Sweetone
by Sonimus · EQ · Vintage tone-control EQ
Not rated yet
Sweetone is a simple tone-control EQ that combines modern and vintage curves, with modeled preamp transformer saturation.
It has Normal and Sweet tone modes, two Loud modes and filters, for $25.
Best for: Mix Bus, Mastering, Vocals, Keys & Synths, Acoustic Instruments. Genres: all genres.
Keywords: simple, vintage, low latency, mixing, transformer, warm, full mix, analog-sounding, bright, bus processing, mastering, mix bus, modern, smooth, static, vocals, zero-latency.
What it does
Sweetone is a tone-control EQ that Sonimus describes as "simple and yet powerful". Instead of bands, it gives broad tilt and loudness curves plus filters and a preamp, aimed at quick results with minimal effort.
- Tilux tone control: a tilt-style control with Normal (centred around 650 Hz) and Sweet (around 2 kHz) modes.
- Loud control: a loudness-style filter that boosts or cuts the lows and highs together, again in Normal and Sweet modes.
- High-pass filter: 6 dB/octave with a smooth knee or 12 dB/octave for a sharper cut, plus a resonant Blow mode for low-end warmth.
- Low-pass filter: 6 or 12 dB/octave high cut.
- Preamp: modelled transformer saturation with headroom up to +10 dBFS, about -60 dBFS THD, and a peak LED.
- Efficiency: zero latency, no group delay and 64-bit double-precision processing up to 192 kHz.
The current version is 1.0.1.
When to use it
Sweetone is for broad tonal moves made in seconds, not for fixing problems. Compared with TDR VOS SlickEQ it is even simpler, with a tilt or loudness curve and two filters instead of three bands, plus transformer colour. Next to Pultec-style EQs such as the Pultec Passive EQ Collection it gives a similar quick smile curve but no separate boost and cut per band. It is much less precise than Pro-Q 4 or TDR Nova and has no auto-gain, so you match levels yourself.
- Best for: first-stage tone shaping on tracks and buses, warming or brightening a source before more detailed EQ.
- Genres: any style.
- Look elsewhere if: you need parametric or surgical control for resonances (Pro-Q 4 or TDR Nova), or a fuller three-band tone EQ (TDR VOS SlickEQ).
- Tip: mixing.co.kr suggests Loud mode on individual tracks and Tilux on buses and the master, then a precise EQ afterwards for problem frequencies.
What producers say
Reviewers see it as a surprisingly useful first-stage EQ whose limits are precision and gain matching.
- MusicTech (Mike Hillier, 2016) praised the resonant Blow mode for adding weight "without mud" and the quick smile curves, but noted less precision than a parametric EQ.
- mixing.co.kr review liked the speed and analog colour, with results in "one or two knob operations".
- Criticisms: no auto-gain, and it cannot deal with irritating resonances on its own.
Where to buy
- Sonimus: $39
Tutorials and reviews
- Review: Sonimus Sweetone - Shaping Guitar Tones
- Sweetone on Vocals: Basic Walkthrough - Sonimus
- Sonimus Sweetone: TILT and Loudness CURVE in one plugin
- Recreate Travis Scott Vocal Sound with Sweetone & Tuco - Sonimus
- Sonimus Sweetone on drums
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