Lisa is a digital emulation of a dynamic EQ hardware processor of the same name from Tomo Audiolabs. It differs from the typical dynamic EQ plug-in in that it relies more on the user’s ears than graphic frequency displays. In addition to modeling the original hardware, Plugin Alliance added quite a few “digital-only” features that add additional processing flexibility.
Lisa’s original hardware was designed for mixing and mastering applications, although its extensive adjustability makes it particularly suited for the latter. Like the original, the plug-in emulation features a parallel signal flow, where each band gets separately processed and sent to the output for summing. That keeps the processing of one from impacting the others, making for a more transparent result.
Lisa lets you individually process six bands, including Lo Boost, Lo, Lo Mid, Hi Mid and Hi Boost. You also get independent Lo- and Hi-Cut filters. The filter section of each band includes Gain, Frequency and Q controls. The Lo and Hi Boost bands include a shelving-filter option.
Each band also features an optical compression/expansion section that you engage with a Threshold knob and adjust with a Ratio button. Plugin Alliance describes the latter as the functional equivalent of a compressor/limiter switch. A six-way switch lets you choose between Fast, Medium, or Slow attack and release settings for each band in any combination (Fast/Fast, Fast/Slow, Fast/Medium etc.).
Each band’s filter and dynamics sections can be independently switched on and off. You can also choose between three global processing modes: stereo, dual mono, and mid-side.
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The plug-in provides extensive soloing options. You can listen to each band soloed or press the Dry Mute button to hear only the processed part of the summed output signal.
In the TMT section, you can set the left and right channels for any pair of twenty different channels, each with slight variations between them based on component tolerances. You can choose adjacent or random channels. If you’d prefer left and right to be identical, you can select the Digital option.
Other digital-only features include a Mono Maker knob that folds the signal to mono below a user-adjustable frequency and a Stereo Width knob to widen or reduce the stereo image at the output.
The Headroom control lets you boost or cut the output of each filter (globally) to change how much gain gets sent to the Dynamics section, thus affecting the amount of compression or expansion.
Lisa is available for an introductory price of $199.99. It’s included for subscribers to Plugin Alliance’s Mega and Mix & Master bundles.
