Brainworx SSL 9000J vs 4000G vs 4000E - Comparison and differences

[@whitenoisestudio]

Check out Steinberg Spectralayers 7 - review: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3KbaKJjaZmjd9U

[@vigilantestylez]

I've mixed with all of them and the 9000 J seems to be "harsh", or lacks the ability to control harshness. Sounds great on really clean pre-treated sounds. The 4000 G is very warm sounding, but my clients complain that the mixes sound LoFi when I use that channel as my in the box console. The 4000 E seems to be just right. Warm enough to control harshness, bright enough to sound modern. In this video the 9000 J sounds the best, but in my experience the 4000 E from Brainworx is the best in my humble opinion. ☺️ Love your videos! 💯💯💯

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thanks! 9000j is most transparant, which is relative of course.

[@Michael_Is_Avg]

So glad to find this video! Helped me decide which one to go with. Big sale going on and was able to grab the brainworx 4000 e, townhouse, and Lindell 80 for $60. Can't wait to get to using them.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Good to hear!

[@gotyor]

I mixed on 4000 E for years, but just got the 9000 J plugin recently and it is everything I love about the E just with more bottom and air. and the compressor smack seems even more spanky on the 9000J. I used the 9000 K at the palms studio in vegas and didn't really like it at first, I thought it was to clean (9000k is just a updated version of J so I am told). But now that I spent time with the new 9000J plugin its my new favorite SSL !

[@whitenoisestudio]

Nice!

[@tjhewer]

Thank you for this very focused review, and your well chosen terms, which to me very clearly articulate the strengths of these tools.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Hey Trevor, many thanks for your kind words!

[@JakeBrooks]

Thanks for this detailed comparison! The 9000J has my vote.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thanks for watching! This is why it''s so cool to compare, my favorite is the 4000e at th emoment. It's all about taste ;-)

[@zachary963]

This is honestly a great comparison. Thank you!

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thanks for watching!

[@rome8180]

In that phase cancellation test, you could tell that the 9000J adds a lot more top end. This makes sense because it's usually thought of as the "pop music" console. Pop tends to have more hyped top end.

[@Zaleskee]

WoW!, Great Work!!!

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thanks!

[@jeramiahrossnz]

Thanks for this, confirmed what I found on my own, the 9000 J is really big sounding at times, it always feels like I am pushing things too much when mixing working off a rough -12 RMS average in the gain staging area pre the strips, but I keep ending up on the 4000 G, it still retains most of the overall feel to me musically for the things I am doing at the moment. just so handy when you are recording lots of live instruments, bass, guitars, pianos , vocals, etc, drums on the 4000G are great in parallel on the overheads and busses, but yeah, I have been around a real SSL console, the SSL 4024G (which was from Peter Gabriel's Real-world studios) really can't go wrong with them. these plugins do give off that feel and the compression and EQs are really great, pressing that random button on all (the red one) is some kinda faux circuit emulation so everything has subtle differences like a real console.Nice video, I enjoy your channel, best, J

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thanks for your kind words! I am jealous you could spend time on a real SSL console!

[@jeramiahrossnz]

@@whitenoisestudio no worries, yeah, i recommend that to anyone making music, book out a day at a studio with one and do a test mix just get a feel for the sound and vibe, then its easy to recreate that with these strips, nice, thanks again, J

[@djstean9480]

While comparing the dynamics sections the E Channel was set to G 😉

[@whitenoisestudio]

Damn you for pointing that out! Can't even make any mistakes anymore these days ;-) Good one!

[@albiss1164]

@@whitenoisestudio 😄

[@StollerEaven]

Somehow I like the extra tone/characters of each emulation. I prefer that, rather then a clean channel strip. If I want it clean I use fabfilter. Yes I agree, the 9000j sounded clean and nice. But again, do I want this?

[@whitenoisestudio]

If i want clean I personally dont use a channel strip at all.

[@JParryPhotography]

I'm definitely fighting an uphill battle wanting to be a mixing engineer. I closed my eyes with my HD650's and couldn't hear any difference between them at all. That makes me feel pretty crap as all the comments here make it sound like there's a night and day 30db difference type thing.

[@whitenoisestudio]

haha, yeah people tend to exaggerate a lot and get really fanatical about it. The difference between 4000e and 9000j is there for sure and stilli ts really within a limited amount. And you can wonder how similar they will sound of you adjust some settings on other of them. Dont overfuzz about it.

[@JParryPhotography]

@@whitenoisestudio yeah, thanks man! I have the E and love Andy Wallace so wanted to get the G but I just can't hear enough difference to justify it haha

[@DouglasComical]

Bass stands out on all, a little less low mids on G and wayyy more top end on the 9000

[@whitenoisestudio]

9000j js most "hifi" of the lot for sure.

[@SonicologyRecords]

Nice Comparison Video. Thanks

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thanks for watching! I hope it was helpful :-)

[@mrmorpheus9707]

Ive worked on all 3 consoles..the 9000 is spot on!!!!!!

[@whitenoisestudio]

Cool! So brainworx did a good job an the 9000j then :-)

[@mrmorpheus9707]

@@whitenoisestudio yes..digital will never get the imaging of analog" but its close as shit!

[@mrmorpheus9707]

An analog recording corresponds the variations in air pressure of the original sound. A digital recording is a series of numbers that correspond to the sound's continuous variations, but the numbers have to be reconverted to analog signals before they can be listened to. No wonder analog and digital sound so different from each other.I'm not going to argue that analog is, or will ever be more popular than digital. Or cheaper, or more convenient, easier to use, more durable or that analog will reverse male pattern baldness. Analog just sounds better than digital. Listening to a well-recorded LP, you hear humans making music; with digital it's more about sound for sound's sake. I'm defining better as more enjoyable to listen to. Music isn't a test tone or just a sequence of numbers. It's about soul, and when the music's good, it's supposed to connect with people, get their juices flowing or get them up on their feet and dancing. Analog-sourced music does that stuff better than digital. That's my opinion, though I'll readily concede that digital recording creams analog on almost every type of measurable distortion and noise specification. Digital ought to sound better than analog, and I have no idea why it doesn't. But even the most devoted digital disciple will have to concede that analog hasn't shriveled up and died in the nearly three decades since the CD debuted in 1983. There's a never-ending stream of new turntables and phono cartridges from mainstream and high-end manufacturers on the market. Somebody's buying this stuff.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Great insights and opinion! Love that. I wouldn't say analog is better then digital or the other way around. For a long time now there's always one form of ad/da involved in mixing. Even most pressing plants for vinyl mostly request digital files to work with before presing to vinyl. The few record i own which are 100% analogue ( analogue boards, tape, mastertape, vinyl) were pressed in the 70s and they are degrading somewhat unfortunately. Anyways, It's the person behind the knob who makes or breaks the mix. I have heared digital sounding analog recordings and warm analogue digital ones. That said, in my experience, it's easier to get a great mix with analogue gear, especially when there are many different modules involved. It glues a bit quicker, the result is more pleasing faster. Maybe it has to do with all the small variations analogue gear introduces in the signal which in the end add up to a bigger, more varied sound. All frequencies get spread around a bit more so the tendency to stack up the same frequencies, which causes harshness, is way less. You do have to work a bit harder with plugins. And if that isn't done right, yeah that can be less pleasing to listen to. So that's why i use a hybrid setup. Both plugins and analogue gear. i use the analogue stuff to massage the audio more and the digital for final touches or really pinpoint and tweak in ways analogue can't. I use analogue gear in a way that i don't have to recall the settings, which can be a PITA with analogue. I have to work with less than ideal recorded material sent by clients on a regular base so that hyrid setup is a blessing. Analogue still and will keep it's place in music. If your record live things you have analogue in by means of a microphone and everyone, and i mean everyone, listens analogue. Speakers, headphones. The final output of all music you hear is always analogue.

[@mrmorpheus9707]

@@whitenoisestudio I agree with everything you said bro!! 🌆

[@jan-helgelorenz8504]

thanx for this Video - super video - but I see a small problem with this comparison: You have set the consoles all to analog - in this setting, brainworks reproduces the typical characteristics of the real desk - and so you can not compare the individual plug ins with each other, because everyone channel can sound different - with my Bx-console_N this is extreme - for example channel 5 and 6 sounds super fat in the bass range and other channels rather thin - ... - I have also tried to compare the consoles the last few days and have to say that the SSL 9000j EQs sound sensational, especially in the lower and upper range

[@whitenoisestudio]

Hey Jan-Helge! Thanks for the compliment! Good and absolutely valid point on the analog settings although analog on or off is only available on stereo channels and it does not turn off TMT. I also read about differences in eq, can't remember of which emulation. The boost what you set was off with the actual frequency boosted in the plugin. I did not check the channel N, I use my Warm Audio wa273-eq as neve channel substitute ;-) But I'm curious on the differences in the N emulation now. Will check it out for myself. Thanks for pointing that out! For the sake to keep this video, i.e to focus on differences between the emulations, I did have "analog" turned on on purpose. The differences are also why the mixdowns are with 9 instances in total and not 1 channel. Also to keep the video watchable i did not want to create a 3 hour long video with me doing tedious comparisons of channels and twiddeling around knobs. Most users will probaly use the random option, or not change at all., I at least made sure the TMT had the same numbers, just for the sake of some form of same settings ;-) I assume if someone is really interested in the plugin they'll check out the demo in detail :-) I did not notice huge differences between the different TNT channels fortunately in this test. I did a extra check with the 9000J and a snare track. Snare track with 9000J on default, tmt on channel 01 and duplicate the entire track incl. 9000J. Then phase reverse the duplicate track so you're left with the difference. Then I swept through all 72 channels and all had a tiny difference, only hearable if the signal got boosted by 30dB or so. So the channels arw different, but in a really, really subtle way on the 9000J. If you compare the 4000G and E mixdowns they're pretty close and all 3 had that phase flip thing going on. I noticed this only later The default filter setting were different between the 4000's and the 9000 plugins. The 9000j really is more different soundwise, which is logical of course since SSL did a different deisgn for that one. I'm really impressed with the 9000J emulation too. And it sounds really great IMHO. I did a full review on that one too --> kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5e1epeGjbyqedU The 9000j EQ is miles ahead of your standard bread and butter DAW eq. I prefer the thickness of the 4000E eq myself in the midrange of all 3 plugins. But this is all taste dependant of course. all 3 plugins do sound good :-)

[@ivanfaigenbom5300]

great video!

[@whitenoisestudio]

Many thanks for the nice words!

[@gregberne631]

excellant video!

[@whitenoisestudio]

Thank you very much!

[@philippgrunert8776]

Brilliant comparison

[@whitenoisestudio]

Comment that on every video to boost my ego ;-) Thanks!

[@philippgrunert8776]

@@whitenoisestudio :-D sure, it is true though

[@mrpaman_Kwon]

Nice! I like SSL9000J more than two. 9000J also have very clean and nice EQ, COMP.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Hi! It seems it's often either 4000e or 9000j which people like. Funny.

[@thedevilsadvocate5210]

Is there a setting you can use as a mixbus channel? What settings would you set on one of these plug ins for the mix channel?

[@da5idnz]

Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't hear any difference.

[@whitenoisestudio]

It's just you ;-)

[@gertsorensen]

Well - I think I will stay with the 4000 E. Too little difference between the plug-ins to spend the money.

[@whitenoisestudio]

9000j vs 4000e is a pretty big difference in my opinion.

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@kempetai2099 teh 4000e or 9000j. 9o00j is cleaner and E more ballsy. Choose which sound you think you prefer. But they all sound good.

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@kempetai2099 thicker.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Well it’s all a bit relative. Brighter airy is high frequencies, something you can dial in. Some for low end,

[@Gohvany]

thank you !

[@ApexBeatsArchive]

can you review ujams fluxx? thats my fav plugin im curious on your thoughts

[@whitenoisestudio]

Hey! Probably not. There's a bit of influx of new stuff coming up so i prefer to do do that first. Seems like a fun plugin though!

[@martinlopez2955]

Awesome video. Just bought the E on their mega sale lol

[@whitenoisestudio]

+Martin Lopez ha! Thanks for the kind words! Did the video help you in deciding? Now I want a commision of plugin alliance ;-)

[@martinlopez2955]

@@whitenoisestudio lol short answer, yes. I stumbled across this video and thought it was pretty interesting. It prompted me to look it up, and boom, the plug was on sale. Great stuff! Subbed.

[@NovianLeVanMusic]

Would you choose the E for modern hard rock and metal? Like Breaking Benjamin, Wage War, Three Days Grace, etc. EDIT: Yeah, I’ll get the E, made up my mind lol! My only complaint is the missing selection between brown and black knobs.

[@michaeldeane6102]

How'd that turn out? I'm going for a very similar tone

[@RyanHarris77]

Curious how these compare to the SSL Native Channel Strip 2 plugin. That thing is expensive.

[@BukanIbuMu]

SSL Native Channel Strip 2 has no saturation

[@whitenoisestudio]

Brainworx has now released 3 Solid State Logic console emulations. The brand new SSL 9000J, the 4000G and the 4000E. In this video we'll do a comparison and check out the simularities and differences bteween these 3 SSL A sort of 9000J vs 4000e or vs 4000g, so to speak. The files: www.whitenoisestudio.com/brainworx-ssl-9000j-vs-4000g-vs-4000e/ Intro: 0:00 Brainworx SSL Plugins Overview: 0:21 AB/ing the plugins on a full mix w/o any tweaks: 1:14 Conclusion on differences in sound without tweaks: 5:21 SSL plugin function differences: 06:04 Sound differences on seperate tracks: 8:44 Conclusion: 12:33

[@DJeMo]

This was great i have E and G and N, and just picked up the J in the mega sale for free with the 99.99 1 year past subscription coupon they sent me recently, well pleased and this video was a nice heads up, ears out indeed, again cheers

[@nectariosm]

4000Ε easily for me.

[@whitenoisestudio]

it's thick, isnt it. 4000e and 9000j for me. 4000e wins on mojo.

[@nectariosm]

@@whitenoisestudio I demoed all the SSL consoles and to be honest the 9000J was just too clean for me, to the point that it defeats the purpose of using a console strip to get the mojo. Opinion will vary of course, but 9000J was just too neutral, G was bit dark and E was the more "expensive" sounding of the lot. In my ears anyway. I don't really use the comps on them either, just the pres and some vanilla EQ for the vibe, although the expander/gate is super useful too.

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@nectariosm I like how you think and act. I grab the 4000e usually too. 9000j does add some sparkles and magic by a lack of better word, i understand if it can be too clean. If you want that SSL vibe, the 4000e is almost a no brainer.

[@zakaroonetwork777]

What is the technical diffence from G and E. Why does the E cost more?

[@whitenoisestudio]

More popular is the reason for price difference I’d say. E is the beefier sounding one, g is a tad cleaner.

[@mikej6565]

I own 4 real SSL consoles and the 4000E is by far my favorite. In real life the channel amplifier card is the only real difference between an E and G. The G can be spec'ed with either the E or G eq cards. In the plugin world they should all cost the same, it's just different code.

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@mikej6565 Would you like to donate one to me ;-) I do not own much real SSL gear , i do have a custom bus compressor with original SSL boards and parts which even with just routing the audio through it have a great sound. The pricing: I'm sure the difference in pricepoint is because of popularity. But if you have a montlhy sub, price point doesn't matter.

[@mikej6565]

@@whitenoisestudio I love SSL, they're still great desks after all these years. The new power supplies and computers make them a viable console for the 21st century. And yes, the plugin alliance yearly sub is great! We run those in our rooms (but I only use the hardware ;-)

[@Victor-dt1uq]

G is actually known for being the Rock-console and Chris Lord-Alge basically calls the G the console of "Grit, Grind and Gain". The G has more midrange, E is a big more scooped and I think that is why most people like E. Scooped makes us think stuff sounds deeper and cleaner. Also E is known for having "the better EQ". I usually prefer the E eq on vocals and acoustic guitar and G on the rest.

[@rivella99]

Which one of these 3 would you recommend most for electronic music? I've heard that the 9000 J probably does the best job with that kind of music.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Hey Ricochet. Yeah I would recon the 9000J would be best fitted. It's the most open and clean of the bunch. The 4000e is the most thick and coloring, maybe the most deadmau5 so to speak. 4000g is somewhere in the middle of the other two..

[@rivella99]

@@whitenoisestudio Great, thanks a lot!

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@rivella99 you're welcome!

[@rivella99]

@@whitenoisestudio Hey, another question (the last one, promised): Do you roughly know, when PA starts with flash sales after releasing a product? I wonder if it's worth waiting for a flash sale regarding the SSL 9000 J plugin, since it's only about 5 months after its release.

[@whitenoisestudio]

Ask whatever you want! No, I have no idea when plugin alliance does their flash sales and which plugins are in those. They keep that very last minute :-)

[@EckertAndras]

version-E +1

[@whitenoisestudio]

Agreed!

[@christianllaguno2691]

Which one is better for House music?

[@whitenoisestudio]

Depends on what you're after. They all work.

[@christianllaguno2691]

@@whitenoisestudio Thanks, I think I will go with the 4000E!

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@christianllaguno2691 Have fun with it!

[@RobertRyda]

8:40 you forgot tu turn the 3:5 on the J ver

[@whitenoisestudio]

Yup! That was already pointed out ;-) Can't edit that out unfortunately without comprimising the flow of the video.......

[@RobertRyda]

@@whitenoisestudio its alright, we often make mistakes and often during the bounces ))

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@RobertRyda if that isn't the truth ;-)

[@RobertRyda]

@@whitenoisestudio Lol yea and oftentimes its frustrating when ppl make mistakes during trackouts/stems which often makes another engineer such as I am to additionally replace tracks or whatnot

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@RobertRyda Could write a book on that ;-)

[@Subholik3]

i love EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE XD

[@whitenoisestudio]

I don't know how, but I suspect you prefer the "E" version ;-)

[@Subholik3]

@@whitenoisestudio i know... Personal choice.. I like that flavor 😁❤....... But i also use G... 😉 Both are good

[@whitenoisestudio]

Yeah I prefer the E too. And 9000j is second for me. The G is somewhere between the e and j i would say :-)

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@Subholik3 Nothing to argue with that :-)

[@DanielPetre]

Marlon is cool

[@whitenoisestudio]

I say that to myself every morning in the mirror.

[@Paulkruz1]

4000 E sounds cleaner , 9000 is too muddy

[@whitenoisestudio]

Interesting! the 9000j adds a bit of hi end in comparison to the other 2 in my observation. Muddy as in undefined?

[@mariosmith3301]

I think it's muddy as well

[@XiyuYang]

Huh, for me 4000 E is harsh and hyped, 9000 is pretty neutral

[@whitenoisestudio]

I would rather define the 4000e as wooly and warm, or thick. Funny how people interpret things different as in completely different.

[@Camille-nf9bl]

Yes, 9000 j adds too much mud, that's why I sold it

[@inmerstate]

I kinda believe you can achieve the same results with stock plugins.

[@whitenoisestudio]

@hey Ricardo. You probably can get close. Nothing wrong with using stock plugins at all!

[@inmerstate]

@@whitenoisestudio I demoed the 9000J but could not find a reason to buy it. It looks great and all but I believe you can get the same results using your DAWs stock plugins. This happened with the Shadow Hills Compressor as well... I really wanted to hear a reason to buy.. HEAR a reason not just buying because how cool it looks but I couldn't :(

[@whitenoisestudio]

@ricardo felix, if the plugin doesn't give you what you want, you made the best choice not buying it! Never buy for looks, buy for when i has added value for you :-) I would check out the amek 200 in your case. Just see if that gives you more then stock plugins. Maybe that will go on sale soon too. These SSL plugins are channelstrips, so eq, saturation, compression all in one plugin. I do find that for instance the eq's offer something I haven't found in the stock plugins I use. Depends on the stockplugin of course, but it's a sort of combined saturation and forgiveness. It's easier to dial in a proper sound. We're talking about small percentages here ofcourse, but in the end all these small %% do add up to create a bigger sound.

[@TheGreatSkrob]

But it’s a lot tougher to get the sound of an SSL using stock plugs than it is to use an SSL modeled plugin. Your stock plug ins don’t mimic the harmonic saturation features specific to an SSL. Sure you can do everything with stock plugs that this can do, but it won’t have that SSL vibe to it, which is the point of these

[@whitenoisestudio]

@@TheGreatSkrob this! And the SSL sound is the total of what you said, the saturation, the way the EQ behaves etc. I did a review on the AMEK 200 and demonstrated how stock eq, fabfilter pro q3 and the amek all worked differently with the amek being the smoothest or musical or most forgiving to get an idea how , in this case, modelled eq's sound sifferently to stock plugins. It starts at 7:14 minutes kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4jPdquCotloe6c

[@aemaury]

yikes

[@whitenoisestudio]

Because?