when Softube have a new plugin you know you have to pay attention.
by now Softube have a reputation of making very good, to great plugins. Abbey Road's Brilliance pack, The Spring Reverb the Tape delay. the unique acoustic feedback. and the Fet comp. all of them are among the best, if not "the best" in their field.
that why my primal expectation from the Passive-Active was very demanding. more than that, when i saw the Gui of the passive eq i had a big bug smile. after all the Neve, SSL, & API's modelig plugins, Finally someone modeled one of my favorites hardware eq - the Neumann.
everybody knows about U47-87-67 etc. but Neumann also made some vry ggod mic pre's, compressors and fabulous eq's which i simply love (especially the PEV and the W491A)
when i opened the Passive plugin i was thrilled here was a digital replica of a uniqe and beloved sound, will it hold up to Neumann and Softube reputation?
the lows struck me first. hands down this are the best low end plugin i'v e heard in digital. ( excluding Nebula which has some fantastic eq programs ) the bass was very tight, extremely focused and a bass you can feel with your heart and pelvis - not just with your ears.
there are those who say that all digital eq are one and the same - if somene from that camp want's a life challenge, i urge him to try and recreate the bass sections of this plugins. it's a work of art. great art. never heard anything beter ITB. i rushed to check the mids and i was delighted to find the 0.7 Hz was very good- that part of the Neumann sound which is crucial for that very early 70' vibe. full mid but not mud ed. very thick but spaced out. it's a shame words are very limiting when we speak about sound. think Serge Gasinsbourg - Melody Nelson ( or it's Beck modelling on "Paper tiger" from Sea Change)
but here everything went terribly awkward - the higher you go from that the less the Passive retains the Neumann sound and acquires a Hi-Tech and Metallic Ringing.
to me it was a big surprise and disappointment since Softube already made very good treble plugins with the Brilliance Pack. but to my ears the Neumann Treble section was a big let down and did not had that European treble that many German and French audio have. sort of like a cross between the Neve thickness and Beauty and that API golden sunshine sound. this treble treble was as grey and metallic as the Softube GUI.
what a paradox - the best bass an low mid plugin carries a mediocre treble top.
later on when i applied the plugins to Acoustics and Electric guitars,it was more passable but on drums they simply didn't cut it - or more correct - cut it to much.
btw - the more you use the Marantz Gui the more you wish Softube would stuck to the original design with black panel and colored marking. it's really hard to read the numbers and signs on the panel. and besides the more you look at it the more it seems like a behringer,
Yuch
the Active plugin was modeled on a filtek EQ. although i haven't heard the original model to compare with - i heard a few filtek's here and there. as before. the plugin has an amazing tight and punchy low end but get's very metallic towards the treble region.
the Active is more aggressive and forward pushing than the Passive (no pun intended !) and all around the Active is more diverse and usefull than the limted Passive plugin. but again the treble region is akward.
things got better as i run the EQ through some API or Neve consoles masterbuss samples (nebula). out went the ringing metallic but still it was only a few steps in the right direction but not exactly there.
since i had a festival show i was curating, i haven't had too much time to check the focusing Plugin.
beside the Radical Gui (the Marantz Tuner changed to show the full audio scalla.
the plugins seems like an hybrid of the two plugins mentioned earlier. but the Hpf and Lpf they put in there - are very very very good.
arty2:
