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attenuation from 5 kHz to 40 kHz. (The Pultec offered 3 frequency choices.) In the “but wait, there’s more” category, the High Eq section has a pair of switches to change the boost to a cut and the cut to a boost (very much like a Manley Massive Passive) for some unique tone-shaping possibilities. The last section has a feature found on the PSP NobleQ (and not on any of the other brands of Pultec plug-ins—my comparisons are a bit further down) which was also introduced on PSP’s OldTimer compressor. You can select a virtual tube or “clear” (solid-state) output path; if you choose “tube” it has a knob that affects the illusion of tube saturation. PSP call it an “output valve-like rounding algorithm with adjustable processing depth”. The NobleQex When just having high and low bands of equalization was not enough, the Pultec MEQ-5 focused on the midrange, offering two additional bands of peaking eq and a third band of attenuation. Here PSP starts with the Pultec as inspiration but then completely breaks with tradition. The PSP NobleQ package comes with a second stand-alone plug-in called the PSP NobleQex, which includes all of the previously described sections and adds a single mid-band with 11 frequency choices from

150 Hz up to 5 kHz, with selectable boost or attenuation and width control. The result is more like a channel strip eq than a Pultec, or even two Pultecs. In use PSP NobleQ and PSP NobleQex are CPU-friendly. On my quad-core 3.33 GHz Intel i7 Windows 7 PC with 8 GB of RAM built by ADK (that’s the fantastic audio-computer guys at adkproaudio.com, not the fantastic mic guys at adkmic.com!), I was able to run an impressive 36 mono instances of the NobleQex with only a 50% cpu hit in Steinberg Cubase 6; my 2.5 GHz i7 MacBook Pro (OS X 10.7 Lion) with 8 GB of RAM ran almost as many instances. As to sources, I found PSP NobleQ highly effective for tonally shaping acoustic guitar, bass, lead vocals and master-bus duties. My favorite use was on drums—the whole kit, kick and snare, and especially toms. While working on rough mixes for a jazz fusion project, I decided to use PSP NobleQex along with PSP’s OldTimer compressor as a vintage channel strip of sorts, I placed it on every channel, which included drums in a Glyn Johns 4-mic setup, DI jazz bass, electric guitar cabinet, and saxophone—so far everyone is more than impressed with the sound of the mixes.

All of this to say that PSP NobleQ is both efficient and plays no favorites when it comes to sources. Pultec Plug-in comparisons Lastly, to put PSP NobleQ into sonic context, I matched its settings with those of the Softube Tube-Tech CL1-B and of the UAD Pultec plug-in. My rough summary would be that the Tube-Tech was the most modern and hi-fi sounding of the bunch, imparting the least sonic signature. The UAD was the most aggressive and forward, and it was also perceptively about 2 dB louder, which was easily compensated for with the other units’ output controls. The PSP NobleQ was the weightiest and yet smoothest of the three. I would best describe it as a saturated sprinkling of analog dust that is very sonically similar to PSP’s OldTimer compressor. Even with all settings at zero, it adds a nice low weight to a sound. In Clear mode it is more similar to the Tube-Tech but its high end is still a hair softer. Conclusions This is becoming an old statement, but PSP has once again managed to bring the sought-after illusion of analog to a plug-in, and done it both efficiently and very affordably. Antoni and Mateusz have done it again!

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Recording - April 2012

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