If you’re looking to add the sound of API consoles into your music, the Plugin Alliance Lindell Audio 50 Series is an intriguing option. It offers a selection of modeled API processors in a modular channel-strip format.
It’s the latest Plugin Alliance product to employ the Brainworx Tolerance Modeling Technology, which emulates the slight differences between channels in an analog console. The Lindell Audio 50 Series includes 32 different TMT channel emulations. You can open either a Channel or Buss version of the plug-in, in either mono or stereo.
Rather than offering just one processor configuration, like many console plug-ins, the Channel version of the Lindell Audio 50 Series plug-in lets you select from several modeled API EQ and compression modules to put between the preamp and expander gate sections. You can mix and match to create custom configurations.
The preamp section, which emulates the behavior of an API unit, is on the far left of the GUI. Featuring input gain range of -6dB to +24dB, it includes ladder-style VU meters for input and output, an adjustable highpass filter, a -20dB Pad and a Unity gain switch that keeps the output fixed at even if you turn on the Pad. The THD control governs the amount of harmonic distortion, which you can increase or decrease from its default, 12 o’clock position.
The next module over is the EQ, which offers three choices, all modeling API 500 Series EQs. The 50A includes three semi-parametric bands. You can toggle the low and high bands between bell and shelving filters, and switch in a bandpass filter.
The 50B module is like the 50A but with four bands and no bandpass option.
The 60 equalizer is a 10-band graphic EQ that gives you the ability to quickly do some pretty significant frequency shaping. The bands can all be boosted or cut by 12dB and are fixed at 31 Hz, 63 Hz, 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1 kHz, 2 kHz, 4 kHz, 8 kHz and 16 kHz.
You can choose from two different compressors. The VCA compressor, an emulation of an API 2500 Series unit, offers some useful options. These include a Soft Knee switch, a Niveau switch that turns on a sidechain filter, and a button that enables you to flip between feedback and feed-forward operation.
FET is the other Compressor choice. Modeled from an API 525, it offers some handy options like a De-Esser mode, a Ceiling control that governs both the amount of compression and the makeup gain, and a highpass filter for the sidechain.
Lindell Audio also modeled the Noise Gate from API hardware. Among its features are an Expander mode, Hysteresis control, and a button called Inverted that flips the gate functionality to open when signal drops below the threshold.
The Master section includes a Level Fader, Cut (bypass button), and a Phase button. If you open the Buss version of the plug-in, it’s much simplified—just a line amp (±15dB of gain) and the master section, but no EQ, compression or gating.
I had a chance to try the Lindell Audio Series 50 and was impressed with its punchy sound and processor options. If you want to take it for a test drive, you can get a 14-day, fully functional trial version at the Plugin Alliance site.
The plug-in is available as a standalone purchase or part of Plugin Alliance’s Mega or Mix and Master subscription bundles.
