Motone EQ

Name: Motone EQ
Price: 49.9 USD
Author: NoiseAsh

by NoiseAsh · EQ · Vintage Motown graphic EQ

Not rated yet

Motone EQ models a rare 1960s Motown graphic equalizer, with seven fixed bands plus high- and low-pass filters.

It adds stereo width and mid/side processing to the original design, and was listed at $49.90 on sale (regular $100).

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

Keywords: vintage, 60s, bass, drums, mid/side, vocals, wide, electric guitar, oversampling, punchy, warm, bus processing, clean, CPU-light, full mix, hardware emulation, mix bus, mixing, resizable UI, static.

What it does

Motone EQ is NoiseAsh's model of a rare 1960s graphic equalizer built by Motown's engineers and used on records by the Jackson 5, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. It is a character EQ for the warm, punchy soul and R&B sound, not a clean corrective tool.

Seven fixed bands: a fixed-frequency, proportional-Q graphic EQ, with the original's "complex signature interaction" between bands.
Filter distortion: the internal clipped filter distortion of the hardware is modeled too.
Filters: a high-pass filter on a knob and a low-pass filter on a switch.
Knob mode: switch between stepped and continuous controls.
Stereo tools: stereo width and mid/side processing.
Engine and output: an anti-aliasing analog modeling engine, oversampling options with low CPU impact, makeup gain, presets and a resizable interface.

KVR lists the current version as 2.0.0. The demo is fully functional with no time limit but mutes briefly every 30 seconds.

Source: NoiseAsh product page

When to use it

Motone EQ is the better pick when you want a fixed-band graphic EQ with vintage colour, aimed at the punchy midrange of 1960s soul records. Compared with the Pultec Passive EQ Collection and Waves PuigTec EQs, which shape broad shelves and boosts, it works in seven fixed bands that interact with each other. Compared with Mäag Audio EQ4, another fixed-band EQ, it aims for warmth and grit rather than air. Unlike Pro-Q 4 or TDR Nova, it is not clean or fully parametric, so it suits tone shaping more than fixing problems.

Best for: drums, bass, guitars and vocals that need a vintage soul or R&B character.
Genres: soul, R&B, pop and rock.
Look elsewhere if: you need surgical or fully parametric control; Pro-Q 4 or TDR Nova suit that.
Tip: use the demo first; it is fully functional, only muting briefly every 30 seconds.

What producers say

There is little discussion of it so far, and KVR shows no user reviews yet.

VI-Control thread (2024): one user called NoiseAsh "a really good company" and said Motone EQ is "very different from your stock EQ", a fixed-band character EQ with band interaction and filter distortion.
Comparison: the same user stressed that Pro-Q 3 is "a completely different device", clean and without fixed bands; others advised demoing it before buying.

Where to buy

NoiseAsh: $49.90 (regular $100)

Tutorials and reviews

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