SSL 4K B First Impression 

Great SSL and Cubase e API sound

Hey Brotha, I'm loving you're videos. This is the third one I've watched today. Sorry you had to move Studios, but it seems like it's working out quite well. Please let us know how the new SSL strip works for you, by itself and interspersed with the Native 2. I've had the SSL plugins since Duende and they always upgrade it for Free! It's the purchase that keeps adding more and more value. So I have the Native Channel Strip & Bus Compressor and am amazed at how much better it got than the old version. Before, like I said I bought Duende, but since everyone made an SSL plugin, I had them all...all pretending to be like the Console. Then came Console 1. I was at Namm in January when it was announced, then Softube dropped some RU-vid videos with Chris Jenkins at SSL, then I was at NAB in April and Met Chris and he told me that it Blows all the others away, including thier own. This is the guy who has spent decades flying around the world Installing 4000s & 9000s, likely touching and hearing more boards than anyone on earth. He's also the guy that approved All SSL collaborations and new products. We talked for hours over 2 days (ironically I was deciding between the XL-Desk and the Matrix, both new and in this category that made way for the Box!. BTW, he said "Get the Matrix! It's a small Duality that's way under-priced. The XL-Desk is an Over-priced analog box of compromises with a 500 Rack bolted on because it's popular right now. " (And the fader-taper is wrong and doesn't feel like any other SSL). I never got either, opting for the Audient/Focusrite 2802 which has way more for way less. (When the original BOX came out I gave it a test drive, but it missed the mark. Yours, the BOX 2 is the best bang for buck Medium Format board available on the market. But the Rack immediately reminded me of the XL-DESK! ) Sorry such long-posts, but I wanted to get back to the Hybrid setup and suggest that You check out Console 1. I love SSL360 and that new workflow, don't have the UC1 but midi mapped the channel strips long before they had controllers. (*also 360 on dedicated touchscreen or artist monitor!). But Console 1 is like UC1 SSL360, but much more. However you really need to get to know it. With the API being basically a Clean Summing Mixer, which the mouse-clickers see only as negative, it means that when you Add Console 1 across every channel, like the SSL Native, the Hybrid workflow really does let you change your desk sonically. Console 1 comes with the 4000E, but you can add 7 other full Console Emulations. However, unlike the UC1, the channel-strip is really a chain of 6 sections that can be swapped out much like Plugins or Outboard. The 8 full consoles alone broken into 6 parts gives you dozens of configurations. But you can also load hundreds of other standalone plugins from both Softube and Universal Audio. From what I see in your Studio and the choices you've made, Console 1 fully loaded is the one thing missing. Not sure if you're in the UA ecosystem, but many of UAs plugins were actually produced by Softube (and Brainworks) and you can get the VST versions that sound identical, without investing in SHARK chips. (Which I have). (If you are invested in UAD, the UAD Console software can be controlled by Softube Console 1 hardware at the press of a button, and it feels like Universal Audio built it. Say you have an Apollo 8p a Twin and the Neve 1073 plug-in strapped across all 10 Unison Preamps. Adding hands on control over with Console 1 turns that into a virtual Neve BCM10 front-end to track through. How's that stack up with your 312s, or BAEs? To each is own, but Many platinum vocals have been cut on UAD, and at the least it's a Different flavor. Plus they have a Bunch of other Unison Preamps and Channel Strips to choose from. You already mentioned in another video that the BOX gave you an API at a $50,000 discount. Adding SSL360, Console 1, and UAD to the BOX, even with All the plug-ins at Full price, convincingly does the same thing for far less than that API rebate check you just cashed.

Yup, loving it so far! Although I find it visually a little darker now, less clear but I guess it's also time for new glasses... Salutations from astonishingly mild and weirdly back to normal Ireland! ☘☮🤘🏽🤠👍🏽☮☘

They also added pan/width knobs on stereo tracks. It does make me wonder if they will be releasing new versions of the hardware with more knobs for these features. (It also makes me wonder if SSL may be testing the waters for introducing their own DAW?)

I'm a new subscriber found you on your video at Sweetwater reviewing the UC1. Do you think the 4K B sounds as good as the UAD SSL channel strip?

I've already got the UAD why would I want this considering it is Subscription only or hardware UC1 gift. SSL talks alot of modeling but their Voilet Fusion EQ wasn't really anything more than an EQ with fancy knobs. Have you tried the Plugin Alliance 9k?

PASS -- If this weren't a "subscription only" plugin we'd be all over it. But having my hardware held hostage by an iLock subscription is too ridiculous to consider. UAD, FabFilter, McDSP, PA, SoftTubes & others offer "single purchase options" so you don't have to pay for a bunch of plugins you don't want (or use). Tone & character can be achieved in millions of ways without a $15/mo fee. Just feels like a money-grab.