The Softube Passive-Active Plug-in Pack is a collection of three very different equalizers, each with its own character and quirks. The equalizers contain emulations of real workhorse equalizers, used on thousands of recordings from past to present. Passive Equalizer The Passive Equalizer is a three-band EQ with an unprecedented clear and open sound, a warm low end and sparkling top. Modeled from a famous German three-band passive equalizer, it features a wide bandwidth with an unprecedented clear and open sound. The Low boost gives you a warm low end, perfect to fatten up a bass drum or bass guitar track. Cutting the highs give you a very gentle 6dB cut which allows you to remove some of the unwanted highs without too much intrusion in the sound. The High boost is open and crisp, excellent to live up an otherwise dead track. Active Equalizer The Active Equalizer is Passive's counterpart with three fully parametric bands and a tight and focused sound. This EQ is a more modern active design made somewhere in the Swiss alps in the seventies. This one has three full bands (Low, Mid and High) with selectable gain (2dB steps) and frequency. The width (Q) can be selected via a switch and each band can be bypassed. It also features High and Low cuts. Focusing Equalizer The Focusing Equalizer is an untraditional take on the EQ concept where the low, mid and high bands move automatically and musically in relation to the high and low cut filters. It also features filters from the Passive and Active EQ's as well as an outstanding one-knob Saturation control. Whereas the Passive Equalizer is wide, clear and unintrusive, the Active Equalizer is more of a surgeon with a tight and focused sound. Some people prefer the high band, while others use it to control the mids of a track. The bands can overlap, and unlike normal equalizer plug-ins the notches and peaks overlaps without adding any extra gain to the peak or notch, just like the real analog gear. At first glance it may seem like you're sacrificing versatility by using an equalizer with a limited set of options - why use a three-band equalizer when you can use your digital equalizer with umpteen bands, continous gain, selectable Q and different curves all built in? Well, equalization is all about sound design. Having an equalizer where the designer has already made some of the choices four you is like having an experienced sound engineer helping out and giving you directions. All equalizers are modeled using the same state-of-the-art technology as we used to create our very popular FET Compressor and the Brilliance Pack plug-ins for Abbey Road. NOTE: Requires iLok USB key. It is not included in the Softube installer, but can be downloaded from www.ilok.co