Acustica Audio’s free Eminence channel strip plugin offers EQ and compression for a “creamy” old-school sound

When it comes to free plugins this holiday season, ‘warmth’ is definitely the theme. First we had Tape Mello-Fi, Arturia’s vibey lo-fi Mellotron-flavoured tape emulation, and now Acustica Audio has added more fuel to the festive freebie fire with the release of Eminence, a ‘creamy’ channel strip.

Designed for adding that often elusive vintage mojo, this contains a rare ‘60s British 3-band EQ that made its name in “probably one of the most famous and mythical worldwide broadcast studios,” at a time when record labels actually had their own studios and designed and built the majority of their recording gear.

On top of that - or rather beside it on the old-school GUI - there’s a ‘Frankenstein’ compressor that mashes together two classic solid-state dynamic compressors - 591, an Optical Compressor; and the 612 FET Limiter - both from a certain US audio electronics company.

Finally, you get the preamp stages from all three of the aforementioned units.

Eminence runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats and can be acquired for free by downloading the Aquarius software manager. You’ll also need an Acustica Audio account.

Find out more on the Acustica Audio website.