Processing audio has never been easier thanks to FIRE, the new series of single-knob plug-ins from Acustica.
This series aims to create an 'easy-to-use' product line that encompasses Acustica's top-quality alongside a very intuitive use with just a few simple clicks!
After a careful design phase, our high technical know-how, and thanks to the precious contribution of the N4 library developer SoundDrops (@SteDal), Acustica has built and sampled a bespoke analog processor to create one of the best and most complete Tilt Equalizer plug-ins on the market.
Fire The Tilt
Tilting is often all it takes to turn your track around with a few simple interventions. Sometimes you need to improve your tracks by making them sit better in a mix; maybe you want to make it almost instantly more 'vibrant' and 'warm' or, on the contrary, 'cold' and 'less intrusive'...or maybe you may find that your final mix while being well balanced as such, needs only just a bit more highs and fewer lows...
These are all cases in which the best and quickest way to enhance your mix is a good TILT EQ, and even more so if different shapes and frequencies are available.
If that's not enough, think about the possibility of drastically altering the frequency spectrum, allowing you to have more bass and more treble at the same time, or vice versa, less of both... in those situations, a SMILE (AKA "Loudness") EQ is the way to go.
Finally, think about applying TILT and SMILE curves only to the Mid or Side component of the signal: by doing so, you can further enhance the stereo depth with a few simple clicks while maintaining the ability to balance the amount of the Mid and Side information.
Fire The Tilt introduction and demo.
Main features
• A single-knob plug-in capable of changing the overall sonic character of a signal in no time.
• Easy to use and resizable interface.
• Four custom filtering modes available (2 x TILT curves, 2 x SMILE curves).
• Four convenient processing modes (L-R, M, S, M-S CMPX).
• Output Level and M-S Balance controls.
• Low CPU consumption.
• Low latency.
Controls
◯ Smooth slope, capable of gentle corrections, boosting the highs and cutting the lows or vice versa, pivoting around the selected center frequency.
▢ Steeper slope for more drastic and evident corrections than the previous model.
△ Smile EQ model; characterized by a wide bandwidth, it simultaneously boosts both high and low-frequency ranges or vice versa, according to the selected center frequency.
＋ Second Smile EQ model, featuring a narrower Q than the previous model. According to the selected center frequency, it simultaneously boosts both high and low-frequency ranges or vice versa.
Main knob
The Tilt / Smile EQ control can rebalance the whole sound of your track with the simple twist of a knob.
• In ◯ or ▢ modes, this control behaves like a TILT EQ. It adjusts the general balance between the high and low range of the entire frequency spectrum.
- Turning it to the right (clockwise), the highs are boosted, and at the same time, the lows are equally attenuated.
- Turning it to the left (counter-clockwise), the lows are boosted, and the highs are attenuated.
• In △ or ＋ modes, the action of this control changes to a SMILE response.
- Turning it to the right (clockwise), extreme lows and highs are boosted, while the central frequency range is equally attenuated.
- Turning it to the left (counter-clockwise), the central frequency range is boosted, while lows and highs are equally attenuated.
The range of this control goes from -8 to +8dB.
The illuminated light ring around this control can help understand what kind of processing is being performed by Fire The Tilt at any given moment.
The colors represent the different parts of the signal that are being processed by the plug-in:
- Left is blue.
- Right is red.
- Mid is green.
- Side is yellow.
For instance, in L-R mode, two blue and red concentric rings follow the position of the knob; in MID mode, there's only a single green ring around the knob. These light rings come in handy in M-S CMPX mode, to the effect that they show very clearly how the plug-in differently processes the MID and SIDE components.
Frequency Slider
Choose the operating frequency of the filter.
From 80 Hz to 10kHz, and 200 Hz to 5kHz, depending on the chosen mode.
Special Buttons
Four special buttons are available.
1. L-R Regular Left/Right processing is enabled by selecting the L-R button (default processing mode).
When this button is enabled, both channels of the stereo input signal are equally processed by the plug-in.
2. MID When the MID button is selected, EQ processing is applied only to the center of your soundstage (Mid component).
3. SIDE When the SIDE button is selected, the processing is applied only to the edges of your soundstage (Side component).
4. M-S CMPX This is a 'compensated' M-S configuration. In this mode, MID and SIDE processing is linked by an inverse law that always ensures that any change in MID processing is automatically compensated for the SIDE.
- M-S CMPX Bal
This slider is only displayed when the M-S CMPX mode is activated and allows you to readjust the balance between the MID and SIDE part of the signal after the filtering action is performed.
Moving this slider to the left, the MID component of the signal can be increased up to +6dB while simultaneously decreasing the level of the SIDE component by an equal amount of dB.
Conversely, moving it to the right, the amount of SIDE information is increased, simultaneously decreasing the MID component.
Out
This slider controls the global output level, ranging from -6dB to +6dB.
Size drop-down menu
Choose between 3 magnification values (1x - 1.5x - 2x) from the top left ▼SIZE drop-down menu.
*Once the desired size has been selected, the plug-in must be removed and re-loaded to apply the changes. This action affects the currently selected plug-in. New instances of the same plug-in will open with this magnification.
Technical information
• Plug-in Format(s): VST2, VST3, AU, AAX
• System Requirements
• Available sample rates: 44.1 - 48 - 88.2 - 96 kHz
• Windows 10 compatible
• M1 macOS Monterey compatible
Price and availability
List price: €39 Shop Now!
The product is at an introductory period for the first four weeks after release or until the first official version is released; this implies that the product may receive improvements, changes, or fixes available through Aquarius Desktop updates.
How to install the free 30-day trial
Note: Trials are only available in 44kHz and 96 kHz sample rates.
Please be careful and remember that trials expire 30 days after authorization, and we strongly recommend not using trial products in commercial sessions or any important project.
Fire The Tilt user's manual
FIRE SERIES web page: https://www.acustica-audio.com/pages/sp ... ire-series
FIRE THE TILT web page: https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/pr ... irethetilt