Black Q V3

Name: Black Q V3
Price: 79 USD
Author: Tone Empire

by Tone Empire · EQ · Tube equalizer

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Black Q V3 is a tube EQ modelled from a hardware unit Tone Empire built with real tubes and Sowter and Lundahl transformers.

It has four overlapping bands (Low, Mid, High, Air) and two transformer paths with different character, for $79.

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

Keywords: tube, transformer, bass, bus processing, hardware emulation, mastering, mix bus, vocals, full mix, low latency, oversampling, synths, tracking, analog-sounding, CPU-light, crunchy, drums, mixing, piano, strings, static.

What it does

Black Q V3 is Tone Empire's four-band tube equalizer. Tone Empire spent six months building a hardware unit first, then modeled it in DSP: "we built a golden unit, then modeled every path of it."

Four bands: Low, Mid, High and Air. Version 3 makes the bands overlap and adds new frequency ranges.
Type A path: a full sound with a big low end.
Type B path: a crunchier path that lifts the mids and highs.
Modeled hardware: both transformer paths and the valve choices, with real Sowter and Lundahl transformers in the source unit.
Oversampling: up to 8x oversampling for more analog-like behaviour.
Low-latency mode: for tracking through the EQ; Tone Empire says it is light on CPU, so you can stack instances.

A 15-day full-version trial with no feature limits is available.

Source: Tone Empire product page

When to use it

Black Q V3 is a cheap way to add tube colour with broad strokes. Compared with UA's Pultec Passive EQ Collection, it adds a separate Mid and an Air band, and it lets you choose between two transformer paths. It is simpler and much cheaper than the Manley Massive Passive EQ, which gives finer control over each band. Unlike Pro-Q 4 or TDR Nova, it is not built for precise or surgical work. Its low-latency mode and light CPU load also make it usable while tracking, and cheap enough to put on many channels.

Best for: broad tone shaping and tube colour on vocals, drums, bass, piano, strings, synths and the master bus.
Genres: general purpose.
Look elsewhere if: you need surgical cuts or a visual display; Pro-Q 4 or TDR Nova suits that better.

Where to buy

Tone Empire: $79
Plugin Boutique: $79

Tutorials and reviews

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