It is a separate install and product. See post #37 above.
 
My takeaway is that I now have 4 more buses (which is cool) and a 32C EQ on every channel (which is even cooler).
 
Of course it cost me $149 but I'm OK with that since UAD's 32C plug is $125 if you can get it on a 50% sale.

Thanks Bapu I appreciate your response. It is a pity they did not simply add 4 more buses to MB3 and allow us to buy the 32C EQ as a plug-in. I wonder why they did not do that. The rest of it cannot be that different. $149 US is $200 Australian so as you can see it is not a cheap option for us Aussies.
 
I am probably going to hang five for the moment as I tend to master in MB3 and by the time I import either full mixes or stems they are already sounding perfect and don't really need the MB32C EQ as such.
 
Is the MB32C EQ available on the masterbuss as well? Then it could be worth the price of admission.
 
Update
 
OK I downloaded the 32C manual and no the masterbuss is as per MB3 just the standard EQ. (which is rather nice though with that LO-MID control set around 300Hz) Looks like the 32C EQ is only available on the tracks at this point. Pity because on the masterbuss it could be killer.
 
 

Putting on my business hat as a software guy:
 
They need to figure out how to merge these things quickly. Perhaps just make the EQ section an extension to the core MB3 like Cakewalk does with the Pro Channel. The confusion in the market and having to juggle the release schedule of two "different" products just doesn't make sense. And if they want to add a new EQ model then what - a 3rd DAW?

I bet if we wait around though they will do exactly that. Add 4 buses and give us the 32C as a plug-in. Then it could be inserted anywhere eg buses and the masterbuss too which would be excellent. Even if they charged say $100 for the plugin I would be happy to buy it.
 
But I must say even MB3 still sounds pretty similar to the 32C in many ways. I used to teach on a 32C in an audio school for a few years and got to know its sound. MB3 is not that far removed from it you know. It is still sweet and does nice things to either stems or premastered mixes.
 
I appreciate the discussion here though on this. No one is saying boo over on the Presonus forum. Seems no one is interested in it over there but glad you fellas are into it here. I certainly like it that is for sure.
 
 

I'm thinking Mixbus 3 will be fine for me too. I don't need 4 more buses and I like the eq in Mixbus. I can also always use the other 10 or 12 I own. Slick EQ GE works great on tracks...for example.

I'll tell you this much. The release of this new version with 4 extra mix buses gives me a little insight as to why they haven't implemented PDC on the utility buses (by far and away the worst thing about Mixbus IMO). I mean why would they, when they can get you to shell out over $100 for more PDC'd buses (i.e. useful ones).

I'm hoping by the time I have a 1200 dpi monitor that 1) it'll be cheaper and 2) something even better will be out.

sharke
I'll tell you this much. The release of this new version with 4 extra mix buses gives me a little insight as to why they haven't implemented PDC on the utility buses (by far and away the worst thing about Mixbus IMO). I mean why would they, when they can get you to shell out over $100 for more PDC'd buses (i.e. useful ones).

There is the argument that if you can't do it in 8 buses, maybe you're not thinking it through.
 
Honestly, in SONAR it is really rare that I've used more than 12 buses. So the new version suits me just fine.
 
I paid $30 for Mixbus 2 (32bit ony). I paid $49 for Mixbus 3 because I wanted 64bit. I've paid more that that $79 for plugs that I hardly use (not bragging just stating a fact) or a dinner that I can never eat again.
 
So now I've paid $149 for the Harrison (virtual) 32C console with 12 buses and I'm pretty happy. No complaints here. 

bapu

sharke
I'll tell you this much. The release of this new version with 4 extra mix buses gives me a little insight as to why they haven't implemented PDC on the utility buses (by far and away the worst thing about Mixbus IMO). I mean why would they, when they can get you to shell out over $100 for more PDC'd buses (i.e. useful ones).

There is the argument that if you can't do it in 8 buses, maybe you're not thinking it through.
 
Honestly, in SONAR it is really rare that I've used more than 12 buses. So the new version suits me just fine.
 
I paid $30 for Mixbus 2 (32bit ony). I paid $49 for Mixbus 3 because I wanted 64bit. I've paid more that that $79 for plugs that I hardly use (not bragging just stating a fact) or a dinner that I can never eat again.
 
So now I've paid $149 for the Harrison (virtual) 32C console with 12 buses and I'm pretty happy. No complaints here. 

I guess it probably depends on the style of music you're working on. I have some large, long projects (15mins +) which have tons of synths and many different changes of mood in them which stray far from the traditional song structure of a band, and I find myself using a lot of different send effects in different parts of the track. Now if I want to do the full mix in Mixbus then ideally I'd want to set up all of those sends in it so that I'm feeding them audio from tracks that I've EQ'd and compressed in Mixbus. The alternatives would be printing the sends in Sonar and EQ'ing the tracks in Mixbus, in which case the effects tracks would be based on pre-EQ'd audio, or doing as much of the mix as I can in Sonar, printing all tracks and sends and importing them into Mixbus purely for the summing and tape saturation, OR doing it all in Mixbus and dealing with the utility bus PDC myself (a pain).

James,
 
I get it. If you've never worked on a console (and I'm not saying you haven't) or it's been years since, having unlimited PDC'd buses (i.e. SONAR) is a great workflow enhancer. One could say you almost don't have to plan ahead.