Make Believe Howie’s 179
The deal
$89 at AudioDeluxe (down from $179), 50% off. The sale runs through August 20, 2026.
What it is
Howie's 179 is a compressor/limiter plugin from Make Believe Studios, built to emulate mastering engineer Howie Weinberg's own pair of NTP 179-120 hardware units. Rather than modeling a generic 179-120, the plugin captures the specific dynamics response, box tone, and distortion character of Weinberg's personal pair, shaped by over 40 years of mastering work across a wide range of genres. The result is a compressor aimed at adding smoothness, weight, and analog glue to a mix or master bus.
Who it's for
Mastering and mixing engineers who want the sound of a specific, well-documented piece of hardware without sourcing or maintaining a vintage NTP unit. It also suits producers looking to add cohesive glue and subtle saturation across a full mix or stem group before it heads to mastering.
Key features
- Models the exact dynamics, box tone, and saturation behavior of Weinberg's personal NTP 179-120 pair rather than a generic emulation
- Removes the two-unit ceiling of the original hardware, so you can load it on as many channels or instances as needed
- Streamlined, resizable interface designed for fast recall and quick A/B comparison against bypass
- Runs natively as AU, VST2/3, and AAX on both macOS and Windows, licensed through iLok
