IOS plugins

£29 - £39

A quick glance at Fabfilter’s history of recent reviews in this magazine reveals that they have ave never scored less than a 9/10 – and it’s generally ally a maximum, if we’re honest.

The Pro-Q 3, for example, has picked up a Silver Award in our Gear of 2019 awards earlier ier this issue, plus a 10 in its original review. It even ven won an Emmy Award this year although, of course, that’s not a patch on getting recognition tion from us.

The news, then, that Fabfilter’s range of plugins was hitting the iOS standard, was pretty etty exciting to us, and now we have them running ng on our brand-new test iPad, we’re even more e thrilled with the results.

The only downside, in fact, is that you’ll require a newer 64-bit iPad (as you might expect) to run them, but from then on, you pretty much enjoy the desktop quality and experience of the originals, with all the mobility lity and touch loveliness that an iPad brings.

We tested all seven – the Pro-C 2 compressor, sor, Pro-DS de-esser, Pro-G gate/expander, Pro-L2 2 limiter, Pro-MB multiband compressor, Pro-Q Q3 3 EQ, and Pro-R reverb – all within the slick surroundings of Cubasis. And the results are nothing short of stunning.

Pro-C 2 delivers eight forms of compression, from dramatic punch and character, right through to transparent, slick mastering smoothness. L 2 is similarly flexible, with a stunning range of presets that demonstrate its versatility. But if you think that is wide ranging, wait until you try out the dynamic features within MB that is so packed it takes on a much more creative studio multi-effect role. Pro-R is a beautiful reverb which focuses on doing that role – and that only – to stunning effect.

They are AU3 plugins so will run in a variety of iOS hosts (do check compatibility before buying) and while they are certainly pricey per purchase for iOS apps, you do have to consider they are bringing a pro sound to that world at not really a pro price. Quite brilliant. n10/ 10n