sound affairs & audio effect design
The 1.2 update introduces VST3 support and fixes an issue in the phase section (flipped 90/180 degree settings). The update also provides online documentation.
The update is available for Windows in VST and VST3 format as freeware. Download your copy here.
Release 3.0.1 is now available for download and contains an important bugfix, which corrects an exaggeration of the side signal in the mid-frequency band. The update is available for Windows in VST and VST3 format as freeware. Download your copy here.
ThrillseekerXTC: bringing mojo back
ThrillseekerXTC is a contemporary exciter build around a parallel analog equalizer design. It takes our hearing sensitivity into account especially regarding the perception of audio transients, masking effects and loudness. ThrillseekerXTC offers frequency boosting on three individual parallel bands with pre-selected frequency ranges for the low, mid and high frequency spectrum. The mid band also performs compression by an opto-electrical circuit. A dedicated output stage adds further idiosyncrasies typically found in transformer coupled tube stages.
ThrillseekerXTC is all about adding weight, vibe and attitude back to the sound. It delivers all the character of an analog signal path and provides what digital processing usually is hard pushed to, including a rich low-end experience and that vibrant expensive top-end. The mkIII version primarily introduces VST3 support as well as a number of changes and improvements in the following areas:
A complete list is provided in the included manual. The update is available for Windows in VST and VST3 format as freeware. Download your copy here.
BaxterEQ – transparent mastering and mix buss shelving EQ
Changes in version 1.2
The update is available for Windows in VST and VST3 format as freeware. Download your copy here.
Short review from Bedroom Producers Blog – Variety Of Sound Releases FREE FlavourMTC Passive Equalizer Plugin:
Variety of Sound is one of the legendary old-school freeware VST plugin developers, providing top-tier audio software that easily rivals the quality of paid plugins. Their incredible FerricTDS mkII is still my favorite tape saturation plugin.
If you’re looking for mixing and mastering software with a taste of analog hardware, I highly recommend checking out Variety of Sound’s plugins. It is one of the best freeware plugin collections for Windows-based music producers.
Thread over there at gearslutz gearspace – A completely new plugin after a long streak of redesigned classics:
This sounds like analogue gear. Incredible.
… it’s a big fat lump of ‘ashish dissolved in a bucket filled with two parts honey and one part roasted sesame on a warm Himalayan afternoon. Dip yer finger, don’t forget to lick it and soon not only sesame opens …
FlavourMTC follows classic “passive” equalizer designs where the EQ circuits itself are not able to amplify signals but a dedicated amplifier stage takes care of it. Those EQ designs are well known for allowing very transparent frequency changes while their amplifier designs do add some icing on the cake quite often.
mixbus tone control – closest to analog
FlavourMTC implements this by utilizing 1st order shelving filter designs avoiding unwanted resonances and takes advantage of “zero delay” implementations for most accurate higher order filtering and w/o introducing curve warping near Nyquist frequency. The output amplifier stage of the plugin can be calibrated according specific mixing levels, provides a distinct “box tone” and glues everything together. Parts of the plugin are oversampled internally for maximum transparency and sound quality.
Available for Windows VST in 32 and 64bit as freeware. Download your copy here.
BootEQ mkIII – a musical sounding Preamp/EQ
BootEQ mkIII is a musical sounding mixing EQ and pre-amplifier simulation. With its
four parametric and independent EQ bands it offers special selected and musical
sounding asymmetric and proportional EQ curves capable of reproducing several
‘classic’ EQ curves and tones accordingly.
It provides further audio coloration capabilities utilizing pre-amplifier harmonic distortion as well as tube and transformer-style signal saturation. Within its mkIII incarnation, the Preamp itself contains an opto-style compression circuit providing a very distinct and consistent harmonic distortion profile over a wide range of input levels, all based now on a true stateful saturation model.
Also the EQ curve slopes has been revised, plugin calibration takes place for better gain-staging and metering and the plugin offers zero latency processing now.
Available for Windows VST in 32 and 64bit as freeware. Download your copy here.
Currently on my desk, awaiting further analysis: The Manultec Orca Bay EQ
Rebuilding my studio and restarting blogging activities one year ago was pretty much fun so far. Best hobby ever! To get things started in Jan/Feb this year, I did a short summary about the recent trends in audio and I might revise and update that in January again. Quite some audio gear caught my attention over the year and some found its way into the Blog or even in my humble new studio setup, e.g. the unique SOMA Lyra-8 and the Korg MS-20 remake as well as the Behringer Clone of the ARP 2600.
I also went into more detail on how to get the most out of the SPL Tube Vitalizer or the renaissance of the Baxandall EQs just to name the two topics and also had a more realistic look at the Pultec style equalizer designs which might be something I will continue to dig into a little bit further in 2022. As of lately I’m also intrigued by some analog effect pedal designs out there, namely the Fairfield Circuitry stuff. And as always, I’m highly interested in everything psychoacoustic related.
By end of August I started re-releasing my very own plugins and also did mkII versions for FerricTDS, ThrillseekerXTC and TesslaSE. I will continue that route and on top of my list is to have the whole Thrillseeker plugin series complete and available again. Some are asking me if I will develop brand new audio plugins as well. While I’m doing that already but just for my very own, at this point in time it remains unclear if some of that stuff will ever gonna make it into a public release. But you never know, the TesslaSE remake was also not planned at all.
Something I will continue for sure is that special developer interview series I did over the years. This year I already had the chance to talk to Vladislav Goncharov from Tokyo Dawn Labs and Andreas Eschenwecker from Vertigo Sound which gave some detailed insights about creating analog and digital audio devices, especially dynamic processors. To be published in January, the very next interview has also been done already and this time it will be with this years Technical Grammy Award winner, Daniel Weiss.
I’m looking forward to 2022!
Stay tuned
Herbert
Wouldn’t it be great if the Pultec boost/cut performance would be program dependent? Sort of expanding and compressing according to the boost/cut settings and giving a dynamic frequency response to the program material.
Well, dynamic EQs makes this an easy task today and I just created some presets for the TDR Nova EQ which you can copy right from here (see below after the break). Instructions: Choose one of the 4 presets (one for each specific original frequency setting – 20/30/60/100Hz) and tune the Threshold parameter for band II (boost operation) and band III (cut operation) to fit to the actual mix situation.
See also my presets for the mixbus over here.
Variety Of Sound 
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