Very few pieces of audio equipment have achieved the iconic status such as the ones that we sampled to create Gold. It is the most extensive, versatile plugin suite of its kind available today.
We traveled to Tambourine Studios in Malmö, Sweden, and sampled their incredible console from top to bottom. Formerly owned by Swedish super producer Tore Johansson (A-ha, Tom Jones, Anouk, Melanie C), this impressive piece of equipment was used to record all of the Cardigans' classic albums.
Gold 5 now includes an additional, uber-rare EQ built in the 1970s: the 8115. It’s a 3-band, semi-parametric equalizer with a high pass filter. The original unit is a vintage, class A/B mic pre-EQ with the same design, topology, and components as its illustrious big brother, the mighty 3081.
These modules used to be standard in small broadcast consoles, but the version we sampled was an unusual piece of equipment with a more modern concept in its design. This one is a stereo unit in immaculate condition, which we converted to mono from the fourth version of Gold. Due to its unique properties, it was extremely difficult to source, but in the end it was worth every minute we spent!
The Gold 5 EQ is composed of two sections (HF/HMF and LMF/ LF), each one with a variety of different selectable equalizer units. With so many EQ combinations to choose from, you’ll always be able find the perfect match for the tracks you’re mixing.
Gold is equipped with 2 different compressors, the 8252 and 8254.
The 8252 compressor/limiter was the first unit equipped with germanium transistors running on a -24v power supply, and it was the predecessor to the 8254.
The original hardware in the 8254 is a classic compressor, built around a diode-bridge cell. It was created in 1969, and its effect is often described as “smooth” and “creamy.
Gold 5 preamp plug-in includes several emulations derived from vintage and rare units. This section emulates their corresponding circuits' frequency/phase response and harmonic distortion.
We have elevated the Gold suite to new heights with the release of its fifth version, incorporating new features that enhance its accuracy and integrating it with our cutting-edge Hyper technology.
New features:
- Improved audio quality thanks to the oversampling.
- New Hyper technology
- Numerical value parameters.
- Various optimizations and graphical improvements.
- Resizable interface.
Thanks to our new Hyper and Hyper2 technology, we can now deliver even more realistic and convincing compression, saturation, filters, and preamp signals in the digital domain by emulating the sound of analog recording equipment with lower CPU consumption and improved stability.