All together now
With the release of Fusion Violet EQ, SSL’s digitising of the Fusion hardware is nearly complete – the only thing not yet digitised is the hardware’s analogue transformer stage. Yet even without that final link in the chain, the combination of all four Fusion plugins is almost as formidable as the original hardware, especially when chained in the same order.
First in the chain is Fusion Vintage Drive, which adds analogue-like colour and saturation to the signal. From here, it’s off to Fusion Violet EQ and Fusion HF Compressor. We’ve already seen how good these are together, but when you include that initial injection of analogue character from Vintage Drive, which is then enhanced by the EQ/ compressor combo, the results are exceptional… or seem so until you hook-up Fusion Stereo Image at the end of the chain. The sheer airy space this can add demands a whole new definition of the word “exceptional”.
When listening to a professional recording produced in a top-flight studio, much of the perception of quality comes from the detail, colour and spaciousness of the higher frequencies. It is these characteristics that Fusion – both hardware and in plugin form – recreates so well, and with such little effort.