HoRNet ThirtyOne MK2

ThirtyOne MK2 2.1.0 is available, this update of our graphic equalizer is free for owners of the plugin and includes:

• Added Apple M1 support

• Fixed wrong manufacturer name in AAX

• Fixed sliders with increased value when session was saved with eq amount greater than 50%

• Fixed LED bars being displayed at full level when no sound was present in some DAWs

Spectrum analyzer and 31 band graphic equalizer with Auto EQ

ThirtyOne MK2 is a plugin that includes a spectrum analyzer and a graphic equalizer, both featuring the standard 31 one-third octave bands.

This pair of tools is common in every rack of any live mixer as the final tool in the master bus. For this reason, we recreated the behavior and specific time response of a very common Italian analog spectrum analyzer.

The graphic equalizer also draws inspiration from analog units, allowing ThirtyOne to deliver that master chain feeling you’re used to.

We took great care in recreating the smooth lighting of LEDs driven by a smoothly increasing current flow. Each column of twelve LEDs follows a 20dB/octave filter (like the original hardware unit), and you can select its response speed between 0.25, 1, or 4 seconds, enabling you to see both fast peaks and average frequency levels.

Each LED in the bar can represent a value of 1, 2, or 3 dBs (as in the original hardware unit), and we also added a 6dB/LED option. When you change the resolution, the scale on the left of the LED display updates accordingly.

We included a maximum peak hold LED for each frequency band that you can enable or disable, a feature the original unit did not have.

Right below the spectrum analyzer, we placed the 31 sliders that allow you to shape the output and fix any particular resonance. Each slider drives a standard 1/3 octave second-order filter and adjusts from -15 to +15 dB. You can also type in the value for each band in the box below each slider.

A graphic equalizer with special features

The equalizer offers a very special feature called the “Auto EQ”: When Auto EQ is active, the spectrum analyzer output tunes the gain for each EQ band and enables the equalizer to set itself, achieving the maximum harmonic balance automatically.

ThirtyOne MK2 offers three different Auto EQ algorithms: Average, Median, and Lucky. The first two are based on mathematical models, while the third one is a happy accident we kept because it sounded good.

Auto EQ links to the frequency analyzer output, so changing the analysis speed affects the algorithm. Using the 0.25s setting changes the equalization very fast, allowing you to track fast frequency spikes, while the 4s setting works more on the average frequency content.

To tune the Auto EQ output, you can use what we call a “compensation curve,” which applies an offset to every level computed by Auto EQ. If you find the resulting EQ curve too extreme in some bands, you can correct it using the “custom” setting of the compensation curve. If you find a compensation curve you like, you can export it and then load it in other projects using the “load” and “save” buttons.

The EQ Amount knob allows you to decrease or increase the resulting EQ curve, scaling every gain computed by the Auto EQ algorithm by a fixed value, and enabling you to adjust the level of each band while maintaining the same ratio between them.