I've had this argument too many times, and we ALL know that
Opinions are like Buttholes...everybody has one. What everyone does
NOT have is COMMON SENSE. I don't care what ANYBODY says,
they are NOT going to give you "The same sound" of a $10,000 hardware unit
in a $50 plugin. Sorry...never going to happen.
They talk about "Circuit modeling" and blah blah blah. You are NEVER EVER
going to get the "real sound" of hardware in a plugin. There is an EFFECT
that takes place within the wiring, tubes, circuits, and transformers of a
HARDWARE UNIT that CANNOT be replicated with a "Software" plugin.
Recording Studios and Movie Studios would STOP buying HARDWARE if that were the case...
BUT THEY DON'T!!! As a matter of fact they are STILL ordering HUGE consoles and
$10,000 compressors and Limiters, etc!
WHY?
THE SOUND!!!
They wouldn't invest a MILLION DOLLARS into a console if they could
"do the same" with a $50 plugin...sorry...that's just COMMON SENSE!
I'm with the OP. NO BUSINESS is going to "give you" their "secret weapon" for
PENNIES that they paid THOUSANDS for. You're not going to get the "same" summing
and analog "sound" of an SSL 4000 or 9000 Console in "software" format. NOT GOING
TO HAPPEN. SSL would be OUT OF BUSINESS. HARRISON would be OUT OF BUSINESS.
NEVE would be OUT OF BUSINESS. API would be OUT OF BUSINESS. Trident would be OUT OF BUSINESS.
Maag would be OUT OF BUSINESS. The list goes ON AND ON. And you wouldn't see producers
diligently searching for "Special Consoles and hardware" if they could just "model one" and do it for
pennies, rather than hundreds of thousands, and you wouldn't see RACK UPON RACK UPON RACK of
HARDWARE UNITS, all "patched in" in Major Studios...THINK ABOUT IT! They would just buy high end I/O
units and be done if it were "the same".
These guys are SALESMEN. They will tell you "exact modeling"...etc.
They are out to SELL product - that is all. And they PAY for BIG NAMES for "endorsements" and for
"ads" featuring BIG NAMES to get you to BUY so that they can "make money", not only
off the BIG GUY, but ALSO off of the LITTLE GUY...not because "it's the same"!
I'm not saying you can't, or won't, get "Great results" in the box, BUT, it will NEVER EVER be the same as
the PHYSICAL HARDWARE, because you simply can't "model" what they REALLY do, and what REALLY happens,
in a HARDWARE UNIT. You can get a binary proximity match, but it will not be, or sound, "identical" - EVER.
As Jim said...QUALITY of what's going in and coming out make a HUGE difference, and THAT is ALL dependent
on HARDWARE!
Let the bashing begin...because I know everyone wants to believe that their "Plugin" sounds every bit as good
as "the hardware". Common sense and REALITY says...NOPE.