Airwindows

ToneSlant

TL;DW: Mastering grade very low Q tilt EQ.

This is a new plugin, not a port from an existing Audio Unit. It’s based on a variation on the Average concept. Turns out, it’s the tail end of the ‘averaged samples block’ that causes the cancellation node. ToneSlant implements a much bigger sample block (100 taps) but linearly fades the samples off between the first and last sample in the block.

What that does, is produce an extremely transparent ’tilt EQ’ with a controllable corner point. And, it’s implemented in such a way that you can set it to null out (at extreme high boosts) and then bring in only the brightest highs (shown in the video). Quirky, maybe, but it broadens the ToneSlant toolkit. So, the main uses are:

-Extremely low Q treble rolloff above a set point (with a fixed dB/oct)

-That, plus you bring in the dry signal by not putting the Highs to an extreme (it’s like a positive/negative wet/dry/wet, but that doesn’t fit on the label, especially for VST)

-Total cancellation with Taps at 1 and Highs at +1, and then you put Taps to just barely greater than 1 and you can have a very natural high-shelf controllable with the Highs control

These come out of the algorithm: the reason it performs so well sonically is both the extremely low Q and the simplicity of the algorithm. Not everything I make belongs in a mastering studio, but ToneSlant is peculiarly suited to that use: it’s like those specialty EQs that have very few parts and impart no color to the sound. You should be careful applying ToneSlant, because it ‘hides’ and tries not to be apparent as EQ. Use it as such, when you need perhaps a strong ’tilt’ but don’t want the result to sound equalized.

It’s AU, Mac and PC VST and free: just another reason to keep me around through supporting my Patreon! If you look at the last decade or so of Airwindows, I think it’s fair to say I think of new plugins, and that will continue. It’s just that now, you support Airwindows because you want me to make more, not because I’m preventing you from having it. I don’t think there is a future in preventing people from having digital things. It seems impractical and sure to cause problems. Therefore, my future is ‘be worth keeping around’, so enjoy ToneSlant as a token of my good will :)

Date October 14, 2016
Author Chris
Comments 15 Comments

Average

TL;DW: A lowpass filter you probably don’t have in your DAW, with a distinctive tone!

Average

This plugin is an exploration of a fascinating filter type that, I think, is really underrated. It’s a straight-up extremely simple averaging filter. If you set it to integer values, it exactly averages that number of taps on the input audio (adjacent samples). If you pick in-between values it interpolates, causing the ‘frequency’ of the filter to smoothly blend between the values.

There’s a reason you don’t see this filter used for lowpasses: it’s not technically correct. In fact it whacks a great big cancellation node into the high frequencies, and the tone (while pleasing) is very obviously affected by this. It’s a bit of a flangey quality.

BUT, we know better than to be limited by technical concepts, right? After all, the classic Scream Tracker resonant lowpass is known to be broken, and that has a real character to it. And even the Roland Supersaw is known to have some quirks that make it what it is…

Average has a fantastic tonality once you accept the response quirks. You can dial in the notches to suppress unwanted content, and (in a post-video revision) it’s got a dry-wet control so you can moderate the effect—and, typically for Airwindows, if this dry/wet is set to full wet, the calculations for doing that drop out of the plugin entirely so you’re not doing an unnecessary multiply. And it’s AU, Mac and PC VST and free (because this whole project is supported by Patreon and continuing to grow month by month into a very awesome public service for all plugin users!)

Hope you like it :)

Date October 11, 2016
Author Chris
Comments 6 Comments

Slew2

TL;DW: Limit or wipe out the highest frequencies, near the Nyquist frequency.

Slew2

Sometimes I just get lucky :)

This plugin is just the anti-aliasing technology I was experimenting with in 2010, applied to Slew, my simple slew clipper. I thought it was going to make the slightly grungy Slew smoother (Slew is a clipper, and can be expected to have clipper-like qualities). That anti-aliasing code was a bit odd. It’s possible I made a mistake somewhere.

If so, I’m keeping it, and now what I invented is out for VST also, and free to all.

Slew2 doesn’t act anything like Slew. What it does, is it puts a particular behavior on the extreme highs. Set to an intermediate value, it’s an acceleration limiter. Cranked all the way up… well, check out the video. It behaves like one of the nodes in Average (also coming to VST) with a 100% cancellation, but the point of total cancellation is also the Nyquist frequency. Slew2 produces a very natural-sounding brickwall filter exactly at that frequency, with the response falling off faster and faster until it’s totally gone when you hit the Nyquist limit (digital sampling theory: at 44.1K (CD quality) it is 22.05K where the treble cuts off).

People are using this for de-essers, and it’s pretty much ideal for any sound that must not be overwhelming in the super highs. The peculiar character of the rolloff means it’s suitable for almost anything because it won’t affect lower treble, and the fact that it’s really a clipper means you can use the slider to set a threshold where, the harder you push Slew2, the more it’ll refuse to let more brightness through. I’ve not tried using it as an acceleration limiter on a mastering lathe, but it could probably do that: which also means if you’re going for classic analog tone, you can just toss this on the 2-buss and use just enough to take excess brightness away. Slew2 is one of the ‘secret weapon’ plugins I was specifically asked to port to VST, and I’m happy to bring it to you all.

Still doing the Patreon, without which I will be one poor and hungry DSP nerd. Please support it and encourage others to support it, because I have a lot of plugins still to come. It’s already 11 plugins in just a few months, and there are many more, not even counting new inventions in the works.

Date October 5, 2016
Author Chris
Comments 10 Comments

Dimensional Kicks/Hats/Snares for Patrons

https://www.patreon.com/airwindows

I’ve been asked to do something that’s only available to my patrons, but I’m not willing to do that with my plugin software. Therefore, I’m doing it with samples, because I can!

These are collections of kicks, hats and snares, for EDM or sample augmentation. They’re tracker-style, not ‘simulation’ style, meaning they use no round-robining or dynamic variation (many do have several intensity levels that work together, though).

You can watch the video for over an hour of explanation or just download the zip and make some music :) the samples ending in 16 are 16 bit wavs suitable for use in traditional trackers like MilkyTracker (XM can be used somewhat in Unity, and they’re reduced to 16 bit with the Naturalize dither so they’ll adapt to any tracker need). The samples ending in 24 are 24 bit wavs and what I’m using in Renoise, or you can use them in other DAWs anywhere you need a good EDM-style sample.

In the video I explain what’s special about these: such as the ‘crystal’ hat samples that are done with a harp mic for a special dark tonality, or how the Jomox Kicks are all sampled with a DI (from a modded Jomox MBase II) plus run through a guitar amp with a modded Airwindows SM57 miking it, and lastly with a room mic that also picks up the trigger keyboard’s keys being hit with a drumstick for extra air on the transient. This is a pretty killer sample set for any electronic purposes, even before you get frisky with Renoise or whatever. Initially I was going to release these in dribs and drabs along with songs to demonstrate them, but I’m working so hard on plugins I have no time to make music. Therefore, I’m releasing the whole entire collection, because I know I’ll only end up making more.

Join the Patreon at least once for at least 1$ and you can download this there: it’s not on the Airwindows website, just on Patreon. :)

Date September 28, 2016
Author Chris
Comments 1 Comment

Chris

ToneSlant

Average

Slew2

Dimensional Kicks/Hats/Snares for Patrons

handsewn bespoke digital audio

Kinds Of Things

The Last Year

Patreon Promo Club