Posts by Lyubomir Dobrev

BLEASS Slow Machine: the bargain plug-in leading the tape stop revival

There's plenty of room for nostalgic (even dated) sounds in modern production, and Slow Machine is a quick, reliable fix for tape stop effects.

Steinberg SpectraLayers 8: more AI, new features and enhancements

Just 10 months after version 7, Steinberg doubles down on new enhancements for Spectralyers 8 - both AI-driven and regular ones. Here's what's new.

Acustica Audio Brown: 4 plug-ins worth of old US broadcast gear

Acustica Audio kicks off its summer sale with a suite of rare equipment that gave the sound of Capitol Records, A&M Records, and Motown.

TC Electronic Icon Series plug-in/hardware controller combos on sale for EUR 98

This TC Electronic deal slashes prices on the Icon range to €98 - that's software and hardware combos for the price of a pretty good plug-in.

Red Rock Sound uniQ plug-in: blend 30+ filters from classic analog EQs

A big bag of modelled analogue filters in one plug-in? Yes, please! uniQ lets you piece together an analog-like EQ in your DAW, which feels very 2021.

Deal: Get Bitwig Studio 3 or 16-Track at 25% off with one year of free upgrades

DAW maker Bitwig is giving everyone a chance to land a discount on its flagship products - Bitwig Studio 3 (with free upgrade to v4) and Track 16.

Sample Logic Animation Station: intelligent MIDI arpeggiator plug-in

Stuck on a creative plateau? Animation Station has an intelligent "Step Animator" engine for creating arpeggiated patterns and step sequences on the spot.

Soundmanufacture Push Hacker 2: configure Ableton Push for your personal needs

Drag and drop Ableton Live parameters onto ever Push controller's button, pad, and knob exactly how you want them. Here's what's new in Push Hacker.

Tape Echoes: Softube makes tape delays lovingly dirty again

Softube came up with a grungy, old-school sounding tape echo plug-in as an alternative to the many all-too-clean sounding ones around.

Algonaut Atlas 2: AI-driven sample manager and beat creator gets bigger and better

Algonaut's Atlas 2 is a major upgrade to its AI-driven sample management and beatmaking software for MacOS, Windows and Linux. Here's what's new.

Bram Bos gives 1997 software drum machine Hammerhead a 2021 makeover

Hammerhead, the old dog that got 90s computer geeks into programming beats returns as a model drum machine app from 2021 - thanks Bram Bos!

Tone Projects Kelvin Tone Shaper: A dual-stage saturation and passive EQ plug-in

Kelvin combines tube, diode, and transformer zing with detailed tone shaping from its EQ bands and stereo widening through harmonic distortion.

New Splice plans bring Bridge plug-in, Beatmaker and Astra virtual instruments

Splice brings intra-DAW sample auditioning beatmaking, a software synth, and tutorials with its new Sounds+, Creator, and Creator+ plans.

Deal: Get up to 75% off McDSP analog-modeled plug-ins and bundles

Sale time at McDSP! Prices are slashed on its limiters, compressors, channel strips, tape emulations, distortion and saturation plug-ins.

Deal: Arturia FX Collection 2 released with introductory pricing

FX Collection 2 adds 7 effects to the previous 15 like Bus FORCE, Comp DIODE-609 and Chorus JUN-6 - intro pricing is available, of course.

Black Salt promises you slick workflow with Low Control and Escalator plug-ins

Black Salt Audio's Low Control and Escalator plug-ins are meant to deliver big sounds with few controls - but is the price justified?

PreSonus Retro Mix Legends: analog flavors for the Studio One DAW mixer

PreSonus' new Alpine Desk, Brit Console, and Porta Cassette plug-ins add analog character to the mixer in PreSonus' Studio One DAW.

FKFX Obvious Filter: this morphing filter sequencer plug-in is maniacal, and also free

Obvious Filter is a feature-loaded morphing filter sequencer which filters and transforms audio into rhytmic sequences. And you can have it free!

Sonnox deals at Thomann: heavy discounts on Native and HDX plug-ins and bundles

From 1 June to 7 July, Sonnox is offering massive discounts on its elite-tier Native and Pro Tools (HD/HDX) plug-ins and bundles. Check 'em out.

Toontrack expansions sale on EZX, EZKeys, EZMix with up to 35% off

Drum VST purveyor Toontrack starts a 2-month sale on expansions for EZDrummer 2, EZKeys, and EZMix - that's drum libraries, sounds, and MIDI.

Review: Minimal Audio Rift pushes the creative distortion envelope

Rift splits waveforms in two, destroying each half in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Our verdict: No distortion plug-in comes close.

Relab LX480 Essentials: 4 classic L480 reverbs for USD 39 (introductory offer)

Relab's LX480 Essentials strips down the hefty price tag of the Complete version from $350 to $99 to give you a taste of the premium-priced original.

W.A. Production Satyrus: 8 distortion types for your noise experiments

Satyrus, a distortion plug-in with 8 types of the stuff and a clean, sleek user interface that you can grab for just USD 8! That's a dollar per distortion...

Ableton Loop Create: Free online music summit event on 26 and 27 June 2021

Ableton is experimenting with the format of its yearly Loop event by spinning it off into a new online event called Loop Create.