PreSonus have today announced the release of Retro Mix Legends, a collection of FX plug-ins for Studio One Professional. Brent March takes a first look at the three brand-new Mix Engines Alpine Desk, Brit Console and Porta Cassette.
With a design based on State Space Modeling technology and compatible with PreSonus unique Mix Engine FX plug-in interface, Retro Mix Legends takes analog console emulation to the next level. Each of the three new plug-ins has been meticulously modelled after legendary mixing consoles from vintage to contemporary, capturing the unique characteristics and quirks of their respective signal path:
Alpine Desk has been modelled after legendary American consoles going back to the '70s and known for its instantly recognisable sound. Its variable output transformer stage allows for extra colouration.
Brit Console captures the unique character of legendary British consoles from the '80s to today inside a single plug-in. Go from vintage to modern at the push of a button and add extra harmonics to the drive stage for even more colouration.
Porta Cassette revives the sound of a famous Japanese 4-track cassette studio, combining both mixer and cassette tape emulation for extra LoFi flavour. While these much sought after machines are hard to find in good condition, the plug-in version makes it easy to add this unique colour to your mixes.
State Space Modeling technology accurately recreates specific analogue circuits' typical behaviour and non-linearities, delivering a unique fingerprint from the input transformers to the summing stage.
Features
Three new Mix Engine FX plug-ins available exclusively for Studio One Professional
Alpine Desk (American)
Brit Console (British)
Porta Cassette (Japanese)
Based on state-of-the-art PreSonus State Space Modeling technology
Each plug-in captures the unique sonic fingerprint of the original hardware
Process an unlimited number of channels independently at the source using a single Mix Engine FX plug-in
Authentic analog drive, noise, and true crosstalk between adjacent channels
Available individually or as one priced in the bundle
Compatible with Studio One Professional version 4.6.2 or later
Included in PreSonus Sphere
About Mix Engine FX
Mix Engine FX – as opposed to common insert and send effects that reside on individual channels or busses – are capable of processing every channel of the mixer separately with a single instance. When added to a bus channel or the main output channel, every signal routed into that channel is processed independently at the source, allowing the plug-in to transform the sound of an entire mix.
While sharing the same basic controls for drive, noise, crosstalk and character, each one of the Retro Mix Legends Mix Engine FX plug-ins offers its own unique set of parameters for additional versatility and added control. Choose between vintage and modern flavours (Alpine Desk and Brit Console) or add some extra flavour with tape emulation (Porta Cassette), from subtle to extreme.
Although being suited for various applications, Mix Engine FX is tailored for analog console emulation. The original Console Shaper (included with Studio One Professional) and CTC-1 (available on the PreSonus Shop) both belong in this category. So does “TAPE” from Softube (also available on the PreSonus Shop).
What is State Space Modeling?
State Space Modeling technology is a sophisticated, state-of-the-art physical modelling technique. The involved nonlinear circuit elements are modelled meticulously on the component level to include all those "dirt effects" that make the original analog sound so good: bias shifts, time dependencies, saturations. The resulting DSP code is then optimized for processing speed. This progressive technique enables the creation of virtual models of even complex analog audio hardware.
At its highest level, PreSonus are not only modelling circuits at the component level. They are modelling non-linearity within these components, which results in even more realistic digital models. This is particularly important for components such as transformers and vacuum tubes.
In this video, Brent looks at PreSonus Retro Mix Legends and looks at the features of these three new mix engine effect plugins, such as Drive Stage, Boost Control, True Crosstalk, Character Modelling, and more.
For full details on Retro Mix Legends, head over to PreSonus’ website.