Signal Processors

As well as more-or-less conventional vocoding and pitch-shifting, DelayDots' new VST plug-in offers effects so bizarre they almost defy description.

Brief appraisals of another selection of software Plug-ins from Disco DSP, Cutter Music, Kjaerhus Audio and PSP.

This Voice Modeler plug-in is designed to change the character of a recorded vocal, adding breathiness, chest resonance and 'growl', and allowing you to modify inflection and vibrato.

The biggest music technology manufacturer in the world has stuck to hardware — until now. Do Yamaha's first plug-in processors have what it takes to compete with the big names in Mac and Windows software?

We check out two more useful plug-ins, one for Powercore and one for PC VST/Direct X.

There's already a decent range of products providing digital emulations of vintage guitar amps, but iZotope's Direct X plug-in goes a lot further, offering no fewer than seven processing modules, and is intended to model every kind of distortion you'll ever need.

Convolving reverbs are coming down in price as more manufacturers make their own. We check out Emagic's new plug-in, which is one of the more affordable ones around, but still allows you to create your own reverbs from favourite spaces.

TC's plug-in powerhouse is now available as an external Firewire-connected rack unit.

Although delay can be one of the most simple studio effects, software delay plug-ins often provide a bewildering array of options. So we take a look at what all the sliders and switches do, and provide advice on how best to use them.

The latest plug-in for the TC Powercore card allows you to extract frequency responses from commercial tracks and apply them to your own mixes.

This plug-in produces essentially the same results as its analogue rackmount counterparts, so if you already know and like the BBE process, you should take no convincing.

Voxengo's Curve EQ is a 'linear phase spline equaliser' with a 2048-point filter kernel, which lets you draw highly complex responses using its graphic interface.

Although most major MIDI + Audio sequencing applications include bundled EQ, dynamics and reverb plug-ins, they don't always sound too great, so many users are on the lookout for alternatives, like these two from Wave Arts.

R3 comprises a five-band, fully parametric EQ design plus switchable-slope, variable-frequency high and low-pass filters.

Dominion is a 'signal modelling device' similar in concept to SPL's highly regarded Transient Designer dynamics processor, embodying characteristics of both compressors and expanders, yet without being either a compressor or an expander in the normal sense.

Digital hardware that models classic guitar amps has been big business in recent years, but in the software field Line 6's Amp Farm has had the market to itself. Now, however, IK's Amplitube looks set to provide some serious competition.

TC's DSP-powered effects board has been upgraded, and now includes a much more impressive plug-in bundle.

Formats: PC DirectX, VST

Reviewed: Mac version

The SPL De‑Esser user...

Plug‑in pack: Mac/PC, all formats; TDM and Mac stand‑alone versions also available

Reviewed: PC...

PC DirectX only

Cakewalk's FX3 Soundstage is, in essence, a reverb, but that description...

Originally designed by SOS author Craig Anderton as a DIY hardware circuit, Spectral Design have now turned this into a software plug‑in. Unlike most other distortion effects, it splits the signal into four frequency bands and distorts each one individually.