Opinions On Art Pro VLA II Tube Compressor?

[ragnorok]

I might pick one of these up for my own personal studio use, but I've never owned a full on rack mount tube compressor. I'm thinking of using it for live playing as well but i don't know much about these things. Waste of money? Has anyone ever used one or something similar? Just looking for some opinions/advice

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...L-sNbWnCl84ICO6t6719UngwI1q9KcaZyuxoC2l3w_wcB

 

[necropsy]

I have one i dont like it - get a dbx insted

 

[KingAenarion]

My question is this:

Why do you need a hardware compressor?

Are you using it to print audio into your DAW, or passing it back out and back in, and if so, what are you gaining from it?

I do a lot of work through analog gear, and the only reason you do so is because you get a sound you can't quite get ITB yet.

This is certainly a sound you can get ITB.


I mean I'd honestly save your money and at $600 get a warm audio 1176. Far more interesting sounds.

 

[schwiz]

^ agreed.

Almost ready to pull the trigger on a 1176. Aaaaaaaaah

 

[Drew]

Yeah, second the consensus here - outboard compressors are kind of a tough sell these days, as you almost never want to print compression while tracking, and unless you're looking for a very particular "color" to your compression for effect (and none of the VST plugins available to you can capture that) it's often easier just to do it in the box.

Also, worth considering is that an outboard compressor can only handle one track at a time, so if you want to use that across a few tracks in a mix, you need to route one track into it, record the output (post-compression) to a new track, swap out the compressed track for the uncompressed one in your mix, and then do it all over again for the NEXT track.

If you want to get into outboard gear, mic preamps (or, more mics) is where I'd start. Thinking of going down that rabbit hole myself... And even that, I suspect, will be diminishing returns. Half the advantage is just that in 5-7 years' time when it's time to retire my Apogee Ensemble for something with (then) less dated conversion, I won't have to re-learn how a whole new set of preamps respond.

 

[Fretless]

Personally, I only use my outboard gear on bussed tracked. Otherwise it would be way too problematic and time consuming to mix and produce most of the stuff I work on. I have ART's vocal preamp, and it's really well built, so I imagine the construction of their compressor is similar.

Now, as for sound, whether or not it sounds good is very taste specific. I found I liked the sound of a Manley in demos more than ART's stuff, so that is what I ended up saving for and buying, but others may not enjoy that, so if you are mixing for other people, you will find that VST's are significantly more flexible, and cost effective.