Three New Universal Audio Plugins: Thermionic Culture Vulture, Tonelux Tilt EQ, Valley People Dyna-mite

A trio of sonic inspiration has just been launched by Universal Audio.

All three plugins are available for the UAD Powered Plug-ins platform and their Apollo audio interfaces, and each will definitely be welcomed by mixers in search of fresh tools for working ITB.

They lead off with the Thermionic Culture Vulture, available for $299. Next, developed by Softube are the Valley People Dyna-mite Plug-In for $199, and the Tonelux Tilt EQ Plug-In for $99. All are part of the new UAD Software v7.8., and available now via UA’s Online Store.

What’s the story behind these hardware classics, now gone deliciously digital? Here’s more info, direct from Universal Audio:

The culture of the Vulture has just grown to include UA users.

Thermionic Culture Vulture Plug-in

For more than 15 years, the British-made Thermionic Culture Vulture has set the standard for studio-grade, high-gain valve distortion, yielding a palette of vivid distortion colors on countless genre-spanning recordings. Thanks to an intense multi-year engineering effort from Universal Audio, producers and engineers can now track and mix with the only authentic circuit emulation of this one-of-a-kind valve distortion tool.

The Thermionic Culture Vulture plug-in models the original hardware’s three distinct all-valve circuit topologies and features Universal Audio’s first ever pentode tube circuit model. The Culture Vulture plug-in also offers two features not found on the original hardware — a Dry/Wet Parallel Mix control and a Link function for a perfectly matched stereo image to maximize workflow and preserve balances.

In addition, the all-new Thermionic Culture Vulture plug-in features presets from famous Culture Vulture users, including Tony Maserati (Alicia Keys, Beyoncé), Rik Simpson (Coldplay, Portishead), Eric “ET” Thorngren (Talking Heads, Cyndi Lauper), Peter Katis (The National, Interpol), Chris Coady (Grizzly Bear, TV on the Radio), and more.

Thermionic Culture Vulture Plug-In Key Features:

• The world’s only authentic emulation of the legendary high gain, dual-stage valve distortion unit
• Can subtly alter or completely transform a single track or an entire mix with valve coloration
• Dial in rich harmonic content with three diverse valve topologies — including UA’s first ever pentode tube emulation
• Includes parallel Dry/Wet processing and Link controls not found on the original hardware
• Requires a UAD DSP Accelerator Card or Apollo Audio Interface available from authorized dealers worldwide

Another UA Valley Sunday!

Valley People Dyna-mite Plug-In

The Valley People Dyna-mite Plug-In is an exacting emulation of the classic limiter/expander/gate designed by the legendary Paul Buff, who founded the historic PAL studio in southern California.

The Dyna-mite has enjoyed a fanatical cult following for over three decades and is considered a “secret weapon” by top engineers and producers. Although it can be used as a traditional limiter or expander, the Dyna-mite is also a creative tool capable of extreme, yet musical effects on a variety of sound sources.

The Valley People Dyna-mite plug-in offers the exact features and sonics of the famed hardware unit and can transform instruments with dynamic gating textures. It can be used for nearly anything from gently limiting and de-essing vocals, to demolishing the transients of any sound.

Key Features:

• An exacting emulation of the original legendary 80s dynamics processor
• Use it to limit, expand, gate or de-ess, with a wide range of uses
• Limiter goes from abusively squashing to transient-enhancing spikiness
• Expander/gate goes from strict and tight to subtly expanding by softening the soft sounds and bringing the louder sounds forward

The Tonelux Tilt works off a one-knob EQ for quick moves.

Tonelux Tilt EQ Plug-In

Designed to speed up EQ workflow and enhance creativity, the Tonelux Tilt EQ Plug-In allows for quick, simple, and effective broad-stroke EQ moves. With the single Tilt control, engineers and producers can quickly mix as they go. Turn it to the right to cut lows and boost highs, turn it to the left to cut highs and boost lows. The Tonelux Tilt EQ Plug-In also models the transformer found in the Tonelux hardware, adding a subtle distortion for bass frequencies, fattening up the low end of a track.

The included Tilt Live EQ plug-in skips the transformer modeling, freeing up even more instances for live mixing. It also replaces the Gain control with a Boost Ceiling control, which keeps the output gain of the plug-in from being boosted no matter how much EQ boost is applied.

Key Features:

• A one knob equalizer that quickly gets your mix in shape
• Speeds up your workflow and makes mixing more intuitive
• Models the entire Tonelux Tilt circuit designed by Paul Wolff
• Smooth high and low pass filters
• Two plug-ins included —Tilt EQ with transformer modeling, Tilt Live optimized for live mixing

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