Published
Tue, Nov 19, 2013, 16:04
- A new Fairchild emulation and a Maag EQ are the latest bits available for the DSP system.
Universal Audio has rolled out a pair of new plug-ins.
The company has a storied history in audio, having manufactured a number of famous hardware units (like the 1176 limiter) and a legendary rotary mixer (the 1620) when it was known as UREI. Since 1999, the sons of the founder have transformed the company into a maker of plug-ins, which typically take the form of digital emulations of classic hardware.
UAD's latest offerings fall into this camp. First up is a new emulation of a vintage Fairchild limiter. They'd previously released an emulation of the Fairchild 670, but the new Fairchild Tube Limiter Plug-in Collection improves on the former's time constants and gain reduction curves, and it adds the smaller 660 unit to the package. It also employs what the company is calling a digital model of "the complete tube-powered amplifier and transformer sections of their hardware counterparts." Features you couldn't pull off with the original hardware, like sidechaining and dry/wet parallel blending, round out the package. The video below shows it off.
Next is a recreation of a classic EQ from Cliff Maag. Developed by Brainworx, a German DSP developer, the Maag EQ4 is essentially a digital copy of the EQ3 from the '80s, which was used to shape the sound of vocals and drums. As with all UAD plug-ins, you'll need to install one of the company's proprietary DSP cards or external interfaces to run either of these new ones.
The Fairchild Tube Limiter Plug-in Collection and Maag EQ4 plug-ins are now available from Universal Audio for $299 and $229, respectively.