PreAMPed

*Disclaimer: I'm a songwriter, producer, and educator. My writing style may read like a billboard ad, but my user review is sincere and authentic. I only appraise a product I consider extraordinary, hence the high rating. I don't work for the developer. In fact, I rarely work at all. :-) I hope you find my review useful. — Tommy Zai

INTRO

PreAMPed by LVC Audio is an analog preamp simulator plugin with more than a dozen unique modules that effectively and convincingly recreate and emulate the nuances* of top hardware gear. The interface is tidy, eye pleasing, and user-friendly. It has just enough buttons and knobs to enable users to work wonders without being over-stimulated and lost in a menagerie of visual chaos. The sound quality is fantastic, especially when using maximum oversampling (8x) — great algorithms. The sonic pallet ranges from crisp and clean to hot and dirty. I have had a lot of success using PreAMPed to process individual audio tracks, especially guitars, bass, and vocals (as an FX). I have read, and can easily imagine, using this plugin globally to enhance the entire mix.

MY FAVORITE FEATURES

• Neatly designed interface with everything in the right place.
• Excellent sounding modules presets with a wide range of timbres.
• Effective and deep saturation controls.
• Smooth and silky 4-band EQ.
• Adjustable output signal clipper to prevent or control noisy stuff.
• Responsive, accurate, easy-to-read input/output metering (VU, PPM, peak, and RMS).
• Low aliasing.
• Responsive, enthusiastic, innovating developer.
• Great price.

OTHER THOUGHTS

• I found this quote by another user and I dig it, "While most of the biggest plugin companies seem to be falling down the "emulation hole" I'm really glad to see some small developers stepping up and making innovative and (more importantly) great sounding plugins for very reasonable prices.".
• Preamp module blending would be really sweet. I stole this suggestion from another user and refuse to give credit. LOL.

SUMMARY

PreAMPed is an outstanding and useful analog hardware preamp simulator plugin. Some compare it to its Klanghelm counterpart. Perhaps some of the features overlap, but IMO both units are unique and worth having in the virtual toolbox. I highly recommend this plugin to any eMusician, producer, film/game scorer, DJ, sound designer, etc., who is looking to expand their sonic timbre with a fantastic set of analog preamp modules. Tommy Zai gives PreAMPed two fat thumbs up. Thank you, LVC, for creating such a useful and affordable plugin.

*EQ response curves, frequency saturation, L+R channel differentiation, crosstalk, noise, transformer/coil impulse response, saturation, etc.