The latest addition to Acustica’s Acqua series bundles together three individual plug-ins that the company say reproduce the sonic behaviour of a series of high-end British recording consoles — if you’re wonder which ones, the the GUI styling may be a bit of a giveaway! Sand 4 Ultra comes loaded with compressor, EQ and channel strip plug-ins based on the company’s Hyper technology and new Aria engine.
First up is Sand 4 EQ Ultra, a four-band equaliser that also features high- and low-pass filters, and comes equipped with a choice of several preamp options. Both the low and high bands offer adjustable (±18dB) gain and frequency controls, while the low- and high-mid bands are kitted out with ±21dB gain controls along with adjustable frequency and Q. Input and output trim controls are provided to keep levels in check, and a large display offers a visual indication of the resulting EQ curve, and can be interacted with directly to take control of the plug-in’s settings.
Sand 4 Comp Ultra then turns its attention to compression, offering two switchable modes (Comp a and Comp B) that emulate the channel and bus compressor sections of the popular console. There’s a wealth of controls on offer, with all of the usual suspects joined by some nice extras that include adjustable attack and release hold parameters, variable stereo link control, Mid-Side operation and a control to morph seamlessly between compression, limiting and saturation.
Finally, there’s Sand 4 Hyper Channelstrip, which offers both compression and EQ in a single plug-in, alongside adjustable Pre Harmonics and (stereo) Spread parameters.
Compatibility
Sand 4 Ultra is supported on PCs running Windows 10 or 11, and Macs running macOS 10.15 and higher. VST, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available.
Pricing & Availability
Sand 4 Ultra is available now, and is being offered for an introductory price of €79 (reduced from €219) until 21 May 2024.
