Analog Heat vs Isotope Trash 2 vs new Arturia distortion Plugins
Which would you choose and why?
I must say, I’d love to look at the Heat sitting on my desk. It looks great and I really like the concept, but is it really worth the $1k?
Trash isn’t in there, but worth a look for the Heat / VST / etc comparison
2 Likes
One thing I think still sounds better analog is saturation/distortion. Plugins can be more versatile, but they still don’t sound as good as the real thing imo. And you have lots of hardware options to choose from which is fun :-P.
Edit: I wanted to add that I think analog saturation/distortion sounds better than a digital emulation of analog saturation/distortion. Digital distortion, including bit crushing, aliasing, sample rate and bit depth reduction etc. are totally different and worth exploring as well.
2 Likes
The new Dist Culture from Arturia (from FX Collection 3) sounds very pleasant. Same with OPAMP from the same collection (an emulation of SansAmp). Highly recommend trying both. Trash 2 is kind of dated imo.
As to why I sold my Heat, I would say it’s unfortunately too extreme. It’s hard to make its saturation blend well with the material, I found it to be too bright, vibrant and powerful. It only works as a parallel processing which limits its utility. Highs aren’t that pretty too. It’s nice sometimes but it’s not Culture Vulture or VSM-2 (hardware) nice.
1 Like
That might be your experience, doesn’t mean the same will hold true for others. I find the analogue heat to be very versatile, and more than capable of being subtle when you want it.
I used isotope plugins for years before getting an AH. Now I just use the AH, because for me, it sounds better, and its more fun to use.
1 Like
It goes without saying that I don’t represent the one true way to feel about what the AH does. I used it in subtle ways too, it’s good when added on mix bus to fatten up the low mids (in parallel with a filter), for instance. It’s just that it’s not its best side. I feel like it only really shines when you need something do jump out of the mix in a slightly rude way.
All it’s circuits are sounding bold, even though they’re arranged by order of how bold they are, even the first one is really hard.
I bought the new Arturia plugins because Trash 2 isn’t being developed anymore, and I wanted something to replace it. I think they sound great! But I think they fill a completely different niche from a standalone piece of gear.
1 Like
I love my AH. I record almost all of my hardware through it. I use iZotope plugins (Neutron and Ozone) on almost everything that’s mixed in the box.
If you want to replace Trash, I think Rift by Minimal audio is the best distortion plugin these days. I love the sound of Analog heat as well. I don’t think analogue distortion is better or worse, but it is different than digital distortion, and I think Analog heat does it very well.
2 Likes