Mint is a suite consisting of four different plug-ins embodying a very rare solid-state console called GL2112 built by an engineer from a well-known Swiss company on commission in the late 1970s.
Mint is the second in a new series of ‘Boutique Collection’ Acqua plugins that aims to reproduce the essence of unique gear, those elusive, extremely hard to find devices, of which very few units were ever built and/or whose traces have almost been lost in the mist of time.
The centerpiece of this project is the recreation of an iconic vintage analog console module assembled with the best elements that Swiss technology offered at that time, sampled thanks to the invaluable contribution of ©Oxygen Recording Studio (www.oxygenrecordingstudio.com) and the guitarist, producer and sound engineer Paride Lanciani, the owner of this priceless equipment.
Mint brings together emulations derived from the extremely rare GL2112 console, which was built as a prototype by a 'Guru' designer and engineer from a well-known Swiss Pro Audio company, who built them to order and went on to create professional equipment for various studios around the world. Any engineer and sound creator will immediately be captivated by the unique features of this plugin suite.
In Paride’s words:
‘The GL2112 a very rare console built by a hardware design guru in the 1970s. I know of only one second twin still in operation today in a well-known studio in Paris called ©CBE studio. The Swiss engineer who made them was at the time running one of the best known and most important companies in Switzerland in the field and building consoles to special order for studios and clients. My GL2112 was commissioned by ©TOTA studios in Paris (broadcast studios) and was operational until the mid 1990s, and then replaced. On the advice of a well known British engineer named Tony Arnold, I bought it and later retrofitted it to the Oxygen. It’s a rather simple but very effective mixer: 32 channels, 8 effects returns, and 8 additional line in channels. Over the years it has undergone various upgrades to make it more effective and communicative with today’s times, without changing the audio design at all. Its peculiarities: a double 80-16000 Hz eq in cascade and a very useful limiter on each channel strip.
It is a desk whose sound is rather aggressive and requires careful control, qualitatively made with high level components that effectively render the sounds we are looking for’. Isn’t it great that today’s technology can now bring these unique colors from the past to everyone? The time has come to be able to turn this inimitable sound into a plug-in suite!'
Mint includes:
Each plug-in included in the Mint suite comes in a “Standard” version and an alternative “ZL*” version, which operates at *zero latency and is thus suitable for use when tracking, at the cost of extra processing resources. For further details consult the Indigo user's manual in the Overview section.
The Mint EQ includes an EQ with several perculiarities that make it truly unique plus eight different Line preamp emulations.
IMPORTANT: There's more. Don't forget that these are 'vintage' EQs, so don't be alarmed if you see some slightly strange curves or inaccurate gain values appearing in your analyser! This is 50 years old equipment!
- EQ Spec:
A four-band solid-state equalizer (Low Shelf - Mid1 - Mid2 - High Shelf) that combines ease of use and effectiveness to deliver the aggressive sound of the vintage GL2112 console. The Low-shelf filter significantly increases or decreases (approx. +/- 15 dB) the amplitude around 60 Hz, while the High-shelf filter significantly increases or decreases (approx. +/- 15 dB) the amplitude of the frequency range around 10 KHz. The EQ also features a Bass Cut filter (High-Pass) with a frequency range from 15 to 500 Hz.
The Mint Dual-Mono Comp is derived from the Solid-State compressor/limiter modules included in GL2112 desk. Acustica has kept its spirit and introduced some improvements to make it even more versatile and usable by creating 3 different emulations (Modes):
COMP1: A faithful ‘digital’ copy of the original GL2112 dynamic processor.
COMP2: This is where things get fun. A ‘Frankenstein’ compressor from Acustica with a different and higher compression ratio than the COMP1 model derived from one of the most famous dynamics processors sampled by Acustica. This compression ratio is characterised by an extremely musical, relatively gentle and very characteristic curve.
LIMITER: a Limiter by Acustica featuring a compression ratio of 12:1.
The Mint Pre plugin includes sixteen Line preamps, sixteen Mic preamps, 2 Stereo Buses and 2 'extra' Tape preamps emulations. These recreate the same sound and behavior of the original GL2112 console from the 1970s . As with the hardware, the plugin can be used to obtain various colors increasing the harmonic distortion, starting from a clear, powerful and colorful sound, that can evolve into a range of distortions whose musicality is unmatched.
You can use the distinct palette of tones in this plug-in as a 'mojo sparkler’ for your mix.
PRE LINE: 16 Line preamps (Ch.1 through 16)
PRE MIC: 16 Mic preamps (Ch.1 through 16)
PRE BUS: 2 Stereo Buses
PRE TAPE: 2 'Extra' Tape preamps (1-2)
The preamps derived from the vintage mixing console exhibit a slightly different response, which you can use to recreate an authentic analog desk experience in the box.
The Mint Channel-strip is the perfect choice that packs all the features of the standalone versions, with a sensational and distinctive sound to enhance and massage your music.
HOW TO TRY A PLUGIN: TRIAL MODE
For details about the installation/authorization process, please refer to this page.
Technical Specs
