Third Rail

Third Rail is a tube-driven stereo 31-band 1/3-octave graphic equalizer – real ISO center frequencies, one fader per band, ±24 dB of range. No frequency knob to dial in first, no Q to argue with, just faders exactly where a hardware graphic EQ has always put them, grouped into six ranges from Sub-Bass through Air.

Drive, Not a Dial
Push the INPUT knob hard and the tube saturation stage kicks in on its own, the way it works on real tube gear – there’s no separate saturation knob to ride. A vari-mu-style compression stage runs underneath at a fixed character, adding weight without ever being a control you have to think about.

The COLOR Knob
A continuous hue control that recolors the fader highlights and LED meters live, in real time, as you turn it. It has zero effect on the signal – it’s there because you’re going to have this plugin open for hours, and there’s no reason it has to look the same every session.

Ten Real Presets
Warm Bus, Air Lift, Low End Foundation, Vocal Forward, Broadcast Voice, Tape Glow, De-Mud, Bright Master, Full Smile, and Sub Cut – built as real starting points, not hand-typed guesses. Save your own, A/B against your last setting, import and export curves between sessions.

Features

• 31 bands, full ISO 1/3-octave center frequencies, 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• ±24 dB of range per band, boost or cut
• Six visual groups: Sub-Bass, Bass, Low-Mid, Midrange, Presence, Air
• Input-driven tube saturation, no separate drive knob
• Fixed-character vari-mu-style compression stage
• COLOR knob – continuous hue, recolors faders and meters live, cosmetic only
• True bypass on power off, not a mute
• 10 factory presets plus Flat, the neutral default
• A/B compare, save, import, and export curves

System Requirements

• VST3 (64-bit) – Windows, macOS, Linux
• AU (64-bit) – macOS only
• Windows 10/11, macOS 11+ (Apple Silicon + Intel), Linux Ubuntu 22.04+ or equivalent