Portico Bundle (Worth buying for $799 ?)

Hi,

The Portico Bundle is priced at $799. Which is not small change.

Is it worth the price ? How do they compare to some other high-quality plug-ins from UAD, Sonnox, Waves, …etc. ?

I like the fact they are VST3, and are supposed to offer the famous Neve sound/characteristics, since they have been modeled after those outboard devices.

Should I click the buy button, or should I consider alternatives that are equal, and cost less ?

Tough decision.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Muziksculp

Totally worth it.
I use them every day, love them for what they bring to the table in terms of clarity and pureness.
Respectful to the source material.
Only EQ plug that is on-par is the UAD Massive Passive.
Only compressors that are on-par is the UAD 33609+new1176 bundle and perhaps the softube CL-1b/TL-100a.
All Waves compressors sound artificial and phasey/weak to me and degrades the original signal.
…and ALL plug-in compressors are not detailed enough w/ fast attack settings, best are the elysia mpressor and the new UAD 1176. (the 5043 is not designed to be a fast compressor)
That’s my biased and subjective opinion… :wink:

Thanks for the helpful feedback.

If I was to start out by getting only only one of the Portico Plug-ins, which one would you recommend, the Compressor, or the EQ ?

Cheers,
Muziksculp

Maybe you haven’t already (otherwise you wouldn’t be asking…?!) but, you could always install the TRIAL editions that are available (see this page - RND Portico Plug-Ins | Steinberg) and find out yourself on real-world projects whether they are worth it for you.

The trials can run without restriction for 30 days (but, only the once mind…!)

FWIW, I did try these out ages back - I did like the compressor, but unfortunately both are out of my league price-wise.

HTH,
Bob

IMO, the EQ has less contestants in the plugin world.
I would go for the EQ if I had to choose one over the other.

Hi,

Thanks for the helpful feedback.

I will check out the demo/trial version for 30 days, and then decide which one would be more useful for my production needs.

I was leaning more towards the Portico Compressor, since I like using the Sonnox EQ. I also have other EQ’s to choose from. The Neve/Portico Compressor is a famous, and very popular compressor, I guess giving both a try is the best way to decide.

The Price point is the main reason I feel many users have not jumped on board these plug-ins, a limited time promotion would surely help boost their popularity, but I don’t know if that is ever going to happen.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

I’m almost through with the demo. They are top notch, no doubt. What I noticed, overall, is that you’re more likely to do good than harm with them. And for an beginner/intermediate engineer, that is pretty huge. But because of the price, and general level of interest, I will continue to demo others and see if I can get comparable results elsewhere. I could imagine buying the eq if it nags me enough to do so after it’s gone. It’s definitely the first software eq that i’ve used that boosts frequencies without any side effects (moreso in the high-mid and high range). Who cares that it’s emulating hardware. Does that really have to limit them from applying some additional functions like hi and low pass filters, or the option to make the hi and low bands parametric. But that’s not a deal breaker.

The compressor is definitely one of the best I’ve used, but I don’t have a “must have this” feeling. Also, I don’t like the controls and am surprised that I haven’t read mention of that. They are very slow to move through each knob’s range. And I really don’t like that it activates with a 4db boost.

If they were $400 for the pair I would’ve bought them after first hour of use. I can’t imagine that I’m the only one. I would have to think that they would sell many more licenses if that was the case.

To the folks that say, “They’re not (that) expensive”:
It’s like poker. You can only be a pro if you can play the same game with $200 or $20,000 on the table. If I bought these two plugins for the asking price I would not be able to use them without thinking about what I spent on them. Or, I would likely end up using them in instances when it wasn’t necessary. Second of all, you’re crazy.
Two plugins should not cost more than the DAW? Seems ridiculous

Either way, I’m holding out.

I demoed these.

All I can say is they are fantastic. They are total work-horse tools, nothing novel about them. They are just excellent at what they do. I used them on just about every track whether I needed to tame some channel or get more intensity and weight from it.

I have not used any EQ this good and so far I’ve not found anything else like this compressor. Not a fan of the Waves compressors or Softube.

Elysia compressors and Vertigo are the only other clean compressors I’ve used that I really like but they are very different.

…I’m not a fan… sorry.

I did extensive A/B comparisons with different EQ - from the stock std Cubase (which is actually a great tool btw) to the UAD, Waves, Voxengo, Sony etc bit.

The part that bothers me most is that functionaly these plug-ins are rather limited and for this kind of $$$, I expect more. :nerd:

The compressor was super, it picked up tiny volumechanges great.

The eq was boring…

The price is too high, in my opinion, but maybe in the future I will purchase only the compressor.

I was totally ´stunned out´ when I was working with the compressor, very great!

I’m glad to see that the Portico Plug-Ins are now 50% off their regular price !

I think I will go for the compressor.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

Get them both - trust me on this one, you will not regret it.
The compressor is truly outstanding without adding too much colour and can be extremely transparent, whilst it is almost impossible to make the EQ sound bad.

Hi,

I finally got the Portico EQ and Portico Compressor !

I will post some feedback about them, once I have spent some time putting them to work.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

Don’t forget the 2 different compressor modes sound very different, and in the VST3 version you get Sidechain on the comp as well. Massively useful.