Weiss Complete Collection 2 (upgrade from Weiss EQ MP)

Important Note: This is an upgrade path for existing owners of Weiss EQ MP. The standard purchase path is available here. Other upgrade paths are also available here for existing owners of Softube Weiss plugins.

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High-end Mastering, Scaled-Down Price

• Value: This choice collection of plug-ins gives you indispensable, high-end Weiss mastering at a fraction of the price when purchased separately​.
• Authenticity: The included plug-ins have been developed in close collaboration with, and are authorized by, Weiss Engineering and Daniel Weiss​.
• Options: A curated collection of crucial plug-ins—Exciter, DS1-MK3, MM-1, Compressor/Limiter, Deess, EQ1, and Gambit Series channel strip for Console 1​.

Weiss. It’s the name in audio mastering. Synonymous with sound quality, the value of the Weiss Engineering suite of mastering tools is undeniable. But with premium instruments come premium price tags. This hand-picked bundle allows you to own the gold-standard in mastering gear for pennies on the list price.

Take your work to a calibre heard, or rather unheard, on virtually every major record of the past two decades. Created in collaboration with Weiss Engineering, these exactingly modelled plug-ins bring unsurpassed mastering excellence into the DAW-based studio. Compression, limiting, de-essing, mix maximizing, equalizing; get all the essential mastering elements at an exceptional value.

Softube & Weiss: Meeting of the Minds

Weiss has been a pioneer in digital audio equipment design since 1979. That’s when Weiss founder, Daniel Weiss, joined Willi Studer AG in Switzerland as an engineer. In 1985, Weiss struck out on his own and founded Weiss Engineering with a focus on pioneering digital audio equipment for Mastering Studios. The result of that endeavour is now legend.

Softube’s relationship with Weiss started in 2008 when they were first introduced to Daniel Weiss. Despite having so many guiding principles in common, it wasn’t until 2015 that Softube got serious about working together. Three years—and some blood, sweat, and tears—later, the Softube + Weiss DS1-MK3 plug-in was unveiled to great fanfare. And the tradition continues.

Weiss Exciter

Can an exciter be considered transparent?

Developed through the collaboration between Softube and Weiss Engineering, Weiss Exciter does what no other exciter plug-in can: it adds harmonic content so naturally it feels like part of the original sound – no overcooked distortion or exaggerated EQ in sight.

The result is the subtle, transparent enhancement of vibrancy and crispness and preservation of the integrity of the mix. The harmonics sound so organic, it’s like they were always there.

Transparent How?

Traditional exciters often overdo it by overemphasizing bright EQ or applying harsh multi-band distortion. This results in an overprocessed sound that compromises the original character. The Weiss Exciter offers a more refined solution, enhancing audio with musically relevant harmonics and minimal EQ coloration. This is achieved through four key features: adaptive non-linearities to generate consistent harmonics at any level, a mastering mode that reduces fundamental frequencies in distortion, sharp phase-compensated filters, and four mathematically defined harmonic modes. Weiss Exciter is a technological leap in harmonic excitation that is true to the precision and transparency of the Weiss name.

Easy to use, with expert mastering features

Despite its advanced processing, the Weiss Exciter is intuitive to operate. A frequency visualization lets users define a focus band for excitation and an output band for where harmonics are added. Users control four harmonic modes, stereo width, filter types, and the unique Mastering switch. For professional mastering engineers, an expert panel offers deeper control over harmonic shaping for precision and transparency at the highest level.

Features

• The world’s first transparent mastering exciter
• Included in Flow® Mastering Suite and as a standalone perpetual plug-in
• Mastering mode that reduces fundamental frequencies
• Adaptive non-linearities
• Linear Phase mode
• Independent Target and Output bands
• Four Harmonic Modes
• Professional mastering engineer options
• Console 1-ready

Learn more about Weiss Exciter.

Weiss EQ1

A 1:1 Code Port of the Weiss EQ with No Equal

• A line-by-line code port boasting 1:1 accuracy of the pioneering original hardware, known as the standard of digital mastering EQs​.
• Increased functionality of the original algorithms, plus 32-bit / 192 kHz operation and updated ergonomics.
• Easy manual recall of Presets that sound and behave exactly like they do in the hardware​.

The Original and Still the Best

The original Weiss EQ1 is the stick by which all digital mastering EQs are measured. EQ1 boasts seven identical parametric bands that cover the entire audio frequency range and have an incredible Q-parameter range of 0.2 to 650. Each EQ band has Boost/Cut, Frequency, and Q/Slope knobs and operate in any of the following modes: High-shelving, Low-shelving, Peaking, High-cut, Low-cut, and Bypass. High auditory quality and functional design made the EQ1 a bestseller in 1996 and solidified its status as the top digital mastering EQ in the field going forward.

Features

• A line-by-line code port of the original Weiss EQ1, the standard-bearer of digital mastering EQs and a must-have for mastering houses worldwide.
• A surgical Minimum Phase EQ, a true Linear Phase EQ, and a Dynamic EQ—all in one.
• 7 full-range bands with -39 to +18 db Cut/Boost range.
• Threshold, Attack, Release and Ratio parameters available on individual bands in Dynamic Advanced Mode.
• Operates in Minimum Phase, Linear Phase, Dynamic and Dynamic Advanced Modes.
• High and Low Cut, High and Low Shelving and Peaking Incredible Q-Range of 0.2 to 650 M/S Processing, Solo/bypass individual bands and Link Channels 4 user interface layouts Up to 192kHz sample rates and, with 64-Bit internal processing.
• Workflow and ergonomic advancements with four adaptable user interfaces.
• Created in collaboration with—and endorsed by—Weiss Engineering.

Learn more about Weiss EQ1.

Weiss Gambit Series For Console 1

The Crystal-Clear Sound of Weiss for Console 1

• A tidy channel strip based on 1:1 code ports of the original Weiss DS1-MK3 and EQ1 units​.
• Created in partnership with—and officially licensed by—Weiss Engineering​.
• With special features such as below-threshold compression​.

It’s here. One of the most highly requested components for Console 1 makes its debut. Introducing the Weiss Gambit Series for Console 1. A painstaking extraction of the top features from two of the most admired digital processors, Weiss DS1-MK3 and Weiss EQ1—plus characteristic extras—the result is the clean, sharp channel strip engineers everywhere have been waiting for.

Joining a storied slew of offerings in the successful partnership of Softube and Weiss Engineering, Weiss Gambit Series gives you the algorithms of the originals. But it also sports exclusive, high-end features such as below-threshold compression. Weiss Gambit Series channel strip for Console 1: created for mastering, now tailor-made for mixing.

Features

• A tailor-made for mixing channel strip for Console 1.
• Improved functionality and features for the Console 1 workflow.
• A neat and clean channel strip based on 1:1 code ports of the Weiss DS1-MK3 and EQ1.
• High and Low-Cut filters from the Weiss EQ1.
• Gate, Expander and Below Threshold Compression in Shape section.
• 4 Band EQ from the Weiss EQ1.
• Compressor from the Weiss DS1-MK3.
• Limiter from the Weiss DS1-MK3 with added modes from the Weiss MM-1.
• Thoroughly unique below-threshold compression.
• Created in partnership with—and officially licensed by—Weiss Engineering.

Learn more about Weiss Gambit Series For Console 1.

Weiss DS1-MK3

The Gold Standard in Mastering

Mastering compression, limiting, and de-essing without compromise. Every mastering engineer’s fondest dream is about to come true. Softube's plug-in is a line-by-line code port of the legendary Weiss DS1-MK3 mastering processor — the unit no serious mastering engineer can do without.

Since its launch in the 1990s, the Weiss DS1 has become an absolute gold-standard unit, indispensable in mastering studios around the world despite a premium price tag. Its transparency, unparalleled versatility, and exceptional sound quality make it a must-have, heard (or rather not heard) on pretty much any major record you’d care to mention from the last twenty years. And in that time updates and improvements by Weiss have led to the near-perfection of the DS1-MK3.

And now for the first time ever, it is available as a plug-in from Softube, offering more flexibility than ever in a modern DAW environment, at a fraction of the cost.

Features

• Officially licensed and endorsed by Daniel Weiss himself.
• Not an emulation, but a line-by-line code port of the original digital hardware.
• Exactly the same processor as the $10,000 original, at a fraction of the cost.
• Three processors in one; de-ess, compress, and limit, with the industry-standard tool.
• Processes at resolutions of up to 32 bit/192 kHz for exceptional sound quality.
• Advanced metering - waveform view.
• Featuring all-new presets from Bob Katz.
• Truly versatile de-essing. Choose your own filters, adjust frequency, and tailor the process to your needs working in stereo or mid-sides.
• Digital compressor can operate at speeds no analogue unit ever could and offers you total control.
• Two brand-new limiter algorithms included, as well as the Weiss original.
• Run multiple instances of this legendary unit on the same mix at no extra cost.
• Nothing sounds as clean, as transparent, as good. That’s why the hardware is in every major mastering studio in the world.

Learn more about Weiss DS1-MK3.

Weiss MM-1

Loudness Done Right

Based on the legendary Weiss DS1-MK3, the centrepiece of mastering studios the world over (and also now available as a Softube plug-in), the future of fast and professional mix maximizing is now here - the MM-1 Mastering Maximizer.

Featuring the very same algorithms as the original digital hardware unit, the MM-1 offers five flavours of limiting; Transparent, Loud, Punch, Wide, and De-ess; intelligently progressing as the ‘amount’ knob turns, and blendable with the mix control, to give users precisely the right amount of power over the feel of their masters.

Crucial to this plug-in is that it can’t sound bad - the intelligent processes happening under the hood as the amount knob turns; the filtering, compression, de-essing, and so on; have been carefully designed by highly experienced mastering engineers using the industry-standard DS1-MK3 as a foundation.

And there’s no better mastering limiter out there. This product allows users to get their mixes exactly as loud as they want, with exactly the sound they want, without sacrificing dynamics and musicality.

Features

• Simple interface controlling detailed expert mastering processes.
• Five ‘flavours’ of limiting available.
• Contains the very same technology as the legendary hardware mastering processor, the Weiss MM-1.
• Fully licensed and endorsed by Daniel Weiss himself.
• Great for maximizing your mix-bus quickly and effectively.
• Go as loud as you want; louder than any other product out there; without sacrificing desirable tone and dynamics.
• Impossible to get it wrong. Be the master of your own masters!

Learn more about Weiss MM-1.

Weiss Compressor/Limiter

The Modern & Transparent Mastering Compressor/Limiter

The mastering stage is the last chance to make or break a track, so getting it right can be the difference between a battle won or lost. That’s why the startling transparency and effectiveness of the Weiss digital compression algorithms, and its unrivalled versatility in terms of detailed control over attack and release times, knee settings, ratio, threshold, filters (low pass and bandpass), and other crucial factors, are a must-have.

And being able to push a track to the appropriate degree of loudness without unpleasant artefacts from the limiter is rightfully expected of any modern mastering engineer. That’s when the quality of your tools really matters; the Weiss is the only product that allows you to achieve such a clean, sweet, and dynamic sound at high levels. And with two brand-new advanced limiter algorithms on top of the Weiss original, you have more top-of-the-line options with Weiss than ever before.

But it’s perhaps the new visualisations that really make the Compressor/Limiter a no-brainer. Being able to see in detail the precise effect you’re having on your signal; where things are working nicely and where you might be over or under-compressing; allows you to know your material better and make the right calls with a degree of precision and detail that even the very best ears can’t promise.

Features

• A modern and transparent digital compressor and limiter, with code-ported algorithms from the industry-standard DS1-MK3.
• Total control, without an over-complicated interface. The ‘expert’ tools are all in a hidden side-menu.
• Stunning and intuitive visualisations for detailed control, and intuitive experience.
• Clean tweak-and-go faceplate, with immensely detailed controls hidden in side-menu.
• Ultra-professional tool, but without the daunting, complex look.
• Compress selectively, with low pass and bandpass filters.
• Two brand-new advanced limiter algorithms in addition to the Weiss original.
• Available as a single plug-in, or as part of the Weiss DS1-MK3 collection.

Learn more about Weiss Compressor/Limiter.

Weiss Deess

Whether you’re trying to tame sibilance in a lead vocal, rein in a sharp-sounding hi-hat, or reduce harshness while mastering, a truly great de-esser is as elusive as it is essential. Enter the Weiss Deess, available as an individual plug-in or as part of the Weiss DS1-MK3 collection. Most de-essers – even modern digital or plug-in units – lack versatility, user-friendliness, appropriate visualisation, or quite simply don’t work like you hope they will.

With a combination of the highly-prized sonics of the industry gold-standard Weiss DS1-MK3 – the go-to digital hardware de-essing unit used in top mastering studios the world over – and a totally modern and focused approach in design, Softube is psyched to announce the Weiss Deess Plug-in.

First of all, it has two completely independent bands. Most de-essers have one, but almost no sibilant has a single-frequency focus, especially when you’re dealing with complex material or mastering applications.

Secondly, it has a variety of filter shapes and excellent band-width control, allowing you to home in on precisely what you need to deal with, without collateral damage.

Thirdly, it has unparalleled visualizations. A large, colorful, and intuitive display shows FFT readouts as well as your filter shapes, so you can clearly see what effect you’re having on your signal.

Fourthly, the faceplate GUI is uncluttered, focusing on giving great visual information, but a side-menu allows control over everything; ratios, attack and release times, knee settings, make-up gain and more.

Fifth, a low-latency mode allows you to de-ess in tracking, saving the tedium in the mix of what can often feel like a non-creative editing task. Nothing beats getting it right on the way in.

Lastly, and most importantly of all, the Weiss algorithms, code-ported from the gold-standard DS1-MK3 unit, provide the best sounding de-essing in the world. It does the job effectively and transparently, without hassle or artefact.

Features

• The best-sounding de-esser available, with code-ported algorithms from the industry-standard DS1-MK3.
• Two bands of de-essing. This is the only de-esser you’ll need.
• Stunning and intuitive visualisations make this de-esser a breeze to use.
• Clean tweak-and-go faceplate, with immensely detailed controls hidden in side-menu.
• Ultra-professional tool, but without the daunting, complex look.
• Low-latency mode allows you to de-ess while tracking a vocal.
• All the versatility you need in terms of filter shapes, frequencies etc.

Learn more about Weiss Deess.

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System Requirements

• macOS Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13
• Windows 10 (64-bit), Windows 11
• Softube account
• iLok account
• Computer with AU, VST, VST3, and/or AAX-compatible DAW host software
• Internet access (for downloading installers and managing licenses)

Supported CPU Families 

• Apple macOS computers with Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or Apple silicon (M1 or newer) CPU. Apple silicon is supported natively. 
• Windows computers with quad-core Intel Core i3/i5/i7 or AMD quad-core processors with SSE 4.2 support.
• Other Intel processors (Celeron, Pentium, and Xeon) are compatible if they support SSE 4.2 instructions. 

Supported Host Software (DAW)  

Any 64-bit VST, VST3, AU, or AAX (Pro Tools 11.0.2 or higher) compatible host application should work. However, due to plug-in host differences between DAWs—and our rigorous standards—Softube only officially test their plug-ins and instruments in the most recent versions of Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One, and Reaper. Softube plug-ins are not tested regularly in non-listed systems. They will likely work if the system requirements are met. However, the manufacturer cannot guarantee a solution for issues in unsupported systems. 
  
Softube strongly recommend using VST3, as some of their plug-ins have features that are not present in the older VST format. Supported sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, and 192 kHz, in both mono and stereo. The most recent maintenance release of your DAW application is recommended. AAX DSP is not currently in active development. TDM/VENUE/RTAS are no longer supported. See Legacy Installers.

Important Note: Make sure that you always use the latest iLok License Manager. It is not included in the Softube installer but can be downloaded from www.ilok.com​