TesslaPRO mkIV released

all the analog goodness in subtle doses

Designed for mixing and mastering engineers navigating the digital realm, TesslaPRO strikes a balance between analogue character and modern precision. By reintroducing subtle artefacts from the analogue world into the digital domain, it delicately colours sound, refines transients, and weaves depth and dimension into the stereo field to achieve the coveted cohesive sound that defines professional mixes.

Version 4 introduces a new transformer model, integrating hysteresis effects for enhanced realism. It brings simplified gain staging to ensure consistent performance across a broad range of input levels and automatic output volume compensation allowing engineers to maintain control and predictability in their audio processing workflows. The plugin has been engineered for efficiency, further enhancing the workflow without compromising system resources.

Available for Windows VST and VST3 as freeware. Download your copy here.

TesslaPRO mkIII released

the magic is where the transient happens

The Tessla audio plugin series once started as a reminiscence to classic transformer based circuit designs of the 50s and 60s but without just being a clone stuck in the past. The PRO version has been made for mixing and mastering engineers working in the digital domain but always missing that extra vibe delivered by some highend analog devices.

TesslaPRO brings back the subtle artifacts from the analog right into the digital domain. It sligthly colors the sound, polishes transients and creates depth and dimension in the stereo field to get that cohesive sound we’re after. All the analog goodness in subtle doses: It’s a mixing effect intended to be used here and there, wherever the mix demands it.

The mkIII version is a technical redesign, further refined to capture all those sonic details while reducing audible distortions at the same time. It further blurs the line between compression and saturation and also takes aural perception based effects into account.

Available for Windows VST in 32 and 64bit as freeware. Download your copy here.

next level saturation experience & still missing VoS plugins

The magic is where the transient happens.

Since a year or so I’m not just updating my audio plugin catalog but also focusing on bringing the original Stateful Saturation approach to the next level. That concept was already introduced 2010, embracing the fact that most analog circuit saturation affairs are not static but a frequency and load dependent matter which can be best modeled by describing a system state – hence the name Stateful Saturation.

The updated 2022 revision is now in place and got further refined regarding the handling of audio transient states while reducing audible distortions at the same time. It further blurs the line between compression and saturation and also takes aural perception based effects into account. This was profoundly influenced by working with audio exciters over the recent years but also by deep diving further into the field of psychoacoustics.

This important update was also the reason why I actually did hold back some of the plugin updates, namely TesslaPRO and the Thrillseeker compressors since they heavily rely on that framework. Meanwhile, TesslaPRO has been rewritten based on the framework update already and will be released early September. ThrillseekerLA and VBL are in the making and scheduled for Q4.

released: SlickEQ

TDR VOS SlickEQ is a mixing/mastering equalizer designed for ease of use, musical flexibility and impeccable sound.

Three (and a half) filter-bands arranged in a classic Low/Mid/High semi parametric layout offer fast and intuitive access to four distinct EQ modes, each representing a set of distinct EQ curves and behaviors. An elaborate auto gain option automatically compensates for changes of perceived loudness during EQ operation. Optionally, SlickEQ allows to exclusively process either the stereo sum or stereo difference (i.e. “stereo width”) without additional sum/difference encoding.

In order to warm up the material with additional harmonic content, SlickEQ offers a switchable EQ non-linearity and an output stage with 3 different saturation models. These options are meant to offer subtle and interesting textures, rather than obvious distortion. The effect is made to add the typical “mojo” often associated with classy audio gear.
An advanced 64bit multirate processing scheme practically eliminates typical problems of digital EQ implementations such as frequency-warping, quantization distortion and aliasing.

Beside the primary controls, the plug-in comes with an array of additional helpers: Advanced preset management, undo/redo, quick A/B comparison, copy & paste, an online help, editable labels, mouse-wheel support and much more.

SlickEQ is a collaborative project by Variety Of Sound (Herbert Goldberg) and Tokyo Dawn Labs (Vladislav Goncharov and Fabien Schivre).

Key specs and features

• Intuitive, yet flexible semi parametric EQ layout
• Full featured, modern user interface with outstanding usability and ergonomics
• Carefully designed 64bit “delta” multi-rate structure
• Three EQ bands with additional 18dB/Oct high-pass filter
• Four distinct EQ models: “American”, “British”, “German” and “Soviet” with optional non-linearity
• Four output stages: “Linear”, “Silky”, “Mellow” and “Deep”
• Advanced saturation algorithms by VoS (“stateful saturation”)
• Highly effective and musically pleasing loudness compensated auto gain control
• Oversampled signal path including stateful saturation algorithms
• Stereo and sum/difference processing options
• Tool-bar with undo/redo, A/B, advanced preset management and more

Availability

TDR VOS SlickEQ is a freeware audio plug-in available for Windows and Mac in VST and Audio Units format (both 64-bit and 32-bit). VST3 and AAX formats will follow later.

All downloads are available via the Tokyo Dawn Labs website.

Related Links

• vladg/sound
• KVR page
• forum talk
• SlickHDR – final teaser & release info
• what I’m currently working on – Vol. 12
• sharing the same vision …

SlickEQ – some more release info

Just a couple of days ago we introduced the upcoming release of SlickEQ and lots of questions raised already. So, here is what Fabien already committed about it in a public forum:

• Win/Mac, AU/VST2/VST3 (+AAX planned and in process), x32/x64
• No linux builds planned, sorry.
• The name is “TDR VOS Slick EQ” and it will be available for free.
• Release is a matter of days. Maybe a week or two.

As of today I just want to add: With the introduction of TDR VOS SlickEQ, quite a number of amazing and previously unheard DSP algorithms will see the light of day – including (but not limited to) several Stateful Saturation algorithms running within an audio signal path entirely upsampled to a constant high sample rate for maximum precision.

Expect smoothness, best-in-class.

Related links:

• thread at kvraudio.com
• what I’m currently working on – Vol. 12
• vladg/sound
• sharing the same vision …

announcing the “Slick” audio plug-in series

About history

In recent history, I’ve constantly extended and improved my Stateful Saturation approach and within ThrillseekerVBL I’ve managed to introduce authentic analog style sounding distortion right into VST land, which is what I’ve always had in my mind and dreamed of. And there’s so much and overwhelming feedback on that – thank you sooo much!

Best of both worlds

Since quite a while, I’ve dreamed about a brand new series of plug-ins which will combine the strength of both worlds: analog modeling on the one side but pure digital techniques on the other – incorporating techniques such as look-ahead, FIR filtering or even stuff that comes from the digital image processing domain, such as HDR (High Dynamic Range) processing.

First encounter: SlickHDR

High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing is something pretty much new in the audio domain. While there are lots of theories and implementations available about HDR imaging, this is quite new and sparingly adopted in the audio domain. SlickHDR is going to be a very first approach in applying high dynamic range processing to audio within a VST compatible plug-in.

what I’m currently working on – Vol. 10

Right now, I’m extending my “compressor aficionados” interview series by a couple of outstanding developers I’ve always was interested in and wanted to talk with. Beside that, I’m pretty much delved in research and development plus testing some brand new prototypes. If/when another mkII version will appear is currently not clear – but me thinks that there will be one or another surprise during Q4, though.

In recent history, I’ve constantly extended and improved my Stateful Saturation approach and within ThrillseekerVBL I’ve managed to introduce authentic analog style sounding distortion right into VST land, which is what I’ve always had in my mind and dreamed of. And there’s so much and overwhelming feedback on that – thank you very much!

And since quite a while, I’m dreaming about a brand new series of plug-ins which will combine the strength of both worlds: analog modelling on the one side but pure digital techniques on the other – incorporating techniques such as look-ahead, FIR filtering or even stuff that comes from the digital image processing domain, such as HDR (High Definition Range) imaging.

Expect an exciting announcement quite soon …

a very comprehensive review on Thrillseeker VBL

And don’t miss to read the whole review here with lots of hands-on examples.

 

modeling the distortion in Thrillseeker VBL

It’s so important to get the non-linear modeling right if we would like to have a sort of analog feel in the digital domain. I can’t stress this ever enough since it still seems to be a common practise in todays audio plug-in design to just throw in a static waveshaper, oversample it and hope this will make everything alright. Not! Even worse, in a recently released plug-in I saw the static waveshapers curve not being continuous again and I’m not going to talk about the sound.

But what should one expect to hear if the analog modeling is just done right? Only by driving the gain of the unit but way before we notice the obvious distortions there appear different by-products caused by circuit side-effects. Depending on the actual device, circuit and components, it might be that the signal starts just getting thicker and more mid-focused, as an example. Or, the signal might appear much deeper and bigger in other cases.

Whatever it might be in particular, I do call this the “Mojo” of the device – it’s not the primary intention of the device but turns out to be a sort of an added sugar. Such effects are highly frequency, transient and gain structure dependent and this is what makes the processed signal to be much more vibrant and alive. Furthermore, the obvious harmonic distortions are not introduced abruptly but they emerge gradually.

what I’m currently working on – Vol. 9

Updates and a brand new release, basically. Since there is a minor issue with the latest TesslaPRO and Rescue versions concerning higher sample rate compatibility, I’m currently into bug-fixing and both will probably make it upfront the summer break. As the next major update you all voted FerricTDS to be the object of desire and I’m already sketching things on the drawing board but developments might not start before Q3.

I’m constantly extending and improving my Stateful Saturation approach and the next incarnation will bring authentic analog style distortion into VST land. It is basically a Variable-Mu based broadcast limiter design from the early days but which is modded to have detailed access to the amplifier distortion – it has warmth and mojo written all over! Patrick also joined in again and will perform his magic user interface artwork. An official announcement will appear very soon, so stay tuned.

Unfortunately, there are no news about 64bit support atm.

Related links:

• There Will Be Distortion (2013)