Hi Chris...

I have the Waves Platinum bundle and it's one of the best purchases I've made. I also have the tc M3000 rack reverb unit and the UAD-1. I decided not to go with tc powercore, because for what I have it didn't really add anything new or better.

I would suggest the Waves bundle and UAD-1. The UAD-1 is half the price of the powercore and every bit as good, if not better.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about the Waves plug ins chewing up too much processing or not. Some have suggested that the TC unit would be a better choice because:

1)it lets my computer retain all of its processing for recording tracks, and

2)The quality of the plug ins is higher than that of the Waves because it uses its own processing.

If it helps to clear things up, I'll be recording acoustic music (mostly jazz based) exclusively, with a maximum of 8 tracks and no overdubs. As far as effects are concerned, what I'm after is the best EQ available in this price range, and also a nice reverb that sounds natural. I'm looking to color the sound as little as possible, and I'm hoping to find an EQ plug in with a nice intuitive, user-friendly interface.

What effects are available on the UAB-1, and how do they rate according to these criteria?

Chris, The UAD-1 is very similar to the Powercore in that it has it's own DSP and doesn't use up your computer's processing. It has some great EQ's and compressors as well as Kind of Loud's RealVerb. Outstanding deal for the price. I use mine in every single mix I do and I have also used their Pultec and 1176 when mastering. I have also heard good things about Powercore. I've heard that Powercore's Classic Verb is very good but I haven't tried it since I don't own one. :(
In my experience folks always need more tracks than they think. I've thought about getting a Powercore myself but the UAD-1 seems to be covering the same bases. Perhaps it would be good to hear from someone who owns both a Powercore and a UAD-1. So far UADs verb is the best I've heard on a Daw and they're about to come out with an even heavier duty verb (requires more processing from their card) called Dreamverb. If it were me I would spring for the UAD-1 over the Waves although I don't think you would go wrong with any of these choices.

Hi Chris...

tc's quality is not better because they use their own processors. Whoever told you that doesn't know what they're talking about.

The quality has to do primarily with the software, not the processors per se. The processors on a Mac or pc are fully capable of driving the best software.

I would also get the UAD before the Powercore. A lot less money and better deal all round IMHO.

The Waves plugins are generally accepted by everyone as being of the very highest quality, so you can't go wrong there. Look at the new Rennaisance bundle and the Masters bundle. Those will have everything you need.

What DAW are you using BTW?

I own and use Waves, UAD-1 and TC powercore running on a G4 800 dual processor and here is my humble opinion.

Waves is a great package but the native processor drain puts it a real disadvantage when using it to mix, for mastering the Master series part of the Platinum package is awesome. I love most of the rest of the Gold set as well, but can't use it on a bunch of tracks.

The UAD-1 is a bargain and sounds great, its plugins don't really overlap what I use the powercore for. With the UAD I tend to use the Pultec, the compressors, and of course Nigel (awesome).

Powercore is awesome for 2 reasons: Sony Oxford EQs (third party purchase), and Classic Verb. The other stuff is good but the card is worth it for those two alone. To me Master X is not in the same league as the Waves stuff. There is also the new "Assimilator" but I haven't tried it yet.

That said for 24 track style tracking-mixing I would stick with the Powercore + UAD-1 combo, then add the Waves (unless you'll be doing mostly mastering - in that case get the Masters Series).

UAD will be releasing their new EQ and reverb plug ins soon and that may be a factor. Sony is working on their compressor for the powercore, I believe. Powercore will be OSX sooner so that might be a consideration also.

I am looking for a second Powercore card and when the 3.0 is released for Mac, a second UAD card.

good luck.

raregroove

Thanks for the replies everyone. Is there a way to get email notification on this board when there are replies to a thread? I didn't realize these replies were here for a couple of days.

It sounds like the good news is that all three choices are good ones. I've heard great things about the Sony Oxford reverb, and also some great things about the Waves mastering collection. What about EQ? Which of the three has the nicest and friendliest EQ interface? I'm just looking to clean up weird acoustic overtones and "boominess" that makes it through the mic setup. If it makes any sense, I'm not looking to add any colors to the sounds, just to clean up the odd timbral clunker by trimming the offending frequencies...but unfortunately, I tend to suck at the whole "search blindly with a bunch of parametric notch filters" approach - I always end up making things worse with these interfaces. What options do these three systems offer by way of EQ.

Macaroni - what DAW am I using? I know I'm a newbie, but i thought I answered that in my first post. If I didn't, I'll be embarrassed, but could you spell the question out further for me?

Thanks.

There is no notification system currently. You just have to keep coming back and checking. Not the worst place in the world though... Doc.

think of it

i use both and it is like driving a poursch and a ferrari