The FortyTwo
Two-channel enhancer · Lo-Contour · Definition · Auto — Six Walls
The FortyTwo is a model of an early-'90s rack enhancer, measured from a real unit (unofficial). Each channel has a Lo-Contour knob for the bottom end and a Definition knob for the top, plus three Hi-Contour lights. Two switches are shared by both channels: Process (Auto or Manual) and Function (In or Out). The knobs click through 41 detents, like the hardware’s.
Installing
Windows: run The-FortyTwo-<version>-Windows-Setup.exe.
Click Yes on the one security prompt and it installs the VST3 to
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\. If Pro Tools is
installed, tick Also install the AAX version for Pro Tools to add the
AAX to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins\.
macOS: open The-FortyTwo-<version>-macOS.pkg. It
installs the VST3 and the Audio Unit (for Logic and GarageBand) for all users; a
Pro Tools (AAX) checkbox, off by default, adds the AAX. It is signed and
notarized by Apple, so it opens with no Gatekeeper warning.
Then restart your DAW or rescan plugins. Prefer to place the bundles yourself? The portable download holds the plugin bundles and a READ ME saying where each one goes. The Installer can also keep The FortyTwo up to date for you.
Controls
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Lo-Contour | −20 … 0 … +20 | Adds or takes away bottom end, centered around 50 Hz. As on the hardware, the center detent is not quite flat: it is about +1.5 dB at 50 Hz. +8 is about +5 dB, full clockwise about +10 dB, and full counterclockwise about −12 dB. It works by mixing a low-passed copy of the signal back in, not as a shelf, so it also nudges the phase of the low mids. |
| Definition | 0 … 40 | How much top end the process adds. 0 is off. In Manual it climbs steeply and is fully open by about 27 (about +9 dB at 5 kHz); the rest of the dial changes little. The lift comes with the unit’s phase shaping, so the highs move forward in time as well as up in level. |
| Process | Auto / Manual | Manual: Definition sets a fixed amount. Auto: the unit listens to its own output and backs the top end off when there is already plenty of it, and opens up when there isn’t (see Auto). |
| Function | In / Out | Out is the hardware’s
bypass. Like the real switch it crossfades over about 50 ms rather than
cutting, so switching it while audio plays does not click. Hold-to-flip
key: hold the backtick key (`) with the pointer over the
plugin window and Function flips to the opposite setting; let go and it
snaps back. It is made for A/B-ing while you dial in. Right-click Function to
pick a different key, or to turn the feature off. The key is remembered per
user, not per project. If your DAW claims the key, choose another. |
| Stereo Link | on / off | Our addition, off by default. Channel B’s knobs follow channel A’s. In Manual, that’s all it does, and it sounds the same as setting both channels alike by hand. It only makes a difference in Auto. Unlinked, each channel sets its own amount of top end from its own signal, so something loud on one side (a hard-panned hi-hat, say) brightens that side alone, and the stereo image can drift. Linked, both sides get the same amount, taken from the louder side, so the quieter side gets a touch more top end than it would on its own. |
The two channels are not perfect twins, because the unit’s two channels aren’t: each was measured and modeled on its own, so the same settings on A and B differ by a few tenths of a dB here and there.
Auto
In Auto the Definition knob still sets the ceiling, and a detector inside the unit decides how much of it you get, moment to moment. It listens to the processed output with a treble-weighted ear and reacts at two speeds: part of the pull-back is almost immediate, and the rest follows over about a quarter of a second. On sustained material it settles; on drums it breathes with the hits, backing off on a bright snare and letting the top come back in between.
Because the detector hears the output, more Definition makes it pull back less on drums, not more (at Definition 32 the unit barely backs off on toms, at 22 it backs off by about 3 dB). That is how the hardware behaves, so that is how The FortyTwo behaves.
Level matters
The hardware was built for −10 dBu studio levels, and both Auto and the lights depend on how hot the signal is. The FortyTwo treats a sine wave at −18 dBFS RMS as −10 dBu, so a full-scale sine is about +5 dBu. If Auto seems to hold back too much, or the lights sit on red or green all the time, check the level going in: a mix peaking well below 0 dBFS, with its average somewhere around −18 dBFS, is where the unit is happiest.
The Hi-Contour lights
Each channel has three lights: red, amber, and green. Like the hardware’s, they show the balance of what is coming in, low band against high band, before any processing. They work with Function set to Out and with Definition at 0, just as the real ones do.
| Light | Means |
|---|---|
| Amber | At rest, or balanced. |
| Red | The bottom end is well ahead of the top: a bass line, a kick drum, a dull recording. A 500 Hz tone lights it from about −19 dBu. |
| Green | There is real top end in the signal. The lights lean toward green: a 5 kHz tone lights it from about −28 dBu, and at −10 dBu keeps it green even under a much louder bass tone. |
The lights were fitted frame by frame to video of the real unit, odd habits included. Something in the hardware’s light circuit runs out of headroom on loud material, so a loud low tone goes red, then amber, then green as it gets louder still. A 1 kHz tone never lights red at all; it goes straight from amber to green at about −4 dBu.
CLIP lights when the plugin’s output reaches digital full scale. The hardware’s own clip light comes on at +12 to +15 dBu in, which is above anything the plugin can be fed, so here it warns about the digital output instead.
The toolbar
The bar along the bottom is the same on every Six Walls plugin: undo and
redo, A/B comparison, the preset menu (factory presets plus Save as user
preset…), the zoom steps, the version number, and the
? button, which opens this manual. User presets are small files in
%APPDATA%\Six Walls\The FortyTwo\Presets
(~/Library/Application Support/Six Walls/The FortyTwo/Presets on
macOS).
The factory presets are starting points for vocals, instruments, drums, and the mix bus.
Known limitations
- Auto was fitted on drums and full mixes at normal levels. It matches the unit within a fraction of a dB there. Very quiet material and the far ends of the Definition dial were measured less, so they are the least certain.
- The lights are close, not perfect. They match the filmed unit on about 98% of video frames. A loud low tone turns green a few dB later than on the hardware, and with a strong bass note under a rising treble tone red lets go about 2 dB early.
- Below about 40 Hz with Lo-Contour and Definition both at maximum, the model can be up to about 2 dB off.
- Latency. The model runs at four times the sample rate at 44.1 and 48 kHz (twice at 88.2 and 96 kHz). That adds a few samples of delay, which The FortyTwo reports to your DAW so it can compensate.
Credits & licenses
The version number is shown in the plugin’s bottom toolbar; the ? button there opens this manual.
- JUCE 8 — built with JUCE (juce.com) under the free JUCE Personal license; the “Made with JUCE” splash on the editor is part of that license.
- Fonts — Orbitron, Rajdhani, IBM Plex Mono, and Rubik Dirt, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.
- Modeled on measurements of a rack enhancer that Six Walls owns. Unofficial, not affiliated with or endorsed by its maker.