Why Modern Plugins Have Finally Replaced Analog Gear in Professional Mixing (From Someone Who Used to Swear By Hardware)

I still remember unboxing my Neve summing mixer back in 2007. I was the first engineer in France to get one operational with ProTools and Lynx Aurora converter, and trust me, it felt like a game-changer. Back then, plugins sounded thin, digital, and honestly kind of harsh. That Neve gave my mixes a warmth and glue that no software could touch.

Fast forward to 2025, I sold it!

Here’s the thing - I’m not saying this to start a flame war with the analog purists. I’m saying it because the game has completely changed, and if you’re still convinced you need a rack full of gear to compete, you’re probably wasting money that could go toward better monitors or studio acoustic to actually improve your sound.

The Plugin Revolution Finally Arrived

When I first started using FabFilter Pro-Q 4 and high-end compressor plugins, I did blind A/B tests against my hardware. The difference? Basically nonexistent. Modern emulations from UAD, Acustica Audio, and even stock plugins in Presonus Studio One have closed the gap completely.

My Mac M4 Max Studio changed everything. With 64GB of unified memory and processing power that would’ve cost $50,000 in hardware a decade ago, I can run 100+ instances of CPU-heavy plugins without breaking a sweat. The FabFilter Pro-Q 4 alone gives me surgical precision my analog EQs never could.

Why I Ditched Almost all My Analog Rig

In 2007, plugins weren’t just “not as good” - they were genuinely bad. You could hear the digital artifacts, the phase issues, the weird frequency buildups. So yeah, analog was necessary.

But now? The processing power in a modern Mac handles 64-bit floating point calculations with zero latency. When you’re mixing a track entirely in-the-box, you get perfect recall, automation on every parameter, and the ability to A/B different versions instantly.

I’ve worked with platinum-selling artists who’ve never touched a piece of outboard gear. They send me stems recorded in their bedrooms with a Warm Audio WA-87, I run them through plugin chains in Studio One, and the tracks bang just as hard as anything that touched a $100,000 console.

From Experience: Focus on What Actually Matters

Here’s what I tell my clients during a track consultation - 99% of successful artists don’t finish tracks themselves. They work with pros who are skilled in their specific genre and know how to use the tools that actually matter.

Those tools aren’t analog compressors anymore. They’re knowing which SERUM 2 presets work for modern bass design, how to use Cableguys Shaper Box for rhythmic movement, and understanding how to get Omnisphere 3 to sit properly in a dense mix.

The analog vs digital debate is basically over. Modern plugins won, and it’s not even close.

The Bottom Line for Producers

If you’re a bedroom producer wondering whether to drop $3,000 on a hardware compressor, don’t. Invest that money in proper acoustic treatment, better monitors, or professional mixing and mastering or promotion services instead.

Your creativity and composition are your strengths - that’s what makes your tracks unique. The technical side? That’s where experience and proper tools come in. I spent decades building my plugin collection and learning exactly how to push them to sound like the big releases.

Focus on writing killer ideas and laying down solid recordings with a decent interface and that Warm Audio mic. When you’re ready to compete with the top-tier releases in your genre, let me handle the rest with professional stem mastering at €232.