Anybody use Harrison EQ plugs?

[Mind Riot]

I was trying out the AVA Drumstrip plug a few days ago since it was on sale with SSL's drum strip plug, and I couldn't help but notice how great the EQ sounded on the Harrison plug.

Maybe it's only in my head, but isn't Harrison stuff designed to sound like their analog counterparts? Or at least to be very analog sounding in general?

Because I was trying out a bunch of stuff on a drum track, and the Harrison EQ had that "can't make it sound bad" kind of mojo going on; it sounded really pleasant no matter what I did with it.

Is this all in my head? Anybody use Harrison's stuff, particularly their EQs? I see they've got a channel strip plug and a workhorse EQ plug, both for $90. Do they have any kind of regular sales? I might be tempted to try using one of them for my day to day mixing tasks if they are so transparent and sound so good all the time.

Thanks in advance for any information or impressions you might like to share.

[vitocorleone123]

Money definitely better spent elsewhere. The Harrison EQs are nothing special, and have also been mis=marketed to be better/different than they are.

Get Crave EQ and/or NovaGE instead.

If you want the Harrison sound, the way to get it is to mix your tracks in Mixbus32C.

[Mind Riot]

I already have quite a few EQs, too many really, including DMG Audio's EQuality and Kirchhoff EQ along with other stuff like Waves' API EQs, a Baxandall EQ, Noiseash' Pultec emulation, various SSL, API, and Neve channel strips, and many more.

I just don't have that one EQ that sounds good no matter how you set it, you know? I have a lot of experience working with my various EQs to get the best out of them, but it was really nice to mess around with that Harrison plug and have it sound nice regardless of setting.

[Bietfriek]

Personally I like KIT Plugins BBN105.

[theviirus]

Money definitely better spent elsewhere. The Harrison EQs are nothing special, and have also been mis=marketed to be better/different than they are.

Get Crave EQ and/or NovaGE instead.

If you want the Harrison sound, the way to get it is to mix your tracks in Mixbus32C.

AVOID MIXBUS 32C. Go check out the Harrison 32C videos from Dan Worrall on youtube regarding their dubious marketing claims. It turned into a mild controversy, but Harrison double and triple downed on being hostile and smarmy toward Worrall who, by all means, is one of the most insightful and humble experts in regards to modern audio.

Harrison are no longer relevant and you should spend your money elsewhere. Having less people like the Harrison representatives in the larger audio community would benefit the entire audio community as a whole.

Disclosure: I've been a Mixbus user since v2 and have upgraded all the way to v7. I no longer use Mixbus and the last time I used it was to revisit some older projects for preservation AND to remove the arrangement/mix from Mixbus. I've moved on and I don't miss any of the Harrison stuff. Good riddance!

[vitocorleone123]

Money definitely better spent elsewhere. The Harrison EQs are nothing special, and have also been mis=marketed to be better/different than they are.

Get Crave EQ and/or NovaGE instead.

If you want the Harrison sound, the way to get it is to mix your tracks in Mixbus32C.

AVOID MIXBUS 32C. Go check out the Harrison 32C videos from Dan Worrall on youtube regarding their dubious marketing claims. It turned into a mild controversy, but Harrison double and triple downed on being hostile and smarmy toward Worrall who, by all means, is one of the most insightful and humble experts in regards to modern audio.

Harrison are no longer relevant and you should spend your money elsewhere. Having less people like the Harrison representatives in the larger audio community would benefit the entire audio community as a whole.

Disclosure: I've been a Mixbus user since v2 and have upgraded all the way to v7. I no longer use Mixbus and the last time I used it was to revisit some older projects for preservation AND to remove the arrangement/mix from Mixbus. I've moved on and I don't miss any of the Harrison stuff. Good riddance!

Don't avoid Mixbus32C if you are interested in channel strips. It's also the only SSL/Harrison product that does have a bit of a sound built in. You'll save a ton of money and time in the long run rather than chasing after the latest channel strip plugin.

[Mind Riot]

Personally I like KIT Plugins BBN105.

Wow, they've got a bunch of cool stuff going on, don't they? And reasonably priced, too.

So you have the BBN105? What's it like? Do you have any of their other stuff, like their compressor?

[jamcat]

Maybe it's only in my head, but isn't Harrison stuff designed to sound like their analog counterparts? Or at least to be very analog sounding in general?

There is no analogue modeling (harmonic distortion) built into Harrison EQs, unless you get the version Universal Audio developed for UAD-2.

Harrison's EQs are just standard digital EQs with curves inspired by the Harrison console, but apparently don't include any analog circuit modeling, despite their claims.

[Benedict]

As Paul Third said, "Analog with the sound of Digital."

Sadly Harrison made themselves the poster child of mis-marketing. Not that it really seems to have had as much of a flow-through effect as it should have with a VERY high percentage of things in the DAWsphere still being as slippery as before. It actually seems that most buyers seem to prefer it this way.

QRange is a fine EQ. Nova is a fine EQ. If you want a really intense EQ experience Kirchhoff is cool, as is the un-talked-of apQualizr2. These all seem like honest products.

[jamcat]

Kirchhoff also does not model any non-linearities (harmonic distortion).

They are basically just like the Harrison EQ with “hardware inspired curves” but no actual hardware modeling.

[Benedict]

Kirchhof however doesn't actually indicate in any way that their digital shapes will imbue magical analogical magicness by being close to the user's uncool signal. They do however use knobs that feel like a Neve etc which I must say is pretty but also a bit misleading if one assumes that the way the knob looks changes the sound

I suggested it only because it is extremely powerful and personally prefer it to the usual suspect which is fine but not my style of play. I use the M-Class (stock Reason) and QRange for most heavy work and the SSL-style EQ on the SSL-style mixer via the F2 window for mix balance. For saturation etc I use HoRNet Analog Stage 1, Softube Saturation Knob, G-Sonique Analog Tape (oddly tautological name) and my own Looser: Tape Movement:

[jamcat]

Sure, unlike Harrison, Three-Body Tech is very upfront about that.

* No non-linear behaviors were modeled. All vintage filter types only contain ideal linear parts of their physical model.

https://www.threebodytech.com/en/products/kirchhoffeq

[onerob]

I do like the AVA Mastering EQ. It's a 31 band graphic eq and just sounds good to my ears.

[MogwaiBoy]

The AVA Mastering EQ is one of the more quirky EQs around, in that it's essentially a graphic EQ but you essentially "draw" the filter shapes. Kilohearts have a similar one too. Can't say a whole lot for the sound though.

[scalawag]

AVA Mastering EQ is a must have. It sounds great. Dunno about the other EQs from Harrison...