Brainworx® bx_masterdesk
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Easily deliver polished, professional masters.
Developed by Brainworx, and based on a complete chain of field-proven, high-end, professional analog mastering processors, the bx_masterdesk plug-in provides a fully featured mastering environment in a single plug-in that’s as easy to use as it is powerful.
Whether you’re in the rehearsal room quickly polishing a reference track, or a professional engineer delivering masters to record labels, the bx_masterdesk plug-in offers a complete, intuitive mastering processing chain.Now You Can:
Master your mixes quickly and easily with professional-sounding results
Easily sculpt masters with the powerful Bass, Mid, Treble, and Presence EQ
Select from four compressor modes and effortlessly dial in the proper compression characteristics
Use Brainwork’s acclaimed M/S processing to tweak the stereo image with the Mono Maker and Stereo Enhance features
Take a Listen
Simple, Yet Powerful
Mastering requires a balanced, highly tuned processing chain, which can be both complex and expensive. The bx_masterdesk plug-in takes much of the guesswork out of the mastering process by combining several parameters into single controls with carefully chosen individual audio processors, each pre-tuned for easy and effective results.
Four Compressors
The bx_masterdesk’s compressor section makes it easy to add energy to your masters without any pumping or unwanted artifacts. Inspired by classic designs, but transformed for the needs of modern DAW production, the compressor section features four different operating modes, each with its own attack and release rate for quick parallel compression textures.
Easy EQ
The EQ section of the bx_masterdesk plug-in lets you dial in broad stroke tonal adjustments using an intuitive control set that resembles a guitar amp's tone stack. Simply turn the Bass, Mid, Treble, and Presence knobs to quickly and subtly tweak the EQ curve of your master.
Final Touches
For final seasoning, the bx_masterdesk plug-in sports two resonant filters, perfect for cleaning up low-end rumble and taming harsh transients. The bx_masterdesk’s precision metering will ensure your levels are always correct, while Brainworx’s renowned M/S processing lets you artfully shape the width of your masters.
Customer Reviews
C. DeSeta
September 21, 2018
As close to perfection as you can get
His is by far the best and most useful product UA has released. It’s easy to use and seems completely bullit proof. I have been in the game a long time and this is by FAR the best...
Read MoreM. Jiaras
September 19, 2018
Easy to use
Love this. Sounds great. It found a new home on my master buss. It won’t be leaving any time soon.
Read MoreA. Turner
September 6, 2018
Get's better with time
I was wow'd in the 1st 10 minutes of the demo so I bought it and it continues to become more useful. I love the simplicity and immediate results. Perfect well rounded plugin.
Read MoreD. Pierce
September 2, 2018
Game changer
Wow! It can make everything sound better. The filters are dope, the eq's are dope, the TMT is amazing! It only takes a little and it really does go a long way!!!!
Read MoreM. Sigmon
September 1, 2018
Don't confuse convenience for compromise
This is an excellent mastering option. It's designed to master material that was recorded within a wide margin of "acceptability", but if you need to do some serious RX to the...
Read MoreG. Piazza
August 29, 2018
Easy but limited w/ one unique fantastic feature
I have the Native version. I want to give it 5 stars, & despite some limitations, a unique feature almost outweighs any shortcomings. Here are the 'Pros' and Cons': Pro: I opened a...
Read More -
Key Features
A simple to use, all-in-one mastering chain
Four types of compressor circuits
Simple, powerful EQ "tonestack" style EQ
Brainwork’s acclaimed M/S processing, Mono Maker, and Stereo Enhance features
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Customer Reviews
Brainworx bx_masterdesk
C. DeSeta
As close to perfection as you can get
His is by far the best and most useful product UA has released. It’s easy to use and seems completely bullit proof. I have been in the game a long time and this is by FAR the best mastering plug I have ever used. It’s gonna put some folks out of business. It’s THAT good at what it does.
M. Jiaras
Easy to use
Love this. Sounds great. It found a new home on my master buss. It won’t be leaving any time soon.
A. Turner
Get's better with time
I was wow'd in the 1st 10 minutes of the demo so I bought it and it continues to become more useful. I love the simplicity and immediate results. Perfect well rounded plugin.
D. Pierce
Game changer
Wow! It can make everything sound better. The filters are dope, the eq's are dope, the TMT is amazing! It only takes a little and it really does go a long way!!!!
M. Sigmon
Don't confuse convenience for compromise
This is an excellent mastering option. It's designed to master material that was recorded within a wide margin of "acceptability", but if you need to do some serious RX to the mix, throw a couple other plugs in the chain before Masterdesk and get it in the ballpark - something you'd have to do anyway. Once you're anywhere near having the kind of mix you want, this thing will let you get the rest of the job done in a heartbeat, with guidelines for what's happening in your process so you wind up with exactly what you're looking for. I've used Ozone for a lot of masters over the years, but I see no reason to use anything other than this now. Can't recommend it highly enough.
G. Piazza
Easy but limited w/ one unique fantastic feature
I have the Native version.
I want to give it 5 stars, & despite some limitations, a unique feature almost outweighs any shortcomings.
Here are the 'Pros' and Cons':
Pro: I opened a mastering session I did a few months ago and replaced the high end limiter with Master Desk. The mix just opened up! Wow! Doing an A/B, the mix sounded 2 dimensional with the other limiter - flat as a board; Master Desk provides that Analog sound rarely heard from in the box mixes / masters. Plugins have incrementally improved since @ 2000 in various ways, but most manufacturers would still implement one channel and copy it, so even e.g. UA's excellent VariMu still didn't quite sound like the hardware. I realized they were still missing the subtle component variations that a stereo hardware unit has and give 'dimension' to a stereo signal. Other designers (UA included) should take note of Brainworx's TMT modeling (I have other TMT plugins, but this is the 1st that sits well on the 2 buss).
The Stereo Width / Mono Maker is very good when needed - at least as good as the BX Digital V3. The width supposedly works differently than standard M/S balance. I've heard it sound great on some mixes and not as great on others; more time will tell.
The Cons:
The 4 compression choices (and associated TMT models) are a bit limited & may not be right for every mix / genre. And most of the TMT flavor comes from the comp, so that is the most important section for my uses. A few more options would be nice.
The Comp mix knob should go a little lower, which would help w the previous point.
Though the filter freq choices are good, they always cut the same amount (which seems too much for my taste). I find the low filters in particular frustrating; they hit the common problem spots, but they take too much away. The highs are also aggressive, but they are so narrow and well tuned, they work well for mixes w distorted guitars, cheap cymbals (and or overheads) & mediocre converters.
The Foundation & Tone stack combo is interesting; it can surely help a skewed mix, but don't expect to fix gremlins - it's a broad brush combo.
Last complaint: I'll probably lose more mastering work as people get their hands on this. The TMT 'analog' imaging is very impressive; to have it in a good mastering tool is the main selling point for me. Would that UA implement the same for the VariMu, MMP, 33609, SSL G Comp & other plugins I use for mastering.J. Kujawka
Not bad
not bad for a plugin...good quality, easy to use but bit pricy.
O. Lbs
JUST DO IN A FEW CLICKS A LOVELY MASTER
IM SO SURPRISED USING THE DEMO PLUG, I CAN MAKE A FASTER MASTER FOR MY MUSIC WITHOUT CALL AN ENGINEER... THIS IS THE MOST FINALLY CRAZY MASTERDESK I EVER SEEN
L. Vogle
good
love it
M. Eliot
Pleasantly surprised and very impressed with the Masterdesk
Just loaded the demo of this up into Cubase with a track I had only lightly touched qwith the mastering to see what it could do as I have nothing new to test it on. It works very well. I make Electro Dub and House based beats with quality gear like Moog hardware and Spectrasonics software and this brought everything out beautifully. I could not use the settings that will most interest me as I had already done some widening, but the width is really excellent. I don't know how it will perform with other genres, but it will do nicely to finish off the music that I make. It's actually really lovely. It has balanced my mix out very nicely better than I could without it. Yep, this is 10 out of 10 useful to me. I will be buying it when I have some cash next week.
A. Whiting
Perfect for DJ Mixes
I've been searching for a simple mastering tool for my DJ mixes, and this looks like it could be it!
