Professional Analog Mastering.
Professional Analog Mastering.
226K+ subscribers
According to the developers on Github, this is a 1:1 remake of the Sonnox Oxford inflator. Introducing the effect amplifies quieter details in the signal and adds harmonics.
The positive curve value is upward waveshaping and harmonics, and the negative curve introduces only the harmonics.
The plugin includes oversampling, latency options, and 2 interface designs - let’s listen to it.
Watch the video to learn more >
This is a truly one-of-a-kind delay plugin. It emulates how the moon’s surface reflects radio waves and lets you use one or two satellites to mimic the transmission and reception of your vocal or other sound source bouncing off the moon’s surface.
Moondust is the typical noise you hear in NASA recordings, while feedback and time are what you’d expect. Doppler modulates the frequency of the delay, creating a cool pitch-shifting effect.
Lastly, and I think most impressively, if you click the Ping Moon button, the plugin will input NASA’s current positioning of the moon and create a delay time based on the moon’s exact position. Granted, it’s measuring that from a single position on Earth, not your exact location, which is probably for the best, but still, I was amazed when I read about this in the manual.
Let’s take a listen to it.
Watch the video to learn more >
Created by students at the University of Milan and offered on their audio department’s website for free, The Masker is an intelligent EQ that can easily increase a vocal’s clarity by reducing masking.
Like the Gullfoss EQ, you can use it alone or with a side-chained signal. Then, move the dial toward reveal to reduce masking or toward bury to increase masking.
Clean-up increases the number of filters used, while an amount dial-up top can increase or decrease the overall gain change created by the plugin.
So far, I haven’t been able to get this Clear Frequency dial to do anything, but I’m probably just missing something - hopefully, their audio department will release a manual soon.
Watch the video to learn more >
This is, without a doubt, the strangest-sounding delay plugin I’ve ever used.
There’s so much happening here that I don’t know where to start - you can manually or randomly generate a delay pattern for the left and right channels and then modulate the delay taps into a wonderfully chaotic, garbled mess.
We can affect the frequency, bandwidth, amplitude, and panning in the automation section. Then, an effect the developer calls Ripple can be modulated while global controls are at the bottom.
No explanation is going to convey how this thing will sound, so let’s just listen to it.
Watch the video to learn more >
FogPad is a strangely designed but fantastic sounding reverb.
It seems purposely vague so that the user needs to go with what sounds best, which is a cool approach.
Mist and Haze are the decay time and the bandwidth of the reverb, while freeze holds out the reflections. Then, the functions become less discernable, with some affecting the overall level, some introducing unique modulation and digital distortion, and so on.
So, similar to our last plugin, it seems best to listen, and then you can decide if you’re interested.
Watch the video to learn more >
This plugin is a delay, modulator, and distorter, all working together to create a truly distinctive sound.
The taps time, feedback, modulation rate and amplitude depth can all be controlled as expected. The modulation can be synced to the BPM, and different waveforms can be used as the oscillator.
Then, the effect can be widened, the right can be blended into the left channel, and vice versa.
Hearing about the functions doesn’t make this plugin seem like it would be anything different than most delays, but let’s listen to some of their incredibly well-designed presets. If you download this one, here’s a quick warning: there’s no output adjuster or internal limiter, and some presets can greatly increase the amplitude, so just be careful not to hurt your ears.
I’ll compensate the levels in the demo to keep the volume relatively equal.
Watch the video to learn more >
They include Aerial EQ, Mix Harmony, Ocean Plate Reverb, and Silver Fox Compressor. Everything seems like it would be somewhat run-of-the-mill EQs, compressors, etc., but there’s something unique about how these sound.
Each one kind of reminds me of some of the more aggressive Waves Audio plugins in how they affect transients and high frequencies - but in a good way.
Aerial EQ is semi-parametric with these really pleasant Air Bands. MixHarmony is an EQ-Compressor combo with a biting and aggressive sound.
Ocean Plate Reverb didn’t interest me too much until I messed with the ER/Tail dial - how it handles reflections seems so unrealistic but it sounds fantastic.
And Silver Fox Compressor, although I’ll give you a warning - it’s really difficult to install and get running, has such an unorthodox and aggressive sound.
So, all in all, really worthwhile plugins here that don’t just provide a needed function but actually offer a sound that’s hard to achieve elsewhere, I’m really excited to see what else they release in the future.
Let’s listen to Mix Harmony, and then I’ll add on Ocean Plate Reverb.
Watch the video to learn more >
This one has been out for a little while, but it deserves more attention. It’s a simple autotune-esque plugin that sounds better than Autotune’s entry-level tuners.
In short, it’s by far the best-sounding free tuner.
Let’s listen to it.
Watch the video to learn more >
I debated whether or not to include this one since it’s hard to work with, but when you can get it just right, it’s a super cool effect.
The meaning of each dial is conveniently located in the plugin. Even then, I struggled to control the sound with it varying between moments of interesting synchronized repetition and just absolute chaos.
Let’s listen to it processing our vocal, and I’ll do my best to control the effect.
Watch the video to learn more >
This plugin reminds me of Baby Audio’s Tape plugin but with a distinct sound. Dust and flutter introduce audio dropouts and frequency modulation, respectively. Slam is a drive effect that maximzies lower level signal, while low and high are pre-emphasis low and high-frequency filters.
Then there’s Tube, which introduces more harmonics; tape, which imparts a lo-fi frequency response; and sweeten, which shifts the harmonics from odd to even while boosting air frequencies.
It’s a great-sounding saturation plugin, so let’s take a listen.
Watch the video to learn more >
Rust is a lo-fi effect. It affects the frequency response and THD, adds noise and dropouts, and causes flutter or frequency modulation.
It’s simple but works incredibly well for creating an old-sounding vocal quickly.
Voice Leveler is even simpler - it’s a compressor with preset fast attack and release times and automatic makeup gain, and it introduces strong odd-order harmonics.
Let’s listen to both, but one at a time since they’re easy to overdo.
Watch the video to learn more >
Fat Cat is classic but impressively nuanced-sounding saturation with lots of even order harmonics—there is nothing to tweak, really. Just increase the dial and compensate for the gain changes, but even with the drive at 0dB it’s already saturating a lot.
Pitchmunk is a pitch and formant shifter but with 24 semitones in either direction instead of the traditional 1 octave up or down. It sounds great, and is a fantastic free alternative to Soundtoy’s Alterboy plugin.
Pixel Rabbit introduces bit reduction - at 100% you’ll have no signal, but use the mix dial to introduce the effect. I’ve found roughly 80% of the effect with a mix of 50% creates the sound you’d expect from a bit crusher.
Rainbow Bird EQ would work incredibly well on hip-hop vocals. The mid and High Air bands are super aggressive, resulting in a punchy upfront sound. It’s similar to fresh air but more intense and with 5 additional filters for some added flexibility.
Lastly, time turtle is a great mono delay. The ping pong function doesn’t work well, maybe they’ll fix it, but even without that, it’s nice to have a quick delay that doesn’t require too much tweaking to make it sound good.
Let’s try Pitchmunk and then Rainbow Bird EQ.
Watch the video to learn more >
The process dial compresses, introduces auto makeup gain, generates odd-order harmonics, and tone shapes - or boosts the lows, dips the mids, and boosts the highs.
De-essing attenuates aggressive sibilance that would result from boosting the highs. Even without adjusting the dials, the plugin is doing a lot, so less is definitely more with this plugin.
I’ll include the links for all of these plugins in the description since some are hard to find, but first,
Let’s take a listen to sweetvox.