Undertone Audio has released the MPEQ-1 Super-Parametric Saturation Equalizer Plugin, bringing one of its most well-loved hardware designs into software for the first time. The plugin captures the sound and flexibility of the original MPEQ-1, while adding creative tools that extend beyond what was possible in hardware.
Designed for mixing and mastering engineers, the MPEQ-1 plugin integrates independent saturation control on every EQ band, allowing users to shape frequency balance and harmonic character with exceptional precision. EQ bands can be controlled directly using familiar digital parameter controls, or via a graphic recreation of the original hardware.
Built by the team behind Undertone’s original UTEQ, the MPEQ-1 plugin meticulously recreates the iconic hardware’s curves and workflows, versatile filters, wide-range Q control, and unique Vari-Phase mode across four super-parametric bands. It also introduces features including full recall, automation, instant A/B compare, and integrated spectrum analysis.
The result is a level of tonal flexibility that extends beyond conventional equalization workflows. Engineers and producers can drive upper frequencies into rich saturation while keeping the low end clean, add harmonic weight to a snare's fundamental without affecting its transient detail, or combine frequency shaping and coloration with unprecedented precision.
“Engineers have been asking us when we would release a plugin version of the MPEQ-1 and our answer was always: only when we could do something genuinely new,” explains Eric Valentine, Founder, Undertone Audio. “The MPEQ-1 has always been about expanding what an equalizer can do. By combining the EQ’s flexible architecture with independent saturation, the plugin gives engineers and producers a level of tonal control that simply wasn't possible before.”
The MPEQ-1 plugin is available from Undertone Audio’s website https://digital.undertoneaudio.com/products/mpeq-1-plugin and is priced at $149 including plugin license, factory preset library, and free updates.
