Newly-founded federation United Plugins is proud to announce availability of its inaugural respective releases from founding independent developer triad FireSonic, JMG Music, and SounDevice Digital — namely, the AU-, AAX-, VST-, and VST3-compatible FireCobra (intelligent mix enhancer), HyperSpace (algorithmic reverb), and Royal Compressor (vintage vari-mu compressor) audio plug-ins for MacOS and Windows.
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United Plugins founding independent developer FireSonic feels
compelled to create smart, easy-to-use tools that can be put to good
use on any track to make it
sound better, because — let’s face it — most music productions benefit
from a little enhancement here and there! With that thought in mind, FireCobra combines
the
accuracy of the digital world with the live randomness of analogue.
After all, early engineers strived for perfection, trying to record and
play back sounds as close to
the original source material as possible. Paradoxically, perfection is
(almost) possible in today’s digital era, yet some
previously-problematic side effects of analogue
are now appreciated for what they are as they simply sound better —
though this is generally accepted to be due to psychoacoustics rather
than the analogue
devices themselves since it is now possible to achieve so much more than
analogue alone ever could. Clearly, then, the superficially simple GUI
(Graphical User
Interface) fronting FireCobra belies
some seriously savvy technology with which it intelligently analyses an
audio signal to make it punchier, more powerful, and
generally better sounding. Still better, it makes mixes sound better
with next to no time wasted on setting it up. Ultimately, it’s simply a
case of applying it to any DAW
(Digital Audio Workstation) track that needs enhancing and tweaking
three algorithms accordingly via their associated controls on the
flexible photorealistic 3D GUI:
INTENSIFY (intelligently analyses the audio INPUT and makes the OUTPUT sound tighter and fuller), SMACK (creates unique and pleasant harmonic distortion inspired by
rare analogue devices to make the treated audio sound way more authentic and audible in the mix), and ANALOGIZE (adds analogue warm valve mojo based on
classic analogue saturation simulation). Saying that, adjusting the DRY / WET knob,
increasing its value to increase enhancement or vice versa, is all
that’s needed in
most cases. As a highly-optimised plug-in designed to make most
efficient use of the host computer’s CPU (Central Processing Unit) and
also exploiting the newest
AVX2 and AVX512 architectures, the 64-bit processing FireCobra can comfortably be applied to multiple tracks to best bring out difficult to perceive elements of a mix
while attenuating those that tend to drown out others — and at sampling rates of 192 kHz or even higher!
FireSonic’s FireCobra is available to purchase for a price of €129.00 EUR — as an audio plug-in (compatible with 32-and 64-bit VST hosts, 32- and 64-bit VST3 hosts, 32- and 64-bit AU hosts, and 32- and 64-bit AAX hosts) directly from United Plugins here: https://unitedplugins.
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Fellow founding independent developer JMG Music makes use of complex audio processing techniques, but balances them with easy to use controls, as
evidenced by HyperSpace,
an algorithmic reverb plug-in. Permitting its users to easily create
their own algorithms made up of various processors in a fast, intuitive
way, the self-explanatory Vintage, Classic, Retro, Modern, Sci-Fi, and Cosmic modes
combine various algorithms with endless possibilities for enriching
tracks with a
myriad of colours — from vintage plates or classic hardware to
super-realistic spaces or out-of-this-world ethereal textures. But
behind the scenes, those algorithms
comprise complex structures with hundreds of processors running in
parallel with feedback networks while each processor possesses value
settings that make up
the character of the resultant reverb sound. Since each value for each
processor has an effect on the others there is an almost infinite number
of value sets
available due to such complex structures. So machine learning was used
to qualify over 20 million value sets, selecting only the best
combinations for use in this 64-
bit, 192 kHz (or higher) high sampling rate plug-in. Putting that into
its user-friendly perspective, HyperSpace offers
an amazing amount of control to create a reverb
that’s unique to its user’s needs. Needless to say, it does that through
an easy-to-use, resizable GUI with a super-clean background that
effectively disappears,
leaving users to focus on the controls that really matter. Moreover,
these are divided into colour-coded zones — pink (controls the sound
character of the reverb),
blue (contains the main characteristics for creating a virtual space),
orange (contains four special effects for creating spaces), and green
(contains a group of
processors designed to help the reverb sit better within a mix, so
sounds are no longer pushed back in the mix, losing focus and clarity) —
to ease navigating
through HyperSpace.
Helpfully, the plug-in’s parameters offer extreme value ranges to
maximise flexibility while having the most useful values tuned to the
centre
of the controls so users can quickly find their sweet spot. Separate Wet and Dry controls
maximise reverb balance, with a link option offering the typical mix
behaviour found in most other plug-ins, while time-based parameters can
be synced to the host tempo. The three dice symbols are smart
randomisers that dial in
useful settings for great-sounding reverbs in just one click, from
subtly changing the character of an existing sound or unleashing chaos
to surprise and inspire, while
the wide range of onboard presets programmed by professional sound
designers and producers truly showcase the sonic beauty of HyperSpace, however users
choose to use them — whether for convenience or as an inspirational starting point without slowing down their creative workflow.
JMG Music’s HyperSpace is available to purchase for a price of €129.00
EUR — as an audio plug-in (compatible with 32-and 64-bit VST hosts, 32-
and 64-bit VST3 hosts, 32- and 64-bit AU hosts, and 32- and 64-bit AAX
hosts) directly from United Plugins here: https://unitedplugins.
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Rounding out newly-founded federation United Plugins’ founding independent developer triad (when placed in alphabetical order), SounDevice Digital is
named after Czech musician, composer, and record producer Boris
Carloff’s Prague-sited SounDevice Studio, which is where its ideas are
conceived —
creating convenient tools that are missed or needed while working there.
That said, Royal Compressor is
inspired by modelling three examples of a British
vintage vari-mu compressor classic that dates back to The Beatles’
Sixties heyday, helping to shape hundreds of renowned recordings.
Realising that the three
devices in question sound somewhat different to each other by virtue of
originally being built by hand steered SounDevice Digital towards
the idea of merging
them into a single, peerless plug-in. Put it this way: warm and
pleasing-sounding compression attributes applicable to any kind of audio
source material are
readily on tap, thanks to the simulation of those vari-mu circuits
central to Royal Compressor.
Its clear-cut GUI features few controls, clearly influenced by
yesteryear’s analogue era when manual mixing was the order of the day,
yet those controls can dramatically alter any audio that they are
applied to. They
collectively bring about a welcomed vintage vibe to the compressed
result, which is, of course, what Royal Compressor is all about. A MODEL knob allows users
to instantly switch between the three different models of circuitry (A, B, and C), each with a different value for fixed attack. AUTOGAIN keeps the output signal
at the same level, regardless of how high the INPUT CONTROL is set, so serious saturation always abounds. And, unlike those original vintage devices from which
it draws its inspiration, Royal Compressor features an adjustable SATURATION control (based on a random saturation algorithm which creates the effect that
valve hardware has when brought into play). Performance-wise, while Royal Compressor operates
on a high internal sample rate, truly twenty-first-century
simulation technology maximises its exceptional sound while minimising
CPU load. Letting state-of-the-art simulation speak further for itself, Royal Compressor
comes
complete with a so-called ‘second-hand’ edition. Even semi-broken
machines still serve some studios well, with functionality perhaps
limited to only one
feature, yet they can still bring something special to the production
process. Which is exactly what this freebie from SounDevice Digital does!
SounDevice Digital’s Royal Compressor is available to purchase for a price of €129.00
EUR — as an audio plug-in (compatible with 32-and 64-bit VST hosts, 32-
and 64-bit VST3 hosts, 32- and 64-bit AU hosts, and 32- and 64-bit AAX
hosts) directly from United Plugins here: https://unitedplugins.
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As
implied in the carefully chosen wording for an apt appellation that
really represents how the Prague-registered Limited Company came about
and what it collectively
creates, United Plugins is
a federation of small, independent development teams comprised of
individuals involved in the music industry. Indeed, the founding triad
of
FireSonic, JMG Music, and SounDevice Digital can count engineers,
producers, and artists amongst their ‘united’ names. Needless to say,
all were seeking the freedom to
create the tools that they would like to use in their studios and on
their projects.And all agreed that this could be better achieved by
working together.Though United
Plugins’ proliferating product portfolio may not necessarily be for the
musical masses, surely someone, somewhere will always find those tools
to be a perfect fit for their
own music productions — just like those inventive individuals forming
United Plugins’ founding independent developer triad!
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