FI-10

Kolor

Name: Kolor
Brand: Felt Instruments
SKU: FI-10
Price: 149 GBP
Availability: InStock

A modular equalizer sampled from rare post-war European hardware.

VST3, AU, AAX plugin

A hand setting the frequency knob of a tube equalizer pulled halfway out of its rack.

The open chassis of a vintage tube equalizer, its resistors and capacitors hand-wired in rows.

A pair of vintage LIE Belin tube equalizers from the 1950s.

The lid of a tube equalizer lifted to show the switch decks and wiring underneath.

story

The equalizers that coloured a continent's records, and almost nobody has played them since.

What did the equalizers of post-war Europe have in common? A way of thinking. Wide, musical shelves, sometimes a tilt or a semi-parametric mid, all built to be set by ear. Few became iconic. Most were made in tiny numbers for national broadcasters and film studios, then forgotten by everyone but a handful of collectors. Kolor is my love letter to them.

Kolor takes seven of them apart and lets you mix and match: the bottom shelf of one unit, the top of another, a tilt from a third. And that's just the equalizer. Five of the units came with their own preamps, and each one colours a track its own way. You're going to want it on everything.

Sampled, not modeled

Every curve taken from the hardware itself, band by band, sample by sample.

Modular construction

Take the units apart and recombine their bands into an equalizer that was never built.

Five preamps

The input stage of five of the units, each with its own saturation character.

every update is free

Buy it once, and you get all future versions and improvements.

the gear

A 1950s Klangfilm RZ062a tube mastering equalizer, sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — Klangfilm - German mastering equalizer
top and bottom bands from the iconic Klangfilm RZ062a mastering equalizer, along with its smooth tilt section. Refined and even, an easy place to start. Its input stage is one of the five preamp models.

A rare LIE Belin tube equalizer built for French radio, sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — Belin - French radio
a rare LIE Belin tube unit built for French radio. Bold and lively, with two switchable shelf frequencies, each with its own voice. Its input stage is one of the five preamp models.

A FODU tube equalizer custom-built for a Polish animation studio in the 1950s, sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — FODU - Polish animation studio
custom-built by a forgotten maker for a famous Polish animation studio. Likely the only survivor of the 61 made. Lush, sweet and warm, with three frequency settings per band. Its input stage is one of the five preamp models.

A SELA passive shelving equalizer made for Swedish broadcast, sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — SELA - Swedish broadcast
a passive shelving EQ made for Swedish broadcast. Wide-open highs, tight bass, and all the oomph you need. A proper hidden gem.

A KINAP passive equalizer built for a Soviet film-sound studio, fewer than 40 ever made, sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — KINAP - Soviet film studio
overbuilt by a Soviet maker for a film-sound studio with no cost spared, fewer than 40 ever made. Transformers bigger than your head, and a tone to match.

The boost-only presence section of a Tonographie Apparatebau W95c, sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — TAB W95c - presence
the boost-only presence section of a Tonographie Apparatebau unit. Adds air and 3D up top, and stays sweet however hard you push it. Its input stage is one of the five preamp models.

A 1950s Picot graphic equalizer from the French boutique maker, sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — Picot - graphic EQ
a 1950s graphic equalizer from the French boutique maker Picot. The least literal of the bunch, and the most full of character. Its input stage is one of the five preamp models.

The passive high and low cut filters sampled for the Kolor EQ plugin. — Filters - high and low cut
passive filters sampled with a musical resonant peak. Boost the bottom, cut the lows at 40 Hz, and the bass turns focused and hard-hitting.

read the session notes

Through it

Same take, two paths. Flip between dry and wet, on a whole mix and on single tracks.

Mix (on every track)

Soundtrack (on every track)

Drum machine

Synth

Snare

pricing

Kolor
A modular equalizer sampled from rare post-war European hardware.
Vintage Mix Suite
Kolor bundled with Brut, a saturation plugin built from rare studio and test equipment.

There are no sales at Felt. This is the price today and the price in December, for everyone.

try it free

Run your own tracks through Kolor and set it by ear. Free, no time limit.

details

formats: VST3, AU, AAX · macOS 10.13+, Windows 10+ (64-bit)
CPU: Kolor is CPU-hungry by nature. It eases off once the knobs are set. Freeze tracks if you stack instances.
the preamps: Five preamp models, taken from the input stages of the units in the gear section and recreated with machine learning trained on custom test tones. Never on anyone's music, and never on your audio.
mixing or mastering: Kolor was built for mixing, but it's great at the master bus, too - especially with the Klangfilm modules.
a smaller option: Kolor Mikro is the fixed version: the Belin shelves and the Klangfilm tilt, with nothing to choose.
manual: The Kolor manual covers every control.
licence: One licence per user, install on as many machines as you personally use. All future updates are free.

Klangfilm, Belin, SELA, KINAP, TAB and Picot are trademarks of their respective owners. Felt Instruments is not affiliated with any of them.

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