The Abbey Road REDD suite is compatible with most hosts on Mac and PC at the time of writing, Waves have just committed to supporting Avid's AAX Native format, but Pro Tools compatibility is RTAS-only for the time being. Waves' plug-in suite models three of these iterations: the early REDD.17 and its successor, the REDD.34, both of which employed Siemens V72 valve preamps, and the later REDD.51, which used a different amp module and offered more headroom with lower distortion. Several subsequent iterations were produced before the valve-based REDD consoles were eventually phased out in favour of the solid-state TG-series desks in the late '60s. EMI staff, accustomed to commissioning and building their own equipment, acknowledged in the mid-'50s that the rise of stereo would bring about a need for more sophisticated mixing desks, and set about designing the first REDD desk.
The history of these consoles is well-known, and is documented on the Waves site in more detail than I have space for here, but a brief summary is perhaps in order. The newest entry into the former category is perhaps also the most ambitious: Waves have officially modelled channels from the famous REDD consoles that were used to record many classic '60s records, including nearly all of the Beatles' output. Some, such as the RS124 compressor or TG12413 limiter, model classic pieces of hardware from the studios, while others present samples recorded there, such as Native Instruments' Abbey Road Drummer series.
WAVES NLS VS SLATE VCC SOFTWARE
The commercial exploitation of the Abbey Road brand has already brought us a number of software plug-ins. Such is its fame that it has also become a potent brand name: whether it be T-shirts, coffee-table books or online mastering services, we expect something a bit special from anything that bears the Abbey Road moniker. Some 80 years after its opening, EMI's Abbey Road Studios remains one of the world's leading recording facilities. But is there still a role for a mixer that was declared obsolete 40 years ago? These emulations are sonically indistinguishable from the original desks they model, so your mixes will come together quicker, feel more even and exciting, and require less work than ever before.Waves' latest analogue emulation has unrivalled pedigree. VCC contains emulations of six classic inline recording consoles, including the most sought-after models from Britain and the US. NLS delivers the richness, depth, and harmonic complexity that only analog gear could deliver – until now. Waves modeled over 100 individual channels in all, capturing the unique color, character, and behavior of each and every input and summing bus amp. The vintage British console customized for Yoad Nevo (Bryan Adams, Pet Shop Boys, Sugababes, Goldfrapp, Air).
The classic console owned by Mike Hedges (The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dido, Faithless, Manic Street Preachers, U2), heard on such timeless recordings as Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. in this case it emulates 3 very specific consoles,
Waves NLS is a virtual channel strip plugin very similar to the slate digital VCC plugin, the idea is it gives you the sound of an analogue console.