Whether you want to use the expander to add some 2kHz transient energy to the middle channel of a drum buss or carve out space by feeding a vocal into the sidechain input on a full-sounding guitar part, it can all be done with speed and precision. Just a Phase The key word for Pro-MB is flexibility, with a large collection of presets showcasing what the plug-in is capable of. Luckily, context-sensitive help hints appear when you roll over an item, helping you to understand all the various controls. Other key features include a global dry/wet mix dial for parallel processing, up to 4x oversampling, band solo/mute and bypass options, and M/S volume so you can expand or narrow the width of any band. Notably, the input level for each band shows up as a volume meter around the threshold knob, which makes setting the right threshold a breeze, and the amount of gain-reduction is subsequently shown across the middle of the spectrum analyser as a crisp yellow line. Everything links directly to the exquisite main GUI, so it’s easy to see what effect your tweaks are having.
#FABFILTER PRO Q2 SIDECHAIN PLUS#
Here you’re presented with threshold, range, attack, release, output gain, ratio, knee and lookahead, plus an Expert panel that accesses controls for M/S and sidechain input. Things get more interesting, though, when you turn to the dynamics controls. You can also control the steepness of each crossover slope and boost or attenuate the band, much like a traditional EQ. If two bands are near to each other they will snap together to form a more traditional crossover system, but they can be easily broken apart again by clicking on the unzip icon. Like FabFilter’s Saturn, you simply hover over where you want to add a band and then click. The first thing you notice is that the bands can be placed anywhere in the spectrum, allowing you to focus on specific frequency spots and essentially making Pro-MB more of a dynamic EQ plug-in.
#FABFILTER PRO Q2 SIDECHAIN PRO#
However, working with multiple bands can prove confusing, and the sheer amount of power it provides can have disastrous results if you don’t know what you’re doing…Ī Band Apart Pro-MB is available in VST, AU and various Pro Tools formats and features up to six bands of compression or expansion.