Review: McDSP Emerald Pack 3.0 (Mac/Win)

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Nick Peck

A VERSATILE AND POWERFUL PLUG-IN SUITE FOR PRO TOOLS

McDSP, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary as a plug-in developer, enjoys a stellar reputation among Digidesign Pro Tools users. All 12 of its popular plug-ins can be purchased in a single bundle, Emerald Pack 3.0, which is available in both native and TDM versions for Mac and Windows. The bundle comes smartly packaged with excellent printed manuals, its own iLok dongle, and a groovy pair of holographic glasses.

The McDSP Philosophy

The developers at McDSP made a few policy decisions that set the company apart from many other plug-in manufacturers. They chose to simulate the sounds of vintage processors by analyzing their output and writing algorithms to mimic what they’re hearing, rather than trying to create a digital physical model of the unit’s analog components.

Believing that you mix with your ears, not your eyes, McDSP’s graphics do not mimic the faceplate of the units they’re simulating. Instead, they have their own unified look and feel across the product line. One benefit to this approach is the ability for a single plug-in to offer emulations of many different pieces of outboard gear. Finally, and perhaps most refreshingly, McDSP has not charged customers for plug-in upgrades in more than a decade. This policy ensures happy customers and repeat business.

In a Nutshell

I'll look at the Emerald Pack plug-ins one by one, starting with FilterBank and CompressorBank, perhaps McDSP's most renowned processors.

FilterBank

This EQ plug-in started the ball rolling for McDSP back in 1998. It's a testament to the product's quality and design that it's still the preferred EQ for many engineers. FilterBank comprises ten different configurations that run the gamut from simple (highpass and lowpass filtering) to complex (two parametric bands, two shelving bands, and highpass and lowpass filters), with a whole lot in between. The parametric bands have the standard gain, frequency, and Q parameters, but the shelving filters add Peak, Slope, and Dip controls, allowing you to mimic the spectral characteristics of many vintage equalizers.

CompressorBank

McDSP's single-band compressor comes in four variations: CB1, a basic compressor; CB2, which adds a prefilter; CB3, which includes a band of parametric EQ; and CB4, which has a series of specific algorithms to more closely emulate the behavior of some famous vintage compressors. CompressorBank has the familiar Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, and (makeup) Gain functions but also provides a few notable controls to fine-tune the compressor's behavior. The Knee parameter tailors behavior around the threshold point, while Bite allows a certain amount of high-frequency, short-transient material through before compression begins. A secondary release control allows for complex 2-stage release curves. Included presets mimic famous compressors such as the 1176, LA-2A, Neve 33609, and Fairchild 670.

Channel G

This is a full-featured channel strip (see Fig. 1) that uses different EQ and dynamics algorithms than FilterBank and CompressorBank. It offers separate Expander/Gate and Compressor/Limiter sections, a slick signal-chain diagram, compression and spectral-curve diagrams, and an all-in-one, plasma-style metering bar. The EQ section lets you select from a series of spectral-curve modes: Music, Post (very steep shelving for surgical EQ), SSL Types E and G, Neve (a hybrid of AMEK 9098 and older Neve modules), and API. That's an awful lot of flavor for one plug-in. Channel G also includes a 5.1 surround compressor/limiter.

MC2000

This plug-in provides three configurations (2-band, 3-band, or 4-band) of multiband compression. You can adjust the width of each compressor's frequency band, and the Link function allows each compressor to operate in tandem or separately. Each band has its own compression characteristics, so you can dial up a hybrid multiband made up of emulations of an LA-2A for the lows, a 33609 for the mids, and an 1176 for the highs.

ML4000

This mastering limiter comes in two flavors: the ML1, which consists of a limiter circuit; and the ML4 (see Fig. 2), which adds four dynamics-processing channels before the limiter. The ML1's volume-maximizing function is similar to that of Waves L1 or Digidesign Maxim in that it is a digital brickwall limiter used to adjust the overall loudness of a track. These products can be used to fine-tune the average levels of songs or to make them as loud as possible. But the ML1 throws in an extra couple of tricks: an adjustable knee control, just like on McDSP's other compressors, and a character mode button, which selects among six different limiter algorithms, from Clean to Crush. Four multiband dynamics channels each contain an expander, compressor, and gate. Each band can be linked or operated separately, and the crossover points are adjustable. I loved the fine level of control and sound quality that the ML4 gave me.