PS-VC1

Professional Series

Vocal Chain

Six modules — Low End, High End, Compress, Reverb, Echo and Width — on one panel, in the order a vocal actually gets mixed. Nothing modelled, nothing to dial back out.

See the chain Product page

Compatible with AAX

Professional Series — Release 01

Nothing here is modelled

Our vintage collection exists because certain transformers, tubes and passive filter networks are worth rebuilding component by component. The Professional Series is the other half of the catalogue. Every stage of the PS-VC1 was written from scratch as a clean digital design, which means there is no saturation you didn't ask for and no coloration you can't switch off.

That sounds like a small thing. It isn't. What you hear is the decision you made, not the box you made it in — and on a vocal, where every move is audible, that changes how fast you can work.

The layout follows the chain. Signal enters at the input stage, passes the six modules in a fixed order, and leaves through the output. Each module carries the same three controls: a preset selector, a fader and its own bypass. No menus, no nested pages, no hunting for the parameter you changed thirty seconds ago.

A lead vocal that would otherwise need six plugin windows sits in the track in about ninety seconds. Then you spend the time you saved on the part that actually matters.

The signal path

Six modules, twenty-four presets

Four calibrated starting points per module — every one of them a decision somebody already argued about. Here is the whole chain, exactly as it sits on the panel.

InFixed orderOut

Mid
Boom
Floor
Sub

Low End 20 Hz – 640 Hz

Air
Edge
Silk
Sharp

High End 1.2 kHz – 20 kHz

Limit
Smack
Punch
Slight

Compress Peak / Vintage

Church
Large
Chamber
Tight

Reverb Room → Cathedral

Space
Quarter
Eight
Fast

Echo Slapback → Sync

Outer
Far
Close
Tight

Width All-Pass / Haas / Hilbert

Low End

Rumble, proximity effect and low-mid buildup, handled before anything else touches the signal. Sub reaches from 20 Hz, Mid runs up to 640 Hz for the vocal's fundamentals.

High End

Sharp sits in a tight 5–6 kHz window for sibilance. Silk smooths, Edge brings presence, and Air opens the top all the way to 20 kHz.

Compress

Peak or vintage detection behind four styles, from transparent leveling to Limit. Auto makeup gain matches the level for you, so bypassing the module compares character instead of loudness.

Reverb

A reverb algorithm written for this chain: small reflective rooms through to cathedral decay, designed to stay out of the CPU meter when you have forty of them open.

Echo

Tempo-synced or free-running. Fast for slapback thickness, Eight and Quarter for rhythmic repeats, Space for long ambient trails.

Width

Three different stereo algorithms — All-Pass, Haas and Hilbert — across four amounts. Widen the vocal without gambling on what happens when the mix folds to mono.

Top to bottom

The working order

The panel is laid out in the order most engineers already work in. Following it is the fastest route to a finished vocal.

Set the input

Bring the vocal to a healthy working level on the input meter before any processing. Check phase here if the take used more than one microphone.
Clean the low end

Remove rumble and proximity buildup first. The compressor reacts far more predictably once it is not reading energy you intend to throw away.
Compress

Pick a style, leave auto makeup gain engaged, and bypass the module repeatedly. Levels are matched, so you are judging character rather than volume.
Shape the top

Add presence and air, and tame any sibilance the compression has just brought forward.
Place the vocal

Reverb and Echo last, then Width to decide how far the voice spreads. Check it in mono if the mix is headed for club, broadcast or phone speakers.
Match the output

Trim the output so engaging and bypassing the plugin produces no level jump — then make the call with the Power switch.