■ Brainworx bx_panEQ

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Brainworx, the pioneering company that created the first Mid/Side equalizer plugin, has once again launched a game changer: bx_panEQ. This revolutionary panoramic equalizer will forever change the way you sculpt stereo tracks.

Imagine EQ'ing a crash cymbal buried in a pre-recorded stereo mix without affecting instruments panned to other positions in the soundstage. Impossible? Not with bx_panEQ! Its three fully parametric bell curve filters can each be panned anywhere in the mix's stereo field to adjust the timbre of embedded tracks with precision. No other plugin can do that!



Features

• Allows unprecedented ability to “re-mix” stereo material
• Three parametric bell-curve filters—each featuring a gain, frequency, Q and pan control—independently boost or cut EQ at discrete pan positions in the stereo field
• In addition to providing the standard EQ parameters of Frequency and Bandwidth, you can select what portion of the stereo field you wish to cut or boost
• Innovative Focus control precisely regulates the panoramic width of your EQ adjustments
• Proportional Q filter design prevents progressive EQ boosts and cuts from spilling over into adjacent bands
• Each filter can be independently bypassed or soloed; when soloed, the signal difference is auditioned, providing critical monitoring on processing
• Color-coded Panoramic Spectral Analyzer plots changes to pan position, frequency and amplitude for stereo content in real time as you make EQ adjustments
• Create dramatic panning filter effects with automation.
• Use bx_panEQ on mono signals to open up frequencies into stereo channels, adding clarity and width
• ‘Stretch’ sounds by progressively boosting low to high, left to right or vise-versa to create a wider–than-life sound on instruments like guitar and keyboard

■ SPL EQ Ranger Plus

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The EQ Ranger legacy from SPL has always been a go-to source of quick and intuitive frequency treatment for the fast-moving studio professional. This sweet sounding passive EQ design was centered on a concept that involved selecting certain optimal center frequencies for each of the eight bands in each unit, instantly providing a quick path to the right EQ settings for a particular source. EQ Rangers Vol. 1 had three separate EQ modules with uniquely optimized frequency settings: The Vox Ranger, Bass Ranger, and Full Ranger. These extremely musical EQs allowed engineers to use handpicked critical bands to quickly dial in a frequency response for those particular sources in their mix.

Now, SPL has collaborated with Brainworx in evolving the EQ Rangers to their next level- EQ Ranger Plus. With frequency band settings designed by Grammy winning mixer/producer Craig Bauer and Brainworx founder Dirk Ulrich, the EQ Ranger Plus offers a vast array of new, optimized combinations of center frequencies and bandwidths. These settings span across six genres and 181 modules to dramatically open up the options for source treatment in any mix. It’s like having 181 different 500 series modules, each designed by a top pro for a particular purpose, in your studio rack!



Features

• 181 EQ settings created by Grammy award winning mixer Craig Bauer and Brainworx Founder Dirk Ulrich
• 181 factory presets that include cut and boost settings optimized for each specific Genre/Source module, plus 23 presets for the original three EQ Rangers Vol. 1 modules
• Convenient +/- buttons allow stepping through of each module directly from the plugin interface
• Reset function quickly zeros all frequency bands in the selected module
• Graphical EQ interface offers quick and easy access to relevant frequencies without getting bogged down with too many parameters
• Cut time in half by not having to hunt for frequencies commonly manipulated in a given source
• Efficient operation of passive filters, producing musical and transparent curves
• Very effective at subduing or emphasizing key frequencies while keeping the sound solid and focused

■ ACME Audio Opticom XLA-3

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The Acme Opticom XLA-3 is a powerful and flexible optical compressor with glorious tube-powered, triple optoelectric, cold-rolled steel covered military-grade componentry. Slap it across the drum buss for solid and seamless LA-2A styled leveling. Force vocals through the input to add grit and attitude to a wimpy take. Use Amp mode to add harmonic color to a guitar or bass line without even touching the dynamics. The Opticom XLA-3 is a bombproof beast of an optical compressor, and thanks to Acme’s cooperation with Brainworx, it’s now available in plugin form to tame and/or soothe any sound you throw at it.

The original XLA-3 hardware features three compression responses that each treats sounds in a totally different way, affecting spectral regions with varying envelope behaviors and distortion characteristics. On top of that, an Amp mode allows for gain boosting without dynamics reduction. Whether using the Fast, Normal or Slow setting, optical CdSe (Cadmium Selenide) photocells will always leak a perfect little transient through while allowing you to smash sounds to oblivion, or simply tame your peaks. Brainworx faithfully emulated the XLA-3 and captured these features in plugin form, right down to the Light History behavior exhibited by light-dependent resistors when returning from a resting state, or being constantly assaulted with input. Additionally, several new features were added to the plugin version, including a parallel mix knob, an output trim control, and an adjustable noise floor. All of the complex and sonically beautiful behavior has been faithfully rendered in the plugin version.



Features

• Unique optoelectric circuit that combines the best characteristics of three separate compression curves into a single unit- from clean to dirty
• Smooth and seamless ‘LA-2A’ sound with the additional benefits of even-harmonic distortion when needed
• Doubles as a “tone box” adding color and distortion without reducing dynamics if desired
• Simple and straightforward controls make it easy to dial in dynamics control
• Saturate with Output Gain, and attenuate to taste with the added Output Trim
• Accurate metering shows Input Drive, gain reduction, and overall output
• Gain reduction bypass with additional Amp mode provides tone coloration without dynamics reduction
• 15 dB switchable input pad
• Features not available on the original hardware:

- Adjustable noise floor
- Output trim knob for linear attenuation
- Wet/Dry mix knob for parallel compression

Source

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2016

Except they can:

Roland R-mix SONAR edition in 2013

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep13/articles/sonar-notes-0913.htm

QuikQuak Mashtactic
(VST released in c2008)

and Elevayta Space boy http://www.elevayta.net/product4.htm (in 2004)

 

That innovative EQ looks like Cableguys Pancake Plus [EQ]. ;)

"The Acme Opticom XLA-3 is a powerful and flexible optical compressor with glorious tube-powered, triple optoelectric, cold-rolled steel covered military-grade componentry." <-- it is software DSP with a hardware-like looking GUI we're talking here for crying out loud!! WTF?! I'm sick and tired of this kind of advertising. It is all *virtual* folks. Virtual. Not real. Emulation. No metal or components anywhere, just ones and zeros, and the real electronic circuits are still far too complicated to emulate, no matter what they tell you. So it's just yet another freaking software compressor. Nothing more. YAFSC.

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2016

Cold-rolled steel covered military-grade chassis? Let me see if I get this straight....CHASSIS? On a fricking plugin?

Really, this whole plugin thing is getting beyond ridiculous...

I've told it a billion times...The plugin industry is a 100% PURE TRIPLE NITROGEN VACUUM DISTILED DOUBLE FILTERED scam.

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2016

this is the result of a good key security and anti-piracy in plugins (for but I wanted cracked fleeces).

 

Thanks For that Thantrax, it looks very interesting.

Just one thing though

Wasn't this the company that always helped Wile Coyote fail miserably?

 

@RMorgan

Opticom MKII

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A pity that NONE of the crack-Teams shows interest with unlocking new PA Plug-Ins!
Well, we still have the older ones full cracked.
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Yes, I know it's hardware based, but if you watch the video, Plugin Alliance is actually advertising " Cold-rolled steel covered military-grade chassis" in their fricking release video! Come on, man! This is insanely pathetic! lol

 

http://vintageking.com/acme-audio-opticom-xla-3-mkii

 

Like to see a better demo of the XLA-3 plugin instead of this one showing how it does on top of stuff that was already compressed.

 

Yeah agree pointless info for a plugin, but in their defence they were describing the original hardware at that point.

My biggest gripe with plugin alliance isn't their faux hardware GUIs but the fact their products will be available at insane waves style special offers in a matter of months. You'd be mad to pay full price for any of their products.

 

My secret sources have told me that there are teams working on it, it is why security has changed so much, something about Wrapper security.

 

Rumors or real facts?
I cannot figure why experienced Reverse Engineers would have such difficulties with wrapped or encrypted content...
This guy in the video below managed to extract encrypted data, crack it and re-assemble it! Talented, smart man.

 

crack difficulty is true, and remember that the teams do not make money with crack in plugins and should have their personal obligations.
We can only hope.
and there is a rumor that the R2R has broken the protection of PA plugins, and they are stored in a private FTP.

 

Oh, it's just a rumor...now we know more.

I already knew that.

Nevertheless i wonder why no OTHER group is interested with unlocking those goodies?
I doubt of the fact that R2R is keeping them secret, closed behind hermetic doors, and if,
it doesn't make any good sense for the community. Maybe it's harder than thought...

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Mixing with Mike - Plugin of the Week

Pro Tools Expert - Review

 

Last edited: Apr 8, 2016

If you are a Plugin-alliance customer, just subscribe to their newsletter and you get really good discounts. I got the Brainworx bx Dynamic equalizer for $59,29 and the Stereomaker for $10,59.

That compressor looks real vintage for the trendy analoque sound we seem to like these days.......

 

Mixing with Mike - Plugin of the Week