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UA launch Thermionic Culture Vulture plug-in

Softube also port Valley People Dyna-mite & Tonelux Tilt EQ

Universal Audio have launched three new plug-ins for the UAD Powered Plug-ins platform and Apollo interfaces. The first is the Thermionic Culture Vulture Plug-In, a recreation of the British-made valve distortion unit of the same name. 

We were most impressed with the versatile distortion characteristics of the hardware version when we reviewed it back in August 2003, so it will be interesting to see whether Universal Audio's emulation can deliver the same sound. If it can, the ability to track (with Apollo) and mix with multiple instances of the Culture Vulture for only $299 seems like decent bang for you buck.  

According to Universal Audio, the plug-in models the original hardware’s three different all-valve circuit topologies and in order to do that, it uses UA’s first ever pentode tube circuit model. The Culture Vulture plug-in also offers two features not found on the original hardware — a Dry/Wet Parallel Mix control and a Link function for a perfectly matched stereo image to save you time and to and preserve balances.

The Thermionic Culture Vulture's distortion has been featured on countless records, and in a nod to its professional user base, it includes a series of presets from high profile users such as Tony Maserati (Alicia Keys, Beyoncé), Rik Simpson (Coldplay, Portishead), Eric "ET" Thorngren (Talking Heads, Cyndi Lauper), Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), Chris Coady (Grizzly Bear, TV on the Radio), and more.

Thermionic Culture seem happy with the outcome too: "We decided some time ago that UA would be the best company to make a successful plug-in emulation of our Culture Vulture, and we are very happy to say that the plug-in has exceeded our expectations,” says Nick Terry, Director at Thermionic Culture. “It seems that the Culture Vulture has now taken on a digital life of its own."

Valley People Dyna-mite and Tonelux Tilt EQ

Softube have also brought two of their popular plug-ins over to the UAD platform in the shape of the Valley People Dyna-mite and Tonelux Tilt EQ. Dyna-mite ($199) is an emulation of the well-loved limiter/expander/gate designed by Paul Buff, the founder of PAL studio in Southern California. Since the introduction of the hardware version over three decades ago, it has garnered a substantial following from top engineers, many of whom consider it a 'secret weapon'. This is on account of its ability to create musical effects ranging from gentle limiting and de-essing through to destroying the transients of virtually any sound.

The Tonelux Tilt EQ ($99) is designed to allow quick and effective braod-stroke EQ moves. Simply turning the knob to the left and it boosts low frequencies and cuts HF, or turn to the right for the opposite effect. Softube's emulation for Universal Audio hardware also models the transformer used in the Tonelux hardware, adding a subtle distortion to bass frequencies for a fatter sound. 

The Tonelux plug-in also comes with a live version called Tilt Live EQ which skips the transformer modelling freeing up system resources to allow more instances. 

http://www.uaudio.com/support/uad/78.html

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