Wider

TL;DW: Airwindows stereo space shaping.

Wider

Here’s a nice little building block. It’s stereo-only for obvious reasons (in AU, you won’t see it available on mono tracks): it’s a stereo space adjuster.

It works like this: you’ve got mid and side channels, but taken up several notches. Instead of being adjusted by level controls, the sliders use the Density algorithm. That means if you’re boosting, they get fattened up, and if you cut, they retain some of the edge and definition. This technique from Density has a way of moving audio’s position in space: boost comes forward, and cut moves backward. It turns out that’s perfect for manipulating the shape of a stereo space.

But that’s not all: as a final space-manipulating technique, Wider applies an itty-bitty time delay and interpolation (it can be as small as sub-sample) to whichever is the least forward, mid or side. That causes a delicate roll-off and sits the relevant part just a tiny bit back, spatially… and then the audio’s recombined into stereo again. It’s a bold thing to try, but it’s done very subtly so you wouldn’t know it was happening except I’ve just told you, so my secret is out :)

The result is this: you can kinda-sorta use Wider to produce extreme stereo effects (look for StereoFX, coming soon, as a better way to get aggressive with space) but it really comes into its own when used to redesign stereo soundfields. With tiny, small adjustments, you can get hugely effective results that sound totally natural. This is the mastering-grade one, where you can transform the source in a convincing and musical way, and not lose anything in the process. The effectiveness and transparency, especially when used for tiny corrections, will make this a go-to plugin for real stereo work.

Also, as always the Airwindows plugins are Linux VST, Windows 32 and 64 bit VST (both allowing for both 32 and 64 bit processing buss), Mac VST (allowing for 32 and 64 bit processing buss) and Mac AU. All the Mac versions are triple binaries that support 32 bit Intel, 64 bit Intel, and PPC (yes: PPC, in 2018. Because what if you have one you’d like to use for something?). I mention this because I saw another thread with someone bemoaning how big devs aren’t supporting 32 bit anymore. And I was like, hehehe. Depends where you look, doesn’t it? Somebody has your back ;)

All this is supported by my Patreon, and I’m delighted to say we’re getting close to another landmark: at $1000 a month, it will shift gears and I’ll give you TWO plugins from the list (of greatest hits plugins) each month. It’s also letting me pursue other very interesting researches: tonight I’m doing a music stream where I’ve programmed an Axoloti to play chords and basslines from a new chord theory I’ve come up with, steered by cross-linked Bastl Kastle LFOs (Sloths would also be suitable), so I can jam with a robotic brain that plays not prearranged chords, but an ever-changing spectrum of harmonic space that’s a true cyborg synthesis between modular generative patch and human accompaniment. I’ll also be using a card game I’ve been developing, which I hope to sell when I’ve got it good (open-sourcing the information to allow for free DIY too). for thematic ideas.

I don’t yet have the Axoloti listening to my playing so the robot brain will follow MY notes as well as me following it, but rest assured I’m working on it. Come and see, if you’re not too busy playing with Wider. There’s more where that came from, this is a fertile period thanks to the Patreon. :)