P422 Fairuz
Overview
Not your utility EQ, your tone EQ
There are two ways to use an EQ. One is correction. The other is tone. Fairuz was built for the second.
It’s a four-band sculpting EQ with transformer output, infrasonic foundation, and push-pull contouring at every stage. The engineers it was designed for already reach for a Pultec when a mix needs weight, an API when it needs attitude, and a Mäag when it needs air. They know that the right EQ move isn’t always the technically obvious one, and they trust their ears over their analyzer when the two disagree.
Every circuit in Fairuz was built around that instinct. The Contour bands apply push-pull shaping automatically, so the focused character you’d get from the Pultec boost-and-cut trick is available across the full spectrum in a single move. TREMOR builds infrasonic foundation before any EQ band touches the signal. VOICE sets the broad tonal personality of a source before the detail work begins. The HAMMER adds a transformer body at exactly the frequency range where instruments find their weight.
None of this requires large moves. That’s the point. Fairuz is designed to do serious tone work quietly; the kind of difference you feel before you can measure it.
Features
- Four EQ bands: LOW, LO-MID, HI-MID, HIGH
- Three filter shapes per band: Bell, Contour, and Contour X2
- Proportional Q — gentle boosts stay wide, large boosts focus automatically
- Stepped or continuous frequency selection — stepped points chosen by ear, with deliberate gaps that avoid problem zones
- TREMOR infrasonic circuit — builds sub-bass foundation before the EQ bands
- VOICE spectral tilt — broad tonal shaping at the input stage
- HAMMER output transformer — adds body centered at 100Hz
- LO and HI sculpting shelves with complementary dip behavior
- HPF and LPF with switchable HPF position — pre or post transformer
- Zero latency
Videos
Audio Examples
Specification
Supported Plugin Formats
AU, VST3, AAX (Apple Silicon ready).
Supported Operating Systems
macOS 10.13+
Windows 10+
Mac
Apple RISC M chip and Intel CPU (Universal 2 Binary)
PC
x64-compatible CPU
System Requirements
Display resolution: 1440 × 900px or 1280 × 960px or higher
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Copy Protection
A one-time challenge & response over the internet. The license works on up to two separate machines.
Downloads
User Guides- Dark Mode
User Guides- Print Mode
For previously authorized computers
Frequency Analyzer IN/OUT can now be selected individually for display.
- Fixed GUI resizing when you open and close the visualizer and when saving and recalling the session.
- Frequency spectrum analyzer.
- EQ bands visualizer.
- Additional presets.
- Code optimization.
- GUI update.
- The knobs use smoothing to ensure rapid automation without any artifacts.
- Modifier keys implementation to bypass parameters for quick A/B.
- Added German and Japanese user guides.
- Official Release.
30-DAY FREE DEMO
Start your fully functional 30-day demo on 2 computers: click the “DEMO” button, complete checkout, and receive your authorization code by email.
A great alternative resonant EQ! Combining transformer and voice controls with spectrum sweeping for pleasant—or ear-fatigue-inducing—frequencies often yields excellent results. I now often reach for Fairuz when traditional EQ or dynamic EQ just doesn’t do the trick. I also have a soft spot for the optional stepped controls, which is a classy addition!
Maybe add a horizontal version of the GUI? Otherwise – great!
What if PM made a ‘character’ EQ that could be many characters? As with it’s older, wiser brother, the P440 Sweet Spot, the secret is in the unusual but carefully shaped curves and high and low pass filters. Unlike the P440 you have less fine grained control over every nuance, and less of a zoomed out mastering level perspective. With the Fairuz you get the curated options you get, let go of some control and are rewarded by workflow and using your ears. Trident A range users will be at home with the concept. The Fairuz can go from extreme to subtle but thrives when pushed in unusual ways, in unexpected combinations. Curve and parameter wise, there’s nothing here the P440 can’t also do (qualifier: each does “have a sound” and the saturation options are not quite the same), so there’s a case for saving your coins. But even if you ultimately want both, the Fairuz often gets the nod on instrument level tracks. So, what about those many characters? The “voice” knob is key. Add it for some built in saturation. Remove if you want the creative workflow of those PM eq curves, while putting your own saturator or preamp plugin of choice before it. Sure, you could painstakingly recreate any curve using FabFilter or it’s many imitators. And sure there’s also a million and one “character EQ”s out there where you get what you get, but choose for the color. The value proposition of the Fairuz and what makes it unique is that it is something in-between: characterful curves with a slight mind of their own, that could have a color, any color, or none at all. Unlike many “character eq’s” that trade on nostalgia, this sounds modern and it sounds great.
Lastly: a short mention of the presets. They’re excellent. So many presets just offer the same redundant options (“drums” “more drums” …) As if the only music ever to exist was made of drums and guitars. And you didn’t have your own go-to moves for kick drum memorized. Presets should be for those things you don’t always already have dialed in, but when they come up, dang it’s handy to have a preset! The Fairuz has presets for cello (multiples of them!) as well as “bowed group” “plucked” various shadings of vocal options, piano, and even “lute/oud” If you mix classical, scores/soundtracks, world, folk, jazz this EQ is for you. But also it’s fresh to try something left field on synth pads or that odd percussion element you can’t get a handle on, having these options is refreshing and worth your time.
Very nice equalizer, with the PM magic. In addition to high, high mids, low mids and lows, you can use high pass and low pass filters, high and low shelves, tremor for frequencies around 30 Hz and below, blend with the dry signal and add a touch of color. Simple and effective eq. when surgical work is not needed.
I love the voice knob. Nice for enhancement.