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This article was first written for Keyboards / Home Studio magazine. It is
published here with their kind authorization, thanks ,o)
PSP are a Polish editor specialized in effect plug-ins and who already have
some success with their Lexicon PCM 42 and 84 emulations or else with their
Mastering tools like Vintage Warmer. PSP have just presented on the market two
new products, a Reverb and a parametric Equalizer. Let's see if their
saying « not expensive but efficient » holds its promises...
PSP present MasterQ, an equalization Plug-in rather complete, to my opinion. Like
for EasyVerb, the effective price must be evoked in order to put it in
relation with the rendered service. MasterQ will cost to you the nearly moderate amount of
149 $US.
The software is proposed in VST and DirectX versions for PC and in VST version for Mac OXS.
A RTAS version for PC as well as some RTAS and AudioUnit versions for Mac OSX are promised
for the next quarter 2004. Like for other PSP products, the release
is done by download and with a manual in PDF format in English.
The interface is as less attractive as the Reverb's one but it has the
merit to be easy and clear. A graph symbolizes the given corrections
with in black the sum of the equalizations and in 7 distinct colors the detail
of each filter. This graphic drawning is very useful because with a fast
glance, you know immediately what you are doing. First
regret, to not be able to manipulate the curves with the mouse.
The 7 filters are respectively a low-pass, a « Low Shelving », a low-medium,
a medium, a high-medium, a « High Shelving » and a high-pass filter.
Their frequency range is well targeted, and even much broader than what you
could wait for. Regarding their parameters, they are tiny to the vital minimum
but this is widely enough. For the low-pass and high-pass filters,
you have the cut frequency, the slope and a button to switch from a slope from 12 to 24
dB. Concerning the 5 other parametric filters, you have at your disposal the
well-known Frequency, Q and Gain.
Near the unessential ByPass is located a « FAT » button. Making a round via the
manual tells us that the FAT is a « Frequency Authentification Technique ».
Houla, they don't laugh ! FAT is according to PSP a copyright technology of «
double sampling » allowing a filtering optimization on the other frequencies.
Why not. But it appears that the difference of obtained result with or
without is not explained. Activating or not the bouton FAT offers a
correction which is impossible to foresee, strange. Single certainty,
the processing is much more musical when the FAT is activated.
At the right of the FAT you can find a Compressor/Limiter section of which the
algorithms come from the PSP mastering tools like Vintage Warmer or
MixPack. In situation, I didn't find its useness.
The Plug-in has also at its disposal two functions which don't seem to be essential at
first sight. On one hand, it is possible to activate/deactivate the effect
independently for the right and left channels, and on an other hand the Reset button
makes it possible to set all the adjustments at their default value, however a
« flat » preset is already present.
I've kept a parameter for the end because this one is at the same time particularly
useful and original. It is about the Range button. It allows to apply a
coefficient multiplicateur, positive or negative, to the whole gain adjustments.
In clear, you can accentuate or invert the whole equalizations.
This is particularly useful to correct in the same
proportion all the gains without having to adjust them independantly. It is more
than well considering.
In conclusion, as soon as you forget the dynamic section not very usable
to my opinion, MasterQ is an efficient equalization in FAT mode which
will replace easily the often perfectible Eq sections of our
dear sequencers.
To judge yourself, have a look to PSP's site where you will be able to download
the demo !
See ya soon, here or somewhere else ,o)
Pros : the price, the filters quality, the easiness of use, the low
CPU use
Cons : the dynamic section, the mysteries of the FAT, no curves with the
mouse.
Description
- Name : MasterQ
- Type : Equalization Plug-in
- Format : VST and DirectX for PC, VST for Mac OSX at the date this article is written
- Editor : PSP AudioWare
- Website : http://www.pspaudioware.com/
- Internal resolution : 64 floating bits
- Frequency range : up to 192 kHz
- Filters : 7, each one having their own preset frequencies range
- Price : 149 $US
Recommended configurations
Mac : Mac OS X 10.1 or higher, VST compatible host, G4 867 MHz, 512 MB of
RAM, graphic display 1024x768
PC : Windows 98 or higher, VST or DirectX compatible host, 512 Mo de RAM,
Pentium III 800 Mhz, graphic display 1024x768
Pascal VALENTIN, on the 24-04-2004
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