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Manley VOXBOX Black Friday deals start with this vocal channel strip plugin from Universal Audio, listed at $39, 73% off, with the offer ending Nov 30, 2026.
It is a plugin version of the Manley VOXBOX hardware, which Manley introduced in 1997. The maker says it is exclusively licensed by Manley Laboratories and modeled by Universal Audio.
Inside a 3U chassis, the VOXBOX Channel Strip combines a Manley mic preamp built on tubes, an optical compressor driven by a vactrol, a passive equalizer in the style of Pultec, plus a de-esser and limiter. The plugin models the whole circuit path of that box.
That includes the transformers, the tube amplifiers, the passive inductor-based filters and the optical gain reduction. Universal Audio calls it the world's only channel strip custom-designed for vocal performance and production.
The signal chain starts with a feedback-style 60 dB tube mic preamp. It takes Mic, Line or Hi-Z input, and the maker describes it as Class A vacuum tube tone.
Unison technology links the plugin to the digitally controlled preamps in Apollo interfaces. Input impedance and gain staging follow what the plugin does, and Unison controls the preamp parameters from the front panel.
The optical compressor sits before the preamp, so you can tame transients ahead of the tube stage, as on the hardware. It has 25 interactive Attack and Release combinations.
The three-band passive EQ is based on the Pultec MEQ-5. The de-esser works with two knobs. Switch off its frequency control and the section turns into a limiter that the maker calls aggressive and colorful.
Outside vocals, the maker says engineers use the de-esser on shrill electric guitars and overly bright overheads. It also lists clean electric guitars, strings and drums as sources.
The main features, as listed by the maker:
Two versions come with your purchase. UAD Native runs on your Mac or PC without any UA hardware.
Apollo Realtime and UAD-2 runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware.
Yes. The Manley VOXBOX Channel Strip plugin is 73% off at $39, and the offer ends Nov 30, 2026. It is a Universal Audio plugin built on Manley's all-tube vocal channel strip, which came out as hardware in 1997.
It models the full VOXBOX path: a tube mic preamp, an optical compressor, a three-band passive EQ and a de-esser/limiter. You also get sidechain Unlink/Link, an output transformer bypass and a clean makeup gain or attenuation stage.
No. Two versions come with your purchase. UAD Native runs on a Mac or PC with no UA hardware, while Apollo Realtime and UAD-2 runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware.
Unison is Universal Audio's bi-directional link between the plugin and the digitally controlled mic preamps in Apollo interfaces. The maker says it captures the hardware's input impedance, gain staging and circuit behavior, with preamp parameters controlled from the front panel.
Prices and end dates are checked at publishing time and can change, so confirm them at the store before you buy.