Softube Trident A-Range

Softube's Trident A-Range is an equalizer plug-in that is designed after a real Trident console. This is one of the best console emulations out there that I've used, as it's endorsed by Trident themselves and has a very realistic interface. As long as you have a compatible system, you shouldn't have any issues installing it as it only took me a few short minutes to get it going. Learning the interface should be easy even if you are unfamiliar with the original Trident console that this is modeled after, which I'm not sure on the model #. It's a four band EQ, with each band consisting of four frequencies to choose from and a gain slider for cutting or boosting. It also has a high and low pass filter, each of which has three frequencies to choose from. Lastly, in keeping with the original Trident channel strip, it has a phase button, a saturation parameter and an overall output leveler. I haven't seen a manual for this plug-in so I can't speak to it's worth.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Right now I'm running the Softube Trident A-Range plug-in in Pro Tools LE 8 on my Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. I run Pro Tools LE with a Digi 002R audio interface and I monitor with a set of Adam A7's. Thus far I've been able to run the plug-in smoothly and without issues, but this is only while running a few instances at a time within a single session. I've yet to try and bring up a fully loaded session and try to throw EQ's on each, so I can't say what it's max power is. However, it only takes up a modest amount of processing power so most users shouldn't encounter too many performance issues.

OVERALL OPINION

I've only had the Softube Trident A-Range in my DAW at home for a couple of months, but I've really been loving my time with it in this short window. It's truly a great software EQ and it's super easy to use and has a clean tone. I can generally do everything I'd like on it in terms of finding the right frequencies, but it isn't fully parametric so if you're trying to zoom in on something it's probably not the best choice. However, for adding color via EQ here and there, it's pretty much perfect for a piece of software. I always prefer to use hardware, but at home where I don't have much it's great to be able to have something like this that sounds great and is easy to use inside the box. Softube's Trident A-Range is a must try for anyone interested in a nice software EQ.