No plug-in sounds as good as the real thing. But, that being said, for the $$$ they do a good job at what they are designed to do.

I personally like the Renaissance plug-ins.

The Sony Oxford plug-ins are the best to my ears.

Chris

I second the Renaissance bundle, I use the Rcomp on all the important stuff (vocals, main mix if needed). Go grab the free stuff at http://www.digitalfishphones.com also. BLOCKFISH is great as a drum mix compressor (nice saturation feature).

Hey, you can download the Waves Platinum and try it out for 14 days. I did (has to be version 4) and was pretty impressed with a lot of the plug ins. They are different than the UAD and one does not replace the other. For me the Platinum is an overkill of what I need. I picked up the Waves Mastering and am thinking about the Ren. Channel strip. The Denoiser was awesome in a session I had where I had to transfer accomp tapes to CD. Got rid of the tape hiss very nicely and better than me just using EQ.

Mike - If it means anything to you, I don't use Waves anymore...

I'm not saying that they're bad - They're not. It's a great package.

But since I installed the UAD collection, I just haven't used them. I'm still a hardware freak, but when you want hardware "feel" in software, you can hardly compete with the UAD compressors.

IMHO, YMMV, yada, yada...

How do UAD's comps and eq compare to Sony Oxford's? Anyone out there who's used both?

How is the Sonalksis stuff compared to UAD? I've recently been using the Sonalksis stuff for my home mastering, and I think it sounds great! Before I used T-Racks, but I must say, now that I have heard ohter gear, I must say, it truly sucks!

Hey Sork, the sonalksis EQ is really good but in comparison to the UAD bundle, (the studio bundle), the UAD pulls out ahead. What i like the most about a plugin is not only the sound but the design. When it looks like a real hardware unit, AND sounds like one, you can't beat it.

...just IMO ...

How do UAD's comps and eq compare to Sony Oxford's?

In general, the UAD stuff has more character, whereas the Sony stuff is cleaner...it's about the best clean stuff out there. They're very different, but complementary. I haven't tried out the "Cambridge" EQ yet for the UAD (which is obviously targeted at Sony's Oxford EQ) but I hear it's pretty good.

-Duardo

Here's my take on the EQ plugs... I find that the Cambridge, overall, is my "go to" digital parmetric EQ. Very clean, very "pure" sounding.

That being said, one thing I've found about the Sonalksis AND the Oxford is their amazing clarity when adding highs & high shelving. They seem a little more "musical" sounding in that area.

THAT being said, if you have the Cambridge, you probably have the UAD Pultec... When someone finds me a unit that adds highs better than that, sign me up. When I just want some nice "air" in there, I probably use the UAD Pultec more than my (hardware) GML 8200.