Metric Halo x Howies179
The deal
$89 at PluginFox (down from $179), 50% off. The sale runs through August 20, 2026.
What it is
Howies179 is a collaboration between Metric Halo and Make Believe Studios that recreates the NTP 179-120 compressor/limiter used by mastering engineer Howie Weinberg on thousands of major-label masters and hundreds of Grammy-nominated records. The plugin models both the dynamics behavior and the analog box tone and distortion of Weinberg's personal hardware units, built around a streamlined interface distilled from his 40+ years of mastering experience rather than a full recreation of every control on the original hardware.
Who it's for
Mastering and mix engineers who want a fast, musical bus compressor/limiter modeled on a specific, well-regarded piece of analog mastering gear. It suits producers chasing that classic glue-and-punch character on a master bus or drum bus without hunting down or maintaining the original hardware.
Key features
- Recreates the dynamics and analog coloration of Weinberg's personal NTP 179-120 units
- Cross-platform and native on Apple Silicon, available in AAX Native, AU, VST2, and VST3
- Settings are fully recallable and instances are unlimited, unlike a pair of hardware units
- Multiple iLok licensing options including iLok Cloud, Machine ID, and USB
