Freeware is fun -- Kuassa has announced the release of BasiQ, a free equalizer effect plugin ready to be downloaded and used for all your EQ needs.

What is it? BasiQ is an acronym for Baxandall Simulation Equalizer, a free 3-band equalizer plugin with photorealistic graphics from Kuassa, Inc. As the name implies, the engine is modeled after a design of a classic baxandall equalizer well known for its smooth shelves and natural-sounding responses, similar to the tone control on a high-fidelity systems. According to Kuassa, the maker of the plugin, BasiQ's simple controls allow you to shape the frequency from many sources to your needs, from opening up an air on guitar leads, adding a gentle shimmer on vocals, giving extra "oomph" on your synth basslines, or even getting more presence from your masters.

Kuassa notes that this straight-forward equalizer plugin is well-suited for mixing or mastering purposes, although the neutral characteristics of BasiQ make it more suitable as a "sweetening" device. BasiQ is also suitable for giving some transparent "tilt" to your mix rather than a surgical device, best paired on master output with Kratos Maximizer -- another audio processing plugin from Kuassa, Inc.

Kuassa BasiQ features:

• Simple tone control with large Low, Mid, and High knobs
• Preset Management with 12 preset slot within a single bank
• Mono and Stereo applicable
• Supports up to 96 kHz sample rate
• Compact and straight-forward user interface

BasiQ is a freeware effect plugin for Windows and Mac (VST / AU). You can download BasiQ from Kuassa's Web site at kuassa.com.