4.5/5 stars (11 reviews) • Effects > Channel Strip

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Product Summary

If you’ve ever wanted the sound of a classic British console channel strip without the five-figure hardware price tag, Heritage Audio’s BritStrip plugin is worth your attention. This is a faithful software recreation of Heritage Audio’s own BritStrip Console Channel Strip, a piece of hardware that’s already found its way into thousands of studios worldwide. Inside, you get two heavyweight tools working together: a 73-style inductor-based equalizer and a diode bridge compressor modeled from Heritage Audio’s Successor unit.

The EQ alone is something special. It’s the kind where you can crank extreme boosts and the signal still sounds musical rather than harsh or broken. The mid-band is particularly well-suited for snares, kicks, guitars, and vocals — you can really dig into the punch and presence of a sound without it turning into a mess. There’s also a Class-A high-pass filter that handles low-end cleanup without degrading the signal, and both the high and low shelf bands include a switchable bell mode, which gives you a lot more surgical control than a standard shelf would.

The compressor carries the same DNA as Heritage Audio’s hardware Successor unit. It uses a diode bridge circuit model, which gives it that thick, solid, controlled feel that tracking engineers love. Crucially, it includes a Blend function — meaning you can dial in parallel compression natively without any routing gymnastics. There’s also a sidechain filter so you can tell the compressor which frequencies to pay most attention to. This is especially useful for vocals and bass, where low-end energy can fool the compressor into over-reacting.

One of the more practical features is the flexible internal routing. You can run EQ before compression, which makes the compressor more reactive to any frequency boosts you’ve dialed in. Or flip the order and run EQ after compression, keeping the compressor’s detection unaffected by your EQ decisions. That’s a meaningful choice — not just a cosmetic option.

Heritage Audio has also shipped two versions of the plugin. The full version includes a meticulously modeled 73-style preamp, designed to complement their i73 Pro hardware interface. The lightweight version strips the preamp out for users who already have their gain staging handled or just want a leaner load. Both versions are fully functional as standalone channel strips.

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Key Features

Visual

• Desktop view and rack view GUI options available
• Two interface layouts to match your workflow preference

Processing

• 73-style inductor-based equalizer with musical response at extreme settings
• Class-A high-pass filter for clean low-end removal without signal degradation
• High and low shelves with switchable bell mode for precise tonal shaping
• Diode bridge-modeled compressor delivering thick, punchy dynamic control
• Blend (parallel compression) function built in natively
• Sidechain filter for frequency-focused compression detection

Control

• Mid-band EQ optimized for sculpting snares, kicks, guitars, and vocals
• Flexible internal routing: EQ before or after compression

Workflow

• Two plugin versions: Full (with 73-style preamp) and Lightweight (without preamp)
• Designed to pair with Heritage Audio’s i73 Pro interface, but works as a standalone tool
• Enables real-time monitoring of a finished, compressed sound while tracking

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System Compatibility

• Formats: VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit)
• macOS: 10.15.7 and up — Intel and Native Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
• Windows: Windows 10 and 11
• DAWs: All major DAWs including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason
• Authorization: Free iLok cloud account required

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