The puntastic name and the faders on the GUI of Poseidon leave you in little doubt as to which famous console EQ it sets out to emulate, but there’s more to this thing than mimicking the Trident A‑Range. As with other Pulsar EQs I’ve used and, it has to be said, enjoyed, there are various thoughtful ‘utility’ features. Along the top are the usual undo/redo buttons, a preset manager and A/B compare buttons. You also get a GUI view selector, with three options for the main display: you can show only the pane containing hardware‑inspired knobs and faders; only the pane with a modern ‘nodes on a curve’ workflow, which includes a frequency analyser and metering; or you may show both at once, which is the default view. A three‑dots icon accesses more settings, including up to 8x oversampling and the ability to switch the EQ frequency controls from stepped to continuous as you prefer, with options for the resolution of those steps too, which is a lovely touch.
The signal path starts with a switchable Drive control that governs the amount and nature of harmonic distortion (aka saturation) imparted by the plug‑in. There are two settings for this (Trident or Poseidon), as well as off, and Drive also influences the contribution of the modelled output transformers. You have a choice of two transformers (or neither), one of which is modelled after the famous Marinair transformers used by Neve in years gone by.
In between these stages comes the EQ section itself. As you’d expect of a Trident‑style EQ, this comprises four main bands (high and low shelves, with two bell bands in between) and these are sandwiched between high‑pass and low‑pass filters.
Starting with the hardware‑esque control panel, the frequencies you’d expect to find are here but, since the controls can be continuous (and are so by default), you can set them to anything within their range and those ranges have in some cases been extended too, for greater versatility. The high‑/low‑pass filters are controlled with a vertical fader, while the main bands’ gains (±15dB) use horizontal faders. You can also switch each band on/off, and choose whether it operates on the stereo signal, or just the Mid or Sides. (There seems to be no option to EQ only the L or R signal; not something I missed personally, but some might.) Holding down Command on a Mac (presumably Ctrl for Windows users) allows you to make finer adjustments with the mouse.
At the end of the chain comes an output level knob, with an auto‑gain button that allows you to keep the overall signal level consistent when making EQ adjustments. That could be useful for mastering and stereo mix‑bus work, where ‘louder is better’ means boosts can otherwise skew your perception, even if it’s not usually something I like to use on individual sources in a mix (where I like to hear the result of my EQ moves in context). Another neat feature is the Scale knob, which allows you to shrink or magnify the overall EQ curve. This can be really helpful for fine‑tuning when all four bands are active; rather like a wet/dry blend in practice, but without the risk of phase cancellation coming into play.
Hold down Shift and click on a node, and you hear only the frequencies on which that band is operating.
On the curve‑plus‑analyser pane, you can manipulate the same settings using nodes on the curve. A hidden feature in this view is a band solo: hold down Shift and click on a node, and you hear only the frequencies on which that band is operating. There are also controls to refine the behaviour of the frequency analyser, and level meters that show peak and RMS for the input and output.
While this ‘curve panel’ operates in a familiar way, it’s important to note that it’s not controlling a regular parametric EQ, but rather manipulating the controls of the emulated Trident EQ. So, for example, there are no bandwidth controls, and each band’s frequency range is limited. You’ll soon notice that the bands don’t all exhibit quite the same characteristics (I couldn’t set gains on the two central bands at the same frequency and fully cancel, for example) and the bands seem to be somewhat interactive. All of which means that if you’re unfamiliar with Trident EQs, you may at first find that they don’t do quite what you expect. Happily, the results are usually very musical‑sounding, and with a little practice you start to find that it’s very quick to dial in characterful, broad tonal shifts on a sound, with fewer clicks and drags than on a regular digital EQ.
I have to say that Pulsar seem to have done a decent job of capturing this complexity and interaction, just as they did on their model of the Massive Passive that I reviewed a couple of years ago. It’s not all about the curves, though: there’s definitely a sound to this thing, and between the input and output stages, you have access to a surprisingly broad saturation palette that can add a lovely character to vocals and guitars, lend thickness to a bass guitar or synth part, and even make kicks squelch. It’s tricky to convey in words the differences in distortion between one plug‑in and another, but unless you go deliberately over the top, charm, subtlety and smoothness are some terms that spring to mind.
Verdict?
All in all, then, it’s another great‑sounding EQ model from Pulsar Audio, and one that sports one of my favourite GUI designs for analogue‑modelling plug‑ins: it’s a clever interface that should please both those who like skeuomorphism and those who prefer the visual feedback of digital EQs.
The world and your DAW may not be short of EQ plug‑ins, but this one’s a little different. If you’re after a Trident‑style EQ, or just enjoy hardware‑modelling plug‑ins generally and want to upgrade your go‑to ‘channel EQ’, this one is doesn’t cost the Earth given its sound and feature set, and the free trial would be well worth auditioning.
Information
€99 (discounted to €59 when going to press).
€99 (about $103), discounted to $59 when going to press.