TL;DW: Coils2 is a transformer overdrive emulator.

Coils2.zip(578k)

Hi! I’ve been busy. You’ll notice the download’s a bit larger than usual: that’s because it also contains a .dmg file that is the modern code-signed, M1-apple-silicon-ready version of Coils2.

I’ve been busy making this: mediafire/SignedAUs.dmg which is likewise, for EVERYTHING. At least, everything that is Audio Unit. I’m aware people want Mac VSTs in the same way, and that’s going to be my work for May: should be possible. I can’t vouch for whether that stuff will work in non-native VST hosts, but I do think I’ve got the modern Audio Unit problem solved. They also contain Intel code, so there’s now two options for running AUs on Macs: old school compile, or the new compile. Doing every plugin means there are 248 individual plugins in there.

I’m not including them in my stuff off the website until I have the code signed VSTs too, for Apple Silicon, and then it’ll be time to re-upload hundreds of things back into the dawn of my Patreon, so it will all give you all the possible versions, every time.

I do have questions: do we still want to use ‘NewUpdates.zip’ when all this is done? Or dedicated collections for each sort of computer/plugin? The numbers are getting so huge. Though an ‘ALL’ download might still be a good idea, just for thoroughness. For now, NewUpdates.zip is still the OLD SCHOOL and that mediafire link above is where you get the new Apple Silicon builds, but I’m including what I’ve got in new plugin downloads. It’s a work in progress.

Anyway, Coils2! This is to Coils what Srsly2 was to Srsly. In other words, Coils was always ultra subtle. Coils2 lets you dial up the cheapness until the tone is wrecked (if you so choose).

There’s two controls, Saturation and Cheapness. Saturation determines what happens outside the ‘resonant band’, and Cheapness narrows the band in which the transformer’s putting out clean, pure sound. This is not a ‘stompbox distortion’ type of distortion. It’s shaping the way the transformer produces sonority. If you narrow the ‘sonority’ band with more Cheapness, you increasingly distort and lose the lows and highs, and also get a hysteresis effect of magnetizing the transformer core. More Cheapness lets you hear the transformer crap out better when you overdrive it.

Saturation gives you the maximum overload you can get to, NOT ‘more total gain’. It’s clamping down, not boosting into. That means if you turn it up all the way you get a sort of bandpass: it’s no longer really a model, you’re hearing only what’s left over after the transformer dies. To hear the grind, you have to set it to less than full crank, and halfway should already be quite a lot of overload (except if Cheapness is really low, it might be hard to overload the transformer, so it’s a matter of taste.

That’s a lot of talk to say: play with the knobs. They should do what they’re labeled to do, and as long as you’re not thinking ‘turn everything up all the way’ you’ll be fine. It’s meant to pass through a great deal of sonority even for tiny cheap transformers, just in such a way that you can really hear it this time. Coils2 is still in the spirit of Coils, in that you’ll get the most accurate ‘modeling’ by not treating it as its own stompbox. It’s the output stage, for shaping and sculpting things that already exist. You might combine it with tube distortion effects to get an ‘amp-like’ character, or use it subtly on a 2-buss to tighten lows and give you more impact and vibe. Remember to not use too much saturation and cheapness for full mixes :)

Patreon, for when you want another 248 ports done by the end of the week because you got AU for free but also want VST and also that new Mackity with the EQ built in :)