Tipsy

Name: Tipsy
Price: 29.99 USD
Author: Mixland

by Mixland · EQ · Shelving EQ with tube stage

Not rated yet

Tipsy is a passive shelving EQ from Mixland with an adjustable vacuum tube output stage.

It keeps the controls simple and light on CPU, with a high band that reaches up to a 40 kHz sheen; it is $29.99 on sale (list $37.99).

Best for: Vocals, Mix Bus, Keys & Synths, Acoustic Instruments, Mastering. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: tube, warm, simple, vocals, bus processing, CPU-light, enhancement, mix bus, polish, synths, bass, full mix, kick, airy, deep, freemium, gentle, mastering, mixing, musical, smooth, static, subtle.

What it does

Tipsy is Mixland's shelving EQ with an adjustable tube output stage, built for quick, broad tone moves with a minimal learning curve. Mixland sells it on the page of its earlier TILT! plugin, and the bands match, so it appears to be the same plugin renamed.

Two shelves: a low shelf at 20, 60, 100 or 200 Hz and a high shelf at 1, 8, 16 or 40 kHz (band choices as listed in Sound On Sound's review of Tilt!).
Air band: the 8 kHz and 40 kHz high settings are the ones Mixland highlights for adding sheen and air.
Smooth filters: tuned to stay musical when boosting or cutting by large amounts, with a subtly warm curve by default.
Linked or unlinked: the two shelves can be linked to work as a tilt EQ, or set independently.
Tube stage: a modeled valve output stage with a Grit control, from gentle warmth up to obvious tube clipping.
Level-honest: gain is compensated so the processing doesn't simply make the track louder.
Light on CPU: suited to use across many tracks.

KVR lists version 1.0.0. It was on sale when checked. A free 7-day trial is available, and Mixland also has a free version, freeTILT.

Source: Mixland product page

When to use it

Tipsy is a quick tone shaper for broad strokes plus tube colour, not a detailed EQ. Compared with the Pultec Passive EQ Collection or PuigTec EQs, it has no boost-and-cut trick or mid bands, but it is simpler and adds a tube Grit stage. Unlike Pro-Q 4 or TDR Nova, it has no parametric bands, so it can't make narrow cuts. Next to TDR VOS SlickEQ, another fast broad-stroke EQ, it is more focused on two shelves and saturation.

Best for: adding air and warmth to vocals and the mix bus, and tilting synth basses and long electronic kicks.
Genres: any style.
Look elsewhere if: you need parametric bands or surgical cuts (Pro-Q 4, TDR Nova) or a classic Pultec-style curve (Pultec Passive EQ Collection).
Tip: Sound On Sound found the high shelf reaches up into breath and air frequencies, so try the top setting on vocals before using a separate air EQ.

What producers say

The one in-depth review, written under its earlier name Tilt!, found it simple and genuinely useful, with only small interface niggles.

Sound On Sound (Matt Houghton, June 2022) called it a "neat and genuinely useful plug-in" that "could probably help you mix faster", praising the simple interface, the independent band frequencies, the warm default curve and the range of the saturation.
Usage: the same review found it worked well on synth basses and sustained electronic kicks.
Criticisms: you can't link the filters while keeping an existing offset, and the scale display changes inconsistently when linking or unlinking; KVR shows no user reviews yet.

Where to buy

Mixland: $29.99

Tutorials and reviews

TIPSY! - Demo/Walkthrough

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