Neo Harmonic – new equalizer/exciter hybrid effect plug-in
Sound Magic has released Neo Harmonic, an equalizer/exciter hybrid effect plug-in for Windows featuring a custom shaped filter response curve.
There’s an EQ theory called “Yin and Yang” which says that adjusting one band will automatically influence the others. Neo Harmonic takes this theory to a new level by not only boosting/cutting the selected frequency, but also exciting the harmonic partials of that frequency, extending changes throughout the whole audible frequency band. The result is a unique sound which traditional parametric EQs would be hard pressed to achieve.
Neo Harmonic will give you a fuller sound, with more detail and clarity than is possible with a traditional parametric EQ.
Neo Harmonic features
- Innovative Harmonic Excite Technology.
- Innovative Custom Curve Shape enables users the define their own harmonic curve to achieve unique sound.
- Super Wide Bandwith adjusting range gives users more controls on final sound.
- Sample and hold fuction enables users to analyze an audio signal first, then hold its harmonic information and apply to another audio track.
- Up to 32Bit/384KHz resolution.
Neo Harmonic for Windows (VST/Supreme Piano 2 add-on) is available to purchase for 49 EUR.
Audio demo of the new Subsonic Labs Wolfram VST and Audio Units plugin.
Subsonic Labs has released Wolfram, which they describe as an advanced sound manipulation device. Nice retro video BTW 😀
“This is the device for you who aren’t satisfied with the few options on your average plugin. You wish to take that extra step, to twist that extra knob in order to achieve instant sound processing gratification – Now you can…We took your average plugin, doubled the voltage, drilled (virtual) holes for essential buttons and rewired it beyond recognition.Smoking hot from our Subsonic Laboratories, it can be the subtle, ear tingling touch of Dr. Jekyll…But Wolfram is equally capable being the frequency devastating abomination of Mr. Hyde. All this with a light touch on the well polished user panel.
Get that vintage vibe with a modern twist – Delays, pitch shifting, distortion, chorusing, phasing, panning, filtering, cabinet emulation and all strange combinations in between. Do you need Wolfram today? Well, you will ask yourself why you didn’t buy it yesterday!”
Roland RE201 Space Echo
The Roland RE-201 Space Echo is truly a Vintage (1973) piece of music technology with lots of appeal even today. It’s not a synth, but a Tape-Echo machine for creating true analog echo effects. The RE-201 is a simple system in which a small loop of tape records an incoming signal and immediately plays the recorded sound back over a couple playback heads before being erased over by new incoming audio. A real analog system with warm, gritty and almost noiseless operation, the Space Echo can provide warm, unpredictable and highly tweakable echo effects.
There are twelve settings to adjust various tape loop speeds, number of repeats, levels, intensity, etc… It can even generate some of its own feedback loops for instant sci-fi effects. It features a built in spring reverb for even more classic analog effects. The RE-201 not only has Vintage appeal but is still widely used to get those dubby, slightly unpredictable, musically analog echo effects.
Microphone Transformer – effect unit which simulates microphones’ sound
Sound Magic has released version 1.1 of Microphone Transformer, an effect unit which simulates several acclaimed microphones’ sound.
From Neumann M149 to U87, AKG C12VR to C414. Microphone Transformer gives you more choices on sound. By using Sound Magic Award Winning Modeling Technology, Microphone Transformer not only simulates the frequency response of different microphones, but also their dynamic response with high-end amps. What is more, Sound Magic provides a special feature which you could choose to mix two different types of microphone together by moving a simple slider. Microphone Transformer is best used when you want a different style of sound in your mix.
Changes in Microphone Transformer v1.1
- Fixes Automation names.
- Fixes possible swap between left and right channel.
- Improved Mixing Behavior.
- Fixes slider range on GUI.
- Many minor changes.
Microphone Transformer for Windows (VST/Supreme Pianos add-on) is available to purchase for 19.90 EUR. Existing Sound Magic customers pay 15 EUR.
Extended Review of Universal Audio 1176 Classic Limiter Plug-In Collection
Russ gets his hands on the new 1176 Classic Limiter Plug-In Collection from UA and puts it through an extensive test on several types of material.
Evolved from the popular Universal Audio 175 and 176 tube limiters, the 1176 retained proven qualities of these industry leaders, and set the standard for all limiters to follow. Entries found in Putnam’s design notebook point to his extensive experimentation with the newly developed FET (Field Effect Transistor) in various configurations. Eventually, he found a way of using the FET as the gain-controlling element of a compressor/limiter. While the 1176 has seen a huge number of revisions in its history, the most significant revision was by UREI engineer, Brad Plunkett, in an effort to reduce noise — hence the birth of the 1176LN at Rev C. Numerous design changes have followed since, resulting in at least 13 revisions and variations of the 1176.
Universal Audio released its first 1176 plug-in emulation in 2001. This plug-in single-handedly launched the UAD platform, and inspired a decade of analog emulation software. Today, we’ve circled back to the 1176, and modeled its entire electronic path from stem to stern — including its transformers, FET and bipolar transistor amplifiers, for colorful input/output distortion. The resulting 1176 Classic Limiter Plug-In Collection provides unrivaled emulations of three distinct 1176 units, and is indispensable for any serious engineer or producer.
The 1176 Limiter Plug-Ins Collection provides three distinct 1176 revisions, representing over 40 years of design iterations to the original 1176 — the world’s most recognized compressor. The Rev A “Bluestripe” represents the original Putnam FET limiter design, complete with its higher distortion and unique FET gain amplifier characteristics. The Rev E “Blackface” covers the early 70’s / Brad Plunkett “LN” (Low Noise) era of the 1176 circuit lineage, with variations including a more linear compression response, transistor gain amplification, and a change to the program dependence. The 1176AE provides UA’s rare 1176 40th Anniversary Edition, complete with exclusive “hot-rod” mods — including its lower 2:1 compression ratio, a fixed “super slow” 10ms attack mode, and the program dependence of Rev A.
SKnote releases Grasso plug-in
Grasso is a complete saturation and dynamics unit that provides subtle to strong level-independent processing but it is not a compressor, no thresholds, and it is not an envelope shaper, no triggering.
Grasso includes some special features like level-independent dynamics, tube-saturation stage, dynamic and level-independent pre-drive filtering, spank control and a modeled power-supply and SKnote says that it is very useful to add color and dynamic control to mixes and single tracks, from subtle to extreme.
Main features:
- tube-modeling
- level-independent dynamics
- level-independent dynamic filtering (on attack and decay)
- detailed control on tube circuits with several options
- “spank” feature (post-drive dynamic response)
- modeled “weak” power supply (more harmonics or “sagging”)
- special post drive expander for great dynamics
Pricing and Availability:
$29.99
More information:
FXpansion announces the Etch
FXpansion’s Etch is a versatile filtering effect based on DCAM circuit-modelled technology. Etch’s dual filters let you switch between 4 models for all manner of fat, warm subtractive tone-shaping, with a comb filter type providing mind-bending psychedelic effects.
Additional distortion and compressor stages are provided for beefing up signals, and FXpansion’s TransMod modulation system lets you animate Etch’s circuits over time. Use inter-modulating LFOs, envelopes and more to drive the filter cutoffs, distortion level, compression amount or any other parameters. Etch does amazing things to all kinds of audio material and is great for subtle warming, deep tone sculpting, wild sweeps, special effects and experimental sonics.
Availability & Pricing
Etch is available as a download-only product from the FXpansion web shop!
Pricing is USD $99.00, EUR €79.00, GBP £69.00 inc VAT where applicable
Introductory Offer: Etch is USD $70, EUR €55, GBP £48 inc VAT for all registered owners of Geist, DCAM: Synth Squad, Tremor, BFD2 and BFD Eco (and customers purchasing Etch at the same time any of these products) until 30 April 2012.
Expresso – new free distortion effect plug-in for Windows
Mark Holt has released Expresso, a free distortion effect plug-in for Windows.
My first ever release of a VST effect. Made in Synthmaker v2.0, so, sorry, no Mac version.
Most of the modules are my own (rather simple) code rather than stock modules. I’ve been using it a lot and thought I should give something back to a community that’s given me a lot over the years.
The first knob is called offset and this adds DC offset to the input signal (the mod LED below changes the direction of offset). The next knob is labelled fold and adds some fold back distortion. The next knobs are sat (saturation), feed (feedback – the mod LED changes the signal slightly), delay (for the feedback), HPF (high pass filter), H-REZ (high pass resonance), LPF (low pass filter), clip (hard distortion), followed by a dry/wet control and finally gain (for output). The feedback path actually goes after the clip module and re-enters before the fold back distortion stage, so maybe a future update will change the knob order to reflect this (it’s like it is for chronological reasons). Beware that on settings where all settings are high that you will get proper high squealing feedback. I’ve kept that as a feature and the tone can be changed with the delay knob when it appears.
Get Your FREE Little Radiator plug-in and a chance to win the ULTIMATE prize!
This is what Soundtoys say about it….
Everyone needs a little warmth in their life. Little Radiator models the classic sound of the Altec 1566A mic preamp, and lets you spread some analog tube magic on your mixes. This was one of the main sounds from the classic Motown mixes, became a secret weapon of boutique producers, and is now a vital part of the sound of bands like the Black Keys. Why? Give it a listen and hear. Subtle warmth, or driving grit, all the things you need to shake the “clean” off of your computer recording. Now you’re getting that warm feeling.
Radiator. Coming April 2012
This upgrade from Little Radiator is based on the Altec 1567A (the 1566A’s big brother). It’s the next level in this classic sound with extra control and an extra SoundToys twist. Details coming soon.
A Bit of History
The unmistakable green-faced Altec gear, and in particular the 1566A and 1567A, played a big part in shaping the early “sound” of Motown between 1961 to 1964. Songs by greats like The Four Tops, The Marvelettes and The Supremes went through a 1567A mixer to the massive three track recorder. Ahhh, when life was simple. These mic preamps and mixers have a very colored warm sound and are very loud. The EQ is as simple as it gets, with one knob for bass, and another for treble. After Motown, and after much gear came and went, analog diehards began seeking out the 1566A and 1567A as inexpensive sources for real tube sound.
Go and grab it whilst it is free from SoundToys
Little Radiator™ gives you the warm sound of the classic Altec 1566A tube mic preamp, and it’s totally free (for a limited time).
And by sharing with your friends, you also get a chance to win the ultimate prize: PLUGGED FOR LIFE! Get all SoundToys plug-ins for as long as you live or we live!!!
(The top runners up will also get prizes like free SoundToys bundles, free upgrades to Radiator™, and cool SoundToys t-shirts.)
Step one – find a code. Got one already? Skip this and go register it below.
Don’t have a code yet? Check the audio forums, check FaceBook, check everywhere ’cause that code gets you the free plug-in and gets you your own sharing code. Then you can give yours to all your friends and they can get it for free, too. Plus, each person you sign up with your code, gets you closer to earning more free stuff. Free bundles, t-shirts and upgrades to Radiator (more details coming soon) and, of course the outrageous Plugged for Life prize that the most ambitious one with the most shares will have bestowed upon them.
Check out our Contest Page for complete details.
KOMA Elektronik goes guerrilla at Musikmesse 2012
http://youtu.be/qYsrwV9imYU
As MusikMesse gears up – here’s a budget teaser from KOMA:
More information: http://www.koma-elektronik.com/musikmesse
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KOMAelektronik
As a small Berlin based analog effects manufacturer we have no large promotion budget, this is why this year KOMA Elektronik will go guerrilla at Musikmesse 2012. Instead of the “usual” booth the KOMA crew will be driving the press and everybody else who is interested in our products around in the “KOMA Cab,” and we’ll throw a big party on thursday night. You wanna fight the good fight with us?
PLAYING AT OUR PARTY (MARCH 22ND):
EMIL NIKOLAISEN & ÅDNE MEISFJORD (Serena-Maneesh, NO) (4AD)
http://4ad.com/artists/serenamaneesh
KAAP DE GOEDE HOOP (Planty Herbs, NL) (WAX-ON Records)
http://soundcloud.com/kaapdegoedehoop
O TANNENBAUM DJ’S (Ole Records, Berlin)
http://o-tannenbaum-berlin.de/
DATAMASKIN
