Soundtoys - Little Plate

Soundtoys has released Little Plate ($99 value), a detailed emulation of the EMT 140 hardware reverb unit available in VST, AU, and AAX plugin formats (free iLok user account required). The plugin is currently available for free download for a limited time only (the offer ends on November 22nd, 2017).

Little Plate is the latest addition to Soundtoys’ series of “Little” plugins which already includes tools like Little AlterBoy and Little PrimalTap. These effects are as far away as possible from being “little” in terms of sound quality, though. Soundtoys designed them to be professional-quality mixing and sound design tools with streamlined user interfaces to ensure a fast and efficient workflow.

While developing Little Plate, the team at Soundtoys gathered a collection of hardware plate reverb units from around the world, including five original EMT 140 plate reverbs. These are huge vintage reverb units weighing over 600 pounds each. Believe it or not, the EMT 140 was once considered a “compact” reverb unit and is still regarded as one of the best sounding plate reverbs in existence. Either way, according to the official press release, Soundtoys spent a considerable amount of time repairing, tuning, and analyzing their EMT 140 units before eventually creating an in-depth emulation of their favorite one.

Apart from emulating the sound of the EMT 140 reverb in great detail, Little Plate also expands on the original unit’s feature set by shortening the minimum decay time to 0.5s (instead of the hardware’s 1s limit) and adding the infinite decay time option. The plugin also adds a modulation switch for adding randomized pitch variations to the wet signal. This works particularly well for emulating cavernous spaces with longer decay times. The reverb sound on the output can be shaped even further using Little Plate’s built-in low cut filter with a 20Hz – 1kHz frequency range. Finally, the plugin includes a dry/wet knob, undo/redo functionality, a preset manager, and a bypass switch. Much like the rest of the “Little” product lineup, Little Plate features a simple-looking interface that is a joy to use.