Core Vintage Equalizers

Introduction

The Core Vintage equalizer was originally created for the Console 1 Mixing System. It is the musical and smooth counterpart to the Core Modern equalizer and was designed to be used in conjunction with a modern style equalizer.

While Core Vintage is smooth and musical, to be used for the broad strokes when you want to balance the mix and get it to feel right, you might need an additional precision equalizer to target difficult areas. Core Vintage in conjunction with Softube Equalizers is a perfect tool for just that. Musical broad-strokes coloring meets precision and control.

Parallel Design?

Core Vintage is a passive and parallel equalizer design, which means that the band interaction is different compared to modern solid state equalizers. This effect can be seen when you have overlapping bands: two bell bands with 6 dB boost each don't sum up to 12 dB of gain like a "standard" digital equalizer.

You also get a better separation between the bands when their center frequencies are close. Many engineers say that parallel equalizers are more musical and vibe-y, but can sometimes be quirky to work with because of the band interaction. Precision work is often easier to do with a standard equalizer, such as the Modern equalizer in Equalizers.

Wide Bands?

The Vintage Equalizer was designed to be musical. At first glance it might look like the band's default Q values are extremely wide. This is by design: all bands cover a "full" frequency range and the primary idea is to use the Gain controls to broadly shape the sound without even have to touch the Frequency or Q knobs.

That's A Weird Low Band!

The peculiar shape of the low shelving band is an artifact of the parallel design: if you boost the low shelf you'll see a dip above the boost frequency. That is a typical behavior for parallel designs, seen for example with the Pultec "low end trick" as well as in the greatest of all passive parallel designs, the Massive Passive by Manley.

Compared to Core Mixing Suite

Core Vintage has the same sound as Core Mixing Suite's "Vintage" equalizer. It has been adapted to stand-alone use, but the signal processing is the same.

User Interface

Both the Core Vintage and the Core Vintage Dual Equalizer has similar interfaces, but the Dual equalizer allows for separate control over the two channels.

All bands are in parallel, except for the high and low cut, which are in series with the rest of the EQ.

Bass Band

Type

Big Shelf, Bell and Cut.

• Big Shelf is a parallel shelving filter with that typical "dip" next to the shelf. You can exaggerate or soften it using the Q control.

• Bell is a parallel bell filter.

• Cut is a 12 dB/oct high pass filter that is processed in series with the rest of the EQ.

Q

Sets the Q on the Big Shelf and Bell filter, and the resonance of the Cut filter.

Freq

Sets the frequency of the low band, from 20 to 500 Hz.

Gain

Sets the gain of the low band (in Bell and Shelf mode), from -16 to +16 dB.

Air Band

Type

Air, Bell and Cut

• Air is a very smooth and musical "air" filter that can make a track stand out. Remember, a little goes a long way!

• Bell is a parallel bell filter.

• Cut is a 12 dB/Oct low pass filter that is processed in series with the rest of the EQ.

Q

Sets the Q on the Shelf and Bell filter, and the resonance on the Cut filter.

Freq

Sets the frequency of the high band, from 1.8 to 20 kHz

Gain

Sets the gain of the high band (in Bell and Shelf mode), from -16 to +16 dB.

Mid Bell Bands

Two bell shaped mid bands with a parallel design.

Q

Sets the bandwidth of the bell band, from 0.2 to 2. The nature of these eq bands makes the Q values rather in-exact, so use your ears. It might have been better to just say that the Q goes from super-wide to sort of normal.

Freq

Sets the frequency of the bell filters. The first mid band goes from 100 to 2000 Hz, and the second goes from 500 to 8000 Hz.

Gain

Sets the gain of the bell bands, from -16 to +16 dB.

Core Vintage Dual Equalizer

The Dual has a center panel with the following controls.

Channel 1 In, Channel 2 In

Engages or bypasses the respective channel

Link Channels

Unlink the channels to use separate settings on the two channels

Mid/Side Mode

Let the channels control the mid (summed) or side (difference) channels instead of left and right channels.

There's also a rather inprecise VU meter in the middle. It's mostly there for the looks, although it will give you an overview of the level differences in the channels, especially useful in Mid/Side mode.

Credits

Anton Eriksson, Kim Larsson -- signal processing
Niklas Odelholm -- signal processing, product design
Patrik Holmström -- UI programming
Ulf Ekelöf -- 3D rendering