Around 2004 it was a huge debate about plugins vs hardware and it was very hard for engineers to admit plugins where as good or can get as good of results in a mix for profesional deliveries. Neve preamp clones, SSl compressor emution etc etc.
#Waves ssl 4000 plugins pro#
Pro audio has been replicating hardware and software emulation for about 2 decades now so i think its getting harder and harder to notice differences among them as they are all pretty good.
I didnt try the ssl version of their own hardware but i doubt it would be a significant difference. The same dial settings where not the same btw, i had to adjust each other's settings to make them sound similar/same. but without this setting it was very difficult to say which one was better than the other one.
The only difference is that the branworx emulation has a small botton for harmonic enhancement which can be replicated on the waves ssl with placing any daw distortion on low settings afterwards. I really didnt find any noticeable difference among them. And im also fasicnated with pro audio marketing and consumer hype on this mystic topic. Someone in one of those facebook groups about music prodcution mentioned how crappy waves ssl is compared to branworx so with an open mind i decided to try it out since ive always used waves ssl just cuz i got it once it came out.