PlatinumSlew
TL;DW: PlatinumSlew is the best easy-to-use slew clipper.
This is something I’ve specialized in for a while: types of processing that aren’t common. Slew clipping is like what you see out of certain op-amps, circuits that can’t keep up with high frequencies and are given semi-magical qualities having to do with just the right IC and so on. And you can program that, and I have (for instance my Channel plugins, or Guitar Conditioner).
And then I discovered, in GoldenSlew, that you could cascade slew clippings and it’d actually give you a unique sound, unlike just using one slew clipping.
And then it went beyond, as I tried to incorporate another previous sample and bring in the rate of change of the direction of the slew, and ran into strange audio bugs that were the digital equivalent of my circuits blowing up or short-circuiting, unable to handle what I was asking of them…
…and came out the other end with PlatinumSlew (and a plan for a more complicated, control-laden plugin where I can get really detailed control over everything that happens in the plugin).
The original Slew, and GoldenSlew after it, is a bit of an audio chainsaw. For instance, if you slam it to full crank it acts as a sample and hold, because that’s literally what you get when you cut slew to 0.0: permanent holding of whatever voltage you had. Good for use in the VCV Rack port, not so good for subwoofers. So, don’t use those for swooping the audio down to bass and then silence, especially not fast, or you’ll trap energy.
PlatinumSlew explores a new space in slew clipping where its algorithms don’t hold energy in the same way. But what does it sound like? It sounds like a record. It sounds retro. What happens is, you can control the transients of the high-end, but then as you push further, as it gets darker, it also begins to alter the subsonics, the bass… which is something I’ve never been able to do, not like this. It’s not a filter, this is a clipper. But it’s not clipping the bass… it’s hard to explain.
Crank it way up and hear the odd things it does when you push it way too far… and know that you can bring in just tiny amounts of that very unusual, very retro, very vibey flavor. This tech is central to where I’m going with the new Console designs, as I come up with stuff that really truly sounds like classic desks. It immediately found its way into my music, taking my legit analog gear that last little distance it needed as post processing. It’s mastering friendly if your tweeters and ears are good enough to hear its subtlest effects. And unlike the swiss army knife version I’m still developing, this one is one slider which can’t be set wrong, and it’s free and open source, and it’s yours. Hope you like it :)
download 64 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Signed M1/Intel Mac AUs.dmg
download Signed M1/Intel Mac VSTs.dmg
download LinuxVSTs.zip
download LinuxARMVSTs.zip for the Pi
download Retro 32 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac AUs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac VSTs.zip
Mediafire Backup of all downloads
All this is free and open source under the MIT license, brought to you by my Patreon.
VCV Rack module
A very useful piece of new work for me here! I can’t wait to see and hear what you do with the new console plugins!
I am always finding I need to use between 2 – 5 different plugins to apply to sounds like shakers, tambourines etc to get them to gel with the drums bus in a good way – types of pushed gentle distortion, fancy eq for losing treble and adding upper mids, and tape emulation etc. Often these are Air Windows too.
I often here modern era music professionally recorded but clearly mixed in the box, where tambourines, hi-hats and other high end stuff are pushed back so far volume-wise in an effort by the engineer/producer to get them to sound right. The same thing is happening with mixers pushing the transients of vocal tracks, Especially sibilance, so far down that intelligibility and personality are starting to get lost by the time it’s properly mastered.
If you listen to tracks recorded before mid-1990’s digital recording, often these sounds were higher in the mix, yet do not seem to poke out as they can when recorded cleanly on modern capacitor microphones and through A/D converters.
Classic pro recordings of the past often have a softer more mid-rangey, almost muffling effect over the biting treble energy of transient sounds, just by going through a couple of stages of analogue mixer and maybe two stages of analogue tape (multi and 2 track).
I can get very close to the sound I want using several techniques and sticking to dynamic mics, but this new piece of yours (used subtly or smashed for effect) sounds like what I’ve been doing with multiple plugins and usually taking a while to get even close.