Henry-Q is part of the brand new MetaWare series of Acqua/Nebula libraries for N4 by SoundDrops. It is essentially an equalizer entirely based on real inductors, and as such it could be described as a 'tone-color' processor, rather than a transparent one. Yet, many different responses can be achieved using its versatile sections; if a cleaner tone is needed, the pre-amp stage (the first offender as far as the aforementioned tone-coloring is concerned) can be bypassed at will.
HENRY-Q includes 2 filters, 4 eq sections and a transformer-coupled germanium stereo pre-amp stage.
Both the High-Pass and Low-Pass filters have a 12dB/oct. slope with a continuous frequency control; they also offer a unique function, rarely found in other devices: a Resonance control that seamlessly adjusts the amplitude of an additional peak located near corner frequency, going from 0 to a maximum of +3dB. These features make the filter section in HENRY-Q a very effective sound-shaping tool.
The equalizer section includes 4 cells: a Low-Frequency shelf, a Lo-Mid and a Hi-Mid bell eq (each with two selectable bandwidths) and finally a High section, switchable between a shelf or a bell curve.
Finally, HENRY-Q's stereo germanium pre-amp stage is essential in producing the typical sound texture of a real inductor equalizer. Its main feature is that its THD-Total Harmonic Distortion value (i.e. its propensity to generate overtones) is heavily dependent on frequency, just like real transformers/inductors do. It's a kind of response that gives weight to the lower range and at the same time makes bass-heavy instruments more present and distinct in a mix, even on smaller speakers. Being sampled in stereo, it subtly widens the sound field image as well.
MetaWare = “Beyond the Hard/Software”. A series of Acqua/Nebula libraries for N4 by SoundDrops based on an innovative concept. Proprietary hardware processors are specifically conceived, designed and built from the ground up with the creation of N4 libraries in mind.
Great care then is taken during the sampling and deconvolving process. Thanks to Acustica’s innovative technology, each aspect of the device’s behavior (frequency and phase response, harmonic and dynamic action and so on) can be separately sampled and then reassembled in an optimized form. The final outcome is a series of extremely clean and noiseless vectors, as it is easily apparent from the resulting response plots.
This procedure allows the creation of virtual machines that would be plainly impossible (or, at least, extremely unpractical) to build in the real world; a series of consistent and dependable digital processors that yet retain all the great sonic traits of real-world analog hardware, down to the tiniest detail.
© SoundDrops 2019
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