Kiive Audio offers the Warmy EP1A Tube EQ program tube equalizer plugin as a free download.
Immediately, the EP1A Tube EQ looks familiar because it’s based on an old classic. It’s based on the classic Pultec EQ, which is, unfortunately, far from free.
See also: Coffee The Pun Is A FREE Pultec-Style Equalizer By Acustica AudioThere are already lots of tributes and clones of the famous Pultec EQ, and that’s not a complaint. It’s always interesting to hear different takes on a quite iconic sound.
I own a few Pultec-style plugins and a hardware clone. I like to use the hardware because it’s hands-on, but sometimes, the plugins do a better job.
When people describe the Pultec EQ, they use words like musical (which is often overused as a generic descriptor, but very fitting this time) and magical. So, what is it that makes the Pultec sound so desirable?
Funnily enough, much of the appeal comes from something that the original manufacturers advised against; boosting and cutting the same frequency simultaneously.
Boosting and cutting at the same time has become the go-to trick with a Pultec EQ over decades, and it’s where the magic is.
If we look at the low-frequency section on the EP1A GUI, we have the same frequency selection you’d find on a hardware unit, along with Boost and Cut level knobs.
The Boost tends to be slightly more prominent than the attenuation, which creates a bit of a push and pull effect. What it gives you is a full-bodied sound without losing clarity, and that’s why people say it’s so musical.
The plugin employs non-linear modeling to replicate the hardware original more realistically.
The high-frequency section is slightly different because it has individual controls for the Boost and Cut range. You can still choose to set them in the same or similar frequency range, but it’s less about that at the high-end. There’s also a bandwidth knob that shapes the Q of the High Boost.
The plugin also emulates the tube drive found in original units with up to 16X oversampling.
It comes with some factory presets, and you can save user presets. I tried it out on some vintage synth pads, and I was impressed with the results. It let me get more life out of the lowest frequencies without getting muddy and add a touch of tube drive.
The Warmy-EP1A is available for macOS and Windows in 64-bit AU, VST, and AAX formats.
Download and install were quick and easy. It does throw up the all to standard unrecognized developer message from Apple, but; after instructing them to mind their own business, all is good.
Download: Warmy EP1A Tube EQ (64-bit AU/VST/AAX plugin format for Windows & macOS)
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12 Comments
Tomislav Zlatic
onA big THANK YOU to all BPB readers who suggested we cover Warmy EP1A Tube EQ, including Aris, Lucent, Christian, and others.
Jagermeister
onSeems interesting. Tube simulation distorts way too much for my taste. Will stick to the Analog obsession Rare for now.
Tomislav Zlatic
onHere’s another free Pultec: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2016/02/19/ignite-amps-pteq-vst/
Johannes Mazur
onHi Tomislav, I would desist from recommending PTEQ-X until they took notice of a bug I discovered. If you boost 10K with the bandwidth set to sharp and cut at 10K at the same time PTEQ sounds ear piercing, and not at all in a subtle way.
You can easily recreate it yourself. RARE bpb is amazing in comparison.
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks for reporting that, much appreciated! I’ll test on my end.
Michal Ochedowski
onAs I already mentioned a few days ago in comments for another article, there is an issue in Warmy EP1A. CUT knob for low frequencies has a range of +/- 3.5 dB only, not 10 dB. I’ve sent a message to developer. Haven’t heard from them since.
Michal Ochedowski
onToday I received answer from Kiive Audio. They will look into the problem regarding CUT knob and fix it for the next update of the plugin. I’m actually relieved, because Warmy EP1A ticks a lot of boxes for a good eq with character.
Tomislav Zlatic
onCool, glad to hear that they’re working on improving the plugin.
Alias
onLots of Aliasing even with 16x Oversampling.
Michal Ochedowski
onI’ve just tested Warmy EP1A with -18 dBFS sine wave. With 4x oversampling aliasing didn’t exceed -96 dBFS. With 8x and 16x oversampling aliasing was completely gone. Compared to over 30 other plugins I’ve tested in last 12 months, those are excellent results.
Mariusz
onSo friends…. Which is better from freeware (closest to original) – this, bpb rare, ignite pteq, bootsy nastylf / nastyhf ?
Alias
onMichal Ochedowski checked in Plugin Doctor and it seemed obvious?!
Mariusz to be honest still like the bpb rare the most of them all.