Back in late 2011 / early 2012, I embarked upon an emulation of one of the most sought-after equalizers of all time, the Pultec EQP-1A, without doubt, a genuine stone-cold classic and something which justifiably commands four or five figure price-tags for the genuine vintage hardware.
It remains one of the most popular and widely emulated pieces of hardware on other platforms, and until this time had never been available for linux.
The resulting PEQ-2A plugin which was the culmination of many long hours work, and cost me personally a huge amount more than I could ever have anticipated, finally brought the classic Pultec tones to linux. Since that time it’s been a continual battle to get this product the recognition I genuinely believe it deserves, apart from those enlightened few who have used it, and rate the plugin very highly.
The return on this huge investment in time and effort so far has been so low that it would have been more profitable to just do nothing for six months.
However, rather than do nothing for six months, work has been ongoing to build on and improve the design, and the result is now available as a free update for existing users - and at a discount price for new users, until the end of October 2012.
It’s a plugin that cost me nearly everything, fortunately it doesn’t have to cost you as much. Free demo available at:
@DavePhillips: I’ve always found your articles to be very informative and a great appraisal of what it is possible to do with audio on linux (and it’s a very different picture to the ‘ardour+jamin’ mantra that sadly gets repeated all too often in other less well researched articles).
You need/deserve reviews in SoS, Mix, Keyboard, KVR, and so forth.
I agree, and it's very difficult to get the attention of these publications - typically "Some Big Name Brand" releases "Yet Another Vintage Plugin" that's 'just better' because it has their name on it and it generates a full page news article etc, whereas 'Small Business or Independent Developer' does something genuinely new (e.g. for linux) and gets a few lines in the news at best. Or gets no response at all (this is what normally happens) or (on at least one occasion gets what I had every reason to believe - and still do - was a genuine request for license codes etc in order for a reviewer to write an article and the article never appears, and subsequent polite enquiries generate no response at all - I won't mention any names, but I've found that Create Digital Music can be an interesting read ;) )
I'm sure you've considered cross-platform work. I suspect there's considerable effort involved but your market expands exponentially, as does the notice given to your software. Just a thought.
Yes there are windows versions, of a few plugins, and the Pultec EQ is available on linux, Windows, and Mac - it is a lot of extra work and it's also considerable expense, but I don't think it's proven that the market expands exponentially - although I agree that's what should happen. However, the experience so far has been very positive comments from those who have used these plugins, and some favourable comparisons with much more expensive software / hardware, but again, hardly anyone knows about it (despite press releases, forum posts, news items on KVR, Gearslutz, numerous Google ads, Facebook etc).
I could also write another page about the issue of piracy (on Windows), but that's a whole other topic - and it's difficult to know how much that causes genuine 'lost sales' (I'd rather invest in creating a better product than waste development resource in the ultimately futile quest to create some kind of 'uncrackable' protection - as I don't believe such a thing can exist)
So, I think the right strategies are there, but I think it's just going to be a longer journey than expected (but always an interesting one), to get to where we would like (linux audio generally as well as linuxDSP) to be. Thanks for your continued support.
I was talking to Larry Crane (Tape-Op editor) a few months ago, and he’s actually LOOKING for a writer to contribute linux audio software reviews. I am a writer, and an audio engineer, but I am by no means a linux guru, or I would have offered. Plus I don’t have as much experience on the other major platforms. I haven’t used Protools in an age.
“I think one of the biggest issues (with any product, but especially something as niche as linux audio) is exposure - it can be incredibly difficult (and sometimes mind-bogglingly expensive) just to make potential users aware that the software exists. It may be that the market is a lot smaller than it appears, but personally I think there are just a lot of potential users we haven’t reached yet …”
I agree. I’ve mentioned your plugins many times in my own articles, but my writing reaches a relatively narrow audience. You need/deserve reviews in SoS, Mix, Keyboard, KVR, and so forth. But your plugins need competent reviewers, people with experience to make a professional recommendation, and I’m not that tech-savvy (even if I did use a Pultec back in Ye Olden Tymes).
I’m sure you’ve considered cross-platform work. I suspect there’s considerable effort involved but your market expands exponentially, as does the notice given to your software. Just a thought.
Anyway, I’ll join the praise chorus. Your plugins are excellent, and I’ll soon have the bucks to buy that Pultec EQ. For more excellence, of course.
The linuxDSP LV2 demos in AV Linux 5 and 6 were custom packaged to install to /usr/local/lib/lv2, normally there should not be duplicate versions in /usr and /usr/local unless someone had upgraded a single instance of a plugin on their own without removing the previous version or my custom deb package.
So to clarify and confirm what linuxdsp is saying, in AV Linux 5 and 6 by default all linuxDSP LV2 demos are in /usr/local/lib/lv2, if you upgrade a linuxDSP plugin either by copying and pasting or using the deb packages that linuxDSP provides you will need to manually remove the plugin you are upgrading from /usr/local/lib/lv2 OR if you manually copy and paste the upgraded version then I suggest you replace the existing version in /usr/local/lib/lv2.
@GMaq: Thanks for the clarification - one of the great strengths of linux is the ability to customise it, sometimes this is the very same thing that makes it difficult to cover / test for every possible configuration.
An issue has just come to light which may affect some users when upgrading to the new version of the PEQ. It seems that on (at least one install of) AVlinux5 the PEQ is present in both /usr/local/lib/lv2and/usr/lib/lv2
The installer / update for the new version assumes the plugin to be present only in /usr/lib/lv2 which would normally be the case, and which it therefore updates, however this means that it is possible to get the new version in that location and still have the old version in the other location, which will cause some very odd behaviour. In this case, it will be necessary to remove the peq-2a.lv2 and peq-1a.lv2 folders from /usr/local/lib/lv2
(you will most likely need to be root to do this).
Thanks for all the positive comments, I think one of the biggest issues (with any product, but especially something as niche as linux audio) is exposure - it can be incredibly difficult (and sometimes mind-bogglingly expensive) just to make potential users aware that the software exists. It may be that the market is a lot smaller than it appears, but personally I think there are just a lot of potential users we haven’t reached yet (and I include in that, a more general statement that ‘linux audio’ hasn’t reached yet - it genuinely is possible, thanks to outstanding work from a lot of people, to run a professional audio workstation / studio on linux).
I’m also grateful for the support of various distro’s which include the linuxDSP software, but I’d also urge people to come to the site and see what’s happening from time to time as plugins do get regularly updated, and there are some useful articles / demos etc. We also offer free support, and that doesn’t just mean help if things don’t work - I’m happy to answer any questions about how to get the best from the software too (especially in the case of the PEQ which is quite different in operation to many ‘standard’ EQs, but quite intuitive in its own way and worth taking the time to learn)
A shame indeed! Unfortunate how easily people are lulled into the false reality of ‘something for nothing’. Perhaps free general Operating Systems are something the underprivileged can expect to be entitled to, however how anyone can dream that singular highly-evolved applications like Ardour and world class plugins like Mike’s should be free of charge is a concept I can’t even begin to comprehend…
People really need to realize that not all developers out there are benevolent multimillionaires who can afford getting high on altruism. We want better things in Linux Audio, here’s a chance to roll up our sleeves and participate! Thanks Mike for your incredible standards and high-calibre products!
I don’t know if it’s the only EQ you will ever need, but it is an absolutely fabulous Pultec emulation, and every linux DAW user should have it in their tool box. GO OUT AND BUY IT NOW.
P.S.
And for the record, if you look in my Avatar you will see that I am working in a studio with a vintage analog console, and an analog tape machine. What you can’t see is the rack containing our outboard gear (it would be to the left in the photo). We have a real Pultec in there, so I have experience using the real thing, and this emulation sounds fantastic.
- it’s the only EQ you ever need.