Acustica released Cerise, a three-band equalizer, preamp, and compressor effect in VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin formats. The product is free to download until February 14th, 2021.
Cerise is based on Acustica’s innovative Acqua technology. The company creates high-quality dynamic impulse responses of real hardware and uses them to create software emulations.
See also: Top 100 Christmas 2020 Plugin Deals & Freebies!The developer describes Cerise as “a ‘British style’ channel-strip that combines a mic preamp, a three-band EQ, and a compressor.” Apparently, the plugin simulates a vintage transformer-based channel strip.
The controls are organized into four main sections. The “stereo” section is where you’ll adjust the stereo spread and the stereo pan. The “equalizer” section hosts a three-band parametric equalizer. The “dynamics” panel is where you’ll find the compressor module with threshold, timing, ratio, and filter controls. It also features a dry/wet knob for easy parallel processing.
Last but not least, the “preamp” section features a high-pass filter and a texture parameter. This is where the signal gets its final bit of polish with analog-style saturation.
Cerise features a pair of level monitors on the input and the output, with gain controls. Each section can be bypassed to reduce the CPU hit.

Like the majority of Acustica plugins, Cerise requires a powerful computer to run properly. It sounds very good, but the performance can be rather lackluster if you’re using a slower processor.
To download your free copy of Cerise, you will first need to sign up for a free Acustica user account and download the Aquarius manager application (linked below). Once installed, run Aquarius, log in to your Acustica user account, and install Cerise from the start page.

Cerise is available in VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin formats for compatible digital audio workstations on PC and Mac. Both 32-bit and 64-bit plugin hosts are supported. The 32-bit installers must be enabled manually in the Aquarius app.
Be sure to download and install Cerise before February 14th, 2020. On a related note, you can get up to 45% OFF Acustica’s best-selling software during the holiday sale.
More info: Cerise (requires Aquarius download manager, FREE until February 14th, 2021)
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Last Updated on December 21, 2020 by Tomislav Zlatic.