W495

An accurate emulation of the Neumann w495 3-band EQ.

A FAMILIAR VINTAGE ICON

Neumann w495 EQ’s were used to master 90% of the vinyl records manufactured from the 1970s to the 1990s. But even after this golden age, many mastering engineers still love this EQ. Why? Because the w495 has wide equalization curves that can be pushed to ridiculous levels while remaining musical. The w495 is an easy-to-use tone shaper for individual tracks. But It can also enhance presence and depth of an entire mix.

But we’ve taken Pulsar W495 even further, adding all the key features you would expect from a modern EQ plugin, including visual curve editing for a fast workflow. From channel EQ to mastering EQ, Pulsar w495 is an easy-to-use powerful tone shaper, faithfully emulated from an iconic 3 band EQ.

CRAIG BAUER

Grammy award-winning mixer & engineer | Producer

Kanye West | Rihanna | Lupe Fiasco | Steve Cole

“At this point, it may seem like it would be hard to get excited by another EQ. I thought the same until I put it on a stereo pair of Michael Thompson clean guitar tracks. It brought what was already sounding good to life beautifully just by adding 1 db of a 14k shelf. It has it’s own unique sonic footprint that I absolutely love. A three band eq that sounds incredible encourages making wise decisions without the possibility of over processing the source. It’s nearly impossible to make it sound bad.”

HOW DOES IT SOUND?

Mastering

Don't think too hard, just put it on your bus and listen. Transparent and musical, the w495 is an easy-to-use mastering equalizer, with just three bands to consider, for faster mix balancing. It has the ability to broaden the whole sound stage without ever being too harsh, even at extreme settings.

Synth

For electronic musicians, synthesizers are often the main instruments in any production. However, they can be dominating – and temperamental when it comes to finding the right spectral balance to fit them into the mix. Pulsar W495 lets you adjust this balance quickly and well, with ridiculously low CPU consumption.

Drums

The W495's sound partially comes from its output transformer (a Haufe RK 756), which brings a subtle coloration to the lower end of the spectrum, especially on dynamic sources like a drum buss. Pulsar w495 can easily add body to your bass drum, enhance air to cymbals, and add color to your midrange (or soften it if the need arises). All in record time.

Main Features

Visual curve editing

Controls in the curve editor correspond to the Gain, Frequency and Q values of the hardware-style knobs below, and give continuous selection of frequencies, gains and filter widths. Keyboard modifiers make it quick to achieve the settings you need.

Shelf & Bell filters

The control rack is organized into three main sections, corresponding to the three different EQ bands (low-shelf filter, parametric bell filter, and high-shelf filter). For authenticity, the controls can be stepped to a restricted set of values.

Mid-Side processing

Each band can be used on the entire stereo signal, or switched into operating with a single focus: the Mid only, to process mono, central audio or the Side only, to process stereo, non-central audio.

Auto-gain

This control compensates for volume changes introduced by equalization, keeping output level consistent with input. It uses a C-Weighting-based algorithm to introduce a level compensation based on EQ curve analysis. The compensation gain applied only depends on your EQ settings and won’t change during playback.

Oversampling

A selectable oversampling mode is available for computers that can handle it, with processing at rates up to 384 kHz. You can choose for higher oversampling settings to be applied at export than at playback.

Presets from top-notch producers

We’re fortunate to have the support and collaboration of countless talented engineers and producers. You can take full advantage of their expertise with presets that offer superb starting points for your mixing or mastering sessions.

Metering & Spectrum analyser

The on-screen analyzer displays the audio spectrum in real-time (fast and slow window settings) or over the long-term with the Infinite Spectrum setting. In addition, peak metering provides insight into overall dynamics, and RMS meters let you monitor loudness and level matching. An overall gain meter is also available.

Smart GUI

Pulsar w495 comes all wrapped up in a responsive and resizable interface. A resize handle enables you to choose the perfect size for each use case, from nice and compact to highly visible.