Plugin Alliance|Manley – Ecliptic v1.0.0 for WiN

From plugins to hardware? Help shape what’s next. For nearly two decades, Brainworx has been bringing legendary analog hardware to your DAW. With ecliptic, we’re exploring the opposite. Give it a try, tell us what you like, and let us know what you’d like to see us improve.

Our goal is to improve Ecliptic with you and unlock its potential beyond the plugin. Your feedback will help shape Ecliptic’s future, and if enough users share our vision, Ecliptic will become Manley’s next hardware product.

Parallel, not serial

Most digital equalizers cycle through their ranges one after the other. Ecliptic’s low, mid, and high frequencies are summed in parallel, like a classic passive mastering equalizer. It enhances blending rather than layering, allowing you to push harder while still maintaining an open mix. This equalizer plugin works like a hardware equalizer because it’s designed for hardware.

A phase that enhances rather than cancels the action

Each stage in the ecliptic is a bell or a shelf, even the high and low frequencies. This allows parallel tracks to be phase-aligned, so the phase shift adds analog-style density to the sound rather than dulling it. The HPF and LPF are voiced to sound like filters, without the typical filter phase shift. The operation is the same, just different side effects.

Bands that behave like electronic circuits

Each ecliptic control controls three or four bands, which interact with each other, just like in real electronic circuits. The Mid Contour adds a wide ripple, a cutoff with a boost on both sides, to alter the midrange timbre in a way that a standard EQ can’t. The midrange, like in analog equipment, has peaks at the edges. The low and high frequency bands have a curve that experienced mixing and mastering engineers use when working with real recordings.

Smooth when you want it. Sharp when you press the pedal.

A clean EQ sounds the same at any setting. An ecliptic, however, doesn’t. The harder you press the pedal, the more color and analog richness the EQ adds. Use it to add sophistication or create a distinctive sound. Either way, it’s all in your hands.