In case you miss the free plugin offer, an alternative to this EQ is the Analog Obsession G395a.

Arturia makes great plugins, and their Sitral is definitely a good one. When you get the FX-Collection 2, compare the Sitral with the NeuralQ. There is something about the NeuralQ that just sets it a wee bit apart, even though the Arturia Sitral is a marvellous EQ :-)
cheers!

Hi Johannes,

Fantastic comment, thank you! It’s great to hear your insight on the real thing, and also great to hear that you think Neural Q gets so close.

You make a good point about the W295b being developed for broadcast use; I guess as soon as something is in plugin form, the temptation to overuse it is there, and CPU usage becomes more of an issue (sometimes self-inflicted). Of course, it depends on your system, and some seem to be struggling with basic application of Neural Q.

I’m a fan of Arturia plugins, but haven’t yet upgraded to the FX Collection 2, so I don’t have Sitral.

I’m sure the W295b is an unsung hero on many projects, and now I’m looking forward (even more) to putting Neural Q to good use!

Cheers!

btw, on my machine it eats 3.5% at 96K. (CPU: Ryzen 5)

Dammit, posted my incomplete comment accidentally.
Anyway, THIS one is really, really close! I highly recommend it!

There is something about the W295b that actually made it famous: Its fantastic treble band. You could boost the highs and still wouldn’t hear an EQ working its ass off, it rather would “open up” the mix (for the lack of a better description). If you’d have that Wow-experience with the plugin then the devs made a good job. Unfortunately, both Soundtoys and Arturia didn’t manage to get there. They made really good plugins, don’t get me wrong, but there was that invisible magic missing…
This, however, is the first one that captured exactly that. Amazing.
Concerning the CPU consumption: Yes it is heavy. That doesn’t bother me at all; I had a Sitral Broadcast console which featured two W295a and two 295b. There wasn’t a large flagship console like a Neve or SSL as it was developed for broadcasting – not for music production. Music studios adopted it later due to its sonic qualities. What does that has to do with its CPU consumption? Well, use it like the real deal – on the mix bus or just for groups. 2 to 4 instances should be enough. And in case you need more, the sound is so good you can savely print it :-)

ha haa lol, it was an awesome decade hey 😊
Thanks again James & your welcome. keep well 🙏

Hey Purefire,

I appreciate the feedback, as always. I mean, generally, I’m just sharing news, but, if I can ever add anything I will.

Also, I’ll typically reference 80s movies whenever possible, which isn’t helpful at all, but I’ll still do it!

Cheers!

Hey Luiz, I read your comment, and it reminded me that I meant to mention the CPU usage in the article! Thank you! Yeah, it’s pretty heavy.