PSPaudioware’s latest plug-in offers control and adjustment over incorrectly recorded stereo material, as well as providing a range of useful processing options for the later stages of a mix. PSP stereoController2 can help to solve unbalanced stereo images, change the perceived placement of instruments in the stereo field, increase or reduce the stereo width of low- and high-frequency content and more.
A Scope display at the top of the plug-in’s GUI provides a visual representation of the incoming signal, displaying information about its stereo content, and is joined by a peak level meter. A row of buttons below provide functions such as mid-side to left/right decoding, channel swapping, polarity inversion for each channel, and both mid and side signal solo modes. A PROC button then serves as a master bypass, allowing the plug-in’s entire processing chain to be switched on and off.
Correlation
A correlation meter below then displays the ratio between the mid and sides components of the stereo signal. More mid content will move the meter to the right, with a reading of +1 indicating a mono signal, whilst more side content will result in the meter moving to the left. A signal reading -1 means the left and right signals are completely out of phase. A set of parameters below the meter can be used to adjust the signal’s correlation, with a Delay knob offering up to 2ms of delay on either the left or right channel, and Width control providing a level control for the sides signal. A Gain setting is also provided to compensate for any level changes introduced by the other two controls.
Balance
A balance meter follows, indicating the ratio between the left and right signal levels. A reading which remains near the centre of the meter means that the two channels are evenly balanced, whilst movement to either the left or right side represents a stronger signal in the corresponding channel. A Stability control allows users to adjust the balance of the left and right signals without affecting the location of the centrally panned signal, whilst a Centre parameter allows the repositioning of sounds that should be panned centrally, but are perceived as being off-axis. Lastly, a Balance knob offers a traditional left/right balance control.
Low/High Width Controls
The left and right sides of the plug-in then offer independent stereo width controls that can be applied to both low- and high-frequency content. Each section is equipped with a (6, 12 or 24dB/octave) crossover, along with Width and Gain controls, and can be soloed or bypassed for auditioning purposes. The low-frequency section’s crossover can be set anywhere between 15Hz and 1.5kHz, and the high-frequency section’s ranges from 300Hz to 30kHz.
Other Features
PSP stereoController2 comes loaded with a large library of presets, which the company say can be examined to help understand how the various features work, or used as starting points for experimenting with sounds and settings. Some other handy features include copy and paste functions, which can be utilised when working with multiple instances of the plug-in, an undo and redo feature, built-in A/B comparisons and a resizeable GUI.
Compatibility
PSP stereoController2 is supported on PCs running Windows 7 and above, and Macs running macOS 10.12 and higher. VST, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available. Authorisation is carried out via PACE’s iLok system, although no physical dongle is required.
Pricing & Availability
PSP stereoController2 is available now, priced at $99.
