MackEQ
TL;DW: MackEQ is the Mackie distortion but with treble and bass controls added.
So this is either going to be a big success or make EVERYBODY mad at me :)
Folks who wanted Mackity, were looking to do some crazy things with it. We’re taking an old Mackie 1202, pre-VLZ (I have one and know how to abuse it for effect) and we’re mangling sounds with it. People wanted to take a kick drum, run it through one channel turned all the way up, patch that to another channel with crazy EQ and also turned up until ready to explode, and so on. Mackity was my best shot at just the input section of the 1202, with all the gain on tap but set up to work as close to ‘clean’ as these desks ever got: more so, in fact, as it doesn’t add hiss and chip noise. Mackity was really good at sounding exactly like that, for those who like patching out of the insert points and getting a reasonably hi-fi sound out of their old 90s mixer.
There are plenty of people who know without the shadow of a doubt, that the very idea is ridiculous: that, compared to your Neves and APIs etc, these tiny budget mixers are garbage.
They will HATE this plugin. This is the same thing only with the garbage EQs in the 1202, the original two-band version, in which you can also overdrive the op-amps inside the EQs for good measure. Nothing about this sounds nice. You might want to pad down the output if you try: it’s pretty horrifying.
Some folks will go and immediately do that… and some of those, are very used to their original Mackie analog mixers, and know the exact tone they should get. And I can’t tell you whether those folks will be happy with MackEQ, because I have the real one (not an 8-buss, but a 1202) to compare with, and I did not get a perfect exact clone. I got something else. I think it might be useful: certainly it can get the correct TYPE of tone, but I don’t believe I have the true 100% 90s drum and bass madness exactly down. There’s a texture in there, especially when you start aggressively distorting highs, that just defies being captured in a plugin, much like you don’t really get a Marshall Plexi in the box.
But I captured SOMETHING in a plugin, and it’s in the ballpark. If you can accept a slight re-voicing of the thing, or if your use of it doesn’t involve torturing hi-hats and such in the first place, you might find MackEQ is useful to you. That’s my hope. I daresay I’ll find uses for it myself… including, use after certain secret projects I’m still working on. Seems I’ve devoted myself to the DnB flame. If only I could play the music, I’d really be on to something :)
If you like me buying relevant gear so I can work with the real thing and learn how to make plugins like that, you can check out Mackity, and Srsly2, and MackEQ, and you could also jump on my Patreon which pays for such things. It looks like I’ve got the ports to Apple Silicon (M1 and beyond) well underway, and this month I’ll be trying to add M1 Mac VSTs to the mix. Remember, these things don’t help you until the DAW makers make true native versions, but then you ought to be off and running. The signed .dmg file of all the new AU compiles is still at https://www.mediafire.com/file/yocowl32i440e7h/SignedAUs.dmg/file and now includes MackEQ.
Sounds great its really close to the actual hardware when A/B’ing them. Makes me excited for what could come next like some big desk EQs and emulations of their input stages
I for one like it, drive the snot out of it and destroy rainbows and butterflies with it. Doesn’t everybody?
This is really amazing you did this. I used this Mackie for many years and I was always sad to let it go, I bought back some then sold it again and was sad again. And now thanks to you I will never be sad not to have it anymore. Thanks for this :)
What?! Are you kidding me?! I love it! It’s amazing! It’s genius that you shaped the filters to represent the Fletcher Munson curve
It sounds really amazing, but it eats so much CPU power on my Macbook Pro. I wish I could use this on every single channel, but I start getting audio dropouts after adding about 6 instances of this plugin.
Just sounds amazing on some distorted guitars, bringing out a lot of grainy color.
HI Chris, i would love to speak more about your inspiration for this plug in, particularly about your knowledge in relation to the desks cult status in the DnB scene!
Wahts goging on ? :D
One Plugin and 160% CPU M1 MacBook Pro :D
I am the one who has problem like this ?
Hi Chris – does this replace Mackity as in same sound when not using the EQs or is there something different under the hood beyond the EQs? Thanks!
Hi Chris!
Thank you so much for MackEQ. I instantly started a new track today since I discovered and installed MackEQ. I was thinking about getting an old used mackie for a long time and now I postponed this, because of your splendid plugin. Keep up the good work, I will donate something on patreon!
Hey – Any instructions on how to allow this to be verified by mac’s developer software blocking? Would love to give this a whirl!
It sounds amazing, the only downside for me is that it takes up 32% of my CPU indicator alone in Ableton Live 11 Suite on a MacBook Air M2 :-(
My bad, I installed the signed version of the plugin and CPU usage is now as phenomenal as the sound.
Thank you so much Chris.