Acustica Audio’s free Eminence channel strip plugin offers EQ and compression for a “creamy” old-school sound
Get your vintage mojo on for nothing
When it comes to free plugins this holiday season, ‘warmth’ is definitely the theme. First we had Tape Mello-Fi, Arturia’s vibey lo-fi Mellotron-flavoured tape emulation, and now Acustica Audio has added more fuel to the festive freebie fire with the release of Eminence, a ‘creamy’ channel strip.
Designed for adding that often elusive vintage mojo, this contains a rare ‘60s British 3-band EQ that made its name in “probably one of the most famous and mythical worldwide broadcast studios,” at a time when record labels actually had their own studios and designed and built the majority of their recording gear.
On top of that - or rather beside it on the old-school GUI - there’s a ‘Frankenstein’ compressor that mashes together two classic solid-state dynamic compressors - 591, an Optical Compressor; and the 612 FET Limiter - both from a certain US audio electronics company.
Finally, you get the preamp stages from all three of the aforementioned units.
Eminence runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats and can be acquired for free by downloading the Aquarius software manager. You’ll also need an Acustica Audio account.
Find out more on the Acustica Audio website.
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I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.