API Channel Strip - Hardware or Plugin?

In today's session, Ken 'hiwatt' Marshall compares his analog API 7600 channel strips to the Universal Audio Vision Channel Strip plugin! Can $300 sound like $6k?

Download the zip archive below, load up the files in your DAW, and run your own comparisons! Please share a comment with your results!

[Mark_]

Ken! Always look forward to your Friday sessions here. Absolutely love my API Channel Strip. Bought a second one 2 years later for stereo operation. Funny that you would bring this up in today's video as I just received my API The Box mixer TODAY.

[stanislavzalevskyi]

Analog sounds more glued, saturated and open in high frequencies. Very nice comparison video, Ken! How about to make it a series? Thank you so much for this channel!

[petarsron]

Perfect your end
Comment said it all.. you one the only dudes that explained with pure honesty without the hype thanks man

[philfitzsimmons]

This dude should be on Saturday Night Live! Love him.

[zzzyzzzyzzzyxxx]

Going to dl the files as soon as I get to the studio. Still, I could hear some of the differences on my cell phone.
Thanks for taking the time to do the comparision and the tips on drilling down on A/B listening.

[Samnewtonmusic]

Ken, your enthusiasm is so infectious. Thanks so much for making the comparison. I've been tossing up whether to pull the trigger during this current UAD sale. You've helped to convince me! The emulation isn't perfect but it's pretty damn amazing and close. Thanks again! Sam

[chandeleerjet]

I bought the api hardware 5500 eq the other day and compared in many blind tests with the vision strips 5500. It was nearly identical and in some cases the software sounded better. I really didn’t want to return it but i had to after that test. My hardware compressors felt so much better than the software versions but that specific eq was so close it was crazy.

[Iceleben]

Thank you so much for sharing the results as I don"t have this analog chain to do this on my own! This is one of the best comparison Videos I watched because not only it is shown in the music style I love. Your explanation and then showing these with the short snippets/loops made it so clear and understandable.

[Hello-gxcs]

Your passion and enthusiasm is contagious!!!

[induktor]

Really enjoyed this comparison. I've been meaning to perform this experiment with my HG-2 hardware vs plugin. Thanks Ken.

[revelationsoundstudio]

The thing is this the UAD API sounds good. The hardware is different and to my ears it sounds better. I had the API channel strip in my studio and compared the two in blind test closing my eyes and hitting solo button back and forth between tracks. I will say the difference is only 10 percent. But when you have that 10 percent difference on 8 or more tracks, the different becomes bigger.

[tonyduncan]

Thanks much Ken!!! I’m definitely going to download the files and have a listen. I will share my results as well!!

[ericjohnson]

At some point can you please talk about effects processors? I am in the fortune position of being able to buy an Eventide. But it's expensive and I'm very much on the fence. Thank you.

[ClifBratcher]

Got my hands on a Nightpro EQ3D and did a phase-cancelation shootout between it and the UA Maag EQ4. They were so similar that I was effectively left with nothing. The only difference was that the setting values didn't exactly align. I wrote that off to component tolerances.

Universal Audio makes awesome gear!

[TimMilliken]

Wow! I don’t even want to comment until I listen again with fresh ears. Great video and please keep up the good work. I love both api hardware and UAD. I buy the best hardware I can afford but realize that modern plugs can be as good or even better. This must be a native UAD ad I’m just realizing because it’s so close it wouldn’t even matter $100 difference.

[RETCHED-METAL]

I heard that subtleness too. I have analog hybrid and plugins too I especially like the api vision strip it's been my go to and then I go out from there to outboard if need be. I am new at this and have been going thru a lot of growing pains. Cheers mate

[ZipSnipe]

Man pretty damn close and I just rocked the neighborhood with it. Thanx now I feel that I should save money and do a lot of processing in the

[drakula_]

I love these types of videos! Clearly the hardware sounds as if it may have some more space(even on laptop speakers) but besides that it the plugin performs pretty well.

[nomusebefriends]

I've been super curious about this plugin since it got announced. I can definitely hear a difference but, as a guy who just has a very small "studio" space with very little recording hardware..for the price, I can probably live with that difference. :D

[KasperViggoJensen]

OK, so I downloaded the Hi-Res files and put them into a new session. I sliced up each bar on each track and then kept moving them one ahead, so that I hear one bar of hardware, then one bar of Unison so it's fresh in my mind and it just keeps playing. Even when presented like that, I am honestly hard pressed to recognise any tangible differences. I'm shopping for hardware gear, so I am biased towards WANTING to hear that the hardware sounds a lot better. Now, I know that hardware is marginally more natural and pleasing, as a general rule. But this also, to me, just confirms that high end emulations like the UAD stuff, is absolutely incredible and something we could only dream about 15 years ago. I think that as of now, hardware is really only useful if you are going to use it on everything in your session. I think the difference might be slightly more tangible when it's added up over a lot of tracks.