I owned a 140 for years, then received a high offer on it and sold it. I tend to give plug ins and modern alternatives a fair shot. While there are many great software reverbs about, I missed the actual 140, so I found another one. Glad to have it back. I had purchased a Martech high resolution preamp for my original, and coincidentally there was an uninstalled one with the second one, too. I have it wired so I can use either.
The Rare Signals Transatlantic plate is a beast too. It sits in the mix great every time i've used it so far, is easily tweakable and intuitive to use with two models of plate. Wunderbar!
Interesting. I thought that the real EMT sounded a little too metallic for my taste. Of the emulations, I liked the UAD 140 and the Pure Plate. I think the UAD 140 would have been a lot closer with a little low end cut, a high end boost, and shortened reverb length. I imagine with a little eq work and input cutoff, the UAD 140 could sound very close to the EMT, but the UAD definitely has more realism to it in my opinion, and less metallic overtones.
Thanks for this. I like the EMT the most, but it’s not a blind test, so I am probably prejudiced. What I wish I could had heard was how Valhalla Plate sounds, since it’s a great plate simulation for only $50.
None of them match the true EMT for colour, but the Waves AR really has alot of character for a plugin and the fact that it is so widely used today makes my ears immediately latch on to it. Sounded "toppy" on the drums though so a high shelf would be key.
It seems to me that the plug-ins try to impress too much and in that way lose the unobtrusiveness that the real 140 has. I like the Lexicon second best but would be interested how the big TC Electronic would hold itself in this shootout.
Love your content but why don't you ever credit the artists? please add their socials in the description at least, that singer has a great voice would love to hear more from her!
This should have been done A - B A - C . A - D . etc. (always going back to the original.) I thought the Lexicon did an excellent job on the guitar.. other than that too hard to call... they all sounded different to each other but how close to the original... that was the question..
I liked UAD and the real 140. Lexicon 300 sounds awesome, but it doesn't emulate the real thing. Waves sounds a bit harsh and digital to me. But this test can't be accurate because all the real 140s sound differently according to their age and tension. I also love EMT240 which is gold foil - sounds awesome.
To my ears almost all emulations have an added top that sizzles too much and adds extra length to the tail. UAD again comes by far the closest but isn't quite as smooth as the real deal. These shortcomings become apparent once you move to a full frequency spectrum instrument, drums. We feel very lucky to have one of these in our space!
On every source I preferred another plate. UAD is very nice. It really depends on what sound you´re after, because they are all very different. Nice shootout videos, VintageKing!
All of those are completely usable sounds in different situations. Not a bad sound. As far as which one sounds the closest, I'd say if you want something that sound like an EMT 140 really bad, get an EMT 140.
Real 140s can sound very different depending on how they're tuned, and whether they have the valve or solid state electronics. In this shootout, the UAD 140 is the closest to the real thing to me - although it's still noticeably darker. Personally, I preferred the original here - but that's probably more to do with me liking bright splashy plates than anything. The Waves did actually have a nicer decay here in solo, but without the upper-mid "bite" I'd need to use a lot more of it in the mix - which would muddy things up.
The little difference there is certainly does not justify the 2-4K that a 140 will set you back. If you add some EQ and compression to tweak the sound further, it will be just fine. That being said, I would still love to own a real 140.
Both UADs sound very authentic. The Waves sounds totally off. Lexicon is not an emulation, but more of an algo approximation of plate sound. Might be useful in its own right.
Real EMT 140: Nothing comes close Lexicon: Nice cheaper alternative for a hardware unit UAD 140 Plugin: By far the best plugin emulation of the original Waves: Sad to say the worst of the options shown - Anyone have a truck I can rent to go pick up an original EMT 140?😆🤘
synthetic reverbs just have real problems with the high frequencies. it always sounds muffled. and thats where all the dimension lies ... when people speak of 3D sounding (which i obviously hate) its usually a tad more high freq saturation which seems to widen the perceived stereo image. i do think hardware reverbs handle it better than software but the real plate just eats them all alive. i do own an EMT 140) and what sounds even better is when you record it to tape! all that being said - great results can be achieved with all of them.
Would love to know the mic she is singing into, as well as the rest of the signal path… Preamp, eq etc. ? The real emt 140 sounds great but pretty happy with the plug-ins and lexicon as well.And what a beautiful voice!
EMT - brigher and more detailed generally, smoother decay Lexicon - scooped/dark in mids, still some top Pure Plate - dark, very thick AR - like a child's crayon drawing of a plate verb. Sorry, I like some waves original concept stuff but a lot of their emulations don't really do it for me. Excessive/cloudy in a not good way. UAD 140 - closest, would like to have heard it with some highs boosted toward the original sound (possibly w/ the plug or some more slick/hifi reverb before or after it, maybe their millenia (too prickly?) or tubetech EQ plug) Also would have been really nice to hear the Rare Signals one, Little Plate and Valhalla... and perhaps Arturia.
Everyone except waves. The Lex and the UAD 140 were the closest. The Abbey Road was really "chiffy" in the middle of the image and the mids kind of crowded really thick compared to the others it sounded more "effected" the others sounded cleaner. Not a bad thing without something to compare it to. But not quite there as set up. Maybe needs some tweaking
The Lexicon sounds almost identical on vocals. Maybe not so shocking considering that the 300 probably has some Barry Blesser "magic" in the algos. On drums it sounds quite different though. The Waves plug-in has a bit of unpleasant resonances on vocals, but I still think it's a good plug-in for sure. The UAD 140 is probably the best overall.
to be honest. the original sounds a bit plasticky. the uad 140 indeed is the best, but i wonder what they did back then to make the plate sound less... artificial. i'm as surprised by my own comment as others might be.
the drums do not forgive much, showing how unnatural and annoying the pllugins are - these digital verbs turn your drumkit into unusable sample library. sadly they are accepted by the modern consumer. was this the best possible lexicon unit btw? hmm
