THE COOLTEC2 MEQ-5 MID-RANGE PROGRAM EQUALIZER For Nebula Pro

Program List

MEQ-5 PEAK1
MEQ-5 PEAK2
MEQ-5 PEAK-ALL
MEQ-5 DIP
MEQ-5 BC1
MEQ-5 BC2
MEQ-5 BC-ALL
MEQ-5-PRE-EQ-IN
MEQ-5-PRE-EQ-OUT
MEQ-5 PEAK1 CLN
MEQ-5 PEAK2 CLN
MEQ-5 PEAK-ALL CLN
MEQ-5 DIP CLN
MEQ-5 BC1 CLN
MEQ-5 BC2 CLN
MEQ-5 BC-ALL CLN
MEQ-5-PRE-EQ-IN CLN
MEQ-5-PRE-EQ-OUT CLN

MEQ-5 PEAK1
This program provides you with the first “Peak” group of frequencies. This is the first dial on the left side of the unit, providing the Low-Mid frequencies. It is controlled by boost levels from 0-10. This loosely represents dB. These settings are provided in even 1/2 steps. The steps are graded, meaning that they represent perfectly even movements from each half-step turn, but the device’s response from lower gain levels are smaller than the last few steps. This is the character of the device provided, and gives a great amount of control over small changes in gain. This dial controls the following frequencies:
200Hz, 300Hz, 500Hz, 700Hz, 1000Hz.

MEQ-5 PEAK1 CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5 PEAK2
This program provides you with the second “Peak” group of frequencies. This dial is on the far right side of the unit, providing the High-Mid frequencies. It is controlled by boost levels from 0-10. This loosely represents dB. These settings are provided in 1/2 steps. The steps are graded, meaning that they represent perfectly even movements from each half-step turn, but the device’s resposne from lower gain levels are smaller than the last few steps. This is the character of the device provided, and gives a great amount of control over small changes in gain. This dial controls the following frequencies:
1500Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, 4000Hz, 5000Hz.

MEQ-5 PEAK2 CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5 PEAK-ALL
This program provides you with both “Peak” dial sets of frequencies on a single control. This dial controls the following frequencies:
200Hz, 300Hz, 500Hz, 700Hz, 1000Hz, 1500Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, 4000Hz, 5000Hz.

MEQ-5 PEAK-ALL CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5 DIP
This program provides you with the “DIP” dial frequencies on a single control, and a control from 0-10 in 1/2 step increments. Each 1/2 step increment is perfectly even, but the unit responds with very small dB changes above 8dB. The gain controls how much of the selected frequency is reduced, as it is on the hardware. The “DIP” control is found in the center of the MEQ-5. This dial controls the following frequencies:
200Hz, 300Hz, 500Hz, 700Hz, 1000Hz, 1500Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, 4000Hz, 5000Hz, 7000Hz.

MEQ-5 DIP CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5 BC1
This program provides you with the boost-cut feature that the Pultec is famous for. Since there are separate boost and cut controls for similar frequencies, it is possible to get an unusual sonic character by boosting and cutting the same frequencies at the same time. This program provides the features that can be found on the first “Peak” selector and the “Dip” selector. This dial controls the following frequencies:
200Hz, 300Hz, 500Hz, 700Hz, 1000Hz.

MEQ-5 BC1 CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5 BC2
This program provides you with the boost-cut feature that the Pultec is famous for. Since there are separate boost and cut controls for similar frequencies, it is possible to get an unusual sonic character by boosting and cutting the same frequencies at the same time. This program provides the features that can be found on the second “Peak” selector and the “Dip” selector. This dial controls the following frequencies:
1500Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, 4000Hz, 5000Hz.

MEQ-5 BC2 CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5 BC-ALL
This program provides you with all of the Boost-Cut frequencies from the “BC1” and “BC2” programs above. This dial controls the following frequencies:
200Hz, 300Hz, 500Hz, 700Hz, 1000Hz, 1500Hz, 2000Hz, 3000Hz, 4000Hz, 5000Hz.

MEQ-5 BC-ALL CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5-PRE-EQ-IN
This program provides you with the sound of the Pultec MEQ-5 with the EQ circuit turned on and all gain set to 0dB.

MEQ-5PREEQIN CLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

MEQ-5-PRE-EQ-OUT
This program provides you with the sound of the Pultec MEQ-5 with the EQ circuit turned off.

MEQ-5PREEQOUTCLN
This program is the same as above with the harmonic content removed.

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About “THE COOLTEC2 MEQ-5 MID-RANGE PROGRAM EQUALIZER For Nebula Pro”

“THE COOLTEC2 MEQ-5 MID-RANGE PROGRAM EQUALIZER For Nebula Pro” allows you to turn your Nebula Pro host plug-in into a classic, vintage Pultec Mid-Range Equalizer! The programs allow you to use the exact same functions available on the original unit. The “Peak1” and “Peak2” programs are the same two separate sets of gain-boosting programs of the original MEQ-5 with separate controls for gain from 0-10. Each position is evenly measured in 1/2 steps. The behavior of the original unit is represented identically in the response of each result.

The “Peak-All” program combines all of the frequencies from the first and second Peak controllers. The wonderful thing about Nebula Pro is that it makes it possible to provide features that are not found on the original unit without any sacrifice to the integrity of the absolute sonic signature of the device. This program takes more cpu to run, but is a good choice if you are experimenting with using the MEQ-5 on a mix or individual track, and don’t know what frequency it will be needed for. You can sweep frequencies to see what works best and if needed, you can swap it out for “Peak1” or “Peak2” once you know what is needed.

The “Dip” program provides the control found in the center of the MEQ-5. This controls the “Cut” function of the unit. It has its own separate gain controller in 1/2 steps from 0-10.

The “BC” programs give you the Boost-Cut frequency character that the Pultec is famous for. Although these are designed for flexibility in tone-shaping, the reasoning behind simultaneous boosting and cutting is purely experimental. You get a very unique response by applying the same amount of gain to the same boost and cut frequencies. At some positions the shape of the filters are very close to mirror opposites, which result in coming close to cancelling each other out. At other settings, as the shapes of the filters are unique, you get the resulting ‘difference’ in shape of width and volume. These programs make it easier than working with the original unit. Instead of positioning all four related knobs to boost/cut, you have the frequency controls united on a single knob, and both gain changes on a single knob. “BC1” gives you the boost and cut available on the “Peak1” and “Dip” knobs. The “BC2” program gives you the result of the “Paek2” and “Dip” knobs. The “BC-All” program lets you boost/cut every frequency from all Peak and Dip frequencies available on one control.

All of the “CLN” programs are ‘clean’, meaning that they are identical to the corresponding programs, but with the harmonic distortion removed. This can be useful if you wish to use an even cleaner version of the Pultec. They can also be used with a single instance of the Preamp EQ-In or out, or they can be used for the purpose of conserving cpu or combining with the harmonic content of another device.

If you would like to use the Pultec in the exact same manner as the original unit with multiple bands, it is simple to do! You can work in serial or in parallel. For parallel, place your sound file on track one with an instance of Nebula Pro. Load “Peak1”. Duplicate this track and on track two load the “Dip” program instead. Now duplicate a third track and change this instance to “Peak2”. Now you can boost/cut any combination of all 3 bands and each maintains the same overall device response instead of feeding one in/out chain into the next. This is called working in parallel. It uses the cpu required for each set of controls, but if you want flexibility, it is an excellent way to work with the unit

If you want full flexibility of the Pultec MEQ-5 in your session but do not know what it may need to be patched in place for, you can place it on an open folder group or group buss, or groups for each band, and set them to bypass. This way, they are available in your session but won’t take performance away until needed.

The Pultec constitutes a device that is known for adding a pleasant character even when not used for eq. It is easy to apply this character to all of your tracks without sacrificing performance. I recommend backing up your session files, and then rendering all of the originals in an off-line batch. They will all remain in sync with each other, and the resulting files will all have the results of passing through the device without sacrificing the cpu it would require to load the preamp programs in the session for each individual track. This concept can also apply to using the “CLN” programs in the session, since the tracks will already receive the full spectrum of harmonics from the unit!