Acustica intros Blond. Vintage 4-plugin suite of rare Italian-made gems

Product: Blond

Developer: Acustica Audio

Price (MSRP): Introductory pricing - 109.00€ [Reg. 179.00€] - Save 39% OFF - The offer ends February 8, 2020 (11:59 pm CET). Please note: Educational discounts cannot be applied to Blond during its introductory pricing period.

Plug-in Format(s): VST, AU, AAX

System Requirements (Windows): Windows 10

System Requirements (OSX): OSX 10.14

Blond web-page: https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/products/blond

Blond User's manual: https://app.box.com/shared/static/my...hd34y118vs.pdf

Blond is a plugin suite that contains unbelievably rare vintage units manufactured in Italy from up to 60 years ago.

Some of these have earned an excellent reputation in the pro audio industry over time, while others have become real 'sleepers' and acquired 'collectible' status. As rare and obscure as they might be, we have sourced them to give you sonic options not available elsewhere and that you can use to make your mixes sound stunning..

What you get

Blond includes:

- Blond EQ (2 switchable 4-Band Equalizers with High-pass and Low-pass Filters, 24 Line and Mic Preamps for a total of 48 preamp emulations).

- Blond Pre Mixer (5 switchable Equalizers, 18 Line preamps, plus 6 Custom preamps sampled from a 1958 tube unit, for a total of 24 preamp emulations).

- Blond Pre (includes all preamp models except for the 5 Blond Comp preamps, plus 2 extra line pre's from Blond EQ B, for a total of 74 succulent preamplifiers you can choose from).

- Blond Comp (packs 5 different dynamics processors, including 2 FET compressors, an optical compressor, plus a custom tube compressor and limiter tuned by us. Way to make those tracks jump out of the speakers!).

There is more. We decided to include a few lesser-known Italian-made processors in the suite to give you even more tonal possibilities. Some of them are pretty unusual, so don't freak out if you see some weird curves showing up in your analyzer!

Blond EQ

- Model A (EP600) comes from a professional mixing desk hand-built expressly for the Italian national broadcasting company! Very few were produced, and they are almost impossible to find. It is an extremely transparent 4-band EQ, with 24 Line-Mic preamps that faithfully recreate the '70s console experience as intended by one of the greatest Italian designers ever.

We managed to get our hands on this beauty and sample its Line and Mic preamps

- Model B is a transparent 'Sontec-style', 4-band Parametric EQ from the '80s that works wonders in mastering with HI-Cut anf Low-Cut filters. Its transformer-based, juicy preamp gives you tons of sonic character to play with.ransparent 4-band EQ, with 24 Line-Mic preamps that faithfully recreate the '70s console experience as intended by one of the greatest Italian designers ever.

Blond Pre Mixer

It would be an understatement to call this plugin an EQ. We feel that 'Pre Mixer' better describes the creative potential of this processor.

Based on pretty unusual Italian-made studio units from the '60s, '70s, and '80s, you can use and abuse its distinct palette of tones as a 'mojo booster' for your mix. We are speaking about fairly basic solid-state, tube, or FET units that show a heavily non-linear response! Again, don't jump in your skin if your analyzer goes haywire.

- EQ Model BSN is our take on an 18-channel ultra-rare Italian console.This boutique desk is quite unlike anything we have ever come across in our sampling trips. Yet, despite the reputation of its manufacturer, it has never become widespread.

Did you know?

The manufacturer of this desk began operations in the '40s, building tube radios. In the '50s, the introduction on the market of his iconic tape echo marked a turning point for this Italian entrepreneur. From that moment, Rock legends like David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, and many other artists started using his tape echo to shape their tones, and the rest, as they say, is history.

- EQ Model APX is a 2-band EQ and it derives from a very rare Italian-made solid-state amplifier presumably manufactured in the early '70s.

The APX features unconventional response curves. When used in conjunction with its preamp (APX, from the CUST bank), it shows its aggressive nature fully.

- EQ Models AVX 1 and AVX 2 both derive from a vintage tube Pre-Mixer unit that we sampled at Nost Studio in Vobarno, Italy.

Each of its 8 channels features a 2-band EQ and two different tubes at its heart. Because they had such a distinct sound, we decided to include two separate EQ emulations. The AVX1 and AVX2 equalizers couldn't be less linear. Try them out together with their preamps to experience some serious mojo.

- EQ Model MZI is a 2-band EQ with fixed frequency bands and Q deriving from an Italian all-transistor mixer from the '60s. The original company that manufactured this unit was founded in 1946. It produced a wide range of instruments and processors for the pro audio industry before ceasing operations in the early '90s.

Blond Pre

Blond Pre includes all the preamps we sampled for Blond (except for the 5 Blond Comp preamps) divided into 4 banks.



- LINE EP: 24 line preamps (Ch.1 through 24) from a '70s console built by one of Italy's most respected designers. All channels exhibit a slightly different response, which you can use to recreate the original desk experience in the box.

- MIC EP: 24 mic preamps (Ch.1 through 24) derived from the same console.

- BSN: 18 Line preamps derived from channels 1 through 18 of BSN EQ's co sole.

- CUSTOM: 6 preamps derived from Blond Pre Mixer, plus 2 transformer-based, definitely ‘colored' preamps

Blond Comp

The Blond Comp plugin is equipped with 5 different dynamics processors:

- CM2: derives from a vintage FET compressor manufactured by a small Italian company with over 40 years of experience in the field of broadcasting.

- C60: derives from a rare 'Vintage' FET compressor, produced in minimal quantities, and inspired by a more famous American dynamics processor from the 1970s. We made this model even more versatile than the original by including extra attack and release times.

- LM22: derives from a modern stereo optical compressor manufactured by a renowned, family-run Italian company that began its business in the 1960s. We added extra attack and release times to this processor too, to make it even more versatile than the original.

- CMS: is a vintage tube compressor characterized by a single ratio (1.5:1), as derived from a powerful compressor of the Acqua plugin family. We further tuned it with additional attack and release times from a FET compressor called CM2 and a hot tube preamp.



- LIM: the limiter is characterized by a single compression ratio (30:1) and a tube preamp stage.

How to try a plugin: TRIAL MODE

- Create a user account (if you do not have one yet) on our website

- Download and Install Aquarius, our products manager, for either Mac or PC

- Log in to Aquarius using your user email and password

- Type the product name in the 'search' field inside Aquarius to find the '(trial)' version of the product, then click on the thumbnail or on the 'Install' button. This will take you to the product page (the trial version of a product is also visible in the 'related products' section on the right)

- Select the right plugin format according to the DAW you are using and click 'Install'

- Aquarius will download, install,and authorise the trial product automatically

- Run your DAW. You're set!

Please note:

- For details about installation/authorization please refer to the following page: Acustica Audio - Professional Audio Software - Acustica Audio

- Available sample rates: 96 - 44.1 - 48 - 88.2 kHz