Ivory EQ by Acustica Audio! (Aqua plugin)

[bmanic]

Why on earth isn't there a thread about this yet??! Acustica Audio has just released their most remarkable Aqua plugin yet. It's called Ivory EQ and is based on the Maselec MEA-2 equalizer. It is absolutely ridiculously amazing and by far the most "usable" plugin of the Nebula/Aqua range ever released.

It's so versatile and easy to use and it sounds AMAZING! Best of all, it uses very little CPU resources due to the new Core 6 engine. Latency is still high and thus it works best for mastering and mixing.

Inevitable comparisons will be made with this one and the IK Multimedia version (which as far as I know is based on the Sontec vintage one) but in my opinion there is no competition at all. This Ivory EQ is miles ahead in my opinion.

There are some issues with running it at 48kHz though which may be a problem for many but apparently the issues are known and are being fixed.

You can find the plugin here.

A quick little audio example. I used 9 instances of IvoryEQ, one for each track (2 bass tracks 5 drum tracks) and one for bass bus (where the two bass samples are combined) and one on the master output. 16 bit 44.1kHz wav. Basically tried to beef up and tighten up the mix. Also tried to remove some of the harshness. Nothing else was added but EQ and the only plugin used was IvoryEQ!

Original mix
Ivory EQ mix

Here's an alternative mix of the loop (different EQ settings and I added Aquamarine compressor on the master)

Alternative mix, different EQ settings + Aquamarine masterbus compressor

EDIT2: Another alternative mix. This time it's the same as above but I've removed Aquamarine compressor and replaced it with AlexB's A5D (Api 525) compressor. I've also put AlexB N14 (api vintage console) mic inputs on all channels and line inputs after each processor to simulate a sort of console thing/patchbay thing. Then I drive everything out of the AlexB N14 Master Bux (FAT version which has two different transformers in series).

There are no EQ changes.. yet listen to how much the mix changed.

2nd Alt Mix with AlexB N14 and A5D programs added


EDIT3: Another example (that I posted later in the thread), collected here so that we have all in one place.

Here are the before and after with screenshot of the settings. Signal flow is from top to bottom so top EQ was first then immediately following the bottom one.

Original mix

2x Ivory EQ quick polish




EDIT4: One more example. Another, more delicate, example. This is a song I composed for a short film a while ago. It's piano only so really delicate processing is needed and Ivory EQ works brilliantly for this kind of stuff. This file has the following chain of effects: Aquamarine very light compression -> Ivory EQ (single instance, no preamp, all 4 bands used but only tiny bits of EQ.. about half dB except top shelf which was +2dB from 14kHz) -> AlexB's N14 API console Master Bus (clean version)

Delicate piano, original mix

Delicate piano, Aquamarine+Ivory+N14

Cheers!
bManic

[Nightpolymath]

Mix sounds great, bmanic. Although I would be hard pressed to justify another EQ considering I already use two good ones, Pro-Q 2 and bx_digital. But I'll demo it at some point.

PS/- Is there no high pass and low pass in this one?

[poshook]

Why on earth isn't there a thread about this yet??! Acustica Audio has just released their most remarkable Aqua plugin yet. It's called Ivory EQ and is based on the Maselec MEA-2 equalizer. It is absolutely ridiculously amazing and by far the most "usable" plugin of the Nebula/Aqua range ever released.

It's so versatile and easy to use and it sounds AMAZING! Best of all, it uses very little CPU resources due to the new Core 6 engine. Latency is still high and thus it works best for mastering and mixing.

Inevitable comparisons will be made with this one and the IK Multimedia version (which as far as I know is based on the Sontec vintage one) but in my opinion there is no competition at all. This Ivory EQ is miles ahead in my opinion.

There are some issues with running it at 48kHz though which may be a problem for many but apparently the issues are known and are being fixed.

You can find the plugin here.

A quick little audio example. I used 9 instances of IvoryEQ, one for each track (2 bass tracks 5 drum tracks) and one for bass bus (where the two bass samples are combined) and one on the master output. 16 bit 44.1kHz wav. Basically tried to beef up and tighten up the mix. Also tried to remove some of the harshness. Nothing else was added but EQ and the only plugin used was IvoryEQ!

Original mix
Ivory EQ mix

Here's an alternative mix of the loop (different EQ settings and I added Aquamarine compressor on the master)

Alternative mix, different EQ settings + Aquamarine masterbus compressor

Cheers!
bManic

much more interesting for me as Trinity user is 64bit AU realease year after initial release
Ivory looks great but 159 Euro and no Demo

[Ultrasonic]

Why on earth isn't there a thread about this yet??! Acustica Audio has just released their most remarkable Aqua plugin yet. It's called Ivory EQ and is based on the Maselec MEA-2 equalizer. It is absolutely ridiculously amazing and by far the most "usable" plugin of the Nebula/Aqua range ever released.

You also said the new Focusrite Red compressor was as good as the The Glue, so forgive me if i dont pay attn when you try and hype a product.

Aqua stuff is terrible to use. Adds tons of latency, uses a bunch of CPU (AA tries to account for this by calling it a "mastering" processor) takes too much time to load in to a project, i could go on, but the point is that using their products just takes any fun out of it.

There are some issues with running it at 48kHz though which may be a problem for many

Right, because most people cant use ANY aqua EQ without "issues" or them cramping their style in someway.

[Zaphod (giancarlo)]

1) 48khz fix is in betatesting
2) this acqua is around 10 times ligher than previous acqua, and around 1/4 latency.
3) loading time was improved a lot lately. And it will be improved a lot.
4) at this "little" price you get a correct distiortion, phase and magnitudo emulation and almost no aliasing and perfect nyquist behaviour. It is a precision you cannot get at common zero latency/iir approach. Period. For gear emulation we are the only company actually providing a fir filter also for harmonics.

We are working hard... and this is just the beginning...

[Robmobius]

Sounds great! I'm sure this will be another excellent release.

[gmitch]

Why on earth isn't there a thread about this yet??! Acustica Audio has just released their most remarkable Aqua plugin yet. It's called Ivory EQ and is based on the Maselec MEA-2 equalizer. It is absolutely ridiculously amazing and by far the most "usable" plugin of the Nebula/Aqua range ever released.

It's so versatile and easy to use and it sounds AMAZING! Best of all, it uses very little CPU resources due to the new Core 6 engine. Latency is still high and thus it works best for mastering and mixing.

Inevitable comparisons will be made with this one and the IK Multimedia version (which as far as I know is based on the Sontec vintage one) but in my opinion there is no competition at all. This Ivory EQ is miles ahead in my opinion.

There are some issues with running it at 48kHz though which may be a problem for many but apparently the issues are known and are being fixed.

You can find the plugin here.

A quick little audio example. I used 9 instances of IvoryEQ, one for each track (2 bass tracks 5 drum tracks) and one for bass bus (where the two bass samples are combined) and one on the master output. 16 bit 44.1kHz wav. Basically tried to beef up and tighten up the mix. Also tried to remove some of the harshness. Nothing else was added but EQ and the only plugin used was IvoryEQ!

Original mix
Ivory EQ mix

Here's an alternative mix of the loop (different EQ settings and I added Aquamarine compressor on the master)

Alternative mix, different EQ settings + Aquamarine masterbus compressor

Cheers!
bManic

NiCE... Incredible what they are doing, Sound Rules!!!

[bmanic]

You also said the new Focusrite Red compressor was as good as the The Glue, so forgive me if i dont pay attn when you try and hype a product.

I still stand by that comment. In my opinion the Focusrite Red 2 compressor is as good/usable as The Glue. It is an absolutely awesome piece of code (both of them) no matter how old it is. If you disagree with me that's fine. That's YOUR opinion. I'm not "trying to hype" any friggin product. It is my opinion written on a public forum. You douche.

Aqua stuff is terrible to use. Adds tons of latency, uses a bunch of CPU (AA tries to account for this by calling it a "mastering" processor) takes too much time to load in to a project, i could go on, but the point is that using their products just takes any fun out of it.

In this instance the Ivory EQ is actually the least CPU heavy of all of their plugins todate. That project that I just uploaded had 9 instances of Ivory EQ. Each instance had every single band enabled and every instance had the PreAmp section on. My CPU usage on this laptop was 10.4% according to the windows task manager (that's 36 bands of Nebula/Aqua EQ + 9 preamps!!!!). Reaper actually shows 4% CPU usage but I wouldn't trust that meter completely.

Latency is still an issue with any Nebula technology and I'm pretty sure it will not go away. That's the compromise you have to take. You can of course edit the DSP processing size down to 256 samples if you want but that will start to push the limits. Current default DSP processing size is 2048 as far as I know. You can set it down to 1024 easily though.

There are some issues with running it at 48kHz though which may be a problem for many

Right, because most people cant use ANY aqua EQ without "issues" or them cramping their style in someway.

You really really like being a complete douche, don't you?

I use Amber EQ, Titanium, BlueEQ, Trinity EQ v2 and now Ivory EQ without any issues at all. I've used Nebula itself with AlexB and Tim Petheric programs for YEARS without any issues at all.

Sure, it can cause issues if you are technically inept or just unlucky but your generalization of everybody having issues is just plain stupid.. but it's to be expected. You like being a dick.

[Robmobius]

You really really like being a complete douche, don't you?

I use Amber EQ, Titanium, BlueEQ, Trinity EQ v2 and now Ivory EQ without any issues at all. I've used Nebula itself with AlexB and Tim Petheric programs for YEARS without any issues at all.

Sure, it can cause issues if you are technically inept or just unlucky but your generalization of everybody having issues is just plain stupid.. but it's to be expected. You like being a dick.

Yes BM he was a bit of a tit for saying that.

Anyway, I stand by all the new AA stuff. I have most of their new plugins. And they sound fantastic.

And I never really had a problem using trinity (great EQ).

[BLUE-S-MAN]

Can you post a screenshot of the settings, bManic?

[Ultrasonic]

If youre going to lose control so easily, flip out and start calling people names then maybe you should start having your mommy come to the forum with you.

I'm not "trying to hype" any friggin product. It is my opinion written on a public forum. You douche.

Well, the way you said it was more like trying to cramm it down everyones throats and then going back to edit text, so whatever. I kinda figured that the best you could do was to start calling names......

Its a bit like taking the fattest, ugliest girl in the bar home with you telling everyone how hot she was. That doesnt make her hot......I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but everybody is looking at you like a flipping moron, because you think some ugly thing is hot..lol

I use Amber EQ, Titanium, BlueEQ, Trinity EQ v2 and now Ivory EQ without any issues at all. I've used Nebula itself with AlexB and Tim Petheric programs for YEARS without any issues at all.

Great, 1 and counting...If every person on KVR and GS came thru and told us about how smoothly their aqua plugins were running, this thread wouwld be a whopping 6 pages.

Besides saying youre and have "never had a problem at all" You must be the first person ever...Wait, you dont turn your computer on? It just a ridiculous claim within computer audio, and underscores your tendency to be overly dramatic.

Sure, it can cause issues if you are technically inept or just unlucky but your generalization of everybody having issues is just plain stupid.. but it's to be expected. You like being a dick.

Funny, i even said "most people" but you had to exaggerate and get all dramatic, like you do, and turn that into "your generalization of everybody". I guess that works better for your argument and gives you a chance to get on with your gifted skill....name calling...Man you are deep.

if you are technically inept or just unlucky

Right, because everybody knows how big a part luck plays in computer audio lol. exaggerate much?

Its the same usual suspects every time a plugin comes out. I would love to see your plugin folder. How much wasted money/ unused plugins must be in there because everytime something new comes out "it the best"

Yes BM he was a bit of a tit for saying that

. Now a tit i dont mind....Who wouldnt want to be called a tit? In my opinion a tit is it.

Sound Rules!!!

Sound DOES rule, but paying a premium price for plugins that cause major hang-ups isnt really conducive to sound.

[cfanyc]

delete

[Robmobius]

Besides saying youre and have "never had a problem at all" You must be the first person ever...Wait, you dont turn your computer on? It just a ridiculous claim within computer audio, and underscores your tendency to be overly dramatic.

Just out of curiosity what problems have you encountered.

[Robmobius]

Bmanic I have a question: if someone disagrees with you and believes you are hyping a product, and lets even say they are wrong
for arguments shake, that gives you the right to call them 'douche'
and a 'dick'?

In fairness he was snippy with his comment first.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I've always said Nebula would be successful when they got rid of the awful UI and built plugins that look like the original units. I'm glad they've been doing just that, while lowering CPU and latency but they need to figure out a proper demo process. I'm still not ready to drop that kind of cash without a demo.

The prices are a bit to high too considering how quickly they seem to be able to turn out units at this point. Obviously the R&D that went into making this technology a reality should be compensated, but it just feels like they're an EQ releasing machine at this point, and all the EQs are pretty darn expensive.

I honestly feel like $99 + a demo is the right price point for these things.