Based on the Manley passive

 

Three things I really like: Pulsar Audio, Manley Massive Passive and Dan Worrall. Hard to fail with all these criterias.

Edit: Personally I love Softube/Native Instruments Passive EQ as well as TDR SlickEQM. They are somewhat different, but different flavor (not "better" or "worse")

 

Last edited: Sep 27, 2022

Watched first thing this morning. Another excellent Dan Warrall presentation. Most people probably niss what was pointed out in this video. The Manley Passive is a Mastering/Mixing auxiliary equalizer. Same should be said for the 1178 compressor (imho).

On my mixing monitors, the Q3 sounded more spikey compared to the Manley Passive. As if the transients were being emphasized rather than smoothed out. Wish he had also included a KirchoffEQ comparison.

 

Manley has always been reliable. So has Dan Worrall and Pulsar is certainly showing themselves to be consistent. No argument whatsoever

It is interesting how many people do not understand the difference between passive and active. More than I realised. You have it - in the hardware version it only relies on capacitors, resistors and inductors, zero amplification which makes it great for the end of the chain. They did a very good job of recreating it in a vst version. It seems to be equal to the UAD simulation.

 

Dan Worrall is great, and it was cool to find out what was going on w/ drive in Massive. I must learn to use plugin doc! It's pretty easy to use Massive (like Kirchoff) although both are pretty much useless on (eg) kick, snare individually; stock is just better - which might be offputting? If you don't have a clue about the hardware. Or you want doomthud everywhere (misleading presets ffs =) They really shine on real instruments, ensembles and I just went wow! loading the brass ens preset on Kirchoff, works so well w/ BBB & sat. Just a lucky coincidence that I was using it. It's a bit of an adjustment to use generalised "axis" / parallel eq, but it leads to some cool results. Must try making some string presets and using them on synths. And vice versa.

Spoiler

I would say that the sat is quite shudderingly unusable in 1178, kinda the polar opposite of Massive. If only they had the technology available to fix the fingers-on-blackboard effect? XD

 

has anyone compared the analog in the box massive passive for nebula with the pulsar? I know there is an AlexB one, but I just can't get around the low end ripple- even if it isn't audible it's like that one Seinfeld episode where there was a guy who would point out one simple thing about a person as an insult and get under their skin. like why use a plugin you know is adding unwanted shit in... especially if you stack it up.

I saw a comment someone left who had the UAD massive and some other versions, they were converted to the aitb after purchase.

also Dan is awesome.

 

the point with this plugin is that the extra is there and in passive mode but it is like anything. Just because something we use or buy has a pile of features, does not mean we have to use them all, need to use them all, or should use them all.
In my own experiences - When I played with it, I treated it as purely a mastering tool. That is, more of a balancing tool rather than a boosting tool. So I used it primarily to cut certain frequencies passively and found it to be even across the board like the real hardware Manley is.

TRIVIA - The thing with a lot of mixing is that our ears get used to certain volumes. I went back to something a great engineer told me once, which was to listen to it at much lower volumes. I found personally, that I seemed to hear the range as a whole so much better. It also facilitated smaller cuts and boosts strangely to be heard more easily.

EDIT:

I think Nebula is great and I have to answer no. That being said, I imagine anything made properly to work in Nebula will probably be at least as good as the Pulsar or UAD.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 26, 2022

I agree with @quadcore64, I also noticed more transient in the top end with Q3 in the a/b. I also agree with one thing Dan Worral said, with this EQ in particular, just close the frequency analyzer, and only turn the knobs, it is simply the best way to use it. Don't get me wrong I have absolutely no problem in using my eyes in some plugins, just not this one, it will bias your decision making.

 

Pulsar Massive is up there for me with TDR SlickEQ M sound-wise. Now I wanna finaly try Native Instruments Passive EQ too.
What are the other similar plugins?

 

I have not tried every passive EQ plugin obviously, but the similar ones I know of are:

• SPL Pass EQ
• Softube PE 1C and ME 1B
• Waves EQP 1A and MEQ5
• The Waves RS56 attempts to emulate George Martin's 50s Abbey Road RS56
• PSP Noble Q emulates the Pultec

There are more, the UAD's of course and many other brands.

 

Thanks, I meant inspired by Massive Passive or similar mix bus hardware specifically, and not by vvaevs or buttplug alliance. Should've elaborated originally.

 

I have not tried it but apparently the KNIF Audio Soma is supposed to be more like the hardware than the Pulsar and the UAD Manley plugins.

 

Well its $30.99 atm on PA website...maybe worth it??

 

iLok required = no deal

 

Sorry for my ignorance, why is iLok a no deal?

 

Not cracked for Mac. Also, it eats up too many clock cycles and you really notice that on a slow PC, or you may have to connect it to the internet where it will get quickly hacked.

of course, r2r versions don't do this. So it's probably a question of simply paying for things. The NI Passive EQ was written by Softube. I have seen multiple previous owners of the hardware Massive comment they prefer the one from NI. But they do so quietly, because they aren't influencers trying to sell anything. Especially. a 6yr old plugin, they don't often have the attention span for that.

 

Last edited: Sep 26, 2022

I still am of the belief that anyone should afford themselves the facility to try something first or ensure it will be something useful first?
That stated, at $30 it's not an investment that would break anyone's bank.
A lot of people who have nothing but cracked software and nothing they have purchased are paranoid about being caught so they avoid anything which on the surface might appear to compromise their computer. See the reply below to someone else

I successfully run both iLok software I own outright and R2R on the same computer with ZERO issues. Many apps that use iLok do not connect to the Internet unless there is an update you want to install or you lose the license on your computer or dongle corruption if that is what is used. Some do but a lot bypassed this altogether for each application instance.
Horses for courses (i.e. each to their own) - That said, it is more of a credit to R2R for their skills than iLok.
What is good about R2R versus a lot of others is they allow for PEBCAC. R2R are very concise about how to run either or both and whether what they release will fit into either or both. For example, you cannot run their PLAY release with legitimate OPUS but Softube and other companies you can. It only takes the willingness to read their statements.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 27, 2022

I enjoy messing around w/ Kirchhoff a bit more than Massive, mainly because the curves have crazy, wild superdefinition. They're both fun to use, never imagined I'd say that about eq! I think of Massive more like an effect than an eq. Kirchhoff does seem to be efficient until it overloads ur cpu, seemingly at random. Also worth shouting out the (weirdly mislabeled) TDR / TDL / TDK / TDM stuff; the "mono below xyz Hz" is great. The rest is very confusing to my poor brain, so much info thrown at you!

New plugin confirmed: downloadownloadownload. What does it do, exactly? Plugin Enhanced Beyond Current Aural Capabilities? 666 bit? >_____>

 

the music he is using, is kinda weak for the purpose of showing the bottom end.
Also he loves his voice or something cause it is much over the level of the music.

 

I can see how it could be. Try it post mixing with your mix-bounce in mastering as a cut filtering EQ. While not everyone would agree with me, I found that is where it shines the best - for me i.e.

Yes the music choice could be better. As for his voice, I can always hear it whereas some videos you have to almost rewind with "What did they say????"