Yep 
Also think of it financially: I got an RNC second hand for 150€
Edit: @d_hansen we can make a deal. I send you my RNC, you send me your heat. Then you rebuy a heat and myself a RNC 
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I had both heat and rnla at some point but now all my effects are itb, I miss the knobs but I work a lot in the daw so plugins are just more manageable.
on my mix buss I usually just have span analyser and maybe a very little bit of compression like 2db from the waves ssl compressor
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Ableton: Utility, EQ Eight, Limiter.
If that’s not enough, then the mixdown is crap and all the outboard gear in the world won’t help you as much as doing a better mixdown. (only a good mix profits from good mastering outboard gear/plugins, etc.)
And Digicheck.
EDIT: Logic: Neve and Pultec EQs, Platinum Compressor, AdLimiter – but all of these only if want to ‘color’ the sound of the master.
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Nothing.
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It depends.
Mostly nothing.
If I want to play life and I don’t know the situation of given pa: low/mid/high eq, and a comp.
But atm nothing, because there is no life playing.
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Nothing by default. Hardware-wise, I do have an Aphex 204 and a TC Finalizer 96k, but not using them much at the minute.
Finalizer potentially taken out to some gigs, but I can do all its useful stuff in plugins in the studio. Gig-wise, I can do master bus EQ and compression on an A&H QU24. Just missing the multi-band compression from the Finalizer, but that’s usually no biggie for live work.
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I found that, when using the AH on the master I tend to get a bit lazy with my mixing.
I’ve been doing some really simple stuff with just my M:C and my little Zoom recorder and I really expected to struggle without the crutch of having the AH on the master.
I did at first, but now my mixing is so much better.
Don’t get me wrong, the AH is going nowhere, I just think that living without it for a bit helps to not rely on it. I’m thinking now about using it to crush my drums instead of its more subtle uses on the master.
I also use an old Ashly CL52E compressor/limiter as a limiter on the master for my less speaker friendly output.
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2bus has Plug-in Alliance townhouse (barely moving the needle) and shadow Hills. I mix into them. I sometimes like trash2 with the tape saturation model mixed in a bit.
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hahah somehow I find this transaction suspicious…
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Indeed, the mixdown part I have covered, now exploring options for that little extra touch of spice/colour.
I usually have a little Live rack containing Britson, EQ8, Glue, Satin, Pro-L. But I just bought Brainworx MasterDesk on Black Friday for $29 and will be testing that out as an all-in-one solution. I also have Celestial from Acustica which so far sounds pretty nice, as a software “version” of the SSL Fusion. Sometimes just a U-HE Presswerk and Satin sound nice as well. Max4Live Color Limiter is interesting also, but a bit unstable for me it seems.
I should add my genre is melodic Dub / Dub Techno. I like color, warmth, and a bit of noise on my tracks. But mainly I am just giving things a bit of a volume boost. I bring in my mix at around -10db to -6db of headroom and then play with the master track plugins to bring up volume. Youlean and/or Voxengo Span are used to check levels.
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I have my FX chain on every master bus :
BAX EQ / Shadow Hill compressor / bx_masterdesk (or just a limiter sometime)
Pro-Q3
(bx_digital v3)
(Zynaptiq Intensity)
SSL Fusion
Tegeler Cream RC
Pro-L2
Hofa IQ Analyzer
The Fusion and Cream bring some roundness and polish, that I couldnt get from a plugin.
sometimes, when I get a bad mix, Zynaptiq Unfilter can do miracles on weak kicks and basses.
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SSL SiX, with all Blackbox outs routed into it. Currently temporarily using the Bluebox instead, tho.
But really, I am considering just going back to the Heat. All these ins, outs and routings are cool, but the simplicity of a workflow where it’s just the stereo master out and do your best to make it work, I kind of miss that.
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Uad api 2500 on the drums
Uad Ssl on the master
just letting the needle dip
sometimes uad massive passive
but yes it´s true, your master sounds only as good as your mixing … or the better the mixdown the better the master.
Does anyone going out with the masterbus from a DAW to external masterbus gear and then back into DAW? Just wondering about the additional DA/AD conversion. So maybe if you not have a high quality and accurate converter you may loos some of the sound benefits of the hardware maschines vs staying in the box.
I am actually (sometimes) bouncing the tracks recorded from my synths in my DAW back to my Midas.
I have no clue nor significant measurements to explain how and why but the end result seems to sound better to my (old) ears once mixed down.
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At the moment in following order: Xfilter > Xpressor > AH (mostly Saturation with a peak-filter for kick or bass-duties - which has the equivalent of a 50kt nuke)
i hook up my headphones with the AH (neighbors and low frequencies!! - walls thin as paper!!), so this is the main-reason for the position at the moment.
the Xfilter acts like a ultraclean unobtrusive but very musical master EQ for the overall frequency-spectrum - the Xpressor tames the overlapping spikes with a bit of compression - the AH adds something i can hardly explain, but maybe some sort of compression and little enhancement to everything depending on the settings.
when i will own a decent headamp like the new models from SPL (with crossfeed) … i will change the order of tools maybe like this: AH > Xfilter > Xpressor
anyway, i also imagined buying a second AH … but i guess this will be an overkill
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You know it makes sense
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seems like a proper mastering chain, at last with the SB
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Doesn’t help that I listen to some of my old Heat mixes, going “Huh, well, not sure the SiX does this better, actually.”
At least not the SiX when I’m helming it 
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