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Analog sound in the digital world
It wouldn't be out of the question to wonder how a virtual preamp could benefit your productions, considering your recordings have gone through preamps in the first place. Advances in modern technology results in preamps with a very neutral and transparent sound, imparting little or no tonal character in favour of providing a perfectly clean slate on which your sound can be altered later.
Vintage preamps were designed to imprint a sonic signature, subtly adding distortion and other desirable traits to colour the sound in pleasing ways. Now available in virtual plug-in form, you can impart the tonal characteristics of vintage preamps to your modern digital recordings even after it's already been recorded, giving you the best of both worlds!
The ultimate sound-shaper
What looks from the outside a simple unit to come to grips with, the tonal enhancement and character the 1973-Pre imparts into your tracks is undeniable. Its simplicity is part of the appeal, letting users of all abilities discover sound-shaping abilities without needing to crack a menu or trawl through endless menus.
The most desirable attribute of the 1973-Pre is unquestionably the saturation and drive you can get, mimicking the sound of hardware preamps pushed to their limits. With +60dB of virtual gain, you can drive even the weakest signal sources into searing saturation. At lower levels, you'll find the input gain presents a flattering brilliance on the top end but when pushed to its limit, it will introduce harmonic distortion and fatness to your tone.
Just like the original, Arturia have kept the three-band EQ onboard to let you creatively shape your signal with distinctive analog flavour and tone. A fixed high-frequency shelf filter offers +/-18dB of gain at 12kHz, featuring an aggressive character with a wide Q-factor to add brightness and cut to even the dullest vocal or snare drum.
At the other end of the spectrum, a low-frequency shelf filter ranges from 35 - 220Hz with a range of +/-18dB. Ideal for carving excessive sub from a bass guitar to sit better in the mix or for adding punch to the low notes of your piano recordings for added weight and density.
A semi-parametric midrange bell filter spans 360Hz - 7.2kHz with a range of +/-18dB, enabling you to fine-tune the midrange of just about any instrument, regardless of the fundamental frequency.
To top it all off, Arturia has even recreated the vintage style of the interface in a glorious, high-definition GUI. Every aspect of the Pre-1973 has been meticulously put together, ready to take your music to the next level.
50 years in the making
Technology moves on, but that doesn't mean that we need to forget the pieces that got us where we are today. In fact, in the 50 years since its release, still, nothing quite sounds the same or has the same X-factor as vintage hardware preamps. The needs of musicians and producers may have changed, but the end goal hasn't - and that's getting the best sound from your tracks.
To bring the 1973-Pre up to date with the expectations of modern users, Arturia have added a small number of enhancements to get the most from the preamp in your DAW. Continuous controls have been implemented in favour of stepped parameters, letting you mix between the lines, improving the precision in everything you do. Whether that's finding the perfect frequency for your EQ move or dialling the precise amount of input gain, you now have more control.
Citing gain levels, 1973-Pre now includes automatic gain controls to perfectly match the input and output levels depending on your adjustments, ensuring that you hear only the tonal changes rather than changes in volume.
Two switches have been employed, one to control the virtual transformer type and the other for stereo mode. Two transformer types are included, one modelling the original Carnhill transformers, the other offering a modern alternative, recreating the sound of modified Marinair components so often found in these preamps. Self-contained, the Stereo switch lets you swap between mid/side and left/right processing at the push of a button.
Cracking the code
Renowned for their expertise in the recreation of vintage synthesizers and keyboards, Arturia has plied their trade in creating plug-ins of legendary audio. Putting the indistinguishable sound of this classic device into your DAW at a fraction of the cost, Arturia painstakingly analysed each component, part and response of the hardware original to deliver a living, breathing emulation.
Working with an original, unmodified preamp built in 1971, Arturia have matched the hardware in every way. This specific unit has been heard on iconic Blur and Gorillaz records and can now take right of place as the first plug-in in your mix to give it the extra edge, warmth and character you've come to love from vintage hardware.
Powered by technology
Using proprietary modelling algorithms, 1973-Pre can recreate the iconic hardware down to the component parts to create unrivalled realism and immersion. Unmatched in analog emulation, 1973-Pre is powered by TAE and Phi technologies. TAE offers component-level modelling to accurately present the characteristics and behaviour of the hardware, whilst Phi's state-of-the-art physical modelling brings the acoustic properties into the virtual world for hyper-realism. The result is truly a next-level sound that is indistinguishable from the original to add to your productions.
Reviews
"The Pre-1973 has such a characteristic tone, it works wonderfully on drums and adds warmth and tone to vocal recordings. It's a must-use for me during tracking." - Alicia Light (Recording Engineer)
Features
Indinstinguishable recreation of hardware preamp, encompassing all analog anomalies and character
- Three-band EQ with fixed-band high-shelf, semi-parametric midrange and semi-parametric low-frequency shelf and high-pass filter
- Independent left and right EQ controls when used in stereo operation
- Switchable transformers, letting you choose between more modern, modified Marinair components of the original Carnhill parts
- Drive the input gain for harmonic distortion and fatness or dial it back for more brilliance
- 60dB of virtually-modelled input gain
- +/-24dB of output trim level
- Multiple modes of operating including mono, stereo and Mid/Side with stereo link control to adjust both sides simultaneously
- Enhanced with Automatic Gain switch to intelligently adjust output volume based on the input gain
- Sweepable, continuous controls rather than traditional stepped parameters, letting you mix between the lines
- Responsive and accurate analog clip LED indicator
- Independent phase switch per channel
- Three calibrations mode (-18dBFs, -12dBS, -8 dBFs)
- Comes supplied with a wide range of presets from sound design professionals
- Brought to life by state-of-the-art TAE analog modelling
General
- Compatible across all major DAWs on both Windows and Mac
- Download, manage and organize your plug-in and updates in Arturia Software Center
- Fully scalable GUI fits any screen size for optimized workflow
- MIDI compatible offers real-time control with your favourite keyboard or controller
- Step-by-step in-app tutorials, showing you crucial parameters and tips inside each plug-in
- Powerful preset browser lets you filter, organise and save your favourite presets to recall in any future sessions
Specifications
- Operating system:
- Mac: Mac OS 10.13+
- Windows: Win 10+ (64bit)
- Format:
- Mac: VST, AAX, Audio Unit, NKS (64-bit DAWs only)
- Windows: VST, AAX, NKS (64-bit DAWs only)
- RAM: 4GB
- Processor: 4 cores CPU, 3.4 GHz (4.0 GHz Turbo-boost) or M1 CPU
- Disk space: 1GB
- GPU: OpenGL 2.0 compatible GPU
- Product code: 1200-54