Preamp and EQ · €35 + VAT or in the subscription
The A-Pre EQ: the colour without the volume
A class-A preamp with transformers and a three-band EQ, inspired by the legendary British console preamp of the 70s. Turn up the DRIVE and the colour changes, not the volume: the level compensates itself.
It's in the Astra Creative Audio subscription — if you're already in, it's yours without paying a cent more.
What it does
Three bands and a filter. Highs and lows as shelves of up to 16 dB, mids as a ±18 dB bell between 360 Hz and 7.2 kHz, and a high-pass from 14 to 400 Hz at 18 dB per octave. Everything is continuous, with the factory positions marked, and the mid Q opens when boosting and tightens when cutting.
The DRIVE has thirteen steps and the level changes in none of them: the auto-trim compensates. So you compare the colour itself, not whichever is louder.
And what the hardware never had: M/S to EQ only the centre or only the sides, a dry/wet MIX with the dry signal aligned, polarity flip and ×1, ×2 or ×4 oversampling, hidden in the ASTRA logo.
What you get
It's included in the subscription. Anyone with Astra Sampler FX has it, and the subscription price doesn't go up because of it.
Or buy it on its own, if you only want the EQ: a one-off €35 + VAT, and it's yours. Not a subscription, not a licence that expires.
Why try it
Because we publish what we measure. These figures come from our test bench, which runs the same engine you download.
Across all thirteen steps, with a small signal: the colour goes up, the level stays put.
With an 11 kHz tone and DRIVE maxed. At ×2 it's −31.3, without oversampling −14.8.
The same at ×1, ×2 and ×4: changing the oversampling doesn't shift the track.
The knob marking is the −3 dB point, at 18 dB per octave.
Distortion runs from 0.10% with DRIVE at zero to 15.1% maxed, rising step by step. And all of it costs 2.1% of one core at a buffer of 64 at ×4 (0.5% without oversampling).
Where we don't win
Without oversampling, heavy colour leaves aliasing: −14.8 dBc in the 11 kHz test with DRIVE maxed. To push it, go to ×2 or ×4 in the ASTRA logo.
The output transformer takes 0.26 dB off at 20 kHz. On purpose: it's the curve of the iron, and it's the same at ×1, ×2 and ×4.
Formats and requirements
macOS: VST3, Audio Unit and a standalone app, universal binary (Intel and Apple Silicon),
macOS 10.13 or later.
Windows: 64-bit VST3, Windows 10 or later. Mono and stereo, any sample
rate.
A heads-up: the installers aren't signed with a paid certificate, so macOS will say it can't verify the developer and Windows may show a SmartScreen warning. On macOS you approve it in System Settings → Privacy & Security; it's explained step by step on the download page.