Swedish plug-in developers Softube have been a busy bunch recently: what with the release, a few weeks ago, of the Tonelux Tilt EQ plug-in, and the announcement of a new licensing deal with Summit Audio, they could be forgiven for taking a bit of a break — but they haven’t. Instead, they’ve released a Pultec-style EQ plug-in, the Tube-Tech PE 1C. Based on the hardware piece of the same name, the PE 1C plug-in’s features and controls are, with the exception of the added Output Gain knob (which has a ±10dB range), identical to those of its physical counterpart — though like the hardware, it has a few extra settings compared with the Pultec EQ 1P, upon which it is based.
The frequency select switch for the LF section allows you to choose a turnover frequency of either 20Hz, 30Hz, 60Hz or 100Hz (only 30Hz, 60Hz and 100Hz were available on the original), and the Boost and Atten(uate) knobs apply gain at your chosen frequency. As on the original, the LF section actually contains two shelving filters in series, with slightly different responses. This means that effects relating to filter-induced phase distortions can be achieved by both cutting and boosting at the same frequency (a key factor in the original Pultec sound).
The HF section is also somewhat unconventional: this comprises a shelf and a bell-shaped filter in parallel, with the bell’s response governed by the Boost control, the Bandwidth knob and the frequency selector (which offers a choice of 1kHz, 1.5kHz, 2kHz, 3kHz, 5kHz, 8kHz, 10kHz, 12kHz and 16kHz, compared with the 3kHz, 5kHz, 8kHz, 10kHz and 12kHz options on the Pultec). The high-frequency shelf is a cut-only affair, with the amount of attenuation applied being determined by the Atten knob, and the turnover frequency being set by the Atten Sel control. A choice of 5kHz, 10kHz and 20kHz is on offer here.
As is the trend with analogue-modelling plug-ins, the UI faithfully mimics the front panel of the hardware — but the similarity doesn’t end there. Softube say that the sonic contribution of every component in the Tube-Tech PE 1C (“from the tube to the power transformer”) was painstakingly modelled and recreated in software, making the plug-in “exceptionally detailed”. Available in VST, AU, RTAS and TDM formats (the latter compatible with both Pro Tools HD systems and Avid Venue consoles), the Softube PE 1C costs $199 for the native versions, and $299 for the TDM version. And for those who wish to try before they buy, a 20-day trial version can be downloaded from the Softube web site.
