Universal Audio Century Tube Channel Strip

Chaining a virtual tube preamp, a three-band
‘sweetening’ EQ and a one-knob optical
compressor in a single plugin, UA’s Century
Tube Channel Strip for Apollo/Arrow/UAD2 is an
intuitive and immediate recording channel built
to get vocals and instruments of all kinds
sounding smooth and warm on the way into
your DAW. Of course, it’s also viable for mixing,
but as the minimalism and simplicity of the thing
imply, this is primarily a tracking strip: set it up
on an input channel (guitar, bass, vocal, etc), hit
record and commit. Old school.
Catch the tube
First in the chain is the Tube Preamp, which
ofers Low and High Gain settings for matching
to condenser or dynamic microphones; an
optional 18dB/octave high-pass ilter at 80Hz for
getting rid of unwanted low-frequency
intrusions; a 20dB Pad function; and a polarity
invert switch. The input Level knob piles on
more and more valve saturation as it’s raised,
from clean through warm, to full-on distorted.
Overload indicators show clipping at both the
input and output of the preamp.
Next comes the three-band EQ. The most
complicated – for want of a better word – of the
modules, this one’s covered in Easy EQ below.
The Opto Leveler is an LA2A-style optical
limiter emulation comprising a single knob for
dialling in the amount of compression applied.
In typical opto fashion, it delivers smooth and
transparent peak reduction at low Compression
levels, and more characterful dynamics shaping
beyond that.
At the end of the chain, the Master module is
a simple output level control for re-levelling the
processed signal.
Century Tube is also Unison-compatible,
adjusting the actual impedance of your Apollo
or Arrow interface’s hardware preamps when
loaded into their Unison insert points, and
enabling hands-on rotary control of the Tube
Preamp Low/High switch, and input Level and
Output knobs in Gain Stage mode.
Scoring a century
With its stripped-back control set, Century Tube
Channel Strip isn’t the most lexible of plugins –
but that’s entirely by design. Its foolproof
worklow will particularly endear it to musicians
(as opposed to producers/engineers) looking to
make their own quality recordings without
having to learn the engineering ropes; and as
long as you pay attention and keep your ears
open, it really does make it diicult to go wrong
when it comes to setting compression and EQ
for vocals, guitars, basses, keys, and even the
drums bus. Indeed, UA describe Century Tube as
a “do no harm” channel strip, and while that’s
patently only accurate to a point, their summary
certainly rings true within the bounds of
conventional usage – rarely has inding the
sweet spot for corrective EQ and compression
been so quick and straightforward. It’s such a
great tool for the recording novice, in fact, that
we reckon UA should make it part of their Apollo
and Arrow bundles. It could seriously boost the
(already considerable) appeal of those
interfaces to the singer-songwriters that make
up a fair proportion of their target market .
Wishful thinking aside, though, this is a fast,
focused plugin with a convincingly analogue
sound that utterly lattens the channel strip
learning curve. What’s not to like?
Web www.uaudio.com
Universal Audio
Century Tube
Channel Strip
£115
This user-friendly UAD plugin channel strip promises to get your
instrumental and vocal recordings mix-ready at source
Verdict
For Simple but comprehensive
recording chain
Authentic tube sound
Smooth opto compression
Unison makes it feel real
Against A few more shelving EQ
frequency options wouldn’t hurt
CTCS turns your UA audio interface into a
responsive and fabulous-sounding
analogue recording channel strip
9 / 1 0
Alternatively
Softube Tube-Tech Complete
Collection Mk II
260 » 9/10 » $449
Much more powerful (and
expensive), but similarly ‘tubular’
Waves Scheps Omni Channel
255 » 8/10 » $149
Amazing modular channel strip
ofering plenty of scope for mixing
While at no point does Century Tube Channel
Strip get even vaguely overwhelming in
either its concept or controls, obviously the
EQ can’t possibly consist of just a more/less
knob like the preamp and compressor.
Nonetheless, it does still make two of the key
decisions for you, with preset high- and low-
shelving bands ixed at a generally useful
110Hz and 10kHz respectively, each with up to
12dB of cut or boost, for efortless broad-
strokes control of the highs and lows.
It’s with the sweepable semi-parametric
+/-12dB mid band that the user does have to
get their hands mildly dirty, though. This is an
adaptive Q design (ie, the peak ilter
resonance gets narrower as the gain
increases), and with the centre frequency
ranging from 300Hz to 7.2kHz, it’s useful for
everything from upping the body of an
electric bass to bringing out the best in a
vocal, reducing acoustic guitar ‘squeak’ or
balancing the snare within a mixed drum kit.
Easy EQ
December 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 97
universal audio century tube channel strip / reviews <
CMU263.rev_century.indd 97 10/12/18 9:31 AM