Desk matters – virtual consoles and bussing plugins
The whys and wherefores of a desk’s behaviour are hard to quantify
If you’re happy with the process of emulating classic tape machines, the thought of emulating analogue mixing desks shouldn’t be at all intimidating. In some respects, though, the whys and wherefores of a desk’s behaviour are hard to quantify. Analysing and emulating the channels and output section individually is one thing, but creating a full-on model of how it all combines, blending those channels depending on signal levels and frequencies, couldn’t be harder. And that’s before you get into the various operating modes and specific signal paths of each individual desk.
Desk plugins tend to offer separate channel and buss versions, the idea being that you insert these on the first insert point of each channel or buss respectively. Although this is not an exhaustive list, some great examples include Slate Digital’s Virtual Console Collection (VCC and part of Virtual Mix Rack), Waves’ NLS NonLinear Summer or Scheps Omni Channel, Sonimus Satson, the Brainworx bx_console series. Not all of these plugins actually name the mixing desks they model, but most do allude to them, so you can be reasonably certain of what you’re using, and that it will sound great.
Satson is the simplest, offering one desk option (essentially an SSL 4000 Series). VCC – which is two plugins, Virtual Channel and Virtual Mixbuss – now has six desk options, including SSL, Neve, API and Trident models. Brainworx bx_console offers two SSL emulations plus a model of a rare Neve VXS console. Given that this is owned by Dirk Ulrich, the CEO of Brainworx, you’d expect to hear the company’s famous modelling in full effect! Finally, Waves NLS is three desks owned by three particular producers: Mike Hedges’ EMI TG, Yoad Nevo’s Neve 5116, and Mark Stent’s SSL 4000G.
Beyond all this, some plugins offer crosstalk for stereo instances, optional automatic gain control and ganged grouping for easy multichannel adjustment. Some of the extra features with VCC include level calibration, meter ballistics and oversampling settings, while Waves NLS includes more than 100 discretely modelled channels for the collection.