It's good enough to stand on its own, and for me, that's the test. I didn't have the opportunity to A/B the plugin and hardware, but I've used them enough to know that this is one heckuva good plugin, regardless of whether it perfectly captures the 1084 EQs I've worked with. There's a workaround for it, and I did get it to work correctly for the demo and subsequent playing around with it once I bought it.
There is a glitch with today's Mac OS version release of the UAD software 10.12 that offers the plugin, and UA knows about it. I was impressed with it, and because I own all of the other UAD/Neve stuff, I got it for half price, so for $150. It's got punch, it does a "Neve thing" when pushed, and basically it sounds great. The original 1084 was the same preamp as the 1073, the difference was a fancier EQ.īottom line: This EQ is closer to the hardware than the UAD 1073 model. I decided to demo it and try it on some pre-recorded tracks, in other words, using only the EQ, as I would when using it with my BAE.
Today UA introduced the 1084, a software emulation of the 1084 preamp/EQ that was offered as an add-on to the 80 Series Neve consoles. However, the state of the art is improving. I can use it as a plugin for its EQ, even though the preamp emulation doesn't thrill me like the hardware does, but that plugin was designed a few years ago, and for me, doesn't cut the mustard. Call me foolish, but having just bought a new computer and some SSDs, it was just too much for me to want to invest. Eventually, he started building clones, and he knew what he was doing.īut not being a wealthy dude, I just couldn't bring myself to spring for the version with the built in EQ for another $1800. He was one of the first to restore the original modules and offer them for sale. Maybe it's even the best you see them in a ton of high end studios now, and that is probably because BAE started as Brent Averill Enterprises. It sounds fantastic, as most of these clones do to one degree or another, but I think this is one of the finest ones out there, including Neve's brand.
As some here know, I have a BAE 1073 hardware microphone preamp that's a clone of the original 1073 module.