Lloyd for his review but also to everyone for asking all the right questions!

There's a space in my rack earmarked "Duende"!

cheers
J

[PaulyD]

Duende software v1.2 has been released...but no support for Logic's freeze function?! *sigh*

Paul

[Lloyd_Murphy]

Duende software v1.2 has been released...but no support for Logic's freeze function?! *sigh*

Paul

Actually, Logic offline bounce and channel freeze ARE now supported. It has been confirmed on the SSL mixbuss forums.

This fact was simply ommitted from the email press release and the website...

All is well in Duende land.

[Jim F]

O.K... I'm a Duende owner now. I just finished the install, but had to update the firmware. In so doing, it made Logic's AU manager re-scan ALL of my Audio Units upon launching Logic.... so I'm typing this as it goes through that lengthy process.

I'll post back when I've had a chance to give it a test run....

[jbmix]

Awesome Jim.. well, not the AU scan thing, but the Duende thing!

I'm really interested in hearing what you think of it after you have a chance to get to know it. I'm thinking that your evaluation would be good for all of us to hear, since you are someone who has experience with the hardware unit. I'm thinking of selling my hardware and getting Duende, also. So give us a report!

(Anyone here want to buy a hardware SSL G-384??)

[Jim F]

O.K... so far, my impressions are VERY favorable. I haven't messed with the 2 buss compressor all that much yet, but my initial reaction is "yea, that does what it's supposed to.."

I've spent most of my experimenting with the channel strip so far. It's really nice. The EQ sounds very much like an SSL... duh... but you never know with software. Anyhow, the cool thing is, the EQ section allows you to switch between an SSL G series curve, and an SSL E Series curve. The "G" curve has an extremely "aggressive" sound to it. But in a really good way.

I'm working on a track at the moment that needs a really aggressive acoustic piano. My "go to" piano for the last year has been Art Vista's Virtual Grand. And while that sample is everything I love in a piano sound, really bright and aggressive it is not. Until now that is. The SSL EQ instantly gave me the "hype", so much, that it put Sampletekk's White Grand to shame. It's a whole new instrument with this thing.

I also was able to quickly get BFD drums to sound like something I would actually use. Out of curiosity, I tried the examples that BFD has on their website, that use the SSL EQ. Once I got a better feel for what it was doing, I was able to start tweaking with a bit more confidence. Not to abuse a worn out cliché', but these drum samples "sound like a record" now.

I suppose that perception comes from hearing countless mixes done through an SSL. But in a few short minutes, I was able to give this track I'm working on "that sound". It's hard to describe... but it has kind of an "angst", or "urgency" to it. But in a very musical way.

And the really cool thing about the channel strip, is you can but the filters, EQ, and compression in any order, as well as use any part as a side chain. I can see this will be a very flexible plug-in.

[Lloyd_Murphy]

Hey, congrats on the shiny new purchase!

Did you grab this software update? I'm guessing you did...

SSL Duende 1.2

The new additions to the channel strip are great. As is offline bounce.

I started my first 'proper' mix with it last week and I'm still loving it. I keep telling people that it's not an 'exciting' effect. It won't make your music instantly sound like it's an analogue recording, but you will be able to get sounds to where you want them to be very quickly. It gives things a big, commercial sound without the horrible side effects that a lot of other plugs seem to add, but you just accept them. The thing just inspires confidence and I know I can get to my destination quickly without having to arse about.

Oh, and the quad comp is magic now that the auto-release works properly. I can see why they say that it makes what you're doing sound like a record.