Schwabe Digital’s first plug-in, Gold Clip, combined clipping, compression, saturation and peak contour processing into a single, intuitive plug-in aimed primarily at mixing and mastering tasks. Their second release has just been announced, and this time it recreates a stock DAW plug-in that has gained itself quite the following since being introduced over 25 years ago.
Orange Clip recreates none other than Fruity Soft Clipper, a dynamics plug-in included with Image Line’s FL Studio DAW package. Despite its simplicity, the processor has garnered a reputation for its unique sound, and has become a firm favourite among many producers, particularly those working on electronic music. Founder Ryan Schwabe (a Grammy-nominated mixing and mastering engineer) says that he became frustrated at not being able to emulate the effect he heard on production mixes when he was working with stems created in FL Studio. Knowing the artists were attached to the sound, he set about re-engineering the plug-in and bringing it to users of any DAW.
The resulting plug-in faithfully recreates Fruity Soft Clipper, carefully modelling its clipping, wave shaping, overload dynamic and harmonic effects — the company say that it is mathematically identical in terms of its processing, but they also decided to introduce some additional features that expand on what’s possible with the original. As well as offering the signature “blown-out and overloaded” sound, Orange Clip also comes equipped with parallel processing options, a clip ceiling control, and linkable I/O trims, along with linear and minimum phase oversampling settings and an animated transfer function display.
Despite the extra functionality, the plug-in still features a simple and intuitive layout, with input and output level sliders placed over the top of large meter displays — the former is joined by the new adjustable ceiling parameter. The main control, Orange, is then placed in the middle of the GUI, and is used to define the shape of the knee. Separate sliders are provided for the plug-in’s wet and dry signals, and can be linked so that they behave like a standard wet/dry balance control. Another link parameter is provided for the input and output controls, so that increasing one will decrease the other to maintain signal levels. Presets can be stored via a menu at the top of the plug-in, and there’s also a built-in A/B comparison tool for auditioning alternative settings.
Compatibility
Orange Clip is supported on PCs running Windows 10 or 11 (Schwabe Digital recommend 11), and Macs running macOS 10.13 and higher. VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available.
Pricing & Availability
Orange Clip is available now, and is being offered at an introductory price of $99 (or $9.99 / month for 10 months) until 17 April 2024, after which it will cost $119 (or $11.99 / month for 10 months).
