What does Metric Halo's offering have that makes it worth shelling out the extra for another channel strip?įor many Pro Tools users, of course, one answer will be backwards compatibility. Not only are there innumerable rival channel-strip plug-ins on the market, but Pro Tools itself now ships with a very capable - and free - Channel Strip plug-in derived from the Euphonix System 5 console. The price of Metric Halo's success in pushing the concept is that this isn't true any more, and hasn't been true for quite a while. When the original version of this plug-in was launched, some 14 years ago, the idea of incorporating so many functions into a single plug-in was relatively unknown. Pretty much anything you could conceivably want to meter or side-chain can be metered and side-chained, and the user interface is clean and clear, if rather heavy on the knobs. This is the latest refinement of a plug-in that has a very long pedigree in the Pro Tools world, and it's bristling with features: gate, compressor, six-band equaliser, master level control, limiter, a short delay for time-alignment purposes and a polarity switch, not to mention comprehensive metering derived from MH's equally celebrated SpectraFoo suite.
Here is Channel Strip 3 in all its glory!Ĭonventional compression and dynamics are provided courtesy of Metric Halo's Channel Strip 3. Most of the Metric Halo plug-ins feature optional metering windows that appear to the right of the main interface.
Together, the seven plug-ins in the bundle cover most of the basic tasks involved in mixing: EQ and compression, multi-band compression and expansion, de-essing, transient shaping and reverb, plus the intriguing Character, of which more anon. AAX is also supported on Mac OS, along with Audio Units, and the bundle is authorised to an iLok dongle. MH's audio interfaces remain Mac-only, but they have ported their Production Bundle plug-ins to Windows, albeit in Pro Tools-only AAX format.
Metric Halo are well established in Mac hardware and software, but until now, their products have been off limits to Windows users. Metric Halo's plug-ins have a large and enthusiastic following among Mac users.