In this article Julian looks at one of the most enduring themes in plugin emulation – the classic SSL hardware of the 80s and 90s. Here is our pick of the highlights.

When planning an overview of plugins inspired by SSL consoles it would have been easy to pull together a list of alternative E Series channel strip plugins, so popular is that category. However this would be to reduce the contribution of SSL to a single 1979 product. That would be to sell them short.

I love the fact that SSL weren’t originally in the audio console business. Their first work was in control systems for pipe organs, however designing systems to control multiple audio streams does apply to banks of diapason pipes as well as tape tracks from a Studer I suppose so fair enough!

The E series really did change the industry. The inclusion of dynamics as well as EQ on every channel was hugely influential on the sound of the records produced on it, but the automation for the increasingly complex mixes being created which was as significant as any part of the audio circuit on the desirability of these consoles in those pre-DAW days.

Famed for its aggressive sound, the E series had two iterations of its EQ. The Brown and Black knob EQs varied in the details of their facilities but the fact that the Brown EQ always had its filters engaged and the Black didn’t, was at least as significant as the differences between the EQs themselves.

However, development at SSL didn’t stop with the E series and while it’s a classic, there’s more to say and more products, imitated in software form, to be highlighted here than just the E Series. Here is our pick of the best SSL inpired plugins out there today.

SSL Native Channel Strip 2

If you’re looking for authentic SSL it makes sense to look to SSL themselves. It stands to reason that no-one understands SSL products better than the actual SSL. Channel Strip 2 is a relatively new product and pairing it with SSL’s very tempting UC1 controller combines the best of hardware and software.

Based on the SSL 9000K console channel strip, SSL have developed anti-cramping technology which improves the behaviour of digital EQ at the high end.

With a 4-band EQ with parametric LMF & HMF and shelving LF & HF sections. The whole EQ can be switched between E & G Series characteristics and can be applied to the dynamics side chain.

With compressor and expander sections authentic to the hardware the plug-in also features High and Low Pass Filters which can also be applied to the side chain. If you want real SSL from Solid State Logic here it is.

Brainworx SSL 4000 G

Brainworx’s 4000 E and G series plugins incorporate the innovative TMT (Tolerance Modelling Technology) Brainworx used across their range. This measurement and inclusion of the discrepancies found between channels on the same console, while subtle, is significant enough to have got this range of products a lot of fans.

The E and the G series plugins cover a lot of the same ground but when I tested them on their release I found that I kept coming back to the G series. The differences between the E series and the later 1987 G Series channels are in the EQ which is just a little more civilised than the notoriously edgy E series. More flexible with different filters and changes to the Q/gain dependency, the G series has a similar but distinctive personality to its more aggressive sibling.

Another big plus for Pro Tools users is that Brainworx support AAX DSP. Something which can’t be said of all the developers featuring in this list.

UAD SSL E Channel Strip

We do of course have to have an E series strip on this list and I’ve chosen the UAD SSL 4000 E Channel Strip. If you just want a plugin emulation of the E series EQ and dynamics then there are several alternatives available to you. If, however, you also want an emulation of the SSL preamp and the ability to use it with virtually zero latency, the choices narrow. If you want an accurate recreation of the interaction between mic and preamp circuit then you’re going to be looking at the UAD SSL E. The inclusion of the preamp and the support for Universal Audio’s Unison technology mean that for tracking this is one you must check out.

The UAD SSL E Channel Strip was developed in partnership with SSL so accuracy and quality are assured and of course, provided you have enough DSP in your UAD hardware, which is of course necessary to run these plugins, you can run a console’s worth of SSL without bothering your computer’s processor at all.

SSL Native Bus Compressor 2

If you’re looking for authenticity then SSL themselves make plugin versions of their channel strip as featured above. However SSL make more than just mixer channels so I’m also going to highlight the other super-famous hardware SSL are known for. The legendary G series Bus compressor. My initial experience of a G Bus compressor was a hardware X Rack unit which initially left me underwhelmed. Probably for the same reason as people warn against meeting your heroes. After absorbing so much hyperbole about this unit I probably expected it to heal the sick rather than add a nice interaction between the snare and the guitars, which is actually what happened!

However, in spite of this shaky start, getting to know this unit well has made it something of a regular feature on my 2 bus. The UAD version is excellent and it is this version which finds itself on my mixes for anything even loosely ‘rocky’. For gentler material I tend towards the equally great UAD Manley Vari-Mu. However, I’ve always felt that there is something about a real moving coil VU style gain reduction meter which can’t be quite recreated in software (with the possible exception of Logic’s compressor, which has a meter which is as good as I’ve seen).

Being from SSL, the SSL Native Bus Compressor 2 is as accurate a plugin emulation as you’ll find but it bridges the divide between software and hardware in that, when paired with the UC1 plugin controller hardware, the plugin drives a hardware analogue VU style gain reduction meter. The hands on experience via this dedicated controller coupled with the ‘real’ metering makes this as close as it gets to the real thing.

Softube Console 1 XL 9000K

While we’re talking about hardware control. There are a few options. The SSL UC1 is every bit as suitable for controlling the SSL Native Channel Strip 2 plugin as it is the bus compressor and if you use a plugin from companies such as Waves or Brainworx you might consider the Rocksolid Audio Control Strip 2. But the runaway success of this kind of per-channel control is the Softube Console 1 which has been around for years and has SSL control deep in its roots. While lots of console emulations are available, it ships with an SSL 4000 E emulation.

Excellent though it is, I’m going to spread the net wider and highlight the XL 9000 K. This later model represented the ultimate in SSL’s development. The super-analogue design is big and smooth, it used no capacitors in the signal path resulting in extremely low distortion and the depth it offers made it popular in R&B and Hip Hop. The ultimate in hi-fi consoles, this is proof, if it were needed, that there is more to SSL than the E series and a bus compressor.

Waves SSL EV2 Channel

To bring us straight back to the venerable E series, there is something about this console which keeps people coming back to it. The grit and aggression for which it is so famous, and it being the console of choice for big name mixers like Chris Lord Alge keeps interest high. Waves, who all but cornered the market in SSL style plugins years ago with the SSL 4000 collection, have revisited the E series again with their latest incarnation, the EV2 Channel.

The EV2 channel is authorised by SSL and this component level reworking seems to have made E series aficionados very happy indeed. The features you’d expect are all there, the switchable Black and Brown knob EQ and a model of the mic preamp, not present in the 4000 collection.

Whatever the application, there is an SSL plugin which will fit your needs. You might think you don’t need a console-specific channel strip plugin, you’d be right, you don’t. But there is something very cool about using a channel strip to emulate the console mixing process. Consistent EQ across the whole mix and a reduced set of choices to promote productivity can be liberating, and if you are going to emulate using a console, you might as well emulate using a massive SSL!