Brainworx bx_console N

There’s something magical about the sound of a large-format Neve console that you just couldn’t get from your DAW until bx_console came along. Brainworx’s revolutionary plugin delivered a startlingly realistic model of the rare 72-channel Neve® VXS™ analog console owned by producer/engineer Dirk Ulrich, Founder and CEO of the company. Now, the new bx_console N builds on the original plugin’s breathtaking Neve console emulation by adding two powerful features requested by users: per-channel saturation control, and one-click random channel assignments across every instance of bx_console N in your mix.

That last bit is heavy-duty. bx_console N doesn’t give you 72 same-sounding copies of one Neve mixer channel. Thanks to Brainworx’s pioneering Tolerance Modeling Technology, every one of bx_console N’s selectable 72 channels simulates a different Neve VXS channel by modeling the slight channel-to-channel variances in the values of its analog components. Strap a bunch of bx_console N plugins across your mix, and you get the deep, wide and punchy multi-channel analog sound of the classic Neve VXS—inside your DAW!

No Two Channels Sound Exactly Alike — Just Like with Analog

Typical channel strip plugins only model one channel of a mixer. No matter how many instances of that one-channel plugin you use, you get the same equalization and compression curves, and the same frequency and phase responses. Even if you use different control settings for the plugin on every track, you end up with flat, narrow, two-dimensional digital sound.

In contrast, each channel on a large-format, analog mixing console sounds a little different, creating a much more complex and dimensional sound. That’s what bx_console N does too. The plugin uses Brainworx’s proprietary, patent-pending Tolerance Modeling Technology (TMT) to accurately replicate variations in the values of over 150 individual electronic components specified by the original Neve console designer, giving you the deep and wide “mixed on a big Neve analog console” sound your DAW has been starving for.

Each instance of bx_console N includes meticulous models of the comprehensive Compressor/Limiter, full-featured Expander/Gate, powerful 4-band EQ, and wide-ranging High Pass and Low Pass filters in the Neve VXS analog mixing console. But because bx_console N was designed using TMT, the EQ and Dynamics curves for these processors are a little different on each and every channel—like in a real VXS console. These slight variations add the complexity, nuance, depth and width that only analog could give you — until now.

As you add bx_console N to each of your tracks, you can either manually select the channel number you wish to use or click the Random Channel/One button to select the channel number by chance. (Quick tip: duplicate one instance of bx_console N across all your tracks and then click the Random Channel/All button to randomize all the channel numbers at once and instantly create that big-console sound!) Select Digital Mode for any channel pair to bypass TMT and match the two channels’ responses exactly — useful when, for example, gating both sides of a stereo track in perfect synchrony.

The Sound, Feel and Workflow of a Neve VXS Console—In Your DAW!

The frequency ranges covered by bx_console N’s continuously variable High Pass and Low Pass filters can be independently shifted by a factor of three with the click of a mouse, letting you create filter effects in a snap. De-ess lead vocal tracks by EQ’ing them to sound super-bright and routing the EQ to the Limiter’s sidechain. On soaring guitar solos, you can smoothly and reliably fade out amplifier hiss by adjusting the Gate’s Hysteresis control to set a dedicated close threshold up to 25 dB lower than the open threshold. You can also trigger the Expander/Gate with another track routed to the plugin’s external sidechain input — create super-tight, pulsing rhythm tracks in a flash!

Like the VXS console, bx_console N provides two alternate threshold ranges for the Expander and Gate—covering a whopping 70dB range—making it possible to nuke noise on the quietest or loudest of tracks. A helpful Expander Invert button lets you hear only the portion of the signal that will be expanded or gated, helping you set the threshold quickly and with confidence. All of these great features are what make the VXS console so highly coveted. But bx_console N gives you a lot more…

More Powerful Than the Original

bx_console N adds many mods and new, contemporary features lacking in the original Neve VXS console, greatly increasing the plugin’s power and flexibility. The Compressor/Limiter’s new Mix (Dry/Wet) control is your ticket to crafting monster drum sounds and in-your-face guitar tracks using parallel compression. Unlike with the original VXS console, you can adjust the threshold for the Compressor’s secondary release time to keep it from pumping and whipsawing delicate acoustic guitar tracks. Raise the dedicated HPF control in the Compressor’s sidechain — another plugin-only feature — to keep heavily compressed drum and electric bass tracks sounding punchy, and leveled male vocals sounding warm and round.

One mouse click switches the EQ from post- to pre-Compressor, helping you to craft a huge but controlled bottom end on bass tracks and full mixes. Boost the THD control to lather vocals, bass, electric guitar and drum tracks with lush saturation (independently per channel!), adding girth and density. While you’re mixing, simple mouse clicks in the plugin toolbar let you alternately solo mid and side channels on stereo tracks, helping you to hunt down undesirable distortion and phase problems in a heartbeat. bx_console N is a Neve VXS console on steroids!!

No, it’s not just a channel strip model. bx_console N feeds your starving DAW with fat, multi-channel, Neve-analog-console sound!

Legal Disclaimer: bx_console N was developed by Brainworx using its own modeling techniques, and one of the products studied was the Neve VXS. Neve, 88R, and VXS are registered trademarks of AMS/Neve Inc., which is unaffiliated with Brainworx. AMS/Neve have not licensed any intellectual property for use in the bx_console N, nor have they endorsed or supported the bx_console N in any manner.