Is it a **** or just a Pultec? || Pulsar Massive

[@boringsnds]

Well, I wasn't in the market for a new EQ plugin, but hearing this kinda makes me have second thoughts. They're not lying when they say it sounds smooth. Plus the discount for existing customers is pretty nice too.

[@nikolasb8313]

Lol I ended up buying it. The intuitive nature of it had me sold. We haven't seen him dance like that in a while!

[@BigMuff75]

The Massive Passive is actually inspired by pultec being a passive design, hence gain is either boost or cut (selectable on the MP, though).

[@mrnelsonius5631]

I’ve actually heard a hardware Massive Passive and Pultec side by side. I liked the midrange on the MP way better but liked the low end boost on the Pultec better. Similar designs but quite different sonically to my ears. This plugin sounds great to my ears 😁

[@NUWAVEDRIP]

@@mrnelsonius5631 Depending on which pultec that would make sense

[@mrnelsonius5631]

@@NUWAVEDRIP it was an actual EQP 1A. The strangest thing to me was that the MP seemed more noticeably colored, particularly in that midrange area. I liked it a lot. I was surprised the hardware Pultec sounded pretty damn clean in comparison. But the lowend sounded beefier, at least on the source material running through it. The MP seemed gentle in comparison. Admittedly this was a one time deal for me working with both side by side

[@NUWAVEDRIP]

@@mrnelsonius5631 The EQP 1A is usually for low end. Pultec made the MEQ-5 for mid-range processing purposes.

[@robbertvanderhelm9752]

Have you tried Tokyo Dawn Record's SlickEQ GE? This reminds me a lot of that plugin.

[@virtuoskommunizieren]

Ok, I think, Pulsar has proven, that they really, really can analog legends! Waiting for La2A (even though I have tons of them) and something from Sontec or Massenburg. I guess, they could to wonderful emulations of this gear

[@FoliaSound]

Snake oil?! No way, this thing is too good to even qualify it for snake oil series ;) Great vid, as always!

[@MichaelMaughanAudio]

A real massive passive being a passive design has only so much boost or cut total for all 4 bands. So if you are maxed boosting the high frequencies and then boost the low frequencies the high frequencies don't end up with the same amount of boost. They are lowered to compensate for the overall boost or cut. Mainly because there is only so much headroom in a passive design. Hope that makes sense.

[@alf3k1]

No, it makes no sense at all, complete nonsense instead.

[@aaroneschenburg4018]

I own a massive passive and the highs are crystal clean when I add the huge bottom end. Completely independent

[@cachelesssociety5187]

It makes perfect sense. The 2 commenters below must not have an understanding of circuit designs (not that I do either but I get where you're going by simply understanding the basics).

[@christianseitz7050]

I bought it 2 days ago and got addicted! It adds excitement to tracks. First, surgical (notching) corrections with the Fab Filter Q3 … then the Pulsar for sound & vibe

[@saricubra2867]

I combine these with Elevate, SplitEQ and tape/tube emulators, crazy results...

[@bpanmusic001]

I’m a big fan of Pulsar plugin. Massive Passive is a Pultec-like EQ (based on its passive design and thus EQ curves are very smooth and musical even you’re doing something crazy. The drive is subtle but audible. Great tonality for mixing and mastering purpose. Definitely will go for it

[@pascalmerschaudio]

Its more Manley Massive Passive , Then Pultec, even when the curves seems simelar, this thing Act like a Manley from Chino

[@doggodproductions2259]

I have had a Silver Face Massive Passive for 15+ yrs and a Purple Face Mastering version for about 10 and I still haven't heard a single plugin quite manage to capture the very particular magic of the Massivo. This is one of the better ones I've heard, but the real MP has a very distinct and slightly hard-to-describe mid range, it's very much its own thing (it's also very transparent and clinical for filtering, but its always extremely musical and punchy). The low end and highs are certainly in the Pultec realm, but the lows are maybe a bit tighter, but larger sounding and the highs are a bit softer, and it's got very extended frequency range compared to a Pultec, which I think is one of the hardest things for plug-in makers to capture. The UAD version was always pretty harsh in the highs and the mid range sounded nothing like a Massivo, this is probably the first one I've heard that does a decent job, though it's a bit digitally overly-smoothe, but again, the MP just has a very unique mid-range that is hard to replicate. Its filters are also very unique sounding, transparent but in a colorful way, if that makes any sense. Its certainly very passive sounding in all regards, as you'd expect, and passive gear seems to be a bit of a weak point with alot of software. There are some good ones out there for sure, but it's really hard for software to capture the almost "acoustic" vibe of passive tube gear. There have been plenty of analog attempts to copy the MP that sound nothing like it, as well. So I'm not sure if it's that it is just really hard to capture it's tone digitally, or if the Massivo's tone is hard to replicate in both the analog and digital domains. There's a reason it's such a staple for engineers everywhere, that's for sure. It's a piece of desert-island gear for me without a doubt, especially the Silver Face version (it's probably just semantics, but my ear tends to favor the Silver Face for some reason. The newer purple one has what seems like a slightly tighter bottom in comparison). I use my MP's on just about everything during tracking, mixing and of course mastering. It may be a bold statement, but I think the Massive Passive may be up there as one of the best EQ designs of all time, there's really nothing that does exactly what it does. Sure, there's things like the Curvebender from Chandler, which is an amazing unit, but beyond having 4 bands per channel, they're hard to compare sonically. They can often be one of the very first tools I go to if I'm mixing something that wasn't tracked by me, especially if there are sources that sound less than great, the MP is great for reshaping a track to give it some life, in the most natural sounding way. When used for filtering, it gets rid of problem frequencies in a way that sounds like they were never there to begin with, and for additive eq, it can go from very subtle and gentle to very extreme, without ever losing it's musicality.

[@aaroneschenburg4018]

Agreed. I have a MP and it's so clean and huge. Big fat tubes can not be emulated properly. There's just something there. The convenience of the plug is amazing but the sound of analog is really moving air pressure.

[@Msieurlabulle]

i have smasher, mu and now massive from pulsar audio. I use them a lot, smasher is, in most cases, the compressor that i use in parallel compression. All these plugins sounds really so nice! And an soud enginer that i know likes pulsar, because he could compare the plug and the hardware and the plugs sounds in the way that the real hardware, and this is a case of massive, and the reason why i bought it!

[@razzerraw1108]

I knew Pulsar had to make an EQ plugin like this ! haven't watched the full video yet but I'm hoping his review is promising, I love this company !

[@TokyoSpeirs]

Butter smooth!! Wow. What a delicious drive too. Would have loved to hear it with oversampling on, I’m assuming it would be under the top right burger settings like other pulsar plugins.

[@mrnelsonius5631]

At 8:25 I started throwing my arms around like a rave dancer. I think I like this EQ 😂. Also, Glandstorm by DaRoot always slaps.

[@ilikeflxwers]

Song ID: Sandstorm - Da Rude

[@dodzidenudzakuma]

I love song remixes, but it really surprises me how many remixes of Sandstorm are out there. Mind blowing! 😉

[@sebastiannarvaez8724]

We need a Snake OIL of The God Particle by Cradle Audio 🔥

[@Tonehenge]

The secret sauce is that the bands are parallel. This really contributes to my purchase of it. They gave a pretty hefty discount to existing Pulsar customers... I was all in.

[@evanmcgregor145]

Can you explain this? Do you mean that instead of eqing the entire signal it duplicates the signal and eqs only one of them so it's in parallel? If that's right, then is there no way to have it eq the whole signal? Also doesn't parallel eq tend to cause more phase problems? I'm relatively new to all this, so correct me if I'm wrong

[@SeanGonzalezMDHEXT]

​@@evanmcgregor145 The bands run their processing in parallel. This is why the EQ has such gentile slopes. If the slopes become too high, the phase cancellation issues become too apparent. With the more gentile slopes, the phase cancellation merely leads to a different sound that can be easily tuned.

[@matrixate]

This sounds and functions a lot like SPL Passeq from Plugin Alliance. Massive Passive truly adds a little pixie dust that you can't get on other EQ's without tweaking the curve a lot. Totally worth getting...especially now while it's on sale Oct 2022.

[@BF-up5xw]

I definitely like the what this can do. I do more or less feel happy with my EQ options right now, but this seem to be very musical sounding. Also, extra points for the seated dancing!

[@gulagwarlord]

Autogain on eq would be useful if you were feeding the eq into a compressor or saturator that was already set up. I often change the output gain on eq's just for this reason.

[@Ferrichrome]

Good call. I often do the same, it is a subtle but noticeable difference. Sometimes it's really hard to tell how much gain an EQ is adding, because by nature its adding or taking away only part of the signal.

[@gulagwarlord]

@@Ferrichrome For sure. Boosting in the lows can raise the output gain a LOT. Compressor characteristics and nonlinear distortion are so dependent on input gain that it's kind of a must if you boost in the lows before a compressor or analog emulation. Really cool stuff can be done by boosting certain frequencies before a compressor.

[@russcontact]

@@FerrichromeI just run a meter before and after and take the difference. Could maybe setup a macro in live? That’s beyond my live skill set right now so not sure

[@Ferrichrome]

@@russcontact ya lol, you could do that, 2 year later I actually use SlickEQ sometimes which has a very good gain compensation built in. Helps stop yourself from tricking your ears and making the wrong EQ moves

[@russcontact]

@@Ferrichrome Didn’t even see the date 🤦🏻‍♂️😂

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

What I've heard of the Pulsar Massive EQ sounds great. I'm getting it as the Massive & Mu Bundle within the next month. That bundle also comes with the Relab LX480 Essentials reverb at this time. PS 12/20/2022 Last week, I bought this bundle that included the Relab reverb. All 3 are great IMO. I got the Pulsar bundle during their Black Friday sale, I paid $129 plus about $3.50 foreign payment fee. I'm in the US FWIW.

[@dire4048]

Blessed and fortunate to have the actual Massive Passive hardware with the new power supply.

[@co00okies]

Autogain is so useful for A/B listening (as shown at around 8:33). Also this thing sounds super smooth. Nice demonstration.

[@sammyretro3902]

Big Pulsar fan so looking forward to giving this one a whirl. Great video as always 👍

[@connorm8008]

I’m super interested to see what you think about Jaycen Joshua’s God Particle plug-in. I can’t find much about it or many examples but it looks cool

[@clivehunte3026]

The Manley is indeed based on a pultec. Or a pultec on steroids as claimed by them. Great review.

[@rickwilson9932]

Me like - had to sell my MP years ago, but the workflow on this one seems right familiar. Having the graphic interface is a big plus just to see what I'm doing with the knobs. The drive is a cool new feature, though that's more for da rude that what I'ld use it for. I like level matching too so you can A/B your mixes. With the wild disclaimer that I'm comparing a $5k box on my phone & buds over KZbin, what's not to love!

[@tomassofianopoulos8957]

Nice video Pulsar Massive is awesome EQ indeed, but i prefer Mammoth Eq from Analog in the Box a third Party Library developer emulating Manley Passive for Acustica Audio Nebula i think its the best emulation in the box but pulsar is very close.

[@Scarleaver]

...of course the ONE plugin that has AutoGain (literally) front and center is the one where you don't need it xD (no front, just Murphy's Law. Keep up the great work)

[@timoheinrich8763]

Actually Wytse missed the point that the auto gain is needed because of the drive knobs!

[@Ferrichrome]

Definitely needed imo, when you A/B the plugin you don't want any additional gain to trick your ears. Of course you can do this manually with output gain.

[@studio_musique_audionomie]

Hello ! How does it compares to NI passive eq in terms of sound qualities ?

[@d.m.e]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that track is call Sandstorm by Darude

[@MIHAO]

very usable UI, always thumbs up for that

[@substance90]

4:40 Correct me if I'm wrong but if my memory serves me right, the song's title is "Sandstorm", produced by Darude.🧐

[@PurpleMusicProductions]

When it comes to EQs Fabfilter Pro Q3 is good enough for me. It appears they tried to emulate the display of Pro Q3, but add the Manley knobs at the bottom.

[@melcom2005]

In MS setting it is much better to be honest, I missed the dry / wet function, sounds nice and great reviewer :-)

[@sos-tegno]

i am not so sure anymore if there are any differences at all in the virtual EQ world -plug in doctor hepled me to come up to that conclusion. I did a test myself with 5 virtual eqs and the SPL EQ aswell... matched their curves with plug in doc, and they all sound the same... you can find the testvideo on my YT-page.

[@RoryRonde]

haha, I just bought this thing on a whim (I like the Pulsar Mu plugin) and just now I see the snake oil video. Had to skip to the conclusion part of the video to justify my impulsive buy. I can test this thing myself with a clear conscience now ;) 😆

[@yourgen1891]

Thanks always clear I think 89 euros is to expensive but good product.

[@nodaysback1]

4:00 Wern't you just changing the bandwidth a few seconds ago 3:56 ?.. with the knob right in the middle, that says.. umm, Bandwidth? 😐

[@brinktrucker7833]

He says anything

[@Cefshah]

Nice demo!! Very useful/musical EQ overall.

[@alp_tugay]

Can you please review the motown eq by kit plugins?

[@leosonjr]

please do a review of the new plugin "the god particle" by cradle audio

[@nj1255]

I love the stuff from Pulsar Audio, but ever since I got TDR Slick EQ Mastering Edition I haven't even looked at another Massive Passive inspired EQ.

[@timoheinrich8763]

Is the massive passive actually inspired by the massive passive?

[@saricubra2867]

Fabfilter Volcano 3 can count as a passive EQ?

[@nj1255]

@@timoheinrich8763 What? 😄 Do you mean "is Slick EQ M inspired by the Massive Passive"? I'm not sure if it's directly inspired by the Massive Passive, but it's definitely inspired by a passive/parallel EQ design. It works much in the same way as a Massive Passive, although with more bands and more features. Slick EQ M is in my eyes the ultimate digital mastering EQ!

[@nj1255]

@@saricubra2867 No, not really, but you can use it as a parallel or serial EQ if you want to. Volcano 3 is much more than just a EQ though.

[@timoheinrich8763]

@@nj1255 Thanks for the answer. I just asked because that's how I understood your comment. In any case I agree that the Slick EQ even in the free version is a great tool for mastering!

[@OWL.]

Variety of sound released Flavour MTC passive EQ and its free for windows users... it's no brainer.

[@brandonreihana]

Loved this review, was wanting an opinion on this, cheers.

[@TeknaTronik]

This was fun to watch. Nice review!

[@lawinter1949]

Can you do a review of the new kilohearts update?

[@nielsott]

I always thought using the scroll wheel on the mouse would adjust the bandwitdth in any decent EQ plugin… at least in FabFilter ProQ3 and Harrison LegacyQ. Would love to hear your opinon on LegacyQ. To my ears, FabFilter doesn't ”sound”, or aims not to, while LegacyQ is supposed to. I find myself using both in MixBus, currently preferring ProQ3 for most use cases.

[@hodshonf]

MASSIVE & MU The ultimate musical mastering chain update: digging further, the price is currently $89.00.

[@dodzidenudzakuma]

I got the Massive, the VoxBox, and the Vari Mu for $250 USD. I know a guy who linked me to a website and I got them there. 🤣 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Yes, they are digital and I got them from UAD, but the REAL things... Man... That's like a few mortgage payments. 😅

[@0e0]

i don't mind auto gain if i'm EQing something in isolation...mainly for sound design not for mixing

[@MrChickenking44]

What pop filter is he using? Is it a lewitt one? Tried looking online and can only find the metal magnetic one.

[@PereRevert]

It sounds massive and smoooth ! (even if you have gone too far with the Drive knob)

[@vcs9171]

Can we please get full length beginning to end live streams of mixing from raw to complete?

[@JohnWuMastermind]

Would love to hear your opinion on the Ssl Fusion Native Plugins

[@666dreamboat]

I watch all your videos but I would love if you would include whether or not a plugin is low latency and what latency it incurs. Would just save all of us going to read the manual!

[@niccolocomin6832]

It is zero latency unless you turn the oversampling on.

[@666dreamboat]

@@niccolocomin6832 you're a babe ty dude

[@frequency_sequencer]

I wish they make the Mastering Slam plugin

[@0e0]

I use NI Passive EQ A LOT... if this sounds better it's a buy from me..thanks for the heads up

[@oldskoolfunkandsoul1]

the real title of your test track?..is it available??..great reference track :)

[@mbombaby]

I like your presentations, but why do you use this type of music to try a Manley/Pultec type plugin. Acoustic music and/or jazz would be better in my opinion.

[@mange586]

What pop filter do you use in this video?

[@szabolcsmajor3724]

This is a paralell EQ, thats why you can add so much gain.

[@TransistorLSD]

I'm pretty sure parallel EQ = passive EQ. And they usually compensate in terms of DB values... Maybe not here.

[@szabolcsmajor3724]

@@TransistorLSD Passive EQ means it has no active electronics in the circuit (at least in the filter it self), paralell eq its just an approach to blend the dry/wet signals.

[@TransistorLSD]

@@szabolcsmajor3724 Most passive EQs use parallel designs i'm pretty sure (if not all of them)... Pultecs for example.

[@saim138]

Please review The GOD PARTICLE by CableAudio Next, Its meant to be an Analog replacement and apparently its really good.

[@glyndwr15]

Everything Pulsar makes is great.

[@ST-fl5fy]

Curious how close this is to the Chandler Zender Bender

[@KristianWontroba]

They gave you gently used plugin to try? I see some rack rash on there. ; )

[@pispalantimbaland]

Acustica gave Cream eq for free, that's really something.

[@atarifalcon]

It's Billy Idol - White Wedding.....i think....🤔

[@amazeus1980]

Have tried UAD so many times but without display I don’t really like it…when playing with q values.

[@dabaws8687]

You should check out their 1178 emulation its really nice as well

[@paulmistygatz7888]

Hey 👋 just heard you are looking for a pair of pultecs. I can give you 2 new EQP-1A or MEQ-5. For like not very expensive.

[@Thetimrobertson]

I think that song is Sandstorm by Darude.

[@djkidii]

what is this song ? like it

[@mwarsell]

Can't you hear that the decibels don't match to real life? Check out Dan Worrall's video on this. They are way off. But it's a good plugin though.

[@scottfaircloff9530]

sounds great!

[@Kihilbill]

First thing i think is the Q are very smooth like an eqp1

[@JoanArment_Oficial]

Please talk about the The God Particle

[@tomverswyvel6370]

Pulsar top plugins !

[@miquelmarti6537]

can you hide the graphic? It forces you to play by ears only

[@DeltaWhiskeyBravo13579]

I haven't tried to hide it, but I think the manual said the graphic area can be hidden.

[@camhyde9701]

it sounds very nice

[@Hybrxd]

Do you use clippers while mastering? if yes then how? The EQ sure is smooth sounding

[@TheJoecoool]

i wish that you review the UAD Plugins

[@MarcoPolux]

Is it really 10 dBs you are tweaking ( @09:24 ) ??? remember that dB is a very non linear unit. . . . . Could it just be the resolution you are getting withthe plugin's knobs??? .... I get similar results using 10cm motorized faders to tweak ProQ3..... or using the NOB controller. . . . . which are controllers that can bring more resolution and thus, controll to the tweaks I do to my filters. Hey!! what happened to the nails? I would've leave them on just to keep the haters anoyed! 👊

[@MerajTypeBeat]

I’m copping this 🔥

[@Beorninki]

If you want to have pultec (not original, new one, and STEREO), take contact Mika Rintala Verde Audio. Mika live in Finland, he make really good stuff, he made my speakers and tube amplifier and analog summing mixer (with tube amplifier). I hear his pultec in his studio and it was amazing.

[@DafterHindi]

I think it has auto gain because it has the drive too.

[@trevorellis-guice5794]

Do a God Particle review

[@thesaint7380]

Is this supposed to sound like the Massive Passive ? Because it doesn't. EDIT: not only does it not remotely sound like a MP, it's actually the worst EQ i have used in ages

[@tommymai3062]

How does it sound to uad

[@Projacked1]

'if you are making plugins, take notes!' LOL

[@le-berry]

Original is nice but way to expensive for music producer. UAD is sounding little better in some cases and Pulsar is just awesome because it does behave like the real deal and has modern GUI which the better sounding (small differences) UAD version doesn't have. I need to make a comparison but the Pulsar one will be easier to use and does not require my M1 to connect to my thunderbolt Sonnet 3 x UAD2 OCTO ridge. Pulsar is well protected in the OSX world which I'm in and I don't mind PC guys having this for free I would never dump OSX for the reason of cracked plugins.

[@saricubra2867]

More competition for Fabfilter Volcano 3?

[@jamodrama]

Would be interesting to hear how that EQ sounds when used with real music instead of beeing used with artificial samples/loops.

[@nikolasb8313]

Used it on some acoustic indie rock tracks last month. Really brought out a lot. I don't know if it has the same ah ha effect though as it does with my trappy electronic productions

[@PurpleMusicProductions]

Yeah I agree I would like to hear it on real instruments as many plugins fall apart when the real thing shows up.

[@akagerhard]

I like Autogain on EQ.

[@amazeus1980]

Massive Passive is a modern take on Pulltec…dude. 😉

[@newmachine00]

10db without sounding harsh and awfull. ohhh that sounds like CraveEQ

[@kawinshivasoman]

massive passive itself is a pultec ya...

[@KOjoeBeats]

I was like, well that's sounds absolutely amazing but this track was needing that kind of special sauce. But then i tied it... I was in shock. This sounds FANTASTIC, for real, and on many different materials. @White Sea Studio: save your hard earned money and forget the Puigltech hardware. It will get old in like 20 years and start to be less clean, releasing some harmonics maybe pleasant but you will have absolutely no controll over that phenomenon. While this amazing plugin is even likely to improve in a way or another, for a bargain price if compared to a Puigtech set of HW. And this plugin is already super good if not better, for what we do imo

[@erewrw1906]

i think this thing sounds! very rare that like a preamp-distortion, analogue-eq plugins sound. probably i have to rethink my statement after few days, it often takes time to really know what i think about such emulations. But often i get earfatigue from most of them . Diamond eq 1 - Acoustica audio is one of my few favorites (fist version, not the 2nd)

[@erewrw1906]

yes the drive is the most outstanding Drive i ever heard i think, its full sounding, but not like giving this heavy feeling of most drives, it stays airy. The whole plugin gives me vibes.

[@michaelleto9296]

God particle please!

[@TrapBoiFuse561]

Damn how much you really making you own dont 😮a Pultec?