Axis Plug-ins have released Moto Q, a freeware 11-band parametric equalizer with a built-in spectrogram display in VST/AU plugin formats for Windows and Mac.
In Memory of Sylvia Plath and for all the lovers out there Clara Moto and axisplugins.com decided to present you a very special Valentine’s Gift. The free Moto Q. We wish you a Sweet Valentine and do not forget to hug and kiss your lover!
Moto Q is available for free download via Axis Plug-ins (1.9 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/AU plugin format for Windows & Mac).
The download page seems to go offline from time to time. If you get a 404 error, try returning to the page later during the day. On the bright side, no registration is required on the developer’s website and you can start your free download of Moto Q right away. I also liked the fact that the plugin is available for download both as an installer and a simple DLL file, which I generally prefer as opposed to being forced to use an installer.
Moto Q is a parametric equalizer featuring 11 filter slots which include standard LP/HP filters, low and high band shelves, two notch filters and five parametric bands. The interface also features a handy spectrogram display which enables monitoring of the frequency spectrum in real time.
The plugin is part of the Moto Bundle which is an equalizer plugin bundle consisting of three plugins in total. All the plugins were developed in collaboration with Clara Moto, a music composer from Austria. Moto Q was released as freeware yesterday, as a Valentine’s Day gift from the developers. From what I could gather, this particular plugin will remain freeware in the future and available separately from the rest of the bundle.
I was intrigued by the fact that I haven’t heard of Axis Plug-ins in the past and by the lack of company background information on their website. The only info I could find on the developer’s site was that they collaborated with another development company in the past and that they are now operating solo. Yet, they’re offering a rather large collection of audio effects which seem very well crafted. Also, their Match EQ equalizer received a fairly positive review in Computer Music magazine back in October.
So, who are Axis Plug-ins and who did they collaborate with in the past? I couldn’t stand the mystery of it, so I put my detective hat on and looked for answers in conversations with shady people in the darkest corners of the town (or rather by searching for info on online forums while drinking a nice cup of coffee in my home studio).
After a bit of investigation, I found out that the team behind Axis Plug-ins previously worked for RNDigital Labs, a well-known development company which more experienced freeware VST plugin users will remember by their useful Inspector spectrum analyzer. The company was closed in 2009, however the team kept operating under a different name. I still haven’t managed to figure it all out (is the development team the same as before, are they using the old code, etc.), but in the in the end all of this doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we got a decent little freeware equalizer for free, right?
If you install and use Moto Q in your DAW, please leave a comment and let me know what you think about the plugin. A big thank you goes out to BPB reader dark virus who has submitted a detailed user review of Moto Q, which is now added to the article. For more freeware equalizers, take a look at our freeware parametric EQ plugin round-up article.
User Review
Submitted by dark virus.
I tried it and had a good impression, overall. The CPU hit isn’t so high as I’d expect (4% max on my old Pentium IV single core), but there’s a nasty nagscreen that appears from time to time, during my tests. There’s a “click to continue” option, but it’s annoying. I think it could have been stated by the developer, but it doesn’t ruin the experience at all. The spectrum analyzer is a little “dodgy”, but it works.
There’s an interesting “manual” option, that enables a hover-style manual, so you point the mouse over the options and the plugin shows how the knobs and graphics work. The interface is a little too big but again, doesn’t ruin the experience.
The knobs are big and easy to dial, but the traditional CTRL+click and SHIFT+click (used to smooth the knob movement and give it more precision) doesn’t seems to work. Instead, there’s too buttons left and right the main knobs used to fine tune the frequencies, at 0.1 steps per click. Not much practical, but anyways.
Nice EQ. I think it would be very good for mastering tasks. And, most important, it’s free!
