Universal Audio have just made two new plug-ins available for their UAD2 range of DSP cards. First up is the Manley Massive Passive EQ, a software recreation of the highly sought-after Manley Labs equaliser, which UA are calling their “most ambitious and detailed EQ model to date”.
Customers who buy the Massive Passive plug-in will get access to both the Standard and Mastering versions, which are essentially the same EQ but with slightly different parameter ranges and knobs. Both versions feature four bands of fully parametric EQ, which can be individually switched between bell-shaped and shelving EQs (when a band is set to shelving mode, the Bandwidth control adjust the steepness of the slope). The four bands overlap to quite a large extent (from low to high, the bands’ frequency ranges are 22Hz to 1kHz, 82Hz to 3.9kHz, 220Hz to 10kHz, and 550Hz to 27kHz) and, true to the hardware unit, the bands all operate in parallel, which Universal Audio say is key to modelling the sound of the original.
In addition to the four parametric bands, both versions also have a high- and low-pass filter, and can be used as mono EQs, or linked for stereo use. Further adding to the recreation’s authenticity is that, in addition to a complete bypass (accessed using the Power switch), the EQ circuits can be switched in or out, but with the signal retaining the filtering and colouration that you’d get by running audio through the real thing with the EQ section disengaged.
The main differences between the two versions are in their gain ranges and filter frequencies: where the Standard version has 20dB of cut and boost available on each parametric band, with a -6dB to +4dB output gain range, the Mastering version has a subtler range of ±11dB on the parametric bands, and an output gain range of ±2.5dB. The filters on the Standard plug-in range between 18kHz and 6kHz for the low-pass filter, and between 22Hz and 220Hz for the high-pass filter (both in six discrete steps), while the Mastering version’s high- and low-pass filter frequencies range between 12 - 39Hz, and 52 - 15kHz, respectively.
Furthermore, the controls for output gain, EQ gain and EQ bandwidth on the Mastering version are stepped, rather than continuous, allowing for perfectly repeatable settings in mastering projects.
These features (and, if early user reports are to be believed, the stunning sound) do come at a price, however: the Manley Massive Passive plug-in is the most demanding of DSP power that Universal Audio have released to date, with instance counts ranging from just one stereo Massive Passive on the UAD2 Solo to four stereo counts on the top-of-the-range UAD2 Quad (at 44.1kHz in both cases — those figures will go down at higher sample rates!).
The Manley Massive Passive EQ for UAD2 cards is available to buy now from Universal Audio’s web site, at a price of $299.
The second new plug-in to come from Universal Audio is the Precision Enhancer Hz, a processor that adds harmonics to bass content below a user-defined frequency. This ‘phantom bass’ gives the listener an impression of increased low-frequency content, which Universal Audio say is ideal for giving tracks a weighty sound, even when played through small speakers.
The frequency below which harmonics are added can be set anywhere between 16 and 320Hz, and there are four filter slopes to choose from: 6dB, 12dB, 24dB and 36dB per octave. You can also solo the frequencies to which the effect is being applied, allowing you to check that only those elements of the mix that you want enhanced will be affected.
Also available from the Universal Audio on-line shop, the Precision Enhancer Hz will set you back $199.
