Universal Audio has released the Thermionic Culture Vulture Plug-In for the UAD Powered Plug-Ins platform and Apollo audio interfaces.

For more than 15 years, the British-made Thermionic Culture Vulture has been a reference for studio-standard, high-gain valve distortion. The new plug-in is the product of an intense multi-year engineering effort from Universal Audio, bringing a accurate emulation of the hardware unit to new styles of recording and production.

The plug-in models the original hardware’s three distinct all-valve circuit topologies and features Universal Audio’s first-ever pentode tube circuit model. The Culture Vulture plug-in also offers two features not found on the original hardware  – a Dry/Wet Parallel Mix control and a Link function for a matched stereo image to maximise workflow and preserve balances.

In addition, it features presets from users including Tony Maserati (Alicia Keys, Beyoncé), Rik Simpson (Coldplay, Portishead), Eric ‘ET’ Thorngren (Talking Heads, Cyndi Lauper), Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) and Chris Coady (Grizzly Bear, TV on the Radio).

‘The Thermionic Culture Vulture plug-in was one of our most challenging projects to date,’ says Universal Audio CEO, Bill Putnam Jr. ‘Getting the nuances of the various distortions right took more effort and invention that we had ever expected.’

‘We decided some time ago that UA would be the best company to make a successful plug-in emulation of our Culture Vulture, and we are very happy to say that the plug-in has exceeded our expectations,’ says Nick Terry, Director at Thermionic Culture. ‘It seems that the Culture Vulture has now taken on a digital life of its own.’

Available from UA’s Online Store for US$299, the Thermionic Culture Vulture Plug-in is part of the new UAD Software v7.8, along with the Softube-developed Valley People Dyna-mite and Tonelux Tilt EQ plug-ins.

More: www.uaudio.com