Sound Colorer: These 3 Sound Editing Effects are a Perfect Match
Everything Fits Together - Inspiration for Your Next Purchase
In today’s episode of our new series, Perfect Match, we’re focusing on sound colorer a.k.a. tone coloring. It refers to effects or audio tools that can give tracks, buses, or even the entire mix a new sonic “coat of paint.” In other words, it’s significant sound processing that adds character, making signals warmer or even dirtier.
Sound Colorer – Perfect Match
Sound Colorer for Creative Audio Signal Processing
Maybe you’re familiar with this situation: An instrument, group of tracks, vocals, loop, single sample, or entire mix sometimes sounds too clean and lifeless. Maybe a mix doesn’t feel cohesive, and you’re not sure why.
One solution is to process individual tracks, or even an entire group, with a common effect. Compressors, for example, can add “glue” to make elements, such as drums, blend together more cohesively.
Today at Perfect Match, we’re going to talk about “sound colorers” – tools that don’t process sound neutrally and transparently but instead change it noticeably. This can help you weave elements together in a mix or make individual parts sound more “lively.”
Beyond these tasks, a sound colorer is an asset in the studio. You can get creative with these effects and produce sounds you hadn’t considered before. It’s also about having fun bending sounds.
Elektron Heat +FX: a Sound Colorer with DAW Connectivity
Elektron offers the Analog Heat +FX, an effects unit ideal for processing external stereo signals. One of its special features is analog distortion, which has eight different circuits that can add warmth to signals or “destroy” them to varying degrees. You can use it to create the sound of an overdriven mixing console, heavy band saturation, or classic distortion.
Additionally, it has an analog multimode filter with seven filter types for further sound shaping, accompanied by an analog two-band EQ. Modulation is provided by three LFOs and an envelope follower. As you can see, this is a real FX box!
The Elektron Analog Heat +FX has a few digital effects. Although effects such as noise gate, reverb, delay, chorus, and warble are not typically considered tone-coloring effects, they expand your creative possibilities. There is also a bitcrusher and a compressor, as well as an effect called Bass Focus, which can be used to create dramatic sound colorations.
In addition to stereo audio inputs, Analog Heat +FX features MIDI, a pedal connection, and a USB port. This makes the Analog Heat +FX an audio interface and an effect in your DAW via the free Overbridge software. You can use it to process individual tracks or even the entire mix (analog). You don’t have to worry about complex routing.
These characteristics make this effect a unique sound colorer that cannot be found anywhere else in this combination.
However, Sherman offers an alternative: Filterbank 2*, a series of fully analog effects combining a creative filter section with an overdrive circuit for added saturation. While the Sherman Filterbank is a powerful sound colorer, it lacks USB and DAW connectivity. A simpler version is the Rodec ONE + MiniStyler*.
You can get Analog Heat +FX here at Thomann*.
XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color: Specialist for Noise and Texture
The RC-20 Retro Color plugin adds the kinds of sounds that recording and mixing engineers used to try to avoid. In essence, this plugin “degrades” the audio material. However, sometimes that’s exactly the right “spice” needed to make sounds more exciting. The keyword here is LoFi – because today, making music sound imperfect on purpose is a style in its own right.
The XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color is a creative sound colorer that can be used subtly but is actually intended for more dramatic effects. Rather than distortion, filter FX, and EQing, it adds texture, such as the noise of VHS recorders or vinyl records, speed fluctuations, and dropouts found on poor-quality audio tapes and old cassettes. It can even imitate the sound of old samplers with low resolutions. These effects can be mixed together in just the right doses (or not!), garnished with a little distortion and reverb.
With these features, RC-20 Retro Color is a great addition to an effects unit such as Analog Heat +FX, giving you a very effective sound coloring arsenal. In this purchase advisor, you will find other plugins that may be alternatives.
XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color is available here at Thomann*.
SSL Fusion: A Deluxe Sound colorer for Signal Processing
While the Elektron Analog Heat +FX and the XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color are considered creative sound colorers, the SSL Fusion takes a different approach. It is an audio processor designed to refine stereo signals, but that doesn’t mean you have to forego extreme settings!
This is especially true of one section: the Listen Mic Compressor. This compressor is a prime example of the creative “misuse” of technology and provides heavy compression with a lot of punch. This can work wonders on drums or a bus. To rein in this effect, there is a dry/wet control, allowing this compressor to be used subtly as well.
Otherwise, the SSL Fusion focuses on warmth and analog character. The Vintage Drive is a saturation stage that adds harmonic overtones and subtle compression. The Violet EQ allows for quick adjustments to two frequency bands. The High Frequency Compressor specifically targets the high end.
This sound enhancer offers an analog mid-side (M/S) matrix for stereo widening and a switchable transformer that subtly emphasizes the bass and high frequencies. You can activate a high-pass filter to further tame the bass range.
Clearly, SSL Fusion is a sound colorer designed primarily to add the “finishing touches” to signals. However, this very characteristic makes it a good complement to more “creative” sound processing, such as that offered by Analog Heat.
SSL Fusion costs a “little” – but the manufacturer Solid State Logic also offers a plugin bundle that gives you similar features for a fraction of the price. Thomann also offers individual plugins* if you’re only interested in a single section of Fusion.
The hardware is available here at Thomann* and the plugin bundle is available here*.
Conclusion: Why This Trio Is a Perfect Match
In the end, you’ll have to decide for yourself if this trio is a good fit. However, the fact remains that each of the products presented here is a unique sound colorer.
The Elektron Analog Heat +FX is suitable for creative sound editing during recording and can warm up signals in the DAW with an “analog touch” when connected via Overbridge. The XLN Audio RC-20 Retro Color goes a step further, adding additional texture and noise to the sonic palette. SSL Fusion can be used as hardware or a plugin bundle to polish and refine mixes, but it’s not just a mastering tool. Is this a perfect match? We think so!
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