Overview

The first, and still the best, M/S EQ plugin
Brainworx's bx_digital was the first commercially available Mid/Side equalizer plugin. Thanks to its latest V3 update, it still reigns supreme as one of the most powerful and flexible EQs for mixing and mastering with a wide range of forward-looking features.

Remarkable control
This 11-band EQ features fully parametric filters available in dual mono, stereo and M/S modes. It provides a stereo widener, mid/side decoder, the pioneering “Mono Maker” summing tool, spectrum-balancing Bass and Presence Shifters, and advanced monitoring and metering capabilities for mastering work.

Now Even More Powerful
The latest V3 iteration of bx_digital, adds even more tools, including a new Dynamic EQ module, API-style Proportional Q filters, notch filters, an extended high frequency band, and even more versatile Bass and Presence Shifters to help unmask the hidden details in your mixes.

Special filters for clearer and cleaner-sounding mixes and masters
V3 is not a "character" EQ. It's eminently pristine, using ultra-transparent filters that minimize phase shift and frequency masking to deliver clearer and more focused mixes and masters. The Bass and Presence Shifters produce opposing boosts and cuts in adjacent bands to prevent excess spectral energy buildup that can make mixes sound boomy, blurry or edgy. Use them to boost your mix's low-bass punch while simultaneously clearing out muddy upper-bass and low-midrange frequencies, or increase presence to spotlight guitars and vocals, while softening searing cymbals.

Dynamic EQing and De-essing
Version 3 has upgraded the prior De-Esser to a much more versatile Dynamic EQ that can compress or upwardly expand any frequency from 20 Hz to 22 kHz. Use it to de-ess sibilant vocals and cymbals, or to automatically attenuate bass frequencies on an acoustic guitar track—but only when the guitar gets boomy. Boost kick drums inside of a finished mix, or tame the high frequencies of a vocal performance, but only when a singer hits the top of their range.

Solo your EQ bands to hear and see your changes better than ever
V3's innovative Solo functions help you make smarter EQ decisions and work even faster. The Auto-Solo and Auto-Listen switches add amazing touch-sensitive functionality to your Gain, Q and Frequency controls. Automatically solo the changes you apply to each band, and see separate frequency-response graphs for each channel to illustrate the results of your tweaks. You'll see and hear your EQ adjustments like never before.

Proportional EQ and transparent pass filters
V3's new Proportional Q filters progressively adapt the bandwidth of your EQ as you increase or decrease gain, focusing your boosts and cuts exactly where they're needed, without tradeoffs in neighboring bands. The high pass and low pass filters now provide more slope options to sculpt your tracks' high and low end to weed out rumble and hiss with greater precision. And the new, global Gain Scale control makes proportional gain changes to all the filters at once, preserving your careful balance as you dial in the perfect magnitude of EQ.

Simple enough for mixing, powerful enough for mastering
You can even scale the power of V3 up and down to meet your needs thanks to separate versions for mixing and mastering. For individual tracks, the "bx_digital V3 mix" plugin simplifies operation by excluding mid/side processing and additional meters. On your main subgroups and the master stereo bus, use the complete "bx_digital V3" plugin to roll out the big guns: a full complement of Mid/Side equalization controls and separate meters for pre- and post-EQ signal levels, L/R balance and correlation. This version also includes advanced imaging controls to let you independently pan your mid and side channels, widen the stereo image, swap left and right channels, and center the stereo image.

Features

  • Operates in stereo, multi-mono, M/S, and includes a unique M/S Recording decoder to process and output Mid/Side signals in real-time with L/R stereo output.
  • Includes a mixing and mastering version of the plugin to simplify and speed up workflow.
  • Includes eleven broadly overlapping bands per channel with fully parametric filters for LF, LMF, MF, HMF and HF.
  • Includes options for notch filtering, low and high pass filtering, and Proportional Q response.
  • Bass Shift and Presence Shift modules each offer three tilt-equalization settings for clean tonal shaping free of artifacts.
  • Dynamic EQ module boosts or cuts only when needed to correct undesirable, momentary peaks or enhance your signal with creative boosts.
  • Gain Scale control proportionately adjusts all gain controls for the main filters at once.
  • Mono Maker folds frequencies to mono below its selected corner frequency, lending focus to any part of your mix and helping to preserve the side channel's headroom when tightening the low-end.
  • Extremely flexible control linking: Each band and filter can be independently linked with its respective counterpart in the opposing channel.

Audio Examples

Industry Reviews

  • Michael Hartung

    Michael Hartung

    A-ha, Marit Larsen, Dweezil Zappa, Gluecifer, Satyricon

    We have produced all of Marit’s songs in our studio, and I love bx_digital and bx_control, they are smart and well thought out. And they sound great. We have been helping to improve the ICON… Read More

  • Nadim Issa

    Nadim Issa

    Let ’em In Music Owner and House Producer/Engineer

    This thing is truly a swiss army knife. The brainworx is fantastic for doing surgical cuts on tracks, such as vocals or guitars. I find myself isolating unwanted frequencies and resonances quickly… Read More

  • Siegfried Meier

    Siegfried Meier

    Songwriter/Producer/Engineer/Mixer/Mastering Engineer

    This is our #1 eq for finalizing masters at Beach Road Mastering. The M-S controls are incredible and allow us to really dig into the finer details of a master. The tone of the EQ is super sweet,… Read More

  • Mikael “Count” Eldridge

    Mikael “Count” Eldridge

    DJ Shadow, Radiohead, Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, New Order, No Doubt

    Finally a plug-in for mastering that really does do it all, but actually sounds great. It even has a mid/side de-esser!

  • Snake Newton

    Snake Newton

    Robbie Williams, Sugababes, Pet Shop Boys

    I also use bx_digital V2 a lot and find the band solo function is a fantastic innovation when seaking out a troublesome center frequency.

Customer Reviews

  • Masterpiece EQ

    ★★★★★
    by Dejan Bucalo
    An indispensable plugin in my collection. Excellent for detecting and eliminating problematic frequencies and listening separately to mono and stereo section. It does a fantastic job of expanding the… Read More
  • very nice master eq

    ★★★★★
    by zuoji
    very nice master eq
  • as

    ★★★★★
    by anvar2008
    tsnake
  • Great EQ!

    ★★★★★
    by Max
    I own it for roughly 3 years now and it became my go-to equalizer for most tasks. The Mid- Side feature becomes super handy if you want to tighten & clean your stereo image.
    Awesome plugin!
  • amazing

    ★★★★★
    by v3
    goooood offer.thanks alot waaaaw

Awards

  • Gearslutz Review

    Gearslutz Review

    "There’s not much else out there that does all of this, let alone while sounding as transparent as bx_digital V3 without bothering your CPU. It’s expensive, but if you can afford it, or grab it on a sale, you’ll be glad you did." - Funkybot

Specifications

Supported Plugin Formats
AAX DSP, AAX Native, AU, VST2, VST3

Supported Operating Systems
macOS 14 down to macOS 11
Windows 11 down to Windows 10

Mac
Intel, or Apple Silicon

PC
x64-compatible CPU

System Requirements
Display resolution: 1440 × 900px or 1280 × 960px or higher
Memory: 2 GB RAM

Downloads

With the Installation Manager you can select, download & install all the Plugin Alliance products. Select any and all formats you need for your system! Mac & PC.

ChangeLog

bx_digital V3

Brainworx bx_digital V3 - Changelog

Version 3.10.1 (Oct 9, 2023)
- General: fixed CPU spikes on Mac OS

Version 3.10.0 (Aug 15, 2023)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for AAX
- General: added macOS Ventura support
- General: improved plugin loading time in the DAW
- General: fixed issue causing Logic to crash when closing the plugin UI
- General: improved font drawing behavior

Version 3.9 (Mar 15, 2022)
- General: added native Apple Silicon compatibility for VST3, VST2 and AU
- General: added macOS Monterey support
- General: added Windows 11 and Windows 10 21H1 support
- General: discontinued Windows 7 support
- General: discontinued macOS 10.9 and 10.11 support
- General: fixed metering behavior in block sizes of 2048 samples and higher

Version 3.8 (Mar 22, 2021)
- General: Compatibility with Logic on Apple Silicon devices via the Rosetta-2 layer
- General: Fixed possible artefacts when freezing or bouncing tracks in Pro Tools
- General: Fixed automation highlighting disappearing in Studio One
- General: Improved license dialog visibility in dark mode
- Added scalable UI feature

Version 3.7 (May 27, 2020)
- General: Qualified for use with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update
- General: VST3: Fixed potential hangs in a DAW upon loading
- General: Fixed logical issues in undo / redo behavior
- General: Fixed UI resizing issues in Ableton Live on Windows
- General: Fixed audio processing initialization issues on amp and delay products
- Improved metering behavior

Version 3.6 (Nov 06, 2019)
- General: Qualified for use with macOS 10.15 Catalina
- General: Qualified for use with Windows 10 November 2019 Update
- General: Fixed plugin validation in Logic under macOS Catalina
- General: Fixed preset name restore in Logic when reopening a session
- General: Fixed opening authorization dialog triggering automation
- General: Improved instantiation times for plugins
- General: Improved license functionality and branding for subscription
- General: Removed 32-bit support on macOS and Windows

Version 3.5 (Jul 10, 2019)
- General: macOS 10.14.5 Update compatibility
- General: Windows 10 1903 Update compatibility
- General: Fixed activation issue in Windows hosts set to non-English language (e.g. Cakewalk)
- General: AU: Fixed issue with increased CPU and memory on reopening UI
- General: VST3: Fixed issue with adapting to host knob mode, and now prioritizing linear
- General: VST3: Fixed issue with VST3 preset permissions
- General: VST3: Improved synchronization between parameter states and some UI functions, e.g. toolbar reset
- Fixed Solo label in L/R mode

Version 3.4 (Nov 16, 2018)
- General: macOS Mojave compatibility
- General: Windows October 2018 update compatibility
- General: adding Windows High DPI support for VST2/3 plugins
- General: Fixed potential crashes in Cubase and other VST2 / VST3 DAWs
- General: Fixed potential CPU spikes and audio dropouts
- General: Fixed rendering in Pro Tools on the start of a session
- General: Fixed missing presets in Wavelab and other VST3 DAWs
- General: Improving keyboard control, fixing issues with catched keys preventing it from passing through to DAW
- General: Fixed parallel use of host sessions (e.g. with Live)

Version 3.3 (May 24, 2018)
- General: Microsoft Windows Redstone 4 compatibility
- General: Added computer keyboard control for plugin parameters
- General: Fixed Mouse scroll wheel not working in Windows 8
- General: Fixed an issue where plugins will not validate or load after a certain amount of plugins have been loaded (Windows)
- General: Fixed visual GUI freezes when adjusting DAW parameters, meters, analyzers (Mac)
- General: Fixed possible issue with Pick Pack licenses
- General: Small licenser stability fix
- Fixed bug where auto-solo gets stuck when clicking left and right mouse buttons simultaneously

Version 3.2.1 (Jan 29, 2018)
- Fixed a crash in Pro Tools when displaying EQ curves in the mixer

Version 3.2 (Oct 23, 2017)
- General: Mac OS High Sierra compatibility
- General: Fixed possible crash on online activation (Mac OS High Sierra)
- General: Fixed Logic Pro X not validating AU plugins (Mac OS High Sierra)
- General: Fixed CPU spikes and crashes with Cubase (Windows)
- General: Fixed bug that could lead to "AAE -6 error" in ProTools (Windows)
- General: Fixed crash with FL Studio
- General: Fixed crash when cross-opening plugins in various hosts
- General: Fixed crash when using mixdown in Audition
- General: Fixed crash in Final Cut Pro
- General: Fixed delayed parameter handling and crackling issues in Cubase with VST3
- General: Fixed bug where plugin settings were not saved in Harrison Mixbus
- General: Fixed bug that led to AAE error -9317 in ProTools when instantiating plugin
- General: Fixed bug where plugins did not render properly when "x ray" option is enabled in Sonar
- General: Modifications to factory presets were lost when reopening session
- General: Fixed mouse wheel behaviour with second monitor setup (Windows)
- Some plugins: Value labels do not appear every time when clicking on parameter in UI
- General: Faster instantiation time for plugins (Windows)
- General: Adding support for automation highlighting in Presonus StudioOne
- Fixed UI not properly resizing in Reaper 5 with VST3

Version 3.1.2 (Mar 3, 2017)
- Fixed HF adjustments could cause loudness spikes [BXBUGS-1772]
- Fixed "Auto-Solo" function causing "Solo" buttons to be permanently enabled [BXBUGS-1498]
- Fixed Solo getting stuck when adjusting parameters [BXBUGS-1837]
- Fixed plugin opening with Solo M activated by default or when changing presets [BXBUGS-1818].
- Mix version only: Minor UI fix for Gain In & Gain Out textedits [BXBUGS-1667]
- General: Fixed mousewheel issue with multi-monitor environment on Windows [BXBUGS-1371]
- General: Fixed multi-instantiation of a plugin causing BitWig to crash [BXBUGS-1532]
- General: Fixed multi-instantiation of any 2 plugins in different hosts leading to crash [BXBUGS-1678]

Version 3.1.1 (Dec 20, 2016)
- General: Mac OS Sierra compatibility
- General: Fixed automation issues in AU and AAX
- General: Fixed license dialog use of special characters
- General: Improved AU preset support
- General: Performance improvements
- Fixed linking issue after session recall
- Usability improvements

Version 3.1 (Apr 1, 2016)
- Added EUCON page tables
- Fixed Auto-Solo (BXBUGS-1219)
- Fixed Mono-Maker (BXBUGS-1240)
- Fixed signal processing when soloing a channel (BXBUGS-1238)
- Exchanged Bass Shift and Presence Shift parameters in second channel for V2 like layout (BXBUGS-1260)
- Remodelled upper toolbar
- Fixed frequency response curve re-drawing issues (BXBUGS-1218)

Version 3.0 (Jan 18, 2016)
- Initial Release