Cream 3

Name: Cream 3
Price: 225.96 USD
Author: Acustica Audio

by Acustica Audio · Channel Strip · British valve-era channel strip

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Cream 3 is a channel strip inspired by rare British studio hardware from the late 1950s to early 1970s, combining preamp, EQ and compression in one plugin.

It has 40 preamp emulations and 11 EQ models, and costs €199 (about $225.96).

Best for: Vocals, Drums, Bass, Guitars, Keys & Synths, Drum Bus, Mix Bus. Genres: Rock & Indie, Pop, R&B & Soul.

Keywords: tube, bus processing, mixing, British console, 50s, 70s, bass, drums, hardware emulation, tracking, vocals, vintage, creamy, electric guitar, inspired by, vari-mu, Apple Silicon native, beta, classic, drum bus, full mix, glue, mix bus, musical, smooth, spacious, transparent, warm.

What it does

Cream 3 is Acustica Audio's British channel strip, the third version of its Cream suite. It recreates the "warmth, harmonic depth, and musical behavior" of rare British studio hardware from the late 1950s to early 1970s, with valve stages and discrete circuits, in one strip for tracking, mixing and bus work.

Preamps: four NOVA-powered British families (Line, Mic, Tube and C) with 40 emulations, including channel-to-channel variation.
EQ: eleven models drawn from two classic British EQ families, laid out as four modules: MAGIC, BASS, PRESENCE and TREBLE.
Compression: four dynamics models, from fast, transparent control to smooth vari-mu behavior; two of them aim for greater accuracy and a faster transient response.
Workflow: each module can be bypassed on its own, so you can use it as just a preamp, EQ or compressor.
NOVA GPU: beta support for running the processing on the GPU, on Windows and Apple Silicon Macs.

It works at 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96 kHz.

Source: Acustica Audio product page

When to use it

Unlike bx_console SSL 4000 E and SSL 4K G, which give you the sound of one famous British console, Cream 3 aims at an older, valve-era British sound rather than the SSL era, and gives you many preamp and EQ models to choose from instead of one fixed channel. It also differs from Neutron 5, a modern, clean strip with assistive tools, by aiming at vintage colour. Its compression runs from clean and fast to vari-mu style, so it can work as a gentle bus glue as well as a channel tool. Its modules can also be bypassed one by one, so it can stand in for a single vintage preamp, EQ or compressor when a full strip isn't needed.

Best for: vintage British colour on vocals, guitars, drums and buses, while tracking or mixing.
Genres: rock, pop, soul and indie, especially retro and 60s-flavoured productions.
Look elsewhere if: you need a clean, surgical strip (Neutron 5 or Native Channel Strip 2), a specific SSL sound (bx_console SSL 4000 E or SSL 4K G), or support for sample rates above 96 kHz.

Where to buy

Acustica Audio: $225.96 (€199 converted to USD (ECB rate, 29 Sep 2026))

Tutorials and reviews

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